26 Years of Marriage, and Eating in Nemacolin Woodlands

November 23, 2013 / / Comments Off on 26 Years of Marriage, and Eating in Nemacolin Woodlands

IMG_2768My husband Mark and I have made it to 26 years of marriage – Yea Us!  We’re away for the weekend in Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, and having fun 🙂  He rented us a townhouse here so that we’d have a kitchen,  because we both love home cooked food.  Here’s the low-down so far:  yesterday morning, I had my Kitchen Sink Smoothie for breakfast, and he had 2 scoops of protein with Raw Milk; have I told you he drinks half a gallon of raw, whole milk a day and has for almost 2 years now?   Some may say this is over kill, but I’ve got to admit, it works for him.  My husband has also (almost) totally given up bread, pasta, and desserts in 2013.  I say almost, because he probably still indulges once or twice a month, which is a HUGE change from a few times a day every day.  He’s also cut his beer consumption waaaayyy down for the past several years, and this year he’s switched to Hard Cider (gluten free, no sugar added) about half the times he does feel like a drink. The guy’s become LEAN.  He’s liking the changes – and so am I:)

By lunch time, we were on the road; he had another raw whole milk and protein before we left, and I ate a baggie of nuts and a pear.  We stopped right past Cumberland Md at a Sheetz ( which had a DRIVE THRU!!) for a tea and bathroom break. ( I’m so weird I travel with my own tea and stevia, so really, I just paid for the cup and the hot water.)

The townhouse is great, and as far as kitchens go, pretty complete.  I’m a good packer, so I’d food in fridgeincluded a sharp knife, a cutting board, salt and pepper, and a plug in food on counterfrying pan with a lid ( you never know what a kitchen is going to be missing).    Here’s the counter and fridge loaded with items I packed:  lamb, sausage, kale, brussels, cheese, mushrooms, carrots, onion, garlic, avocado, slow roasted tomatoes, bacon, a green pepper, eggs,  coffee ( go Paul Newman Vanilla!), stevia, raw cream, raw milk (2) and protein powder.  (I keep a running list on what I want to bring when I travel, it helps me not to forget anything.)

Here’s the dinner pic:  burgers stuffed with tomato and covered with cheese, and a side of brussels sprouts w/bacon, onion, and mushrooms.  That cheese plate in the middle was sent by a friend of Marks as an anniversary gift:)    After dinner, we walked thru the resort ( it’s probablynemacolin dinner around half a mile – inside), and split a dark chocolate bar.

Why do I enjoy packing and cooking on a vacation??  Because I’ve trained my brain to enjoy cooking; and it takes no training whatsoever to appreciate that after I eat home cooked food as compared to restaurant food, there’s no feelings of “too full/sick/indigestion/guilt/brain fog,  etc etc etc”.  In my mind, it’s a win-win.

 

The way we think is everything!!  That leads me right into our Positive Attitude/ Positive Changes plan:  the mantra is, ” Find someone no one else loves, and love them.”  Chase those negative thoughts about your body right out of your mind –  they just keep you in the same habits and patterns you’re in now.   Instead, focus outside of yourself, and if that’s hard to do, PRACTICE it.  We can do anything we train for and practice!

We’re off to the Spa/Gym now, we checked it out last night and it’s Beautiful!!!! Remember: choose foods and actions and thoughts that make you feel good later, and you’ll change your life.

Category: Mind/Body, RWF / Tags: , , , ,

What to Eat for Lunch Instead of a Sandwich, and a “Thought Changing” Quote

November 20, 2013 / / Comments Off on What to Eat for Lunch Instead of a Sandwich, and a “Thought Changing” Quote

I get asked all the time, “what do you eat for lunch if you don’t have a sandwich?”  That’s easy:  meats, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, and fats.   There’s nothing magic about a sandwich at lunch time, not even “ease of eating”;  lots of things are fast and easy to make / eat.

Start with dinner leftovers; actually, PLAN for dinner leftovers.  Buy and cook more dinner than you think you’ll need to, and pack the leftovers for lunch.  No leftovers?  Make sure you have nuts, seeds, fruit, veggies, or good lunch meat and cheese on hand to throw together in 5 minutes.  ( Planning is EVERYTHING.)

lunchHere’s a few recent lunches I packed:  that’s leftover sausage with broth, broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms, and those two white chunks on the side?  That a couple of chunks of coconut butter I popped out with a knife.

To the right, that’s left over fish with half an avocado, a baggie with a pear, and a lunch 2baggy with pumpkin seeds and brazil nuts.

This is a baggie of brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds, dark chocolate, and macadamias, and a Granny Smith apple.   lunch 3 Easy!

What about kids?  Meat and cheese roll ups, bags of nut/chocolate/fruit mixes, fruits with nut butters, gluten free nut bars, carrots and celery sticks, salads,  homemade paleo treats, and occasionally, a sandwich with gluten free bread. (My youngest wears me down – but I do have  standards!).  I’ve got a post on feeding kids in the works, but know this for now:

*****You Are The Example***** Your health, your habits, your issues, you’re teaching them and conveying them to your children EVERY SINGLE DAY.    If your message is that you’re too busy, too tired, too overwhelmed, too sick, too too too too, your kids are sucking that right up.

On a different note, have you been thinking about the Mother Theresa quote, ” Find someone that no one else loves, and love them.”  ??  Remember, you’re taking a couple of months to ACTIVELY work on getting rid of your negative thoughts.  Check out the last several posts to see where that’s going.

Here’s a great quote from Joyce Meyer’s book, Power Thoughts,  “Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life.  If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted.  If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten.  If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.”  Anonymous

Love it!

Category: Cooking, Mind/Body, Question of the Week / Tags: ,

You Can Be Better By January, 2014, Or Not…. & More Gluten E Summit Facts

November 18, 2013 / / Comments Off on You Can Be Better By January, 2014, Or Not…. & More Gluten E Summit Facts

debbie (27)It’s been over a week now that I’ve challenged you to Change your Thinking if you want to Change Your Body; and I’m specifically talking about those negative thought patterns that I’ve heard so many people express:  I hate my thighs, if only they were thinner;  I hate my stomach; I hate my butt; I want to lose weight; If only I could lose 10 pounds…. etc etc etc.  Ask yourself how long you’ve been spinning on these exact same thoughts and how well they’ve allowed you to change.  How long?

Change doesn’t happen when you keep doing the “same old same old”;  negative thought patterns NEVER produce positive results.  Never.  Get your mind off of what you don’t like, and start focusing on improving yourself in your soul.  Seriously.  Focus on being kinder, gentler, more patient, more loving, more thoughtful.  Get your focus off your body (and calorie counts).  Use Mantras, Meditation, and Prayer;  write a quote on 10 or 20 sticky’s and post them all over: your mirrors, wallet, fridge, doors, car.  PRACTICE changing your mind.  Work on it.  It doesn’t just happen, trust me.

We had a speaker at church yesterday who’s a life long missionary, and a Mother Teresa fan.  He quoted her and I’m going to make it my quote for the week:  ” Find someone that no one else loves, and love them.”  This goes right along with “loving-kindness” meditation, where you don’t just pray for yourself and your loved ones, but for someone “neutral” and someone else you’re currently having difficulty with.  We’re not supposed to focus on ourselves so much, despite decades of advertising hypnotizing us otherwise.  Nothing good comes of that.

Here’s something I’m really into:  the way Science is Solidifying the Mind/Body connection:  eat flour/sugars, and you create a brain that ONLY thinks about flours and sugars.  As your body becomes unhealthier, and you become unhappier yet continue to eat flours and sugars, NOTHING CHANGES; the negative thought patterns continue, the addictive eating continues, the thoughts, the addiction and so on and so on.  Too addicted to think about quitting?  Fill your head with facts about what Flours and Sugars actually do beyond making you gain weight, because it’s pretty profound.  I hope I’ve persuaded you all to tune into the Gluten E Summit – what a wake up call!  It’s not too late to register and catch the final day presentations and listen to them in kitchen, your car, or during a workout.  Here’s some recent snippets:

From Dr. Amen, MD Psychiatrist

* Neuroplasticity, or the ability to Change Your Brain, has been a scientific fact for 10 – 15 years, but many doctors are still unaware and don’t practice/prescribe according to this.   We can make our brain Better or Worse through our Life Style Choices:  Food, Exercise, and Thoughts.

* Low Fat Diets and Bad Fats have horrible consequences for the brain ( because our brain is about 60% fat).  This applies whether you’re 2, 12, 22, or 82.

* There are MORE than 100 studies which show that Big Belly’s correlate with Smaller Brains.

* Genes are NOT as important as Behavior and Choices (Epigenetics).

* “Food is Medicine, or Food is Poison.”  You know I love that one!

* Gluten is Poison for most of the population. ( No human has the enzymes to break down the gluten proteins)

* ADD studies show 100% of people affected with this disorder show some level of improvement when Gluten and Casein (milk protein) are removed from their diet.  (Diet or drugs, diet or drugs???)

* “Why do we celebrate with Toxins?”

* The less insulin we need over the course of our life, the longer we live.  Insulin triggers many inflammatory pathways.  ( what triggers insulin?  Carbohydrates.  Not Fat. )

* Cancer uses Glucose (the breakdown product of carbohydrates) as it’s main fuel.

* Anyone with Thyroid issues MUST go Gluten Free.  Gluten affects the Thyroid in a myriad of ways, including inhibiting the conversion of the Thyroid hormone T4 to it’s active and usable form T3.

* 2002 Study from Journal Of Neurology:  Severe migraine sufferers (the study group were actually unable to work and on Workman’s Comp because of the severity of the migraines) were put on a Gluten Free Diet,   70% NEVER had another headache.

From Dr. Davis, MD Cardiologist (the Wheat Belly doctor)

* Heart Scans that measure Coronary Calcium Plaque show that once Plaque gets started, it grows at the rate of about 30% a year.

* STATINS DO NOTHING TO INHIBIT PLAQUE GROWTH.  NOTHING.  (don’t even get me started)

* What’s the biggest factor in Coronary Plaque?  HIGH BLOOD SUGAR.   He says if you have Pre-Diabetes, Diabetes, or Insulin Resistance, no drug in the world will stop the Heart Disease you’re nurturing with your high blood sugar.

* Main Driver of High Blood Sugar?  Wheat, Grains, and Sugar.

*Wheat, Grains, and Sugar also are the only foods that cause the body to create Small, Dense, LDL (the bad stuff).  The ONLY foods.  Small, dense LDL is sticky, and lasts up to a week in the blood.  This is totally different from big, fluffy LDL, which has beneficial side effects, like carrying essential fatty acids to our brain and glands.

* The Gluten Proteins in wheat are highly “opioid”, which makes them appetite stimulating and addicting.   Who’s addicted to meat?  No one.  Who’s addicted to foods full of flours and sugars?

*  If we continue on the path we’re on now, by 2044 the amount of money the US will need to treat JUST diabetes ALONE, will be MORE THAN all the tax revenue the Federal Govt collects.

* Yet, Main Stream Medical Advice/  Governments Health Advice is to eat a diet of 60% carbohydrates, many of them from “healthy whole grains”.

Quit thinking of food in terms of Calories In Calories Out, that’ll just lead to weight gain and horrible health.  It’s a wrong paradigm that’s made a lot of people a lot of money.  The Scientific Evidence against Grains and Sugars is overwhelming, and concrete.  Take your health into your own hands.  Ditch the grains and sugars, and eat Real Whole Foods.  Practice your Mantra.  You can be a whole different person by January 2014, or you can be the exact same.  It’s up to you.

Category: Carbs, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Sugar / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

More Gluten Free Summit Snipits, and a Focus Reminder

November 16, 2013 / / Comments Off on More Gluten Free Summit Snipits, and a Focus Reminder

gluten e summitThe Gluten E Summit continues to impress, if you haven’t registered, it’s not too late, there’s still 3 more full days of FREE lectures by doctors and researchers who are at the top of the game when it comes to Preventative and Functional Medicine.   Dr. O Bryan, who’s at the helm of all this, has created a listening ability to access each of the lectures right through your email.  If you don’t have Stitcher or iTunes, that’s okay, you don’t need them.  Just click on the link and listen in your car, your home, the gym, where ever.

Here’s some highlights from the past couple of days:

“Main stream medicine does NOT have a monopoly on knowledge” ( this from Dr. Natasha, who has TWO MDs)

“Fat makes you thin, and Sugar/Glucose makes you fat.”  (all carbohydrates break down to glucose)

Two slices of Whole Wheat bread have more glucose and will raise your blood sugar HIGHER than Two Tablespoons of Sugar.  ( whole wheat’s not the health food it’s cracked up to be)

Gluten-Free Foods are a BIG PROBLEM.  They’re made with high glycemic flours (rice flour gluten free mini browniesshoots blood sugar up quicker than wheat flour), sugar, and chemicals.   They’re usually just another processed food.    (from me:  if you go Gluten Free, let it mean Real Whole Foods)

Gluten Free = Gluten Free.  Microscopic amounts of Gluten trigger the same Immune Response that large amounts do.

“Removing gluten is NOT Alternative/Functional/Holistic medicine;  it’s good medicine backed solidly by Science.”

Put Gluten and Sugar together ( for example, in a processed food like crackers, cereal, bagels…), and you’ve got the perfect storm for Addiction.  Chemicals are triggered that are “opioid-like”;capn crunch  the same areas of the brain that respond to drugs and alcohol light up.  Why set your kids up for a life time of the same battles you’re fighting, or worse?

“It’s become NORMAL to start the day with dessert: cereal, danishes, bagels;  this matters because Food is Information, and the information anyone gets from those kinds of foods is All Bad”

Everyone who lectures reminds us that reactions to Gluten don’t just happen in the Gut.  As a matter of fact, around 70% of all reactions happen in places OTHER THAN THE GUT:  the brain, the cardiovascular system, the joints, and the skin.  Several Neurologists who’ve spoken say that Gluten Sensitivity is responsible for a large portion of Parkinson’s, Bells Palsy, Shaking, Migraines, etc.    Our food has consequences!

And my favorite quote of the day:  “Your Body Is NOT a Math Equation (calories in calories out doesn’t work), It’s a Chemical Reaction.”   The food we eat triggers hormones, and they determine whether we store fat or burn fat.

throw bread awayWhich leads right into our Change Effort that I’m running through January:  Most negative thoughts about your body lead to a plan to reduce calories through diet or burn more calories through exercise.  None of this works:  not the negative thoughts, and not the diet and exercise program (that’s the calories in – calories out paradigm).   Check the statistics:  almost 100% of everyone who loses weight on a “diet” gains it back.  Want real change?  Change Your Thoughts!!!  Quit focusing on what you don’t like about yourself ( your thighs, your stomach, your weight), and start focusing on being a better person, having a kinder heart, fostering better relationships.  Use the Mantra “I practice being kind, not right.”

As for really changing your body?  Start thinking of Food in terms of the Effects it has on your hormones:  carbs encourage you to store body fat through the hormone Insulin; and the main two components that build your body structurally are Fat and Protein.  Feed your body what it takes to run beautifully, and be beautiful.  Eat Real Whole Foods.  Work on being in charge of your thoughts.  Our food matters, and our thoughts matter.  We have so much power, control, and choice over our life! There’s some people who climb into little boxes and stay there for days, they will their Respiratory System and Cardiovascular System to slow down – just to prove they can.  These people aren’t magic, they’re focused;  you can focus too!  Start practicing now and change will happen.     “I practice being kind, not right.”

Category: Carbs, Mind/Body / Tags: , , , ,

Gluten Affects the Neurological, Digestive, Immune, and Cardiovascular Systems

November 13, 2013 / / Comments Off on Gluten Affects the Neurological, Digestive, Immune, and Cardiovascular Systems

me on porchThis is going to be a fun post full of fun – and fascinating  – facts.  I’ve been listening to the Gluten E Summit ( which is free – you should be listening too) and madly writing down notes to pass on ( if you can’t listen).

If you’re thinking, “I don’t have problems with gluten” – You’re Probably Wrong!!  Most gluten symptoms happen OTHER PLACES THAN THE GUT:  the brain, the heart, joints, skin, etc.  Got headaches, depression, or swollen knees?  The chance that it could be caused by reactions to gluten are very high.  What about your children:  headaches, behavior problems, constipation?  Again, there’s a good chance it’s reactions to gluten.  You should just TRY eliminating gluten for a few weeks, or a month, and test what happens.   (Eliminating means “100%”, I’ll explain why in a minute)

The doctors and researchers giving the presentations have credentials that take several minutes to go through – they’re all experts who study the absolute most current research available, and use that research in their practice. ***** (This is significant; according to an Institute of Medicine report on the state of the US Health Care System, it takes “it takes 17 years for new knowledge generated by randomized, controlled studies, to be incorporated into practice; and it even then application is highly uneven.”  That should make you feel uneasy.  It makes me more determined than ever to be my own best health advocate.

Here’s some bullet points from Monday and Tuesday’s Summit Talks:

No human can completely breakdown the protein gluten in their digestive system.  No one.  We don’t have the right enzymes.  For some, there are little to no consequences, and for others, there are big consequences:  neurological/cardiovascular/immune/joints/gut.

Gluten reactions and high blood sugars are highly involved in the plaques that cause Alzheimer’s and dementia.   The Lancet Journal of Neurology says at least 54% of Alzheimer’s victims could have prevented their disease with different lifestyle choices.   54%.

Intestinal Antibodies to Gluten are there for at least 7 years before there’s any “villis-atrophy”.  Translation:  Just like with all disease, it takes years to cook/incubate/manifest, but damage is happening way before a diagnosis.

Very low HDL is a marker of Gluten sensitivity and Celiac Disease.

“It is Mythological and Perverse information that fats cause Heart Disease and that a Lack of Fat helps you lose weight.”

The Brain must have fat ( saturated, mono-unsaturated, and Omegas), to function properly.  Trans fats and an incorrect ratio of Omega 3/anti-inflammatory to Omega 6/inflammatory are  very damaging.

Vascular Disease starts incredibly early:  if the mother’s health or diet is compromised, it affects the fetus.  Around 30% of children and teenagers have measurable markers of Heart Disease.

We have control over our levels of inflammation by just cutting back on Carbohydrates from flours and sugars.   Get your CRP tested – it’s an incredibly accurate reflection of the level of inflammation in your body.

The Ideal Diet is High Fat/ Low Carb.

It can take 6 to 12 months to heal leaky gut, calm down antibodies to gluten, and eliminate symptoms.  Patience is a virtue – and a necessity.

Gluten-Free needs to mean 100% Gluten Free.  A little tiny bit of gluten triggers the same reaction a lot of gluten does.  

The scientifically proven connections between autism and gluten are profound.  Check out Liz Lipski and the Autism Research Institute to learn a TON.

That’s it for my wrap up, more soon.

Have you been remembering to focus on the mantra of the week:  ” I practice being kind, not right.” ?  Practice deleting negative thoughts from your brain.  Nothing changes when nothing changes, know what I mean?   Change happens when you do something different:  think differently, feel differently, focus differently.   Read my post here and here to get a feel for what I’m talking about.

If you spend time in the car or time in the kitchen, it’s a great opportunity to listen to podcasts and youtubes that improve your health, your focus, and your life.  Take advantage of all the FREE information put out there by prominent members of the medical community.  Because much of their advice stems from diet and lifestyle changes, and not pharmaceuticals (aka $$$$$), you’ll need to search it out.  This isn’t information that just lands in your lap or that you’ll hear from your GP; but it’s there and it’s incredibly accessible, and FREE.  Go for it!  And remember,  “I practice being kind, not right. “

Category: Carbs, Mind/Body / Tags: , , ,

The Habits of Happy People Seminar

November 11, 2013 / / Comments Off on The Habits of Happy People Seminar

results and changeI had the pleasure of going to a seminar last Friday called the Habits of Happy People – I love stuff like that!! Did you know that with the advent of modern technology, the ability to really study and see the brain has just exploded.  For instance, until recently it was pretty widely accepted that the brain quit growing in early adulthood; now we know – via MRIs, that’s not true at all.  Our brain can grow and develop for as long as we challenge it.  That’s why games like Luminosity, crossword puzzles, and learning a new language are so good for us.  No challenge, no growth; just like our muscles.

Here’s another thing that won’t change without challenge:  our level of happiness.  Back up:  isn’t it exciting that we can change it???  Apparently, we’re born with a “pre-disposition” for happiness that we inherited from our parents.  Current science says that only accounts for about 50% of our mood and attitude- the other 50% is what we do, what we say, what we focus on, what we read or watch or listen to, who we pick for friends and peers, etc.  We have such opportunity for improvement!

I think this totally coincides with my own “Positive Attitude Positive Change” challenge I threw down last week:  Practice, Plan, and Work on taking Action Steps to STOP the Self Defeating Negative Talk, from now through January, and See the Changes!   What’s that mean?  Instead of focusing on how much you dislike something about yourself and want it to change ( which gets us NOWHERE despite years of thinking that way), focus on being healthy and taking the Action Steps to get there.

Action Steps are EVERYTHING.  You know how you can let your mind just wander and ruminate and spin on what you don’t like?  And how it can start with one subject, like your thighs/butt/weight etc, and then just keep growing, like ripples in a pond? Well, that’s what Actions Steps prevent: no more wasting  downtime “vegging” in front of the computer or tv.  No more spending hours of the day (driving, at the desk, even with other people) WASTING your brain time. Now practice focusing on doing:  when you can plan/shop/cook/pack; when you can get a workout in and what it’s going to be; listen to a podcast/youtube on a healthy topic like heart health or sleep or thinking positive; schedule cleaning out a drawer, your desk, or your closet and then do it;  schedule and follow through with family time, or friend time.  I know everyone’s busy, but God didn’t put 24 hours in a day and make it not enough (whether it seems that way or not).  He gave us 24 hours because he thinks that’s sufficient – so it must be.

Positive thinking and health; they’re practically one and the same.  Our thoughts come from the neurotransmitter mixes we make in our brain.  Neurotransmitters are made from  Amino Acids, which are from Protein.  Our synapses and neural connective tissues are made up of fatty acids (from fats).  Our body is made out of Protein and Fats.  Feed your body the foods that it needs to make itself.   

Positive thinkers and optimistic people have Stronger Immune systems (less cortisol, less negative hormones and neurotransmitter mixes).  They also heal from wounds quicker and have less perception of pain.   They’re also better problem solvers and more creative, have better success at work by all measures, have happier marriages and friendships, and greater resilience to all sorts of problems.    Why wouldn’t we strive for this?

So next time your mind wanders to what you don’t like about yourself, focus instead on the Action Steps to become what you want to be!

Quote for the week (I’ve been saying this one a lot): ” I practice being kind, not right.”  I think I got that from Joel Osteen.  Have a great day!

Category: Mind/Body / Tags: , , , , ,

The PLAN; and Everything You Wanted To Know About Broth and Gelatin

November 9, 2013 / / Comments Off on The PLAN; and Everything You Wanted To Know About Broth and Gelatin

talking about problemsDid you get a chance to read the last post on Changing Habitual Thoughts and Patterns?  If not, make sure you do.  It’s a theme I’m going to stick with for several weeks.  I want everyone to be able to quit the Negative Self Talk and Habits, switch to Positive Self Talk accompanied by Positive Action Steps, and see actual changes by January.  It’s all starts in the mind, so verbalize, write, and visualize the mantra from the last post:  ”Whatever the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve.  I take steps to be fit, healthy, and energetic.”

Now a quick post to answer a question I’ve had several times lately:  Where can I get  gelatin/bone broth/collagen, and why do I need it?

Here’s the scoop:  our body is FULL of a protein called Collagen. It’s everywhere:  it makes up our skin, our intestinal tract, artery lining,  stomach lining, cartilage and more.  Truly, it’s very abundant.  The breakdown of collagen, in our skin, our intestinal tract, cartilage, etc, is a big problem:  wrinkles and loss of elasticity in the skin, leaky gut, hardening of the arteries, arthritis, ……get the picture?

If we’re older, we don’t make collagen as well or as much as we used to.  If we have crappy diets that don’t supply the INGREDIENTS for collagen, we don’t make sufficient amounts; if we’re sick or compromised, we don’t make enough, and if we feed our body bad foods, we make bad collagen.

In other words, it’s pretty easy NOT to make enough collagen, or make BAD collagen.  That’s where bone broths and gelatins come in.  They’re LOADED with collagen, and all the cofactors to use and absorb it.

If you make homemade broth, make sure you’re simmering the bones, with a tbsp of vinegar, for at least 24 hours, 48 is even better.  Incorporate the broth into soups, stews, vegetables, fish, everything you can think of.  If you’re trying to heal a leaky gut, you should try to get at least 2 cups a day in, plain and warm and in a mug works well.    Don’t feel like making broth?  Check to see if any of the stores in your area that are selling LOCAL meats/cheeses/vegetables etc are also selling homemade broth ( commercial brands almost always have MSG).  If not, ordering online is always an option:  grassland beef.com, wisechoicemarket.com, and culturesforhealth.com are places to start.

Another option?  Buy dry, powdered Gelatin or Collagen, which is loaded with animo acids and highly absorbable.  I’ve been using the Great Lakes Gelatin for a few months now, literallygreat lakes putting it in everything from smoothies to casseroles to desserts and it’s AWESOME.   There’s NO taste whatsoever – literally.  It’s just amino acids and nutrients.  If you have a really compromised gut, get their hydrolyzed collagen instead of the gelatin, it’s easier to absorb if there’s health issues.  I use the gelatin for myself and my family.

Why would I still make bone broth and not just rely on the (easier) powdered gelatin, since they both contain collagen and amino acids?  Bone broth contains the minerals from the bones,  the nutrients from the joints (glucosamine, chondroitin, msm, hyularic acid..), the marrow from the bones,  and it’s  incredibly high in the amino acid glycine, which is  one of the liver’s main go-tos for it’s detoxification jobs (that means breaking down drugs, chemicals in foods, etc).

Gelatin and Hydrolyzed Collagen are both made from the collagen layer underneath animal hides, so there’s a different class of nutrients there from the bones and joints.   Bone broth and collagen both have different amino acid profiles than muscle meats.  That’s an important distinction!   Organ meats, bones, the collagen under the hides, these are nutritionally dense foods that until the past few decades were not just normally consumed in the United States, but were acknowledged for their nutritional SUPERIORITY over muscle meats.  Broths and gelatin are a way to reap some of those traditional benefits.

I hope this answers the Broth/Gelatin/Collagen questions.  Let me know if it doesn’t.  Consuming foods that improve health, actually focusing on getting as many nutrients as possible, will have big, positive, consequences for your health, your weight, your mood, and even your appearance (collagen and healthy fats are great for our skin).  Eat for Health, and Weight Loss is always a side effect.  Take the Action Steps!

I’m off to the gym with the Hubs to have a heavy leg day, and then we’re going to see Gravity – I can’t wait!  I also can’t wait to gather my notes for my next post on the Habits of Happy People Seminar I went to yesterday – it was Inspiring:)

Category: Fats, Mind/Body, Question of the Week / Tags: , , , ,

Change Your Thoughts to Change Your Body. Here’s A Plan.

November 7, 2013 / / Comments Off on Change Your Thoughts to Change Your Body. Here’s A Plan.

positive attitudeYesterday I had 3 different girlfriends/clients/women who take my classes, complain to me about their weight, their thighs, and their stomachs.  I’m in the Nutrition and Fitness business, so admittedly, bodies are my life.  Here’s the thing though, our bodies are the results of our minds.  Sound “woo-woo”?  It’s not.

The whole “what we think about we bring about?”, well, science is proving over and over again that it’s true.  Our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes aren’t made from air.  They’re made from chemical mixes of hormones and neurotransmitters; they’re very real.  There’s hundreds of books out there for the layperson explaining the science of this, but my short version is:  If you focus every single day on:  the weight you need to lose; how much better your thighs would look if they were skinnier; how undefined your arms are; how loose your stomach is; how much better life would be if you looked like a fitness model, etc etc etc, you’re literally creating a brain situation of chemicals, hormones, and thought patterns, that will keep you EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE.  There will be NO CHANGE with NEGATIVE THOUGHT PATTERNS.   You’ll keep exactly the same body you have now.

*****Ask yourself this question:  How long have you had these exact same thoughts, and what’s changed in all this time you’ve been thinking them? ****

Want to really change?  I’ve got a Plan:  make a deal with yourself that for 2 months, you WON’T allow yourself to entertain your normal, habitual, negative thoughts, but instead, you’ll PRACTICE focusing on positive thoughts instead.  How do you “practice focus”?  You gather a few positive words, or a positive phrase ( a quote or a verse), and you fill your life and your day with it.  Here’s what I mean:  say your verse or quote for the day or the week is:  “I’m full of discipline, self-control, and healthy habits.”, or ” I focus on things that are pure, and true, and just, and lovely; I’m full of praise.”   or “I’m Health and Energy Focused.”  Now take these words and put them ALL AROUND YOU.  Fill 20 sticky’s with your quote,  and then put them by your bed, on your books, on your microwave, in your car, in your fridge, mirrors, doors, everywhere. Read them, speak them, and think them, as often as possible.

When the Negative Thought (I hate my body, I need to lose weight, I can’t believe I just ate all that) creeps in, SHUT IT DOWN with your quote.  Quit allowing those negative mixes of chemicals and neurotransmitters to dominate your life!  

This will take awhile.  Did you answer that BOLD question above as to how long you’ve allowed your thought patterns to rule?  Your brain has come to like what you’ve been feeding it.  You’ve nurtured your brain with this particular recipe for a long time.  Now it’s time to feed it a different recipe of chemicals and neurotransmitters, and get a DIFFERENT OUTCOME.  Really!  I hear all the time: ” I eat so well, I exercise often, but I just can’t lose weight/lose these last pounds/get rid of this arm flab”   blah blah blah. Or:  “I can NEVER stay on a diet.; I could motivation:habitNEVER give up carbs/wine/sugar.”  

Our words are literally Self Fulfilling Prophecies, so guard your tongue, and guard your thoughts.  Look at the calendar; if you try a different tactic, you could honestly make a difference in your life by January 2014, which is right around the corner.  Or you could keep on the EXACT SAME MENTAL PATH YOU’RE ON NOW, and be exactly the same in January 2014, and January 2015, 2016, ….. You get the picture.

Is this making sense?  I hope so!  I’m not saying anything new, or claiming I invented this wheel, and I’m not perfect at applying it.  I’m only human.  But I’ve been Practicing My Focus for the past couple of years and it honestly gets easier and more natural all the time.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a negative thought about my body – not because it’s perfect – but because I’ve just quit thinking that way.  The more I focus on actually taking positive action steps to make my self feel healthy and energetic,  the more healthy and energetic I’ve become.  It’s a process and a journey that takes time, attention, and effort, but EVERYONE is capable of it.

Since I’ve asked you to commit a couple of months to this, I’ll commit a couple of months to helping.  I’ll make sure that I post quotes and thoughts that lead to gratitude, peace, health, and energy.  Here’s one for the next couple of days:  “Whatever the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve.  I take steps to be fit, healthy, and energetic.”  If you love quotes, find your own and go for it!  Speak words that appeal to you!

We really can change our bodies, our thoughts, our moods, and our health.  If we’re parents, we can influence – by example – our children to know this also.    God’s given us this amazing opportunity to live on earth and make a difference;  take advantage of your power and use it to create not just the best possible you, but a better world.

Category: Mind/Body / Tags: , , ,

Why I Eat Fat; Saturated Fat Is Validated AGAIN; and a Recipe

November 6, 2013 / / Comments Off on Why I Eat Fat; Saturated Fat Is Validated AGAIN; and a Recipe

debbie (44)I eat a pretty high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet.  Can I give you my Fitday breakdown?  No.  And I probably never will.  I counted calories and obsessed for YEARS.  All it did was make me crazy, and starving.  I learned about the dangers of carbs years ago when I read Protein Power and The Atkins Diet,  cutting back on bread and pasta wasn’t hard.  The reason for the craziness was that for a long time, I was Low Carb and Low Fat, because I believed that Fat Was Bad, and it would make me fat. That mantra had been drilled into my head.    Diet and low-carb “foods”, with plenty of vegetables and fruits on the side, were what I lived off of (during the week).  It kept my weight good ( weekday stringency combined with weekend binges), but I hated the binges, and the stomach aches, the nightly bloats,  and now looking back, my energy levels and moods were just okay.  A couple of years ago I dropped the “food products”, and incorporated fat, tons of it.  Literally, if my foods don’t haveIMG_2737 enough fat in them, I add it.  The results?  The most stable weight I’ve ever been (good bye binges), great energy, great mood, ( right Mark??), and ***a flat stomach that rarely ever bloats anymore.  I feel confident that I’m following a food plan that’s giving me Optimal Health and a Normal, Stable Weight, but I constantly run into or work with people who are deathly afraid of fat, and their fear is often compounded by their doctor’s 1970 advice to cut the fat.  Oh but the Tide is Turning  and I love it!

It seems like everyday there’s more scientific validation that Saturated Fat is healthy, and that decades of Main Stream Medical Advice has been Wrong.  If you have time to read a long article on some of the latest information, here’s a link to Dr. Mercola’s excellent post.  If you want the short version, here it is:  Saturated fat and Cholesterol have NEVER been conclusively linked to Heart Disease, ever.  When our Government decided to demonize fat, they relied on a study by Ancel Keys called the 7 Countries Study, which linked high levels of fat and cholesterol to heart disease.  The problem with using this as the basis of their Health Paradigm is:  There Were 22 Countries in the study – 15 of them didn’t fit the theory, so they were ignored.

Here’s a link to the British Medical Journal  that just published an article called “Saturated Fat is Not the Issue”.   Another testament to the power of High Fat – Low Carb, is that Sweden has developed NATIONAL DIETARY GUIDELINES proclaiming low fat diets not good for your health or waistlines,  and that High Fat diets  DO fight disease and obesity.   This was a total turn around from decades of previous dogma, which was pretty identical to our government/health care system dogma.  However, after reviewing 16,000 studies, the results were clear:  sugar and grains, (which break down to glucose and fructose), and trans fats are dangerous for your health and a disaster for weight loss; and Real Fats such as saturated fats and cholesterol, are  actually good for you.

Our body uses Healthy Fats to BUILD ITSELF.  Our brain is 60% fat, our heart, organs, and glands, are loaded with fat – on purpose by God.  Fat’s even part of our bones!    Fat doesn’t go rogue and clog our arteries.  That’s a really, really  incorrect picture.

What else is good about saturated fats?   They lower the bad, small LDL, and they raise HDL. They literally escort calcium and other minerals into bone to be assimilated.  They’re good for the liver’s health and actually protect the liver from NSAIDS and alcohol.     The surfactant of your lungs is lined with saturated fat; they contribute to proper nerve signaling, and several fatty acids have anti-viral/anti-bacterial properties that help the immune system.

The best thing about saturated fat?  Satiety.

before roastingLet me leave you with a recipe for Roasted Vegetable Soup, it’s delicious!  I’ve been making a version of this for the past year, never the same way twice, and it always comes out good.

Ingredients:  2 big sweet potatoes, a giant onion, a round squash, 3 big carrots, 1 big green, tart apple, 3 beets.  Scrub and cut everything but the squash into pieces.   Puncture the squash and roast it whole, scoop out the seeds after it  bakes.   I like to add a little water to the vegetables and cover with foil, that helps everything stay moist.   Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.   When it’s done, cool slightly; peel the skin off the squash, put all this into your food processor and blend til smooth.

Add the vegetables, about 6 cups of (any) broth, and a can of full fat coconut milk together in a big pot and start whisking, with the heat on medium high.    Next, whisk in 2 tablespoons coconut oil, 2 tsp sea salt, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1tsp cloves, a couple pinches of curry powder ( we like heat).

I’ve used so many different vegetable combinations, and a few other fruits (pears and plantains), different spice mixes, different levels of heat, and every time it comes out good.  Oh!, I also added sausage.  Crispy bacon also rocks it.

What’s the message of the day?  Fat is Healthy.  Fat doesn’t make you Fat; sugars and grains make you fat, and unhealthy.  Read those last lines again:)   Off to practice yoga;  Make Good Choices!!

Category: Carbs, Fats, Sugar / Tags: , , , , , , ,

What I Eat

November 2, 2013 / / Comments Off on What I Eat

debbie (22)I get asked – often – what I eat; I have a What I Eat Page, but I guess it’s not enough!  Here’s what I’ve eaten this week:

Smoothies every morning, since Monday.  You could call my smoothies, “Kitchen Sink Smoothies”, because I throw just about everything and anything in there.  My goal:  to get as many nutrients as possible.  I want the immune protection, the gut healing, the energy, the good skin, the satiety, muscle tissue repair, etc,  and I know all that comes from Food.  My gut breaks food down to it’s barest nutrients, which my body uses to remake every single cell.  Did you know that the average cell turnover in your body is 50 times????  Every cell in your body will die and reproduce a “daughter” cell an average of 50 times!  That’s a LOT of opportunity to improve your health, isn’t it.

I make sure to use a variety of vegetables, fruits, spices, and supplements in my smoothies everyday.  I also alternate my bases back and forth between Kombucha (fermented tea), Keifer, or Plain Old Soured Raw Milk or Raw Cream ( how do you think they made that stuff in the olden days before isolating fermenting bacteria?), and every now and then, plain water.  I want that good bacteria though and 90% of the time, that’s what I use as a base.  Fermented foods/beverages have TRILLIONSnancys yogurt more beneficial bacteria than pills.  They’re easy to make or easy to buy – sugary yogurts don’t count.   They’re not cultured very long, they have too many additives, and too much sugar.  It’s also almost impossible to find Full Fat – which is the ONLY dairy product you should consume.  Honestly.

I’m NOT a recipe girl.  I’m a: throw everything in the blender or the pot and see how it comes out girl.  (This doesn’t apply to baking, just cooking or smoothies.  Baking requires precision.)  If I like it, it goes in, if I don’t like it but I know it’s good for me, it goes in.  I’ve trained myself to not just eat palate pleasing foods.   Amazingly, my palate has adjusted to several of those foods and I’ve now come to LOVE :  liver, onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, avocados, really sour keifer, yogurt, and milk(you can ONLY do that with RAW),  brussels, blue cheese, and many other foods I didn’t grow up on.  It really doesn’t take long to “develop” a taste for something, it just takes effort and practice.

Here’s some common smoothie ingredients for me, I pick a few or several of these at a time:  kombucha/keifer/sour milk or cream (RAW ONLY !- pasteurized milk rots and would make you sick), a couple times a week protein powder, raw eggs, collagen, molassas, blueberries, cranberries, bananas, blackberries, strawberries, peaches/pears in season, avocados, coconut butter, coconut oil, coconut flakes, cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, stevia if using cocoa powder, frozen spinach, frozen kale, powdered greens, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger (powdered and whole form), and fish oil.    I rotate ingredients every day and mentally keep track of what I use.

nuts and seedsI ALWAYS have a smallish lunch:  leftover meat or fish, a fruit or vegetable; sometimes nuts and seeds; sometimes a coconut-chocolate mix, or a store bought dark chocolate piece.

Dinner’s usually on the big side for me:  meat and vegetables, sometimes cheese. I’m simple with dinner though:  baked chicken breast (bone in, skin on), baked fish, sausage (we make our own, half venison, half pork, almost 200 pounds every December!), burgers or meatballs(no buns!),  slow cooked/pulled roasts:   ANY/ALL vegetables (corn, potatoes, peas ,broccoli, brussels, squashes, eggplant, greens, – I don’t care if they’re starchy or not), and I LOVE “mixes”.  I use a lot of sea salt, pepper, and herbs/spices.  Two nights ago my dinner was brussels, roasted tomatoes, onions, and sausage in broth, with a big side of sweet potato cut up, coated in butter, and roasted.  Last night my dinner was a left over spaghetti squash with left over homemade roasted vegetable soup, and two paleo cookies my youngest made last weekend and I’d thrown in the freezer.  Sometimes I make paleo biscuits or muffins (they’re great to freeze and pull out for breakfast – which is my youngest daughter’s favorite thing).

Does this help?  Breakfast doesn’t have to be cereal and toast, lunch doesn’t have to be sandwiches, and dinner doesn’t have to be pasta/pizza/chicken nuggets.   It doesn’t have to be what I eat either!    Leftovers, eggs, sausage, bacon, soup, vegetables, nuts and seeds, they can all be breakfast and lunch foods.  If you’re really struggling with what to eat, try to focus on Real Whole Foods with fat and protein that keeps you full for hours.   Frozen waffles, bagels, english muffins,… they’re just drilled into your head fromthinking outside box years of commercials and advertising.  Change the way you think about food from a calorie/fat perspective to a nutrient perspective.  What are the foods you put into your mouth going to do for your cells?  your organs?  your brain? Or your kids cells, organs, and brain?

Real change, about anything, begins in the mind.  Make a plan.  Stick to the plan.  You can do this

Category: RWF, Uncategorized / Tags: , , , , , ,
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