Primary Foods: Social Life

I have no social life to speak of outside my household. I work all day in a cubicle by myself, then I spend my nights and weekends with my Husband and Step-Son, whom I love very much and enjoy spending time with. However, everyone needs to disconnect from their life sometimes, to socialize with someone who is outside your immediate circle and to talk about your struggles with people who are experiencing the same things.

What better way is there to improve this Primary Food than to start a weight-loss support group? This will be addressing two Primary Foods at the same time; Social Life and Health. I have weight loss goals of my own to reach and going it alone is proving to be ineffective. I have used weight-loss support groups in the past and they were very effective. This group will be more intimate and will  focus on bio-individuality to help members achieve their goals. 

In one of our modules for IIN we watched a lecture from Dr. Mark Hyman, author of the "Blood Sugar Solution" and many other books. He spoke about a plan he created called the Daniel Plan. To implement this plan he approached a church community of 14 thousand people and had all these people agree to enroll in the Daniel Plan. They met in small groups for six weeks and in that time they lost a total of 160,000 pounds! In the lecture Dr. Hyman states that our social networks determine our behavior, for example;  if your social network is a community of like minded people with similar goals to your own, you are more likely to reach your goals and vice versa. I agree with Dr. Hyman wholeheartedly, it is much easier to make permanent healthy changes when you have support from people who are doing the same thing. 

In the right Weight-Loss Support group you can:

• Find a solid support system.
• Stick to your goals for your health and weight.
• Learn from your fellow members, and figure out what works for your body and lifestyle.
• Have Fun and Socialize!

If you are trying to lose weight I urge you not to go it alone, look for a weight-loss support group in your area or start one of your own. If you live in my area and are looking for a support group to help you achieve your weight-loss goals please consider joining mine! My Flyer is below.

Wishing you whole health and happiness!

Going Dry

Last weekend on the drive home from our semi-weekly shopping trip, my husband and I discussed how much money we have been spending on alcohol in the past few months and as result how much we have been consuming.

While my husband does not believe that our consumption of alcohol is having any negative effects on us, I suggested that we try to go "dry" for a length of time; in this case stop purchasing and drinking alcohol for a month, maybe two. My theory is that our consumption of alcohol affects us on three levels;
1. Money - we spend money on wine, beer and tequila on a pretty regular basis. 2. Poor Eating - when we drink we make extra trips to the store to buy the alcohol, while there we usually decide we want junk food to go with our alcohol, so we spend more money to eat junk food and don't use the good food we have in the house. 3. Unwanted Habits - drinking on a regular basis the way we do encourages us to sit in front of the t.v. for a couple of hours every night instead of doing all the other things we are always saying we want to do; i.e. exercise, read interesting books, work on our respective businesses we're starting, etc..

My husband has agreed to stop consuming alcohol as long as I track our expenses so we can compare this next month of no alcohol to our previous month of drinking alcohol and see if we really do save money. I already do this tracking on a regular basis as part of our budgeting so it will be no problem to track it going forward. We agreed last Sunday that once the alcohol in the house was gone we would not purchase anymore for a month and I would start tracking. Today starts our first week of alcohol free living and I am very interested to see how it affects our daily lives as well as our bank account.

Ten good reasons to reduce your consumption of alcohol:

1. Extremely Diuretic: causing dehydration; and as a result other health problems.
2. Highly Addictive
3. Weakens the immune system
4. Increases risk of cancers: mouth, esophagus, throat, liver and breast.
5. Liver Damage: Fibrosis, Cirrhosis, Steatosis (Fatty Liver)
6. Heart damage: Cardiomyopathy, Stroke, High Blood Pressure
7. Expensive: alcohol can be a monetary burden due to high costs and repeated expenditure.
8. Drowsiness
9. Lethargy
10. Weight gain – calories from alcohol have no nutritional value for the body,can cause cravings for fatty and sugary foods and mindless eating. 

Just in case you were wondering exactly how many calories you are drinking, here are a few examples:

Tequila: 1.5 ounces = 100 cal =
3 1/4 cups of broccoli.
Hoegaarden Beer: 1 bottle = 176 cal =
25 cups of spinach.
Red Wine: 4 ounce glass = 100 cal =
3 3/4 cups of cherry tomatoes.

That is an incredible amount of veggies for three drinks! I don't think I could eat 25 cups of spinach in a day, but I know that I definitely have consumed three or more bottles of beer in less than six hours.

This week try to substitute one of your alcoholic drinks for a calming herbal tea, a glass of water, or a couple of giant salads!

Wishing you whole health and happiness!

Water - The Magic Elixir

I noticed the other day that I have, for some reason unknown to me, almost completely stopped drinking water in the past two-weeks. Sometimes when we are running through our busy day it is really hard to remember to eat lunch, say nothing about remembering to drink the amount of water our body needs! So I wanted to post a friendly reminder about how important it is to drink water and what it does for our bodies.

Nine reasons water is important:

1.       The human body is made up of 75% water and the human brain is 85% water.

2.       Water is in every cell, tissue and organ in our body.

3.       Without adequate water the body cannot be healthy and is at higher risk for disease and illness.

4.       Water is the foundation of life

5.       Water generates life on the planet

6.       Water helps your body keep a normal temperature

7.       Water lubricates and cushions your joints

8.       Water protects your spinal cord and other sensitive tissues

9.       Water gets rid of wastes through urination, perspiration and bowel movements

Here are some signs that you may not be getting enough water:

·         Backaches

·         Headaches

·         Digestive problems

·         Fatigue

·         Hunger

·         Sugar cravings

·         Confusion.

There is no substitute for water; Coffee, tea, soda, alcohol and energy drinks are not water!  They contain water, but they also contain dehydrating agents. These drinks will not replenish the water supply your body needs.

In your travels today try drinking a glass of water when you feel hungry, tired, have a headaches or a sugar craving. Have an 8oz glass of water first, before you eat, take a pain reliever or go for another cup of coffee, see how it makes you feel… I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Primary Foods - Week 2

A short road that runs behind my work office

 To follow-up from last week, I did successfully implement my walking plan at work. It was incredibly helpful!

Getting up every two hours and taking a brisk five minute walk was refreshing and the pain I usually feel in my knees, hips and lower back was not there at all. It also really helped with my overall mood at work.

Near the end of the week when deadlines were looming I was waiting longer to stop and take a walking break and I could definitely feel it! It was very clear to me how important it is for my wellbeing and productivity to get up and move. When I am in the thick of deadlines and time constraints I get caught up in the stress and I believe that I need to keep going, taking a break of any kind will be a distraction and cause me to miss my deadline. I discovered last week that the opposite is true, I am more productive and clear headed when I get up and walk outside for a few minutes. While it is a distraction from work, in the sense that I stop working for five minutes, the movement of my body and breathing fresh air keeps my mood up and my head clear. I am actually happy to be working on the projects I am working on and feel good about getting them done instead of feeling overwhelmed and angry.

Shieling Forest

Shieling Forest

I am still working on adding in activity after work. With work, school, being a Step-Mom and a Wife I have found that it is not as easy to fit in 20 minutes of walking at the end of the day as I thought it would be. Over the weekend my husband and I stopped at Shieling Forest, which is a 10 minute drive from our house and about 5 minutes from my office. I have included some pictures of the trail we walked. This place has short and easy trails through the forest that are beautiful. While we were there I thought, "I need to spend more time here, this place is perfect!" My goal for this week is to continue with the five minute walking breaks through-out the day and then go to Sheiling Forest twice this week after work before I go home so that I can take a quick 20 minute walk through the beautiful forest.

I am very happily surprised at how small changes can make such a big difference I am excited to continue working on increasing my activity and then also working on my other Primary Foods that need attention in the coming weeks.

How have your own efforts to increase activity been going? What are you finding difficult or easy? Have you noticed any improvements since adding in more activity? I encourage you to keep trying and keep increasing in whatever way works best for you.

Wishing you whole health and wellness!

Primary Foods

At IIN (Institute for Integrative Nutrition) we learn about the concept of Primary Foods versus Secondary Foods. Contrary to what you may be thinking, Primary Foods are not actual foods. Primary foods are sources of joy and satisfaction in our everyday life that help us feel fulfilled and purposeful. Primary foods sustain us in all the ways food nutrition cannot. I believe that a person can have the healthiest diet and exercise regimen in the world and still be unhealthy and sick if they have imbalance in their primary foods.  

My next step in addressing my mood issues and bringing balance and fulfillment into my life is to work on my own primary foods. The picture to the right is called the Circle of life, it is part of an exercise to figure out the areas of Primary Foods that need attention. It can also be used as a tool for tracking progress. I can do this exercise every month or at other intervals to see what progress I have made.

This is how the exercise works:

1. Place a dot on the line in each category to indicate how satisfied you are with each area. Place a dot at the center of the circle to indicate dissatisfaction or on the periphery to indicate satisfaction.
2. Connect the dots to see your Circle of Life. 
3. Identify imbalances. Determine where to spend more time and energy to create balance.

You can see from the dots and connected lines on my Circle of life that there is some imbalance. My Circle of life is definitely not a circle! My primary foods that need attention are Career, Health, Physical Activity, Social Life, Confidence and Spirituality. Over the next four weeks I am going to address these areas of imbalance and let you know how I am doing it.

In the 1st week (Starting today) I am going to work on Physical Activity and Career. Two areas that are connected and have a large impact on my daily well being and level of happiness. I have a job that requires me to sit in front of a computer for about 8-9 hours a day, spending my days like this has caused back and neck issues for which I go to a chiropractor and a massage therapist. There is a lot of pain on most days and this situation is not helped by the fact that 50% of time my job is so stressful, with tight deadlines that I don't get up from the chair for up to four hours at a time. Couple that with a complete lack of exercise outside of work and you have a stiff, painful and out of shape body. Therefore my goal for this week is to take a 5 minute walking or stretching break every two hours while at work and to add in 20 minutes of walking every night after work.

I will be implementing this by creating alarms on my phone to go off every two hours while at work to remind me to get up and move as well as reminders in my calendar so I don't forget to walk after work. If you are also trying to increase your level of activity I invite you to join me; create reminders and/or alarms for yourself to get up and move, whatever it is that you like to do for movement is great! Let me know how you are adding in daily activity by posting a comment at the bottom of this post.

 Wishing you whole health and wellness!

Moody Blues

       

I have been experiencing feelings of extreme anxiety, depression, anger, weariness and debilitating stress along with extreme sugar and alcohol cravings over the past 3 or 4 years. In recent months it had been getting to a point that I felt completely out-of-control and desperate for a solution. 

I believe many people who have these feelings and cravings will agree it is a losing battle of willpower and physical cravings. The circle of guilt and shame surrounding these cravings only adds fuel to the fire and makes it impossible to lose weight and feel healthy. This is exactly what I was experiencing, so I decided that before I could follow a healthy eating plan and change my lifestyle permanently I first needed to address these extremely debilitating moods and cravings that were defeating every attempt I made to be healthy.

One of the books I read while doing my own nutrition research is called “The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying OurBrains and Harming our Children” written by Carol Simontacchi. I highly recommend this book to everyone, it explains the effect that processed foods have on our brains and how that can lead to psychological disorders and diseases. 
In Carol's book she talks about another book called “The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge ofYour Emotions—Today” written by Julia Ross. After reading “The Crazy Makers” I became interested in the idea of how food affects our moods and state of mind and as my own mental well-being started to spiral downward I decided that I needed to read this book by Julia Ross.

Here is an excerpt directly from Julia Ross’s Mood Cure website:

“We're in a bad mood epidemic. Depression and anxiety have tripled in the last ten years. The Mood Cure explains why and provides the good news that we can feel better emotionally, without the use of caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, or anti-depressants-and the even better news that we can begin to see the results in just one day. The Mood Cure is a comprehensive natural approach that jump-starts your program with brain-fueling amino acids combined with a high-protein, healthy-fat, veggie-rich diet and other nutritional strategies.” – www.moodcure.com

The knowledge I have gained about essential amino acids could very well be my saving grace. I have been taking 3 supplements regularly for eleven days with profound changes affecting me already; in the first day even. The uncontrollable cravings for sugar and alcohol have disappeared. My mood, outlook on life and sleep have all greatly improved. I am better able to deal with stress at work and in daily life. My husband has reported that he has noticed a significant difference in my demeanor and is ecstatic with the changes! Specifically he has told me that since starting these supplements I have become more physically affectionate and I laugh, smile and play of my own accord without any prompting or coaxing. 

I believe that the stress and hardship of losing a close dear friend in a car accident 10 years ago and then being diagnosed with cancer and the subsequent surgery and radiation treatments had severely depleted my brain stores of the essential amino acids that help deal with stress successfully. These supplements are helping to restore the appropriate levels in my brain. With diet and lifestyle changes I will eventually not need the supplements anymore, for the time being these supplements are giving me what I need to stop the cravings and get motivated to make necessary changes for losing weight holistically.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone experiencing severe mood problems, go the Mood Cure website, fill out the questionnaires and find out if this book can help you. I am amazed at the results. I am now ready and motivated to move on to the next step :-)