Change Your Diet, Change Your Life

So you want to be healthier!!!! Changing your diet will literally change your life. You'll have more energy, less aches and pains and a healthier mentality. My clients tell me they know they need to overhaul their eating but they don't know where to start. Is that YOU?

Well, here is a strategy to help you get started on your new healthy lifestyle!

Start with eating approximately every 3 hrs. (i.e. 4 - 6 times a day, three meals and 2 or 3 snacks) ..... spreading the calories out benefits you a couple ways:

You maintain your energy all day.
You balance your sugar and prevent cravings.

And remember never ever skip breakfast. It sets you up for the rest of the day!

But what to eat and how much??

Let's look at your plate: divide it into thirds. One section will be for protein, one for a complex carb and the last for a fruit or vegetable.

So when you sit down to eat you will have one serving of a protein, a complex carb, and a fruit/vegetable. For example, have a 4 ounce piece of salmon with 1/2 cup of brown rice, and a salad.

The next meal substitute the salmon for turkey, the rice for quinoa, and the salad for asparagus.

Or substitute the salmon for chicken, the rice for a slice of whole grain bread, and the salad for broccoli. (Hint: I like to use flaxseed oil on my toast instead of butter! I even sprinkle it on my vegies!)

How do you do this for breakfast? Have a hard boiled egg with a few strawberries or a slice of melon and 1/2 whole grain bagel or english muffin. Or have a smoothie (soy milk, strawberries and banana).

Eating like this you will have approximately 300 - 400 calories per meal.

So what about snacks? Well, here are some ideas for 100 calorie healthy snacks:

1. 2 domino-sized slices low-fat Colby or cheddar cheese
2. 1 cup sliced apples with 1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter (I recommend organic peanut butter not the commercial peanut butter with added sugar).
3. 10 dry roasted cashews or 12-15 natural almonds.
4. One hard boiled egg.
5. 1 cup squash (baked acorn or butternut)
6. 5 oz. Turkey breast (roasted, no skin)
7. 25 pistachios
8. 10 cashew nuts
9. Half a small avocado
10. 3 ounces cooked whole-grain noodles with 1 fresh tomato and 1/2 ounce hard cheese
11. 3 handfuls of unbuttered popcorn, seasoned with herbs
12. 2 ounces of lean roast beef
13. 2 TB hummus and 10 baby carrots
14. as many cucumber and celery sticks as you'd like
15. Scramble 5 egg whites and cook in a non-stick skillet. Top with 1Tbsp of salsa.

And eating well is only one facet of your new healthy lifestyle! Do NOT forget exercise! Exercise is important to a healthy body. However, be sure to check with your physician before starting an exercise program; especially if you have been sedentary for a long time.

Did you know loss of muscle mass is a huge reason for a lagging metabolism? Being sedentary, as many of us are these days, is a great detriment to maintaining a normal weight. Muscle burns a lot more calories than fat. So get off that couch!!!

Find yourself a form of exercise you will enjoy and then DO IT! Hire a personal trainer to work with you to develop an exercise routine you can live with if you must. Do what you must do to get yourself off the couch and moving!

To your health!

Pam

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It's Later Than You Think

You would think reaching a long sought-after goal would make one jumping-up-and-down happy. I reached a goal a little over a week ago when I completed my Masters in Holistic Nutrition. Those that truly know me know how much this meant to me. Nutrition gave me back my life from Lupus. So at the age of 50 I went back to school to earn my Masters in Holistic Nutrition. The mission and yes, the passion, of the rest of my life is to help others the way I was helped. Because you see, western medicine isn't. It's shameful not once in the sixteen years I was battling active Lupus not one of my physicians (and I had a regiment of them) ever asked about my diet. You know even a mechanic would check to see if you had gas in the car.

But I digress. To my great surprise though I'm very pleased and proud about earning my Masters in Holistic Nutrition; I'm not jumping up and down happy. Instead my mind has turned to the next step of my journey. How do I help people understand the standard american diet is killing them? How do I help them understand there is an urgency to them understanding this? That nutrition CAN make a difference in chronic illness. That nutrition can even prevent chronic illness. New research is even showing that proper nutrition can STOP bad genes from turning on. Do you get the immensity of that information? This is HUGE. It's so huge it makes me feel, well, it makes me feel, inadequate.

You know though I've been in remission for five years, Lupus stole quite a lot of time from me. There were years (yes, years) when if I wasn't at work I was in bed so I could go to work when it was time again. Literally. But in all that downtime Lupus taught me something too. It gave me an appreciation for the time of my life which I don't think I would have had to such a degree had I not gotten sick. And in a very unmistakable way, it taught me time is elusive.

I have a friend who puts it this way, "it's later than you think."

A few weeks ago while working a nightshift I had the privilege of watching the sunrise with a cancer patient. She was a delightful, perky lady; a truly amazing person. I remember wondering as we watched an absolutely awesome sunrise how many more she would have to enjoy. And to this moment I am in awe of her attitude. It's one sunrise I will never forget. Yeah the sunrise was beautiful but that isn't why I will remember it. I will remember it because that lady had such an awesome spirit. I felt so privileged to be able to share that sunrise with this person. It almost brought me to tears only I didn't want to cry in front of her. She was special. And perhaps, just perhaps, cancer happening to her didn't have to happen. Perhaps the standard american diet is what killed her. Processed foods are greatly lacking in the nutrients your body needs. According to the W.H.O. 70% of cancer can be prevented thru proper nutrition. So you might give some thought to changing your diet for the better to one brimming with whole foods . The human body can repair itself if given the nutrients it needs. And please consider this today, not tomorrow because......

I have a friend who puts it this way, "it's later than you think".

As I sat down to write this blog post I thought of various clients and friends who only sporadically take vitamins or various supplements. Then they complain and blame the vitamin or supplement when really it's their inconsistency which fuels their health problems. Worse yet I thought of clients who sporadically purchase children's vitamins. Because what they are teaching their children is it's ok to put health second. They are unintentionally setting-up their children for an unhealthy life. Meanwhile time flies by.

I have a friend who puts it this way, "it's later than you think".

Do you get what I'm trying to say? Time goes by quickly. It's elusive. And sometimes you run out of it. Life is such a priceless, wondrous gift. Wellness is the foundation of the quality of your life. Without wellness you lose choice. I've been there and done that. It's not fun. Unfortunately, it's really easy to let time fly by and to take wellness for granted. And it's a mistake to do so. Wellness must be taken care of and nurtured. Treasured. How many times have you thought "gee I should eat better" or "I'll quit smoking next week" or "gee I should exercise more" or "I'll do better tomorrow".

Tomorrow you may be sick.
It may be later than you think.

Top of the Food Chain?

It's amazing we are egotistical enough to regard ourselves as top of the food chain...... cos we do the dumbest things.

You know it's true. Just think about it. The only species on this planet who goes out of its way to feed their children nutrient poor junk food is the human species. That is exceedingly dumb. The human body to work in the way it was designed needs nutrients. Children especially need a nutritious diet.

Take a walk down the cereal aisle of any grocery store and you will see brightly colored super heroes and animal mascots jumping out at you from cereal boxes. The cereal aisle is a wonderland for children. Read the fine print of the ingredients on those boxes and you will wish
you’d paid attention in chemistry class.

In the meat section you will see a big name brand of boxed lunches made for and advertised to children by the use of cute names and colorful characters on the boxes. Read the ingredient list fine print of these and you will find some have MSG in them, as much as 46g of sugar and high sodium counts. Let’s not talk about the preservatives found in these meals. It gives me a headache thinking about children eating this. Read the ingredients list and again you’ll wish you’d paid attention in chemistry class. Let’s not forget the rows of candy at the checkout most usually placed at the right height for children to peruse.

Nor does the marketing of unhealthy foods stop with the grocery store and television. Fast food restaurants feature play areas, clowns and toys. But nutrition? Not much.

Though there is a growing revolt against this, unhealthy foods are even marketed to our children in our schools! Children who aren't allowed soda at home can buy it at school. Nobody needs soda. Why do we allow it in our schools?

And we wonder why we have an epidemic of childhood obesity, diabetes, and ADHD. Do you know what the #1 killer of children is? It's cancer.

Do you think the reason might be found in what we are feeding them?

The overwhelming marketing of poor food choices to our children has resulted in a childhood obesity epidemic. Some children are even exhibiting formerly adult health problems; diabetes, high blood pressure, hormone disorders and skeletal diseases. What are we to do? How can we protect our children? How can we encourage a healthy lifestyle?

Very simply we must model the behavior ourselves in our choices both for our health and theirs.

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