Archive for Eat on Vacation

5 Love Languages, Greens, Chocolate, & 10,000 Steps: The Heart Weekend!

August 23, 2015 / / Comments Off on 5 Love Languages, Greens, Chocolate, & 10,000 Steps: The Heart Weekend!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMark and I are on a Healthy Heart Weekend:  paddle-boarding, sight seeing, and a Marriage Conference with Dr. Gary Chapman of the 5 Love Languages.  We’ve slept in 2 different hotels in 2 days, but we packed all our food, so we’ve managed to eat well, move a lot, and do some Positive Thinking.  In other words, we’re traveling healthy.  I get a lot of emails and questions about traveling, and I want to answer them with a leaning towards Heart Health.

Heart Disease is the #1 killer in America, and it’s something we should all be working to prevent.  It’s showing up in children now – moms, here’s where we step in.

Heart disease is a LIFESTYLE DISEASE.  High blood pressure, plaque, heavy-dense cholesterol, high blood sugar, hard arteries….. these are caused by the what we put in our mouth, the exercise we don’t get, and the stress we don’t manage.

No one has heart disease because they’re low in statins.

Whether we’re traveling or home, it’s important to take the steps to make our body healthy.

Let’s start with food.  Our heart primarily runs on fatty acids for fuel.  Surprising? It’s the truth, so feed your heart healthy fats!  Have you read that the new Dietary Guidelines will “un-vilify” cholesterol as a cause of heart disease?  It’s true!

“Previously the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300 mg/day. The 2015 DGAC (Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee) will not bring forward this recommendation because available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol, consistent with the conclusions of the AHA/ACC (American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology report. Cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for overconsumption.”

What about the fact that Saturated Fat has NEVER been scientifically proven to cause heart disease?

“Saturated fat has remained the main dietary villain for heart disease for over 50 years. Last year a meta-analysis of 72 studies with more than 600,000 participants determined that there was no association between how much saturated fat people ate and their risk of having a fatal or nonfatal heart attack (Annals of Internal Medicine, March 18, 2014).”

This isn’t carte blanche to eat any thing we want.  Fats are very unique and different; some are great, some are good, and some are horrible.

Stay away from vegetable oils, margarines, and trans fats, they’re always bad, always.

Eat up grass fed butter and ghee, extra virgin olive oil, coconut butter, avocados, and nuts.  Bonus: these fats have anti-fungal/bacterial/viral properties, immune boosting properties, anti-inflammatory properties, and are even healthy for our brain.

The heart also loves amino acids/protein (it is a muscle after all, and needs to rebuild it’s cells), and vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

You know how I always say “eat a TON of vegetables”?  Herbs and spices too;  Moms, stay strong when it comes to vegetables and picky kids.  You’ve GOT to win this battle.  Here’s why.

The heart (and the arteries in the penis, the neurotransmitters in the brain, the lining of the gut, bone remodeling, and white blood cell function) heavily depends on Nitric Oxide (NO).  NO is a vasodilator that relaxes the lining of the arteries and increases blood flow.  If there’s any damage to the arteries at all, which is where a lot of that NO is made, then there’s NO deficiency.

Here’s a list of foods high in natural nitrates ( which convert to NO):

*Garlic
*Beets
*Greens
*Walnuts
*Cranberries
*Honey
*Black Tea
*Pistachios
*Salmon
*Animal Organs
*Shrimp
*Onions
*Peanut Butter

Cool fact: chew your food well, because it’s the bacteria in our mouth that convert the nitrates to NO – who knew!!!

We want to leverage all the colors of the vegetable (and fruit) kingdom, because they have nutrients, besides their vitamins and minerals which are vital, called phytonutrients, that scientists are really just beginning to discover.  Nutrients called lycopene, lutein, alpha carotene, and beta carotene.

Studies show that bodies with higher levels of these nutrients have less stroke and heart attack.

What’d we pack to eat this weekend?  Chicken (already cooked), eggs, salad greens, zucchinis, cukes, tomatoes, onion, garlic, sea salt, EVOO and balsamic, roasted potatoes (left over from Wednesday- so I just warmed them) dates, peaches, nuts, Jay Robb protein powder, raw milk, raw cream, and kerry gold butter.  Oh, plus organic chocolate and coffee!  We stay in Residence Inns whenever we can because they have kitchens.

Exercise: almost as critical for the heart as food.  Have I told you I LOVE MY FITBIT??  Even on days like yesterday, where we were in a seminar from 9 to 3:30, we managed to get over 10,000 steps in.  We walked on each break, plus lunch, and again after dinner.  Had I not had the Fitbit, we’d never had taken that many steps. Most phones have counters on them if you don’t have a smart watch yet.  Friday we paddle boarded a few miles, and then walked a battlefield and Civil War Park.  Links are attached if you’re looking for fun in Richmond, Va.  Today:  lifting with Macy at the VCU gym!

5 Love Languages – for heart health?  YES!  Have you ever read the book, The Blue Zones?  It’s about the 4 places on earth with the largest populations of centenarians, or people who live past 100.  I’ve been obsessed with it for years, the same with any story I see of a Centenarian, or studies on Centenarians.

What do these people have in common, is it Kale Smoothies or Cross Fit or Veganism?  NOPE!  The biggest common link is community, usefulness, and purpose.  In other words, they’re fulfilled and happy. They have love in their life.

That’s where the 5 Love Languages comes in.  Mark and I are regular pursuers of both Happy Marriage and Happy Minds.  I say “pursuer” because happiness doesn’t just drop on our heads, it’s something we have to focus on and work for.  That’s really what “stress management” is about, right?  It’s how we handle life that matters, and the 5 Love Languages has great advice for communicating and getting along.

On that note, our heart apparently THRIVES on happy hormones and chemicals, and can be destroyed by destructive hormones (cortisol and insulin) and chemicals.  This is a big deal, and an area of growing research.

Meditation is part of progressive heart disease reversal programs because it’s been proven again and again to work.  There’s too much evidence to ignore: if leading with our negative emotions is our normal go-to, then all the good food and exercise in the world could be negated when it comes to heart health.

I’m leaving you with a few really great heart health resources, please check them out.  What we hear in our doctors offices often doesn’t correlate with the latest in the scientific research.

Most research on reversing heart disease, (not merely managing symptoms) is based on Life Style answers, like food, exercise, stress management, and sleep.

NO ONE’S MAKING MONEY OFF THOSE REMEDIES; the likely hood of a stress management rep, or a Real Whole Food rep, walking into our doctors office to sell him/her on the latest and greatest reasons to use these tools isn’t going to happen.

We’re going to have to do this on our own.

Dr. Mercola/fats/heart health.

Dr. Davis/fats/heart health.

Dr. Wortman/fats/heart health.

Podcast/Dr. Kahn/heart health and testing – FASCINATING & INFORMATIVE.

Category: Eat on Vacation, Exercise, Fats, Hormones, Mind/Body, RWF / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Summer Shape Up Part 4: You Don’t Deserve A Treat/Moral Licensing/Tomorrow Logic.

June 21, 2015 / / Comments Off on Summer Shape Up Part 4: You Don’t Deserve A Treat/Moral Licensing/Tomorrow Logic.

20150620_125014 (1)Hello from Aspen, Colorado!  Mark and I lived here in the early 90s, and we’re back for a long weekend.  I’d forgotten how majestic the Rockies are!

Pictures that have absolutely nothing to do with this Post will be randomly sprinkled throughout:)  You’ll see Maroon Bells, Ajax Mountain, and a 20150619_195723Food Festival – OMGosh.  Grilled Gizzards are now my new favorite food.

Did you catch my title?  If you take my group fitness classes, you’ve heard me say this a 1000 times at the end of the class.  Then I usually say, “it was just a workout, we didn’t do anything to make the world a better place.”  And therein lies my purpose in today’s piece.

There’s a theory called the “Moral Licensing Loophole”;  I learned that term in Gretchen Rubin’s book on Habits, called Better Than Before.  ( I’m ALL about habits.)  The Moral Licensing Loophole means that we give ourselves permission to do something “bad”, because we feel we’ve been “good”. (This is a continuation of my assertion that our thoughts are more important than a food plan.)

In my 28 years of working in health and fitness, I see this theory used all. the. time.  Heck.  I’ve used this theory!

Here’s some examples:

*That class was so hard, I can definitely afford wine tonight.

* That run was so long, I deserve ice cream.

* I just did 100 lunges! The french fries and cookies won’t even register with my body!

* I’ve worked out every day this week – I must have Calorie Deficit going on, potato chips and beer won’t even bring me back to normal!

* I’m going to overeat today and just work it off tomorrow, and probably the next day too.  So this doesn’t really count.

20150620_171446(0)Actually, that last one also falls under the “tomorrow logic” category.  As in, Now doesn’t matter because I’m going to follow good habits Tomorrow.

I’ve even fooled myself into thinking that extreme indulgence today will give me extra self control tomorrow.  Does that sound familiar?

Here’s some facts, followed by thoughts we need to cement in our brain:

1) Studies show that Rewards inspire TEMPORARY behavior.

2) Everything we do counts. We are the culmination of our every day habits.

3) Tomorrow-logic doesn’t work, because our actions and behaviors cause brain chemistry that perpetuates more of the same behavior, not different behavior.

Let’s look at these points a little deeper.

“Rewards only inspire temporary behavior”.  That’s a well studied, well 20150619_203249documented fact, yet rewards are used so often to motivate behavior change that you’d never know it. Think about all those 12 week weight loss contests.  Or attempts at losing weight before a wedding or a beach vacation. Who do you know that’s actually kept the weight off once the designated time frame is over?  I have to keep beating this drum:  weight loss is NEVER a big enough motivation to eat healthy and exercise forever.  If it was, 95% of everyone who goes on a diet wouldn’t gain their weight – plus a few extra pounds – back.

A “reward” implies an “end”.  When this is about weight loss, that translates to a temporary, and often heroic, effort at Deprivation, feelings of Sacrifice, and a sense of Hardship.  All of these are Negative Values.  They make us feel as if we deserve some sort of Prize at the end, usually a food prize.

SOLUTION:

20150619_200732Change your thoughts about the food you eat.  This was what my last Post focused on, but there’s more.  In addition to looking at Bad Foods as potentially cancer causing, or migraine causing, or heart disease causing, what about framing Good Foods and Good Choices in a positive light.

*”Thank goodness I don’t eat after dinner anymore, I sleep so much better now.”

*”Thank goodness I don’t drink alcohol every night, I sleep better, my face isn’t puffy, and I have better energy in the morning.”

*”Thank goodness I started packing lunch every day.  I can’t remember the last time I felt sleepy in the afternoon.”

*”Thank goodness I’ve gotten rid of the starchy and sugary carbs, my stomach is so flat!”

Positive Assertions!  Friday night we went to a food festival, which was amazing!  We both ate a lot of food, and felt pretty full.   Alright, we probably ate too much, BUT, no bread and no pasta.  ( there were no desserts, so that wasn’t even a temptation)  We got back (walked home up a mountain!), feeling stuffed, but our stomachs looked fine – honestly.

Not being bloated and sick and gassy, it’s WONDERFUL. That’s our motivation for not eating grainy, sugary carbs.  We Feel So NORMAL and good that it’s worth it.

“Everything we do counts. We’re the culmination of our every day habits.” 20150620_171508 This is why I counsel my clients to start eating well RIGHT NOW.  Don’t wait for Sunday, or the 1st, start now.  It’s not about weight, it’s about whether you’re putting foods in your mouth that make you feel good or make you feel like crap – in the long term.

No fooling ourselves that a little bit of poison doesn’t matter.  Or that falling off the wagon won’t hurt.  Everything counts.  Look down at your stomach – is it flat or puffy?  Are you energetic and clear thinking, or tired and foggy?  How’s your skin?  How’s your sleep?  Do you digest without bloating, farting or burping?

Everything counts, and here’s why:

“Tomorrow-logic doesn’t work, because our actions and behaviors always cause brain chemistry that perpetuates more of the same behavior, not different behavior.”

When we tell ourselves that we’re not going to drink the wine or eat the pasta or have the chips, and then we do, we STRENGTHEN the habit in our brain.  We don’t weaken it with our actions or our pledge to be better tomorrow, ever.  The action creates chemicals that create substance -matter- in our brain. The action makes it harder to resist next time, not easier.  If over indulgence was a deterrent, we’d have no obese people, no alcoholics, no drug addicts, no gamblers, etc.  

Indulgence begets more indulgence.  Always.

Solution:  In addition to changing your thoughts about what makes you feel good and happy, access your circumstances and surroundings.  What do you need to change there?

Could you:

*Keep your home a junk free zone.

*Pack a lunch every day.

* Make enough dinner that you have leftovers for lunch.

*Pledge to quit depriving yourself, and eat 3 meals a day of Real Whole Food.

*Make butter, olive oil, and coconut oil regular additions to each of your meals so that you’re not starving.

*Set aside time to plan your whole week, so you can schedule grocery shopping, packing, and cooking, and power cooking.

*Want a sweet or a salty?  Make It Yourself.  Learn how to bake cookies with almond flour, honey, and dark chocolate.  Learn how to bake homemade french fries in your oven. Learn how to make homemade ice cream, with real cream, swerve, and vanilla or cocoa powder.

Back to the word “deprivation”, that’s not what being healthy is about, but that’s the term and the attitude that’s been instilled in all of us since the 1970s, right?  “If you want to be healthy, you need to eat boiled chicken and steamed broccoli.”  That’s such bull crap!

I still remember Mrs Poland from my high school saying, “if you’re not hungry, you’re not losing weight”.  I believed that for decades, and it’s so wrong! Hunger and deprivation set us up to Fail, not Win.

Hunger’s the enemy, and we can keep it at bay by having hearty meals full of good fats, good proteins, and a TON of vegetables; not over exercising, and working hard at getting enough sleep.

Those are the secrets and the tricks to being a Normal Weight, feeling good, being healthy, and having nice skin.  Honest.  Get in touch with me if you need help. 

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Eat on Vacation, Exercise, Fats, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Weight Loss / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

True Grit, Good Eating, and Lots of Pictures!

May 19, 2015 / / Comments Off on True Grit, Good Eating, and Lots of Pictures!

4 girls after walking cereOur #2 daughter, Amanda, just graduated from college this past weekend.  Graduation is a big deal for everyone, but this is extra special to us.

Amanda’s epileptic, and epilepsy and college aren’t very conducive; she did it anyway.  She graduated from UVa despite more seizures there cumulatively than she’s had since she was 7.  She worked through post seizure migraines and pain, pre-seizure aura’s, and memory loss due to cluster seizures.  She had more trips to the hospital than most people have in a life time.  She missed classes and had to deal with explaining – over and over again – to her professors why.

Some days she called home crying that staying at UVa didn’t seem possible, or healthy.  But she stayed, and she persevered through more obstacles than most of us will ever encounter.20150515_154723
amanda I on step FridayI don’t know why God choose Amanda for these trials.  I do know that coming out on the other end has made her really strong.

Last week, one of my friends put this on Facebook:  “On particularly rough days, when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100%… that’s pretty good.”

That’s Amanda. She literally defines True Grit and No Excuses, and I’m so proud of her.

It’s easy to see how Epilepsy and Lifestyle are super related.  Seizures are20150516_115227 (1) triggered by dehydration, high and low blood sugar, alcohol, lack of sleep, stress, full moons, periods and God knows what else.  No one can control the moon, or a woman’s cycles, but food, water, alcohol, sleep and stress management, they’re all controllable. (Seizures can still have a mind of their own.)

Amanda has big, obvious results if she doesn’t manage her life carefully, but I want to venture that all of us have r20150516_094620esults from not managing our lives carefully: headaches, stomach problems, weight problems, auto-immune issues, fatigue, chronic disease, and pain. They’re just as connected to our day to day actions as Amanda’s seizures.

If my 23 year old daughter can own her health, we all can. Our health should be a priority, and the way we handle that priority doesn’t just affect us, it influences the children and friends and family who watch us.

Now for the Fun Stuff:  Pictures from the weekend in no chronological order, and details on how we stuck to Real Whole Food while traveling:)  20150516_192747 We were lucky to stay in the house of some friends – super lucky.  The house was a dream for me because I love old homes!  So much character!

I brought enough food that we ate all our meals at “home”. (I pretended all weekend that house was mine.)  For breakfast, we had eggs, chicken sausage, fruit, and cheese.  For lunch, we had lunch meats, cheese, saurkrauts, fruit, nuts, and paleo cookies.

20150516_184236It was the dinners that made the weekend!

We catered from a Charlottesville company called20150516_184253 dahcatering – they were FANTASTIC!  Organic and gluten free ingredients, lots of flavor, plenty of food, I can’t say enough good things.  They delivered everything on Friday and I just had to reheat each night.  Here’s a family pic of all of us, Amanda’s boyfriend Ian, my in-laws, and my niece Morgan.  It was party!

amanda and ian after diplomaThe first night we had salmon topped with pesto, a quinoa dish loaded with asparagus and herbs, 20150516_115513gluten free cornbread, and a huge spinach/strawberry/toasted almond/goat cheese salad.  The dessert: gluten free ginger cookies and Trickling Springs ice cream that I brought with us ( thank you dry ice!)

The second night we had chicken breasts stuffed with roasted peppers and mixed cheeses, topped with a mushroom/cream/white wine sauce, a GIANT bowl of roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes, polenta, and coconut macaroons with more Trickling Springs ice cream.

I believe good ice cream is essential to any celebration.

20150516_115035 (1)

Mark and Amanda after the morning ceremony.

amanda in cap gown

 

 

 

Amanda, as an “alumni”.

Category: Eat on Vacation, RWF / Tags: , , , ,

Guest Post By Megan: How To Eat Well On Vacation Or While Traveling

April 12, 2015 / / Comments Off on Guest Post By Megan: How To Eat Well On Vacation Or While Traveling

IMG_20150407_114757I get asked all the time “what should I eat while I’m on vacation in ________?”  Usually, I answer on a case by case basis, but I think the ACTUAL issue, is:  “Usually on vacation I pig out and gain weight, because it’s vacation and that means I can eat whatever I want when I want.”   Ohh, wrong mind set; let’s change it.

My oldest daughter, Megan, has been traveling the world for 4 years this coming May.  Seriously, she comes home and works to make some money for a few months here and there, and then she leaves again.  She’s lived in IMG_20150411_094940Alaska, Hawaii, Central America, South America, and Europe.  Right now, she’s in Guatemala.

She’s been able to do this through a couple “work-for-room-and-food” sites, called WWOOF ( world wide organization of organic farms ) and Help-eX ( Help-Exchange).  I’ll let her tell you more about them in future Posts, but for now, if you really want advice on what to eat while you’re _______, read her Post.  If anyone can answer that question, she can.

As to the actual discipline of eating healthy while you’re away from home and your kitchen and your grocery store, the answer to that is Mind Set and Planning.

Seriously.  If you’ve been dreaming about all the food you’re going to eat and indulge in on your trip, you’re doomed to go overboard, gain weight, and possibly have a hard time getting back on the wagon.  If you don’t plan on eating healthy, and the steps you need to take to do that, it won’t happen.

If you don’t eat processed foods and flour and chemicals and overdose on alcohol, because you think they cause cancer, inflammation, stomach bloat and disease, then it’s really not that hard to stay away from them.  Practice the mental associations that lead to that mind set!

FB_IMG_1428767563713Here’s Megan’s Post, along with some of her latest pictures.  If you’re interested in following this particular journey that started December 31, 2014, check out michaellibis.com blog that I’ve attached at the end of this piece.

Health and travel are two of my greatest passions. I’ve been living and traveling around the world budget-backpacker-style for nearly four years now, and I plan to continue traveling for quite some time. I find deep joy and fulfillment in discovering creative new ways of eating healthily while I’m on the go. Throughout my journey, I’ve learned that it is ALWAYS possible to make healthy eating choices on the road, regardless of location, accessibility, or budget. However it does require taking the initiative, trying new things, thinking outside of the box and the willingness to stay true to your commitment towards a healthy lifestyle. Luckily, it’s a lot easier than you might think, not to mention, the challenge is fun and rewarding on so many levels.

Here are some healthy tips for clean eating away from home:

1. Plan ahead. Stock up on nutrient-dense foods that travel well and are convenient for snacking when you need to refuel on the go. Try packing nuts, seeds, dried and fresh fruits, nut butters, hard boiled eggs, veggie sticks, good quality dark chocolate, coconut butter or jars of fermented vegetables. Before I go on a road trip or hop on a plane I’ll eat a pretty large meal beforehand to avoid buying food at an airport or gas station. If my accommodation provides a place to cook, I always carry along some cooking staple items with me, like coconut oil, salt, pepper, a knife, etc.

HATPICS-003202. Prepare your own meals. If your accommodation or hotel has a kitchen, try to make time to cook and prepare your own meals, it’s always the healthiest option. Bring containers so that you can pack prepared meals for busy days that you’ll be out and about. When grocery shopping, focus on stocking up on whole, fresh foods. No matter where I am, I religiously avoid pre-packaged, processed, refined food items and anything containing gluten, wheat or sugar. I’m also a vegetarian so I personally choose to avoid meat and dairy, but if it pleases you and you have access to good quality meats and/or raw dairy items, seek out these ingredients to incorporate into your prepared meals. Prioritizing high-quality, nutrient-dense food over IMG_20150411_094546prepackaged conveniences is perhaps the most important component of staying healthy on the go. I am currently living in a small apartment on the side of a cliff in a remote village in Guatemala where the nearest vegetable and fruit stand is a 20 minute walk away. I regularly stock up on plantains, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pastured-eggs, beets, carrots, cucumbers, onions, avocado, lettuce, etc. I’ve created a wide variety of different dishes since I’ve been here just using these basic few ingredients like hash browns, potato pancakes, veggie scrambles, curries, veggie frittatas, roasted vegetables, plantain pancakes, veggie burgers, salads, lettuce wraps, etc. I’ve learned it is really important to be willing to get creative with whatever is available, especially when it feels like the options are limited. If you’re in need of extra help and inspiration for recipes, try websites like Supercook.com where you can do recipe searches based on the ingredients you have in your fridge.

3. While eating out, scan the menu for real, whole food options. Restaurant menus are often filled with plenty of tempting items that don’t serve your health, so scan the menu for foods that you feel genuinely good about putting into your body. Look for dishes that incorporate as many fresh and nutritious ingredients as possible, choose real food options over the processed ones. Most of the time restaurants are happy to accommodate your dietary needs if you speak up, and nowadays most places have plenty of gluten-free, vegetarian and fresh-food options available right on the menu. Free apps like AroundMe and HappyCow are incredibly helpful tools to finding organic, locally sourced, grass-fed or gluten-free restaurant options near you in any city or country around the world.

4. Don’t stress. Be flexible and adaptable. Enjoy yourself. It is likely that there will be different options available to you when you’re traveling than what you’re used to back at home. Don’t let this derail you from your commitment to healthy eating, but even more megbraidimportantly don’t let it stress you out. Sometimes you’re going to have to think outside the box or eat something that normally would avoid, but that’s ok, just try your best. Be sure to spend more of your time enjoying yourself and soaking up the moment than stressing about what you’re going to eat.

5. Utilize the resources that are available to you; open up and try new things. Visiting new places equates to leaving your comfort zone, so use this as an opportunity to open up and try things that aren’t normally as accessible to you. Try foods that are native to where you are, if you’re visiting the tropics, snack on tropical fruit; if you’re in Alaska try the fresh caught salmon, etc. Before I lived in the Caribbean, I had never eaten a plantain but I quickly discovered that they were a main staple down there, not to mention incredibly cheap and nutritious; they soon became one of my favorite foods and I learned how to incorporate them into most of my meals.

lunch on beach6. Listen to your body. Your body may have different needs than you’re used to depending on where you’re traveling, especially if you’re traveling to a different climate zone. I find that when I’m visiting cold places I crave slightly heavier foods that warm me up from the inside out and ground me, like root vegetables, spicy curries, soups, legumes and grains like oats and quinoa. While in the tropics, my body wants lighter, fresher foods, like smoothies, salads, and raw fruits and veggies. Tune in and and listen to the unique and ever-changing nutritional needs of your body.

And there you have it: advice on eating well while traveling the world.

BTW:  The first several pictures were taken recently of Meg by her boyfriend Michael Libis, a Travel and Photography expert; his blog link’s in the Resource links.  The last pic is a phone photo of us visiting Meg last year when she was working at a B&B in Culebra, Puerto Rico, taken by Mark, who’s NOT a photography expert.

However, he is a “eat well on business trips” expert, so I’m going to get him to write a Post on Business Travel soon, as that’s another question I get often.  He didn’t know that til just now, but he loves me and loves to do me favors, so I’m sure he’ll be happy about it.

I also asked my other daughters to write Posts on, 1) eating well when you’re Epileptic and in College, and food choices really DO make a difference in day to day health , and 2) eating Real Whole Foods in college.

Moms and Dads, our examples are ENORMOUS sources of influence and behavior, so it really, really matters what choices we make while on vacation, or travel, and obviously, every day.  Be determined to develop a Mind Set about Food that leads to feeling Healthy and Energetic and happy with ourselves; not Bloated, Tired, Sick and mad at ourselves.

Resources:

Questions about traveling on the cheap, or clean eating in different areas of the world?  Reach out to Meg on FaceBook: Megan Abbott.

Wondering where to go on Vacation, or want to be transported somewhere else right now?  Check out Mike’s Travel Blog, get in touch with him, and yes, he’s a professional, that’s why the pics are so amazing:

http://www.michaellibis.com/

https://www.helpx.net/

http://www.wwoof.net/

 

Category: Cooking, Eat on Vacation, Mind/Body, Reader Question, RWF / Tags: , , , , ,

Cruises, Vacations, and Holiday’s Don’t Have To Mean Weight-Gain; and a Recipe

February 18, 2015 / / Comments Off on Cruises, Vacations, and Holiday’s Don’t Have To Mean Weight-Gain; and a Recipe

20150218_073710Mark and I just got back from our fourth Marriage Cruise. I call it “The Love Boat”, but it’s really the Family Life Love Like You Mean It Cruise, and it’s fantastic!  The lectures, meetings, and services are all focused on being a Godly, loving, couple, and we so believe in it we’re committed to going every year for the rest of our lives.  Plus, we love cruises:)

I get asked, “how do you eat well on a ship?”  Everyone know that cruise ships are Food Central,  food (seems) free, and it’s everywhere, 24-7.

Mark and I weighed ourselves the day we left, and we weighed ourselves the day we got back,…… we both weighed the same.  No weight gain and I didn’t expect any weight gain, so no surprise either.

I don’t gain weight over the holidays, on vacation, or – and this used to be a problem for me for years – over the weekend, ever.  I don’t diet, and I eat enormous amounts of fat, and big hearty dinners.

I’m not bragging, I’m not lucky, and I’m not special.  I just know that I’m not a Calories In – Calories Out body, I’m a Chemistry Set.  My body is full of cells and hormones and enzymes and I need to put food in that allows everything to run like God intended.

Here’s the secret when it comes to food:  3 meals a day of Real Whole Food: plenty of healthy fats, TONS of vegetables, clean and lean meats, a little fruit, a little nuts and seeds, and whole fat, raw dairy.  I never snack, neither does Mark.  We don’t need to because we’re not hungry between meals.  It’s actually really easy to eat healthy on a cruise ship; nothing’s organic or local, but there’s a great selection of meats and vegetables, and olive oil galore; our plates are stacked!

When we get to a holiday or a vacation, we STICK TO OUR PLAN, here’s why.

(1) We’re scared of gluten and chemicals. They cause cancer and chronic diseases.  (2) We shy away from causing ourselves Food Hangovers or Bloated Stomachs.  (3) We remember we love feeling awake, alert, energetic, and healthy.

In other words, we’ve trained our brains when it comes to food.  Most people don’t.  Most people – and we’ve been here – struggle with wanting grains, sugar, and chemicals.  These substances create the same addictions – in the brain – that drugs and alcohol do.  You might not think of yourself as a food addict, but if you eat foods that trigger addiction centers in the brain, you are.

You either need to wean off the bad foods, or go cold turkey, but if it’s just about weight loss, and if you don’t have a plan, it’ll never work.  That’s why almost 100% of everyone who loses weight on a diet, gains it back.  50% of those people gain back more than they lost.

You don’t have to give in to food addiction; you’re not doomed to be sick, overweight, or tired, honest.  Get in touch with me, think where you could be in a year if you weren’t controlled by bad food.  Think what your life could be like if you got to focus on living instead of your weight or managing your illnesses.  Think of the positive changes you could create in your children’s lives if your home was healthier.  

Other people change; we did, you can too!

On that end note, here’s our dinner last night: venison sausage, collards, onions, and garlic cooked in butter and coconut oil and brie cheese, and a side of sautéed plantains in coconut oil and butter, with plenty of salt!  SO DELICIOUS!

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Category: Eat on Vacation, Fats, Food Cravings, Hormones, No Recipe Paleo Meals, Paleo Recipe, RWF, Sugar / Tags: ,

Huff Post; Cancer and Ketosis; Eating Well On Vacation

July 4, 2014 / / Comments Off on Huff Post; Cancer and Ketosis; Eating Well On Vacation

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWoot Woot!!  We’re in the Huff Post again!!  Mark and I collaborated on an article titled, Are Your Childhood Desires Making You Sick and Fat, you can find the link here.  Check it out and give us a “like” or a “share”:)

We’re in Busch Gardens, Williamsburg for 4 days with our youngest daughter, Shelby, and her best friend, SaraRose.  Just like with other vacations and weekends away, I’ll post what I’m eating here in the blog, and pictures on Facebook.  If you’re not friends with me on FB, friend me under Debbie Brockett Abbott.

Before I get into food though, I wanted to invite anyone who reads this blog to become part of my weekly newsletter group.  Up to now, I’ve just sent it out to either Nutritional Counseling or Personal Training clients.  My weekly email is much more nutrition and science oriented than my blog posts. I also always include podcasts, links, and references so that if you choose, you can learn more about whatever subject it is I’m writing about.

The only way to really improve our weight, our health, our energy, and our outlook is if we take the bull by the horns and dig in.  To make any physical changes, we have to change our mind first: our thinking, our attitudes, our beliefs about ourselves.  What am I talking about?  We’ve heard conventional, ineffectual, health messages our whole lives, here’s a few:  Eat low fat;  eat low calorie,  do long cardio every day,  take a drug for your headache/stomachache/pain/depression/anxiety/etc, because you must be deficient in drugs.

Look around, access how successful conventional health advice has been; it’s a total failure. Access how successful medical treatments are in this country; why has suppressing symptoms instead of eliminating or treating the cause of the symptom become embraced as a solution? Why aren’t we more incensed about the side-effects of the drugs we take and give our children.  We’re 70% overweight and sick in the country; mood disorders are rampant; sleep problems are normal; kids being medicated to control their behavior isn’t even blinked at.

We can change this if we open ourselves up to learning how our body works and then making changes in our lives and our families lives.  We have the power!  We can be energetic, well, clear thinking, and positive if we become picky about the food we eat, the thoughts we think, and how much sleep and movement we get every day. It’s honestly not rocket science, it’s just effort.

And it’s only effort til it’s a habit!

If you’re interested in being on the Email Newsletter list, email me at debbieabbott1965@gmail.com.  Yesterday’s email was on Ketosis, and cancer.  Interesting stuff!

On to my food:  check out my What I Eat page, I’ll update each day.

 

Category: Eat on Vacation, ketosis / Tags: , , ,

Diets Cause Rebound Binges and Slow Metabolisms, and We’re In The Huff Post!

June 14, 2014 / / Comments Off on Diets Cause Rebound Binges and Slow Metabolisms, and We’re In The Huff Post!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAExciting! Mark and I have been published in the Huff Post! Check out our article and click us a “like” and a “share”:) We’ve been invited to be Regular Bloggers, and asked to write from the perspective of normal working parents who’ve stayed fit and healthy at 49 and 50. We can do that!

Moving on, I’ve got a series of emails, from one reader, who actually answers her own question about Dieting. When I say Dieting, I mean: counting calories, caloric restriction, and using computer programs to determine protein/carb/fat ratios. Even writing that sentence causes me Stress, as it did during all my years of Restricting/Binge Eating.

That’s because Diets Do Cause Stress, in many different ways. One, it’s such an unnatural way to eat, that our body and mind rebels; which is stressful. Two, hunger and deprivation always cause stress. ( Have you heard the saying, “sorry for what I said when I was hungry.”?) Three, plugging numbers into a program to figure out the ratios/percentages/amounts of our protein, carbs, fats, and/or total calories, is a pain in the butt, that’s stressful. Four, caloric restriction slows down our thyroid, which means our cell turnover, cell “house-keeping”, and cell communication is IMPEDED; our metabolism slows down, that’s stressful.  That also guarantees future weight gain.

Diets don’t work long term. Well, maybe for about 1 – 4% of everyone who loses weight. That’s a horrible “success” rate.

Ask yourself, with such an abysmal track record, why is it so easy to be lured back, time after time, for another Diet attempt?

Here’s the email chain I received, I love her reasoning development!  (When she refers to IIFYM, that’s a Diet Program that induces Caloric Deficits by counting your grams and percentages of Fat, Protein, and Carbs and Total Calories.  You can eat ANYTHING YOU WANT, as long as you stay within your numbers.)

Hi Debbie!

I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the IIFYM ( if it fits your macro diet). I was wondering if I could count macros while also eliminating grains/processed food? I just like the structure of IIFYM. Does that make sense?

I only had time for a quick response, here it is:  “Short answer: diets that let you eat crap ( which the IIFYM diet does as long as you stay “in the macro ratios”) keep you craving junk. Period. Always. It’s enough right now to start weaning yourself off grains and processed foods. Just focus on eating Real Whole Foods!!”

Why do I say it’s enough to just wean off the grains and processed foods for now?  Because for most people in 2014, eating Real Whole Foods is so far removed from their Norm, that it’s almost incomprehensible.  I get asked, ALL THE TIME, what I eat if I don’t eat grains.  Pasta, frozen foods, fast foods, and restaurant foods have become so ingrained into the American Culture as NORMAL, that eating Real Whole Foods, feeding the family Real Whole Foods, and sticking to that belief system when traveling and eating out, seems incredibly hard.

Eating Real Whole Foods isn’t a Diet Program (although you will lose weight when you quit eating Sugar, Grains, and processed chemical foods, and quit the snacking); it’s eating 3 decent sized meals a day full of the nutrients our body needs to build, repair, and run (metabolize) well.  When we run well, we get lean and healthy, when we diet, we don’t – again, statistics. Unfortunately, the Diet Industry is a Billion Dollar industry with an amazing Marketing Machine that successfully convinces us, over and over, to give it another try.

Switching from a Diet Mentality after a lifetime of eating Sugar, Grains, and Processed/Chemical Foods, to eating Real Whole Foods every day, takes effort, and a plan.  There’s 2 addictions that have to be overcome to be successful.

One, the addiction to sugar, grains, and chemicals – it’s powerful.  You know what I’m talking about.  It’s well researched.

Two, the addiction to the ease of eating sugar, grains, and chemicals – there’s no effort involved with stopping at McDonalds; picking up a pizza; or boiling water for pasta.  However, this ease of eating pure crap HAS LED TO 70% OVERWEIGHT AND SICK, WITH NUMBERS EXPECTED TO CLIMB.  There’s a common sense element I’m talking about here, right?

Here’s the next email this reader sent me:  “ I have done IIFYM with good weight loss results while eating junk! What I am wondering is if it would be good to do the same macros but not eat the junk and grains.”

No!  That’s just counting calories and percentages, hoping for the magic weight loss formula.  I’m telling you, ditching grains, sugars, and chemical processed foods will take off your weight without the stress of dieting.  As a matter of fact, you can ADD MORE FAT, feel genuinely full, become healthier, and LOOSE WEIGHT.

Here’s her last email ****** LOVE IT!! ******: “Also, just wanted to mention that the reason I stopped doing iifym despite some weight loss was because it was taking up too much space in my head to count macros. I guess I don’t really want to do it again when I think about why I stopped!” 

Exactly!  Diets Make You Crazy and Obsessed and Compulsive about food, eating, restricting, and compensating; and it’s disturbingly Self Perpetuating.  The Diet Craziness just begets more Diet Craziness. Eating Real Whole Food ELIMINATES THAT.

I’m living proof, my husband is living proof, my kids are living proof, there’s so many examples in the Real Whole Food/Paleo/Primal Community who are living proof that this way of life makes you lean and healthy, without the Diet Craziness.

The best part?  You can start today, because this starts with your Mind.  Honest.  The Food isn’t nearly as big a problem as your Mind is.  Remember that the Brain wants to avoid stress, it wants what’s comfortable and familiar.  The Brain doesn’t guide us according to what’s best for us long term.

Thank Goodness the Brain can be Changed.  Your thought patterns, your habits, your “familiars”, they can be changed.  I thought I was so addicted to pizza, ice cream, and protein bars that I would NEVER be able to live without them.  Now, I don’t even eat the “paleo versions” anymore.  I’m OVER IT.  You Can Be Too.

Focus on becoming a Normal, Healthy, Real Whole Food Eater.  Not a Dieter.  Not someone hoping for a gimmick that takes off 10 pounds in 10 days.  Use your common sense; or use Google!  Google: Diets Don’t Work, or Weight Regain After A Diet.  You’ll get MILLIONS and MILLIONS of studies, articles, and posts substantiating those facts.

If you struggle with how to begin, how to change, how to have a life that involves cooking and packing w/o stress, get in touch with me.  It’s all about planning, and sticking to the plan.  Pretty soon, there’s no effort, instead, it’s a habit.  When our life is about habits, stress is gone.  Eating Real Whole Foods means hunger is gone too.

No Stress, No Hunger, a body you’ve always wanted, being a Normal Eater, doesn’t this sound good?

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Eat on Vacation, Fats, Mind/Body, Paleo Diet, Psychology of Eating, Reader Question, RWF, Sugar, Weight Loss / Tags: , , , , , ,

Am I Scared Of The Norovirus? No. Am I Scared Of Anti-Bacterial Soap? YES.

May 31, 2014 / / One comment

norovirusI’ve got one more Post in me about the Low Carb Cruise, but it’s not info I learned from the doctors and speakers, it’s about the Norovirus, and this will apply to YOU, I promise.

Mark and I have gone on six cruises now, and we’ve both been asked, several times, “aren’t you afraid of getting sick?”,  or,  “have you ever gotten sick on a cruise?”.  The answer: no.  I used to worry about the Norovirus; how could I not after hearing news reports that hundreds of people on the same ship would get sick with it.

What is this odd virus that thrives in Cruise Ships?  Would it get me?  Our latest ship had “Purell Liquid Gel” stations everywhere, with crew members standing by them, encouraging everyone who walked by to use it.

We didn’t, not once.  That stuff’s dangerous – seriously, and useless, as I’ll explain.

As a matter of fact, I haven’t used a commercial soap product in 3 years now, and that includes two Nascar races ( do you know how many people go to those things?), Verizon Center, 4H shows, the gym, airports, trains, etc.

Why?  Me not getting sick has more to do with the strength of my IMMUNE SYSTEM, than any soap or alcohol-based hand gel.   That’s 3 separate issues:  Purell gel, anti-bacterial soaps, and the immune system.  Read this, because this applies to our kids also.

One:  studies on Purell’s effectiveness against the Norovirus actually show it’s IN-effectiveness against the Norovirus.  Check out the research done at Emory University, School of Public Health, here.   Obviously, Purell didn’t fund this study.   The results:  Purell doesn’t work very well against the Norovirus;  soap and water were more effective.
What I found most interesting?  30% of everyone PURPOSELY INFECTED WITH THE NOROVIRUS – DIDN’T GET SICK.   Now that caught my eye.

Two: studies on commercial anti-bacterial soaps that contain the agents “triclosan” and “triclocarbon”  show some pretty damning evidence.  An expert panel convened by the FDA determined that there’s “insufficient evidence” that anti-bacterial soaps actually offer any more protection than soaps minus the anti-bacterial agents.

Here’s the REAL bad news on anti-bacterial soaps: our skin is actually SUPPOSED TO BE TEEMING WITH BILLIONS OF BACTERIA.  It’s a line of immune defense put there from God.  Studies show that when these bacteria are exposed repeatedly to triclosan and triclocarbon, Genetic Mutations Happen.  This is bad. I can’t even link to one study – there’s too many.  Google it if you’re interested.

Studies also show that triclosan disrupts thyroid function, muscle function ( your heart is a muscle), and imitates estrogen ( a xenoestrogen). So, it slows thyroid, muscles, and imitates estrogen? Hello body fat, fatigue, and moobs!

Want further reason to stay away from antibacterial soaps?  Triclosan was introduced in 1969… as a Pesticide;  and today it’s still registered as a pesticide, although aside from this and its uses in personal care products, it’s also widely used for industrial uses, for instance it is incorporated in conveyor belts, fire hoses, dye bath vats, or ice-making equipment as an antimicrobial pesticide.  ( More reason to read the labels.)

We rub this stuff on our CHILDREN!!

Okay, point 3.  Our Immune System.  30% of people PURPOSELY infected with Norovirus in the study DIDN’T GET SICK.

WHEN WE GET SICK IT’S NOT BECAUSE WE’RE DEFICIENT IN CHEMICALS OR PHARMACEUTICALS. EVER.  We get sick when our immune system is weak and can’t fight pathogenic virus and bacteria. 

What do Most people do on a Cruise?  Drink EXCESSIVE alcohol, eat EXCESSIVE amounts of immune depressing foods(sugar and processed carbs), and stay up way too late.  This is the PERFECT RECIPE FOR DEPRESSING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM.  Seriously, it’s perfect.

How do we keep ourselves strong and resistant?  Eat Real Whole Foods, stay away from grains, sugar, and chemicals, SLEEP, practice stress reduction,  and exercise.   Simple.  As for handwashing, use pure soaps, like Castile soap, or Dr. Bronners.  Want to know more?  Read this.

Again, our health really is in our own hands.  Pun Intended.

 

Category: Eat on Vacation, Looks Healthy But Isn't, RWF, Sugar, Uncategorized / Tags: , , , , , ,

Does Our De-Stressing Cause Erectile Dysfunction and Belly Bloat?

May 24, 2014 / / Comments Off on Does Our De-Stressing Cause Erectile Dysfunction and Belly Bloat?

st thomasThe Cruise is Great, the lectures fantastic and I promise a synopsis soon, but today I need to write about something different: De-Stressing. And I’m glad to be writing this Memorial Day Saturday, a weekend that’s typically associated with a lot of excessive drinking and parties, because….. it’s Memorial Day, and that’s what we do, right? Party on a holiday because we need to and deserve to and it’ll make us feel better.  Right?  Wrong!  I think we’ve all been hypnotized into believing that we need to remedy our stressful days, weeks, and lives with alcohol, bad food, and staying up late. This belief is very apparent on a ship more so than in real life, because a ship is a FishBowl. You see everything.

Over the past few days I’ve heard moans and groans about weight gain, hangovers, and exhaustion – on THE CRUISE SHIP. The food’s free, the alcohol’s not but it’s unbelievably plentiful and available, and the entertainment and fun literally don’t stop.
But that doesn’t mean we should do it to excess. If our forms of “de-stressing” actually makes us feel stressed, guilty, anxious, depressed, and tired – later – that’s not real de-stressing. If our forms of “de-stressing” cause us to gain weight, harden our arteries, have erectile dysfunction, belly bloat, and feel like a bomb went off in our head, we’ve done NOTHING to de-stress in the Real Sense. We’ve just made ourselves more tired, more adrenally depleted, more hormonally off balance, and more set up for INFLAMMATION AND EVERY DISEASE OUT THERE. We age faster; who feels happy about that?

I know everyone’s plans are already set for this weekend, but entertain this thought for me: maybe all the over eating and excessive drinking is a HALLUCINATION OF PLEASURE. Not the real thing.

Real Pleasure, real De-Stressing – makes us feel great afterwards: no regrets. Zero, zip, zilch. Relief, energy, calmness, strength for upcoming challenges, that’s de-stressing.

Eating Real Whole Foods means examining our habits and thought patterns; we need to apply that same principle to our Entire Life. What’s really good – long term – for our body and soul? Long term. Long term. Remember these words this weekend and meditate on them: The Hallucination of Pleasure. Is that what we want?

Category: Eat on Vacation, Mind/Body / Tags: , ,

Obesigens, Weight Gain, & Sex Hormones, and Sexual Urges! Oh My!

May 21, 2014 / / Comments Off on Obesigens, Weight Gain, & Sex Hormones, and Sexual Urges! Oh My!

shipCruise Day 3 – WOW!!! The Low Carb Cruise Lectures Have Begun!
Oh My Gosh, did I learn a lot today at the seminars! I hope you’ll read each of these synopsis, because I guarantee you’ll see information that applies to you.

Have you ever heard of the site, www.liveto110.com? It’s run by Wendy Myers; she gave a great talk on Obesigens and how they make you gain weight. What are obesigens? They’re chemicals in our food, personal care products, cleaning supplies, water bottles, and more, that absorb into our body and mimic estrogen. Except they’re not really estrogen, so instead of the benefits of estrogen, we get the hazards of “pretend estrogen”: cancer, disease, hormone disorders, thyroid issues, and weight gain.
Two take aways: (a) Yes, organic products are more expensive, and homemade products take time and effort, but the regular stuff we buy in the store? It’s killing us. Start one by one replacing what you’re using with NON-TOXIC options. Just one product at a time, don’t stress, but it matters, it really does. (b) Detoxing these chemicals out of our body is IMPORTANT!!!

Next up was Dr. Eric Westermen, Internal Medicine Doc at Duke, and President of the American Bariatric Society. He’s a huge believer, researcher, and practitioner of the Low Carbohydrate, High Fat diet. He’s got the studies and experience to back it up; and we got to hear some of them. What he mostly talked about though, was that, “Research Is Politics”, his quote; and getting funding for anything that’s going to upset the Big Food, Big Business, Big Pharma Apple Cart is almost IMPOSSIBLE. ( my term for that is “Big Phuvernment) In other words, the funding necessary to do expensive studies testing Food as Medicine, is incredibly difficult to attain.   (not a lot of profit there for anyone)

Then we heard from “Reproductive Endocrinologist”, Dr. Michael Fox. He explained himself: he did an OB/Gyn residency, then followed it up with a fellowship that resulted in him now working in Reproductive Endocrinology, or, sex hormone problems. FASCINATING!! For all my clients who are struggling with infertility, PMS, menopause difficulties, low sperm counts, ED, PCOS, etc, listen up! He says after decades of work with men, women, and hormones, he finally realized that there was a link between all of it: the male and female infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome, PMS, lack of libido, gestational diabetes, menopause symptoms, and pre-clampsia: Insulin Resistance! Why does anyone get Insulin Resistance? From TOO MUCH INSULIN, which gets released in response to CARBS. He takes all his patients off carbs and puts them (even the pregnant ones) on a ketogenic diet. He said the pregnancy/birth rates in his clinic have skyrocketed to 90% success!!
More gems from Dr. Fox: He thinks Aerobic exercise is HORRIBLE for humans, both male and female, because it screws up their hormones so badly. He says that STRESS must be controlled, because CORTISOL has BAADD effects on INSULIN, which has bad effects on sex hormones.

He thinks VEGETARIAN DIETS are worse than AEROBIC exercise!

He says physicians today are taught “Cookbook Medicine” and practice “party-line protocols” that have nothing to do with solving the root of the problem.
Oh, one more gem from Dr. Fox: for patients who have difficult pregnancies with hypertension or gestational diabetes, he said that they’re looking at themselves in 10 to 15 years if they don’t get off the Insulin/Carb train. This guy had a lot of energy and passion – I loved him!

We ended the day with two Evolutionary Biology Professors from Austin College in Texas; these two were a hoot! And just as passionate as everyone else. They threw several interesting facts at us ( don’t miss the Sexual Urges – Vegetarian connections), let me bullet-point:
*Starvation Diet Studies conducted after WW2 had participants reducing their intake to 1570 cal/day. It worked – they starved, you should see the pictures! Odd that TODAY, 1570 calories is NORMAL for a lot of people, but they GAIN weight, instead of lose weight. What’s happened?
*At 1570 cal/day, people in the study lost their libido, their thyroid function, their mental focus, and they became weak and lethargic. Hmmmm. Sound familiar?
*Japanese Samurai ( the warriors) ate diets of meat and fat; the peasants were fed a diet of rice.
*Monks have always used a Vegetarian Diet, with SOY, to suppress sexual urges.
*Reverend Graham, who came up with the Graham Cracker, was an Avid ANTI-SEX crusader. He preached a Vegetarian Diet to suppress sexual urges.
*Dr. Kellogg (yes, the Cereal Kellogg) was another Anti-Sex crusader ( and sadistic in his experiments on suppressing sexual urges – google them), he also promoted a Vegetarian Diet to suppress sexual urges.
Hmmm.
*We looked at ingredients lists of several dog food brands, and saw over and over pure crap: sugar, grains, artificial colors and flavors, and chemicals. No wonder our pets are fat and sick.
*We talked about the Defense Mechanisms of Plants, which illustrated that the High Carbohydrate/High Insulin value of grains isn’t the only problem with them.
*Grains contains “anti-nutrients”, actually, all plants do, it’s their defense against being eaten.
*These anti-nutrients contain: TOXINS, DIGESTIBILITY REDUCERS, and HORMONE MIMICKERS.
*The result? Grains, make us sick, fat, affect our brain, ruin our gut ( leaky gut and nutrient deficiencies), and pretend to be estrogen. (soy, flax seed oil)
*They ended reminding us that BIG BUSINESS SPENDS BAZILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO MAKE PRETEND FOOD “SUPER STIMULATING”, and incredibly addictive.

What a great day!
Oh, food and workouts!
-30 minutes shoulder and chest (the lectures started at 8:45am and went to 4:15, so not a lot of time for working out)
-whey, greens, and flax seed, 2 big carrots
-detox pack
-lunch: fish, turkey burger, on watercress and vegetables, lots of olive oil and balsamic
-detox pack
-dinner: seafood ceviche, spinach salad, roasted chicken, broccoli, bite of chocolate bar
-detox pack
& 7pm show “the Platters”, 10 pm bed. Sounds early – but we’re rarely tired – that good, right?
We’re getting off the ship and exploring St. Thomas today; I think our phones are supposed to work there, so I’ll take pics and put them on Facebook!

Category: Eat on Vacation, Hormones, Sugar / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
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