Get the skinny on weight loss, health + living.

photo credit: oddsock

“it doesn’t take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.”

–Elbert Hubbard.

A friend recently sent me this quote and it struck me as very true, especially when it comes to figuring out the big things–like love, life purpose, family….oh yeah, and taking care of ourselves. Let’s face it–with over 60% of us overweight and almost twenty percent on antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs (a three fold increase in just ten years)–it’s obvious that we don’t know how to care for ourselves very well.  We learn a lot in school growing up but there isn’t a class in how to be happy, how to love ourselves and others, how to figure out what we really want from life, or how to nourish and accept our bodies. So it’s up to us, as adults who want to be fit and lead full lives and pass that on to our children, to begin to learn how to nurture ourselves. And we can’t do that until we know one thing–what makes us tick, what is the spark that pushes us toward health. We have to know what motivates us or we will never truly be able to reach our goals.

I am a quitter. It’s true. Almost everything I have ever done I have quit, and often it is just when I am getting good, getting comfortable. I come so close to figuring it out, mastering it and then ‘poof’! For some mysterious reason my fire just goes out.  Suddenly the excuses are flying–it’s too cold to run, I’m just not in the mood to write, I love that yoga class but it’s too late at night…you see where I am going. Only recently have I been able to really sit down and start to figure out why this is the case. Motivation is different for all of us, but there are definitely patterns that we fall into. So read on and find out where your motivation lies and how to harness your spark to truly reach your goals:

Look Ma, No Hands!–Now our ego loves to ‘become’. It wants the characteristics but not so much the verbs. It readily clings to ‘I am a runner’ and not so much the act of running. It also loves to brag. For some of us, the ego has become a trap. When we are praised for what we ‘do’ outwardly and not for who we ‘are’ internally, we often learn that the praise from others is worth more than our own feelings. I often fell into this trap. Instead of getting motivation from myself, I got it from telling others about what I was doing and getting their praise or even acknowledgment. The problem with this is that, once everyone knows, it is no longer new and there is less gratification. Less gratification equals less motivation. And so then you are on to the next new thing….always hoping for that quick fix from others.  The same thing happens when you are losing weight. You might start having people comment on how good you look and you lose the motivation…suddenly it’s okay to eat junk again or slack on exercise because others have rewarded you–despite the fact that you haven’t reached your goal.  Our egos aren’t going to go away, they are part of us. So we have to outsmart them by acknowledging that they are there, that they want the approval of others, and then engage our friends and family into making us accountable to ourselves.  How do we do this?

• Pair up with a friend or loved one and exercise with them. This will help keep you from slacking when the going gets tough. Just make sure that they are not motivated in the same way you are or you might end up eating ice cream instead of exercising!
• With those closest to you, explain how you are motivated and expressly ask them to (gently!) keep after you. Have them ask you often if you are still meeting your goals and press you (gently!) to increase those goals.
  
• Ultimately, lasting motivation is going to have to come from within because at the end of the day, we are left with ourselves. So explore shifting motivation. Try thinking and writing about why you are trying to eat better or exercise, what it is about that particular fitness regimen you like etc. You just might find that it is more about yourself than you think.
• Keep some goals secret. Many business and motivation coaches say that the most vulnerable time for a new business is in the beginning stages, when it is pretty much just an idea. When we tell others about it then it can weaken the idea, dilute it. The same goes for any life change. So try not talking about what you are practicing so much. It is good to get support, but if that is the only way you know how to keep motivated, you risk becoming addicted to outside praise. So make a deal with yourself that you will only talk about your goals once a week–the rest of the week it is up to you to motivate yourself. Like the tip above, you might be surprised by what you find.

The Kitchen Sink– Here’s another one that many of us fall pray to. You’ve been doing so well, eating right, exercising every day and then something happens, something to stress you out. A fight with a loved one, a sick child, a bill you forgot to pay…the stress pushes you and you push back-at yourself.  You take a couple of days off, eat junk or stop exercising. And then you say ‘well I’ve already blown it so I might as well blow it some more’ and off you go…coming up to the surface only when you feel bad enough again to want to make it right. I call this the kitchen sink mentality, and unfortunately, it often hits the most intelligent of us out there, those of us that think globally and creatively. The think is, when you have a hard time thinking in steps, but instead are a ‘big picture’ person, it is easy to psych ourselves in or out of doing something. We often miss the small things that can make or break our goals.  I once had a friend describe it like this:  Imagine your life is like driving at night. You can only see that small area in front of your car that is illuminated by your headlights but you don’t freak out at the darkness out there, at all that space you can’t see. You have faith that the road and that your destination is there and that by paying attention to what you can see, that you will get there in the end. Life is like that. We have to have faith that the small things we do will add up into  big goals, that the two pounds we lose this month will equal twenty pounds by the end of the year; that by walking those two miles now, we will eventually be able to run them.  Some good ways to keep to the small goals:

I found the original recipe at www.steviashop.com, but it called for peanut butter. Many of us who strive to avoid sugar are doing so for candida reasons, and if we are trying to cut out fungus as well, the moldy peanut is not the best choice. So in this case I’m subsitituting almond butter, but feel free to experiment with a cashew or hazelnut butter as well.

For flour, I recommend teff, an ancient Ethiopian whole grain that’s well suited to baking. You can find it at your local food co-op. The oil should be one with a high smoking point, so butter would do the trick. Coconut oil would add a nice flavor as well.

Almond Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp stevia concentrate powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk or water
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
6 TBS oil
2 TBS vanilla

How to Prepare:
Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, mix moist ingredients in another bowl until smooth. Gradually add dry ingredients. Take a teaspoon of dough and roll into a ball, place on cookie sheet and place a whole peanut into the centre. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

photo credit: amineshaker

Green Drinks.

The ally for modern human health maintenance.

Tony Robbins drinks them.

Wayne Dyer drinks them.

Seth Braun drinks them. (I am drinking one now!)

And heck, you should be drinking them too!

Thanks to my wonderful business manager and assistant, Melissa Russo, I have been able to review the best products in the world.

There are many reasons that a superfood green drink is beneficial, here are just a few:

1. Alkalinizes the body. Very important and the best way I know how is to drink a green drink.

2. Great source of vitamins and minerals in a whole food form that is easy to assimilate.

3. Added anti-oxidant source for resisting free radical damage to cells.

4. Potent immune system support.

5. Improves digestion by feeding probiotics (prebiotics) and usually supplies a probiotic element as well.

What is in a SuperFood Green Drink?

Generally, there is a breakdown of categories in these products that looks like this:

• Greens Blend; green grass juices, alfalfa, spirulina, chlorella or similar

• Vegetable Concentrates; Brocolli, carrot, tomato, lemon peel, cabbage, beet, etc.

• Anti-oxidant or phyto-nutrient blend. Zeaxanthin, Lutien, Lycopene, Silymarin and many more from food based extracts.

• Immune Formula / Mushroom Extracts, often but not always together

• Fiber Blends

• Probiotic Additions

• Enzyme Blends

• Detoxification Support Compounds

Here is a list of the green drinks that I reviewed through company literature and sampling (in no particular order):

1. • Barleans

   • PINES

   • Pure Synergy

   • Tonic Alchemy

   • PHion

   • InnerLight

   • NanoGreens

   • New Greens

   • New Chapter

   • Empirical Labs

   • Health Force

   • Greens Plus

   • Dr. Shulze’s SuperFood

   • Pro Greens.

   • Garden of Life: Perfect Food

   • Mighty Greens.

I want to emphasize that I reviewed only the superfood green drinks. I did not review the single frequency drinks such as chlorella, spirulina, wheat grass, barley grass etc. Although some of those did (or have) crossed my path, that was not my intention this time.

The superfood green drink I am looking for is a multi-spectrum product that will support my clients in daily, complete health. And am I psyched about what I found!

The Findings.

OK, so this isn’t a double blind controlled study with the end all, be all results. I am only one man after all, with a wife and kids and a business to run. But the results are useful and I know you will appreciate what I found.

The good news.

I was excited to find out that there are a lot of GREAT products out on the market these days. The tide toward complimentary medicine and “the wellness revolution” are having a clear effect on the marketplace.

The Great News.

Because the marketplace is filling with competition, demand for products is increasing, thereby making the cost more affordable than ever.

The Bad News.

The bad news for the companies that is. It is good news for you.

Every company was certain that they had the best product. With the exception of several products, most companies were on par. There were several that were above par and a few below.

Here are my top three recommendations:

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day!

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

When I say Irish cuisine, you tend to say “potato”, but tubers are in fact native to South America and made their way across the Atlantic with the conquistadors in the 15th century. In contrast, pigs are native to the Eurasian land mass. Irish nobility could afford cattle and partook of corned beef and cabbage, but the commonfolk dined on swine.  There’s some debate about the exact origins of cabbage, but it’s pretty clear that Europe is its home territory.

If you’re looking for a tasty, inexpensive, simple and stick-to-the-ribs dinner that offers all four macronutients (fiber, fat, protein and carbs) in abundance, bacon and cabbage does the job.  Don’t let cabbage’s wan-looking leaves fool you: this plant has a great deal of nutritional value. One cup provides 90% of the RDA of Vitamin K, and 50% of the RDA of Vitamin C. However, cooking denatures vitamins, so please steam your cabbage briefly rather than boiling it to death. Five minutes should do the trick. Its vitamins are of course most accessible in raw form, but please do not eat raw cabbage if you have problems with your thyroid: cabbage contains goitrogens, which inhibit thyroid function.

Bacon offers protein and fat. In fact, the Vitamin K present in cabbage is fat-soluble, meaning it requires fat in order to be absorbed in the body. So by combining cabbage with bacon you are optimizing your Vitamin K intake. Don’t be scared of animal fat if it’s from a nice, clean, ideally organic source. Bacon is also high in B vitamins.

Dia dhuit, cead mille failte, and erin go bragh.

1 lb cabbage

2 oz bacon

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp oil

1 clove garlic

salt and pepper

1. Heat oil. Fry onion and bacon together in frying pan for 5 min.

2. Add garlic and cook for 2 more min.

3. Stir in cabbage. Keep stirring as it wilts.

4. Place lid on pan and cook for about 10 min.

5. Season with S&P.

6. Feast.

photo credit: Gunjan Karun

Caffeine is considered the most commonly used psychoactive drug,  with nearly 80% of the world’s population consuming  it on a daily basis in the form of coffee, tea, soft drinks, energy drinks, and chocolate.  While the health benefits and ills of caffeine have been hotly debated for years now, with some people saying its great and others demonizing it (and its history as a colonizing monocrop in much of S. America), caffeine has never ceased holding an uncontested place in the urban myth-dominated world of weight loss .  As a diet aid it has been added to countless weight loss shakes, pills, and even, yes, colonic cleanses. But does caffeine help shed the pounds as well as we have always assumed? It now appears that caffeine is, indeed a red herring of a weight management drug.

For years it was assumed that it was the stimulant properties of coffee that helped people to lose weight by increasing the metabolism and supressing appetite. New studies, however, have led many researchers (and the Mayo clinic in particular) to discourage caffeine as a weight loss aid. It appears that it is the diuretic properties of caffeine that play a part in ‘weight loss’ and that the  pounds lost are water weight and not fat. Furthermore, caffeine has actually been shown to increase appetite instead of supressing it.  Other ways that caffeine falls short as a diet aid:

• Caffeine elevates the stress hormone cortisol, which is partly responsible for increased heart rate, blood pressure, and anxiety. Circulation of oxygen to the brain and extremities is decreased and the immune system is suppressed.In the end cortisol disrupts natural metabolism and studies have shown weight gain, especially around the abdomen in people with raised cortisol levels. Increased abdominal fat then leads to more stress hormones being released from the body…creating a viscous cycle.

• Caffeine increases insulin resistance as part of the stress response. This can lead to diabetes and heart disease. It also raises blood glucose levels which increase appetite.

• Caffeine puts stress on the adrenal system–one of the systems that helps detoxify the body and cleanse the blood. If the body cannot detox it is harder to effectively use the nutrients in food and eliminate properly.

• Caffeine has been shown to lead to higher levels of serum cholesterol.

• Getting caffeine through soft drinks floods your body with unhealthy sugars, choosing diet sodas introduces chemicals that can actually slow the metabolism, and coffee and tea can be laced with pesticides that add toxicity to the body, impeding weight loss.

Coming from a family that kept a pot of coffee on at all hours (you never know who will stop by!) and introduced to caffeine at an early age, I fight this addiction every day of my life. But I know that cutting down on caffeine is not only good for your body, it is good for your mind and your emotions as well–we are calmer and more focused without caffeine and our bodies and metabolisms are able to function how they are intended to, without added stress. Our energy will be more sustained, our sleep deeper and more productive, and our appetite and weight more natural. Many of us, after getting over the initial first days of caffeine addiction, realize that what we are most addicted to is the ritual of caffeine–the morning cup of coffee or tea, the lunchtime soda, the little pick-me-up treat that is our way of taking care of ourselves. We don’t have to give this up! We can replace it with healthy alternatives–

Chicory–Down in New Orleans, the coffee is made with chicory.  This root is roasted and ground as a coffee additive and substitute and has been used for hundreds of years-especially in southern Europe. Like roasted dandelion, chicory is an amazing liver tonic–enhancing both liver and gallbladder function. It also flushes the kidneys, relieves uric acid build–up, prevents urinary infections, and reduces blood sugar. It is a good substitute for coffee in that it has a nutty, roasted flavor. A great morning replacement.

photo credit: intenteffect

Roasted Dandelion Root– With a flavor remarkably similar to coffee, roasted dandelion is a great substitute. It is rich in trace minerals and micronutrients and rich in inulin, which can help manage diabetes. The bitterness in it is a good stimulant for digestion as well and dandelion root tea is simple to make at home, using all those pesky dandelion roots from the yard (just make sure they haven’t been sprayed with pesticides!)

photo credit: Pohjantuuli

Ginseng–Great as a tea with peppermint (another refreshing pick-me upper), ginseng is a great source of stamina boosting, energy enhancing wonderfulness. Ginseng is an adaptogen, which means

photo credit: annia316

If you want to lose weight, you have to keep your blood sugar stable. You do this by avoiding sugar. Any sweetener, in fact, aside from stevia, which makes a frequent appearance in these Low GI Treat recipes. (Oh, and don’t go there with artificial sweeteners: those cancer and obesity-causing powders of Beelzebub.) Incidentally, stevia’s also the only natural sweetener that doesn’t aggravate candida.

If you’re a frequent reader of these recipes, though, you might be a little sick of hearing about stevia, so we’re going to discuss fruit today. Now, fruit is really not a crucial food. It’s nice and it’s tasty, but veggies contain everything fruit contains, and more. Didyou know, for example, cauliflower and asparagus happen to be very high in Vitamin C? But for some of us cutting out fruit is unrealistic, so let’s explore which fruits will create the lowest blood sugar spike.

There’s no rhyme or reason when guessing which fruits are the most sugary. Dried apricots happen to be very low at 31, while watermelon has a GI of 72! On the whole, it’s best to stick to citrus such as grapefruit and oranges, and berries such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, huckleberries, etc. Interestingly, most berries, aside from strawberries, contain so few carbs that it’s difficult to actually test their GI. They are estimated by various sources as ranging from 32 to 40. The fact that they are that low carb means their GI will be very low as well, so feel free to enjoy them. Other good choices include cherries at 22, plums at 25, and apples at 38.

photo credit: Steven Fernandez

A word about fruit juices. It’s unfortunate that their marketing as a healthful addition to one’s diet has been so successful. “Oh, I’m sick! I’ll get orange juice!” “Oh, I had a serving of apple juice this morning; that’s one of my five dailies of fruit/veg!” Please remember that fruit juice will spike your blood sugar more than if you consume the whole fruit at once. This is because the fiber present in the whole fruit slows the digestive process, thereby mellowing out the blood sugar. Also, vitamins begin to oxidize (break down) the moment they hit the air, so if you are drinking a bottled or canned juice you purchased at the grocery store, you are not getting many nutrients. If you want to prepare some fresh juice specifically for vitamin and mineral purposes, go right ahead, but not the best choice for weight loss.

photo credit: coda

Sea Vegetables: Also known as seaweed, a really lousy hit for such a great array of foods! Sea vegetables are truly medicine for modern people. A sustainable and abundant, nutrient dense food supply that grows around the world.

Why you want to eat more sea vegetables

There are a dozen commonly eaten sea vegetables that can be not only palatable, but quite tasty. When adding sea vegetables to the diet, remember that they vary greatly in nutrients. Here are just a few of the most noteworthy benefits:

· More minerals that any other food. Every known mineral that we need, sea vegetables can provide. With commercial food, minerals are in poor supply. Balance this with sea vegetables.

· Weight Management ~ The thyroid gland is under attack in modern life. More and more people have thyroid issues and sea vegetables are a tonic food for thyroid function. Increasing thyroid function can be beneficial for weight loss.

· Beautiful Skin ~ With internal moisturizing, improved detoxification, high concentration of skin friendly nutrients, sea vegetables are HOT in the natural beauty industry.

· Detox Radioactive Compounds ~ woah! Brown sea weed binds and expels radioactive isotopes from the thyroid gland. Detoxification is essential in the post-industrial age.

· Detox Heavy Metals ~ our bodies never had to deal with cadmium, mercury and lead in the way it does now. Sea Vegetables help the body efficiently detox these industrial waste products. (Wakame, Arame, Hijiki, Kombu)

· Optimal Health ~ “If you want higher health, you need sea vegetables,” Scott Olgren ~ author of The 28 Day Cleansing Program

Tips on sea vegetables:

• More is not necessarily better. You only need a tablespoon or so each day to get the benefits of this food. Too much and you might even tip the scales on the iodine levels
• Try adding in one new sea vegetable each season. In a few years, you will have a great reference point for how to consume them!
• Macrobiotic foods companies, like Eden Foods, are great sources of quality sea vegetables, as is Maine Sea Coast company.
• Rinsing sea vegetables mellows the flavor.

What to watch out for:

• A lot of sea vegetable products are imported from China. As with Goji berries or other Chinese herb and food products, make sure you buy from reputable distribution channels.
• Lots of sea vegetable salads in deli cases are died to be bright green. It is normal for sea vegetables to look brown though.

Where can I get them?

I order directly from Maine Coast Sea Vegetables and from Eden Foods. I love the Maine Coast Applewood Smoked Dulse, yum!

photo credit: stephcarter

I was recently asked by a friend whether yoga is a good way to lose weight–my answer was a resounding yes! While you will definitely want to incorporate cardiovascular exercise (such as dancing, jogging, cycling, or aerobics) to rev up your metabolism, a yoga practice can be a welcome addition to a weight loss routine, providing both physical and emotional balancing, strength, and joy.

The physical benefits of yoga are numerous:

• Many types of yoga, such as the vinyasa, power, and kundalini styles, are dynamic and flowing, bringing some cardiovascular exercise into the mix.

• All types of yoga help to build lean and long muscles, especially in places you might not have thought to work out, building a more balanced body as you lose weight and helping to burn calories, even when at rest

• The  flexibility yoga brings to the body is amazing-an added benefit  when engaged in strength training or aerobic exercise that can tighten the muscles, leading to injury.

• Many yoga poses-such as twists, back bends, and shoulder stands can balance the endocrine system, especially the thyroid, which can definitely aid in weight loss. Certain kundalini kriyas, or exercises are intened solely for weight loss

• A steady yoga practice can also stimulate and balance the digestive and elimination systems, allowing for optimum assimilation of nutrients, elimination of wastes, and reduction of water weight and bloating.

• Yoga puts a lot of focus on breathing correctly, which can release many toxins from the body, allowing all of our systems to function optimally.

Mentally and emotionally, yoga is a great match for someone trying to change patterns and habits.  When losing weight it is just as important to pay attention to the emotional body as to the physical. Much obesity and weight gain comes from being out of touch with the body and overwhelmed with emotions and stress, which allows us to make bad choices in what we eat, how much we exercise, the amount of sleep we get–how we take care of ourselves in general. Devoting yourself to a practice like yoga, which is all about awareness of the body and the breathe lets us get in touch with ourselves, what we want, how we feel, and ultimately why and how we eat. And as with all exercise, yoga can help balance the bodies neurotransmitters-such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine–low levels of which have been proven to increase hunger and cravings for sugars and simple carbohydrates as well as cause depression.

Yoga can also bring much spiritual joy to your life, letting you feed and take care of yourself in a way that has nothing to do with a dependence on food. It allows us to feel lighter, freer and in touch with the world in a way that is less complicated than most things in this world.

When starting a yoga practice, I recommend taking classes, as a teacher can correct your postures in a way that can’t be done while watching videos. Like having a personal trainer when exercising, having a yoga teacher can make your learning curve that much less steep.  For those of you familiar with yoga, here is a great kundalini yoga kriya set especially for weight loss.

photo credit: charles chan *

photo credit: roland

We live in a stressful society at a stressful time on the planet. And stress, whether physical or emotional, takes its toll. Exhaustion. Adrenal burnout. Insomnia. Anxiety. Tight shoulders and backs. Wrinkles.

Stress depletes the system of minerals, and mineral depletion in turn exacerbates every one of these conditions, particularly wrinkles.  Alkalizing minerals, otherwise known as electrolytes, are truly crucial to maintaining immune health. An over-acid body is the precursor to all kinds of disease. And the standard American diet, with its emphasis on meats and grains and scarcity of vegetables and fruit, is incredibly acid forming.

photo credit: bortescristian

Stinging nettles, much like its equally misunderstood friend the dandelion, is a wonder herb hiding behind a prickly reputation. Found throughout the country, mostly in shady or wet spots, nettles are often only remembered for the irritation of their thousands of tiny hairs. These spring plants have a reputation, going back hundreds of years, as a potent tonic and nutritious addition to soups.  Traditionally used topically to treat arthritis and dried to combat hay fever,  nettles have also had a well deserved reputation as a natural weight loss aid, making them a welcome addition to a healthy diet.

High in potassium, iron, sulphur, vitamin C,  vitamin A and B complex vitamins, nettles provide a high amount of dense nutrition with very little calories. The sulphur makes them great for the hair, skin, and nails. In addition, the tiny hairs, besides emitting histimine, also release serotonin and acetylcholine , two neurotransmitters that help to suppress appetite and also settle mood. Finally, nettles have gentle diuretic properties, which help relieve water weight gain,  flush the body of toxins, and purify the blood.

Try nettles as a tea or if you have access to the plant itself, as a steamed or sauteed green (fix it how you would spinach). Add it to soups or sprinkle the dried plant on food.  If gathering nettles wear gloves to protect against the sting and don’t gather it while it is flowering. Dunking the plants in water can help incapacitate the tiny hairs and steaming the greens take away the sting.

photo credit: chatirygirl

We may be moving into spring, but here in Boulder it was 34 degrees this morning, and there’s snow in the forecast for the Mid-West, mid-week. So cocoa is still appropriate.

Dairy’s one of the most common allergens. Most of us can’t actually digest it. We may experience immediate symptoms such as stomach ache or bloating, or longer term effects such as a compromised immune system, increased susceptibility to colds, and excessive mucus production. It’s really only a traditional food for people of Western European heritage, and even many of them lose the ability to process it as they age.

Milk in its raw form is a beautiful, nutrient-rich food that, prior to pasteurization, humans were consuming for thousands of years without significant side effects. This process, which supposedly “kills the bacteria”, also destroys the milk’s lactase – the enzyme used to help the digestion of lactose. This means that unless your body produces a lot of lactase inherently, which most bodies don’t, you are out of luck when it comes to milk.

If you think you might have difficulty with cow’s milk you can always try sheep’s or goat’s milk, which are more easily digested. It’s also worth seeing if you have a farm in your area that might supply you with raw milk. If you can’t do any animal milk, there are a wide array of nut and grain milks that are easily substituted. Almond milk, hazelnut milk, rice milk, and hemp milk are just a few that can be found at your local health food store. Please check the labels because many brands unnecessarily add sugar or the euphemism “cane juice”. I do NOT recommend soy milk for reasons enumerated in this post.

Which brings me to today’s recipe. Cocoa is traditionally prepared using cow’s milk. Do I want to post a recipe to which most of my readers will be allergic? I think not. This one will be even better because it is made with the tropical flavor of coconut milk. I combine it with almond milk to cut the richness, but you don’t have to. A few spices add some Mexican style flavor. You won’t miss the marshmallows, trust me.

Coconut milk

Almond milk

Cacao

Stevia

Cayenne

Cinnamon

Mix 2/3 cup coconut milk and 1/3 cup almond milk in a saucepan on the stove.

Bring to a simmer over low heat.

Add 1-2 heaping spoonfuls of cacao, 4-6 drops stevia, and a dash of each spice.

Stir and simmer for a few minutes.

Pour into your favorite mug and drink. Caution, the beverage you’re about to enjoy is extremely hot.

• Florida’s Finest: If you read last week’s News Bites you may recall some woman called 911 because Burger King wasn’t making her burger. Now, reports that a Florida woman recently called 911 because a McDonald’s was out of McNuggets, and an unrelated Florida man called 911 when Burger King ran out of lemonade. People! Come on!  I’ve probably called 911 more than most people because I used to work at a psychiatric unit. I called 911 when a psychotic patient was chasing after me with scissors. I called 911 when a suicidal patient tried to strangle herself with her sweatpants. These are times to call 911!  I once almost called 911 because I saw a homeless man relieving himself into the air at the Duboce freeway exit off 101 in San Francisco, but I stopped myself!
• I can’t think of anything funny about Maryland: Maryland is considering legislation requiring fast food chains to post detailed nutrition information, including calorie counts, and requiring all restaurants to gradually phase out their use of trans fats. Maryland is also home of the brilliant Queen of Fats research Mary Enig. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Also a shout out goes to Walnut Creek, CA, for their efforts in encouraging restaurants to eliminate trans fats.
• Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs: Today in Congress, Rep. Lynn Woosley is introducing a bill to ban junk foods from all school cafeterias. This would do a great deal to reduce our nation’s childhood obesity rates, not to mention alleviating symptoms that are often confused for hyperactivity or general “behavior problems”. However, there is so much wealth and power in the junk food industry (feels weird even to write that) that I’m not optimistic this will pass. Also, I hear there’s a few teachers in Oregon that might not go for it either…

photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert

The thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland located in the front of your neck, regulates metabolism. And if you’re trying to lose weight you know that a slow metabolism will cause you to pack on the pounds, while a faster metabolism will help you shed them. There are all kinds of ways to support the thyroid nutritionally, but other aspects of your lifestyle have just as much impact on its performance. Even if you’re choosing the most helpful foods they won’t have much of an effect unless you follow these three crucial tips:

· Eat at regular intervals: at least every 5 hours. It doesn’t have to be a banquet. Your system gets very stressed when blood sugar gets low, and the thyroid puts on the brakes because it thinks you’re starving.

· Exercise helps oxygenate the brain and stronger muscles help regulate blood sugar. When your blood sugar is stable your thyroid can rest.

· Adrenals restore from 11 pm to 1 am, so if you’re awake at this time you’re asking them to work harder than they should. Stressed adrenals lead to a slowing of the metabolism. Getting to bed before 11, and getting a sound night’s sleep, will allow them to recharge.

photo credit: kevindooley

Building on the idea of making my program accessible to anyone at anytime, I have included a fitness routine that can be done at home, at the hotel or on the road, without weights or equipment. This simple set of steps adds resistance training to the program, which complements the aerobic nature of brisk walking, running or hiking.

This routine was inspired by a routine offered by Dan Millman, author of numerous works, including, Way of The Peaceful Warrior, in a workshop that he presented that I attended.

With this protocol, you can achieve great results in a short amount of time. There is a 5-minute version, a 10-minute version and 15-minute version.

5-Minute Home Fitness Routine

Step one:

Standing tall and relaxed, gently bend down to touch you toes, or towards your toes, hold for a few seconds then, beginning with your tailbone, bend yourself back up, with a slight bend in the knees. Sequence the stretch up with your arms for an opposite stretch towards the ceiling or sky. Hold for a few seconds. Repeat this low to high stretch four more times.

Step two:

Simple push-ups. If you are not here yet, you can do a modified push by pushing from your knees. Do ten, or as many as you can do with realistic effort. You can increase the difficulty by putting your feet on a chair and elevating you legs and pushing that way.

Step three:

Squats. Standing with feet slightly wider than shoulder width, place your hands on your waist, put a subtle arch in your back and allow your neck to be free while you face forward as you squat until you knees form a 90 degree angle, then bring yourself back to standing. Repeat the squat ten times. If these are difficult, stand in front of a chair and use the back as a support while you do the squat. I hold my four year old when I do this to make it more difficult; you can borrow a four year old from your neighbors if it is too easy! Ha ha ha!

Step Four:

Simple sit-ups. Use caution for back safety.

5 crunches: Get a mat or a blanket for your back. Lie down and bend the knees so that you legs are propped up. With the arms crossed across your chest, bend forward but do not pull yourself all the way to your legs, instead focus on your abdominal and make a small arch with your upper back and body.

5 leg lifts: Now lie back straight on the floor. Lift your legs a foot of the floor and hold for a 5 count. Bring them back to the floor and rest for a 2 count. Repeat four more times.

photo credit: d_vdm

photo credit: sylvar

There are so many diets out there claiming to be the ONE that really helps melt the pounds and we’ve tried them all right? Low-fat vegetarian, low-fat conventional, moderate fat mediterranean diet, high-fat no carb diet, high-fat with carb diet…the list goes on and on. Well, a new study published  by the New England Journal of Medicine last week showed some startling finds–Diet doesn’t really matter after all.

Spurred on by several trials that showed conflicting results on which diet led to successful weight loss, the study tracked 811 overweight participants over two years. Each person was put on one of four portion restricting diets:  low carb, high carb, low protein, and high protein. They also were required to exercise for ninety minutes a week while tracking their calories on-line. What did researchers find? Every single participant lost weight–an average of nine pounds and two inches off of their waists.

The secret? What they ate didn’t seem to matter– although all the diets were structured with similar whole low-glycemic foods–what did was portion control and awareness of what was being eaten. Which makes a lot of sense. We keep searching for short-cuts when it comes to losing weight, but really there is none-it all comes back to eating a sensible and balanced diet of whole foods and exercising consistantly.  So bring awareness back into your eating–try joining an online community that allows you to track your calories and weight loss or eat meals in contemplation without the distraction of television or deep conversation, aware of the flavors and textures you are experiencing. A personal favorite? One of the reasons I love growing my own food and visiting small organic farms is that I can see and feel the amount of time and energy that it takes to grow the vegetables that I eat-the amount of sunshine, water, soil and time. Instead of the endless supply of anonymous food in grocery stores, I know when I am eating, what went into that piece of brocolli or beet and it makes me savor it that much more.

photo credit: donut

Stew is the most ancient form of cooking. It is also arguably the simplest and the most comforting. Who doesn’t love the scent of simmering herbs, spices, and onions wafting through their refuge on a Sunday afternoon? The traditional devotion to slow-cooking has waned as our lives have become busier and we’ve traded a pot of bubbling Bolognese for microwaved taquitos. But let’s not forget that although stew takes some time to prepare, most of it just involves throwing everything into your cauldron and letting the heat do its thing. Think of it as an opportunity to perfume your house with the hearty and peaceful scent of a well-cooked meal.

The great thing about stew (well, there are a lot of great things, but here’s one) is that you can use the opportunity to scrape the backs of your refridgerator and cupboards. This is truly recession cuisine. You toss in odds and ends of things that are getting old and forgotten and allow them to be useful. Food wants to feed us. Got a few handfuls of grain, not enough for a serving? In it goes. Some chard stems that you don’t feel like juicing? Chop them up and add them to the broth. A couple bites of ground turkey chili left over from a few nights ago? Yay, protein.

Pick an afternoon or evening when you’ll be home doing chores, working, or relaxing with a book or movie. Plan to prepare your stew right when you get home so it’s got a couple of hours to simmer. Most of the work is just the up-front chopping. And then you’ll have enough dinner for 4-5 people, or healthy lunches to bring into work the rest of the week. You can freeze a couple of batches too; thawed, they’ll be no worse for the wear. Here’s a super-basic stew recipe that you can’t go wrong with, even if you’ve never made stew in your life.

Nutritionally, please note that when you boil something, the minerals leach out into the surrounding fluid. This is why boiling a vegetable, throwing out the water, and eating only the vegetable is not a good call. So in a stew, the vegetables themselves end up existing mostly for the fiber, which is still very important, but the broth is going to be what’s chock-full of minerals…hence broth’s reputation as a powerful healer.

photo credit: Arbron

1 1/2 lb stew meat. I have tried elk and bison and both are lovely. I choose them because both tend to be grass fed. If you are choosing beef please ask your butcher for organic or grass fed specifically. In a pinch “all natural” is ok.

1 onion

1 bay leaf

1 qt water

1 tbsp oil. PLEASE DO NOT USE MARGARINE OR ONE OF THOSE BUTTER SUBSTITUTES. Ew. Butter, olive oil, coconut oil, lard, or suet are all fine. You can also fry a piece of bacon and use its fat.

vegetables. Choose 2 or 3 of the following: 3 small potatoes, 3 carrots, 3 ribs of celery, 1/2 head of cauliflower, 2 parsnips, 1/2 head of cabbage, 1 1/2 cups peas

salt, pepper, and seasonings. Good seasonings for this dish include the Simon and Garfunkel quad of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. You can also use a pre-made Italian blend or Herbes de Provence (my favorite)

1. Brown the stew meat in the oil,

2. In a pot, add the meat, chopped onion, bay leaf, 1 tsp salt, and the water.

3. Simmer, covered, on very low heat for about an hour and 30 minutes.

4. Add your veggies, herbs, a dash more salt, pepper, and herbs.

5. Simmer for another half hour.

6. Taste and adjust seasonings. If it’s bland start with more salt.

7. Feast in the old school way!!!!

photo credit: visualpanic

If you are a habitual reader of the BODA blog, you will know that I am obsessed with a few food items, pumpkins and stevia being two of them. This recipe combines them in an irresistible baked good. I made these on Halloween and I’m embarrassed to admit how many I consumed. But as I mentioned on my last Low Glycemic Index post, if you overdo it, at least you’re overdoing it on whole grain and fruit goodness that’s offering you an abundance of nutrients such as Vitamin E and beta carotene. Best of all, you know you’re not actually creating a blood sugar spike: stevia has a stabilizing effect, and the protein of the nuts and eggs counter any spike potentially created by the maple syrup, which is actually a beautiful natural sweetener.

This recipe is from thewelltrainedkitchen.wordpress.com, created by Rachel Jones.

   subscribe ( rss | e-mail )

 

Eat rich, fat dense food.
Increase energy and lose weight.

Start working with a
BODA Nutritionist today.