Power of planning

Planning is what makes eating real, healthy food possible. Take 15 minutes to plan for a successful healthy week ahead. Use this time to plan what and where you will eat next week.

Also, plan your grocery trip by making your grocery list. Make a list every time you go to the grocery store. Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. If you do you will be more likely to make impulse purchases.

Always keep a stash of healthy food at home and healthy snacks at work. It will make it easier to make healthy choices, and it will prevent you from going too long without eating.

Thinking ahead, planning what and where you will eat as meals, and grocery shopping based on the Eat like Me approach are the keys to healthy eating and losing weight. 

Gained weight on vacation

I just spent two glorious weeks on vacation in Florida. I relaxed, I read, I ran, and I cherished and enjoyed every moment spent with my wife. I also violated my eating right  life style rules by buying and consuming food that is not healthy.

Everyone has that one food that sends them off track, that they just can’t eat in moderation. For me, there are a few. Ice cream is one of them. I knew I couldn’t eat ice cream in moderation, yet I still bough and eat it. Lots of ice cream. I think it was because I knew it would be temporary. In NYC I don’t buy ice cream.

I also learned that one meal doesn’t have to ruin your whole day. If you stray away from your plan at one meal, you can still get back on track with the next one.

Now I am back home and I am transitioning back to reality. When I stepped on the scale at home my honest accountability partner showed that I gained eight pounds.

I am resuming healthy eating most of the time. The Eat Like Me eating approach that helped me lose weight in the past. Posted picture represents my healthy choice in a mall-like environment this afternoon. Will keep my efforts to stay in healthy habit mode (until next vacation, he he).

Vacation is a time to relax and enjoy life

Vacation offers free-time to spend with family and loved ones, and gives us an opportunity to engage in enjoyable activities. Vacation provides an unparalleled bonding experience.   

Sharing new and exciting experiences with my family connects me in a way that few other events allow.  The activities and the meals are moments that I will always cherish. 

I realized that since day one of my vacation, I do not comply with some of the healthy lifestyle rules I encourage others to follow.  While in some situations I have limited choices or no healthy alternatives at all, there are also situations that I do have a choice but I choose poorly.

For the last several days I don’t use all tools and routines that had led me to weight loss, and later to effective maintenance of healthy weight. I don’t do much of the planning of where (what) I will eat. I also skip some of the healthy routines that work so well for me when I am home or at work.

My justification is that a few days of less than full compliance with healthy eating is not going to be a big deal. Plus, I am on vacation and vacation is a time to relax and enjoy life. Pretty hypocritical, isn’t it?

It will all end and go back to norm after the second week is over, but it struck me how easy it is for me just to ignore my unhealthy imperfections.

Breakfast challenge while on vacation

I am posting this from vacations in Florida. Life is beautiful here. People are great. Weather is as expected, either very hot or rain with lightings.

The hotel I am in offers me a big challenge in the morning. Breakfast that is served downstairs has no healthy options. It is a bit starnge, because now even fast food restaurants have healthy options on their menu.

On the positive note, I met a person who lost 120 pounds. One hundred and twenty!!!

Better sleep means better health

Eating right and getting enough sleep are well-known behaviors for good health.

Sleep is essential to good health, and a lack of it can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, weight gain, and diabetes. There is no known substitute for sleep.

Quality sleep promotes physical, mental and emotional health. It also boosts alertness, performance and memory. Most adults need at least seven hours of nightly sleep for optimal health and productivity. Some people need more sleep to feel well-rested.

Sleep experts say there is ample evidence that shows that when people get the sleep they need, they will not only feel better, but will also increase their odds of living healthier, more productive lives.

Sleep deprivation can be dangerous. People who do not get adequate sleep experience impairment of concentration, judgment, and learning ability. If you cut sleep back to five or six hours a night for several days in a row, the accumulated sleep deficit will magnify these negative effects.

Do you get enough sleep?

What is processed food

While some type of food treatment is important for food safety and food storage, important nutrients and vitamins are lost in each processing step.

When nutritionists refer to processed foods, they're typically referring to products that are heavily modified and contain a long list of ingredients, including many snack foods, sweets, frozen prepared foods, sugary drinks, and packaged meats.

These foods have minimal nutritional value. On average, processing usually removes 50 – 80% of nutrients from a food. Avoiding processed foods will improve how you look and feel and lead to lasting weight loss. Even better - you may reduce or completely eliminate symptoms associated with common health disorders.

Guest Post: The Dos and Don’ts of Clean Eating

Clean eating is a catchy, popular phrase that can basically mean eating healthy. Although the exact meaning of clean eating can vary, in general it refers to eating whole, unprocessed foods. It limits consumption of fast food or packaged, processed foods that many Americans have grown to rely on.

The idea of eating clean is not new, but the term clean eating is. Whether you call it clean eating or not, eating more unprocessed foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds and lean proteins is beneficial for overall health. Here are some practical dos and don’ts tips for clean eating that can be a guideline for you to follow.

Cut out processed food

Cutting out processed food is the main focus of the clean eating movement. Processed food is a catch all term for any food that comes in a bag, box, can or other packaging that can sit on a shelf for a good amount of time without spoiling. Processed food is notorious for being high in sugar, unhealthy fats, sodium, preservatives and low in nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber.

By cutting out processed food, your food should be “cleaner” because it doesn’t have added artificial ingredients and is true to its purest form from nature. A word of caution: cutting out processed food can be hard! This is especially hard if you are used to eating packaged food and not used to cooking. However, the health benefits are well worth it.

Bump up fruits and vegetables

Besides cutting out processed food, which is a great first step, make sure to eat a high amount of fruits and vegetables for clean eating. Some people suggest clean eating also entails eating organic fruits and vegetables when possible to lower pesticide residue.

Focus on eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables when they are in season. This can be done easily by shopping at farmer’s markets or purchasing a community supported agriculture (CSA) share from a local farm.

Fruits and vegetables have many important nutrients, plus they are high in fiber which can increase satiety. Don’t cut out processed food without bumping up your fruit and vegetable intake; these two steps should go hand in hand.

Stay away from hard to pronounce ingredients

Staying away from hard to pronounce food ingredients can be much easier when you cut down on processed foods. Most hard to pronounce words in ingredient labels are preservatives meant to prolong the shelf life of food products. Clean eating focuses on eliminating these preservatives and other chemicals in the food system.

Know where your food comes from

Eating local is sometimes associated with clean eating because eating local also focuses on minimizing processed food. Knowing where your food comes from means trying to eat locally grown fruits and vegetables or locally raised proteins when possible. If you have the choice of buying locally grown blueberries or blueberries from South America, choose local if you can.

Eating foods from a local food system can increase nutrient density of food, as local foods are usually not harvested before they are ripe which can increase vitamin and mineral content.

Be balanced

Something to avoid with clean eating is to get over obsessed about eating perfect food. Food is meant to be enjoyed and nourishing for the body and mind, but it should not be exhausting or obsessive. Also, keep in mind whatever diet you follow, balance and moderation are important concepts. Keep meals balanced with healthy carbohydrate, protein and fat sources.

The term orthorexia is defined as having an unhealthy obsession with eating pure (or clean). Clean eating should be a healthy lifestyle, not a rigid eating pattern. If you need to eat something out of a package while trying to eat clean it is not the end of the world. As with anything, keep healthy choices the majority and easiest choice but learn to deal with situations where you may not be able to eat exactly how you want to or are used to.

Learn what you can adapt from clean eating principles and know where you may need to adjust these guidelines, depending on your circumstances. Eat balanced meals that include the major food categories unless you have food illnesses or intolerances.

Conclusion

Clean eating is a popular term for healthy eating with a focus on fresh, natural food. Clean eating limits intake of processed food and fast food, which can be difficult with the usual busy American lifestyle. Clean eating focuses on eating a high number of fresh fruits and vegetables, and some would say this also includes eating organic foods when possible. 

Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is also recommended.

Other additions to clean eating can be trying to eat as local as possible and knowing where your food comes from. An important consideration for ay diet or health trend is to remember food should be enjoyed and is meant to nourish the body, not be an obsession with strict eating rules.

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Guest post provided by Holly Klamer. Holly is a registered dietitian with a MS degree in nutrition and exercise science. She teaches nutrition at 2 colleges in Denver and has her own nutrition consulting business, Step Ahead Nutrition. You can connect with Holly on her Google+ page.