Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes!

Preparing dinner nightly is something I truly love.  Our kitchen is separate from the rest of the house, allowing me some time for creation, quite, and a glass of red while I assemble a meal meant to nourish those at our table.  This last 12 days have tried my culinary abilities due to the fact that an elimination diet has outlined our dinner ingredients.  More than resetting the system and allowing for good elimination, an elimination diet calms inflammation throughout the body allowing the body to function, heal, and metabolize properly.

To explain, an elimination diet removes dairy, gluten, soy, eggs and corn, as well as stimulants, sugar, and meats, fruits and vegetables that can cause inflammation within the body.  We mostly followed the below chart for 7 days:

my-clean-diet-experiment

Scott has allergies to many of the foods on the 'can eat' side of the diet, but he willfully refrained from most of the restricted foods.  Because he has never had any problems digesting red meat (O-, Eating Right 4 Your Type), we did have steak tips over greens, onions, broccoli and red cabbage as a meal. 

Inflammation is the body's natural response to space invaders.  Viruses, damage, bad bacteria, poorly digested food, or a highly acidic environment can cause inflammation.  Low stomach acid, high sugar intake, caffeine, alcohol and/or a sedentary lifestyle can also cause inflammation to sneak around inside the body.  Inflammation is commonly mistaken for fat, for tiredness, for sleeplessness, for headaches, for allergies, for constipation, for diarrhea, for unpleasant periods, for arthritis...  the list goes on.

I did not follow this diet as strictly as Scott did (and still is after 12 days), but as I watched his allergies calm, his waistline decrease, his sleep improve, his complexion brighten, and his mood hover over a more even keel, I encouraged him to keep going based on results.  After 7 days of strict food selections, we moved to no eggs, no dairy, no soy, no gluten, no corn, no sugar, no stimulants, opening up many of the fruits and vegetables we had avoided per the chart's suggestions.

Now he is slowly reintroducing foods.  He has had raw cheese and eggs to find they do not  cause stomach upset, irritable bowels or cold symptoms.  He has not reintroduced gluten, corn, soy or sugar, for these are the foods he fears cause inflammation in his feet, in his face, in his body.  He has lost 12 pounds of belly fat in 12 days and has had increasingly successful workouts; higher output, less pain and soreness, shorter recovery times.  His allergies are not completely gone, but the results we've witnessed is worth avoiding inflammatory foods.  

My advice to you is the same as my advice to him:  Nothing changes if Nothing Changes~ If you are experiencing symptoms that you dislike, instead of taking an allergy pill or a sleep aide, try changing your food.  Listen to your body as it tells you what it can tolerate and what it can't.  There are so many resources to help you find what real foods you should or shouldn't eat~  I am one of them.  Make sure to drink plenty of water while you research, give your vitamins their vitamins, and, as always, remember to wash your hands -  you eat with those things!

Anna~

Contact me if you would like more information.

Weight-loss Resolutions

Resolutions often come in the form of a personal wish to lose weight.  Many television programs are on the waves this season highlighting the Biggest Loser and Extreme Makeovers (weight-loss edition) while the news is broken apart with calorie counting tips, food swaps, and manufacturer promoted 'healthy choice' meal options.  Health is not weight and nutrition is not measured in calories; that being said, here are some tips for fulfilling the weigh-loss resolutions.

Your body has a basal caloric need to complete functions like breathing, thinking, growing, excretion, circulating fluids, digestion, temperature maintenance, blinking; anything your body does automatically.  Those caloric needs are easily calculated.  For women, take your weight times 10 (men, weight times 11), whatever the number is is roughly how many calories your body will use to complete basal metabolic function.  You can choose how many of these calories come from food and how many calories you use from storage, or adipose, tissue (body fat).  

Choosing calories is not the same as choosing nutrition.  When you eat mainly animal protein, animal calcium and animal fat, you are ingesting much in terms of calories and very little in terms of nutrition.  If your basal caloric need is in the ballpark of 1600 calories (160 lbs), you can easily dent this calorie count with one steak, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich and a chicken caesar salad with a glass of milk [4 oz. steak (320 calories), 1 T of butter (102), 1 oz of cheddar cheese (110), 2 large eggs (148), 1 T of mayo (57)] [4 oz chicken breast (120), 8 oz of 2% milk (122), 2 T caesar salad dressing (120)]; two meals totaling nearly 1100 calories loaded with salt, saturated fat calories and cholesterol.  -That does not include the bread, croutons, parmesan cheese, romaine, and other condiments-

So how do you choose better calories?  Three simple rules may help.  First: if you select animal food sources, the calories you consume will be high in fat and calories, low in nutrients - if you choose plant based foods the caloric value is typically low and nutrient value is high.  Second: fats that are liquid at room temperature are good fats, fats that are solid at room temp are less healthy.  Third:  when choosing foods that limit calorie consumption, choose foods with color - colorful foods are nutrient dense compared to their white, starchy counterparts.  May these three simple rules boost your energy and lower your calorie intake. 

If your wish is to loose weight this season, may I suggest you start with real, whole, naturally occurring foods.  Wash them in with water.  Give your vitamins their vitamins - B vitamins especially are a good addition to your day.  And, as you forgive your own mistakes and embark on new goals, remember to wash your hands of negativity.  Every step forward is a success!

Cravings Never Cease~

Eating a well balanced diet is a very diverse and flavorful adventure.  We are all on a diet, whether it's restrictive, plant based, meat packed, McDonald's infused or a combination of the lot.  A diet can work for you by delivering ample nutrients, a variety of flavors and textures, and excitement for for tastebuds, or a diet can make you feel deprived, frustrated and hungry.  Reader, if you are feeling deprived and frustrated so you can reach another notch on your belt, jump off the train at the next exit and begin anew (your cravings will eventually derail the train anyway).

Cravings are the directors of our tastebuds.  In the gut there are millions of bacteria (good and bad) that help digest our food.  The type of bacteria present depends largely on the choice of food delivered to the body.  There is direct correlation between the bacteria we house and the foods we crave because our bacteria conduct many of our cravings.  If many starchy, sugary, processed foods are the bulk of a diet, sugar-eating bacteria, fungi and parasites signal when supplies are low - and the cycle continues.  Undoing the cycle is easy, though it takes a plan.  Add whole foods, add cleansing herbs and spices, add good pro- and pre-biotics, add water and tea, add a bit of exercise and feel your cravings change.

Cravings also exist when nutrients are deficient.  I had an interesting conversation about this with my brother-in-law Paul;  hunger is in fact not the only reason we crave food.  Hunger signals a need for fuel, true, but cravings are separate from hunger.  Cravings are a signal sent to the brain with a direct food in mind:  spinach, chocolate, sugar, starch, mint, tomatoes, even allergens.  A craving is meant to satisfy a chemical process within the body or brain by feeding in a specific deficient nutrient, acid, or fat.  Fantastically enough, you have the power to satisfy those cravings with healthful foods instead of unworthy participants.

There are several ways to cope with cravings, all of which include eating.  Yes, eating.  In fact, if you take foods off the list of things you 'can' eat, the result will certainly lead to more or stronger cravings (again, we are back to addition).  Add something sweet, something salty, something green, something white, something rich and something spicy to your day and see how you feel after the day is done.  Write down how you feel.  Write down the foods you ate.  Write down the outcome of diversifying your diet.  Make no mistake, reader.  I am not suggesting you indulge in a glazed donut, a salted carmel donut, a green monster donut, a cream cheese frosted donut, a Big Mac, and a cinnamon donut --- I am suggesting you use whole foods to satisfy your cravings categorically and in response to your body without the words, "I can't eat that," on your lips.

Start today.  Find real foods that satisfy your cravings.  Eat them with consideration and enjoyment.  Eat often with a tall glass of water or a warm cup of tea.  Give your vitamins their vitamins and watch your cravings move from mischievous to manageable.  And because your hands go on your food and your food goes in your mouth, wash your hands of bacteria that can cause you harm; it'll do your body good!

Anna~

You Know How a Metaphor Works~

The rest of the plan must involve food.  You know what you weight, thus how many calories you need to consume.  You know your heart rate and target heart rate for resting and working out.  You know your body mass index so you know what you need to gain, lose or maintain.  You have set one or multiple goals and have a plan for how you are going achieve them.  You are on the calendar!  Now, you must eat.

If I can just cram one more thought in here before I continue: Hormones, sleep, stress, age, activity level, physical ability and fitness, mental attitude, depression, ambition, motivation, and inspiration all affect your ability to gain, loose and maintain weight.  If you will give food and exercise a try, you may be able to reduce your stress, which will improve your sleep.  Allowing yourself to eat nourishing foods will improve digestion, which will help balance hormones.  Any activity will increase your physical ability which will boost your metabolism, thus fire your ambitions and motivation because you will feel and eventually see the fruits of your labor.  The human body is comprised of 10 systems working together; nourish all 10 systems and your body will heal itself.

You don't expect your car to perform at its best with clogged fuel injectors, low oil and no gas, right?  We can all understand that the engine of a car needs to be maintained or it will break down, hang out in the garage, watch TV with the boys and stain the cement floor.  The next step varies: a, trade in the car; b, keep piling kitty litter over the stains, ignore the car and hop the bus to work; c, call a mechanic to fix the car.  I could go into how costly but worthwhile it is to fix the ol' beast, but this isn't really about the car...  its a metaphor for your body.  If you are eating foods that clog your arteries, running low on fuel and without ...  well, you know how a metaphor works.

The good news is, you have already started looking at your diet.  (What, you're on day three of your diet analysis? ;)  The next step is easy.  Add foods that fill in the gaps.  Low on servings of veggies?  Add veggies.  Low on Fruit?  Add fruit.  High on protein?  Make your serving size a little smaller.  Instead of taking things away, at this point I just encourage you to add the pieces you are missing.  Do some field tests on recipes and foods that you think you may like and foods you know you do like.  I love carrots and hummus instead of chips and dip now, but I had to find that crunchy-salty replacement for myself.  You do to!

Fat and sugar are the greater of all of the evils in your diet.  Oils, butter, cheese, (Dairy), table sugar, honey, fruit juice, processed foods, ice cream, animal fats, bread, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, creamy salad dressing, mayonnaise, anything fried, anything from the bakery, anything from Chili's.  Start by being aware of how many of these foods you eat.  When you add nourishing foods to your diet, thus meeting your body's nutrient needs, you will feel less 'hungry' and more satisfied.  The result is turning to fatty, sugary, heavy foods less often.  Adding foods to your diet is much more likely to help you stop eating than taking foods away.

Real food... vitamins... water... and, as always, remember to wash your hands.

Anna~

If This is Temporary, Don't Bother!

Ninth:  Put your plan into action.  There is no use waiting until Monday to start at 90 or 10 day or 28 day 'Return to Section X' agenda; on Monday you will still be 90 or 10 or 28 days from your goal (Monday is 5 days away!).  Begin now!  Even better, invite someone to do it with you~  two years ago I called my sister-in-law and asked her to work out with me for 28 days.  Every other day I choose the workout, she chose the rest.  We were utilizing Wii Boxing, Just Sweat, some salsa dance video on Netflix, the Nike Trainer app on the iPhone, yoga; the workouts were rarely the same, they were always fun, and we were accountable to each other.  Why 28 days?  It takes about 21 days for something to become a habit, so if you can commit to a number larger than 21, working out just might stick.

Tenth:  Change your vocabulary.  If you look at this like a 'diet', you will not find change.  If this is a temporary road, don't bother.  If you've picked an exercise or a goal you know is unachievable, you will not succeed.  Whether you like it or not, you are already on a diet.  Healthy or unhealthy, nutritious or chemically flavored, the food you put into your body is your diet.  Your actions, attitudes and decisions are what determine the state of your affairs, your health and your ambitions; don't cloud this decision with ridiculous terms like 'diet', 'fat', 'difficult', 'can't', and 'rabbit food'.  Changing your health is about changing your choices, not temporarily cleaning out your refrigerator and donning a new pair of sneaks.

Eleventh:  Embrace the size you are!  This may sound counter productive and strange, I know, but accepting who you are right now may alleviate the pressures you may put on yourself tomorrow.  Change is slow.  Food works slowly.  Exercise works, but over time.  Pharmaceuticals make us believe weight-loss should be immediate and results are guaranteed, but the truth is change, in any form, is a gradual process that takes commitment and flexibility.   There will be set backs, there will be plateaus, there will be aches and pains, it will be difficult, it will take time.  In the meantime, be who you are and look forward to the changes that are coming.

Twelfth:  Buy a water bottle.  If you already have one, fill it up.  Keep it with you every time you sit down to a real, delicious meal.  Take it with you when you work out.  It will come in very handy when you need to wash in a vitamin.  And, after all of the gunk that is hanging around inside of your body starts finding its way out of your body, remember to wash your hands.  I'm off to go out into the world of 'summer vacation!'  See you all here tomorrow~

Anna~

A Math Lesson

Fifth:  Define how many calories you need.  Men, weight times 11 just for basal metabolic function: women, weight times 10.  Activity level dictates the rest.  If you are on your feet and moving around for more than 2 hours a day, add 250-300 calories.  If you are active (running or biking or swimming or raising your heart rate above 150 for 30 minutes more than 4 times a week) add 350-500 calories.  If you are sedentary (sit at a desk, walk only from the house to the car, do most of your activities sitting down) add 100-200 calories.  Your weight is the tool you use to find out how many calories your body needs. (.)

Sixth:  Find out your body mass index (BMI).  This equation seems a bit complicated, but I assure you it's not.  Take your weight in pounds and divide it by your height-in-inches-squared.  I am 65 inches tall; 65 x 65 = 4225.  I weight 137 pounds, so 137/4225 = .033.  The last step is to multiply the quotient by 703.  That means my body mass index is 22.7.  Knowing your body mass index will educate you on how many pounds you need to gain or loose, thus how many more/less calories you need to consume/spend.  If you want to build a house you use hammers, nails, saws, levels and other appropriate tools to construct an efficient home.  If you want to tune up your body, use corresponding tools; weight, height, BMI and activity level.

Seventh: Know your heart-rate.  Resting heart rate is how many times your heart beats per minute while at rest.  So, while you are watching The Chew, count how many times your heart beats per minute just by feeling the pulse in your wrist and watching the clock.  It should be between 60 and 80 bpm.  If it isn't within that range, it may be a clue that your heart isn't working as efficiently as it should be.

Target heart rates are a bit different.  If you quickly calculate 220 minus your age you arrive at about your maximum heart rate.  This number is important when performing physical activity and exercise.  If exercise is a new addition to your daily life, you should aim at about 50% of your maximum heart rate (a seasoned athlete can run at about 85%).  Knowing your resting heart rate and your max heart rate will help you understand how physical you should get when maintaining your body.  Remember, your heart is a muscle and it will strengthen and improve over time if used correctly.

Eight:  Grab some real, whole, naturally occurring foods, a tall glass of water, a napkin, a pencil and a calendar and make a plan.  Personally, I have a plan that includes running at least three times a week.  I also have to practice my guitar or my callouses thin and my fingers hurt, so that is on my calendar.  I make a grocery list and shop once a week.  The kids and I even have chore charts so we maintain our home, thus maintain my sanity.  I am worth putting on the calendar and so are you!  Figure out who you are, what you need to tweak, and, after all the math, remember to wash your hands.

Anna~

Warning: You Have All Heard This Before.

No matter what size you are it is probably true that a good portion of the clothes in your closet fit your person.  Your pants are the size you are, as is your professional attire, your jeans, your tops, right?  It may also be true that there is a portion of your closet that doesn't fit.  "Section X," I like to call it.  (Clothes that you would like to fit into because you fondly remember what you felt like and looked like when you use to fit into them.)  Embracing the size you are is a healthy decision, but if the size you are is realistically too big, maybe you should set a goal to get back into 'Section X' of your closet.

First thing is first:  Write down what you eat and how you spend energy.  Do not change anything, just get a baseline of what you are consuming and what it is costing you.  Log whatever exercise you do today as well.  Read the nutritional labels of the foods you are consuming to find out what is going into your body nutritionally and calorically.  Be accountable for everything: butter on bread, sugar in coffee, cookies in the afternoon, M&M's in the car, snacks after dinner, salt on the popcorn, wine by the glass, everything.  Record your diet for three days (get a weekend day in there somewhere) for a tangible account of nutritional/caloric use or abuse . (I posted some links to the right to make record keeping easier.)

Second:  Weigh yourself, but do this only once.  Weighing yourself every day is not healthy, smart, realistic, informative, encouraging, helpful, or necessary.  Weight fluctuates daily whether you like it or not, so sever the relationship you have with your scale by putting it in the linen closet after you record your weight.  Your weight is a tool to use to calculate how many calories you need to consume daily in order to meet basal metabolic functions, as well as to calculate your body mass index.  Your weight does not decide your health, but there is 'unhealthy weight'.  Be accountable.  Be honest.  Be realistic. Weigh yourself now and then give it a rest.

Third:  Define what you want to accomplish.  Would you like to be a horseback rider?  Would you like to swim the bay next spring?  Is a marathon calling your name?  Did you really enjoy tennis in high school and would love to hit some balls?  The best way to define 'the thing' you would love to do is to sit down and think of a time in your past when you felt productive, happy, challenged, healthy, and empowered.  If you have already felt those feelings about an activity or lifestyle in the past, you can and are able to rediscover those same achievements in your future.  Do not set goals that are dead in the water-  they lead right back to square one (you will never participate in your goal of riding 100 miles on a bike if you hate riding a bike;  know what I'm sayin'?)

Forth:  Do Not Do Anything Drastic!  I do not encourage you to throw away all of the food in your pantry just yet.  Do not eliminate everything sweet, do not deprive yourself of everything white, do not purchase a list of vegetables you know you will not eat, and do not make any rash decisions about fasting or administering coffee enemas or green tea gulping or cabbage soup dieting.   Instead, eat real, whole, naturally occurring foods that you love!  Take some B Vitamins to give your mind and metabolism a boost.  Drink some fruity water instead of soda.  Go for a walk after meals, and, as always, remember to wash your hands.  Nobody benefits from dirty fingers.

(If none of this applied to you because you are already on a path to achieve a 'healthier you', "Go You!"  If you know someone who isn't on that road, invite them to join you~)

Anna~

Is it Tomorrow Already?

Calorie; Either of two units of heat energy or The energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C.  Simply speaking, calories measure how many units of energy are found within the food we eat.  Fat has 9 calories per gram, protein has 4 calories per gram, carbohydrates (complex) have 4 calories per gram, alcohol has 7 calories per gram.   We measure how many quarts of oil go into our automobiles, how much detergent goes into our washing machines, how much starch we add to our ironing pile, how much bleach we put in our cleaning solutions; why not measure how many calories we consume?  Just as we take care of the appliances we depend on, so should we take care of our own personal human machines!

How many calories do you need to function?  Females: take your weight and multiply it by 100; that number represents how many calories your body needs to run that basal metabolism.  (Men, use 110 instead.)  Activity level dictates how many extra calories you need.  If you are on the move for more than four hours a day you would need about 500 extra calories.  Moderately active specimens need around 300.  Sedentary individuals only need about 200 extra calories.  If you are very active (runner, biker, swimmer, hiker, climber, mom-er, spelunker, farmer, laborer, etc.) you need to replace the calories you use during biking, spelunking or farming.  Count your calories and record your activity if you don't know what you spend or what you bank~  education is key.

I do not believe calories can measure health (nor can it measure the healthiness of a food).  Some health platforms use calories as a counting tools; all calories are equal.  I do not support or promote that belief.   I understand why the amount of calories matter and why it is important to know how many calories your body needs. But instead of believing calories measure of health, I believe food is the foundation and measurement of health.  If you are eating mostly calories from the wrong kind of fat and simple carbohydrates, you are not being nourished by your food.  Think of it this way:  If you are not eating enough nutrients, your body will starve no matter how many calories you eat.

So, eat real food.  Don't be afraid of naturally occurring fat or sugar, just be mindful of how much fat and sugar you ingest (natural or not).  Don't be put off by a plate full of vegetables, just choose the ones that look and taste good to you.  Don't avoid foods because they are high in calories, instead avoid foods that are low in nutrients.  Drink plenty of water, give your vitamins their vitamins, and, as always, remember to wash your hands.

Anna