Check out this video on High Fructose Corn Syrup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM&feature=related
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
I stole this info. from a friend, but thought that it was worth sharing. (I am learning a lot of the same things in Suzanne Somers new book on cancer prevention and treatment, called "Knockout". Suzanne has gone through damaging radiation. She lives with the harmful effects of post-radiation treatment on a daily basis. She turned down chemotherapy and looked to alternative treatments. She beat breast cancer and wanted to share what she's learned along the way with us.)
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY
IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD)
TO ELIMINATE CANCER,
THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer
cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have
multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients
that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after
treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the
cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable
size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a
person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer
cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and
forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has
nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,
to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing
diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune
system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing
cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells
in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can
cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars
and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often
reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of
chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor
destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from
chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either
compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb
to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to
mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.
Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other
sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer
cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off
one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar
substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made
with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute
would be Manuka honey (a New Zealand Honey - can be found
at some health food stores or online {Amazon.com}), Stevia or molasses,
but only in very small amounts. Sea salt is much better than table salt for you!
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
cells are being starved. Other good alternatives would be rice milk or almond milk.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken
rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock
antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer. Organic meat is a much safer alternative.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
growth of healthy cells.. To obtain live enzymes for building
healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw
vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
caffeine Green tea is a better alternative e and has cancer
fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes
to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the
body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system
(IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known
to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's
normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.
A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior
be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to
have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy
life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to
get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
cells.
1. No plastic containers in microwave.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.
Eat the way Nature intended us to!!!
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY
IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD)
TO ELIMINATE CANCER,
THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer
cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have
multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients
that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after
treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the
cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable
size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a
person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer
cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and
forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has
nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,
to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing
diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune
system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing
cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells
in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can
cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars
and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often
reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of
chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor
destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from
chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either
compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb
to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to
mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.
Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other
sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer
cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off
one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar
substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made
with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute
would be Manuka honey (a New Zealand Honey - can be found
at some health food stores or online {Amazon.com}), Stevia or molasses,
but only in very small amounts. Sea salt is much better than table salt for you!
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
cells are being starved. Other good alternatives would be rice milk or almond milk.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken
rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock
antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer. Organic meat is a much safer alternative.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
growth of healthy cells.. To obtain live enzymes for building
healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw
vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
caffeine Green tea is a better alternative e and has cancer
fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes
to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the
body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system
(IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known
to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's
normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.
A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior
be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to
have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy
life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to
get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
cells.
1. No plastic containers in microwave.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.
Eat the way Nature intended us to!!!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Green Smoothies
So, my latest obsession is green smoothies. I follow the "Green Smoothie Girl" online, her name is Robyn Openshaw. She has a ton of wonderful recipes for healthy smoothies. Some of these recipes are available online or in her books. It's a great way to pack in all your veggies and fruit in for the day. It's a great healthy, tasty meal packed full of antioxidants, phytochemicals and much more goodness. I drink one in place of breakfast almost every day. If I don't get it in for breakfast then it replaces lunch or dinner. Check out her website for more info at: greensmoothiegirl.com
The GreenSmoothieGirl.com mission is to help you achieve fantastic health and energy eating whole foods, 60-80% or more raw, easily and affordably.
It isn’t a “diet”; it’s a lifestyle you will never want to quit living!
What you can achieve living the lifestyle she is teaching just might blow your mind. Her rather significant research says you’ll have radically better digestion/elimination, achieve your perfect weight, and have more energy coming your way. You can also look forward to decreasing your cravings for bad food, increasing your desire to exercise, and achieving emotional stability, pretty skin and hair, and even better sex, among other things. Sounds good, right? Well, it is!!!
The GreenSmoothieGirl.com mission is to help you achieve fantastic health and energy eating whole foods, 60-80% or more raw, easily and affordably.
It isn’t a “diet”; it’s a lifestyle you will never want to quit living!
What you can achieve living the lifestyle she is teaching just might blow your mind. Her rather significant research says you’ll have radically better digestion/elimination, achieve your perfect weight, and have more energy coming your way. You can also look forward to decreasing your cravings for bad food, increasing your desire to exercise, and achieving emotional stability, pretty skin and hair, and even better sex, among other things. Sounds good, right? Well, it is!!!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Eat Organic!!! Do you want to ingest growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and other harmful chemicals? Doesn't sound too appetizing to me! If you are trying to lose weight, that doesn't help you out. If it doesn't say organic on it, it's probably not. I hate it when people tell me that they can't afford to eat organic. You can't afford not to!!!
My latest obsession is bioidentical hormone replacement. Get off your Premarin, Prempro, Provera, Depo shots and birth control bills. I don't mean to sound crazy, but I don't think our doctors know the harm that they are doing by prescribing these medications. If you don't know what bioidentical hormone replacement is, you need to. It promotes use of natural, identical hormone to replace missing or deficient hormones. This is not expensive! Once again, you can't afford not to. It is done by first testing hormone levels through blood, urine or saliva testing. Once this is done your provider can prescribe what levels you are deficient in through use of bioidentical hormone replacement (BHRT). These are compounded by a compounding pharmacist who tailors the treatment towards your specific needs. Most of us don't realize that when we have fatigue, loss of libido, hot flashes, headaches, weight gain, etc, etc., this may be due to the crud we eat or the imbalance of hormone levels or both. The great thing about BHRT is that there are no harmful side effects, like other synthetic hormones (Premarin, Prempro, Birth Control, etc.). They actually decrease your risk for disease and symptoms. Don't ask your doctor about it because chances are they won't know or their views are clouded. You need to go to someone who specializes in BHRT. Suzanne Somers list some great providers in her books. I also offer this at our spa if you're in St. George.
You don't have to be menopausal to have hormonal imbalances, or female for that matter. Most of us peak at 30 years of age and it's all down hill from there. Frightening, isn't it? But, it doesn't have to be that way. If you replace the hormones that decline with age, then guess what happens? Yep! It's wonderful! If you want more info on this I can recommend a ton of great books ("Breakthrough", "Ageless", "The Sexy Years", "Hormone Harmony", "Awakening Athena", "Stay Young & Sexy", "What You Must Know About Women's Hormone's"). I also can order blood levels and help you with treatment. Call the office at 435-652-9355 for details!
My latest obsession is bioidentical hormone replacement. Get off your Premarin, Prempro, Provera, Depo shots and birth control bills. I don't mean to sound crazy, but I don't think our doctors know the harm that they are doing by prescribing these medications. If you don't know what bioidentical hormone replacement is, you need to. It promotes use of natural, identical hormone to replace missing or deficient hormones. This is not expensive! Once again, you can't afford not to. It is done by first testing hormone levels through blood, urine or saliva testing. Once this is done your provider can prescribe what levels you are deficient in through use of bioidentical hormone replacement (BHRT). These are compounded by a compounding pharmacist who tailors the treatment towards your specific needs. Most of us don't realize that when we have fatigue, loss of libido, hot flashes, headaches, weight gain, etc, etc., this may be due to the crud we eat or the imbalance of hormone levels or both. The great thing about BHRT is that there are no harmful side effects, like other synthetic hormones (Premarin, Prempro, Birth Control, etc.). They actually decrease your risk for disease and symptoms. Don't ask your doctor about it because chances are they won't know or their views are clouded. You need to go to someone who specializes in BHRT. Suzanne Somers list some great providers in her books. I also offer this at our spa if you're in St. George.
You don't have to be menopausal to have hormonal imbalances, or female for that matter. Most of us peak at 30 years of age and it's all down hill from there. Frightening, isn't it? But, it doesn't have to be that way. If you replace the hormones that decline with age, then guess what happens? Yep! It's wonderful! If you want more info on this I can recommend a ton of great books ("Breakthrough", "Ageless", "The Sexy Years", "Hormone Harmony", "Awakening Athena", "Stay Young & Sexy", "What You Must Know About Women's Hormone's"). I also can order blood levels and help you with treatment. Call the office at 435-652-9355 for details!
Tip of the day...
Read your food labels! I know many of you already do this, but I know many people who never glance at a label. You need to know what you are consuming. There are so many harmful substances, chemicals, additives and preservatives in the standard American diet...it's scary! A few things to avoid: high fructose corn syrup, msg (monosodium glutamate), artificial sweeteners (i.e., aspartame, nutrasweet, etc.), trans fat (hydrogenated oils).
I am re-reading the book "Breakthrough" by Suzanne Somers. If you haven't read this book, you need to. This book is jam-packed full of information that every person needs to know. She interviews several doctors who are well-informed and leading the way in preventative medicine. Health care right now is so focused on treating disease. There is a pharmaceutical for everything! Just a few examples...If you have high cholesterol take a statin. If you have depression take an SSRI. If you can't sleep take Ambien. If you have menopausal symptoms take Premarin or Prempro. Blah, blah, blah. I am so sick of doctors treating their patients with harmful pharmaceuticals. Stop! If you can't trust your Doctor to make the right decision then you need to take control. I tell my patients that you have to be your own advocate. Take control. Educate yourself so you can make better decisions on what you put in your body. Most people have no idea the harm they are doing to their bodies by the diet they are eating. Hippocrates once said, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food." Hippocrates was on to something.
Most of us could fix a lot of the problems that plague us daily with just making better decisions about what to put in our body. You can't expect to feel well, look great and have energy if you don't provide your body with the nutrients it needs. So what should we eat? I try and eat at least five servings of vegetables a day and 4 to 5 servings of fruit. I believe in eating 5 to 6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism going. Also, give yourself some guidelines (i.e., don't eat after 7pm). Adapting these simple rules will boost your metabolism, help you to lose weight, help balance your hormone levels and help promote better health.
A very healthy rule to adopt, if you haven't already, is to avoid any and all forms of white sugar and white flour. Oh, and did I mention soda pop. Ask yourself if what your eating has any nutritional value whatsoever, if the answer is no...well you know what I'm going to say. The average 12 oz. coke has 9 tbs. of sugar. Do you add 9 tbs. of sugar to anything? I don't! Those diet sodas aren't any better. I wrote a research paper in college about aspartame. Let me just summarize it for you...scary! Artificial sweeteners and additives should be avoided like the plague. "Diet" foods in general should be avoided. If it says "Diet" on it, stay away. Why? Well, lots of reasons (another lecture) Artificial sweeteners are killing us.
Try to avoid eating out as much as possible. Eat fresh, home-prepared meals as often as possible. Know your calorie intake and output. A resting metabolic rate (RMR) is very helpful and can help you determine how many calories you should be eating, specific to your metabolism. We offer a Resting Metabolic Rate test at our facility. It runs about $65. It is a useful tool to help you to lose or maintain your healthy weight. My RMR is 1640. To maintain weight you should have your RMR be 75% of your calorie intake for the day. So, I should eat around 2186 calories a day, to maintain my weight. If you've never counted your calories, try it for a while. It's eye opening and will make you think about every little thing you put in your mouth. It stops the mindless eating because you know if you eat those M&M's you won't be able to eat your dinner because you've already blown your calorie intake for the day. Might make you think twice about mindless munching!
Portion control is so important. Don't allow yourself to over eat. We all know how miserable that overly full feeling can be. You feel so much better if you stop eating before you are full. I know I should eat around 2186 calories a day without exercise. If I exercise and burn 1,000 calories, I can eat 3186 calories a day. That's a lot of food! I try to divide that into six small meals. Estimate your calories and that will help you to know how big your portions should be. If you are trying to lose weight then obviously you need a calorie deficit each day (not as fun, btw). If you want to lose two lbs. per week you need to be deficient 1000 calories a day. So burn 3000 and eat 2000. Simple as that. If you want to lose a lb. a week, eat 500 calories less a day. It's easy math. FYI...there are 3500 calories in a lb. of fat. So if you are deficient 500 calories a day, seven days a week, that's 3500 calories, which is a lb.
I think the standard American diet consumes way too much meat. Eat meat sparingly. When you eat meat, choose lean meats that aren't processed. If you are trying to bulk up and add muscle mass there are plenty of other healthy sources of protein (another lecture). Stay away from red meats as much as much as possible. If you want another interesting read try reading "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell or "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrmann. Those books will make you think twice about all that meat you are consuming. I am not a Vegetarian or a Vegan (anymore); however, I do eat meat very sparingly. I eat meat twice a week, at most. The bowels function better without all that meat backing it up. Just an interesting side note, I read a statistic that you can carry around an extra 20 lbs. in impacted stool from a constipating diet. You want to lose 20 lbs. then loosen up those bowels. :) Smooth move is a good trick. It's an herbal tea an works like a charm. My personal opinion (which I can back up with several great references, if you'd like) is you should have a bowel movement at least twice a day! How many times a day to you have a bowel movement? (Hypothetical question. Please don't answer that.)
I read a book a few years back called "Solar Power for Optimal Health" by Marc Sorenson. Marc is a friend of mine and his research is genius. I would recommend reading this book. It will change the way you view not only your diet, but also sun exposure and sunblock. I believe getting a little sun each day on bare skin is great for your health. It is amazing what is does to boost Vitamin D production, which fights all different types of disease, including cancer. Believe it or not, but his research has shown that sun exposure actually reduces the risk of melanoma. Interesting, huh!?!
Eat the way Nature intended us to eat. Eat whole, raw foods as often as possible. Quit filling your bodies with junk! I make what I call a "green smoothie" every day. I pack in as many greens as I can find, add my omega 3 oils, throw in a couple of whole, fresh fruits and blend. It's delicious, filling and low calorie.
I try to eat at least one big green salad a day. Nutritionist and Physician, Joel Fuhrmann, in his book "Eat to Live", recommends that we eat at least one huge heaping salad a day. Pack in as many fresh veggies as you can find. The more color, the better. Be careful of your dressings and topping though. I like flavored vinegars. Great taste and zero to ten calories per serving, not too bad!
Water, water and more water. You should drink half your body weight in ounces a day. Do the math...that's a lot of water for most of you. I am 5'10" and weigh 123#. I should drink a minimum of 62 oz. a day. Now that is about 8 cups. If you weigh more than 120#'s then you need to be drinking more than 8 cups of water a day. Water is so good for you (as long as it is filtered or comes from a great source). Fresh spring water is the best way to go. The closest and best source of spring water I know of is close to Colorado City. It's worth the drive, so stock up. Reverse osmosis and filtered water is great! I won't claim to be the water expert here, but I have researched this quite a bit. Be careful of drinking too much bottled water. There are a lot of harmful chemicals in plastic bottles, especially once they sit in heat. Glass bottles are a better option. Drinking enough water will help you in many ways. It helps your skin hydrate and look less wrinkled (in this industry I know that women care a lot about that). Water helps every body function!
Another healthy tip...Don't get your education about nutrition from the media, food industry or our government. My personal opinion is that they don't care if you are healthy! They make more money off of us when we are overweight. Don't get me started on this subject!!!
Your calories have to come from one of three sources (carbohydrates, fat or protein). So, know the source. Carbs have a bad reputation. There are complex carbs and refined carbs. Stay away from refined carbs (cookies, crackers, white bread, white pasta, white rice). Complex carbs are great for you!
Read your food labels! I know many of you already do this, but I know many people who never glance at a label. You need to know what you are consuming. There are so many harmful substances, chemicals, additives and preservatives in the standard American diet...it's scary! A few things to avoid: high fructose corn syrup, msg (monosodium glutamate), artificial sweeteners (i.e., aspartame, nutrasweet, etc.), trans fat (hydrogenated oils).
I am re-reading the book "Breakthrough" by Suzanne Somers. If you haven't read this book, you need to. This book is jam-packed full of information that every person needs to know. She interviews several doctors who are well-informed and leading the way in preventative medicine. Health care right now is so focused on treating disease. There is a pharmaceutical for everything! Just a few examples...If you have high cholesterol take a statin. If you have depression take an SSRI. If you can't sleep take Ambien. If you have menopausal symptoms take Premarin or Prempro. Blah, blah, blah. I am so sick of doctors treating their patients with harmful pharmaceuticals. Stop! If you can't trust your Doctor to make the right decision then you need to take control. I tell my patients that you have to be your own advocate. Take control. Educate yourself so you can make better decisions on what you put in your body. Most people have no idea the harm they are doing to their bodies by the diet they are eating. Hippocrates once said, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food." Hippocrates was on to something.
Most of us could fix a lot of the problems that plague us daily with just making better decisions about what to put in our body. You can't expect to feel well, look great and have energy if you don't provide your body with the nutrients it needs. So what should we eat? I try and eat at least five servings of vegetables a day and 4 to 5 servings of fruit. I believe in eating 5 to 6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism going. Also, give yourself some guidelines (i.e., don't eat after 7pm). Adapting these simple rules will boost your metabolism, help you to lose weight, help balance your hormone levels and help promote better health.
A very healthy rule to adopt, if you haven't already, is to avoid any and all forms of white sugar and white flour. Oh, and did I mention soda pop. Ask yourself if what your eating has any nutritional value whatsoever, if the answer is no...well you know what I'm going to say. The average 12 oz. coke has 9 tbs. of sugar. Do you add 9 tbs. of sugar to anything? I don't! Those diet sodas aren't any better. I wrote a research paper in college about aspartame. Let me just summarize it for you...scary! Artificial sweeteners and additives should be avoided like the plague. "Diet" foods in general should be avoided. If it says "Diet" on it, stay away. Why? Well, lots of reasons (another lecture) Artificial sweeteners are killing us.
Try to avoid eating out as much as possible. Eat fresh, home-prepared meals as often as possible. Know your calorie intake and output. A resting metabolic rate (RMR) is very helpful and can help you determine how many calories you should be eating, specific to your metabolism. We offer a Resting Metabolic Rate test at our facility. It runs about $65. It is a useful tool to help you to lose or maintain your healthy weight. My RMR is 1640. To maintain weight you should have your RMR be 75% of your calorie intake for the day. So, I should eat around 2186 calories a day, to maintain my weight. If you've never counted your calories, try it for a while. It's eye opening and will make you think about every little thing you put in your mouth. It stops the mindless eating because you know if you eat those M&M's you won't be able to eat your dinner because you've already blown your calorie intake for the day. Might make you think twice about mindless munching!
Portion control is so important. Don't allow yourself to over eat. We all know how miserable that overly full feeling can be. You feel so much better if you stop eating before you are full. I know I should eat around 2186 calories a day without exercise. If I exercise and burn 1,000 calories, I can eat 3186 calories a day. That's a lot of food! I try to divide that into six small meals. Estimate your calories and that will help you to know how big your portions should be. If you are trying to lose weight then obviously you need a calorie deficit each day (not as fun, btw). If you want to lose two lbs. per week you need to be deficient 1000 calories a day. So burn 3000 and eat 2000. Simple as that. If you want to lose a lb. a week, eat 500 calories less a day. It's easy math. FYI...there are 3500 calories in a lb. of fat. So if you are deficient 500 calories a day, seven days a week, that's 3500 calories, which is a lb.
I think the standard American diet consumes way too much meat. Eat meat sparingly. When you eat meat, choose lean meats that aren't processed. If you are trying to bulk up and add muscle mass there are plenty of other healthy sources of protein (another lecture). Stay away from red meats as much as much as possible. If you want another interesting read try reading "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell or "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrmann. Those books will make you think twice about all that meat you are consuming. I am not a Vegetarian or a Vegan (anymore); however, I do eat meat very sparingly. I eat meat twice a week, at most. The bowels function better without all that meat backing it up. Just an interesting side note, I read a statistic that you can carry around an extra 20 lbs. in impacted stool from a constipating diet. You want to lose 20 lbs. then loosen up those bowels. :) Smooth move is a good trick. It's an herbal tea an works like a charm. My personal opinion (which I can back up with several great references, if you'd like) is you should have a bowel movement at least twice a day! How many times a day to you have a bowel movement? (Hypothetical question. Please don't answer that.)
I read a book a few years back called "Solar Power for Optimal Health" by Marc Sorenson. Marc is a friend of mine and his research is genius. I would recommend reading this book. It will change the way you view not only your diet, but also sun exposure and sunblock. I believe getting a little sun each day on bare skin is great for your health. It is amazing what is does to boost Vitamin D production, which fights all different types of disease, including cancer. Believe it or not, but his research has shown that sun exposure actually reduces the risk of melanoma. Interesting, huh!?!
Eat the way Nature intended us to eat. Eat whole, raw foods as often as possible. Quit filling your bodies with junk! I make what I call a "green smoothie" every day. I pack in as many greens as I can find, add my omega 3 oils, throw in a couple of whole, fresh fruits and blend. It's delicious, filling and low calorie.
I try to eat at least one big green salad a day. Nutritionist and Physician, Joel Fuhrmann, in his book "Eat to Live", recommends that we eat at least one huge heaping salad a day. Pack in as many fresh veggies as you can find. The more color, the better. Be careful of your dressings and topping though. I like flavored vinegars. Great taste and zero to ten calories per serving, not too bad!
Water, water and more water. You should drink half your body weight in ounces a day. Do the math...that's a lot of water for most of you. I am 5'10" and weigh 123#. I should drink a minimum of 62 oz. a day. Now that is about 8 cups. If you weigh more than 120#'s then you need to be drinking more than 8 cups of water a day. Water is so good for you (as long as it is filtered or comes from a great source). Fresh spring water is the best way to go. The closest and best source of spring water I know of is close to Colorado City. It's worth the drive, so stock up. Reverse osmosis and filtered water is great! I won't claim to be the water expert here, but I have researched this quite a bit. Be careful of drinking too much bottled water. There are a lot of harmful chemicals in plastic bottles, especially once they sit in heat. Glass bottles are a better option. Drinking enough water will help you in many ways. It helps your skin hydrate and look less wrinkled (in this industry I know that women care a lot about that). Water helps every body function!
Another healthy tip...Don't get your education about nutrition from the media, food industry or our government. My personal opinion is that they don't care if you are healthy! They make more money off of us when we are overweight. Don't get me started on this subject!!!
Your calories have to come from one of three sources (carbohydrates, fat or protein). So, know the source. Carbs have a bad reputation. There are complex carbs and refined carbs. Stay away from refined carbs (cookies, crackers, white bread, white pasta, white rice). Complex carbs are great for you!
Intro...
Hello! I am starting this blog to help my patients maintain their weight loss and achieve better health. I have so much information I would like to share with my patients and anyone who is trying to achieve better health. I am a Family Nurse Practitioner. I own and run Amara Med Spa in St. George, UT. I have been married for ten years to a great man. I have three beautiful children who are my inspiration for wanting better health. I think health is a life long journey. There is so much information out there on health and nutrition. This blog is my way of organizing my thoughts and compiling all the useful information for myself, my family and my patients. My background is in Family Practice where the agenda was treating disease. I changed my focus five years ago when I left Family Medicine to focus on disease prevention and health promotion. I have a weight loss program in our medical spa. I see many patients who lose a consider amount of weight then struggle to keep it off. I hope to change that struggle with this blog. Thanks for reading. Hopefully you learn something new. I welcome you to leave your comments if you have questions, suggestions or helpful tips. Thanks!
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