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How to REALLY Lose Weight (it’s not by dieting!) and Looks Healthy But Isn’t

March 8, 2014 / Debbie / Comments Off

I had the opportunity to look at a diet plan that a very large employer has probably paid a whole lot of money for their employees. This plan includes a P90X style workout several days a week, and meal plans around 1300 calories. You know how I say that Diet Plans (pills, programs, menus, foods, drinks etc) are just money makers, not actual “ways to lose weight and keep it off”? This falls right in that category.

GOOD NEWS: plans that have you starve yourself and work your butt off AREN’T NECESSARY. No matter what Main Stream Media/Medical/Business/Government would have you believe, the science Truly Truly Truly doesn’t support the THEORY that restricting calories through diet and burning more calories through exercise EVER works long term.

What the SCIENCE actually says is that if you Diet, you can be pretty assured of GAINING WEIGHT and causing Nutritional Deficiencies that will cause health problems for you down the road, or possibly immediately.

Here’s some pretty sobering statistics:

* A government review of 55 studies found NO SUSTAINED WEIGHT LOSS AT ALL AFTER 12 MONTHS.

* Between 95 and 98% of everyone who loses weight on a DIET, Gains It All Back

*2/3 of DIETERS REGAIN MORE WEIGHT THAN THEY LOST

* The more weight initially lost, the greater the rebound weight.

What’s going on here? Why doesn’t restricting calories, limiting fat, and exercising a ton work? Simple: You’re a chemistry set, not a math equation. Traditional, typical dieting SCREWS UP YOUR HORMONES. Eating Diet Foods and Drinks screws up your liver. Following a low fat plan depletes your hormones and messes up your brain (which is 60% fat). Restricting calories shuts or slows down the thyroid almost immediately. The neurotransmitters take an immediate hit with low cal dieting – there goes your mood/energy/thought patterns. Cortisol increases BECAUSE LOW CAL DIETING IS SEEN BY THE BRAIN AS STARVATION, which equals STRESS. Insulin ALWAYS increases when Cortisol increases.

Are you getting the picture? Probably. Here’s what’s harder for DIETERS to believe.

If you eat a diet of a couple thousand calories or more FILLED with FAT, PROTEIN, VITAMINS, and MINERALS from TONS of good fats, fish/meat/eggs/seafood, and tons of vegetables, you will lose weight. Honest. Your body doesn’t want to starve. Your body doesn’t want to diet. Bad things happen when you force it too. Your body wants to run correctly: it wants to have normal cell turnover, it wants to make all your sex hormones in normal amounts, it wants to repair every day damage, it wants to run thousands and thousands of chemical reactions that rely on the FUEL YOU PROVIDE YOUR BODY to complete.

Again, You’re Not A Math Equation, You’re A Chemistry Set.

Let’s look at a couple foods included in this program and other large programs; look at their ingredients and honestly access if you think these ingredients could in anyway make your body permanently slimmer, healthier, and more energetic.

Diet Cherry 7Up Antioxidant: Filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup or sugar and less than 2% of natural flavors, citric acid, potassium citrate, calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor). ***** The FDA “plans” to study (it’s “high” on the priority list) the calcium disodium EDTA because it’s suspected of mutagenic, teratogenic, subsacute, and reproductive effects. Those middle two words – I don’t even know what they mean and I’m not looking them up. I don’t need to. This product contains dangerous chemicals in addition to high fructose corn syrup and sugar. Antioxidant my ….

Weight Watchers Brownie Bliss ONLY 2 POINTS! Note the flours, sugars, hydrogenated oils, and chemicals:

Powdered Sugar, Sugar, Semi-Sweet Chocolate (Unsweetened Chocolate, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Extract), Water, Enriched Wheat Flour Bleached (Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Condensed Skim Milk, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Corn Syrup Solids, Inulin (Natural Extract of Chicory Roots), Glycerin, Soybean Oil, Pea Fiber, Dry Whey, Chocolate Liquor, Egg Whites, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Nonfat Dry Milk, Caramel Color, Whole Milk Solids, Reduced Mineral Whey Powder, Dextrose, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate), Xanthan Gum, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Red 40.

Let’s wrap up with a real shocker: The American Heart Association APPROVED Subway meal: Black Forrest Ham Sub, Apples, and Skim Milk:

The Ham: Water, dextrose, 2% or less of modified food starch, salt, potassium lactate, seasoning [potassium chloride, pork stock, sugar, yeast extract, salt, lactic acid, fructose, sunflower oil, cysteine hydrochloride, calcium lactate, modified food starch, flavors, grill flavor (from sunflower oil), polysorbate 80, rendered pork fat, and smoke flavor], sodium phosphate, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, caramel color.

The Bread: ITALIAN HERBS & CHEESE BREAD Subway® Italian Bread, Monterey Jack cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, artificial color), cheddar cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, artificial color) potato starch and powdered cellulose added to prevent caking, natamycin [a natural mold inhibitor]), garlic powder, corn maltodextrin, long grain rice powder, salt, toasted bread crumbs (wheat flour, dextrose, modified wheat starch, sugar, salt, yeast, caramel coloring, paprika), spice, parmesan cheese solids (milk, cheese, cultures, salt, enzymes, calcium chloride), cellulose, modified palm oil, oregano, natural and artificial flavor (including butter extract), sunflower oil, whey, gum arabic, citric acid, yeast extract, lactic acid, calcium lactate, disodium phosphate and not more than 2% silicon dioxide added (as anticaking agent).

I’m not even going to print the Apples and Skim Milk ingredients; trust me, they’re LOADED with flavors, preservatives, and additives.

Back to my original topic, Traditional Dieting/Calories In /Calories Out is a BUSINESS. It promises weight loss and rakes in money. In 2012, about 108 Million Americans were on a Diet, and the Industry brought in $20 BILLION that year, $20 BILLION. It promises weight loss, but it doesn’t deliver weight loss.

Want to lose weight: get your head on straight. You need to eat Real Whole Foods Every Single Day. You need to plan, cook, shop and pack, and make smart choices when you eat out. Not because the food is “fattening”, but because it’s loaded with flours, sugars, bad oils and chemicals that make you sick and addicted. Focus on the word “addicted”, because that’s the biggest struggle I see: not being able to stop eating or resist foods calling to you. As long as you’re eating addictive foods containing Flour, Sugar, and chemicals, you’re going to stay addicted. It’s just like cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. Trying to be “moderate” just ensures the addictive patterns continue.

I do a lot of work with Julia Ross’s Mood Cure and Diet Cure. It’s an Amino Acid supplement program that restocks/replenishes the neurotransmitters in your brain. You become ” Normal “, as opposed to Food Driven. It’s an excellent program that I’ve used on myself, my husband, and several clients. The results are unbelievable. If you think you can’t stick to a Real Whole Foods program because the Fake Foods/flours/sugars/chemicals constantly call you, get in touch with me. You can change. You can get healthy. You can be normal weight and full of energy. Honest. You just need to become a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Carbs, Fats, Food Additives, Looks Healthy But Isn't, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Sugar / Tags: Diet 7up, Diet Cure, Diet Failures, Diet Plans, Diet Science, dieting never works, dieting starvation, Julia Ross, Mood Cure, Nutritional Deficiencies, Subway Black Forrest Ham, Weight Gain, Weight Watchers Brownie Bliss

Amanda’s Journey; Sleep Deprivation and Carb Cravings

March 6, 2014 / Debbie / One comment

Epilepsy sucks. Trust me. I don’t have it, but I’ve watched my #2 daughter struggle with this for almost 15 years. She somehow gets up most days, goes to class, participates in sports, and clubs, and she (thank God) has a ton of great friends ( who’ve always been very supportive); but it can really knock you down sometimes. She had a really rough weekend that culminated in a middle of the night hospital stay, scary “heart attack like pains”, memory issues, and other symptoms. We’re changing her meds and praying that it works. Here’s two pictures of Amanda: on the left is about a month ago on the lawn at her school, and on the right is in December after getting about 25 electrodes glued on her head for a 2 day EEG. It didn’t last 2 days because she had a middle of the night seizure and “activity” that caused her to get up and take every single electrode out. That’s from the meds, one of them disrupts her REM sleep, a lot.

Anyway, Mark and I rushed down to Charlottesville around 1 am last night and stayed up the whole night. It’s a busy, busy hospital and there’s absolutely NO sleeping in the ER. Checking my email the next day, I got not 1 but 2 emails about lack of sleep and over eating / craving bad foods. One was a friend who has a puppy, and the other was a lady with a baby. Sometimes there’s no way you can sleep through the night, right? And wow, it really does a number on your immune system, your neurotransmitters, and your “hunger hormones”, ghrelin and leptin.

I have good news though: the “unavoidable munchies because of lack of sleep”?? They can be avoided!! Lack of sleep is such a hit to the body because GOOD THINGS DON’T HAPPEN when you’re up in the middle of the night (these are different things from what we’re warning our teenagers about, but just as bad). When we’re asleep, the brain does repairs, the muscles do repairs, the immune system makes particular hormones, our glands make corticosteroids and sex hormones, the body makes Human Growth Hormone, the liver is incredibly busy breaking down hormones and toxins, the skin the lungs the kidneys, EVERYTHING is cleaning and repairing or making things. Trust me when I say I just seriously condensed what goes on during our sleep. If your sleep is disrupted, or you don’t go to bed early enough, you can get into real trouble.

Sleep has been a pretty big issue and topic in the news for the past few years, and I’ve often seen advice to “eat more protein” on the days you’ve missed sleep. I agree with that, but I want to add: Eat More Fat, on these days and every day. Your body is CRAVING nutrients; you think it wants junk food, but that’s YOU, not your inner brain talking. Your deepest smartest brain parts know exactly what it takes to build and repair your body, and it’s not carby cereal, or ice cream, or pizza, or chips, or a trip to Fast Food. Carbs build NOTHING, they’re just an energy source. What you “hear” are the habits you’ve established as comfort when you’re tired/stressed/happy/sad/etc. Give your body the fat and protein and vitamins and minerals it really wants, and you’ll see those cravings disappear, I promise.

Add the butter, add the fatty broths, pour on the olive oil, make treats with coconut oil, butter, or milk; up the good fats with your proteins and vegetables and truly sooth your brain and body. Also, make sure your Neurotransmitters are full: the serotonin, dopamine, GABA, catecholamines. These things make you “normal” feeling. Amino acid supplements, on a particular timed schedule, do this. Read the Mood Cure or the Diet Cure by Julia Ross, I swear it’s for real. I’ve used her protocol on ourselves and several nutrition clients now, IT’S FOR REAL.

Another important factor: don’t set yourself up for failure by having any thing munchie/quick/junkie in your house. Nothing. Quit telling yourself your kids might need a snack. NO ONE needs crap that sets up life long bad habits or creates a state of terrible health in the body and mind. NO ONE. Not you, not your kids.

DO SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS: have plenty of fats, vegetables, ….INGREDIENTS,.. that you can mix up and genuinely provide your brain and body what it’s actually craving to rebuild, repair, and make hormones and neurotransmitters. (Remember: ALL your steroid hormones, and ALL your sex hormones are made from Cholesterol, Saturated Fat, and Minerals. ALL OF THEM. )

It always comes back to: eat Real Whole Food, doesn’t it?

Category: Carbs, Fats, Mind/Body, Question of the Week / Tags: carbs, epilepsy, fats, hormones and cholesterol, set up for failure, set up for success, sleep deprived munchies

“I’m sad because I can’t eat like Normal people eat.” Hmmm. Let’s look at that:

February 21, 2014 / Debbie / Comments Off

Oh boy have I heard my title statement a million times, several of those times in my own head, and in the past few weeks from both clients and friends who are trying hard to eat well. Please don’t feel sad because you think you’re not eating Normal foods like a Normal person; let me show you why.

What’s Normal in 2014? Normal people go on a diet to lose weight and make an effort to quit eating processed food, fast food, and junk food (or at least eat smaller amounts or diet versions). Foods that have become so NORMAL that Real Whole Food often seems “not normal”. Eating Real Whole Food can feel so full of effort, so out of the NORM, that it actually creates stress, or a feeling of virtue for sticking to the plan, or feelings of sadness over missing your old foods.

What does the Normal Person in America look like today? Well, about 70% of the U.S. is overweight, and over 30% are obese. About 70% of all Americans are on at least 1 prescription drug. The average amount of meals eaten outside of the home is a solid 50%. One in five breakfasts is from McDonalds. The top 10 products sold in US grocery stores: (10) Soda (9) Cereal (8) Frozen Dinners (7) Salty Snacks (6) Milk (5) laundry detergent (4) eggs (3) PB and Jelly (2) packaged meats and (1) Bread. Those are Normal foods.

The average sales growth for Bread is increasing about 4.3 Million a year, for average total sales of 10 BILLION a YEAR. 44% of Americans in the top income level eat less than one serving of fruit/veg a day. 41% of Americans in the lowest income level eat less than one serving of fruit/veg a day. It’s pretty Normal not to eat fruits and vegetables. Top income earners eat fast food more often than the lowest income earners; 50 MILLION Americans buy fast food each WEEK, with only 28% of Americans saying they eat No fast food. (Fast Food is definitely “Normal”.)

In just a few more years, 2020, the CDC says that about 50% of the US population will have Diabetes. Cancer hits 1 out of 3 people, but the CDC predicts increases EVERY YEAR FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS. Same with Heart Disease, and Alzheimer’s. So we can say that Normal People are really, really, sick. Our poor kids are in real trouble, because for the last few years every health agency out there is predicting – for the first time in our history – a SHORTER lifespan for our children.

If we use statistics and averages to define Normal, Normal doesn’t look so good. Oh! What about the Normal, Average dieter? Around 95% of EVERYONE who loses weight on a diet, gains it back; about 50% of those people gain back a little extra. That’s another Norm.

Let me be really clear: today’s Normal food has created today’s Normal person.

Why would we want to be Normal? It sounds horrible!

I still relate to that statement though, because like I said, I’ve thought it myself. My jump off the Diet Roller Coaster was only a few years ago. I had decades of starving myself, consuming tons of gut-wrenching diet foods, and giving into the inevitable binges. That’s when Calories In Calories Out ruled my life. Thank you God that it doesn’t anymore. Being a slave to fake food, processed food, fast food, junk food, excuse my language, but it just sucks. Really. It feels so good for the few minutes you’re doing it, and then immediately afterwards, the guilt, the pain, the depression. That’s definitely not true happiness….know what I’m talking about?

You don’t have to be normal! We can be like our Grandparents, or maybe Great Grand Parents, and just eat real food when it’s a meal time, and then go about our life when it’s not meal time. Simple. Except for when it’s not: you’re busy and it would be just so much easier to go buy dinner for you and the kids at a KFC or Subway. You’re busy and tired and going out just sounds better. You’re busy and that commercial for Marie Calendars says her lasagna makes families happy and close, just like real food. You’re busy and that darn co-worker brought in cookies. Oh oh oh! You’re busy and watching the Olympics and all the Olympians – who have smokin fit and hot bodies – are promoting McDonalds nuggets or the new Frito Sub at Subway and you think – Why Not? It’s works for them!

Listen: planning, shopping, chopping, cooking, and packing is only an effort for a little while. Thinking of food as nutrients that make your body and mind is an effort for a little while. Everything new, every new effort, takes some mental strength and fortitude. When it comes to food and cooking, we also have to undo decades of Brain Washing by Big Food that their crap is just as good for us as Real Food. It’s not just as good for us, and our new definition of Normal has made us overweight, very sick, depressed, and low in energy.

We can change all this by what we put on the end of our fork. Honest. Energy, health, clear-headedness, and genuine excitement for the gift of our days here on earth can be yours. Pledge today that you’re going to take control of your life, control of your thoughts, control of your schedule, and become a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, Question of the Week, RWF / Tags: cancer rates, diabetes rates, dieting, Eating Normal, top grocery items

How to Cruise Without Gaining Weight; 411 on Canola Oil

February 18, 2014 / Debbie / Comments Off

Ola! My husband and I just got back from the Love It Like You Mean It Marriage Cruise; it’s our third one and I highly recommend this for any and all marriages, it’s honestly fantastic. This is our 5th time for cruising, and I thought you might be interested in how to do a cruise without gaining 10 pounds, because that would be reeaalll easy.

First of all, as with any and all vacations, or special occasions, don’t make the journey all about the food. That’s a big mistake. Anytime you anticipate food, or a food occasion, the compulsive-excited part of the brain takes over and before you know it, you’ve eaten multiple servings of really, really, unhealthy food. That leads to all sorts of negative feelings and self-promises to starve/cleanse/detox/whatever it takes to get off the weight, which of course, always leads to “rebound gluttony”. That’s the Diet Roller Coaster I talk about – you don’t want that!

The problem on a cruise, as opposed to a regular vacation, is that the food is so omni-present; it’s an assumed part of the cruise culture that you’re going to go on the ship and just eat and eat and eat. With food not just highly available, but visually enticing you everywhere you go, it’s important to go mentally prepared.

What did I do? Several things: I brought my own lunch food, (bison, beef, and turkey jerky), to eat at lunch time (yep, that’s all I ate at lunch, in my room). I ordered omelet’s for breakfast with a ton of vegetables, cheese, and some bacon. Every night, I chowed down on as many vegetables and as much fish and chicken as I wanted, and then I ate a big piece of dark chocolate (that I’d brought) after dinner, back in our room. I knew from experience that if I let myself indulge in the dessert bar, my sugar switch would be tripped and I’d be in big trouble. Plus, I’ve learned so much about gluten that I’m scared of flour desserts at this point. Do I always shun desserts? No. But “dessert bars”, where there are literally (honestly) hundreds and hundreds of desserts to choose from, are dangerous. I like feeling good, and I like not being “food-hungover”. If you go on a cruise, don’t even look at the dessert bar; it has magical properties that will draw you over and suck you in before you know what hit you. Seriously. Don’t even look.

I also brought my own Apple Cider Vinegar (it’s really important to keep the stomach super acidic because acid kills pathogens!), stevia packets, and tea. And just like when we traveled all the way to Culebra, Puerto Rico, Mark brought his raw milk – so I stole some of the cream for the coffee we bought each morning:) I also brought all my supplements, and some anti-viral/anti-bacterial essential oils that I used each day; you can never be too careful on a cruise ship!

FYI: we were spending money on bottled and canned waters, thinking they were healthier than the ships water. We were wrong (thank goodness, because they were expensive). We took a “behind the scenes” tour and it’s a long explanation, but the water is desalinated and distilled with just steam and no chemicals – so it’s great!!!

All ships also have great gyms, with big weight rooms, plenty of cardio equipment, spin rooms, and yoga rooms; plus there’s always a big track on the top deck. Working out is a must for both of us; we don’t feel relaxed if we skip a workout. Mark just lifted, but I did circuits every day alternating the elliptical and bike with leg presses, push ups, shoulder presses and triceps work. Simple, but hard.

That’s enough about the cruise, but if you have any questions about the Love It Like You Mean It cruise, ask me. It’s an awesome cruise with an awesome agenda.

How bout a little science? I was asked if Canola oil is a good choice for cooking and salads. My answer: No. Canola oil, which is from the Rapeseed plant, can’t be safely extracted from the seeds, and that matters. Here’s some details from one of my favorite sites:

“But here’s the main problem with canola oil, and why you should think twice before using it – canola oil is highly refined. The oil is removed by a combination of high temperature mechanical pressing and solvent extraction. Traces of the solvent (usually hexane) remain in the oil, even after considerable refining. Canola oil goes through the process of caustic refining, bleaching and degumming – all of which involve high temperatures or chemicals of questionable safety. And because it’s high in omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, (11% and 21% respectively) which easily become rancid and foul-smelling when subjected to oxygen and high temperatures, it must be deodorized. The standard deodorization process removes a large portion of the omega-3 fatty acids by turning them into trans fatty acids. The Canadian government lists the trans content of canola at a minimal 0.2 percent, but it is speculated that they are actually much higher due to the processing. This processing is much different from that of olive oil, which most often is first cold pressed to reduce the oxidation of the oil. Harmful chemicals and fatty acid-altering processing means do not occur with olive oil as they do with canola oil.”

From me: the condition of the fats we eat really, really, matters. Fat and cholesterol make up about 60% of our brain matter. Fatty acids and cholesterol comprise the exterior portions of ALL OUR CELLS. Nutrients need to be able to properly enter cells, and wastes need to be able to properly exit cells. Bad, damaged fats completely screw up this in-and-out process, and when that happens, all sorts of damage follows. Canola oil is ALWAYS DAMAGED, always; the heat extraction and toxic chemicals used to produce it make that a sure thing. There is no other method for extracting the oil at this point.

Use good fats for cooking and eating: butter from grass fed cows, cold pressed olive oil, and coconut oil are three sure bets. Oh, one more picture from the cruise: a fun towel animal that the cabin stewards make every night – I love the towel animals!

Category: Fats, Mind/Body / Tags: Canola Oil, Cruise, Love It Like You Mean It

Dieting Makes You Crazy

January 30, 2014 / Debbie / Comments Off

Are any of you listening to the free, on-line lectures this week via either Future of Nutrition or the Paleo Con? They’re great! What a wealth of information, motivation, and inspiration. If you want to improve your health or lose weight, you’ve got to change your brain. To do that, you’ll need to fill your brain with thoughts outside of your normal thought patterns. If “diet mentality” has dominated your thoughts, then listening to totally different perspectives, over and over again, will help you shift to thinking of food as medicine/information/how we feel/chemistry; not math/calories/our enemy. These conferences are turning the Diet Industry paradigm on it’s head; I love it!

Can you think of one other industry on earth that Fails so regularly, completely, perpetually, and yet is promoted, advised, trusted, and believed over and over and over again? Every year people spend BILLIONS of dollars on diet foods, diet pills, diet potions, diet programs, weight loss surgeries, and every trick in the book, to either lose weight and gain it back, or not lose weight at all. It doesn’t make sense: fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Diets don’t work. Ever. One of the speakers likened Dieting to holding a volleyball underwater: as soon as you let it go, KaBoom! He also said that when you’re a Dieter, you either have Good Days, or Bad Days. Who relates to that?? How many times have you said that to yourself: I was bad today. ? That’s a sure sign you’re in Diet World; you’ve either stuck to your low calorie diet magic foods, or you’ve blown it. You were either Bad or Good.

Ugh. Please please please, if you’re stuck in that world, you’re doomed to weight gain, lots of failure, and missing out on life because food, dieting, and weight hi-jack your thoughts. Low fat, low cal dieting also makes you fat, sick, and potentially crazy. Look around. Look at the evidence. 70% of the U.S is overweight. 70%.

Go back to when I said that the Diet Industry fails time and time again, yet continues to profit (greatly) and be promoted by main-stream medicine as the solution to your problem. Here’s an except from WebMd from googling, “how to lose weight”:

“You can safely lose 3 or more pounds a week at home with a healthy diet and lots of exercise, says weight loss counselor Katherine Tallmadge, RD.

How to Lose Weight Fast

If you burn 500 more calories than you eat every day for a week, you should lose about 1-2 pounds per week.

If you want to lose weight faster, you’ll need to eat less and exercise more.

For instance, if you take in 1,050 to 1,200 calories a day, and exercise for one hour per day, you could lose 3-5 pounds in the first week, or more if you weigh more than 250 pounds. It’s very important not to cut calories any further — that’s dangerous.”

Do you see the insanity of this line of thinking? It’s NEVER worked. Science has proven for years that reducing calories and withholding nutrients sends our body into STORAGE MODE, not burning mode. Even hours of exercise won’t work, trust me. Exercise for health, not weight loss. Besides that, 1,050 to 1,200 calories a day? Can you say, “starving frenzy”?? I mean, talk about a rebound binge waiting to happen.

When you reduce calories/diet, the body and mind become “stressed” because famine is perceived; when this happens, stress hormones like Cortisol are released into the blood stream. Cortisol increases triglyceride production, it inhibits sensitivity to leptin and insulin, it shuts down digestion, it prohibits the body from burning fat, it turns muscle tissue into sugar/glucose for fast energy. When that glucose isn’t actually used to “outrun the sabertooth”, then the body repackages that excess glucose into fat, and stores it in the belly area. (This is the connection between stress and belly fat.)

I’ve had two emails this week expressing sadness over saying goodbye to favorite foods. Expressing sadness over anticipated, up coming hunger and deprivation. This doesn’t have to happen. Eating a Real Whole Foods/Paleo/Primal type diet isn’t about low calorie, or low carb, or low fat, or hours of exercise. It’s not about small plates, counting calories, putting your fork down, or counting your chews. It’s about deleting processed foods and eating good sized meals of meats, fats, vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, and some whole fat dairy if you can digest it. It’s being a “nutrient seeker”. If you’re actually hungry, then you need to eat more at your meals. If you did eat adequately, then recognize that your hunger isn’t “hunger”, it’s just your brain wanting pleasure from the foods you’ve been spoiling it with, or it’s crying for the constant stimulation it’s used to.

That might sound a little harsh, but it’s the truth. There’s an upside to that though. Our body, our brain, our taste buds, our neural nets – they’re adaptive. They won’t adapt to starvation, or actually, they’ll adapt with negative patterns, habits, thoughts, and results, but they will adapt beautifully to a lifestyle that focuses on feeding yourself sufficient nutrients to build your cells, repair damage, fight virus and bacteria, and have normal, healthy levels of neural transmitters like serotonin and dopamine. You know, before “dieting” became a “thing” in the 1970s, very, very few people were overweight. It’s time to throw off the diet yoke. It’s never worked for anyone. Quit making yourself crazy, and focus on re-aligning your brain to accomodate planning, packing, and cooking. Start looking at food, even fat, for the nutrients it provides. Start looking at processed foods as the toxic chemical poisons they are.

You are not destined to be overweight, sick, or tired. You can be a healthy weight, unbelievably well, and energetic. Eat foods that nourish your mind and body. Be a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Fats, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, RWF / Tags: cortisol, diets don't work, Future of Nutrition, Paleo Con, Real Whole Foodie

Overweight Kids, Food Addiction, and Stupid Diet Tricks

January 26, 2014 / Debbie / Comments Off

Can you handle yet another post on Food Addiction? Because I have one in my head, and it needs to get out.

One of my favorite radio programs is a syndicated talk show called New Life Live. it’s four psychiatrists on Christian radio, they get all kinds of questions and give great advice. Until the other day.

A mother called in, concerned about her young, very overweight daughter. Her description of the problem goes like this: she’s athletic, involved in sports, is very, very heavy, eats fast, eats often, and eats more than her parents or her brothers, now she’s being teased at school and is feeling very sad about it.

Their advice: get her to eat more slowly, it’s all about portion control, put down her fork between mouthfuls, chew more, and convince her to verbally express her feelings over the teasing and the weight.

O.M.Gosh. Portion control? Chew more? Fork placement?? Oh, and how does she feel? That’s easy: embarrassed, heavy, humiliated, starving, can’t control herself around food, wishes she looked like the skinny girls in class; doesn’t take a mind reader.

Their advice was very well-meaning, they wanted to help; but it was horrible advice that doesn’t work, ever, for food addicts. Food addicts are compulsively driven to eat food: when they’re full; when they don’t need it; when they’re so stuffed they feel sick. Telling a food addict to use portion control to lose weight and feel better about themselves is a joke. Even the catchy buzz word “Mindfullness”, which is a practice I totally agree with and am trying to work on, is meaningless to an addict. Mindfullness is impossible when the mind is full of buzzing neurons and hormones driving you to eat – fast,.. now,.. as much as possible. The addicts brain isn’t “right”, and trite advice that really doesn’t work for anyone, makes them feel even worse about themselves when they can’t do it.

The Counselors didn’t spend one second examining the food situation in the house. Not a second. Like food doesn’t matter!

Here’s the facts: if you’re eating processed foods, foods full of refined sugars and grains, hydrogenated oils, and chemicals, you’re eating foods that’s been chemically created in a laboratory to STIMULATE your BRAIN and MAKE YOU WANT MORE. Honest! Read Sugar, Fat and Salt, by Michael Moss, read The End of Overeating, by Dr. David Kessler. These are just two books about the science and marketing behind the Food Industry. It’s shocking and amazing, and it’s the truth: processed food ( that includes fast food and chain restaurant food) is DESIGNED to make you want it BAD. If they’re a regular part of your food habits, there will be no “managing” your intake.

There is no “portion control” with Doritos, Lays potato chips, commercial ice cream, fast food french fries, Keelbler cookies or CapN Crunch cereal. If there was, they’d remake the formula. Big Food is big, serious business; mistakes and failures are quickly corrected. If processed food is part of your diet, even a little tiny part like just a little cereal, a few cheese crackers, or a bagel every day, then you’re stimulating your brain with substances that keep you enslaved and coming back. Ending food addiction means 2 things: (1) giving up processed foods, it just has too. ( Yes, breads, pastas and grain flours are “processed foods”, 100%), and (2) eating a diet of nutrient dense foods. In other words, you have to quit eating foods that stimulate addictive neural behaviors and have bad hormonal affects, and load up on foods that don’t stimulate your brain, cause the right hormones (satiety hormones) to be released, and satisfy your bodies demand for necessary nutrients.

Are you thinking that you’ve lost weight before on Processed Foods, like frozen diet meals, diet drinks, diet candy bars, and diet ice cream? Did you keep it off forever, or did you gain it back? There’s almost a 100% chance you’ve gained it back. You didn’t CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, you just white-knuckled/will powered through a period of dieting. When your will power was gone, it ended. Studies show that your period of dieting probably created even worse neural patterns than you had before, something called “famine brain”: neural and hormonal patterns that make you compulsively seek out and eat food.

I’m telling you that if you change your diet to one of Real Whole Foods, and figure out how to make that work for you all the time (through work, weekends, nights out, vacations, and STRESS), your compulsive eating will end. If you need help with this, work with me. It’s only effort til it’s habit!

There’s so many great books out there on this, but two I recommend time after time are the Diet Cure and the Mood Cure by Julia Ross. They’re fantastic. Trust me, if you’re anywhere on the spectrum from full-blown addict to annoying food habits you can’t break, you’re going to need help. These books and my blog are a great place to start:)

What should these counselors have said to this mom? Time to change your kitchen and your pantry. You’re going to have to use Real Whole Foods to make your breakfast, lunches, and dinners. Everyone’ll have to get on board. Processed bags of cereal, chips, and cookies will have to go. You can’t control your kid’s whole world, but you can control your house.

(umm, actually, the other day I went upstairs and Shelby – who’s 17 – had bought crackers and candy, and had hidden it behind a chair! I tossed it; it happens in my house too!! )

If your child was addicted to cigarettes, would you smoke around them? If your child had a drinking problem, would you keep alcohol in the house? It’s the same with food. We all have to eat – food makes our body. But we DON’T have to have foods in the house that cause addiction, stomach issues, bad skin, headaches, attention disorders, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and cancer. We don’t. Seriously. Fill your kitchen with meats, healthy fats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, good full fat dairy; foods that have to be cooked and prepared, not just munched right out of the box. Real Whole Foods. Will your kids complain, whine, cry, and rebel? Yes……Learn to tune it out. They’ll live; and you’ll live through those first weeks of negativity flying off them and onto you. Persevere. Nothing is easy in the beginning, but everything gets better when it becomes the norm. If they don’t eat, they don’t eat. Again, they’ll live. Take control of your own and your children’s health. Be a leader, a role model and an example. Don’t let your kids go down the path of obesity and poor health that’s plaguing our country and shows no signs of slowing down. Processed foods are killing people. Don’t let this happen to your family. Be a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Cooking, Food Additives, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, RWF / Tags: Diet Cure, Food Addiction, Mood Cure, new life live, overweight children, Processed Food, Real Whole Food

Success Story Inspiration!

January 23, 2014 / Debbie / Comments Off

I’ve got another Success Story to share with you, from a client who’s 68 and struggled through years of different diets. She’s helping to illustrate – again – that “diets” don’t work, none of them. As long as you’re focusing on the perfect meal plan, or the right amount of calories, or even worse, tracking calories in- calories out, all that happens is obsession, craziness, and incredibly powerful backlash-binges. Remember, almost 100% of everyone who loses weight on a diet gains it back.

The secret to permanent weight loss and ZERO FOOD STRESS? Start in your mind. Work on deleting the deeply ingrained notions about dieting that you’ve heard your whole life. A healthy weight and a healthy body comes from FEEDING it, not starving it. Starving your body just makes it scream more loudly at you. That temper tantrum is actually for nutrients: good fats, quality proteins, carbohydrates from vegetables and fruits, vitamins, minerals, water and phytonutrients that your body needs to make and repair cells. There are no nutrients in fat free pretzels, low fat Starbucks lattes, or Weight Watchers Frozen Meals. They’re all crap food, and your body will protest – loudly.

Read Carolyn’s story; think about your own history of health and dieting, and be determined that today is the day you start making permanent changes to your foods, your habits, and your thoughts. Check out my What I Eat page for ideas, it’s all about Real Whole Foods.

“I’m a sixty-eight year old woman who has been dealing with weight issues since my last child was born in 1977. (Seriously!). I kept on a extra 10 pounds after her birth and then every year or two, I added another pound. (That doesn’t sound so bad). Well, adding a pound every year meant that now I was up another 10-15 pounds. Weight gain in spite of buying all the latest diet books and magazines that were published each year. I tried low-carb , low -fat, high carb, vegetarian ( which I hated and made me feel horrid), low calorie, portion sized diets. None of these diets made me feel good and any weight lost was quickly regained. Plus, an added result of the weight gain was high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Next came an anti-depressant because I was experiencing a lot of anxiety and didn’t feel so good about myself.

I’m a strong person, not weak willed, but for some reason couldn’t get a handle on my eating habits. I have an addictive nature so when I got on to something, especially something made with sugar, I was hooked. I felt like I was fighting myself all the time.

Because of a very lovely person, Debbie’s Mom, I was introduced to Debbie and her passion for health and fitness. We hit it off even though we’re long distance. She got me on a road less traveled– common sense. Everything she taught me made sense- sugar is addictive! Preservatives are bad! Diet Coke is terrible! Grains are inflammatory. She said focus on real food that we evolved eating. Don’t measure, don’t weigh!

Well, I gave it a try. The worst was no snacking because I evolved snacking. But I persevered and felt great and lost a few pounds along the way. I’m off all medication except the antidepressant. And I don’t obsess about my weight, my body is slowly giving up those extra pounds.

I feel so good for my age! I exercise too. Pilates is my passion. I’m so fortunate to be enjoying good health and I have Debbie to thank for getting me off the diet mentality and unto a much healthier lifestyle.”

Category: Mind/Body, Success Story / Tags: Calories In-Calories Out, dieting, real whole foods, Success Story, Testimony

How to Get Slim and Fit in 2014

January 1, 2014 / Debbie / Comments Off

We’re back from Culebra – Happy New Year! On the one hand, it’s so exciting, and on the other, it’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed, …again. Did you come out different or better or changed, or are you the same as when 2013 started? I know from emails that many of you want to change, but are struggling with the “how”. Here’s an email that sums it up:

“Hi Debbie, i was hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction…. i need some help. my weight is getting out of control again, and i know it’s because i’m not eating right and i don’t exercise enough. bottom line. and no magic pill is going to help me. i need to make a lifestyle change. i just need to. my problem is that i need to find something that is 1. easy to follow 2. won’t break the bank 3. i can still go out to eat on occasion and still enjoy myself when it comes to social functions 4. something i’ll WANT to do for the rest of my life 5. isn’t too drastic to the point where i’ll have to cook for myself and then make something different for my boyfriend – essentially, i want something that i can use for the whole family. and of course fancy dancy 30 item recipes that take hours to make aren’t on the single mother wish list either. i was looking at your website and see you follow paleo, maybe? ”

YES I can point you in the right direction: make all your foods quality meats, fats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. Shun grains and sugars, the body turns them into fats/triglycerides very easily, and you’ll get all the carbohydrates you need in the foods listed above. Don’t eat chemicals. MOVE every day. If you can join a gym, join a gym. If you can’t, walk, do push-ups, follow YouTube workouts – there’s about a billion free ones. Don’t make 30 ingredient meals: meat, vegetables, butter/olive oil, salt and pepper. Simple.

I LOVE that she says “no magic pill is going to help me”; if there was a magic pill, we wouldn’t have 70% of our population overweight. The same goes for gadgets and diet programs: waste of money. If you want to get healthy and lose weight, it’s ALL ABOUT YOUR MIND. Easy to follow? Going out to restaurants? Cooking for a crowd? Paleo is the answer for me, because I believe to my depths that eating crackers, pasta, bread, soda, and convenience foods are poison to my body. When I travel or cook for a crowd or pack my lunch every day, there’s no struggle. That’s the point you want to get to: No Struggle. Then it’s easy to pass up all the foods that make you sick and overweight.

How do you get to that point? It’s what you fill your mind with. Read books like Wheat Belly or Grain Brain (no time to read? get Audible or buy the books on CD); read my blog, or Chris Kressers or Mark’s Daily Apple; listen to podcasts that are on LivinlaVidaLowCarb (kitchen, car, workouts, etc) from doctors and experts with the latest science. Order the Paleo magazine. And here’s my biggie drum beat: Plan Shop Chop Prep Pack. You’re not going to “luck” into a healthy lifestyle and a healthy body, it’s only going to come with effort. Pretty soon though, the amount of effort required becomes less and less as your brain changes from the “calories in calories out” model to ” food is medicine or food is poison” model.

You can’t change your body (permanently) unless you change your brain. Willpower is Very Limited; every diet ends with a binge. Educate yourself about how your body works, and the effects different foods have on you. Make this a priority instead of “weight loss”. Weight loss and Health are the SIDE EFFECTS of changing how you think/act/feel. Want to work with me? I can change how you think about food and eating; not in one magical conversation, but over several.

You can leave 2014 very very differently than you entered it if you realistically tell yourself that you’re going to take a whole year to re-educate your mindset. Be determined, be confident, be bold; 12 months sounds long, but it’s not. Time flies and before you know it, a whole new you will be here.

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, Question of the Week / Tags: Change your Thinking, food is medicine food is poison, work with me

Dessert Recipe and Inspiration: Contradictory? Nope.

December 23, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Just 2 days til Christmas and I’m so excited! Not much time to write, but I do want to pass on a beautiful and delicious dessert idea, and a few success stories.

The picture posted today? That’s my number 3 daughter Macy, who made Paleo Carmel Apple Bars, but instead of bars, she did it trifle style. It honestly tastes as great as it looks.

And just in case you haven’t been sticking to a Paleo Diet for the Holidays, here’s a few success stories from Mark’s Daily Apple.

(1) from a 40-something woman (2) from a 34 year old man, and (3) from a 54 year old woman. They all had a lot of weight to lose, and the guy was INCREDIBLY sick.

You can change yourself. Dieting won’t do it, but working on your mindset will. Our actions are belief driven. If you really believe that crappy food loaded with flours, sugars, hydrogenated oils, and chemicals will damage, hurt, and eventually kill you, you’ll stay away from them. If you think your weight is just a reflection of ‘calories-in, calories-out’, you’ll be like the near-100% of all dieters, who lose weight just to gain it all back again. Here’s a post on my own story.

To channel Charis again, think about what you manifested this past year. Now my own thought: what do you want to manifest in 2014?

Category: Cooking, Mind/Body / Tags: Diet Train, Marks Daily Apple, Paleo Carmel Apple Bars, Success Stories

Tell Me, Should We Vent Our Feelings, Or Should We Stuff Them?

December 21, 2013 / Debbie / 2 comments

That might seem like a really odd title to a post 4 days before Christmas, but I live in a Girl Household, and it’s been a subject around here. We have 4 daughters, ages 16 to 23, and the subject has come up: if you’re stressed and something’s bothering you, should you talk about it or not. I tend to be a “not” person. I find that I actually forget about what bothered me if I ignore it; and most of my problems aren’t biggies, which in my book, at 48, primarily means health. Besides, talking doesn’t resolve most problems, actions do, (even a lot of health problems).

That title question could be argued to death, but here’s some facts: our feelings aren’t always an accurate reflection of the situation. Our moods, our feelings, our attitudes, they come from the Neurotransmitters in our brain. Neurotransmitters are like roadmaps up there, and they send signals for everything: breathing, moving, opinions, moods, everything. The four main neurotransmitters are Serotonin, Dopamine, Gaba, and the Catecholamines, adrenalin, and norepinephrine. These things are made from Amino Acids, and Fatty Acids. There are no carbs in our brain structure. Our brain cells use glucose for fuel, but science has shown that they can also use Ketones ( a by-product of fatty acid metabolism, from a high fat, low carb diet), really well. As a matter of fact, science is showing that the brain actually runs BETTER on fatty acids than glucose. ( the brain is 60% fat, much of it saturated.)

What happens when you don’t eat enough protein and fat? Or when you do eat enough, but your digestion is bad and you don’t break them down and absorb them? (remember: heartburn, bloat, gas, stomach pain = NOT NORMAL, and a big sign of poor digestion). Your brain suffers. Those neurotransmitters don’t get made, or they don’t get made correctly. Add the Standard American Diet on top of that, and you’ve got flours, sugars, hydrogenated oils, and chemicals messing up brain function even more. Add lack of sleep and movement on top of that, both of which are VITAL to brain function, and the brain goes even further down hill.

Depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD, and other mood disorders are plaguing this country, but you don’t need a “mood disorder” to signal that your brain could use some TLC, and the right food. Access yourself: are you stressed often? do you constantly take offense? need naps? feel wired but tired? gravitate to stimulants or depressants ? Listen To Your Bodies Signals, they’re telling you something.

Commercial Advertising by Big Pharma would have you believe that this is all normal and unavoidable and you just need to take a pill. The efficacy rate of mood drugs is between 30 and 50%; that’s pretty bad, and so are the side effects. What if it’s not your circumstances, or the people around you driving you crazy, but it’s you? Oh man, that line got me in trouble the other day, but… what if?

My husband and I (the guy deserves a medal, by the way), read Julia Ross’s The Mood Cure this past summer, did the quiz, and have been on her program for Amino Acid therapy since July. Oh My Gosh what a difference, for both of us! We’ve also made going to bed early a priority for the past 2 years; again, Oh My Gosh, what a difference! Did you know that each hour of sleep before midnight is worth at least 2 hours after midnight? Actually, the more we tie our daily habits and actions to our mood and our health, the better everything keeps getting.

Wow, I hope I’m not making it seem like I don’t think any problems are worthy of stressing about, because I do. In a house with so much drama (we had 4 teenagers for a couple of years.), you have to be a little bit tough. But the older I get, the more I believe that “life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.”, Charles Swindall; and this one, “most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.”, Abraham Lincoln.

Remember the other day when I told you about Charis and her advice to look back over this past year and see what we’ve manifested? I’ve been doing that every day this week. My life is what I make of it, even when a challenge is thrown at me. We only have a couple of weeks left of 2013; ask, what did I do, what do I wish I did, and what do I want to do in 2014? What kind of person do I want to be? It all happens in your mind, and your mind can’t work for you if you’re not nurturing it with the food and the rest and the oxygen that it needs to thrive. Be determined to create a life where you thrive!

Category: Mind/Body / Tags: grain brain, Julia Ross, Mood Cure, stress

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