Archive for Hormones

Do You Have “Weight Loss Resistance”?

March 29, 2015 / / Comments Off on Do You Have “Weight Loss Resistance”?

20150322_174519I have really interesting information today that relates to your weight, your energy, and your risk for disease, but first, a little info on where I’ve been the past week.

See my lead picture?  That’s me, with Mark, 2 of my sisters, 1 brother in law, and my parents.  My dad threw a big – super fun – party for my mom down in Florida, where they live half the year.  Pretty weather, fun in the sun, lots of dancing – it just messed up my writing schedule!  It didn’t however, mess up my learning schedule, as I’m obsessed with reading and listening to anything and everything about health.

Then, I spent 2 days in Hampton, Va at a Joyce Meyers convention with Mark.  Wow.  That woman’s amazing and inspiring, check her out.

Weight Loss Resistance:  This past week there’s been a Diabetes Summit on line, and if you haven’t been listening and you have diabetes, high blood sugar or just can’t lose weight, you should buy this summit.  Why?  The docs on this summit have a LOT of new info, holy smoly – tons, seriously it’s the best summit I’ve heard in a while.

In light of how many people actually have diabetes, and how many are predicted to develop diabetes, this is a condition that will literally touch ALL OF US in one way or another.  CDC predicts that by 2020 – 6 years from now – half of all Americans will be either diabetic or pre-diabetic.  MOMS, OUR KIDS ARE AT RISK HERE.  

The good news?  DIABETES TYPE 2 IS BOTH PREVENTABLE AND REVERSIBLE.  You don’t have diabetes because of genetics. Sorry. Diabetes rarely affected our grandparents when they were young, and our great-grand parents (in their younger years) possibly never even heard of it.  Type 2 diabetes is a LIFESTYLE disease of High Blood Sugar, and Insulin Resistance.

It’s fixable; and we want to fix it, because high blood sugar and insulin resistance lead to many many disease states other than diabetes.

Weight Loss Resistance is one of them; here’s why it happens.  When we have high blood sugar, insulin is released to the blood stream.  Insulin’s job is to lower blood sugar, because high blood sugar wrecks havoc on our arteries (high blood pressure, ED, etc), our skin (wrinkles, age spots), our nerve endings (hello neuropathy), our brain – Alzheimer’s is being called Diabetes Type 3, and I could go on and on.  The weight connection:  when excess Insulin is in the blood, FAT BURNING AIN’T HAPPENING. PERIOD PERIOD PERIOD.

If you eat a breakfast of “healthy whole grain” oatmeal and a banana and go to the gym to “burn fat”, you won’t; you’ll just burn the sugar/glucose in your blood stream.  It’s science: when insulin’s in the blood stream, our “fuel burners” aka mitochondria, burn glucose, not fat.  It’s a rule, and we can’t change it.

What about Weight Loss Resistance?  I’d never heard that term before I heard one of the summit’s docs coin it, but I sure do know people who have it, including some of my clients who literally do everything right and still can’t lose weight.  This explains it!

First, a review of what “Insulin Resistance” is, and how that leads to “Weight Loss Resistance”.  The hormone Insulin can be Caustic and Irritating.  In NORMAL amounts insulin is wonderful and necessary.  In EXCESSIVE amounts, say, the amounts required to store all the excess blood sugar consumed today, Insulin is DANGEROUS.  Our cells and our body, knows this; so the little doors-receptors on the cells that happily open for NORMAL amounts of insulin, close and say NO WAY to excessive amounts of insulin; they’re self-preservating. When receptor doors close, there’s inflammation, there’s a shut down of cell function, and **** other hormones, like Thyroid, Sex, and Leptin (which tells our brain we’re full) are prevented from entering and delivering their messages.   

A whole bunch of dysfunction is happening, right?

Two more points about Insulin Resistance:  1) if you have this, you’ve become a Fat Making and Storing Machine.  Long chemistry explanation, but true.  2) Insulin Resistance begets MORE insulin resistance; the lack of insulin in the cells sends a signal to the pancreas to spit out more insulin.  It does, but the insulin has no where to go, because the doors are shut.  So the pancreas makes even more, which irritates more doors to shut.  It’s a vicious cycle.

What about Weight Loss Resistance?  What if you just quit eating refined grains and sugars, everything should go back to normal, right?

Sometimes; most of the time. Sometimes not.

Here’s a great point brought to light via the summit’s speakers:  Insulin Resistance isn’t only caused by excess insulin. The cells doors/receptors are bothered and irritated to closing by TOXINS also.  What toxins?  Crap in our water, foods, cigarettes, personal care products, cleaning products, pesticides, herbicides, etc.  We have tens of thousands of irritating chemicals in our life every day, and they’re so completely hidden from view that they’re mostly invisible.

Removal of toxins and refined sugar and grains are the first step to healing Insulin Resistance.  Healing the cell so that the doors/receptors open normally to insulin and all our other hormones, is the next step.

This is trickier, and it involves both correct nutrients, and great digestion.

The exterior of our cells is made from Fats and Cholesterol, and believe it or not, SATURATED FAT, is WAY preferred over POLY-UNSATURATED fats, or even mono-unsaturated fats, for building the cell wall. ( Hmmmm. NOT THE MESSAGE WE HEAR FROM OUR DOCS OR THE GOVERNMENT.)  Why?  Sat fats are structurally neat and tidy, like a brick wall.  Nutrients get in easily, and trash gets out easily, like it’s supposed to.  Saturated fats are the most stable and durable in the face of Free Radicals, Heat, and Oxygen of all the fats.

Remember I said that we burn sugar instead of fat if Insulin’s in the blood stream, it’s a rule?  Well, the fact that saturated fats and cholesterol make the best cell walls is another Rule like that one.  It’s just science.  What happens if you don’t eat saturated fat or cholesterol, but like me, you went years eating vegetable oils and hydrogenated oils, like margarine or Crisco?

Your body will use those weak, damage prone fats to build your cells.  Nutrients won’t get in well, and trash won’t get out well.  Not only that, but those cells are now prone to inflammation and dysfunction;  think: INSULIN RESISTANCE.

One more fact about saturated fat and cholesterol:  it doesn’t make your blood sugar rise AT ALL.  ZERO insulin is released to take care of it, zero.

Cells need to be healed if Insulin Resistance is going to be reversed. Obviously, we need good fatty acids to do that, and to breakdown and absorb and use those fatty acids, we need good digestion.  If you bloat, belch, fart, have reflux, or GERD, you don’t have good digestion.  That has to be fixed using supps like DGL, aloe vera, digestive enzymes and more.  There’s specific nutrients that target the cell receptors, like Berberine and ALA, and there’s spices and herbs that repair cells and reduce or reverse inflammation, like turmeric and garlic.

Food Is Medicine or Food Is Poison, right?

Exercise helps reduce Insulin Resistance, because it makes muscle cells have more mitochondria, so the cells have the capacity to accept more sugar/glucose.  Burst training/HITT/intervals/plyometrics and weight training have the most positive effects on Insulin Resistance, much more than long cardio, which can actually make things worse. (long explanation)

If the term Weight Loss Resistance caught your eye, because you think that applies to you, get in touch with me.  We can come up with a plan to get you Burning Fat instead of Storing Fat.  Our bodies want to be healthy and normal, we all have the capacity to change and heal and feel great.  Take control of your life today; eat Real Whole Foods, prioritize sleep and stress management, schedule exercise into your week.  This is doable, and you’re fixable.  I promise.

2015-03-29 08.56.13I’m ending with a picture of my mom and dad at the party, you can see where I get my bent for health from!

 

To check out the Diabetes summit, go here.

 

Category: Carbs, Exercise, Fats, Hormones, RWF, Sugar, Weight Loss / Tags: , , ,

Bullet Proof Coffee, Hormones, and Weight Loss

March 15, 2015 / / Comments Off on Bullet Proof Coffee, Hormones, and Weight Loss

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIf you haven’t heard of Bullet Proof Coffee (BPC) yet, you will soon.  It gets a lot of press, and the creator of BPC opened his first brick and mortar shop in California this winter.

Many of you have heard of it though, because I get asked about it all the time. I’ve been Bullet Proofing for a couple months now, but this Post isn’t an endorsement, it’s just information. (By the way, I haven’t given up my raw cream totally, I’m only BPing half the time.)  Here’s why, here’s what it is, here’s how you may need to tweak it, and here’s why it could totally, completely backfire on you.

BPC isn’t Dave Asprey’s brain child, he discovered it while climbing mountains in Tibet; apparently the Sherpas drink something similar (with yak dairy), eat very little, do strenuous work, and have great energy.  Dave had similar results and then brought the idea back to the US.  Wow, has that ever worked for him! (He’s built a pretty profitable empire)

What is BPC?  The general recipe is 2 cups of clean (mold free) coffee, blended with 2 tbsp of grass fed butter and 2 tbsp of MCT oil.  Other ingredients could be added, such as vanilla powder, coconut oil, or stevia, or even collagen, which I’ll cover later.  Oh, it’s supposed to be blended as opposed to just stirred; I use a little milk frother, but you could use a smoothie maker.

Will BPC work for you?  There’s a bunch of pro’s and cons here, and don’t for a second think that Bullet Proof Coffee is a Magic Bullet for any weight issues you’re having.  We’re a chemistry set, and there’s way more to our weight than a few good, or bad, choices.

Here’s some facts:

If you’re NOT adrenally fatigued, coffee’s good for you!  Antioxidants and polyphenols in coffee lower the risk for different cancers (prostate, liver, and colorectal).  Coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of developing diabetes T2.  Coffee’s nutrients and caffeine lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s by about 60%, and gives protective qualities against other neurological disorders, like Parkinson’s and dementia.  Coffee’s nutrients have liver protecting qualities.  And we all know about caffeine’s effects on energy, performance, and brain recall: good, good, and good.

What’s not to like?  Well, if you’ve been burning the candle at both ends so much that you use coffee all day long, and barely feel it’s effects, you’ve set up a hormonal situation that negates any benefit coffee could provide.  You probably need to go on a coffee detox, and abstain for a while until your adrenals hormones, thyroid hormones, sex hormones, leptin, and all your other hormones can normalize.  Sad news, I know.

More bad news on coffee?  It’s grown in tropical climates; mold and bugs are a big problem.  Fungicides, pesticides and herbicides are all sprayed very very heavily, so go organic.  The Bullet Proof brand is created with this in mind, and is clean and free of any of those poisons, but I’m sure many other brands are also.  BP’s a little pricy for me, but I do buy their decaf, which is done without chemicals as opposed to the highly chemical-ized typical way of separating the caffeine out of coffee.

My biggest Con – and it’s important and has to do with your weight – will be at the end.  Let me go over why BPC could be good for you first.

When we wake up in the morning, if we’re normal, we’ve been in a hormonal state that’s triggered our cells to use FATTY ACIDS for fuel instead of glucose (sugar).  If we’re normal, we haven’t eaten for several hours, our blood sugar is low, and our insulin levels are low.  This is why we’re using fatty acids for fuel:  low insulin.  Remember, when insulin’s in the blood – fat is never ever ever used for fuel.  Only sugar is.  Low insulin=fat burning.

How do you know if you’re not normal?  Lot’s of ways:  high fasting morning blood sugar, belly fat, and labs that show a high level of hsCRP.  High levels of hsCRP mean Leptin Resistance, which means ABNORMAL.  Pay attention here, because typical BPC protocols aren’t for you if these are your body signs.

BPC can be used two ways.  1) you can have a cup or 2 in the morning before your breakfast.    2) you can drink it all morning long until it’s been about 16 – 18 hours since you’ve had dinner, and then start eating.  It’s complicated and if you’re interested in the Bullet Proof Fasting, read up on it.  Links at the end of Post.

Benefits of BPC besides the benefits inherent in coffee?  If we avoid carbs in the morning, and just have the BPC, which is very high in FAT, we keep insulin low, blood sugar low, and Fat Burning Up.  As long as we don’t eat carbs, the Fat Burning Continues.  This is a good thing, and effective – if you’re normal.  High fat diets provide a lot of nutrients and have a great effect on our hormones; plus, our cells become good at burning fat/using fat for fuel when fat is a normal and substantial part of our diet.

BPC really does make you feel very alert, and it does have an effect on cravings via fat’s positive effects on satiety hormones.  Additionally, the nutrients in grass fed butter and MCT oil are very good for our brain, heart, and gut.

There’s plenty of antidotal evidence that BPC can help you lose weight and become mentally sharper. If you visit the site, you’ll see testimony’s by actors, doctors, and athletes singing it’s praises.

Still, it’s not for everyone, and like I said before, it’s not a Magic Weight Loss Bullet.  Here’s why.

First, BPC is based on the principle that a high fat or ketogenic diet is good for you, which I believe in and use myself.  I don’t eat sugar or grains and I haven’t for years.  No problem.  If you do eat sugar and grains and think you’re going to get away with BPC, you’re wrong.  Lots of carbs + lots of fat = Lots of Body Fat.

Who else shouldn’t rely on BPC as a meal, or try that 16/18 hour fast I mentioned above?  Food Addicts and Chronic Dieters.  BP fasts or efforts will most likely throw you into a food binge rebound, just like all your other diet attempts.  Don’t do it!  Addicts and Dieters need to practice normal meals with Real Whole Food, and no snacking.  Baby steps.

One more caveat:  we women, with all our wonderful, fluctuating hormones, may need to add some collagen to the coffee.  Remember collagen?  Lots of amino acids that are very different from the amino acids in muscle meats like burger, or dairy, like whey.  Again, it’s a long explanation, and there’s a lot of science behind it.  Check out the links if you want to explore farther.

What if you’re interested in BPing, but don’t like coffee?  There’s other ways.  You can use green tea, black tea, ground cocoa, or even vanilla powder.  Again, check out the links.

There you have it!  Bullet Proof explained.  And just to really nail it home:  Bullet Proof doesn’t equal Magic Bullet.  You still need to Sleep, Manage your Stress, Exercise, and eat Real Whole Food. Have a good week!

http://www.rocksolidnutritionandwellness.com/weight-loss-food-cravings-leptin-resistance-insulin-resistance-what-applies-to-you/

http://www.rocksolidnutritionandwellness.com/working-man-parts-weight-loss-youthful-skin-joint-pain-what-do-they-have-in-common-they-all-benefit-from-bone-broth-and-gelatin/

http://dailycoffeenews.com/2015/01/15/a-branded-bulletproof-coffee-shop-is-coming-to-santa-monica/

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-13-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coffee/

https://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-mistakes-butter-coffee-fatty-coffee-and-more/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bulletproof-Diet-Reclaim-Upgrade/dp/162336518X

Category: Carbs, Fats, Food Cravings, Hormones, Keto Recipe, ketosis, Sugar, Weight Loss / Tags: , , , , , ,

You’re Not Lazy and You’re Not Crazy; It’s Just Your Hormones.

March 1, 2015 / / Comments Off on You’re Not Lazy and You’re Not Crazy; It’s Just Your Hormones.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI recently tested my estrogen and progesterone levels – at home. 🙂  I’m 50 in a few weeks, and passed the “12 months no period = menopause” mark in January. I was curious.

It’s not the first time I’ve tested my sex hormones.  Three times in the past, I went through my OB-Gyn for hormone blood tests, covered by insurance; and then 3 times I did both saliva and blood spot tests through a Functional Medicine doctor, and payed a fortune out of pocket.  I also tested my cortisol levels throughout the day.

Not this time!  Same lab, same tests, I paid $70, and had the results sent right to me.  Freedom! I’ll explain how you can do this at the end of this post.  First, let me explain why I think it’s a good idea to know what’s going on with our hormones.

Hormones Rule Us.  This isn’t a Post on menopause, it’s a Post about body weight, and how we can use information to really tailor that whole “Food is Medicine” thing.  It’s also a Post to reinforce that our body is a Chemistry Set, not a Math Equation.  The whole calories in/calories out….. we don’t run that way.

Let me bullet point some facts about food and hormones to illustrate the futileness of believing that weight loss comes from calorie deficits, and the hormonal effects when we employ traditional diet methods, or even a Standard American Diet.

* The thyroid gland slows down production of thyroid hormone – which slows down metabolism – as soon as it even suspects a lack of food.  Our thyroid gland is supposed to protect us from starving.  The result of a few rounds of dieting?  A thyroid that stays sluggish even when calorie consumption rises.

* When we eat grains and sugar (all grains digest to sugar in the gut), the result is high blood sugar.  High blood sugar induces high levels of the hormone Insulin.  Insulin is a building, storage hormone, it’s also a caustic damaging hormone when in excess.  For most Americans, insulin is in excess.

* Studies show that chronically high blood sugar actually destroys the thyroid gland, lowering metabolism even more via less thyroid hormone.

* When the hormone Insulin is elevated (say, after a breakfast of cereal, or a dinner of pasta), our cells are literally prohibited from burning fat for fuel.  They’re only allowed to burn sugar. In our body, that’s a rule we can’t change.  It’s part of our design.

* What happens when Insulin remains high – a la Insulin Resistance?  Insulin resistance leads to Leptin resistance.  Leptin is a satiety hormone.  “Resistance” means the hormone can’t get into the cells to deliver it’s message.   Leptin resistance means constant hunger.

* Ghrelin is a hunger hormone. It’s supposed to rise when our stomach is empty, and fall after we eat.  Studies show that in people who eat “diet food”, ghrelin doesn’t fall, or fall properly.  The result:  we stay hungry.  We need Real Whole Food to make the hunger hormones and the satiety hormones function correctly.  Diet Coke with a Protein Bar won’t work; actually, that’s a recipe for hormonal disaster.

* Estrogen Dominance is pervasive today, in men, women, and children.  Too much estrogen causes low testosterone in men.  Excess estrogen causes low progesterone in women.  These are both hormonal situations that lead to weight gain.

* Cortisol is a hormone produced in the adrenal glands in response to the brains perception of stress, any kind of stress, even fake stress as in a scary movie.  Cortisol production inhibits sex hormone production.  Chronically high cortisol means chronically low sex hormones.  Chronically high cortisol is linked to insulin resistance ( it blocks insulin receptors on cells) and belly fat – and heart disease.

* Lack of sleep messes up more hormones than we can count.  One of them is ghrelin.  Lack of sleep raises ghrelin, which increases hunger.

* Thyroid hormone – again, responsible for our metabolism – is negatively affected by consumption of soy, fluoride, and chlorine.  Think protein bars, processed food, and municipal water.

* Drinking alcohol, any alcohol, causes an enzyme called aromatase to convert testosterone into estrogen.  This happens to both men and women, and it causes “estrogen belly”, formerly know as “beer belly”.

*A diet full of processed foods, flour, sugar, and chemicals, severely disrupts our gut flora (even if this diet is low calorie).  Our gut flora are highly involved in whether we burn predominantly fat or sugar.  One example, and there’s many, is that the more diverse our gut species are, the better our liver gets rid of old hormones, like estrogen.  Poor gut flora means poor elimination, and those hormones stay dangerously high in the blood.

* Numerous studies show that Vitamin D – which is actually a hormone, greatly influences both weight loss and inflammation levels.  Vitamin D deficiency is epidemic!

* Numerous studies show that excessive exercise and chronic dieting raise levels of cortisol in the blood.  Just like when Insulin is high, when cortisol is high, the body doesn’t burn fat, it burns sugar.

* Both Fructose and Trans Fats (present in most prepared foods, “diet” or not) both cause Insulin Resistance and raise markers of inflammatory hormones, again, inhibiting fat burning in the cell.

All that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Hopefully it was enough to convince you that losing weight isn’t about starving yourself, mini meals, excessive exercise, and diet foods.  All that stuff does the opposite of permanent weight loss; those kind of diet efforts put you into a hormonal state that makes weight loss impossible.

How does this tie in with me testing some of my hormones at home?  My health doesn’t come from my doctor; my health – and a healthy weight – comes from me paying attention to my body and making changes when I need too.  Having normal levels of sex hormones is really important, to my weight, my brain, my energy, my immune system.

Everything is so connected.  We’re not a bunch of individual parts that work independently, not even close.  I also test my blood sugar, at least a couple times a month, and just recently I did an A1C ( which shows a 90 day average of blood sugar – a great marker for Alzheimer’s and inflammation ).

Food is medicine, or food is poison.  When I know what’s going on in my body, I can literally use food as my medicine.  For instance, now that I know how low my estrogen is, and that I’m fully menopausal, I’m using particular foods and herbs to naturally raise my estrogen, and progesterone.  I’ll test again this summer and see how that’s working.

Last year I got really into Bikram yoga.  A friend of mind wondered if that level of heat stress caused a cortisol release, which causes high blood sugar.  So I took my glucometer to the studio and tested a couple times.  I’ve also tested after I’ve taught some tough boot camp classes.  Exercise doesn’t stress me, I know that now because my blood sugar was good each time.

However, I’ve also tested after tornados blow through my house and seen that my blood sugar is high.  ( we’re a big family who loves each other but … stress happens. )

Testing at home is fun, affordable, and while a full CBC panel can be confusing to interpret, a hormone panel, blood sugar numbers, and A1C aren’t, at all.  And they give you some real black and white answers about the state of your health.

I encourage all my weight loss clients to regularly test their blood sugar as it’s such a strong tool for weight loss:  if blood sugar’s high, the hormone Insulin is high.  When insulin is high, fat loss doesn’t happen.  Notice I said fat loss not weight loss.  You can starve some weight off, but if insulin is high, and worse, if the hormone cortisol is high from the stress of dieting/hunger/excessive exercise, the weight comes mostly in the form of muscle tissue, not fat tissue.  Less muscle tissue means a lower daily calorie burn.

Again, we’re a big cycle.  Here’s the links to the tests, if you want help with using them to lose weight or get healthy, or both, contact me and let’s work together.

To order the hormone panel:http://www.johnleemd.com/store/prod_test_kits.html

To buy a glucometer/blood sugar meter:http://www.amazon.com/Diabetes-Testing-TrueResult-TrueTest-Active1st/dp/B00PX2T58I/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t

To buy an A1C:http://www.amazon.com/4303514-Bayer-hBa1C-Waived-Diabetes/dp/B00D7C6YWQ/ref=pd_sbs_hpc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0YN868HAH518CN8NCF45

Category: Food Cravings, Gut bacteria, Hormones, Immune System, RWF, Uncategorized, Weight Loss / 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!

20150217_172851

 

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

Feeding Our Skinny Bacteria More Important Than “dieting” To Weight Loss

January 25, 2015 / / Comments Off on Feeding Our Skinny Bacteria More Important Than “dieting” To Weight Loss

Do you know that we have trillions of bacteria in our gut that determine whether we’re lean or fat, and every day we feed and nurture them?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’ve pointed out several times that Calories in/Calories out as a weight loss strategy is false, it doesn’t work. Neither does dieting; that’s a statistic.   We’re not a Math Equation, we’re a Chemistry Set.  I’ve harped on the HORMONAL actions that happen when we eat grains, sugars, and processed foods:  fat storage, muscle breakdown, slow thyroid, etc, etc.

Science (the Human Microbiome Project) is showing that our BACTERIA are just as important as our Hormones when it comes to our weight.  We’re supposed to be filled, and covered, with bacteria; we actually have more bacteria than human cells.

To be healthy and lean, we need to have predominantly BENEFICIAL bacteria.  If we have an imbalance, and the pathogenic bacteria outnumber the beneficial bacteria, we’re in trouble.

What determines our bacterial well being?  A lot.  Antibiotics support pathogenic bacteria.  Most drugs ( OTC and prescription) change the pH of the stomach, which allows pathogenic bacteria to thrive.  Stress does the same thing.

A biggie:  our FOOD is our BACTERIA’s food, and what we put in our mouth determines who gets fed best, the Lean strains or the Fat strains.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) of 60% carbs (mostly from grains and sugar), not only initiates Fat Storage through high blood sugar and hormones, but it feeds PATHOGENIC strains, because they thrive on sugar.  Beneficial bacteria eat FIBER, from vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds.

So let’s feed our Skinny Bacteria! I’m including links to learn the nuts and bolts, but here’s a snippet:  Studies are showing that lean people have a bacterial population that includes more “bacteroidetes” bacteria. Bacteroidetes is an umbrella terms for several different species. Overweight people have more “firmicutes”, again, an umbrella terms for several species.

If you have more Firmicutes than Bacteroidetes, you’re going to have a hard time losing weight, no matter what you do. Firmicutes bacteria harvest more calories from our food, encourage more fat storage, and less fat burning. Who wants that? There’s also the brain signals I mentioned earlier: “slow down the thyroid, slow down the metabolism, she’s dieting again and I don’t want to starve to death!”  Our gut bacteria and our brain are intricately linked.

Here’s some tips on how to feed our Bacteroidetes, and not our Firmacuties.

Tip #1:  Eat 3 meals a day of Real Whole Food, with plenty of good fat, clean proteins, TONS of vegetables, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, and maybe some dairy if you tolerate it.  Fermented and cultured foods are a must.  DITCH THE GRAINS AND SUGARS.  ( Fat Bacteria THRIVE on grains and sugars) Our body was literally designed by God to run on Real Whole Foods. This means cooking.

Tip #2:  Have an Eating Plan that includes enough food at each of our 3 meals to genuinely Satisfy Our Hunger.  WE’RE NOT DESIGNED TO ENDURE HUNGER.  The brain just won’t allow it; it takes too many nutrients to do the constant upkeep and repair that happens all day and all night.   Again, our brains have an intricate and intimate relationship with our gut bacteria. Firmacutes bacteria – the sugar eaters – contribute to those annoying brain signals that conspire to make us search out more sugar ( who searches out more broccoli ?).  Bacteroidetes strains don’t do that!  Bacteroidetes thrive on Fiber and Resistant Starch in vegetables.

We have a lot of power when it comes to reducing our Firmicutes and increasing our Bacteroidetes.

A Real Whole Food Diet is so honestly and totally best for us.  We feed the good bacteria and signal hormones that trigger satiety in the brain.  The desire -or compulsion- to eat CRAP ( and feed the Firmicutes ) abates and abates every single day we eat like this.

Notice that feeding our skinny Bacteria is the same advice as building a strong immune system.

This whole Microbiome science is fascinating, and I encourage you to learn more about it – which is really learning about ourselves. The more we know, the easier it is to make good choices. Here’s some links:

Read:

http://www.rocksolidnutritionandwellness.com/ebola-enterovirus-and-our-immune-systems-better-get-strong-now/

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/17/human-microbiome.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Belly-Fat-Effect-Intestinal-Bacteria/dp/0991070313

http://www.rocksolidnutritionandwellness.com/natural-cures-theyre-real-learn-what-you-can-do-for-yourself-and-your-family/

Listen to:

http://undergroundwellness.com/podcasts/306-5-steps-to-permanent-gut-healing/

http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/the-llvlc-show-episode-876-brenda-watson-says-out-of-balance-gut-bacteria-at-the-heart-of-obesity/23639

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Gut bacteria, Hormones, Immune System, RWF, Sugar, Weight Loss / Tags: , , , , , ,

DIY Lotion, Carrot Soup, Elderberry Syrup; Homemade is Worth the Effort, Here’s Why

January 11, 2015 / / Comments Off on DIY Lotion, Carrot Soup, Elderberry Syrup; Homemade is Worth the Effort, Here’s Why

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAttitude is everything, and my attitude is that I’m Smart, Organized, Energetic, and Able. Believing this about myself makes a busy day much easier mentally, because thoughts affect words and actions.

You are also Smart, Organized, Energetic, and Able.  God didn’t make duds.

In light of those statements, here’s a few recipes. Please don’t move on after reading the word “recipes”.  Homemade is so worth the time and effort, for many reasons; WEIGHT LOSS IS ONE OF THEM.

Our world is a Toxic World.  We literally breath in chemicals, sleep on chemicals, rub on chemicals, and ingest thousands of chemicals every single day.  84,000 chemicals are legal in the US; many are untested, many are unregulated, and many are deemed potentially or definitely dangerous and still allowed in our food, water, and body care products.

These chemicals, which make things smell good, taste good, look good, or feel good, have consequences.  Many of them are hormone/endocrine disruptors, mimicking estrogen.  This has led to men and women and children having higher estrogen levels than what’s healthy, resulting in a long list of problems, from low sperm counts to cancer. Other chemicals cause disease, behavior problems, headaches, and I could go on and on.  You get it.

Remember in my last post I said that Food is Medicine or Food is Poison, and EVERY SINGLE POST IS ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS?  The weight tie-in here is that estrogenic chemicals, along with the sheer volume of total chemicals we ingest/breath/absorb, stress our liver to the point where being a normal healthy weight, or weight loss, isn’t possible.

Our liver has to break down and get rid of every chemical that comes into our body, whether by mouth or skin.  Our liver is responsible for breaking down old hormones. Our liver metabolizes fats and proteins.  Our liver compromises the largest portion of our daily calorie burn ( the brain and heart come in next, and then our muscles ); if our liver is tired, toxic, and over-burdened, happy weight is practically impossible, so is good health.

Read the labels of EVERYTHING; look up some words you see on EWG.org, learn what these chemicals do and you’ll become increasingly motivated to Do It Yourself, I promise. 

I’ve got 3 recipes here that I promise are easy, and wonderful.  Compare the store bought ingredients with the DIY ingredients.

This is Elderberry Syrup, aka, Sambucal, it’s used as either a preventative tonic, or a cold medicine.  Here’s the ingredients:         20150109_060142⅔ cup black elderberries

3.5 cups of water
2 T fresh or dried ginger root
2 tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp cloves or clove powder
1 cup raw honey (we get from our farmer’s market)

Compare that to the ingredients in Tylenol Cold and Flu:

Acetaminiphen, Dextromethorphan HBr, Guaifenesin,Phenylephrine HCl, and finally,carnauba wax, croscarmellose sodium, D&C yellow no. 10 aluminum lake, flavor, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypromellose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyethylene glycol, pregelatinized starch, sucralose, titanium dioxide.  O.  M.   Gosh.  Why would we put this in our bodies, or our children’s bodies?

Here’s Carrot Soup,  DELICIOUS! (and easy)

20150108_171941

The ingredients were:                        20150108_165456

5 cups of homemade chicken broth
1 can of coconut milk
a Vitamix full of cooked carrots
1 cooked onion,4 garlic cloves
1 TBSP garam marsala; cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt&pepper

Compare that to Campbells Vegetable Soup Ingredients:

TOMATO PUREE (WATER, TOMATO PASTE), POTATOES, CARROTS, WATER, PEAS, CORN, DICED TOMATOES IN TOMATO JUICE, GREEN BEANS, ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WHEAT FLOUR, EGG WHITES, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), SUGAR , CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF: MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, CELERY, ONIONS, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, SALT, FLAVORING, YEAST EXTRACT, LOWER SODIUM NATURAL SEA SALT, SPICE, ASCORBIC ACID, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, DISODIUM INOSINATE, PAPRIKA EXTRACT.

Last, Homemade Lotion I made yesterday morning for Macy before she went back to school, it took 10 minutes:

The Ingredients are:                  20150109_055505

coconut oil
shea butter
cocoa butter
almond oil
Wild Orange essential oil

Compare that to Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizer:

Water, Mineral Oil, Sesame Oil, Propylene Glycol, TEA Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate, Lanolin Alcohol, Petrolatum, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Yellow #5, Yellow #6, Red #33.

The old advertisement:  Better Living Through Chemicals…… it’s not true.  We have way too many chemicals in our life; DIY ( unless you can hire someone to Do It For You ) is important!  Not convinced?  Learn more through the links below:

http://www.liverdoctor.com/liver/the-liver-and-detoxification/

http://foodbabe.com/2013/02/26/are-over-the-counter-medicines-making-you-sick/

https://ispub.com/IJU/2/1/7519

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2726844/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/opinion/kristof-how-chemicals-change-us.html?_r=1

Category: Cooking, Food Additives, Hormones, Natural Therapies, Paleo Recipe, RWF / Tags: , , , ,

Recipe Makeovers: Cauliflower Pizza Crusts and Caesar Salad Dressing that make you Lean and Healthy

January 6, 2015 / / Comments Off on Recipe Makeovers: Cauliflower Pizza Crusts and Caesar Salad Dressing that make you Lean and Healthy

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI received an email from a reader, asking if I could do another post on weight loss soon.

My response:  EVERY SINGLE POST IS ON WEIGHT.  Food is Medicine or Food is Poison, and our weight is a side effect of that fact.

If Weight Loss is our first priority when it comes to food, We’ll NEVER SUCCESSFULLY LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF. Ever.  95 – 99% of everyone who loses weight on a Diet gains it back.

Low calorie foods, low fat plans, starving ourself, skipping meals, exercising a ton, and STRESSING ABOUT OUR WEIGHT are literally guaranteed to make us gain weight in the long run, because we’re eating toxic food and/or employing toxic behaviors.  Poison.

Weight Loss is never a priority for our body or brain.  For women particularly, losing weight is the last thing our body wants to do, even when we carry excess fat.  Fat’s crucial not just for building our Brain, Glands, Organs, Bones, and Immune System, but our body makes many of our Hormones from fatty acids.

Healthy fats, vegetables, herbs, spices, clean proteins, seasonal fruit, nuts, seeds…..Medicine.

My point?  To lose weight and keep it off, we HAVE to eat Medicine Foods.  Also, cut the Grains, Sugars, and Chemicals; those things ruin our liver, our brain, our arteries and destroy our hormones. Permanent weight loss is impossible as long as they’re a regular part of our diet.

Here’s some recipe makeovers that I promise are husband and kid approved. These recipes contain Nutrient Dense Real Whole Foods (Medicine) guaranteed to satisfy our body and brain, and help us lose weight.

WARNING/ADVICE:  Sometimes with picky kids and husbands, it’s best NOT to tell them what’s in the food.  Don’t set yourself up for snide (or worse) comments about the ingredients or your efforts to make you and your family healthier.  Just do it.  Stay strong and determined no matter what mud a teenager slings at you.  The great thing about Real Whole Food is that fat, herbs, and spices make EVERYTHING taste good.  Broccoli with butter, parm, and sea salt?  DELICIOUS.  Chicken with skin on/bone in?  Delicious.  Bacon, brussels, butter, sea salt and pepper?  Delicious.  Stay with the program, be persistent, and eventually,… you’ll win.

Here’s a picture of our dinner last night:  Cauliflower Pizza and Caesar Salads with homemade dressing.                                                      dinner 1:4

If you look online for Cauliflower Pizza Crust recipes, you’ll find 1.6 million; they’re nobody’s secret, and they’re all pretty similar.  (Helpful hints to follow) Here’s the recipe I use:

CAULIFLOWER CRUST PIZZA

Full head of cauliflower, RICED ( in your food processor or Vitamix )

1 egg
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup of your favorite cheese.  You’ll see recipes that use goat, parm, mozzarella, and cheddar, just pick one.

Directions: Set oven to 450.  “Rice” the whole head of cauliflower, and then either steam it ( more dishes, but better ) or put it in a pot of 1″ water and cook it, just for a couple of minutes.

IMPORTANT:  YOU HAVE TO GET ALL THE WATER OUT OF THE CAULIFLOWER.  Don’t whine.  Think positive thoughts, like, you’re going to have pizza and you’re not going to feel stuffed/bloated/or regretful the next day, PLUS, you’re eating a sulfur containing cruciferous vegetable that prevents cancer and disease.  Good thoughts.

I put my cooked cauliflower in a fine mesh strainer and press with a big wooden spoon, then I put it in a dishtowel and twist and wring until even more water comes out.  Cauliflower contains a lot of water, and you need it fairly dry.

When you’re done, mix it in a bowl with all the other ingredients; if you used a big head, you have enough for 2 pizzas, or one very thick crust. You only need about 2.5 cups per thin crust. Thicker crusts may not act like “real” pizza, i.e, you’ll have to cut them with a fork instead of holding them.  MOMS:  if your kids are suspicious of your efforts, make the crusts thin so they’ll stay together when they’re held. I’ve been at this long enough that I can make a thick crust and we all use forks, but switching the family diet from Fake Foods (poison) to Real Foods  (medicine) needs to be done gently, and wisely.

Put a piece of parchment paper on your stone, and use your hands to form your crust, then bake it for anywhere from 10/12 minutes for a thin crust, to 25 minutes for a thick crust. (read my hints at end of post)

When it’s baked, load it with your favorite toppings.  Last night I used slow roasted tomatoes, sausage, onions, herbs, and cheese.

Back in the oven at 425, for 16 minutes, and you can make your salad and dressing.

Caesar Salad and Dressing:   Look at these ingredients! How did we ever start thinking that brain food like this could be bad for us???

3 eggs ( I use farm fresh eggs, but use pasteurized if you want )
1 can anchovies
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp Red Wine vinegar
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 c lemon juice
1/2 c parm
1/2 tsp yellow mustard

1/2 cup of Extra Virgin olive oil

Directions for dressing:  put the first 8 ingredients into your BLENDER or VITAMIX, and blend for a minute.   Then sloooowly pour in the olive oil; you’re emulsifying it, that means you need to drizzle the olive oil into the mix for it to set up thickly.

Pour this over a bowl full of romaine, shredded parm, and bread crumbs made from COCONUT MILK bread croutons.  Or just make your favorite salad, and use this dressing because it’s absolutely delicious and your family will love it.

A few last words of advice:

1) I’ve heard juicing the cauliflower is the best way to go, no wringing, but I haven’t tried it.

2) If your cauliflower head is extra big, add an egg white.

3) Judge your crust by how it looks more than time; it should turn light brown and “crusty”.

4) If after all your efforts the “dough” is still pretty wet, add 1/2 to 1 tbsp of coconut flour.  Coconut flour absorbs liquid;  start with the 1/2 tbsp and go from there.

5) To make croutons with Coconut Milk Bread, cut off a slice, tear into pieces, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and bake for 10 minutes on 350.  Judge from there if they need a few more minutes.

 

Category: Cooking, Fats, Hormones, Immune System, Paleo Recipe, RWF, Uncategorized, Weight Loss / Tags: , , ,

Want to Lose Weight, Reduce Inflammation, Gain Energy, and Look Younger?

December 21, 2014 / / Comments Off on Want to Lose Weight, Reduce Inflammation, Gain Energy, and Look Younger?

me in kitchenJudging from my email, and comments at the gym, it’s been hard to stick to a healthy food plan over the holidays.  Long, busy days and less sleep derail even the best intentions.  Don’t stress about it; stress hormones just make everything worse.

We’re 2/3 of the way through December.  How about this January, you commit – in your mind starting today – to a cyclical Low Carb/High Fat Diet / Way of Eating?   Here’s what I mean:

Since I did the Keto Diet this summer, I’ve cycled my eating to be either Low Carb days that include a starchy vegetable or fruit, ( potatoes, bananas, plantains, or winter squash ), with days when I eat VERY High Fat/Low Carb and ONLY green or cruciferous vegetables.  I haven’t done this for my weight, as my weight never really changes ( IF YOU HAVE WEIGHT TO LOSE, YOU’LL LOSE IT EATING THIS WAY I SWEAR, IF YOU DON’T HAVE WEIGHT TO LOSE, THERE’S A MILLION BENEFITS TO THIS WAY OF EATING), but WOW, does it do a number on energy and inflammation.  It’s the High Fat component I’m sure, as I’ve been plain old Low Carb for years now. ( Yes, Low Carb has several health and weight loss benefits independent of High Fat!)

Here’s what I’ve experienced in the past 6 months:  My varicose veins, which I’ve had since my 2nd pregnancy 22 years ago, are GONE.  It’s weird.  Some age spots I had on my chest…. GONE.  My eyebrows, which had kind of disappeared on the outside ( a sign of poor thyroid function ), have grown back.  Inflammation and soreness after a I teach a hard class or have a heavy leg day… much less.  And I haven’t been this “regular” in 10 years.

I had to go off a strict Keto plan because my blood pressure went too low ( one night it was 60/40 ), but if you struggle with High Blood Pressure, or Diabetes, or Heart disease, or need to lose weight, then a Keto Diet would be great for you.  Interestingly, cycling my days between High Fat/low carb and plan old Low Carb, has allowed me to see low levels of Ketones on the sticks whenever I test.

However, most people I work with don’t want to do a Keto Diet every day; it sounds too hard, and I’ll admit, it takes a LOT of fat, and counting your carbs, to see ketones on the meter or the keto sticks.  If you read my summer Posts, you know there’s several advantages to having a low amount of Ketones in your blood, everything from cell repair to cancer cell inhibition. Several decades ago, it would have been normal for us to float in and out of mild ketosis as high fat /low carb/low sugar diets were the norm; NOT ANY MORE.

Now, studies show that burning predominately glucose ( sugar ) is our New Norm.  If you’re primarily a sugar burner, that means your body STORES FAT instead of burning fat, even during exercise.   Ketones are an excellent fuel source;  our muscles, heart, and brain LOVE to burn ketones and literally PREFER to burn ketones or fatty acids OVER glucose.

If you’ve been struggling with weight or health issues, you should do a Cyclic Keto Diet, at least for January.  Give it a try.  Start today focusing on not only ditching the grains and sugar, but upping your fats, greens, and cruciferous vegetables.  It’s NOT boring, and it’s not hard once you get into the swing of things.  Look at my What I Eat page for ideas.  In the meantime, don’t go hog wild thinking a big diet’s coming up so there’s no sense holding back.  That’s a ridiculous mindset that causes weight gain, hormonal havoc, and illness.  Stop it.

Instead, focus on LOOKING FORWARD to healthy proteins, healthy fats, and tons of vegetables. Take control of your thoughts and PLAN to succeed at this.  There’s even delicious Keto Desserts you can eat every day if you want.  I’ll post my meals throughout the month of January.  Don’t let this be just about your weight; read and learn about the benefits of Low Carb and Ketogenic eating, there’s so much science now and you need to get that science in your head if you want to make real changes.

Two of the best books out there are Keto Clarity, and The Art and Science of Low Carb Living. Order at least one of these and start reading today.

Hesitant?  Sound daunting?  Afraid to give up bread, pasta, pizza, and sweets?  You’re addicted.  Quit listening to that part of your brain.

Where were you a year ago in your weight and health?  Are you still there today?  Has anything changed for the better in the past year?  Stop the crazy train diet cycle.  You can be different, you can be better, you can be really, really, happy with yourself!  God didn’t make losers.  Manifest a positive, productive mindset.  Order the books, take control of your thoughts, and determine to be better every day in 2015. Next year, on December 21, 2015, you could be a whole different, better you!

Category: Hormones, Keto Recipe, ketosis, Uncategorized, Weight Loss / Tags: , , , , , , ,

6 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain and a Paleo Cookie Recipe

December 15, 2014 / / Comments Off on 6 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain and a Paleo Cookie Recipe

debbieThree emails this weekend about Holiday Weight Gain are prompting a Post.  Don’t Diet In December; don’t despair if you’ve gained a few pounds since Halloween; don’t “throw in the towel and restart in January”; and don’t kill yourself with extra hard workouts.

All that stuff would be SHORT TERM THINKING, and short term thinking never produces good Long Term Results.

What should you do instead?  CHILL.  Honestly.  It’s the holidays and we’ve all got about 50 extra things on our to-do lists.  Stressing about it = CORTISOL, which = WEIGHT GAIN and ILLNESS ( come January or sooner).

In addition to all our “extras”, is the assumption we’ll eat more just because it’s the holidays; constant indulgence = CORTISOL + INSULIN, which = WEIGHT GAIN AND ILLNESS ( come January, or sooner).

Blood sugar becomes a complete mess, and the impulse to soothe stress with food or alcohol feels irresistible.  Here’s what to do instead-

1) SUPPLEMENTS and FOOD for Stress and Blood Sugar Control:  Fish oil/Omega 3s ( you don’t need the 6’s or 9’s, you already get enough); Cinnamon/Ginger/Turmeric ( blood sugar and inflammation from Cortisol);  B Vitamins and Magnesium  ( critical when stressed!!); Probiotics ( stress and sugar destroy the good bacteria in our gut).

2) When the going gets tough, strive to make the best choices possible.  Extra food, extra alcohol, or skipping too many workouts NEVER ever makes us feel better, ever.  There’s always mental and physical regret from that.   Going to a party? Bring a vegetable dish so you know there’s at least one item you can eat.  Limit your alcohol to just 1 drink, and don’t make it a sugary one ( alcohol = liquid doughnuts!).  Going out to a holiday dinner?  Set your mind ahead of time that you’re ordering Meat and Vegetables.  Look forward to it, think about how good you’ll feel the next morning.

3) If you’ve blown it several times since Halloween, GET OVER IT. Regret and worry keep us living in the past, doing the wrong things over and over.  Yesterday is gone, tomorrow’s not here, FOCUS ON TODAY.  Make healthy choices today.  The mindset of blowing-it/punishment diets MAKES US FAT AND SICK.

4) Exercise as often as possible, but be realistic this month.  Can’t make it to the gym for an hour long class or lift?  Do 100 push-ups at home.  Do wall squats.  Do Tabata’s – they’ll kick your butt in 4 minutes!  Walk at lunch for 15 minutes.  It’s important to move, but weight loss and weight control is really all about the food we put in our mouths and the hormone response that food causes.

5) Feel too busy to cook this month?  Think and plan ahead so that you’re not tempted by Fast Food. Buy frozen vegetables, they’re just as nutrient filled as fresh and sometimes MORE nutrient filled than fresh; or buy already cut-up veggies.   Throw burger patties, chicken breasts, or a roast in a crock pot with a little water.  Make sure you have plenty of butter/olive oil and shredded cheese in your house.  Buy the already prepared meatballs/kabobs/fish from the Butcher. Boil a dozen eggs to keep in the fridge.  Make sure you have string cheese, fresh fruit, and carrots and celery available.  Nut butters and nuts are also easy and quick.  Cook big batches of food on the weekends; and keep a running grocery list handy.

6) Read this Post on Diets and Mindset.

In other words, despite the Holiday Season’s extra demand’s, we don’t have to Gain Weight, Get Sick, or Go Crazy.  It’s all about planning and mindset.

Lastly, here’s a recipe from my Paleo Christmas Party that’s going to be a Holiday Tradition at our house:  Pecan Pie Cookies.   DELICIOUS!!  My picky/suspicious eater (Shelby) loved them, and so did everyone else.

 

Category: Cooking, Hormones, Mind/Body, Paleo Recipe, Psychology of Eating, Reader Question, Sugar, Weight Loss / Tags: , , , ,

Holiday Eating Gone Bad? 8 Facts To Scare You Straight.

December 6, 2014 / / Comments Off on Holiday Eating Gone Bad? 8 Facts To Scare You Straight.

me:girlsIt’s the holiday season, you’re busy, you’re struggling, you want motivation, so I’ll be fast and effective.

I’ve had several emails and comments in the past two weeks full of regret and remorse over Eating Gone Bad.  There’s definitely the sense of, ” I couldn’t help myself because…”

A client friend said to me yesterday, ” I want to become scared of flour and sugar, like you are.”  I want ALL OF YOU TO BECOME SCARED OF FLOUR AND SUGAR, like I am!  Let me scare you straight, quickly.

Simple carbs from Grains and Sugar cause high levels of sugar and insulin in your blood/arteries/veins. The negative health effects from this are PROFOUND:

1) Excess blood sugar ( from sugar and grains) is converted to Triglycerides and stored in our fat cells.

2) Excess blood sugar “GLYCATES” proteins and lipids in our blood and body.  EXAMPLES OF GLYCATION ARE WRINKLES, AGE SPOTS, AND IMPOTENCE.   Alzheimer’s is being called Diabetes Type 3 because of the plaques/glycation of the brain, which is composed of fats and proteins.

3) Alzheimer’s, Migraines, Dementia, and all sorts of Neurological Conditions, including ADD and Mood Disorders, are highly associated with high blood sugar and insulin.

4) Cancer cells are covered with Insulin Receptors.  Cancer cells eat SUGAR.  The insulin receptors that cover cancer cells make sure those cells get all the sugar they want and need to grow and thrive.   APPLY THAT THOUGHT TO YOUR KIDS THE NEXT TIME YOU FEED THEM MAC N CHEESE WITH A SIDE OF BREAD.  Seriously.  That stuff is poison!

5) Heart disease is caused by several conditions initiated by sugar and insulin:  excess sugar thickens the blood; excess sugar robs the heart of it’s favorite mineral – Magnesium, and it’s favorite vitamin – the Bs ( that’s because digesting/metabolizing sugar requires an enormous amount of Magnesium and B vitamins ); and excess sugar and insulin severely damage artery walls, in several ways.

6) Damage to the artery walls ( whether those arteries are near your heart, in your neck, or MEN:  IN YOUR FAVORITE ORGAN THAT FILLS WITH BLOOD!!) means they need to be “fixed”.  In an effort to mitigate the damage we do, the liver puts together PLAQUE patches, and sends them to the sites of the damage.  This keeps us alive for years, but eventually, the high blood pressure, the thick blood, the extra stress on the heart, comes back to Bite Us In The Butt.

7) Excess sugars can completely change the Bacterial Composition of your entire gut: from the stomach, which needs to have just a tiny bit of H-Pylori and a TON of acid to be optimal, to the small intestine, which should be intact but more often then not is “LEAKY” or plagued with SIBO ( small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.  If you bloat badly, ask me about this.),  to the large intestine, which should house at least a few POUNDS of beneficial bacteria that perform literally THOUSANDS of jobs for our bodies.  Constipation, Bloat, Reflux, Diarrhea: NOT NORMAL!  It means you’re not breaking down and absorbing your nutrients which sets the stage for all sorts of disease and dysfunctions.

8) Excess sugar and insulin suppress your immune system, IMMEDIATELY, for up to 24 hours.  This means if you let your kid eat a breakfast of pop tarts or crappy cereal, and then send them to school to sit by someone on the bus or in the classroom who’s coughing or sneezing, they’re an EASY TARGET for the germs to set up house and proliferate. Same for you: a quick muffin or sugar/chemical drink at Starbucks, then off to an office/gym filled with bad germs?  You’re a sitting duck!

I could go on and on, but say this to yourself:  Food Is Medicine, or Food Is Poison; for me, and for my kids.

Then, delete the ancient notion that eating well means Dieting; eating low fat/no fat chicken and steamed broccoli is a recipe for a Rebound Binge.

That’s why I love the Paleo Diet:  Real Whole Food with plenty of good FAT, good meats and proteins, TONS of vegetables, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, and GOOD dairy if you can tolerate it.  The Paleo Diet even includes Real Whole Food DESSERTS, what’s not to like?  ( Christmas Paleo Party at my house, 12/12/14, from 12 -2. Everyone’s invited, and you’ll get to see just how good Real Whole Food is!)

If Food Addiction is your struggle, then all the common sense/information in the world doesn’t help too much.  Read my last post.   If you have trouble staying away from grains and sugar, know that they contain compounds that trigger addiction centers in your brain, and your child’s brain.  That doesn’t happen with Real Whole Food. 

Finally, in this stressful, busy season of the year, acknowledge that “eating for stress relief” doesn’t actually Relieve Your Stress, it makes you MORE STRESSED afterwards.  Just the opposite of sitting down to a Real Whole Food meal, which actually satiates your mind and body.

Change today.  Don’t wait til the season is over.  We’re talking about your health, your mind, and the example you’re instilling in your kids.  The food you put in your mouth matters.  I’ll say it again:  Food is Medicine, or Food is Poison.

Category: Carbs, Fats, Food Cravings, Gut bacteria, Hormones, Immune System, Mind/Body, Paleo Diet, RWF, Sugar, Weight Loss / Tags: , , , , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee