Category Archives: weight

Turnips: The Underappreciated Root

by Mirahealth, nutrients, produce, root vegetables, sprouts, vegetables, weightturnips

A different kind of root vegetable

When thinking about root vegetables most people are familiar with carrots, potatoes, and onions. There are, however, a number of other root vegetables. One overlooked vegetable, in particular, is a great addition to the diet; especially when you’re looking to eat a rainbow that has more than green veggies in it. This amazingly healthy choice for root vegetables is turnips. This creamy-purple root vegetable is part of the Brassicaceae family and tends to be grown in temperate climates. It has a similar look to beetroots; with a bulbous shape and large green leaves. Turnips are easily grown on a small scale in a backyard small garden or they can be planted in containers. All parts of the plant are edible, root, leaves, and sprouts from the seeds.

Nutrition in turnips

Turnips are a must have nutrition-packed vegetable for the diet. A delicious and filling low-calorie root vegetable, they provide dietary fiber plus numerous vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, Bs, C, K, folate, magnesium, iron, and calcium, copper and phosphorous. Sprouts made from turnip seeds have been shown to have the second highest level of glucosinolates (mustard sprouts are the highest) which is highly anti-carcinogenic, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial.

Not only are these amazing vegetables delicious, but they are also versatile and can be enjoyed in different forms. Turnips can be added to stews, grills, appetizers. They can be steamed, mashed, slightly cooked, or roasted and used in the preparation of a variety of cuisines worldwide. Baby turnips are very tender and can even be eaten raw. Braced by their long shelf life, these veggies ideally should always be included on the grocery list. But you may be wondering how turnips benefit our health?

Health benefits of turnips

In addition to their wonderful flavor and versatility, it turns out there is a wide variety of ways that adding turnips to your diet can support good health

Fight Inflammation

Due to the high levels of polyphenols and flavonoids, turnips are a highly anti-inflammatory food. Given the connection of inflammation to chronic health issues, adding anti-inflammatory foods, such as turnips and turnip greens, to the diet is a beneficial way to reduce risk factors for many different diseases.

Reduce the risk of chronic illnesses

Part of the nutritional content of turnips includes high levels of Vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant. Vitamin C provides the body with superior defense against chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer by boosting the immunity of the body. It does this by protecting the cells from free radicals. In addition to Vitamin C, turnips are an excellent source of Vitamin K, a fat-soluble vitamin which has been shown to be beneficial for reducing cancer risk, preventing osteoporosis, helpful against insulin resistance, supportive for cardiovascular health, and it and also be beneficial for supporting brain health in older adults.

Helpful for good digestion

The fiber content found in turnips does a great deal for our digestive system. Fiber promotes good bowel movements and is generally supportive of overall bowel health. Regular elimination, due to better fiber content in the diet, is frequently associated with better detoxification. Fiber also provides pre-biotic content, the food for the probiotics living in our gut, and helps to maintain a healthy system overall. A higher fiber diet means a stronger, more supportive microbiome and ultimately a healthier you.

May help support weight Loss

Turnips combine the advantage of high fiber and nutrient dense (lots of nutrients for very little calories) content. The fiber is supportive for gut health and can help contribute to satiety, the feeling of being full after eating which may in turn help with weight loss. This dietary fiber, found primarily in the roots, can help to boost the metabolism as well as controlling sugar levels in the body. This, in turn, can be part of the key to maintaining a healthy weight.

How to eat turnips

No matter how healthy turnips are the best part is how delicious they are. Here are a few ideas on some great ways to include turnips in your diet:

Baby turnips are very tender and tasty, these can be sliced and eaten raw or diced into salads
Turnip sprouts are a tangy addition to a salad or can be added to other dishes
Sauteed with the greens, some onions and a little garlic, turnips are mild and very delicious
Roasting turnips is a great way to bring out their flavor, either on their own or in combination with other root vegetables
Instead of potatoes consider boiling and then mashing turnips with a little butter, salt, and garlic. Or you can make a medley by combining different root vegetables and mashing them together
Turnips are also wonderful in soups and can be a fabulous way to get a little more veggie (and fiber) into your diet

Recipe

As the weather gets cooler, soup becomes a weekly item on our family menu. Warm and comforting, it's an easy meal and a great way to use turnips and their greens together.

This recipe is based on Bert Greene's Mixed Turnip Chowder. I simply substituted a leek for the onion, added turnip greens and a couple of cloves of garlic. If you can't get rutabagas you can increase the turnips and potatoes to make up for them.

Mixed Turnip Chowder

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Ingredients

2 T. unsalted buttermilk
1 leek rinsed and finely chopped
1 large rib celery finely chopped
1 pound turnips peeled and diced
1 ½ pounds rutabagas peeled and diced
2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 quart vegetable broth
salt and pepper
1/8 t. mace (note: I don't use this)

Instructions

Melt the butter, add the leek and garlic and cook a couple of minutes
Add the celery and cook a few minutes longer
Add the root vegetables and broth
Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer
Simmer about 20 minutes
Remove half of the vegetables and 1 C. broth
Add greens to the remaining soup in the pot
Blend the removed vegetables and broth until smooth
Return to the pot and add salt and pepper
Simmer another 5 minutes and then serve
Enjoy!

Sources

photo courtesy of jackmac34

The Myth Of Weight Loss Programs

by Miraingredients, weight

A new book is out that accuses Weight Watchers of targeting and tricking women. (This blog post is not meant to be a dismissal of Weight Watchers alone. It's more of an observation of the industry as a whole.) In the article the author of the book shares a couple of sobering thoughts:

“I would boldly stand by the claim that health food, today's health food is worse for you than junk food. It's usually the same thing; the difference is that no one eats Fritos or Papa John's thinking it's good for them.”

“The whole game is about distracting people. It's kind of like a magic trick. If we're pointing out to you, “Hey, look over here because it's low fat!” it's because we're distracting you from the fact that it's high sugar.”

The article essentially boils down to a couple of truths.

Crutch foods don't teach you how to eat real food – if you're being taught how to lose weight because you're buying snacks, meals, and foods from a particular company and you can only buy their products, chances are once you go off that you will gain weight again. This is because you get stuck in their system, you're not learning how to nourish your body independent of their products.
You MUST read and understand the label – the article actually encourages people to avoid reading the label. I believe that's the wrong approach. Yes, you can be easily mis-lead and manufacturers do manipulate in a number of different ways. However I believe that if you understand the label and know what you're looking at, this is your best option to be able to make informed, intelligent decisions about your food.

I know a lot of people who have successfully lost weight with Weight Watchers. Unfortunately I also know a lot of people who have lifetime memberships. If you've lost weight that's wonderful and I'm happy for you. Really I am. But if you're yoyo-ing and you think it's your fault I want to tell you you're really not to blame. The truth is even though you lost weight on the program, you still haven't learned how to eat real food.

Another truth? Not everyone who eats real food is super skinny. Thin does NOT equal healthy. In some cases thin is unhealthy. That's counter to what the beauty industry, all those glamor magazines, and the weight loss industry would have you believe. But I promise you there are people out there who are thin and unhealthy. What's more important is to be nourished. To learn to avoid crappy ingredients, to be healthy in body and mind, and to eat real food.

Kim Kardashian Baby Weight Loss Plan

by Mirahealth, weight

Kim Kardashian recently had her second child. A new child is such a treasure and I'm sincerely happy for her; I wish her and her family all the best.

I was dismayed however to read, just a short while after all of the announcements about the baby, headlines about her plans to lose '60 pounds of baby weight fast'. I do not know what diet and exercise plan Kim Kardashian plans to use, nor do I know if she plans to breastfeed. She's just the latest celebrity example of the race for post-natal thinness that seems to be populating the social media waves. I'm saddened by the thought that simply because a celebrity or media personality posts something like this it will leave other women feeling that perhaps they should be that thin that quickly or that they are somehow less than because they don't. That's simply not true. While I certainly understand the desire to want to be back at your pre-pregnancy weight I believe that rapid post-natal weight loss is not a good idea. It's more important to take care of yourself and be kind to yourself in the midst of all the changes that are happening.

Kim Kardashian is by no means the only one to want to rapidly lose weight after having a baby. There are a growing number of social media posts practically glorifying women who have rapidly lost weight after having a baby. Unfortunately this is not a healthy idea for mom or baby.

One big reason against rapid weight loss is that we tend to store toxins in fat. Then when we lose weight rapidly we experience a toxin dump. In fact one study found that weight loss increased the level of toxins in the blood with some of the toxins then being reabsorbed into the remaining fat cells. Weight loss can be, in effect, a form of detoxing. (Truthfully our body is always detoxing, it's continually working to clear toxins and keep metabolic processes running to the best of it's ability.) But rapid weight-loss can accelerate some of the symptoms of detoxing. Dumping toxins through rapid weight loss can cause cardiac stress, gout-type symptoms, gall bladder flare-ups, and lightheadedness. It also doesn't help you form healthy eating habits for maintaining the weight loss. This can be one reason why many people lose weight quickly and then gain it back sometimes with a few pounds extra.

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is very important and provides a perfect balance of nutrition. Sometimes there are issues with nursing either because the mother cannot produce enough milk, baby has issues that make it challenging, or there may be some other reason why it is physically not possible. If there is a problem with breastfeeding it's best to refer to a lactation consultant or connect with your local La Leche League.

For those who are breast feeding it's important to note that breastmilk is between 3-5% fat. This means that “detoxing” via weight loss may cause the breastmilk to have significantly higher levels of toxins. That, in turn, gets passed on through the milk to the baby. Rather than focusing on weight-loss, look at ways to nourish yourself, and baby, through eating well.

The following foods and beverages are very supportive post-partum and during breastfeeding:

Nourishing broth
Cod liver oil to provide vitamin D and essential omega 3 fatty acids
Red raspberry leaf to help with postpartum recovery
Nettles also help with postpartum recovery
Coconut oil is a healthy medium chain triglyceride
Leafy greens – kale, spinach, swiss chard, dandelion,
Fresh fruit and vegetables
Fermented foods – lacto-fermented kraut or other vegetables, kombucha, kefir
Eggs
Protein
Porridge – made from soaked oats, buckwheat, brown rice, or quinoa
Legumes, lentils, chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans
Nuts and seeds
Sea vegetables – dulse, wakame, nori, hijiki, kombu

Avoid the following foods which are anti-lactogenic and can impair breastfeeding:

high consumption of the following herbs: basil, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and any mints
Soft drinks and carbonated beverages
Caffeine – coffee, black tea, green tea, hot cocoa, chocolate

Food Intolerance Issues

Colic can be an issue with some newborns. It is possible that the mother's diet can impact the digestive status of the baby when breastfeeding. Therefore it would be best for mother to avoid: spicy food, onions, garlic, legumes/beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.

There may also be a food intolerance issue, wheat and dairy and two of the biggest offenders in this category. Mother can try eliminating the seven most common allergenic foods from her diet to see if this makes a difference: wheat/gluten, corn, soy, eggs, dairy, seafood, and nuts.

Self Care

Taking care of ourselves is important all the time but these few self-care tips are especially important after giving birth:

Stay hydrated – breastfeeding takes a lot of hydration. Even if you're not breastfeeding you still need to make sure that you are getting enough fluids to keep your system working properly
Skin brushing – this helps to keep your lymph system flowing properly. Bonus, it's also really good for your skin
Get sleep – the temptation after having a baby is to “get things done” while the baby is napping. After decades of raising kids I'm here to tell you there's always stuff that needs to be done. One of the biggest single self-care things you can do for yourself is to rest when you can
Set aside some me time – when we have a baby we tend to forget how to take care of ourselves because we are so wrapped up in taking care of that precious little person. But we still have wants and needs that have to be taken care of. As my friend Dr. Vicki Bradley (of the Self-Care Reminder Project) says, when we take care of ourselves we are better able to care for others

Take the time to love yourself and your body. Remember, it took nine months of work to produce that little bundle. On average it takes three months to a year to get back to where you were before you had the baby. To try to erase all of the physical symptoms and expressions of that in just a few days or weeks is not the best, healthiest option. And some of them (like stretchmarks) don't ever really go away. And check out a great photo series called A Beautiful Body which highlights the beauty of a mother's body.

6 Tips To Support Your Gut Naturally

by Mirahealth, weight

Your gut doesn’t lie. It gives you that “gut reaction” when something isn’t quite right; it growls when you’re hungry, and a stomach upset is sometimes the first symptom of something amiss in your body. Indeed, your gut may be the most forthcoming part of your body, unable to mask the symptoms when something is wrong – and that’s a good thing.

Gut or digestive issues can be temporary (you went overboard on Mexican food last night), but for many people, they’re chronic, disruptive, and painful. And if you and your doctor have already ruled out other potential conditions that may be causing the problem, you’re probably wondering why the bloating, constipation, flatulence, and other irritating issues won’t let up. Collectively, this set of symptoms is usually diagnosed as IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome, and about 60 million Americans suffer from it.

Why Your Gut Needs Love

When we talk about your “gut,” we’re referring to your entire digestive tract. Along the path, through the stomach and small and large intestines, anything you ingest can either nourish or degrade the digestive organs. Your gut must assimilate nutrients, prevent toxins from permeating cells and move everything along in a timely fashion.

So if you think of the gut as being the “custodian” of an organism – sweeping out the debris to make sure things don’t rot, fester or cause disease – you can see why the rest of your body will suffer if your gut can’t do that quickly and efficiently.

Many experts in the medical community believe that true health starts in the gut. Digestive issues can affect the body as a whole, contributing to everything from allergies and acne to IBS, liver disease and even cancer. Your gut also shields your immune system, so when it’s compromised, you’re more vulnerable to becoming sick.

Dietary imbalances (too much sugar, processed foods, overeating), medication use, mineral deficiencies and even stress can also change the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract, leaving you susceptible to a host of different health conditions.

How to Support Your Gut

So how do you keep your gut healthy and efficient? It starts with some basic dietary changes. Additionally, a few high-quality supplements can complement this process:

1. Give GMOs the Heave-Ho.

You know that GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are a no-no, but what you may not have heard is that they have the ability to wreak havoc on your gut. Up to two-thirds of the processed foods on grocery shelves in the United States have genetically modified ingredients. And the GMO Project Organization [or is it Non-GMO Project] estimates that might be as high as 80 percent. There is evidence that exposure to GMOs can increase risk for gluten intolerance (which can manifest as various gut-disturbing symptoms). Opt for whole and organic products and you’ll avoid GMO exposure.

2. Pass on Dairy.

If you’re one of those people who make a beeline for the cheese plate, it will be no surprise that dairy can be addictive. Caseomorphins – a cousin of morphine or heroin – are protein fragments that come from the digestion of the milk protein, casein. In addition to making you want more, casein can be highly disruptive to your body. It raises cortisol and contributes to leaky gut syndrome – a condition that includes vague symptoms like bloating, cramps, gas, and food sensitivities.

3. Probiotics, Please.

While antibiotics are designed to kill off harmful bacteria, probiotics do just the opposite – they keep your insides flourishing with a healthy colony of good germs. Since stress, diet and some medications can upset this balance, it’s important to refuel with probiotic-rich foods like sauerkraut, miso, pickles, tempeh and kombucha (avoid those sparkling probiotic drinks unless they’re naturally low in sugar). You can also take probiotic supplements, which help chronic digestive issues and conditions like IBS.

4. Water, Water, Everywhere.

If you think of your entire digestive tract as like one big Slip ‘N Slide, you can see why lack of water is a problem. Water is the life-giving force that makes up about 60 percent of our bodies. It moves things along in your gut and helps sweep away toxins through your urine and feces. Need I say more? Drink up.

5. Get Tested for Food Allergies.

Food allergies can lead to inflammation in all areas of the body, but especially in your gut. You can try the elimination method with certain foods to see if your digestive issues clear up, but it may also be worth getting an allergy panel test done by your doctor. Knowing you’re allergic to casein, for example, could offer invaluable insight about how to change your diet for the better.

6. Fill Up With Fiber.

Fiber isn’t just the magic solution for constipation. It helps to remove toxins, it keeps things moving and it protects your digestive tract from inflammation, injury and disease. An added bonus of fiber? It can curb your appetite by keeping you full.

If you’re thinking, “I’ve done all of these things, and my gut is still giving me grief,” you’re not alone. In that case, it may be helpful to try a detox or supplement program specifically aimed at cleansing your digestive organs. I offer two kits, My Gut Needs Love or My Gut Needs Advanced Love, that are designed to calm inflammation, remove toxins and give your gut the TLC it needs to become shiny and clean again.

While gut problems are indeed common, don’t just assume you have IBS if you’ve had long-lasting symptoms like cramping, pain or diarrhea. Sometimes digestive disturbances can indicate gallbladder, liver or kidney problems. If dietary changes or cleansing doesn’t alleviate your symptoms, it’s best to see your doctor to determine if there might be an underlying issue.

Sara Gottfried, M.D. teaches women how to balance their hormones naturally so they can rock their mission. She is a Harvard-educated physician, speaker and New York Times bestselling author of The Hormone Cure (Simon & Schuster, 2013). She is board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and is regularly featured in magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Redbook, O Magazine, and Yoga Journal, and TV including The Ricki Lake Show and 20/20. Known for effortlessly blending the seriousness of women’s health with playfulness and humor, Dr. Sara’s mission is to help women lose weight, feel great and vital from their cells to their soul.

She is co-hosting a free live video event on September 3, 7 Power Habits to Double Your Detox and Weight Loss

Obesity Starts In The Past

by Miraadditives, sweeteners, weight

This Rewind The Future public service ad from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta shows the consequences of a lifetime of unhealthy choices and it's impact on obesity. Rewinding from a 32 year old man having a heart attack back through moments in his life that collectively brought him to that point.

The ad is a, hopefully, sobering look at how your food DOES matter. We're often taught “a calorie is a calorie, just eat less and exercise more.” To that I would like to point out the vast difference between 100 calories of broccoli and 100 calories of french fries. Our bodies are amazing but they still need the correct fuel to run properly. Borrowing a metaphor from Liz Lipski, “We fuel our bodies the way we fuel our cars. Stop. Gas. Go.” I'd like to point out that at least we give our cars the fuel they need. If you put water in your gas tank your car isn't going to make it very far. Unfortunately that's what we wind up doing with our bodies; sugar is not a healthy fuel choice, excessive and overwhelming amounts of unhealthy fats, chemicals, sodium, all add up to have a negative impact on health. I frequently say, and I strongly believe, you need to eat well to be well.

I do like this ad and I hope it shocks people and then gets them to make a change. I'd also like to point out the following:

1. It is never too late to make a change. Every thing that you do for health is one thing more than you were doing the day before. And it all adds up. Rather than giving up in defeat (“oh I'm already fat/sick/diabetic/ill”) resolve to love your body and your life by committing to make a change.

2. Food producers are large part of the problem, they create foods which are high fat, high sugar, highly addictive and then spend tens of millions of dollars marketing them. And we are surrounded by it every day in almost every setting. It's extremely challenging to make changes when you are immersed in an environment that's calculated to encourage you to eat poorly.

3. Part of #2 above but so important that I'm going to give it it's own number is the fact that manufacturers overload our food and deliberately seek out that perfect balance to make us desire them. And then claim that it is not in any way their fault. It's us, we should have better control. While I'm not saying that we do not have individual responsibility I feel strongly that they need to acknowledge their role in what's happening. Shoving excess sugar, fat, and chemicals into our food because they know it makes it seem to taste better is upsetting. Refusing to accept that this is a part of the issue is just plain wrong.

4. Family habits are…well…a habit. Set healthy ones for your family. It's not easy but it's worth it to make that focus on healthy eating, exercise, and wellness.

5. The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is that it takes so very long for these health issues to show up, in some cases decades. That makes it difficult to stay focused sometimes. We don't see the effects immediately after eating a particular food. It's after years of eating that way that our body finally begins to show the results.

One eye-opening movie that looks at some of this is Fed Up. A documentary to examines sugar in our food supply. Below is a trailer from the movie followed by a video of a 10 day no sugar challenge.

Exercise For Weight Loss

by Miraexercise, weight

Many people spend a lot of time worried about their weight. Focused on the number on the scale. While that certainly can be important, what is more important is to be healthy and to keep moving. We are more than the number of pounds we carry.

Having said that it's also important to recognize that we need to stay active in order to be fit and healthy. There's a popular image which has been making it's way around the internet, facebook, pinterest and more. It shows an overweight person walking and the caption reads, “No matter how slow you go you are still lapping everyone on the couch.” How very true. Get up, get moving, keep your body active. Weight loss It's not easy, but it is simple — eat right, stay hydrated, be well rested, and move your body.

Activity can help you lose weight but even better than that it will make sure your body stays strong, flexible, and limber. A variety of activities is best for overall fitness and health.

Bill Fryer and his infographics can be found at My Fitness Boutique.

The Cost Of Being Overweight

by MiraUncategorized, weight

Sadly obesity has become a fact of life in this country with increasing numbers of people falling into that category. This includes overweight children, more than has ever been seen at any time before in our history. The cost of this epidemic has grown to startling levels as outlined in this infographic from Compliance and Safety. But it doesn't have to be this way. Adding healthy habits can prevent or even reverse obesity.

(more…)

Water For Weight Loss

by Mirawater, weight

Water is something we don’t really give much thought. There’s a perceived abundance of it on Earth; that makes it easy to take for granted. We only really worry about it if there’s a water crisis or our pipelines are broken.

Regardless of how easy it is to overlook the importance of water, we can’t deny that it’s a key component in sustaining our lives. 60% of our body weight is attributable to water, 70% of our brain is made up of water, and, although there are differing opinions, 3 to 5 days without water can actually kill us. Water is very important for our survival. However, in addition being a requirement for to basic survival, water is also important if you're trying to lose weight.

We all know the technique of drinking water before a meal in order to lose weight. If this is the first time you’ve heard of it then welcome to the club. Drinking water before your meal can help to reduce your appetite. It's important to choose pure water, filtered if necessary, to remove toxic chemicals and environmental contaminants. Adding water helps to increase satiety, which makes you feel full sooner and with less food intake. Studies have shown that there’s a significant effect, although not drastic, of utilizing this practice for losing weight. However, don’t rely on this and interpret it to imply that “drinking water burns fat.” Water as part of the meal is there to contribute, not to be the weight loss solution.

On the flip side, it's also important to not overdo it. Drinking too much water can lead to water intoxication and changes to your body chemistry in a way that can prove to be unhealthy or worse, fatal. There is, however, a way to use gallons and gallons of water for losing weight and healthy living.

While drinking excessive amounts of water can be negative for health, gallons and gallons of water outside of your body can help you get fit, lose weight, and be healthy. I’m talking about swimming of course.

Scientifically speaking, swimming is one of the best forms of cardiovascular exercise. Better than jogging or cycling, swimming is a low impact cardio that doesn’t take its toll on your joints. You can get your lungs working and heart pumping to help you burn off those excess calories. One example found on the internet is the inspirational story of Matthew who lost more than 100 pounds via eating right and swimming.

Swimming also provides a work out for the whole body as opposed to jogging and cycling which affect mostly the lower body. When you swim you are exercising your core and back muscles as well as strengthening your legs and arms. It's a total body workout aided by the buoyancy factor of the water.

As you can see, you not only need water to survive; you should use water if you are going for a healthy lifestyle and trying to lose weight. Now if there’s was only an accessible swimming pool in every neighborhood…

Kurt Lao is the Editor of weight loss product reviews resource: WeightRater.com. He has several product reviews to his credit and serves as a contributor to some of the top health and weight loss blogs online.

photo: rebecca

Three Cookie Syndrome

by Mirachange, habits, weightcookies

We're just past the holiday season and a lot of people are re-examining their eating habits. As I'm working with clients we have one habit that they all seem to be engaging in so I wanted to take a moment to address it.

It's a phenomenon that hits our subconscious when we are eating, especially when we are eating treats of some kind.

I call it the three cookie syndrome. It goes something like this:

you decide to eat cookies
you open the package of cookies and see a serving size is two cookies
you eat three cookies
a little overwhelmed you say to yourself, “what the hell, I ate three cookies.” and then go on to finish the entire sleeve (or half a box, or some overwhelming percentage of the package).

For many people this is the beginning of the downward spiral that can signal the end of a diet or a change to eating plans. They give up, feeling that they are a failure, and feed themselves negative emotions and messages while not paying attention to their eating.

Breaking the Cycle

Rather than allowing the consumption of an entire sleeve of cookies (admittedly not the best choice) to overwhelm us it is more constructive to simply acknowledge that we have veered off the path of our eating plan.

Instead of wallowing in guilt or other negative feelings we need to remind ourselves that it's not an all or nothing proposition.

We can start again to rebuild our nutritional plan and to focus on making healthy choices. Sometimes that focus can come in the middle of that sleeve of cookies. Sometimes it happens immediately afterwards, more often it happens the next day.

Embracing Healthy Choices

Eating well, eating to nourish and support our bodies means loving and accepting ourselves. Garfield says “Diet is die with a t on the end of it.” Rather than looking at our desire to change our food choices as a diet it does help to look at it as a nutritional plan. To remember that we are choosing to make different choices because those choices are supportive for our bodies.

For those who have an illness such as celiac disease, or a food sensitivity, eating those foods brings a fairly immediate negative body response. So we don't do that.

For those who are choosing to make changes, it sometimes happens gradually. However it's never too late to start to make those changes.

Simply remember what the goal is and why you are making these choices. Treat yourself with loving kindness and take it one step at a time.

Walking The Walk

by Mirahabits, health, weight

walking | photo: jzlomek

Some of the people I work with want to lose weight. So we talk not only about what they are eating (and how and why), but about the other aspects of their life. Are they engaged in some sort of mindfulness practice, do they have good social interactions, are they exercising?

When it comes to exercise often not moving enough is a big problem. If you don't like exercise, if you don't feel well, if you're very tired it can be difficult to get started. Then there is the self-created shame factor. I have many people who tell me they don't like to go to exercise classes because they feel uncomfortable in a class where everyone knows the moves and/or is thinner/fitter than they are. While I feel everyone has to start somewhere I certainly understand the uncertainty and hesitation that comes along with starting to change your routine.

In order to encourage people to begin to make small mindful changes we look at the Metabolic Equivalents for how much activity they are getting now. Then we look for ways to bump it up. Small, steady changes can have a huge effect.

Just a couple of days ago I was working with someone and made a few of my favorite suggestions to her for getting more activity into your routine. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away at the grocery store/mall, and if you are watching television walk up and down the stairs (or use a stepper if you don't have stairs) during the commercials. This not only gets you moving more, it gets you in the habit of thinking about being more active.

She looked at me and accusingly asked if I did any of those things. Whoops. I do choose stairs over elevators as often as possible. If I have to park further away at the store I don't mind, but I certainly don't choose to do it, and often don't have to. And I don't walk up and down stairs when watching television (although I also don't watch much).

So I have decided to walk the walk. For the next 30 days I will deliberately choose to park as close to the furthest end of the row as possible when I am going somewhere (bonus: should be lots of parking, most people don't choose to do that). I will also commit to walking up and down stairs if I am watching television and there are commercials. And I will continue to choose stairs over elevators. I don't have a pedometer so I won't be able to tell you how many extra steps this adds to my daily/weekly routine, but I know that it will be a good thing And the next time I suggest this to someone if they ask that same question I'll be able to answer a supportive and affirmative yes.