As most of us know holiday eating has become a big culprit when it comes to our health and managing our waistlines. Most people would rather not worry about their weight during this time because they feel it’s a lost cause.
During the holidays, we obviously affiliate celebrating with over-indulgence and gluttony. Not hard to imagine how we give in right? Huge dinners, festivities and parties offering dips, chips and rich foods, sweet delicacies and much alcohol… all seducing you from Thanksgiving to New Year’s eve …
… And its not like it catches us by surprise every year… we know it’s coming and some of my clients and friends even anticipate the whole yo-yo phenomenon, yet they feel there is no way out, but to give in…
They tell me as a matter of fact, “every year I gain 10 pounds during this time and then I struggle to take it off only to do the same next year” or “I can’t commit to your program now, but after the first of the year I want to work with you to lose my weight”…
In our search for the perfect weight loss diet, we have removed carbs, fat and protein and have tried everything in between.
Instead we find that we are hungrier, moodier and we have become emotional eaters, while our waist and our belly continue to grow as if they had a mind of their own.
So we switch from soda to diet soda, from full and low fat to fat-free “light” yogurt, from home-made lasagna to a pre-determined portion controlled “TV dinner”, from real eggs to imitation eggs and from animal products to low-fat protein bars. For many of us our symptoms get worse at times, escalating the confusion of what should we be eating and how much, to keep our weight under control.
In a Temple University study, researchers found that people who went on a low-carb, Atkins-style diet lost the same amount of weight after two years as those who adopted a traditional low-fat diet. A different study at Harvard University put people on four different diet plans featuring varying degrees of fat, protein and carbohydrates, and found that as long as overall calories were reduced, no one diet was better than the others in helping people lose weight over a two-year period.
So which study is correct? Does it matter which diet we follow or should you just go with low calories regardless of the composition of your meals? Read all »
Just returned from a 3 ½ day FirstLine Therapy Training in Chicago and it was amazing! One of the biggest topics explored was belly fat and what makes us hold on to it!
You may have never heard about this but chemical toxicity in the form of food, pesticides, herbicides, plastics, chemicals and heavy metals in the air your breathe and the water you drink and even household cleaners and cosmetics, create havoc in your body by literally disturbing your metabolism and ultimately forcing your body to store excess abdominal weight!
These chemicals are called xenobiotics and are endocrine disruptors that modify the communication between your cells and their function leading to hormone imbalance, belly fat storage and a whole cascade of symptoms in both men and women. So yes, regardless of how many calories you eat, if you are toxic, your weight will never come off and if it does due to short term starvation, trust me… it will come right back on! Read all »
When you’re shopping for organic foods, look for the “USDA Organic” seal. Only foods that are 95 to 100 percent organic can use the USDA Organic label.
100% Organic – Foods that are completely organic or made with 100% organic ingredients. May display the USDA seal.
Organic – Foods that contain at least 95% organic ingredients. May display the USDA seal.
Made with organic ingredients – Foods that contain at least 70% organic ingredients. Will not display the USDA seal. May list specific organic ingredients on the front of the package.
Contains organic ingredients – Foods that contain less than 70% organic ingredients. Will not display the USDA seal. May list specific organic ingredients on the information panel of the package
If you can’t afford to buy everything organic you can at least purchase the most contaminated produce items organic and get the rest conventional. This is a nice trick to promote health yet work within your budget.
www.foodnews. org has a list of 100 produce items that are rated from the “dirtiest” ( the produce items most sprayed with pesticides and herbacides) and the cleanest ( the produce items, which are the least exposed). You can refer to the website for the whole list and if you are looking for a quick cheat sheet please use our Produce guide!
If you have an hour to listen to the reasons of why we are so obese today in America, check out the link below. Its an audio from Kevin Trudeau’s show. It is a little long but so worth it!
You will hear about all the various reasons of why obesity is growing so rapidly in our country and why Italians that eat cheese, and pizza and pasta and meat and ice-cream are still so much thinner than us!
Here are some guidelines from the USDA to help end the confusion.
“Sell By” date: This date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires. “Best If Used By” (or Before) date: Recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date. “Use-By” date: The last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product. Closed or Coded dates: Packing numbers for use by the manufacturer. If a product is not “dated,” consume perishable ready-to-eat food soon after purchasing it, and no more than 3 to 5 days after opening it.
It’s amazing to me how we get sucked into all this marketing propaganda and we actually believe that ingesting chemicals will give us energy, improve our health and trim our waist!
We are just so desperate as a society to shed our extra weight we just simply don’t stop to think.What is this food/ drink made from? what are the ingredients? How can my body utilize them? In our eagerness we choose to ignore the labels and jump at the first “diet” option out there… Anything that we can gorge on yet as long as it comes with zero calories. Is it sweet? great! Is it crispy, deep fried and salty? YUM! And it comes with ZERO calories! Who would have know that one day we’d be able to fool our bodies with science and marketing!
In what world do we live in, really?
In what world do you think you can have a fat-free yogurt that has 24 grs of sugar in it and think it”s healthy?
Or a fat- free, sugar free yogurt with fake fruit, syrup, artificial colors, preservatives and sweeteners and call it a power food?!
Only in the world of marketing can we actually get so brainwashed and rely on TV to tell us what is healthy for us to eat! Enjoy this wonderful clip by Seth Godin on marketing and food.
To your health,
Dina
PS. BTW there are many studies that show the dangerous effects of these sneaky poisons and their negative impact on our weight! You can read more about their adverse effects in this article.
oliday eating has become a big culprit when it comes to our health and managing our waistlines. Most people would rather not worry about their weight during this time because they feel it’s a lost cause.
