Category Archives: Nutrition

What’s Eating You May Be What You’re Eating

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When it’s time to eat, you know you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew. Yet, you’re overwhelmed by your choices of food. Are they good, bad or neutral foods? How will they affect you? Or perhaps you just eat and run…grabbing the most convenient food, without taking the time to even care about it.

Instead, you ought to make good decisions on what to eat and find foods that truly nourish, sustain and lift you, and not the ones that drag you down. But it’s not that easy to do, right?

Do you want to get at what’s eating you?  I can help you get to a place where you intuitively know what foods will provide you with the most energy, make your brain alert, and help you maintain your desired weight. I’ve cooked up a simple recipe, so you know beforehand if a food will make you feel sleepy, cause you to be foggy-brained, or pack on 2 to 3 pounds of dead weight. When you have the right recipe, you’ll know what foods you can eat socially and for fun every so often without a significant impact and what foods you just need to stay away from permanently.

Have I whet your appetite now? Great! First, I want to assure you that getting to that point won’t happen overnight, but it can happen within a pretty short time frame – like 3 weeks.

Here’s how: By eliminating specific foods (especially the top allergenic foods) from your diet for a period of just 3 weeks, you easily start to notice the shifts in your energy, brain sharpness, sleep patterns, and overall mood. Plus, you can also easily assess if you lose that bloated weight, just by the way your clothes fit or looking at the bathroom scale. After the 3 weeks, you re-introduce the foods that you eliminated, and again notice the changes in your body to discover whether a food is nourishing and sustaining you or if it is just eating away at you and dragging you down. This process creates food awareness. In this crazy and fast paced world, you need to re-connect with food to avoid or stop major health consequences.

How can I help you? When you join my 3 week cleanse program, I will show you how to eliminate the top allergenic foods, and then learn how to re-introduce these foods back into your diet. You will see which ones are your friends and which are your foes. In a supportive group setting, and in the convenience of your own home, you will discover your own potential food culprits…and safely bring them back into your diet. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Does this process work? My boyfriend discovered through this food awareness method that his brain feels energized by carrots and avocado. And he falls asleep after he eats ice cream. I feel energized and sustained all morning with a higher protein breakfast and lots of veggies. What foods give you long term energy and make your brain feel alert? What foods make you tired and lethargic? When improve your own food awareness, you will be able to stop living to eat and begin enjoying eating to really live.

My Beef With Fatty, Hormone Filled Red Meat

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Before you take your next bite of that big juicy burger or thick prime steak, you might want to “beef up” your knowledge about the findings in a recent British Study reporting that the average person, eating large amounts of corn- and soy-fed red meat had increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, and colorectal cancer. Another recent study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute claims that consuming red meat contributes to a host of health risks, including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and stomach ulcers.

No wonder so many people (including me) have a beef with red meat from corn- and soy-fed cows filled with hormones and antibiotics, instead of leaner cuts from grass-fed, drug-free cows or buffalo. Today’s modern lifestyle and tastes have taken a toll on everyone’s health. That has me concerned…and it should have you thinking carefully about eating all that dangerous, fat-laden red meat loaded with antibiotics and hormones.

Here’s why you should care about what goes into the beef you consume. Grass-fed cows are leaner and have less saturated fat. They also have higher amounts of the Omega 3 fatty acids, which are protective when it comes to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, because Omega 3 fatty acids help decrease inflammation. On the other hand, corn and soy (the kind of feed for the majority of cows) are high in the Omega 6 fatty acids, which are pro-inflammatory in excess. And, as I’ve mentioned in many of my posts, inflammation is at the core of many chronic degenerative diseases and can lead to all types of imbalances.

I think it would be interesting to do a study of people eating only pasture-raised, grass-fed animals. I believe eating leaner, antibiotic- and hormone-free beef could help ward off all those chronic, degenerative diseases, and a medical study is needed to substantiate.

For an easy solution to rid your system of toxins and reduce inflammation, I’ve found that a cleansing and detoxification program is an ideal place to start. Why? Because a cleanse program immediately addresses the bad or potentially harmful foods you’ve been ingesting. To learn more about how a cleanse can help you, CLICK HERE for free information.

The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go Part 7—Endocrine Imbalance

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To this point, I’ve posted six blogs on the ways your get-up-and-go is being sapped. I’ve covered food sensitivities and allergies, caffeine, stress, toxins and preservatives, fat storage and exercise. Now this is the seventh, and final, post, which is on the effect of endocrine imbalances.

When it comes to energy levels, you can’t ignore endocrine imbalances, either. These include low thyroid function or tired adrenals.

However, addressing endocrine imbalances is a separate topic that requires a lot of attention. But just to put it out there, toxins and allergenic foods can contribute to low thyroid function. And chronic stress and blood sugar imbalances can make your adrenals gland tired.

For an easy solution to getting back your get-up-and-go, I’ve found I’ve found that a three week cleanse program is an ideal place to start. Why? Because a cleanse program immediately addresses the toxins and blood sugar imbalances that affect your thyroid and adrenal gland functions.

To learn more about how the 3-week cleanse can help you, CLICK HERE!

And please, be sure to read (and re-read)all seven blog posts in this series on getting back your get-up-and-go.

The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go Part 6—Exercise

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This previous five posts in this educational 7-part blog post series have told you about the effects of food sensitivities and allergies, caffeine, stress, toxins and preservatives, and fat storage. Exercise and its effect on your energy is the topic I’m discussing in this post.
Exercise and just moving the body, in general, help you sleep better. And better sleep, in turn, gives you more energy.

But what do you do if you’re simply too tired to exercise? It’s not easy to muster up the willpower to go to the gym or go for a run if you feel completely, utterly exhausted.
Lack of good sleep makes you too tired to exercise. Not exercising makes you feel tired, exhausted, sapped of energy. What do you do?

Over the past several years, I’ve found that a three week cleanse program is an ideal way to start. The reason? A cleanse program immediately promotes deeper sleep. And better sleep helps rid you of that sluggishness. Once you have more energy, you’ll wake up refreshed and ready to exercise.

To learn more about how the 3-week cleanse can help restore your get-up-and-go, CLICK HERE!

Don’t stop now. For still more information, please read the seventh and final blog post in this series, which covers endocrine imbalances.

Granola Recipe – A Must Have!

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I recommend preparing as much as you can on the weekend for the week ahead. Just makes it a whole lot easier to eat healthy during the week!

I made this granola recipe on a weekend and enjoyed it during the entire week. And I was able to get other things done while the granola was in the oven!

Home Comfort Granola adapted from the Flavors of Health Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 cups quick-cooking oat flakes (If you have a gluten sensitivity, consider Bob’s Red Mill gluten free quick cooking oats)
½ cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
½ cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup flaked coconut
½ cup coconut oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 TB pure vanilla extract
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp sea salt

Topping:

1 cup raw wheat germ (also can use gluten free oat bran or ground flax if adhering to a gluten free diet)
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup dried cherries or cranberries

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 275 F
  2. Combine oats, seeds, nuts, coconut flakes, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a heavy ovenproof pot or cast iron pan. Stir gently over low heat with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined.
  3. Transfer mixture to two parchment-lined baking sheets, spreading out evenly. (I used one large baking sheet and that worked just fine!)
  4. Bake for 50 minutes, stirring every so often.
  5. In the last 15 minutes of baking, add the wheat germ and dried fruit.
  6. Serve with unsweetened nut, rice or coconut milk (I added a little bit of seasonal fruit and ½ scoop of protein powder as well). Store leftovers in an airtight container in a dark cupboard.

Cookbook Recommendation:

Flavors of Health by Ed Bauman, Ph.D. and Lizette Marx, N.C., is a beautifully illustrated cookbook featuring nutritious and delicious beverages, soups, spreads and dips, main entrees, and desserts. I love the Cooking “Pearls” included throughout the book; like how to poach an egg or how to remove pomegranate seeds from a pomegranate! Wish I had known this last pearl last fall when I made a big persimmon and pomegranate salad…took a long time to get out the seeds! Also scattered throughout the book are nutrition gems which give you the history and healing properties of selected foods! And Ed and Lizette are just good people!

The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go Part 5— Body Fat

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So far in this 7-part blog series, I have told you about a number of ways you’re losing your energy, including the effects of food sensitivities and allergies, caffeine, stress, and toxins and preservatives. This fifth post in the series talks about the how extra body fat storage is robbing you of your get-up-and-go.

Blubber. Lard. Flab. No matter what you call that extra body fat, it’s another energy enemy.

Fat around the belly is not just a place to store extra calories. Fat around the belly is very active, secreting all kinds of inflammatory chemicals. In fact, fat around the belly, also called “visceral fat,” has even been labeled as another endocrine organ by some folks.

Inflammation resulting from belly fat leads to all types of imbalances…including abnormal insulin responses. Yes, again, inflammation and imbalanced blood sugar affect your energy levels.

So how do you deal with extra body fat and to help get back your get-up-and-go?
You can start with a three week cleanse program. It can immediately help rid you body of the harmful fat it’s storing.

To learn more about how the 3-week cleanse can help you, CLICK HERE!

Plus, be sure to watch for the rest of this 7-part blog post series to find out how lack of exercise and endocrine imbalances can affect your energy.

The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go: Part 4— Toxins and Preservatives

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In part one of this 7-part blog series, you read about “Processed Foods, Food Sensitivities and Food Allergies.” In part two, it was “Caffeine and Sleep Quality.” Part three covered “Stress and Fatigue.” Now this post discusses how your get-up-and-go is being stolen from under you every day by “Toxins and Preservatives.”

Certainly, you just can’t ignore common toxins, such as preservatives in foods, chemicals, industrial pollutants, and heavy metals like mercury. These all take a toll on your energy levels, especially if you are not doing a good job of getting rid of these toxins from your body.

One of the primary organs of detoxification, is the liver. But, if the liver becomes overburdened from years of toxin overload, it is less efficient at doing its job.  This can cause a buildup of toxins in your body, especially in your fat stores. An issue that I will discuss in the next blog post in this 7-part series, which will also cover exercise and endocrine imbalance.

The immediate question is how do you detoxify and help the liver do its job more efficiently?

To help get back your get-up-and-go, a three week cleanse program is an ideal place to start. It can immediately help detoxify your body and get back your get-up-and-go.

To learn more about how a 3-week cleanse can help you, CLICK HERE.

The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go: Part 3—Stress and Fatigue

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In part 1 and 2 of this blog series, I’ve dealt with “Processed Foods, Food Sensitivities and Food Allergies” and “Caffeine and Sleep Quality.” While these are important considerations when it comes to what causes you to lose your get-up-and-go, you can’t forget how stress is sapping your energy every day.

Chronic stress, like dealing with commute traffic and being over-scheduled, certainly rob you of your vital energy day-in and day-out. You’re just not designed to be in a chronic stress state24/7.

Additionally, chronic stress taxes your little adrenal glands over time. The reason? Those are the glands that secrete your stress hormones, certain sex hormones and help manage blood sugar.

Being chronically stressed also sets you up for too much time in the “sympathetic” state, and not enough time in the “parasympathetic” state.  When it comes to the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, it’s all about balance. The sympathetic nervous system activates what is often termed the fight-or-flight response, increases heart rate, makes pupils dilate, and inhibits digestion.  The parasympathetic state slows down the heart rate, stimulates digestion, and stimulates good liver and kidney function, among other things.

So you can see that if you are in the sympathetic state way too often, your ability to digest and absorb nutrients from your foods, your liver’s ability to detoxify harmful substances, and restoration in general will be greatly affected.

But these are only some of the concerns robbing you of your energy. To discover how toxins and preservatives, fat storage, exercise, and endocrine imbalances affect energy, continue reading this 7-part blog post series, “The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go.”

And to help get back your get-up-and-go, you can start with a three week cleanse program. It can immediately help detoxify harmful substances from your body and help stimulate good liver and kidney function.

To learn more about how the 3-week cleanse can help you, CLICK HERE!

The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go: Part 2—Caffeine and Sleep Quality

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I started this 7-part blog post series on decreased energy levels, with information on the energy-sapping foods that you take into your body. This post will discuss another culprit: caffeine…and how it can affect the quality of your sleep, leading to low energy levels, as well.

When looking at your sleep patterns, you should not only look at how many hours of shut-eye you get per night, but also how deeply you sleep.

  • Are you having a hard time falling asleep or waking up several times during the night?
  • Do you wake up feeling refreshed in the morning or do you feel like you need a tow truck to drag you out of bed?
  • How restorative is your sleep?

You can sleep for 7 to 8 hours, but if you are not sleeping well, then you will feel tired in the morning. In some people, even one cup of coffee in the morning can affect sleep quality and result in day-time fatigue…and drive the desire even for more caffeine.
It’s a vicious energy cycle. But, you can take control…NOW!

There are so many more energy-robbers, including stress, toxins and preservatives, fat storage, exercise, and endocrine imbalances. So, be sure to read the rest of this blog post series, “The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go.”

And to help get back your get-up-and-go, I’ve found I’ve found that a three week cleanse program is an ideal place to start. It can immediately help flush the caffeine from your body and help you get more restful sleep.

To learn more about how the 3-week cleanse can help you, CLICK HERE!

The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go: Part 1—Processed Foods, Food Sensitivities and Food Allergies

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Today’s modern lifestyle has certainly taken a toll on everyone’s energy levels, with no get-up-and-go to keep them going. That’s why I’ve decided to do this 7-part blog series dealing with the major fatigue-causing culprits people face these days. Over the span of these seven blog posts, I will be dealing with caffeine, processed foods, food sensitivities, stress, toxins and preservatives, fat storage, exercise, and endocrine imbalances.

But, I won’t just be delivering a litany of causes. I will be providing ideas to help you jump-start your energy levels and get them back up again. So, I urge you to read every one of the revealing posts in this informative blog series.

First, I want to tell you about the energy-sapping foods that you take into your body.

Processed foods certainly are high on the list. These foods provide calories (usually more than you need), but they don’t provide the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to drive your energy pathways and help you sustain steady blood sugar levels.

As you certainly have felt more than once in your lifetime, processed foods often make you feel very sleepy, especially one to two hours after eating them. They’re the foods that actually rob you of the very nutrients you must have sustained energy.

Also sapping energy and making you tired are foods that you’ve become intolerant or sensitive to, because they can cause inflammation. For example, gluten protein, present in grains such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats, is potentially a concern for people that are “gluten sensitive” or “gluten intolerant.” On top of gluten sensitivity, soy, corn, and dairy are common food allergens that can also drain your energy by causing inflammation.

Often food intolerances and sensitivities can be traced backed to poor gut health, which is often the result of poor food and lifestyle choices, lack of stomach acid and enzymes to help digest foods, OTC drugs, certain medications, and stress.

But these foods are only some of the concerns robbing you of your energy. For more, please be sure to read the rest of this blog post series, “The Energy Cycle: How to Get Back Your Get-Up-And-Go.”

For an easy solution to get back your get-up-and-go, I’ve found that a three week cleanse program is an ideal place to start. Why? Because a cleanse program immediately addresses the processed foods and the highly allergenic foods. To learn more about how the 3-week cleanse can help you, CLICK HERE!