Live Food, Dead Food

In Dr. Colbert’s book Eat This and Live, he talks about dead food and living food. He says:

Imagine you have two shelves in your pantry, one says “dead food” and the other “living food.” On the “dead food” shelf is a label that reads: “These foods will increase your risk of developing degenerative diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and arthritis; and make you overweight. They will also make you more prone to fatigue, hypertension and high cholesterol.

But the “living food” shelf’s label reads: “These foods will help your body arm itself against cancer, heart disease, degenerative diseases and obesity; and they will sharpen your mind, energize and enliven you.”

If we would start thinking of food as life-giving or death-accelerating, it could help us make better decisions. Not only should we consider how many calories a food contains, but also what ingredients are in the food.

For instance, a 100 calorie pack may be a controlled portion of junk food, but it is still junk food. How much of the ingredients in that packet are life-giving?

Often prepackaged foods are loaded with additives and chemicals to make them taste better and keep them preserved. This kind of food does not supply life-giving nutrients.

Fresh foods, those close to their natural state, are usually packed with nutrients. They are usually lower in calories and higher in fiber – like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean animal products.

Take a tour through your kitchen. Separate the living from the dead. What foods should you throw out? How can you add more living food to your diet?

Eating well is not only about losing weight. It’s about living well.

Game’s Not Over

I’m working with a client to help him lose a certain amount of weight. He is only five pounds away from his goal and he’s excited to be so close.

“But it’s not like it ends there,” he told me. “It isn’t ‘game over’.”

I am really encouraged by his perspective. He understands that these are lifestyle changes. He isn’t on a diet that he will “come off of” because he reached his weight loss goal. He realizes that to stay healthy and fit, and maintain a good body weight, he will need to continue eating well and exercising.

I’ve seen so many people lose and gain, lose and gain. It’s because they have not made healthy living their style of living. They haven’t embraced it. They haven’t made a commitment to stick with it today, tomorrow, and forever.

In pursuing a healthy body weight and a fit body, the game is never over. Every day the plays we make determine our score. Are you playing to be a winner?

Food Planning Made Easy

Do you struggle with your food because you’re always short on time when it comes to planning? Do you get caught making a bad food choice because you didn’t have anything healthy prepared?

One thing I find helpful in my own food planning, as well as with clients who are busy, is to eat basically the same foods every week day. For example:

Breakfast – oatmeal and egg whites
Snack – almonds and apple
Lunch – Tuna/chicken and salad
Snack – yogurt and berries
Dinner – Fish/chicken, brown rice and green veggie
Snack – protein shake

This makes planning really easy. Once you get into the routine, you barely have to think about your food.

Then on the weekends, switch it up. Have whole wheat pasta with turkey meatballs, or turkey chili, etc. Enjoy the foods that take a little more prep time.

Then on Monday, back to the usual. This makes food planning really easy and quick.

Spend a Little Time, Save a Lot of Calories

Yesterday I had to drive some distance away and was on the road for about six hours. I didn’t feel like figuring all my food and packing it. (It takes time and effort to think ahead and make it!)

On the other hand, I really didn’t want to have to try to find something healthy on the road. I especially didn’t want to get caught hungry and end up making a poor choice. See, I know myself too well. And I wanted to smile at the scale this morning, not feel disappointed.

So I went ahead and got my food ready: almonds, applesauce, tuna on lettuce, lite popcorn (popped), apple with peanut butter, and celery sticks (and water bottles). The only thing I did get on the road was a cup of coffee - chocolate caramel - with a little fat free milk. I was very happy to come home and add all my calories together and see that I was right where I needed to be.

If we can look past the effort to the end result, we realize how little the effort really is when compared to how much it helps us reach our goal.

One of the easiest things you can do that has the biggest impact on your weight is planning and preparing your food. Depending on your job, schedule, etc., this could mean packing a day’s worth of stuff in a lunch cooler. So what? It may take a little time, but it’ll save you a bunch of calories… and bad choices, and crying over the scale, and heart disease, etc, etc.

Stop whining over the work involved in living healthy and start bragging about the benefits.

More Tea, Please

I grew up next door to my grandparents. As a little girl, I spent a lot of time with them. One of my sweet memories is the many summer evenings I spent sitting with them on their front porch sipping tea. My grandma would pour a little of her tea into her saucer for it to cool then give it to me to drink. That could by why to this day I love tea, especially mint varieties.

Every day I drink about three cups of herbal tea. It’s not only because I enjoy the flavor, but it is one of the little “helpers” that keeps my food consumption in line. 1.) It’s flavorful. Water is great, but sometimes I just want taste. 2.) It’s healthy. I don’t have to worry about all the additives and artificial stuff. 3.) It’s hot. Drinking something hot helps fill me up and get me through munchy times.

If you haven’t checked out the tea section at the grocery store recently, you might want to give it a glance. The varieties are amazing: blueberry (which I love), tangerine, raspberry, cinnamon apple, almond, lemon, and all assortments of mint. There are even teas to help with weight loss, tension, and sleep.

I indulged in vanilla maple black tea with a little Splenda for sweetness. Mmmmm. Tasted sinful.

Happy sipping.

Better Today

I had a fantastic run over the weekend. I finally got my time down to what it had been during the summer. I could tell my pace was good. I could feel the energy in my body. I wasn’t dragging; I was springing forward. It felt so great.

Even so, even on my good days, I know I am a slower runner than most. And even after that great run, I felt a twinge of disappointment. I wished I could’ve made the run faster.

I had to do some talking to myself because running six miles on hilly terrain is an accomplishment – even if it’s not very fast. I had to remind myself that five years ago I didn’t run at all. I walked a mile and thought I was doing something great.

Then I started walking two miles. Before I knew it, I was walking three miles, then four. Then I realized that walking really was too easy so I added jogging intervals… from this mailbox to that telephone poll, from this tree to that driveway. The intervals became longer. Somehow, I made it to jogging four miles. Then eventually five. Then I picked up my pace. Then I tried six miles. Over the summer, I now like to throw in an eight-mile run every week.

I may never be fast, but I’m better today than I was back then. I’m doing things today physically that I never imagined I could.

What about you? Can you look back and say you are better today? Are you doing things you thought you never could? Don’t be afraid to try.

Bundle Up, Go Outside

Do you start to feel cooped up during the winter? Feel like your house is getting smaller and your kids are getting louder? Are you snappy and irritable?

You need some fresh air and sunshine!

Getting outside for a walk or a jog on a sunny winter’s day will cheer you up. It could be the sounds of the brave winter birds twittering despite the cold, the fragrance of the fir trees lining your path, the white dusting of snow on the ground. Perhaps it’s the solitude and quiet that bring such peace.

It could also be the boost of vitamin D your body makes when exposed to natural sunlight.

Your body’s biggest source of vitamin D comes from the sun. Limited sun exposure is actually good for you. Studies show that vitamin D can prolong your life, and guard against certain cancers and osteoporosis.

Without enough sunshine and vitamin D, Seasonal Effective Disorder can occur. The depression-type symptoms come on during the dark, cold days of winter.

So bundle up and go outside. Take your daily dose of the sunshine vitamin.