Guest Post: Finding Your ‘Why’

There are countless factors in play when it comes to how we eat. Making a change to diet or lifestyle can be daunting; so much so, in fact, that most of us elect to remain inactive, opting for ease and familiarity rather than challenge or change.

For many, the desire to make a change is rooted in “what things will be like” on the other side. Inaction is the paralyzing fear that the sacrifice, the work, the effort won’t be worth it. That we will fail, or worse, miss out on something good — and that won’t be worth it either.

If these worries are holding you back, consider instead the impact of making this change across our entire life. What will making this change mean for you? What will you gain from it?

Do you want to lose 10 pounds? Do you want more energy? Do you want to prevent disease? Do you want to be able to run up the stairs or pick up your kids or finally rid yourself of digestive upset? You can. You just need that ONE CLEAR REASON in mind to push you forward. What will that change mean for you? What will it add to your life? Moments of envy, frustration, doubt, or desire will be far more bearable when we have a big-picture motivator to keep us moving in the direction we intend.

In my practice, I work a great deal with people looking to overcome emotional eating and rebuild their relationship with food. Changing food habits means we need to get in touch with why we eat the way we do. This means considering why we associate certain foods with certain situations, looking at the connection between food and mood, and tuning into the signals our bodies provide. It can be overwhelming. There is a lot of information there, both physically and emotionally. When we start to look closely at our choices – really give ourselves space to think about why we make the ones we do – we begin to find opportunities hidden in our patterns that will permit us to break through. The key is taking a step off the ledge, acknowledging that we wish to make a change, and choosing to actively do so.

Keeping that goal in the forefront provides constant motivation and a rubric against which we can assess our choices: is this in line with where I want to go and who I want to be? Will this choice guide me closer to that goal? Know that you can make any change you want to, and that your reasons for doing so are valid, strong, and impactful.

If you’re looking for a clear place to start, these five ideas may help to stay motivated when it comes to making changes to your food patterns:

- identify your trigger foods: these are the things you can’t turn down and the ones that usually leave you feeling less than great. Start to make the connection between mind, body, and food.

- find substitutions you enjoy: the more good stuff there is in your diet – and your life in general – the less room there is for the more undesirable stuff. ‘Crowd out’ foods that don’t fuel your body with a variety of ones that do (and ones you enjoy).

- keep your big picture goal in mind: post it somewhere you will see it often (perhaps the wallpaper on your smartphone)

- don’t deprive yourself: when you choose to partake in a treat, allow yourself to enjoy it fully.

Guilt only exacerbates feelings of deprivation – and that’s not what we’re after! Flexibility and balance will serve you far more effectively.

- surround yourself with people and situations that support you: again, ‘crowd out’ negativity with as much positive energy as you can find. How do these interactions nourish you in ways food cannot?

- be open to new things: embrace adventure and exploration with your food.

- remember that there is not one diet that works for everyone: be open to tapping into your body’s intuition. It will tell you what it needs.

Every action begins with two decisions: the decision to act, and the decision to act in a specific way. Set that big-picture intention, keep it in mind, and let it guide the decisions you make. Then let things unfold as they will and revel in how great you feel for doing it.

Guest post provided by Amy Height.

Amy is a Holistic Health Coach and founder of From the Ground Up Wellness. She works with individuals and families looking to reestablish their relationship with food and build a strong foundation of lasting, healthy habits. She specializes in plant-based nutrition, weight loss, nutrition for children and young families, and managing food intolerances.

A graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Amy combines a breadth of nutritional training – and the concept of ‘food as fuel’ - with her own weight loss and fitness journey to provide motivation and resources to empower personal transformation.

She is certified by the American Association for Drugless Practitioners.

Try out a ten-day plant-based eating plan. www.fromthegroundupwellness.com

Make eating apples part of your routine

Whole apples are convenient snack. The fruit is low in calories. A medium-size apple has only 80 calories. Apples keep you hydrated: 84 percent of an apple’s content is water. This means apples not only satisfy your hunger but can satisfy your thirst as well.

Apples have long been associated with a healthful diet. Fresh apples are high in fiber and immune-boosting Vitamin C. Vitamin C is important for the growth and repair of all body tissues. Vitamin C also helps to heal cuts and wounds and keeps teeth and gums healthy.

When I eat apples, I keep the skin on. Eating whole apples with the skin is the most nutritious way to enjoy the fruit. A significant amount of the nutrients and beneficial compounds in apples are located just under the peel.

Apples are loaded with the powerful antioxidant, but is found predominantly in the skin. It has anti-inflammatory and heart-protecting qualities, and may reduce the growth and spread of cancer cells. Google “quercetin” to find out more. In addition, most of the fiber in apples comes from the skin and the pulp. When you remove the skin, you remove about half the fiber.

Apples are good for you. Numerous studies confirmed that apples have disease-fighting nutrients. Make eating apples part of your routine.  Be cool and bring apples to the office. After a few days you are likely to notice that you’re not the only one.

It is never too late to become a better you

If you are like most human beings, you may be stuck in one or more areas of your life or career and want to change. Perhaps to lose weight, eat healthy, become a better parent, or a better, more effective leader? In one word - a better you.

Achieving your change can be difficult, but not impossible. It is so often that initial first step that is so hard to make. We think of a millions reasons not to take it and then look back on a life filled with missed opportunities to grow, learn and become a better person.

It is critical to know what truly motivates you to change. Keeping in your mind a concrete reason will have a tremendous impact as you proceed with your efforts. Focus on the reasons why you want to change.

Motivate yourself daily because every day we make dozens of small choices that determine whether we will succeed. Like everything in life, you will need to commit to it, work hard and be consistent.

It is easier to stay motivated and stick to your intention to change when you see your progress. So, make a small change if that is what is possible. From that small change and success you will gain confidence and you can build upon that to make more and perhaps even bigger changes.

There is always room for improvement. Learn from both your successes and your failures, and then adjust. Eventually you will discover the right combination of tactics to help you achieve your desired change. It isn’t too late for you to improve something in your life that you really want to change. No matter what age you are at.

When it comes to our future success, there are two ways to look at life. We can feel powerless. We believe life just happens to us. It is out of our hands, so we sit back, play the role of the victim and react to everything. Or, we can feel powerful. We believe our choices make a difference in what happens to us. We chose to act rather than react to people and situations. Which one describes you?

Some things in life we can change; some things we can't. Losing weight, eating healthy, trying to become a better parent, are definitely goals that are within our reach. Make an effort to become a better you.

Eating healthy while away from home can be tough

Last week I travelled and worked away from home. This trip offered me an opportunity to meet and work with some truly amazing people.

For several days I enjoyed working with enthusiastic people who are passionate about their work. Their positive attitude and their enthusiasm for what they do was contagious and contributed towards successful completion of the project my team was working on.

Working away from home made eating healthy challenging for me. Limited time, not knowing where to buy healthy food, and eating between meetings prompted me to make hasty, unhealthy food decisions.

While healthy eating can be challenging when we are away from home, we can make efforts to make it less unhealthy. Here is what I did.

My hotel offered free breakfast, and the menu listed typical American breakfast food. I asked for apples and tomatoes, and they brought fruits and veggies that I requested. That helped me add some healthy elements to my breakfasts there. Another positive example was that the day after I asked at the front desk, where I could buy apples (my favorite snacks), free apples appeared on the table near the front desk.

Healthy food options were very limited in the area where I was during lunch and dinner times as well, and my choices were not perfect. I ended up with buying food for lunch in three different locations and creating my own menus. 

I was not the only one in my group that experienced the lack of healthy food choices challenge. One of my coworkers had to come back to the hotel and take some medicine to recover from stomach pain caused by unhealthy food she ate.

On the positive note I was happy that there were plenty of places that offered my favored coffee. I was in Seattle.

“No hunger” is the key

Hunger is the biggest pothole on the road of successful weight loss. The importance of no hunger in your weight loss strategy cannot be overstated. Allowing yourself to get to the point of feeling hungry will not help you lose weight. It is hard not to eat when you get hungry. It goes against human nature.

When you get hungry, you tend to want to eat more. The feeling of an empty stomach is very difficult, if not impossible, to tolerate and at some point you give in. Hunger is the most significant problem with weight loss and a diet that results in hunger will never be successful.

Snacking on healthy foods every few hours helps you avoid hunger and the associated  overeating. Apples work perfectly for me.

Diet programs that encourage you to eat smaller portions of the same foods you have been eating, rather than shift your eating entirely to a new regimen will not be successful, either. Reducing your portions to the point that you feel hungry at the end of a meal will not work. It is hard to force yourself to eat less.

But it's possible to choose what you eat. The answer to weight loss challenge lies in shifting your attention to the types of food you should be eating, rather than just counting calories or eating smaller portions of the foods you have been eating.

I really think anyone can lose weight without feeling hungry. You just have to eat the right foods. Automate your meal choices to create routines that make it easy to eat the right food.

I changed the types of food I ate and I lost weight. It took a bit of focus in the beginning to do it, but after a while, it became a natural way of eating.

Guest Post: Drink Water, Not Sugar

You’ve probably heard that one 12-ounce soda has about 150 calories and 10 teaspoons of sugar. But did you know that juice can have even more sugar than soda?

Drinking sugared soda, fruit drinks, and juice can add up quickly. It’s easy to consume several hundred calories a day without realizing it. Research suggests that people who drink soda or other sugary beverages on a regular basis are more likely to gain weight than those who don’t, and that switching from these to water or unsweetened drinks can reduce weight.

Without a doubt, drinking water is one of the best ways to stay hydrated and manage your weight. It’s thirst quenching and calorie free. So, drink up! And to determine your individual fluid requirement, divide your body weight in half – that’s approximately how many ounces you need daily. For example, a person who weighs 180 pounds needs about 90 ounces of fluid per day. Please share in the comment section below. Your ideas could be very helpful to other readers.

Guest post provided by Lorraine Matthews-Antosiewicz, MS RD.

Lorraine is a food and nutrition expert specializing in weight management and digestive health. She is committed to empowering people through education, support, and inspiration to make real changes that lead to optimal health and lasting weight loss. Take her Free Self-Assessment and learn how you can lose 20 lb. – or more. Jump Start your weight loss today! http://njnutritionist.com/freeassessment

Rapid weight loss worked for me best

Many “experts” want you to believe that slow, gradual weight loss is easier to sustain than large, rapid weight loss.

What worked for me is opposite. I needed a solution that would provide the fewest calories possible while still providing all of the essential nutrients required by the body: protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.

I started to lose weight fast and fast results kept me motivated.  I got excited and wanted to stick with my method.  I had the incentive to keep going because  I saw the numbers on the scale going down every single day.

Clinical trials have found that people who jump-start their diets by dropping a lot of weight in the beginning had the best results in long-term studies.