Click the image below to take the quiz… Even if you’re not vegan, I think some of these facts will surprise you!
The Key to Sustained Weight Loss
I’m sure by now you’ve read about the French diet paradox (those slim, beautiful women who somehow are able to eat pastries, butter, fat, and wine without consequence), or have witnessed for yourself that enviable friend who all the foods you wish you could eat, guilt-free, for brunch or lunch, and still manages to maintain her skinny physique. What is the secret?? Something so easy, and so engrained in our DNA that you won’t believe how naturally you’ll be able to reach and maintain your body’s healthiest weight without uttering the word “diet” ever again.
From our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the eating cultures of East Asia, much of Europe, and even the Pacific Islands, most of the day’s calories were eaten in the earlier part of the day, with dinner being a much lighter, more supplementary meal. Though this has always been a natural way for our bodies to consume calories, this runs very much in contradiction to the American way of eating, as well as the fad diets so many people fall prey to. Our metabolisms are not designed for small meals every two or three hours, and they certainlyaren’t designed to take in the bulk of the day’s calories at dinner (traditionally Americans’ biggest meal). Our bodies do best with three meals a day, with breakfast and lunch being the time to bring out the big guns. Finally, there is some scientific proof (for those skeptical of empirical evidence): A new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that we’re built to consume high-fat meals in the early part of the day and low-fat meals in the latter.
Think about it this way… You wake up (still exhausted), have a cup of coffee and maybe a bagel for breakfast at 7am, are starving by 10am, reach for a granola bar, or some sweets around the office, make it to your light lunch of salad or a sandwich, totally crash by 4pm, needing more snacks, sweets, or coffee to get through the rest of the day, and then come home, tired and hungry, for a huge, calorie-ridden meal at 8pm. Your body doesn’t have the chance to burn off that big meal before bedtime, so you go to sleep with everything still sitting in your belly, and wake up exhausted, in need of that coffee that starts the whole thing up again. Sound familiar?
Now try this on for size… You wake up well-rested, have a delicious breakfast of eggs, avocado, whole grain toast and some fruit, have tons of energy all morning without even thinking about snacking, have a big, leisurely lunch of salmon, quinoa, salad, maybe even some sumptuous dark chocolate for dessert, are full, energized and productive all through the rest of your day, sailing by that 4pm mark without even glancing at the birthday cake in the break room, come home, still not starving (since you had that awesome big lunch), have a nice light salad or some soup dinner, and go to bed where you enjoy deep, restful sleep. Sounds a lot better, doesn’t it?
Eating larger meals with healthy fats in the first half of your day is not only more satisfying and energizing, it also prevents metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. And think about those extra empty calories you’ll be able to avoid! Those late afternoon snacks, lattes, trips to the vending machine, or dips into the cookie jar on the receptionists desk are all a function of low blood sugar. Big, healthy breakfasts and lunches (with healthy fats, protein, whole grains, and veggies) eliminate the need for any snacking by keeping your blood sugar consistently balanced. Meanwhile, light, low-fat dinners give your body very little to do in terms of digestion and fat-burning at night, which allows you to detoxify and rest your whole system while you sleep. Waking up feeling light and refreshed eliminates the need for coffee and sugary breakfasts, which in turn allows you to make healthier food choices right from the start.
So if you make one change to your diet, make it this one! You’ll be amazed at how much more simple and natural losing weight and being healthy is when you let your body do what’s designed to do!
Ready to make a change, but feel like you need some guidance? Contact me to schedule a Skype consultation to get started!
Nutribullet — A Healthy Kitchen Must-Have!
I was home with a terrible virus for over a week not too long ago, which led to a lot of regrettable television choices. As I was making the rounds of afternoon infomercials, one in particular caught my eye, and honestly, revolutionized my kitchen! David Wolfe, raw food guru (and one of my instructors at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition) was speaking on behalf of Nutribullet — which, at first glance, seemed like a souped up MagicBullet (a tool I knew I didn’t need). I really respect David Wolfe’s take on food, and count him among my favorite nutrition experts, so I thought I would see what he had to say.
Mechanically, the Nutribullet isn’t that different from the MagicBullet. It’s a compact single or double serving blender that can smooth, chop, blend, or liquify pretty much anything. But that’s the key! It has a super powerful 600 watt motor that literally liquified fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds into an incredibly potent, concoction that is neither juice nor smoothie, but some magical hybrid. It’s basically a mini-Vitamix — which is pretty much my dream come true. (Though the Vitamix is a phenomenal kitchen tool, its bulk and generally unfashionable design–not to mention its hefty price tag–have been keeping me from investing in one)
Though I am an enormous fan of juicing (and base a lot of my cleanses on it), the amount of wasted food and fiber has always been a big issue for me. Plus, a juicer doesn’t allow me to add nuts and seeds, which are key to created a superfood, detoxifying health cocktail.
Smoothies have been my standby for a long time. I love making delicious morning creations out of fruit, greens, nuts, and almond milk, but am always annoyed when my smoothie comes out mealy, overly thick, or not completely blended. Especially when blending fibrous greens like kale or swiss chard, having those stringy pieces still in the smoothie really makes it less palatable even for me (who LIVES for greens!). And I never hear the end of it from some of my pickier clients, for whom eating greens is already a huge challenge. I end up adding cups and cups of liquid to my smoothies to get them even close to smooth enough, and still, I find whole, unmilled flax seeds and food particles at the bottom of my glass. Not ideal.
So you can imagine how pumped I was when I opened my Nutribullet, and made a delicious, super-potent, completely liquified drink, chock full of tons of greens, fruit, nuts and seeds… in under a minute. I knew mornings would never be the same! The benefit of a super powerful motor combined with a specialized extractor blade is that it completely breaks down the food for you, pulverizing stems, seeds, and skins of foods to maximize the amount of nutrients you can derive from it and make the whole process that much easier on your digestive system. We definitely don’t want to liquify all our meals — making our system break down fibers is a good thing! — but being able to efficiently deliver so much nutritious goodness into our bodies for one or two meals a day is amazing.
Everyday for the past two weeks, I have started each morning with a powerful, mega-nutrient drink that leaves me feeling full (but not weighed down after I do after a thick smoothie), energized, and just plain awesome. Since the blades are so powerful, I can throw whole fruit and veggies into my Nutribullet without having to chop anything up, which saves me tons of time, and with the super fast motor, the perfect consistency takes just a few seconds to achieve. My favorite part is coming up with new, delicious fruit and veggie combos to try… My new favorites are watermelon/cucumber/apple/lemon/flaxseed and pineapple/kiwi/spinach/sunflower seed. The recommended proportion is 50% fruit and 50% greens, with a good solid handful of nuts or seeds to top it all off. Though I’ve always rocked smoothies blended with almond milk, I use spring water with my Nutribullet, which gives the concoctions a consistency more like juice, and less like a heavy smoothie. Check out my favorite Nutribullet smoothie recipes!
This little gadget will also make doing my seasonal detox/cleanse that much easier! I’m going to recommend it to all my cleansing clients. Bottom line… I’m in love!
Benefits of drinking just one full size concoction made up of organic fruit and veggies a day include:
- Decreased risk of cancer and other diseases (provided you use organic fruit and veggies!)
- Weight loss (replace breakfast and/or dinner with an amazing Nutriblast, and you’ll reach your target weight in no time!)
- Increased energy
- Better skin and hair
- Increased longevity
- Lower blood pressure and cholesterol
- Relief from joint and muscle pain
- Balanced blood sugar
- Increased immunity
- Relief from chronic inflammation
- Improved mood and concentration
You can get your Nutribullet from nutribullet.com for about $120, or you can purchase it from BrandsMart for $99.98, complete with all the bells and whistles!
Check out our delicious and healthy Nutribullet Superfood Smoothie recipes, and please share your favorite recipes and amazing results below!
Love Keeps Us Happy and Healthy!
By: Nkechi Njaka, Msc
Who doesn’t love love? Especially, on Valentine’s Day? Even the most bitter of us, who loses sleep in anxious preparation of an anti-Valentine’s Day event, still at the heart of her heart loves love and knows with every fiber of her being that love and happiness are inextricably linked.
Well, I am here to tell you that there is neuroscienctific evidence for this positive correlation. And that joining the mainstream masses in an overly capitalized Hallmark Holiday could increase your mood, even if you love in a non-romantic way.
Scientists have long been working to show how and even prove that love gives us health benefits beyond the obvious advantageous security of always having a date for Valentine’s Day. Researchers are not yet able to determine that romance trumps close bestfriendships or an affectionate/adoring family when it comes to health and wellness. But researchers are finding that sex, partnership, intimacy and caring for another all seem build a case for making us stronger– with health benefits that range from improved healing and management over chronic illnesses (which means living longer!).
How can we practice this on a daily basis… or, specifically, today with our Valentine’s Day date?
Doctors at the University of North Carolina have found that hugging may result in dramatically lower blood pressure as a result of boosting blood levels of oxytocin, the relaxing ‘cuddly’ hormone that plays a key role in orgasms, labor and breastfeeding. Oxytocin is linked to attachment and is a factor in bonding and monogamous pairing. In their fascinating study, researchers asked couples to sit close to one another and talk for 10 minutes, then share a long hug; their findings were positive, albeit small, changes in both blood pressure and oxytocin.
However, the power of frequent daily hugging was intense! The women with the highest oxytocin levels had systolic blood pressure that was 10 mm/Hg lower than women with low oxytocin levels—an improvement similar to the effect of many leading blood pressure medications, says Kathleen Light, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at UNC and one of the study’s authors. It’s amazing that something as simple as hugging can do that! In a recent study published in the Biological Psychiatry, there was support that Oxytocin was also linked to lower secretion of cortisol (a stress hormone) and when administered, cortisol aided conflict resolution in couples compared to their placebo-given controls.
Dopamine (the ‘feel good chemical’) is the key chemical in the brain’s reward system, a network of cells that is associated with pleasure and addiction. Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, recently conducted a study at Stanford University Medical Center in California, where his hypothesis was that love affected the brain in the same way many addictive drugs do, by targeting this “feel good” chemical in the brain known as dopamine, which was demonstrated by an fMRI (brain scanning machines that allow us to see areas of the brain when certain thoughts or emotions occur). So that saying ‘love is a drug’ seriously has some scientific validity.
So is love just chemistry?
In a nutshell, yes. Dopamine brings people together and oxytocin keeps them attached, studies show. Obviously there are other factors that contribute to who we find to love (eg. compatibility, geography, socialization, timing, to name a few). But it is fun to know that our bodies were designed to make experiencing love fun and healthy!
And now for the part where I tested this theory and conducted a little bit of my own research…. Actually, these findings more or less explain an experience I recently had. I was on a first date with someone and we spent the evening sitting very close (talking and sharing with maybe a bit of hand holding) and when the night was over, we exchanged a great bear hug. My thinking about him (and for-no-other-good-reason giddiness) for the next 24 hours could be evidence of that release of oxytocin. The fluttery feelings I had that made me want to experience more intimacy with that person is part of a very natural process of growing attachment. It’s wonderful to know that they also have some direct effects on lowering (my already low) blood pressure!
There is evidence that love improves long-term health and wellness. I would say that even if celebrating Valentines Day is merely a reminded to value love, it is worth celebrating!
Tips For Maintaining Your Inner Holiday This Season
By: Nkechi Njaka, Msc
We’re officially in mid-December, which means the holidays are basically here. Maybe you‘re traveling for the holidays to spend time with your family. Perhaps, you’re forgoing travel to your home and visiting the family of your significant other. Or, you‘re hosting family or friends this year and need to accommodate more people than you are accustomed to. Regardless of your specific plans, there are many schedules and people to coordinate, arrangements to be made, houses to decorate, meals to cook, not to mention–GIFTS TO BUY! We all want to find the best deals and give thoughtfully while not over-spending…or losing our minds. We want the holidays to be a time of harmony and joy but with so many things to organize, it becomes challenging. So, then, ‘tis the season to be a Deliriously Stressed Mess?!Something about that just doesn’t sound very appealing, and yet research shows that more Americans report feeling depressed and stressed around the holidays than any other time of year. So let me ask you this:
What does the word ‘holiday’ mean to you?
Pay attention to your body when you ask yourself this. Notice if you have stopped breathing or tensed any of your muscles as you finalize your thoughts. Done? If the word ‘holiday’ left you feeling tense or stressed, then perhaps it’s time to stop and find your inner holiday.
Clearly, we all have different feelings associated with the word ‘holiday,’ but I think that it’s important to consider what the word really means. Quite literally, the word ‘holiday’ means ‘holy day.’ Be it as it may, the word ‘holy’ is rooted in the word ‘whole’, as is the word ‘holistic’. Perhaps, now is as good a time as any to start seeing our holidays as holistic days…or days of wholeness.
If we were to think of what makes us stressed out during the holidays, it would probably boil down to how much we are doing and being able to get everything done. It might be helpful to think about things differently this year. Remember that the holidays are about giving and receiving, rather than accomplishments or perfectionism.
To speak to the above sentiments, think about how giving and receiving contributes to wholeness. Traditionally, we see this in gifts—we give presents (by giving presence) and we receive presents (by receiving the presence of others). By doing this, we find ourselves coming together in the company of others. Being mindful of this rather than how much we have or have not accomplished will be the first step in making this holiday season about wholeness.
So, if this is theory, what is practice? How can we be whole and present in the chaos of the season? The answer is balance. And I have 7 ways to inspire balance during the holiday season:
- Breath: When you find that you are feeling anxious, always go back and find your breath. If it’s a challenge to even focus on one breath, count to 5 on both inhales and exhales.
- Sleep: Going to bed early may feel unrealistic with so much going on but it will do wonders. Honestly, leave the dishes in the sink until the morning—your energy will be elevated, and your mind and body will thank you.
- Simplify. Whether it’s shopping online, delegating to-do lists or simply not sending out holiday cards, prioritize what really is important to you and try to do those things efficiently.
- Exercise. This one seems obvious, but often the gym falls low on the priority list when there is disruption to your regular routine. On the contrary, that is the most important time to free yourself from the craziness, release stress and tension while staying active.
- Pamper. Go get a massage, a mani-pedi or just have a good laugh watching your favorite DVD.
- Mindful Eating. Make your consumption of holiday treats be about savoring, rather than eating for the sake of eating. If you are going to indulge in seasonal desserts or candies—part of the festivities– then you really deserve to enjoy it sans guilt.
- Have FUN. It’s the season to be jolly, after all! Laugh, sing, catch up and spend quality time with loved ones. Being grateful for all those who have touched your life is an integral part of being healthy, happy and whole.
And here is a tip to help you find your calm in those seemingly unmanageable moments. If you find yourself feeling anxious, overwhelmed, low on energy or irritable, find a place that is comfortable and practice the following seasonally appropriate posture:
There are several simple and effective yogic postures that you can do, but I like this one because you can do it while standing (or even sitting). Begin by inhaling in through your nose and out through your mouth. Make sure to pause in between your inhalations and exhalations and repeat 3-5 times, or whatever feels comfortable. Stand (or sit) with your feet parallel about 3 inches apart with your arms hanging loosely at your sides. While inhaling, sweep your arms sideways and up overhead until your arms are parallel again over your head, palms facing each other. When you exhale, reverse the movement, sweeping your arms sideways and back down, allowing your arms to dangle loosely by your sides in the original position. Think snow angel (see? seasonally appropriate!). Repeat this 3-5 times, or whatever feels comfortable to you. This great posture helps relieve compression in the lower back whilst releasing the ribcage, which ultimately promotes freer breath. It also increases mobility in the shoulders as well as stimulating circulation and reducing stress.
Breathing in, breathing out, giving, receiving and being present; may your holidays be days of wholeness!
{Photo: Pinterest}
