Eating In The New Economy

      

 Eating In The New Economy.  This is the title of a recent post from a friend of mine who is a great blogger and has a blog full of recipes that are made from quality, healthy and whole ingredients.  She also has some great dessert recipes that are worth the calories when you want a splurge day.   http://acooksnotes.blogspot.com/

Gigi’s article is a must read because it gives some great money saving tips, budgeting tips, and value creating tips when it comes to grocery shopping. Often times, changing to a healthy eating plan can cause your grocery bill to be higher because some of the healthier choices and better quality ingredients can be more expensive. 

Many of these tips are also great when applied to weight loss and healthy eating.  I love grocery shopping, but the grocery store is a land mine of temptation.  At every turn there is an enticing snack, on every end cap there is a tempting treat, and don’t forget about the check out lane impulse buys.  One of her tips is to only go grocery shopping once a week. Not only do you save big on your grocery bill, you save big on your calories.

Another great tip is to buy in bulk. Definitely a money saver.  Also, when you buy in bulk and break down the servings yourself, you can be very accurate and know that each serving is the appropriate portion and the appropriate calories for your diet.

She also suggests buying a lot of something if there is a great sale. Especially if one of your favorites (healthy favorites) goes on sale, stock up so you always have your healthy “go to” food on hand.

One of the best things you can do for your wallet and your waistline is to prepare your own meals, and good grocery shopping habits are key. You can choose healthy ingredients so you know exactly what you are eating, and you can have good quality food for a fraction of the cost of eating out.

156 Billion Calories

156 Billion Calories.  That is how many calories will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.  I will definitely be doing my part to contribute to that number.  We are staying home this year, so it will just be Todd and the kids and me.  We are going to get all the traditional munchies, and I promised the kids we would do an ice cream social, where everyone gets to have a few favorite toppings. However, I do want to offer up some Super Bowl eating tips. 

1.  You know one of my favorite sayings is to make your calories count.   On Super Bowl Sunday this is key.  If you are staying home, you are in complete control of what treats you have.  Get only the things you really love. If you are going to a party or bar, when you arrive, take a quick inventory of what food is available.  Choose only your absolute favorites, and INDULGE! 

2.  Use a small plate for your food.  So many studies are out now that say if your eye perceives a small amount of food, your brain will tell your stomach that you are not satisfied.  A reasonable portion on a regular size plate may not look like a satisfying amount, but a reasonable portion on a small plate can trick the eye and brain so that the signal to the stomach is that you are getting enough food to satisfy your hunger.

3.  Before you go, eat a small healthy snack at home.  Sometimes we think that we should “save” our calories until the party, so we don’t eat anything all day.  When we show up, we are starving and go crazy on the food.  If you have a healthy snack before you go, you won’t pig out right when you arrive.  If you are staying home, don’t start eating your Super Bowl cupcakes for breakfast.  Decide on a time frame that you will have your treats out.

4.  Indulge in your favorite treats within the first 20 minutes of the “party”.  Be mindful and recognize when you are full.  For the next four hours or so, everyone will be sitting around the television munching.  Mindless munching.  You will already have eaten your favorites, and you are probably full, but you may want to munch.  Most parties are going to have a fruit plate or a veggie tray (or you bring one, so you know there is a healthy option).  Make veggies your mindless munching choice. Guacamole and salsa would be a good plan B.

5.  Seat strategy: choose your seat so that it is across the room from the coffee table loaded with treats.  You may not want to walk across the room in front of everyone blocking their view to re-fill your plate.

6.  A bottle of beer has 150 calories.

Light Bulb Moment : Fat v.s. Sugar

 
It is interesting how one little bit of information can lead to more little bits that take you
to a light bulb moment.  When I was writing my 5 part article, one of the parts was about burning
fat instead of sugar.  I know that sugar is poison, but this was a new way of looking at it for me. 
I don’t eat a lot of sugar though, so I was glad I had a deeper understanding of the whole “sugar thing”,
but I didn’t think about it too much more.

There is a lot of info out now about doing cardio at a fat burning level which is at a slower pace. 
The theory is that you will burn more fat if you do cardio at a slower pace (your fat burning zone). 
This made sense, but the flip side of this is that when you work at a slower pace, you burn less
calories.  If you do intense cardio, you burn way more calories, so you lose more weight. From a
purely numbers game of weight loss, you want to burn as many calories as you can, so this
“fat burning zone” stuff didn’t seem too important to me.

However, now I have two somewhat unrelated bits of information about burning fat.  One has to do with
lowering your consumption of sugar, and the other has to do with slower paced cardio.

There is a difference between burning fat and burning sugar. While your body can burn either fuel,
it is far better off burning fat. Fat is the body's fuel of choice. Fat, not sugar, is our most
inexhaustible and healthy energy resource. 

The reality is that far too many people do not have the energy they need or want, and there are a
series of slight adjustments one can take to change this aspect of your life.  Let’s incorporate
two somewhat unrelated bits of info.

The first step is to focus on reduction in sugar, and to stop viewing sugar as a primary source
of energy. When you start to reduce your sugar intake, you set in motion a process where your body
can start to burn more fat, to rely on fat as an energy source not sugar. 

The next step is to Slow Down and rethink the idea you hold in your head of what "ideal" exercise
is. When you do an intense workout, you often trigger an innate "fight or flight" mechanism, which
is designed to get us out of trouble quickly. This intense process primarily uses sugar as an energy
source. When you move slowly, your body primarily uses fat as an energy source. 

Key Concept: When you get your body into a mode where you burn fat, you tap into a virtually unlimited
energy source.  There is a guy named  Stu Mittleman who broke the American record for running
100 miles in a day. 

Stu says that our bodies store about 2,500 sugar calories, but have a minimum of 130,000 fat
calories available. When you burn fat your body does not "freak out" and want you to replace
it immediately. If you burn 500 calories in a high intensity workout, most likely you are burning
sugar. In this case your body starts to send signals out to replace that sugar ASAP which leads to sugar
cravings. When you approach exercise in a more comfortable and enjoyable pace, you can begin to
draw from the broader sources of energy. 

This concept might sound simple, but the difficulty lies in the fact that the dominant fitness 
culture promotes intense workouts followed by ingesting sugary sports drinks, and I was going
right along with it. This was one of my light bulb moments. Recently, I started doing a DVD at home
called Insanity.  It is a great high intensity workout, and I love it (and hate it).  As with any
workout DVD series, it comes with a nutrition guide.  One of the things they tell you to do is have
a “recovery” drink after your workout.  I have always had a protein shake after all my workouts, but
just protein.  This program says to get some simple sugars with your recovery drink, to replenish
what you just burned off.  SO I started having a Tbsp of raw honey added to my protein shake….
So I can replace the sugar I just burned off?  Really?  What was I thinking?  No more honey for me. 

Most likely you are familiar with the phrase "no pain, no gain." For many of us, me included,
our ideal vision workout might be an hour of a high level spinning class. We associate ideal
exercise with these high intensity workouts. 

But it is common sense if you think about it. Our bodies over the years were built to store fat
to keep us alive as we moved around long distances. We moved slowly, and our bodies adapted to give
us energy to move long distances. I am not going to stop doing my intense cardio workouts, but I
am most certainly going to pay more attention to the fat burning, slower paced workouts and make
sure I have a good mix of both.

Free from the bondage of poor health (final part)

Habit of Health # 5 is to be active.

Again, I use a car analogy…Even the most expensive, luxury car won’t run after being left in a garage for too long without use.

The batteries will go dead, the tires will go flat.

Similarly, a person whose heart, lungs and muscles have gone flat isn’t going to be able to do much.

So, keep yourself in shape!

The body adapts down in capacity if we are inactive physically.  Muscles become smaller, bones become thinner, hormone production decreases, cellular conversion of energy gets lazy — if we are inactive, nature chooses disintegration.

To avoid this, keep your self active… by keeping your body engaged in life and demanding performance out of it.

We’re not talking about extreme exercise, but we are talking about regular activities that promote deep breathing, sweating and that keeps our muscles toned. Walking (especially uphill), swimming, bicycling, weight training, even just deep breathing are all good activities.

As you know I am a huge proponent of exercise.  There are 100’s of reasons to keep active.  Most of my posts have to do with exercise and physical activity.  Find your reason, the best reason that makes sense to you and start moving!

Free from the bondage of poor health (PART 4)

Habit of Health # 4

Maintain the nutrient levels in your body

 

The nutrients your body needs come in this order of importance:

1. minerals
2. enzymes
3. vitamins
4. protein
5. all other nutrients

Nutrients are needed as spare parts for repair of cellular tissues and to ensure your cells operate correctly.

When your nutrient levels are low for a particular nutrient that your body needs, it starts to malfunction.  Cellular repair can’t be done right, certain processes in the body no longer occur correctly, and free radicals can’t be neutralized. As more and more things go wrong, cellular deterioration escalates.

There are two important concepts to nourishing your body. These concepts are:

1. Variety of Food
2. Nutrient Denseness of Food

Variety of Food

No single food contains all the nutrients the body needs. If a person gets in a habit of eating only a few foods that he or she likes, it is virtually guaranteed that this person will run low in the nutrients that are missing (or low) in those particular foods. So, mix up your diet, try new foods, and do a winter, spring, summer and fall rotation in the foods you eat by EATING WHAT IS IN SEASON.

Nutrient-Dense Food

We should eat only foods that contribute to our health and happiness. We should have the discipline to not eat foods that undermine our health and don’t add to our happiness.

Nutrient-empty foods aren’t worth eating unless they taste so good to you that your happiness is very positively affected… and even then, unless you really are willing to throw away a future of health for the pleasures these foods bring to the moment, you must save these celebration foods for “rare occasions”:

I recently read an article that categorized foods like this:

1. Celebration Foods
2. Fuel Foods
3. Nutrient Dense Foods.

These are Celebration Foods and should not be eaten frequently, but should be reserved for parties and celebrations:

• Processed grain products, white flour products (cakes, pastries, and noodles), white-rice, etc.
• Sugary foods such as ice cream, soda pop, syrups, etc.

 

These are Fuel Foods. They are nutritious and important to provide energy for activity and exercise. If you are completely sedentary, they actually provide more calories for the amount of nutrients provided. So make sure that you are doing some kind of physical activity to get the benefits from Fuel Foods.

• Grains (whole grain bread, whole grain rice, etc.)
• Most Fruits

 

These are your Nutrient Dense Foods and should be eaten daily by everyone:

• Vegetables
• Nuts
• Fish
• Good fat foods such as Avocados and Olives
• Uncooked oil extracts of all the foregoing
• Organ meats
• Eggs

Free from the bondage of poor health (PART 3)

Habit of Health #3

Keep your internal system clean.

Okay, so I have to make the car analogy here.  The most important thing to extend the life of your car engine is to KEEP IT CLEAN.  Engine cleanliness is important to avoid damaging the engine internals. That’s why cars have oil filters, gas filters and air filters and why we change the oil and oil filter frequently.

To avoid trouble with our human engine, we likewise don’t want sludge or contamination inside our circulatory system, gastrointestinal system or individual cells. Keeping our own engines clean also ensures that all of our hard work to eat healthy and exercise is not sabotaged by other harmful substances.

Here’s an important list for keeping internally clean:

#1 Avoid Sugar!

Table sugar is not the only offender with the insulin effect on the body. Refined carbs such as mashed potatoes, white rice, white bread and pasta are quickly converted to sugar in the body since your pancreas can’t tell the difference.

Sugar in not nonnutritive but it is anti-nutritive. When sugar is found in whole foods such as apples, berries and even sugarcane it comes complete with the vitamins, minerals and enzymes needed for complete digestion. When it’s found in your sugar bowl or in chemical compounds such as high fructose corn syrup, your body has to borrow from its stores of nutrients in order to process it. Sugar contains no minerals or vitamins. Metabolism of food takes the expenditure of nutrient tools, especially minerals. Since eating sugar results in the expenditure of more minerals than are obtained in the sugar, it is a net negative proposition — the more sugar you eat the more your body is depleted of health sustaining minerals. That is one reason why sugar is considered an immune system depressor.

#2 Avoid Free Radicals!

 Free radicals are a PRIMARY culprit in aging. The free radical theory of aging states that our bodies “age” or become altered (for the worse) at a molecular level because of contact with corrosive, unstable molecules called free radicals.

Another important topic regarding the goal of minimizing free radical damage to our cells and molecules is to AVOID FREE RADICALS where possible.

To minimizing free radical exposure:

Avoiding chlorinated water. Water used to bathe or drink or do laundry should be filtered to remove a major oxidant or free radical called chlorine. (This is a tough one for those of us who live in Phoenix)

Avoiding deep fried foods. You are better off to not fry foods in oil, unless you use coconut oil. Coconut oil can handle the high heat without being changed into a free radical. This is a good example of new and improved health information.  A few years ago, coconut oil was on the “bad” list.  Now it is on the “must have” list.

Avoiding polluted air. Many free radicals can be breathed into our lungs, including of course, cigarette smoke.

#3 Avoid Harmful Microorganisms!

The human gastrointestinal tract (the stomach and small and large intestines) are the first engine of the body. They should be colonized 80% or more by protective bacteria. These are like oil in a car engine. They protect it from damage.

In many people, however, this ratio is reversed with 80% pathogenic organisms. Pathogenic organisms produce a constant supply of health-robbing toxins.

Human parasites are just about everywhere in our environment, so it is easy to come in contact with them. My husband and I do an “internal cleanse” about once a year to flush out any lurking organisms.  There are several cleanses on the market to choose from ranging from hard core fasting to light core drinking a mixture before breakfast.

The following are just some of the ways people can acquire parasites.

• insect bites
• animal feces, and especially handling soiled litter pans (cats)
• walking barefoot in areas animals where animals may deposit their feces
• eating raw or undercooked pork, beef or fish
• eating contaminated fruits and vegetables
• eating meals prepared by infected food handlers
• drinking contaminated water

 

#4 Avoid Heavy Metals! 

 Heavy metals are potent free radicals and disrupters of human health.

The three most common are mercury, cadmium, and lead.

Heavy metals cause all of the following problems:

• Damaged or reduced mental and central nervous function
• Lower energy levels
• Damage to blood, lungs, kidneys, liver, and other vital organs.
• Physical, muscular, and neurological degenerative processes that mimic Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis.
• Allergies

 

Sources of mercury include dental fillings, eating of large fish, contact with fungicides and pesticides, cosmetics and medicines

Sources of Cadmium include cigarette smoking (30% of cadmium from cigarettes goes into the smoker and 70% into the air for others to breathe). Cadmium also leaches out of older water pipes, and comes from air pollution from factories, soil fertilization and eating of grains and root vegetables grown in such fertilized soil. Cadmium is concentrated in the inner core of wheat and rice, hence eating white bread and white rice tends to concentrate cadmium in the body.

Sources of lead include leaded gasoline, paint, tin cans, earthenware pottery and food grown in soils that have been fertilized with fertilizers containing lead

Internal Cleanliness will be one of the next greatest advancement in health. A clean intestinal tract is the one of the most important factors for creating one’s overall health, so as you choose the right kind of foods for good health, also avoid the harmful substances that lead to poor health.  Cover all your bases.

Free from the bondage of poor health (PART 2)

5 HABITS of HEALTH #1 and #2

 

#1 THINK ABOUT YOUR HEALTH

Most people stop learning about how to be healthy with their last health course in High School. Health knowledge is doubling every few years. You need to be informed of the current understanding about health, not the past understandings. Hopefully my blog will give you current information on nutrition, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle.

One thing is certain — today’s health information will be replaced by better health information tomorrow. So, make sure you stay current with the science of health. The reward could be many more years of enjoyable, healthy life.

Only one hundred years ago, one out of two people died from infection. Then entered the miracle of antibiotics. That’s why the parents of baby-boomer learned to place too much trust in medicines. Their parents had just witnessed the miracle of medicines stopping the leading causes of death of the last century.

The current generations beginning with baby-boomers and their children understand that medicines are wonderful for trauma and infection but aren’t the cure for degenerative diseases that are today’s leading cause of poor health. Degenerative diseases are combated and even cured through a lifestyle of healthy eating, nutrient rich diets, and exercise.

#2 BE A FAT BURNER

This next concept is something that we all “kind of  know”, but it is so important that we really understand the impact of it.

Health and life span are determined by the proportion of fat versus sugar people burn throughout their lifetime.  The more fat that one burns as fuel, the healthier a person will be, and the more likely he or she will live a long time;  and the more sugar a person burns, the more disease ridden and the shorter a life span a person is likely to have.

The above sentence is perhaps the most IMPORTANT statement you will  read/hear in regard to health and longevity.

Most people are sugar burners, so how do you “fix” yourself and become a fat burner?

 *** We become sugar burners by eating sugar and carbohydrates.

*** We become fat burners by not eating sugar and carbohydrates.

Sounds simple enough, and there is a big trend these days to give up sugar and bad carbs.  I have several friends that have cut sugar out of their diets.  This is so important, but it must be done correctly to achieve the best results in good health.

To break our cells’ habit of eating sugar we have to completely stop the supply of sugar and carbohydrates (which are quickly converted into sugar). Do this for one month! No sugar of bad carbs for ONE MONTH.

BEWARE: When you stop eating sugar and bad carbs your cells will crave that sugar and “rebel”. The cells start to break apart your bones and muscles to make sugar.

What is left when we stop eating the sugar and carbohydrate foods we are accustomed to?

We have left:

• Good Fats
• Proteins
• Vegetables
• High Fiber Carbohydrates

 

To break your sugar habit without effecting your bones and muscles you must simultaneously:

• Exercise
• Eat a nutritious diet that is high in good fats.

First, When we exercise (this includes vigorous muscle-building exercise such as walking up hills or weight lifting) in addition to some aerobic exercise, the body will not allow the breaking down of muscle and bone. The muscle-building exercise tells the body to build more muscle, and the stress on the bones tells the body to make the bones stronger. This is your insurance policy against losing bone and muscle density.

Second, when we eat good fats our body will, if it has no other access to sugar, burn fat as fuel. As we continue to enforce this habit, our bodies will switch back to fat burning mode, which will enable our body to function far more efficiently.

Free from the bondage of poor health (part 1)

This is a multi part post.  The first part is about the bad habits of health which leads to poor health.  The next part (or parts) will be about the FIVE HABITS of HEALTH which allow us to take good care of the one and only body we have on this earth.  (This information is so important, that I want to present it in the best way possible.  Right now I am not sure if I will do five seperate posts or one post which includes all five habits)

As anyone experiencing poor health knows – poor health takes away one’s freedom to fully participate in life and to fully enjoy the relationships that make life precious.

We must constantly evaluate the direction in which our health is going in order to not experience the bondage that is part of low-quality health.

One of the most important words in the English language is HABIT. Habits bind us or they enable and free us.  In this way of looking at it, healthy habits are the key to freedom from poor health.

Before discussing THE FIVE HABITS of HEALTH in part 2, here are the unhealthy habits that will lead you to poor health. Do not let them be part of your operational mode:

• Not thinking about your health — and not believing that the person in the coffin, hospital bed or wheelchair “may likely be me” unless I act wiser than others are acting.
•  
• Trusting others too much —You need to understand the truths regarding health and how diet, nutrition, and exercise are key… and be in charge of your own health.
•  
• Not understanding your own health risks and strategizing to minimize those risks through exercise and the appropriate nutrition.

• Failing to plan your life to establish THE FIVE HABITS of HEALTH. The old saying is true: If one fails to plan, the result becomes the same as if one had planned to fail.

True and False

I love chatting with people about fitness and nutrition, and often people make statements about tricks to lose weight.  There are three that I have heard several times in the past few weeks, so I thought that I would give it to you straight! 

MYTH #1: Eating after 6 P.M. puts on the pounds.

TRUTH: Your body doesn’t know what time it is. Eating later is only a problem if you’ve already consumed your calorie requirements for the day, and for most people this is the case.  Most people have already eaten  1500 – 2000 calories during the day, so they can’t afford to eat anymore (it doesn’t matter what time it is).  Remember, it is all about the math not about the time of day.  

 
MYTH #2: Some superchewy and spicy foods may help the body burn more calories.

TRUTH: Sorry, chomping on celery or gulping down jalapenos may give you an upset stomach, but it won’t make you lose weight any faster. For weight loss to occur, calories in must be less than calories burned. So incorporating low-cal items like celery and peppers into your diet is fine,especially if it replaces a high calorie snack, but it’s the amount you eat and exercise that really makes the difference! 
 
MYTH #3: Fat-free foods are better for you.

TRUTH: Many fat-free foods have as many, if not more, calories than their regular counterparts. Carbohydrates typically replace the fat, resulting in something that doesn’t taste quite as good, is not as satisfying, and leaves us wanting more. People also think that they can eat a bigger portion because it is fat free which leads to more calories in. Fat provides between-meal satiety, so you’re not as hungry as soon. So rather than inhaling half of a box of fat-free cookies, sit down and savor a great piece of Godiva.

Do you count calories with your eyes?

So my dad is trying to drop a few pounds, and he decided to have all his meals on a salad plate instead of a full size dinner plate.  This keeps his portions small.  Since portion control is one of the best ways to lose weight, changing the size of your plates and glassware might be just the thing to curb your eating and appetite.

Research conducted at Cornell University found that people rely on how much food remains on a plate or in a bowl to determine when they have eaten enough.  I read where researchers designed bottomless bowls that could refill without the subjects’ knowledge. Subjects who unknowingly ate from the self-refilling bowls consumed 73% more soup than those who ate from normal bowls. Yet those who ate more soup did not believe they had consumed more and did not feel any fuller than those who ate from normal bowls. So what does this mean.  ….The size of the plate or bowl can greatly influence the number of calories consumed, as people tend to use their eyes to “count” calories.

My dad is definitely on to something. Try using a salad plate or one of your kid’s plates for all your meals, and for drinks use tall, narrow glasses. Research indicates that decreasing plate and glass sizes may make people believe they are getting a larger portion simply because their dish or glass is full.  Also, eating everything on a plate (even a smaller one) indicates to the brain that it is the end of an eating episode. People may assume they have eaten enough and stop eating before consuming too much. This simple act of using smaller dishes at all meals may help you easily decrease portion sizes without feeling that you are eating less food.