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You can't out eat stress 

1/12/2017

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The other day at the gym I read this on a mirror:

“Pain is weakness leaving the body”

I have seen this quotation more than once, but it didn’t really hit me until the other day that I really, really dislike this quote.  

Why don’t I like this quotation?  Maybe it’s just personal; maybe it’s my inability to stop and take care of myself when I need to.  But I think it’s bigger than that.  I love The Paleo Mom; I think she’s amazing.  On her site today (www.thepaleomom.com), she wrote about her own journey and the personal stress she has experienced along the way.  I flashed back to the quotation, and I realized the reason I dislike it is because it supports the common perception that we live in a culture where we don’t take care of ourselves; where pain is considered to be simply a weakness; where we are expected to push through the pain instead of recognizing that it may signal a failure to love and honor ourselves.  

I truly enjoy yoga.  One of its fundamental principles is that you just do what you can.  It’s a practice, and there should be no expectations beyond that.  It is not about being “perfect” or becoming dissatisfied if progress seems too slow.  In today’s world, we believe people are naturally lazy, and we all just need to push ourselves harder.  What if we lived in a society that was exactly opposite?  What if we understood that forcing ourselves to go to the gym on some days was far more detrimental than going home and taking a nap?  Too many of us never stop even to take care of ourselves.  

During the last six months, I have experienced pretty severe stress on my own personal journey.  A lot of things hit me all at once, and I have been so thankful that I do eat a healthful diet.  Who knows what my health would be like right now if I hadn’t improved my nutrition?  But this leads to another very important question.  Is it possible to just “out eat” the stress?  Given the tremendous stress load most people consider to be normal, I think the answer has to be “No.”  At some point our bodies just say enough is enough?

I asked myself, “When have I gone to bed in peace at the end of the day and had nothing else on my mind?”  I didn’t like the answer.  It seems each night I lay down with a million things I should have done or need to do flooding my mind.  Wouldn’t it be so much better if we just accepted that we are good enough instead of pushing ourselves even harder?  We spend so much time worrying about the outcome that we forget to simply enjoy the path that gets us there.  If the goal eludes us, we see ourselves as complete failures.  

What if stress is so much more powerful than anything I can do as a nutritionist to help you with food?

Food and diet are important elements in our lives, but what if nutrition cannot overcome the twin obstacles of relentless self-criticism and the constant need to push harder.  What if the first step for any positive lifestyle change is to recognize the importance of loving yourself and easing up on your “go-go-go” attitude?  Do you even have an idea how to take that first step?  Can you  slow down and appreciate the happiness on the road to your life’s goals?  How much more fulfilling would the end goal be if you did?  

My fear for myself, as well as for many of my clients, is what impact the stress in my life is having on my health, and can I really help you if you aren't willing to help yourself in the most basic way?  In this respect, I share a concern similar to that found in The Paleo Mom’s blog: will people believe in my nutrition advice if I have allowed stress to cripple me?  It’s a matter of practicing what I preach and a thought for all of you who are you actually caring for yourself.  You won’t ever reach your end goal if your body gives out along the way!

Consider these simple steps to focus on the care of your Self:


  • Stop, breathe, eat and relax
  • Take a break rather than pushing yourself harder
  • Sleep when your body says it’s tired
  • Enjoy the path that is taking you to your dreams! ​
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​Feeling, Not Fixing

12/23/2015

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You’re not good enough. This is the message we are barraged with daily from all media outlets, told that we have to live up to a standard that only photoshop can achieve. Though we consciously know these are unrealistic standards that no one can live up to, the sheer volume and consistency of these kinds of messages ensures that a sense of inadequacy sinks deep down into our core. We feel that we are broken and need to be instantly fixed by things like pills or surgery.
This constant need for instant gratification that is never sufficed leads to addictive behavior. For some people it is alcohol or cigarettes, for others it is sweet treats or coffee, for others it is shopping or gambling. These industries thrive because we are so distracted from the goings on of our own body that we constant seek external energy boosts. However, we have within us the ability to experience the same kind of energy, without any crash or constant desire for more.
On the healing journey, it is easy to slip into the pattern of trying to “fix” everything that is “wrong” with us. But it is important to remember that your body is perfect and everything that it has done is a necessary response to protect itself from stress. Often, excess weight is the storing of toxins in body fat or water that it doesn’t currently have the ability to safely detoxify. Instead of trying to restrict our body’s nourishment, we should reduce its toxic load and support the detoxification systems. Any negative emotion we express toward our body takes us away from the direction of health.
Feeling is healing
This is the key. Since our body is perfect, we don’t have to actively change anything, and to try and do so would be to deny the perfection. Instead, all we have to do is turn our attention inward. Pain is just our body trying to tell us that something is wrong. Once we have acknowledged the pain and taken action to reverse the cause, there will be no more need for it, and on its own it will melt away.
Though we tend to think of our body, mind and emotions as separate things, the entire human is an interconnected network. Often physical pain is the manifestation of emotional pain, or a physical tightness or inflexibility can cause a rigidness of thought. As we venture down the feeling path, it is normal when releasing tension to experience powerful emotions or feelings as well. It is important to just let these flow through you and just feel them as they pass.. There may be no deep rhyme or reason to your tension or pain, and it doesn’t help to make one up; remember feeling is healing and after you feel, you need only feel more.
It may be difficult at first, but the goal is to live your life from this state of feeling as opposed to thinking. It’s not that thinking is negative, but rather the true extent and depth of the body’s senses exceed the capabilities of the mind. In other words, tuning into feeling makes your more aware and sensitive to the true nature of what is happening around you. It is also a more efficient way of using bodily resources. The brain is the most energy intensive organ in the body, so it’s a good idea to give it a break every once in a while.
So how do you actually do this? See my Introduction to Feeling Meditation
 
 

 
Introduction to Feeling Meditation
It really helps to have a practical exercise in which to experience what I mean by feeling. Starting by sitting in a comfortable position, either at the edge of a chair or on a cushion on the floor with legs folded.
Lengthen your spine by sitting straight, slightly tucking the chin, sending the tailbone downward and sending the crown of your head to the sky. Imagine you are creating a straight line that starts from the center of the earth and extends all the way through your spine and comes out your head into the sky.
Become aware of how this body position affects your clarity of mind. Now gently close your eyes and tune into the breath. Imagine that with each in breath you are drawing it up your spine along the line we created and with each out breath, send the breath back down into the ground.
Your mind may begin to wander and that’s okay, when you notice it, just become aware of the thought and then gently guide the awareness back to the breath.
As physical discomfort or pain arises from holding this position, this is the key time to tune into feeling. Imagine you are an alien inside of a human body for the first time. Every sensation is new and exciting. When the pain or discomfort arises, explore it with childlike curiosity. Lean into the sensation and feel it fully. Tune into the pulse or breath of that area of the body. What would it feel like to have more space there? To let that stagnant energy flow?
Even just doing this exercise for one minute can change your perspective. 
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​A Thought Can Change Your DNA

12/23/2015

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​When people experience health challenges, it is a common rationale to blame any discomfort or difficulty on genetics. Not only does this shed any personal responsibility for the problem at hand, but it inherently eliminates the potential to change things for the better, because they were “just born that way”. This is a relief to the mind because then it doesn’t have to tackle the difficult issues of addressing underlying patterns that cause the problem. Therefore, no one has to go through the discomfort of doing things differently, and confronting difficult emotions or situations.
Luckily, the new science of epigenetics is here to dispel these myths. Epigenetics is the study of how genes are activated in our DNA. We may be born with a certain set of genes, but some will be completely inactive within us at any given time. Here, it is the immediate environment that controls who we are. Radical changes and adaptations to an environment don’t happen gradually over countless generations, but happen within one, two or three generations. When looking at centenarians (people who live to be more than 100), scientists have found that these people do indeed have certain genes that increase disease risk and early death. What allows these people to live so long is that those negative genes are turned off and rendered inactive
A great example of the power of epigenetics in humans comes from a study of 200 years of harvest records from a town in Sweden. There was a distinct correlation between the food abundance during one generation and the incidence of disease in following generations. In other words, if a grandfather experienced famine before they went through puberty, his children and grandchildren were less likely to develop diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The theory is that if the grandfather experienced an abundance of food during childhood and overate, this would activate certain genetic markers that would then be passed down to his children and grandchildren.
New findings in epigenetics suggest that our genes can be switched on or off on minute a minute to minute basis. Every part of our environment can affect them, whether it’s the constant, low-level stress of modern life, the genetically-modified foods that make up the bulk of the American food system, or the excessive electromagnetic frequencies being emitted from our cell phones and wifi routers. The concept of epigenetics is relevant to all living things, but humans have a unique characteristic that makes epigenetics particularly important for us to recognize.
Humans have to ability to form complex thoughts. Many people don’t realize that these thoughts are also part of our environment. Your body can’t tell the difference between a stressful morning in traffic and the threat of a tiger lurking nearby. It only feels the reverberations of your thoughts. While this may be a surprising or overwhelming initially, this is ultimately the key to freedom:
A thought can change your DNA.
What this means is we have to take responsibility for the world we create, not only externally but internally. Most of what we experience is a result of how we have lived our lives up until this point. If for some reason, your experience is not what you would like it to be, it is no one’s fault but your own, and you have all the power in the world to do something about it.
Change is inevitable, what we do have influence over is the direction of that change. This influence isn’t optional, but inherent to the way our body functions. If you choose to ignore your power, you will create a life of ignorance and powerlessness. However, when you take control of how you think, feel and act, there are no limits for the abundance you can create in this world.
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Five tips for staying on track 

12/13/2015

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As the amount of daylight shrinks during the winter months, the belly of the average person tends to expand, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The winter is a time of slowing down. With less external energy from the sun, it’s the perfect time to look inward, assess how our year went and start creating intentions for how we want to live next year.

The following tips can help us connect to our inner strength to stay on track as we enjoy the time of year heavily associated with stuffing our faces and battles to the death over holiday deals.


Refresh your goals
We consistently need to remind ourselves of why we do what we do. If health is one of our values, we can still carry that with us as we enjoy ourselves. Oftentimes the stress we put ourselves through is a bigger detriment to our health than that extra bite of pumpkin pie. Instead we can sit down, reprioritize and explicitly write out the few things we want to focus on during this stressful time. Maybe you can bring an extra dish of vegetables to the family dinner, or go on a long walk after the big meals.

Fall and winter months are times to give thanks for the work we’ve done this year and reap the benefits of our harvest, not a time to be stabbing people over a popular Christmas gift. Stay focused and keep things in perspective!

Eat mindfully
With tables full of dense, winter foods, it can be easy to get caught up and eat far too much too fast. Here it is important to remember that the enjoyment and nourishment we receive from a meal often has little to do with how much we eat, but rather how we eat it. There are some simple ways to slow down and enjoy our food that won’t leave us passed out on the couch.

Start off slow by taking only small amounts of your favorite dishes. There’s always the opportunity for seconds so there’s no need to fill our plates right at the beginning. Take time to look at and smell the food. Notice the wood-like grain of the turkey pieces and how the Brussel sprouts stack on top of one another. We can move the food around with our forks to study and play with the food as our bodies prepare to fully digest it. Taking small bites and enjoying the flavors and textures will help us avoid overeating, as will staying aware of our heart and belly as we eat instead of getting wrapped up in the drama or craziness of the family coming together.

One big tip is to take a mid-meal break when we are halfway through our plate just to pause and breathe. Noticing how the food feels when its inside our stomachs can encourage our body to more fully digest it, and this will give our body time to communicate the satiety signal so we can be full and satisfied rather than bloated and uncomfortable.

Keep moving
It’s a natural pattern to slow down our movement during the winter months, but that’s not an excuse to stop moving alltogether. Even if intense weightlifting or crossfit workouts seem less appealing, relaxing walks, hikes or yoga classes can be a great way to stay active without adding to the stress. I like to find quick and simple bodyweight exercises like squats, pushups, dips and/or pull ups to do first thing in the morning just to get my body warmed up and get some blood flowing. Something like sun salutations are a time tested exercise for this. I might only do a couple reps and a little stretching. Just enough to feel good about the start of my day and to get me ready for the things I need to get done.

If going to a gym is not something you enjoy doing, then don’t stress about it. We don’t want to separate movement from our daily life anyway. We can find fun and simple ways to keep our body moving that adds pleasure to our life rather than costing willpower. Play a sport with your friends, play with your animals, pop in the earbuds and go for a long walk outside. Whatever you can do that works with your lifestyle and gives your body nourishment, do it!

Embrace the cold
Unless we live close to the equator, winter is a time of coldness. For many people, this can be quite dreadful, but I just want to offer another perspective here. Cold is not inherently a bad thing. We have the option of instead of cringing and shivering every time we go outside to really feel the cold just as a wonder of nature—a balance to the blazing heat of summer. It’s another sensation for us to experience and it can be a very nourishing one.

What happens to most people when they experience an initially uncomfortable sensation is to hold the breath and tense the body. This gets the stress chemicals firing and prepares our body for war. I invite you to try not doing that. Instead, when you feel that initial wave of discomfort, inhale and exhale completely, feeling how the energy of breathing can flow through your whole body to keep you warm. Pay attention to any tension that may be blocking the flow and allow yourself to relax that part of the body. Challenge yourself to get outside with less clothing than you might have previously. Stay a little longer and move past the initial stress response to let yourself relax and breathe. Consuming adequate water, fats and consistent protein can help tremendously as well.

Manage your stress
The biggest challenge of the holiday season is the crazy stress that our society encourages us to experience. Whether it’s trying to navigate the masses to find the right gift or orchestrating the coming together of family, there’s no shortage of stimulus to take our energy. This time, more than many others is important to maintain a regular stress management practice. Whether it’s breathing exercises, meditation, exercise or some sort of creative expression, remember to make time for the things that let you make time for everything else. We can only push ourselves so much before the universe pushes back. The universal principle of balance tells us that we can only work as much as we relax and we have to respect this.

This is both the simplest and the most difficult tip I have for you and one of the biggest challenges we face as a culture. Media, culture and society tells us that we always have to be doing something or working hard, but that’s not the whole story. We must also take time to do nothing. Sometimes working our stress management into a busy schedule can itself become stressful!

Just remember that in every moment, you have the opportunity to return to your breath and exhale completely. The exhale is the time to relax, let go and prepare to be given another inhale. Use these exhales to relax as completely as you can and leave the mind alone for a moment. Find these moments throughout your day to come back to center, and that will allow the stress to flow through you instead of it getting trapped in your body. When we are centered, we can focus on the positive aspects of these holidays: the spirits of love, gratitude, giving and community. These are the things that deserve space within our body.

So just remember to take care of yourself as you take care of others this holiday. Relax as much as you stress and give as much as you receive. Oh, and as always, smile :)
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10 Ways To Reduce Stress Unrefined29 

9/10/2015

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1. Yoga: Yoga is a great way to stretch your body and relax your mind. If you are new to yoga, and like group classes, check out your local yoga studio. Many places will offer your first class or first week for free. You can also find yoga classes at your local recreation center. If you are prefer to do yoga out of your home, there are many YouTube channels that offer yoga for free! Just search “Yoga” in YouTube. 

2. Acupuncture

3. Meditation: There are many ways that people can meditate. Meditation is a sacred and personal thing and it’s all about finding the type of meditation for you. If you are new to meditation, here are some ideas of how you can start and find the best way that works for you. 

  1. Silent Meditation: Take ten minutes every day to be in silence.  Taking this time to sit, be focused and concentrating on your own being can really help to center yourself and eliminate stress for the day. During this time, you will focus on your breathing. In through your nose and out through your mouth. Making sure to take deep, long breaths. 

  2. Guided Meditation: There are many applications, videos and recordings for guided meditations. These can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour. Some of these meditations can be more spiritual than others. Again, it’s about finding what is right for you. If you are new to meditation, one that we really like and recommend is called Headspace. You can find this as an application on your smart phone or iPad. Other places to find guided meditations would be through podcasts (search: guided meditation), on YouTube or you can pay for mP3s. Here is a link of one that we also like, it is more spiritually based. 

  3. Visual Meditation: Visual meditation can be done in many different ways. The main thing is concentrating on being present and to not think about the past or the future. During this type of meditation, some people will visualize colors. Thinking about breathing in a certain color and breathing out another color.  Or, visualizing yourself surrounded by light, feeling safe, secure and grounded. Another way, is to visualize yourself in a field of flowers. Visualizing the smells, the feelings and being relaxed. And lastly, you can visualize yourself accomplishing something that you desire. “I see myself….doing xyz with ease and effort” 

  4. Mantras: Coming up your own mantra based on something you feel in your life and concentrating on that saying for 10 minutes. With your eyes closed, say your mantra over and over and visualize yourself in those words. Here are some examples: “I am open and receptive to my highest good now.” “I am abundant and prosperous.” “I am healthy and energized.” “I am full of love and light.” “I am with peace and pure bliss.”

4. Oils: Essential oils not only smell great but they also have a neurological response inside your body! The most simple way to receive the benefits from essential oils, is to put a drop in your hand, rub your hands together, cup over your nose and inhale. Take 3 deep breaths. Again, it’s finding what essential oil works best for you and your body. Here is a list of essential oils to start with: 

  1. Lavender: Is the “gateway” to essential oils. Lavender is great for all things calming, relaxing and anti-stress. It is very grounding without causing you to be sleepy.

  2. Frankincense: This oil has been used for a very long time! It is referenced in the bible many time and can be found in many spiritual places. This oil is commonly used for meditation and grounding.

  3. Chamomile: This oil has calming and relaxing properties. This oil can help reduce anxiety, anger and negative emotions.  

  4. Bergamont: This oil has calming properties. It is citrus based. 

  5. Geranium: Geranium is an essential oil that helps relieve tension, stress and release negative memories (it works with the liver chakra to release toxins from the body)

  6. Wild Orange: Is a natural antidepressant and mood elevator. 

  7. Sadalwood: This oil is used in many cultures for yoga and meditation. It works to balance the emotions.

  8. Ylang Ylang: This oil is considered an aphrodisiac. It works differently on different people. This oil can be either stimulating or calming.  

  9. Vetiver: Vetiver oil is psychologically grounding, calming, and stabilizing

  10. Cedarwood: This oil stimulates the limbic region of the brain (centre of emotions) and the pineal gland, which releases melatonin. 

5. Go to bed early and get 8-9 hours of sleep

6. Journal:  a morning journal can be extremely beneficial to productivity as well as releasing emotions. You can write in the morning about your feelings, your dreams or what you want to accomplish during the day. Some people like “to-do” lists, which help to release the feelings of overwhelm. Another thing you can write down in the morning, are 5 things you are grateful for accomplishing during your day that have not even happened yet. This is the practicing the “Law of Attraction” and expressing gratitude. 

7. Expressing Gratitude: Expressing Gratitude is simply thanking the “Universe” for all that you are and all that you having in your life. Even if you are stuck in feelings of lack and feel this is impossible, simply by changing your verbage and outlook on life can start to shift your awareness and bring more to you. By saying or writing down: “I am grateful for a day full of ease and bliss,” “I am grateful for my health and safety,” “I am grateful for new opportunities today.” If you are new to “The Law of Attraction”, this might seem a little crazy to you, but changing your outlook on life and focusing on what you are grateful for, rather than what you lack, will actually bring more positive things to your life. 

8. Read: Spending a few moments during the day to read something for knowledge or enjoyment can help to reduce stress. So often we get caught up in what we “have” to do that we forget to take a few moments and enjoy the small things. 

9. Drink a hot beverage or bone broth:  A hot cup of tea or water with lemon is warming, soothing and nourishing. You can have this be a tea that has herbs for relaxing or add a drop of essential oil to help your body relax as well (Chamomile is suggested)

10. Epsom salt bath or foot bath: Using Epsom salts in a foot bath or full body bath will help draw out toxins and replenish magnesium in our bodies.  A foot bath is a great suggestion for those who are busy or just don’t like baths.  The skin pores in our feet are the largest in our bodies which makes this technique a quick way to pull toxins out and feel the benefits of the essential oils. Adding essential oils such as lavender or geranium are added benefits for reducing stress! 


Disclaimer: Please remember that anything discussed here does not constitute medical advice and cannot substitute for appropriate medical care. Where essential oils are mentioned, it’s recommended you use only pure, unadulterated therapeutic grade essential oils and follow the safety directions of the manufacturer.
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How Much Suffering Do You Need To Achieve Weight Loss?

9/10/2015

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Do you believe that you must be miserable to achieve success?  Listening to a great podcast on the Underground Wellness site started me thinking about my work with myself and with my clients.   I realized that many people I know believe they can only achieve a goal through sacrifice or suffering.  When it comes to food, many believe that starvation and deprivation are the necessary cost of adopting better nutritional practices.  I decided there must be a better way to talk about this with my clients.  After all, food is nourishment.  Food is about self-love.  What happens when we deprive ourselves of that self-love?  If we don’t love ourselves and the food we consume, can we really feel good even if we lose the weight we want along the way?  


I learned many things in nutrition school, and eventually I realized that most of them supported a very important underlying and unifying approach.  To encourage and develop long-term beneficial nutrition changes, a nutrition consultant’s goal must be this: teach clients to have a healthy relationship with food.  One technique I like to employ in my own life as well as when I work with clients is to direct the focus of meal time on the food you are eating.  Don’t eat on the run, barely tasting the food you put in your mouth.  Instead plan for meal time to be a relaxing time devoted to the enjoyment of the food you are eating.  A well-known Nutrition Consultant, Erin Livers, suggested that clients sit down for each and every meal.  Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet on the ground.  Focus on the food and eliminate as many distractions as possible.  Turn off your cell phone and set it aside.  Soft, relaxing music might be helpful, and if the TV is blaring a reality-show conflict or news stories of catastrophes that have happened or are about to, meal time should only proceed after you have turned off the TV!  Do not fiddle with your computer, IPad or smartphone while you are eating.  Keep your focus on the food in front of you.  If others are joining you, try to keep the conversation light and focused on the foods and flavors you are all sharing.  Talk about what’s good about the meal and share thoughts about what other cooking tips or food inclusions might produce an even better meal next time.  Avoid making food the enemy since this almost always leads to an unhealthy relationship with our food.  


Inevitably we all identify foods which must be removed from our diets because their long-term effects on our bodies are simply not healthful.  When this happens we must watch our thinking very carefully.  If the removed food is one we very much enjoyed, there will be a natural tendency to think we are being deprived.  If we buy into that thinking, we will likely have a difficult time consistently excluding the food from our diet regardless of its negative nutritional consequences.  How we think about the purpose of the food we eat must be changed.  Food’s fundamental purpose is to nourish us.  Without any nourishment, there would not be any “us” to think about anything!  Food can nourish us well or poorly, and each client must be taught to see that a well-nourished body functions so much better than does a poorly nourished one.  If you seek a healthier you by making conscious choices about your diet, it simply means you want to emphasize and embrace a diet which will nourish your body well while avoiding dietary choices that treat your body poorly.  A well-nourished body will have the capacity to demonstrate the loving nutritional choices that have been made for it.  This will help the client see that the effect of a food is the best criterion by which to judge a food as either good or bad.  If this thinking is applied regularly by the client, there will no longer be a sense of deprivation associated with an excluded food.  The client will see that whatever attraction that food held--texture, salt, sugar, aroma--did not provide a sensible way to evaluate the need for that food.  Food choices made with a correct understanding of the food’s effect upon the body will become easier and more natural.  


Stress is detrimental to health, and stress makes it hard for the body to digest foods in a healthful manner.  Reducing our stress around food and instead finding joy in food is one way to successful long-term health benefits.  I as a nutritionist I have had some clients who were willing to pay me any amount of money to supply them with daily meals and advice.  But I realized that most of those clients weren’t willing to invest personally in their own health or to love themselves.  I realized that I could not actually help those people because they weren’t interested in long-term goals; they were looking for short-term, quick fixes.  Nutrition is about overall health and not just about weight loss or temporary benefits.  Success will follow when you find ways to enjoy and love food while still making healthful choices.  
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Make It Easy To Be Healthy

9/9/2015

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It is really easy to be unhealthy in the modern world. If you’re ever hungry you can just drive up to a window, pay very little money and be instantly rewarded with a greasy and salty meal to fill the belly. It doesn’t always feel great later, but when the blood sugar is low, we don’t always make the best decisions. It is much more difficult to make sure you get everything you need from the farmer’s market, plan ahead, prepare and cook healthy meals three times a day. For some people, eating healthy could even be considered a full time job!

If we truly want to heal and nourish our bodies, we have to take the steps to always have good food around, but this doesn’t have to be a chore; in fact, there are many steps we can take to make this much more fun and easy. I want to talk about some simple systems to introduce into your food repertoire to significantly reduce the amount of time you spend buying and preparing food, so you can spend more time enjoying your food and the rest of your life!

Find your go to meals:

Every person who regularly cooks for herself tends to have those five meals that satisfy the taste buds and come together quickly and easily. For me some examples are simple salads with canned fish, veggie soup with leftover meat scraps, stir fries, or what I like to call sloppy beef (ground beef simmered in broth with veggies and mustard). All of these things require minimal effort and time to prepare and can be made by things that I always tend to have around. When transitioning from the standard American diet where the staples are breads, pastas, and other grain-based foods, it is important to try new things to find out what can serve the function. I find that upping the amount of vegetables I eat, particularly things like squash or root vegetables can really complete a meal without having to add a difficult to digest, grain-based starch. So find the things that work for you! And look out for videos in the future of some of my quick-to-come-together meals.

Buy in bulk:

When you start to get a sense of your favorite healthy foods, seek out ways that you can buy them in bulk. Not only does this save money, but it’s one less thing to worry about during your regular shopping sessions. If you have a chest freezer (definitely recommended), you can even buy meat and vegetables in bulk. Having consistent access to high quality proteins was one of the biggest steps I made toward being able to eat well all the time. A freezer full of grass fed ground beef is a true source of food security! You can also buy big bags of frozen mixed vegetables or berries so that every day you can get all your servings of vegetables and fruits.

If you don’t have a freezer, there are dry goods you can purchase with long shelf lives. Simple things like high quality sea salt or raw apple cider vinegars are incredibly utilitarian and a good idea to always have around. Saturated fats like, ghee, tallow, lard, and coconut oil are all very stable at room temperature and are packed with nutrition. Even some canned foods like canned fish or coconut milk can be a good option.

I’ve been known to buy 25 lb bags of dried coconut. This not only meant I had plenty of coconut for adding to meals and making healthy treats, but it also encouraged me to start making my own coconut milk and butter from scratch. This is really an opportunity to get creative and to play with processing your own food.

Organize your kitchen:

After working in multiple professional kitchens, one observation I had was that the most successful kitchens are the one with enough space for the stuff they have. Novice cooks will often seek the newest kitchen gadget in an effort to make more delicious food. But it isn’t the hardware that makes a nice meal, it’s the care, love and attention that goes into seeking quality ingredients, preparing them respectfully and presenting them nicely that makes a meal truly nourishing.

In fact the most valuable kitchen asset is counter space. With plenty of counter space, you can work more efficiently. A bit of a kitchen minimalist myself, I always value space more than stuff. It’s really great that you got that 12 in crepe pan or quesadilla maker on sale, but do you really use it often enough to justify taking up the space? Will there ever be a time when you make it through that jug of rancid Jamaican jerk spice or eat that four year old can of spam?

As an exercise, you can take everything out of the kitchen and put it into another room temporarily. Live your life as you do and as you cook all your food, bring in the tools and pantry items you use and find an easy to reach place for the most commonly used items, trying to keep your counters as clear as possible. After a week or so, it will become clear what you actually use on a regular basis. Then, look at the pile of the stuff in the other room and see just how much you can let go of, then put the rest into storage or to the less accessible parts of your kitchen. If you have empty cupboards or space, let it be empty for as long as possible. Oftentimes we put things places just to fill space rather than with any intention. What you are ultimately left with is a kitchen that actually works. You won’t have to dig through mountains of pots and pans just to get to your favorite one. You will actually be able to find the things you are looking for quickly and easily. Cooking and especially cleaning will be magnitudes less stressful and there will be a sense of lightness and clarity that can only be achieved with minimal clutter.

Keep it simple:

We are in this for the long haul, and that means you need to find a way to feed yourself that is sustainable. You can’t be making elegant, five-course, fine dining meals every day. We want to enjoy our food, but it doesn’t have to be fancy to be enjoyable. In fact, I recommend keeping your meals as simple as possible most of the time. Challenge yourself to see how few ingredients you can put together to make something that tastes great. With flavorful ingredients like fresh herbs and medicinal plants like fresh ginger, turmeric and garlic or favorite sauces like mustards, tapenades or pestos, meals come together very quickly. If you are feeding a larger number of people, things like soups and stews are a great way to make simple ingredients go a long way, and they can be made in big batches to freeze some for later. Fermenting a large batch of vegetables into sauerkraut means you always have another way to add vegetables and probiotics to the plate. Humble vegetables like carrots, onions and celery are cheap even when organic and incredibly versatile and useful. Find the things that work for you without too much stress, and constantly seek to make them simpler.

Be grateful

It really is worth it to work for your food. As one of our most basic needs, it is something to which we should devote as much time as we can. We’ve become so distracted by modernism and technology that we’ve forgotten how gratifying and truly nourishing it can be to actively take care of yourself and prepare the food that goes into your body. Not only do you have more control of the quality of ingredients, you develop a relationship with the things that are going to become part of you, and you are inviting them in with more awareness and intent. You may get strange stares from the people who aren’t yet ready to do what you’re doing, but you can be grateful for the intimate awareness you have of your body and the foods that affect it.

There is abundant research on the power of practicing gratitude and its ability to inspire happiness. In order to really get the most out of your food, you should spend at least as much time appreciating a meal as it took to prepare it. After you finish eating, take a minute to sink your awareness inside and feel the fullness within you. Feel the food asking to become part of you and graciously accept its request. Sit in the feelings of gratitude and happiness for as long as you like and feel the deep, fulfilling energy that comes from true appreciation. 

Author: Brad “Bee” Zayac B.S., C.N.C.

Psychology B.S, Certified Nutritional Consultant, CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach, Permaculture Design Certificate


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Healthy Eating with Kids

9/8/2015

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What about UNREFINED29 for kids?  We view our program to be one that everybody can do.  Some individuals might need some modifications to our program so they can obtain the nutrients they need.  What we strive for is a whole foods diet and avoiding as many toxins as possible.  We do not consider this a diet but a lifestyle.  The benefits of eating a whole foods diet extend to children and adults alike.  It can be a little bit trickier to get kids interested in eating healthful foods.


Five tips to get your kids to eat healthful foods:


  1. Eat with your kids.  They want to be like you and they will follow the example you set.

  2. Don’t assume kids won’t like certain foods.

  3. Don’t give up on a food after a single rejection.  Encourage a sample bite of a food multiple times and try cooking the same food in different ways.

  4. Don’t give kids too many options. Cooking them there own meal doesn’t teach them to eat healthful foods. Being picky can be part of being a kid but they can learn to enjoy vegetables.

  5. Kids will eat when they are hungry, and they will eat healthful food if they are consistently given the chance to do so.
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Are you willing to change what you're doing to feel better? 

9/1/2015

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Flexibility Promotes Success


One thing I have found as a nutritionist is I have to be willing to be flexible and to consider different ideas regarding nutrition.  I realize that many things change every day.  My own body is one of those things as is the whole body of nutrition research.  I have to be willing to adjust my diet and lifestyle to what works for me and what I know.  I was a strict vegetarian for many years because I firmly believed that was the healthiest diet for me.  Once I learned more about my body and how the body works, I realized that being a vegetarian wasn't working that well for me.  To be able to let go of unhelpful ideas with ease and try new things out has led me to even healthier choices.  There are times when I do need more carbohydrates; while at other times, I need more fats.  Perhaps I am depleted in certain vitamins.  I must be willing to accept that things change and that there are times when I need to change the usual things I do for myself.  I must be willing to adjust--maybe even on a daily basis.  When I was growing up a vegetarian, I believed that cholesterol was bad and that soy was healthful.  I have now changed my opinion on those things, and I realize that almost any concept can benefit from periodic reconsideration and reevaluation.  Everything works differently for people, and there are many different foods that work great for one person and poorly for others.  This is one reason why I don't believe in forcing my clients to precisely calculate calories or macronutrients every day.


As a nutritionist my job is to share with you the information that I know, but you are the one who is living in your body.  You know what makes you feel good and what does not.  There is so much information out there that it can be very confusing as to which foods you should and should not be eating.  Unrefiend29 is a program to kick-start you on your journey to find the foods that work for you; it is only one of many available tools.  Flexibility allows you to recognize that other steps such as blood work and consultation with other practitioners may be needed to achieve the best health possible.
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Eating For Health Or Eating For Weight Loss? 

8/31/2015

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What’s the difference between eating for health and eating for weight loss?  If weight loss is your only goal, you can achieve it in many ways: fad diets, shakes, starving yourself, over-exercising. What’s the problem with eating just for weight loss?  If you only want to lose weight, you are most likely following a diet that’s starving your body of the nutrients it vitally needs.  You can achieve a thin figure and still be incredibly unhealthy, especially when your food plan does not contain enough of the micronutrients and macronutrients it needs.  We see many people who have dropped the pounds, but at the same time, their hair is thin, their fingernails are cracked or brittle, and their skin lacks that healthy glow we all desire.  Some of the weight they have lost may be muscle mass because their body has been starved into “survival” mode and is eating away at itself.  


Many people do feel great when they follow a fad diet for a short period of time.  But here are two key problems.  First, a fad diet cannot be sustained so the weight soon returns.  Second, in order to cut calories, a fad diet usually lacks the nutrient density our bodies require.  What does nutrient density mean?  It means that the foods you are putting into your body are actually serving your body the full complement of vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function.  Food is nourishment.  By skipping meals and reducing calories, you are also reducing the amount of vitamins and minerals delivered to your body.  Our approach is to change the foods you put into your mouth so that every calorie counts to make your body healthier!   Would you really rather be skinny at the cost of persistent mental fog and poor sleep?  Would you really rather be thin at the cost of horrible, daily gut pain?  


When we evaluate a client’s progress, we feel successful when she sleeps well, has abundant energy and clear skin, is free of gut problems like diarrhea or constipation, and does not experience anxiety or depression.  Shakes and fad diets are never a part of our program because, in our opinion, they cannot produce sustainable health improvements.  When you make health your objective, weight loss follows naturally.  The goal is to make your body perform and feel optimal all the time.
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Fats—What’s Healthy and What’s Not? The Good, the Bad and the Oily?

8/30/2015

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With so many people overweight and main-street media telling us we need to eat fat-free to stay healthy, many of us have developed an unhealthy fear of eating foods that contain fats.  Everywhere you go you see fat-free foods, but you have to understand that not all fats are created equal.  One of my primary goals as a nutritionist is to teach you the importance of quality fats. 

While carbohydrates are the main source of fuel in your body, your system turns to fat as a backup energy source when carbohydrates are not available.  Fat is a concentrated source of energy.  One gram of fat has nine calories, more than twice the calories in the same amount of carbohydrates or protein. 

Some types of vitamins require fat for absorption and storage.  Vitamins A, D, E and K, the main fat-soluble vitamins, cannot function without adequate daily fat intake.  These vitamins are essential daily needs.  Vitamin A keeps your eyes healthy and promotes good vision, vitamin D assists in keeping your bones strong by boosting calcium absorption.  Vitamin E protects cells by neutralizing free radicals, and vitamin K is important for blood clotting.  If you don't meet your daily fat intake because you follow a low-fat diet, you may be lacking sufficient levels of these important vitamins.

Fats are structural components of some of the most important substances in the body, including prostaglandins, which are hormone-like substances that regulate many of the body's functions.  Fats regulate the production of sex hormones and stress hormones.  Fats are important for healthy skin.   One of the more obvious signs of fatty acid deficiency is dry, flaky skin.  In addition to giving skin its rounded appeal, the layer of fat just beneath the skin (subcutaneous fat) acts as the body's insulation to help maintain body temperature.  Fat forms a protective cushion for your organs.  Many of your vital organs, especially the kidneys, heart, and intestines, are cushioned by fat that helps protect them from injury and hold them in place. (True, some of us "overprotect" our bodies.)  As a consequence of the body’s internal wisdom, this protective fat is the last to be used up when the body's energy reserves are being consumed.

With so many products to choose from, how do you know which fat sources are healthy?  My rule of thumb when buying fats is to consider how much processing is employed to obtain the fat from its original source.  The best fats generally are those which can be simply and easily extracted through pressing or separated by another natural process.  Olive oil, coconut oil and butter fall into this category.  At the other end of the spectrum are fats extracted by a chemical or other complex, unnatural process, processes so rigorous that the extracted fats are rancid or nearly so before you even open the container.  These fats were absent from our foods prior to the early 1900’s when these methods were first devised.  Now you will find these fats in the oils used in practically all processed food, from salad dressing to mayonnaise to conventionally grown nuts and seeds.  These fats are in all vegetable oils (canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower, etc.) as well as in the margarines made from them.  They are some of the most chemically altered foods in our diets and some of the most harmful substances you can put into your body, and yet they are almost always promoted as healthy!  Even when you shop at one of the “natural” big-box grocery stores, you will find the majority of their pre-packaged foods contains canola oil.  

Rancidity

Frequently we hear people refer to fats that are or have become rancid.  Rancid fats are fats that have spoiled.  Spoilage can occur for a number of reasons.  For instance, all fats have a smoke point which is just what it sounds like—a sufficiently high temperature at which the fat/oil will begin to smoke.  Most of us have been taught to avoid this condition for safety reasons when cooking because a fat heated to its smoke point is fast approaching the temperature at which it will ignite!  But there is also a health reason to avoid hot fats.  Over-heating fats breaks them down chemically, destroys nutritional quality and instantly turns them rancid.  That is why I seldom use fats in high-temperature cooking.  

Why are rancid fats bad for you?  Well, a rancid fat is actually a free radical.  This means it needs an antioxidant to make it usable in the body.  An important nutritional goal is to maintain an abundant supply of antioxidants in the body.  Every free radical, however, reduces your antioxidant stores.  For most of us, our antioxidants are already depleted because of our low quality diet and the harsh physical environment in which we live.  Whenever you select oil for cooking or other food preparation, chose high quality oils and cook on low heat.  Do not continue to use any oil that has started to smoke.  Discard it and start over.  Butter and ghee can withstand higher heat so they are actually better choices when it comes to cooking.  Buy butter from grass-fed sources if possible, and use a variety of non-vegetable oils such as coconut, olive, and palm. 

In summary, I would encourage you to avoid: 

Canola oil
Corn oil
Soybean oil
Vegetable oil
Peanut oil
Sunflower oil
Safflower oil
Cottonseed oil
Grapeseed oil
Margarine and other butter substitutes
Shortening
Any imitation butter or vegetable oil products

Instead, use these:
Butter (grass-fed sources, and only if you do not have dairy sensitivities/intolerances)
Ghee (grass-fed sources)
Olive oil
Avocado oil
Nut oils (no peanuts; it’s not a nut but a legume, and it’s full of mold)
Flax oil
Hemp seed oil
Coconut oil (I use this in moderation because I prefer local, seasonal products; coconut isn’t local for me)
Lard and bacon grease (contrary to what we have been led to believe, so long as the original animal source was good quality and grass-fed) 

One of the easiest changes you can make in your kitchen is to add quality fats and eliminate unhealthy fats.  Then to be sure those good fats make it from your refrigerator shelf into your body, use them often as in this quick and easy recipe for a fresh, zesty salad dressing:


Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing 

  •  juice of 4 limes (about 2/3 cup)
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard


Just combine all ingredients in a blender and blend for 20 to 30 seconds. 

Finally, remember that all fats, including the good ones, are perishable and do go bad.  Buy and store them in dark glass containers, not plastic ones.  Refrigerate fats and all nuts and seeds to prolong their life.  If your oil smells bad, toss it, and replace it with fresh. 

For more information on fats, visit:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/why-trans-fat-so-bad-–-and-what-it-anyway

http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-oiling-of-america?qh=YTo4OntpOjA7czo1OiJ0cmFucyI7aToxO3M6NDoidHJhbiI7aToyO3M6MzoiZmF0IjtpOjM7czo0OiJmYXRzIjtpOjQ7czo3OiJmYXRuZXNzIjtpOjU7czo0OiInZmF0IjtpOjY7czo1OiJmYXQncyI7aTo3O3M6OToidHJhbnMgZmF0Ijt9

If you still think real butter is bad, take a look at:

http://holisticsquid.com/butter-is-better/
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Ten Ways a Nutritionist Can Change Your Life

8/27/2015

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  1. Meal planning and preparation are difficult and time-consuming.  A nutritionist can provide tips, tricks, and techniques to make this process easier and more efficient.

  2. Understanding diets and food restrictions is hard.  There is so much information just on the Internet it’s easy to lose your way.  A nutritionist is trained to design a program for you as an individual based on what you have going on in your own body.  We are all different; there is no one diet that works for everyone.

  3. Learning to read labels is sometimes like learning a new language.  When you walk into the grocery store, you may not be prepared to decipher what’s healthy and what's not just by reading an ingredient list.  Food additives, sugars, and other unhealthy compounds can be difficult to detect in many products.  A nutritionist can explain what to look for during a grocery store walkabout with you.

  4. Many people have only a limited range of cooking skills.  With the guidance of a nutritionist, you may find that foods you thought you hated can be made much tastier simply by learning new ways to prepare them.  

  5. Nutritionists are trained to prepare meal plans incorporating both macro and micronutrients.  We know how to check the level of crucial nutrients that your body must have.  We can also help you find new food sources to supply those nutrients.  Among other things, this includes calculating the proper amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates you need based on your lifestyle.

  6. Support.  All of us can benefit from a little support now and then.

  7. Diets are not just for weight loss; they truly are the key to good health.  Most people don’t realize that nutrition can have profound effects throughout the body and brain.  Gut problems, depression, skin issues, mood disorders, brain fog, poor sleep can all be associated with an inadequate diet.  Nutritionists are trained to help get to the root of the problem and devise changes to help you live a healthier, happier life.

  8. Everyone's body is different.  A nutritionist can help you observe, understand, and address what your body is trying to tell you about the dietary deficiencies it’s experiencing.

  9. Fad diets can be extremely detrimental to your health.  A nutritionist can show you how to implement healthy changes that last a lifetime.

  10. Vitamin and mineral needs and assimilation vary significantly from person to person.  Determining the correct doses can be difficult to do on your own.  A nutritionist has the knowledge to help you zero in on suitable dosages for your body.  
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Can you eat it in moderation?

8/26/2015

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Why I Dislike the Phrase, Everything in Moderation. 
I hear people say all the time, “Everything is OK in moderation.”  Here’s my opinion and my opinion only.  After studying nutrition and working with people and seeing their results, this phrase is a load of BS.  Now, we all want to feel as though we aren’t restricted so we can enjoy our lives and not be stressed about food every time we go out the door.  That’s fine; that’s understandable, and I totally believe that excess stress can be more detrimental than a poor diet.  But here’s my concern.  There are some foods that just don’t work for some people, and what works for one person may not work at all for someone else.  Everyone is different.  There is no one diet, no one formula, and we are constantly learning that science is not always solid.  Changes in “official” recommendations add confusion.  But on a practical, everyday level, I have seen over and over that some foods just don’t make people feel good.  The reason I hate the phrase, everything in moderation, is this.  I think it gives some people permission to not take care of themselves and to not fully eliminate some foods that really are not helpful to them.  Someone whose body has a reaction to, for example, eggs will be taxing her body every time she puts eggs in her mouth even if she does it in moderation only.  Certainly, some feel worse than others when they make poor food choices.  To each their own, but whenever you identify a food that bothers you, I strongly suggest that you do everything in your power to avoid it entirely.  Sure we all have slip-ups or eat something we didn’t know had an offending ingredient in it.  I will be the first to say that obsessing and worrying about it is not going to be healthful either.  The brain is powerful, and the best we can do is accept and move forward.  Don’t think of avoiding your unhealthy foods as a deprivation.  Try to view it instead as a challenge and an opportunity to seek out and find other fulfilling things in life that will have a positive effect on your body.
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On call nutritionist 24/7 

8/25/2015

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Ever wonder what it would be like to have a nutritionist available 24/7? Someone to stop you from walking to the freezer at 9pm to eat some ice cream or someone to whisper in your ear every morning what healthy breakfast you should make to kick start your day?

What would it be like if someone helped you make your grocery list and plan your meals for a month? Or helped you figure out why food gives you highs and lows? What if you had someone there with you 24/7 to help you find your perfect foods to keep you completely energized and healthy all day?

Having someone guide you week by week for a month would cost you around $1700.00. On average, a nutritionist will cost you $85.00 per hour and with that kind of help and support, you would be talking to them for at least an hour a day.

Imagine if you could do that for a fraction of the price! This is why I created UNREFINED29. I constantly hear of people wishing for better health. More energy. Less pain. Less acne. Less headaches. A clearer mind. The list goes on and on… Every time I hear of someone mentioning a discomfort, all I want to do is help them find the food that is affecting their body in a negative way. I want to help them nourish their body with what makes them thrive! I want to find what it is that is wearing them down.

A process of elimination to find what is causing your body discomfort takes time. I know it’s not realistic for people to spend nearly $2,000 a month on nutrition. That is where UNREFINED29 comes into play. A 29 day program to find out what YOUR body needs and what YOUR body wants eliminated.

I guide you through the process. I answer the questions and I am here for you 24/7 via a secret group on Facebook.

If you want more one on one time with me, you can have it for a discounted rate through the monthly group.

I want people to have overall better health, focus and energy. Please look into my online group and see how you can have all my services AND save $1350.00 in the month!

On average to get all of the Content and information that you get during the 29 day program is equal to around 25 hours of help and support. at $85. an hour that puts you at $1700 to work with me one on one. So you are saving $1,350 by doing UNREFINED29 Level one and $1,050 on level two. This program gives you more information that you could gain from just working with me because it is in a group setting. It also gives you all the tools you need for success in the future.  On top of nutrition you also get the essential oils in the kit as well as support using the essential oils.


During the 29 days that you do UNREFINED29 you will receive

Level 1 $350

*4-4.5 hours In Live webinars which we also send so you can listen as many times as you wish.
*90 Page Ebook outlining the whole elimination diet.
*Unlimited Support on Facebook group from peers as well as Monique and Jamie
*Recipes
*Nutrition education
*what to buy and not to buy at the grocery store
*how to change up your clinging supplies
*supplement suggestion individualized to each person



Level 2: $650
*Everything from Level 1 plus 4 hours of one on one nutrition consulting with a holistic nutritionists.
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You can't out eat stress 

2/2/2015

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The other day at the gym I read this on a mirror:


“Pain is weakness leaving the body”


I have seen this quotation more than once, but it didn’t really hit me until the other day that I really, really dislike this quote.  


Why don’t I like this quotation?  Maybe it’s just personal; maybe it’s my inability to stop and take care of myself when I need to.  But I think it’s bigger than that.  I love The Paleo Mom; I think she’s amazing.  On her site today (www.thepaleomom.com), she wrote about her own journey and the personal stress she has experienced along the way.  I flashed back to the quotation, and I realized the reason I dislike it is because it supports the common perception that we live in a culture where we don’t take care of ourselves; where pain is considered to be simply a weakness; where we are expected to push through the pain instead of recognizing that it may signal a failure to love and honor ourselves.  


I truly enjoy yoga.  One of its fundamental principles is that you just do what you can.  It’s a practice, and there should be no expectations beyond that.  It is not about being “perfect” or becoming dissatisfied if progress seems too slow.  In today’s world, we believe people are naturally lazy, and we all just need to push ourselves harder.  What if we lived in a society that was exactly opposite?  What if we understood that forcing ourselves to go to the gym on some days was far more detrimental than going home and taking a nap?  Too many of us never stop even to take care of ourselves.  


During the last six months, I have experienced pretty severe stress on my own personal journey.  A lot of things hit me all at once, and I have been so thankful that I do eat a healthful diet.  Who knows what my health would be like right now if I hadn’t improved my nutrition?  But this leads to another very important question.  Is it possible to just “out eat” the stress?  Given the tremendous stress load most people consider to be normal, I think the answer has to be “No.”  At some point our bodies just say enough is enough?


I asked myself, “When have I gone to bed in peace at the end of the day and had nothing else on my mind?”  I didn’t like the answer.  It seems each night I lay down with a million things I should have done or need to do flooding my mind.  Wouldn’t it be so much better if we just accepted that we are good enough instead of pushing ourselves even harder?  We spend so much time worrying about the outcome that we forget to simply enjoy the path that gets us there.  If the goal eludes us, we see ourselves as complete failures.  


What if stress is so much more powerful than anything I can do as a nutritionist to help you with food?


Food and diet are important elements in our lives, but what if nutrition cannot overcome the twin obstacles of relentless self-criticism and the constant need to push harder.  What if the first step for any positive lifestyle change is to recognize the importance of loving yourself and easing up on your “go-go-go” attitude?  Do you even have an idea how to take that first step?  Can you  slow down and appreciate the happiness on the road to your life’s goals?  How much more fulfilling would the end goal be if you did?  


My fear for myself, as well as for many of my clients, is what impact the stress in my life is having on my health, and can I really help you if you aren't willing to help yourself in the most basic way?  In this respect, I share a concern similar to that found in The Paleo Mom’s blog: will people believe in my nutrition advice if I have allowed stress to cripple me?  It’s a matter of practicing what I preach and a thought for all of you who are you actually caring for yourself.  You won’t ever reach your end goal if your body gives out along the way!


Consider these simple steps to focus on the care of your Self:



  • Stop, breathe, eat and relax

  • Take a break rather than pushing yourself harder

  • Sleep when your body says it’s tired

  • Enjoy the path that is taking you to your dreams!
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10 Ways We Reduce Our Stress 

2/2/2015

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1. Yoga: Yoga is a great way to stretch your body and relax your mind. If you are new to yoga, and like group classes, check out your local yoga studio. Many places will offer your first class or first week for free. You can also find yoga classes at your local recreation center. If you are prefer to do yoga out of your home, there are many YouTube channels that offer yoga for free! Just search “Yoga” in YouTube.

2. Acupuncture

3. Meditation: There are many ways that people can meditate. Meditation is a sacred and personal thing and it’s all about finding the type of meditation for you. If you are new to meditation, here are some ideas of how you can start and find the best way that works for you.

  1. Silent Meditation: Take ten minutes every day to be in silence.  Taking this time to sit, be focused and concentrating on your own being can really help to center yourself and eliminate stress for the day. During this time, you will focus on your breathing. In through your nose and out through your mouth. Making sure to take deep, long breaths.

  2. Guided Meditation: There are many applications, videos and recordings for guided meditations. These can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour. Some of these meditations can be more spiritual than others. Again, it’s about finding what is right for you. If you are new to meditation, one that we really like and recommend is called Headspace. You can find this as an application on your smart phone or iPad. Other places to find guided meditations would be through podcasts (search: guided meditation), on YouTube or you can pay for mP3s. Here is a link of one that we also like, it is more spiritually based.

  3. Visual Meditation: Visual meditation can be done in many different ways. The main thing is concentrating on being present and to not think about the past or the future. During this type of meditation, some people will visualize colors. Thinking about breathing in a certain color and breathing out another color.  Or, visualizing yourself surrounded by light, feeling safe, secure and grounded. Another way, is to visualize yourself in a field of flowers. Visualizing the smells, the feelings and being relaxed. And lastly, you can visualize yourself accomplishing something that you desire. “I see myself….doing xyz with ease and effort”

  4. Mantras: Coming up your own mantra based on something you feel in your life and concentrating on that saying for 10 minutes. With your eyes closed, say your mantra over and over and visualize yourself in those words. Here are some examples: “I am open and receptive to my highest good now.” “I am abundant and prosperous.” “I am healthy and energized.” “I am full of love and light.” “I am with peace and pure bliss.”

4. Oils: Essential oils not only smell great but they also have a neurological response inside your body! The most simple way to receive the benefits from essential oils, is to put a drop in your hand, rub your hands together, cup over your nose and inhale. Take 3 deep breaths. Again, it’s finding what essential oil works best for you and your body. Here is a list of essential oils to start with:

  1. Lavender: Is the “gateway” to essential oils. Lavender is great for all things calming, relaxing and anti-stress. It is very grounding without causing you to be sleepy.

  2. Frankincense: This oil has been used for a very long time! It is referenced in the bible many time and can be found in many spiritual places. This oil is commonly used for meditation and grounding.

  3. Chamomile: This oil has calming and relaxing properties. This oil can help reduce anxiety, anger and negative emotions.  

  4. Bergamont: This oil has calming properties. It is citrus based.

  5. Geranium: Geranium is an essential oil that helps relieve tension, stress and release negative memories (it works with the liver chakra to release toxins from the body)

  6. Wild Orange: Is a natural antidepressant and mood elevator.

  7. Sadalwood: This oil is used in many cultures for yoga and meditation. It works to balance the emotions.

  8. Ylang Ylang: This oil is considered an aphrodisiac. It works differently on different people. This oil can be either stimulating or calming.  

  9. Vetiver: Vetiver oil is psychologically grounding, calming, and stabilizing

  10. Cedarwood: This oil stimulates the limbic region of the brain (centre of emotions) and the pineal gland, which releases melatonin.

5. Go to bed early and get 8-9 hours of sleep

6. Journal:  a morning journal can be extremely beneficial to productivity as well as releasing emotions. You can write in the morning about your feelings, your dreams or what you want to accomplish during the day. Some people like “to-do” lists, which help to release the feelings of overwhelm. Another thing you can write down in the morning, are 5 things you are grateful for accomplishing during your day that have not even happened yet. This is the practicing the “Law of Attraction” and expressing gratitude.

7. Expressing Gratitude: Expressing Gratitude is simply thanking the “Universe” for all that you are and all that you having in your life. Even if you are stuck in feelings of lack and feel this is impossible, simply by changing your verbage and outlook on life can start to shift your awareness and bring more to you. By saying or writing down: “I am grateful for a day full of ease and bliss,” “I am grateful for my health and safety,” “I am grateful for new opportunities today.” If you are new to “The Law of Attraction”, this might seem a little crazy to you, but changing your outlook on life and focusing on what you are grateful for, rather than what you lack, will actually bring more positive things to your life.

8. Read: Spending a few moments during the day to read something for knowledge or enjoyment can help to reduce stress. So often we get caught up in what we “have” to do that we forget to take a few moments and enjoy the small things.

9. Drink a hot beverage or bone broth:  A hot cup of tea or water with lemon is warming, soothing and nourishing. You can have this be a tea that has herbs for relaxing or add a drop of essential oil to help your body relax as well (Chamomile is suggested)

10. Epsom salt bath or foot bath: Using Epsom salts in a foot bath or full body bath will help draw out toxins and replenish magnesium in our bodies.  A foot bath is a great suggestion for those who are busy or just don’t like baths.  The skin pores in our feet are the largest in our bodies which makes this technique a quick way to pull toxins out and feel the benefits of the essential oils. Adding essential oils such as lavender or geranium are added benefits for reducing stress!


Disclaimer: Please remember that anything discussed here does not constitute medical advice and cannot substitute for appropriate medical care. Where essential oils are mentioned, it’s recommended you use only pure, unadulterated therapeutic grade essential oils and follow the safety directions of the manufacturer.
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Lets Talk Sustainability 

2/1/2015

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At the suggestion of a family member, I recently watched a thought-provoking documentary called “Cowspiracy” which presented some startling statistics about the way we produce our food and the environmental impact of our current production methods.  This information reinforced my opinion that good nutrition can not only benefit the individual.  It can also result in a benefit for the larger population as well.  Bear with me for a few moments while I stand on my soapbox to share with you some thoughts on sustainable living and nutrition.


“Cowspiracy” is full of information, and being as informed as possible about any issue is important regardless of the position you may advocate.  I still believe that grass-fed animals from local farms can play a significant role in healthful nutrition.  But clearly there is a lot of work to be done in order to find a very different way to feed the world.  To completely eliminate meat, however, seems to be an extreme choice, and I do not believe it is the healthiest alternative.  We need to look outside the box.  Just the other day I read about using cricket flour as an alternative protein source.  I also wonder how the multitude of household pets impacts the environment.  Almost every home seems to have at least one pet, and they don’t usually feed themselves.  Then there is the issue of waste.  We claim that we can't feed the world, but how much food do we simply waste?  What if we only took what we actually needed?  What would that look like?  I also find it so interesting that we in America find certain animals so “sacred” that we can't even think about consuming them.  Consider the number of horses, cats, dogs, and rabbits routinely slaughtered or euthanized; almost all that meat goes to waste.


The producers of “Cowspiracy” don't talk about sustainability from the perspective of using the whole animal.  We live in a culture where we tend to use only the animal parts we like.  What would it look like, though, if each family owned a cow and actually used every single part of it?  For instance, I use tallow (beef fat) as a primary skincare product.  If everyone used that rather than the chemical-laden products the makeup companies insist we need, wouldn’t that produce a huge financial and environmental benefit?   Liver (yuck?) is the most nutrient-dense food there is, more than any vegetable or anything else.  Given the choice, would you eat it or throw it out?  What if we ate for nutrition instead of for artificial flavors, sugar, and salt?  What if half of America wasn't hungry most of the time due to severe blood sugar imbalance?  What If people were actually satisfied after a healthful meal?  Would we even need the amount of food we now use?  What if restaurants and food companies were required to make better use of the excess, leftovers, and scraps that are now just discarded?  Perhaps we could feed the homeless.  What if, instead of using pesticides to kill off the bugs that eat our crops, we just ate the bugs instead?  Many cultures understand that insects are a viable and abundant source of protein.  The goal is to stop raping our planet in general, and the debate will continue as to what is the most viable solution.  But can’t we try to extract the really useful ideas from all the voices in this debate?  


Vegans insist they live "healthy," and many do.  But is every vegan healthy simply because he follows vegan principles?  When you educate yourself about cholesterol, vitamins like A and B12, and minerals such as iron, you begin to understand how vegetables can provide these nutrients, but you also begin to question if our intensive, large-scale farming methods can continue to produce quality vegetables on land that has already been stripped of its original natural nutrients.  Based on all I learned at nutrition school, the most healthful approach seems to be a whole foods plant-based diet.  Getting adequate protein and fat from other sources is very, very difficult.  I see things like on this movie where they show fake meat please no one tell me that in any way that is more sustainable or healthier.  I suggest everyone watch “A Place at the Table” which explores hunger in the United States.  Even if going vegan is the answer to the world’s nutrition problems, it’s a sad fact that people, including a lot of people in America, live in food deserts--places that simply do not have local produce available anywhere.  And even when it is available, limited food budgets make vegetables seem unappealing.  This is a huge problem.


It seems unlikely that the debate between vegetarians and meat-eaters will be settled any time soon.  Regardless of the outcome of this debate (as well as so many others in the nutrition arena, such as the use of GMOs), the issue of sustainability must be addressed.  If the process cannot be sustained or if the process does not sustain the person, failure is almost certain.  In the meantime, I realize that what I need to do most of all is practice what I preach.  I need to live the way I believe the world should live.  I see that I am more wasteful than I want to be, and I don’t always make sure that every piece of meat I buy is 100% grass-fed and sustainable.  Since I do have the education, I need to use it, and if that means I have to take the extra time to double check products, ingredients and sources, then that’s what I need to do.  I want to set an example so people see that each individual can make a difference.  I believe in gardens instead of picturesque lawns, so this year I will get a garden tower to grow my own food and donate what I don’t use, giving back to the community in a truly sustainable way.  Volunteers can create urban gardens where only food deserts now exist.  We can educate families on a tight budget so they can make healthy food decisions.  Don’t believe that we can’t each make an impact because we can.  I suggest all of us take a look at five to ten things we can do in our daily lives.  Maybe it’s making sure that we buy locally for one solid week.  Maybe it’s investing now in something that will benefit us all later.  Volunteer.  Eat organic.  Find a local farm and buy food there.  Get to know the owners and understand you are supporting a real family.  Recycle.  Educate yourself on your grocery store.  What do they truly believe in and support?  Improvement is always possible, but it is up to each of us as individuals.  Don’t just wait for somebody else to do it!


Now, on to the topic of communicating accurate, useful nutrition information.  I have found myself very frustrated and upset just in the last week by the number of people who talk about nutrition but have no business doing so.  When it comes to nutrition, it seems as if almost everyone is an “expert.”  The more extreme your position is, the more of an “expert” you are!  I have to chuckle when I say this because I was a vegetarian who used to open my mouth all the time to “educate” people whether or not they wanted the “benefit” of my wisdom.  I wish someone would have slapped me.  While I did have some nutrition education (maybe even more than average), I was far from an expert.  I hadn’t gone to school for that yet.  Since today’s facts change as we learn new things, I realize that what I know now may be very much outdated in just a few years.  But I also know that as a nutritionist, it is my job to keep up with changing knowledge so my clients receive the best advice possible.  People who are not professionally trained may not have much incentive to review and re-evaluate their opinions.  Those are persons who should just keep their mouths shut.  


Too many people rely on nutrition information regardless of the source.  As someone who has invested time and effort to become genuinely educated on nutrition, I find this troubling.  You are certainly free to take the advice of any old Joe Shmoe in an effort to save a few dollars, but is this really the best approach?  Would you follow the free advice of a non-lawyer on an important legal matter instead of consulting with an actual lawyer?  Nutrition advice is not any different.  I have seen far too many supplement companies which are very skilled at multi-level marketing but which also present misleading or outright false information.  The other day a woman called me a “certified” bitch when I tried to explain that a peanut was a legume and not a true nut.  A friend on Facebook was looking for a nutritionist to help her make some lifestyle changes.  She received a huge number of responses from people who were certain they could help her, but do you know how many of them were actually nutritionists?  NOT A SINGLE ONE!  There always seems to be someone who watched one nutrition video and is now convinced he knows all there is to know about healthy eating.


A tremendous amount of great information is readily available, and many people have picked up bits and pieces of it.  A trained nutritionist, however, is someone who knows how to best utilize that information on a person-by-person basis.  Especially when it comes to nutrition, the needs and goals of each individual must be evaluated carefully.  The fundamental question always has to be, “Just how healthy are you on your present nutrition program?”  How many times have you heard someone say, “Oh, this diet works for me,” but then she goes on and on about all of her health problems.  This is not how nutrition, properly understood and applied, works.  Dieting isn’t synonymous with nutrition.  Almost every day I see another example of a low-fat, count-your-calories diet that produced a temporary weight loss at the cost of the dieter’s health.  I posted this quote earlier this week, “Being skinny, having a six pack or working out all the time doesn't mean you're healthy.  We are so caught up with what's happening on the outside, but we ignore what our bodies are actually telling us.  My goal is to reach as many people as I can to help them learn about health and nutrition.  For many the first step will be unlearning what they were taught.  If you suffer from anxiety, depression, headaches, digestive problems, thyroid issues and more, I am here to help.  But I do not condone any short-term diet fads to lose weight.  It's not about the weight; it’s about the health.  I see a lot of people drinking shakes and smoothies, counting calories and doing other things that do not promote long-term health benefits.  Who cares if you're skinny if you're sick?”





Author: Monique Potts NC
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December 31st, 1969

1/29/2015

 

Toxins 

1/28/2015

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Toxins. Let's talk about toxins in your body and where they come from. 

Our bodies are exposed to over 2 million different toxins a day! This comes from the air you breathe, your food, beverages, environment, products that you use in your home and on your body and even from emotional feelings. 

In my own research that I have done for myself and my family, I have found out that our bodies are not designed to eliminate that many toxins. 

So what can you do? 

  • You can change the way you eat. Make sure you prepare all your own meals with grass-fed an organic as much as possible. 
  • You can make better choices with your beverages. Again, all natural, organic, non processed as much as possible. 
  • You can change the products you use in your home. I like to make a lot of my own products. This can save you money and the products feel better, smell better and are better for you! 
  • You can choose to not use the microwave.
  • Feelings of sadness or depression can cause toxins inside your body, so finding ways to relax and be stress free


I realize that in the world we live it, it's hard to eliminate so many toxins and I don't want you to be afraid to do anything because it might have "toxins" but I am just saying that there are things you can do to eliminate how many toxins you allow into your body. And just a final reminder... our bodies are designed to eliminate toxins. That is their job! Let's just help them to not have to work on over-time :)
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Blood Sugar 

1/28/2015

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Do you have balanced blood sugar? Are you eating foods for breakfast that cause your blood sugar to be unbalanced?

Symptoms of low (hypoglycemia) or high (hyperglycemia) blood sugar are many and varied.  They can be associated with a variety of other health problems as well.  Blood sugar imbalance may be responsible for the following:  waking up not hungry; waking up in the middle of the night; night sweats; daily napping; being hungry between meals; feeling nauseated during the day (especially in the morning); and generally lacking energy. Blood sugar is the first step I take before any others. 

  • A few symptoms of hypoglycemia may include:
  • Confusion
  • Weakness
  • Pale skin
  • Dizziness
  • Anxiety
  • Sweating
  • Feeling shaky
  • Poor concentration
  • Numbness in mouth and tongue
  • Hunger
  • Irritability
  • Passing out
  • Headaches
  • Nightmares or bad dreams
  • Trembling
  • Pounding heart; racing pulse
  • Poor coordination
  • Coma
  • Specific symptoms of hyperglycemia may include:
  • Increased thirst and urination
  • Sweet odor to the breath
  • Fatigue
  • Agitation and confusion
  • High levels of ketones in the urine
  • Weight gain 
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December 31st, 1969

1/28/2015

 

Why I use Essential Oils 

1/26/2015

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When I started with essential oils, I was really just looking for something to calm down my dog. 


My adopted dog from the Humane Society suffered from a lot of anxiety. He wouldn’t let me out of his site, nor would he be comfortable around anyone else who was not his direct care takers. When I was pregnant and about to have a newborn, he sensed it tremendously! His anxiety became worse and after we brought the baby home, it was really bad. He was barking and staying under my feet all day long. He would jump on everyone who walked through the door and would scrap at his kennel. It was getting bad. I had taken him to the vet to get on anxiety medication and tried a few different kinds. He was on the equivalent of “doggy xanax.” Things were still not going great and someone mentioned that I try lavender oil. I knew about lavender oil from my relaxing bubble baths and I definitely didn’t think it would help his anxiety. I mean, he was on xanax for heaven’s sake and that wasn’t even calming him down.


I had received a sample of essential oils a while back so I dug them out of my drawer that I throw everything in that I don’t use but might be useful at some point in my life. I did a little research, found the right place to put the oil on the dog. Within minutes, he was completely calmed down. He was back to my pre-pregnancy dog that I always knew! He wasn’t barking, jumping, walking under my feet. He seems calmed and happy himself. Like he was looking at me saying “Finally you found something for me. I didn’t like feeling that way either.” And since that day, I’ve never looked back! I do find myself daily saying to myself “I still can’t believe they work!” And essential oils have change my life, my dog’s life, my babies life… everything we do is different now because of the essential oils.



Finding essential oils for my dog was my gateway to learning as much as I possibly could about essential oils! 
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Are You Scared Of Fat?

1/23/2015

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So often people are mislead with dieting and the first thing they want to eliminate from their diet is FAT. We live in a "Fat-Free", "Low-Fat", "Fat-phobic" society. When the truth is, fat is a stable part of our nutrition. 

What if we told you that fat isn't culprit that you think it is? What if we told you that fat doesn't make you fat? What if we told you that fat is an important macro-nutrient?

Here is a video blog about fat: 

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An UNREFINED dinner menu for Halloween Night 

10/29/2014

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Regulating Blood Sugar 

10/17/2014

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Blood Sugar Balance

During my formal nutrition studies at Bauman, the importance of maintaining proper blood sugar balance throughout the day was emphasized over and over again.  My instructors made it very clear that this had to be a top priority for each of my clients.  Failure to balance blood sugar is detrimental to brain health, hormonal health, and emotional wellbeing.  This is so basic and so simple, and yet I have met only a handful of people who do actually maintain balanced blood sugar levels throughout their day.  After spending even a short amount of time observing the general population in Boulder County, many people note the large number of fit-looking, athletically shaped persons and conclude the health level of the majority must be quite high.  My experience, however, has shown otherwise.  Hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, both of which can have long-term adverse effects on the body, are very prevalent.  Unregulated blood sugar levels can lead to a multitude of everyday problems, and one of the most common of them is fatigue.  Crashing into that mid-afternoon “no energy” wall and needing a nap can frequently be the result of poor food choices playing havoc with blood sugar.

Symptoms of low (hypoglycemia) or high (hyperglycemia) blood sugar are many and varied.  They can be associated with a variety of other health problems as well.  Blood sugar imbalance may be responsible for the following:  waking up not hungry; waking up in the middle of the night; night sweats; daily napping; being hungry between meals; feeling nauseated during the day (especially in the morning); and generally lacking energy. Blood sugar is the first step I take before any others. 

  • A few symptoms of hypoglycemia may include:
  • Confusion
  • Weakness
  • Pale skin
  • Dizziness
  • Anxiety
  • Sweating
  • Feeling shaky
  • Poor concentration
  • Numbness in mouth and tongue
  • Hunger
  • Irritability
  • Passing out
  • Headaches
  • Nightmares or bad dreams
  • Trembling
  • Pounding heart; racing pulse
  • Poor coordination
  • Coma
  • Specific symptoms of hyperglycemia may include:
  • Increased thirst and urination
  • Sweet odor to the breath
  • Fatigue
  • Agitation and confusion
  • High levels of ketones in the urine
  • Weight gain 

Your fundamental goal is to avoid large swings in your blood sugar level.  Certain types of meals and common eating patterns have well documented negative effects on blood sugar.  Mother did know best when she insisted you eat breakfast every morning.  Skipping breakfast (or postponing it until an hour after waking) is an invitation to hypoglycemia.  Unfortunately, Mom may not have encouraged healthy eating if she fed you one of the popular, traditional Standard American Diet  (SAD) breakfasts such as waffles and syrup, pancakes and syrup, processed cereals, oatmeal, or yogurt with fruit.  Meals such as these are far too high in sugar and quickly send your blood sugar into the hyperglycemic range.  

Here’s what happens.  When the body detects a surge in blood sugar, the pancreas releases insulin to convert the sugar into glucose, the form in which the body can actually use the sugar to produce energy.  The insulin does its job very well, and the blood sugar level drops into the low range.  Your body senses this and sends signals to your brain to raise your blood sugar.  These signals generate what you feel as cravings for more sugar!  Once initiated, this rollercoaster cycle is very difficult to stop.   You must be sensitive to how you feel before and after meals.  Sugar cravings before a meal tell you that you have a low blood sugar level.  If you are tired after a meal, it’s likely you had too many carbs and not enough fat and protein in that meal.  If you have finished a meal but still crave a sweet dessert, you probably are experiencing continued blood sugar imbalance.  Once I understood the importance of a steady blood sugar level and began eating in a way to maintain that level throughout the day, I found that almost all of my persistent junk food cravings disappeared. 

A recent trend, promoted as a healthy one, is the use of “smoothies” as a breakfast food or meal replacement.  This is not something I recommend for my clients.  Even if you include in your smoothies the freshest vegetables, the healthiest nuts and other foods that seem to be highly nutritious, you will still cause your blood sugar to spike because the smoothie lets your body digest the food too quickly due to the “processing” you did in your blender.  It’s almost like injecting sugar directly into your bloodstream!  Furthermore, chewing is an important bodily process which, among other things, sends dietary signals to your brain and releases important enzymes into your body.  Eliminating this process, which is what smoothies do, in not ideal for good health.  Regular use of smoothies (or their dietary cousin, juicing) must be carefully evaluated. Juicing and smoothies may have their time and place as part of a healthy dietary plan, but I do not believe that juicing or smoothies are useful as meal substitutes.

The principal effects of any breakfast (or other meal) which pushes your blood sugar level too high are leaving you craving even more sugar and feeling hungry far too soon.  A better approach is to turn your meal planning upside down.  By that I mean start thinking about dinner for breakfast!  Step away from a SAD breakfast.  There is no nutritional reason to avoid the meats, fish and vegetables we typically associate with an evening meal.  Many of us have placed too much emphasis on convenience and speed when it comes to breakfast.  As a single, working mother, I certainly understand the apparent importance of these factors, but I have made a commitment to health for myself and my son, and I know you can do the same thing.  I prefer the crockpot as a terrific time-saving tool! I will add some of my favorite breakfast Crockpot recipe’s soon.

If you do skip breakfast for any reason (diet, lack of time, forgetfulness), try to eat as soon as you can.  Don’t compound the blood sugar problem by waiting until lunch or even dinner to have your first meal of the day. Doing so is a signal to your adrenal glands to release adrenaline in an effort to maintain a functioning energy level.  This is a very stressful way to tap your body’s resources and doing so on a regular or frequent basis cannot be sustained without injury to your health.  From an evolutionary perspective, the body used adrenaline to produce substantial short-term energy to power the fight-or-flight response when you encountered a life-or-death situation.  If you ask your body to respond in this fashion every day all day by making it think it’s starving, something has to give.  Eventually you will develop adrenal fatigue and these glands will no longer work as they should.  Without normal adrenal function, you will feel extremely tired all the time and you will be susceptible to a cascade of other hormonal issues.

Finally, to keep your blood sugar balanced, be sure any meal you eat (including snacks) contains a balance of fats, protein and carbohydrates.  Don’t try to obtain the complete daily requirement of one or the other of these categories in a single meal or concentrated snack.  Regardless of the portion size, each plate of food should be made up of: 25% fats; 25% protein; and 50% carbohydrates (vegetable sources, not grains).  Of course, as much of the food as possible should be from the healthiest sources you can find, e.g., grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, legumes, nuts and seeds, organic and, seasonal.   
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    Authors

    Jamie Nelson 
    Wellness Advocate 
     
    Monique Potts 
    Holistic Nutritionist  

    Brad “Bee” Zayac
    B.S., C.N.C.Psychology B.S, Certified Nutritional Consultant, CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach, Permaculture Design Certificate


      

     

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