Reset Button! Getting your body in check!

Most of you know I am not a carby person. I always skip the bread, pasta, rice, and cereal. After all my schooling and research and personal experience, I feel that those foods are just fillers. That's exactly what they do... fill you up. So, if we were in a famine and needed food that could be brought out of storage to fill us up, then okay. But the fresh food that the Earth naturally produces for our consumption should take first priority.


To truly be "healthy" and as nutritious as possible one needs to get their body back to it's intended state. The state where all the sensors and triggers and survival mechanisms work properly. Our bodies are miracles and were designed to take on a mountain of circumstances. By eating overly processed foods in large quantities, we (usually) gain weight, increase our risk for Metabolic Syndrome (basically a precursor to multiple health problems) and all of those sensors are dulled and sometimes stop working all together.


If we can increase the amount WHOLE food we eat and get our blood sugar and cholesterol under control, those sensors will work again and we can stop stressing about diets and cravings and deprivation. Once we "reset" our bodies we can just listen to them. We can react to hunger pangs and feel full at the appropriate times. Cravings for processed, sugary foods will lessen, because our bodies will now know what food makes it feel good and what food makes it feel bad.

SO HERE IS A CHALLENGE.

For 2 weeks try to eat more of the foods below and say NO to anything that went through an extensive process to be produced. Comment and tell me how you feel.

THE FOODS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT BLOOD SUGAR AND THE GL.

It's not only those who suffer with diabetes that need to keep their blood sugar levels in check. More and more research is finding that the benefits of controlled blood sugar apply even to those who do not have diabetes and are otherwise healthy individuals. According to Dr. Mabel Blades, author of The Glycemic Load Counter, benefits of a low-GL diet include:

•Stable blood sugar levels

•Easier weight management and weight loss

•Increased energy

•Decreased risk of insulin resistance

•Improved memory

•Improved digestion

•Lowered cholesteroL

•Reduced risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome

Fruits

Even though many fruits have a moderate to high GL count due to their high sugar content, it's unlikely that one would eat enough to spike blood sugar levels the way even small amounts of processed carbs will. There are many fruits that are very low in GL and have little impact on blood sugar. A low-GL value is considered 10 or less, and one 4-ounce serving of the following fruits all have a GL value of less than 10.


•Fresh apricots
•Avocado
•Blackberries
•Cantaloupe
•Fresh cherries
•Grapefruit
•Grapes
•Honeydew
•Kiwi
•Lemon
•Mandarins
•Nectarines
•Oranges
•Raspberries
•Fresh watermelon


Vegetables


Vegetables are a little less tricky than fruit when it comes to GL, so very few vegetables will send blood sugar levels soaring, except potatoes and foods made from potatoes such as chips and french fries. The following vegetables are ranked as having a GL value of 0:


•Alfalfa
•Artichoke
•Asparagus
•Broccoli
•Brussels sprouts
•Cabbage
•Cauliflower
•Celery
•Cucumber
•Green beans
•Lettuce
•Onions
•Peppers
•Radishes
•Sauerkraut
•Spinach
•Squash


Read more at Suite101: Low Glycemic Load Fruits and Vegetables: Nutrient Rich Foods with a Low-GL Value http://food-facts.suite101.com/article.cfm/low_glycemic_load_fruits_and_vegetables#ixzz0qlkr8zvz

It's a new year so here is...

1) Think before you eat. Before shoving something in your mouth, think “Is this benefiting my body in some way?” If the answer is NO, then put it down and move on.


2) Move more. If you have no time to exercise, then make time! If that is difficult too, then do the easy things like choosing the farthest parking spot in the lot or doing jumping jacks in the commercials of your favorite show, or do active things on the weekends instead of dinner and a movie which is sit, eat, then sit some more.


3) Produce over package. When doing the grocery shopping, spend more time in the produce section gathering fruits and vegetables. Don’t even waste your time in the cookie, cracker, and Pop-tart isles. Not all packaged foods are bad, but they take more time and investigation on your part. You can’t go wrong with fresh produce!

4) Be adventurous. The American diet of steak and potatoes has given us some bad health statistics. Be adventurous and try Thai, Greek or fresh Mexican food. Different cuisines usually offer more vegetables and colors in the meal, which always a plus! These are great places to try. Pita Jungle YC’s Mongolian Grill, Wild Thaiger

5) Eat more fish. It is tough living in a land locked state, but fish is the bomb. Some fish offer super lean protein, others offer essential fats that improve our health. Try to eat fish 3 times or more a week. You will notice a difference! Learn how to buy and cook fish here!

6) Don’t go nuts! Just eat more of them…Don’t rely on peanuts and peanut butter to fulfill this. Eat more almonds, walnuts, cashews, and pecans. One handful everyday!

7) Count your colors. The best way to achieve a healthier lifestyle, weight loss goal, or improve a health condition is to load up on the vegetables and fruits. Try to eat 3 or more different colors at each meal. Here are some great recipes! Breakfast Smoothie Vegetable Fajitas Bean and Corn Salsa

8) Cut out sugar. Banning sugar all together forever is pretty much unrealistic for most people, but cutting it out the majority of the time or cutting down is doable. If you have a sweet tooth regularly, try using Stevia. It is a natural sweetener from the stevia leaf and it is becoming more and more mainstream. You can purchase it at any grocery store. It has no calories, no glycemic load, and is sweet like sugar.

9) Frozen is Fabulous. Stock your freezer with frozen vegetable medleys and fruit/berry medleys. There is no chopping, washing, or cleaning required so a meal can be whipped up super fast using a veggie medley. Fruit or berry medleys make an effortless dessert or breakfast smoothie. Did I mention how cheap they are?

10) Set a goal and get motivated. If improving your health is not enough motivation to start making better choices then choose something to work toward. Train for a run that benefits cancer, have a competition with friends or family, or have a person close to you be your motivator or partner in your journey.

If you have a request for tips, tricks or recipe makeovers just e-mail me! Nutritionbycalli@gmail.com

SO... Obviously I don't believe in evolution, but I do believe God put food on this Earth for us to eat because he knew it would benefit our bodies. Animals, Fish, Eggs, Veggies, Fruit, Nuts and Seeds. This video does a really good job of differentiating between life without processed food, and people who only consume processed food. Check it out if you have 5 1/2 minutes...

Tip #1 - Snack Attack!

I am a snacker. I love it- grazing, munching, and nibbling is a hobby of mine. The problem is that most "snack" type foods are very calorie dense and provide little nutritious value. You can snack before a meal and think it "didn't count"... But in reality you could have consumed more calories then, than you will when you sit down to eat. So, you are trying shed some pounds, or cut back on sugar, or what ever your health quest is at the time. What do you do?

Enjoy these tips. they work for me:

1) Don't go to the cracker, cookie, poptart isle of the grocery store, Just keep walking!

2) LOAD up on fresh fruit and vegetables and chop them up into convenient snack-size pieces so they are readily available when a snack attack occurs.

3) Make a habit of drinking a HUGE glass of water with your snack. This way, you won't have the need to keep looking in cupboards and opening the fridge for more. Water fills you up!

4) Fat. Even though many people think fat is an enemy, it needs to be consumed at every meal to keep you full for more than one or two hours. Some ideas: Peanut butter on toast instead of jelly, avocado on your turkey sandwich, or olive oil in your salad dressing. Fat is good for you, just eat the right portions of it!

5) Think...
If you are grazing out of boredom, go do something!! If you are hungry eat a snack. That was easy.