Category: Health Soap Box

I wanted to keep it simple this week so here are some basic tips for healthy eating.

 

• Keep this mantra in mind, “Eat to live, don’t live to eat.” And think of every meal as an investment in your future.

 

• Failing to plan is planning to fail.  Eating healthy takes time and preparation.

 

• Adopt the “Eat it anyway” philosophy (i.e. even if it doesn’t taste great, eat it anyway because it is healthy).  You will find you will start liking healthy foods and eventually even crave them.

 

• Start making the switch to Food by Nature and away from Food by Man (keep a journal)

 

• Don’t eat right before bed time or exercising

 

• Decrease food portions and cut out junk food.

 

• Utilize the “Rules for Better Fueling”

Let me know if you want more info on these

-Replacement Rule                                     -Addition Rule

-Dress Up Rule                         

-10 Point Reduction Rule

-Multiple Feedings Rule             

-Stay Full Rule

            -Vacation Meal Rule

 

• Replace your meat with natural, organic, hormone/antibiotic free meat
  • Grass-fed beef is available on the internet (frozen) (follow the US Wellness Meats link at http://www.maximizedlivingdrroberto.com,at Nature’s Corner Market, at  Publix (ground grass-fed beef) or through local farms. 
  • Natural chicken is available at just about every grocery store

 

• Replace refined/processed sugars with natural sweeteners like honey, pure maple syrup, agave nectar, or stevia.

 

• Replace margarine with butter and bad fats with good ones like olive, coconut, walnut, avocado

 

• Try to buy organic fruits and vegetables (refer to the pesticide guide at http://www.foodnews.org)

 

• Drink LOTS of water (slowly replace what you drink now with water)

 

• Shop around the perimeter of the store.  That is where the healthier foods are.  The center of the store is where all of the processed food is located.

 

• Start reading ingredient labels and avoid all of the following:

•  
  • MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
  • Artificial Sweeteners (Splenda, Nutrasweet, Aspartame, etc)
  • Nitrites and/or Nitrates
  • Sulfites
  • Partially Hydrogenated Anything
  • White flour (when the label says things like enriched flour, wheat  flour, bleached flour, it is no good.  It needs to say whole grain……)
  • High Fructose Corn Syrup

 

• Eat out less often- much less! (If you do, substitute better choices)

 

• Buy a steamer…it is the easiest, healthiest way to prepare vegetables – lots of them!!!

For this post, I want to step away from the practical tips on nutrition and look more at the big picture.  Not only is nutrition important for health reasons, it is also about character, commitment, discipline, purpose, and love.  While that may sound a little overboard, hear me out.  Much of our nutritional decisions are made for us…mega marketing, a convenient restaurant on the way home, whatever attracts our attention on the grocery shelf, etc.  It is often mindless and robotic.    

 

For most people shopping and eating is based on taste, convenience and cost as opposed to quality.  It takes a much bigger commitment to shop, cook, and eat healthy foods.  But guess what, anything worthwhile in life usually takes commitment and discipline.  Look at anyone who has ever had success at anything.  Did it just “happen” or did it take hard work? 

 

Nutrition is no different.  One of the utmost forms of respect to yourself and to your body is to put good food (fuel) in it.  Trust me, there will be consequences of your food choices whether they be immediate or longer term, minimal or devastating.  To quote my husband, “Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, don’t care about your reasons or excuses.  They don’t care if you liked the soda or if you didn’t know that hydrogenated oils were bad or if you didn’t have time to cook.  They are indiscriminate and far reaching in their devastation.”

 

You must know someone who has been touched by these diseases, which by the way, are typically lifestyle related.  How has it affected not just that person but the people around them?  A perfect example is in my own family.  My father in law passed away at the age of 54 after years of poor diet, smoking, and lack of exercise.  He drank a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi with lunch and dinner every day, I never really saw him eat a vegetable, and he loved sweets.  As a result, he ended up with kidney failure, had to endure dialysis every day and eventually developed congestive heart failure and succumbed to the breakdown in his body.  Well, that meant that my husband no longer had a father in the picture, his mom lost her husband and my children don’t get an opportunity to know their grandfather.  It was truly devastating.  What if he would have been more diligent about his diet, would the outcome have been different?  I am confident the answer is a resounding “YES!”.  Would it have been worth the commitment and discipline to remain in this world a little longer, living to his full potential.  Again, the answer is “YES!” 

 

The point of all of this is to truly inspire, and not just motivate you.  Motivation can be short-lived, but inspiration makes lasting change and gets to your heart as well as your head.  If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for the people who love you, care about you, and count on you. 

 

We have literally seen dozens of people reverse diabetes, lower blood pressure, beat cancer, relieve depression, lose massive weight, etc by focusing on their health.  Nutrition being an essential component of this.  Hippocrates once wrote, “let food be thy medicine” and it is an undeniable truth that works!!!  People that refuse to accept a diagnosis as a final sentence and instead get committed can literally turn their lives around.  But why wait for this to happen?  It’s much easier when you are not really sick.  Do it NOW!     

 

Get started now!  We have been authorized to host a private movie screening for the movie FOODMATTERS.  It will be on Apr 17 at 7PM at Burnt Hickory Baptist Church.  Call 770.919.7171 or http://www.foodmatters.tv for more info or to rsvp.  Don’t miss it!

I have found, after talking to hundreds of people about nutrition, that good nutrition is very much a value issue. After all, if you value something, you make time for it, invest in it, and take great care with it. When it comes to nutrition, I often hear people say, “I’m too busy.” However, it is really a matter of value and priorities, isn’t it? Stay with me here…people work because they need to make money to live. So even if there were 25 loads of dirty laundry to do, a sink full of dirty dishes, house repairs to do, children’s activities etc. they would still go to work. If you found a lump in your breast, would you miss your scheduled doctors appointment? No, probably not. Why, because it becomes a priority. Work is a priority, family is a priority, there are lots of priorities! Well, I propose to you that your diet and nutrition should be a priority too. Why should the food that actually nourishes and fuels your body be put at the end of the priority list? It’s not that you don’t have time, it’s really that you don’t make time.

Everyone in this day and age is busy, lets face it, we are all stressed and pressed for time but are we willing to sacrifice our health for a convenient diet instead of a nourishing one? Have you ever noticed that the most successful people you know are also the busiest? These people are masters at prioritizing and organizing. They are able to draw solid yellow lines (no passing zones) around the segments of their lives. This allows them to accomplish their objectives and does not compromise their priorities. I heard someone say once that if you want something done and done right, give it to a busy person. Not just any busy person though- give it to a busy, successful person! We can all find time for the things that are important to us. It is just a matter of defining what those things are.

So, back to nutrition…If you decide to make it a priority, guess what, it will be! If you know you will be at work until 7PM every night next week, plan accordingly. Break out the crockpot and throw ingredients in before you leave, make 5 meals on Sunday, make some no-cook meals, etc. You get the idea. It can be done. If you know you are going to have the kids on the road all day, pack a lunch, pack snacks, see if there is a Whole Foods on your route, etc. If it is a priority, it will happen. However, without a plan failure is guaranteed. You are then forced to pull out that handy excuse of “I just don’t have time.”

You don’t have to spend hours on end preparing and planning meals. You can cook a full course dinner in under 30 minutes, easily! I look at it like this…by the time you decide where to go out to eat, get in the car, drive there, wait to be served, eat, wait for the bill, and drive home you could have cooked at home, eaten, relaxed, had the kitchen clean, and ensured a nourishing meal.

Please realize that “too busy” is just an excuse and excuses can be very destructive. They have the ability to corrupt our minds, to talk us into believing things that aren’t true, to justify our bad behaviors, and to keep us stuck in the same ruts. Isn’t it time to break down our excuses? We need to ask ourselves, “what are we busy doing?”

Whatever you do, don’t let excuses prevent you from eating a healthy diet, your body deserves the fuel it desires. After all, if you abuse it, you will lose it in some way or another. Will all of the long hours at work, soccer practices, watching your favorite tv show, patronizing restaurants, etc. be worth it if you lose your health? Time is not the enemy; it is how you manage your time that is the enemy. By the way, buying an organizer/planner that you can plug tasks into is not the answer. It is the bigger picture that you must start with. Decide what your priorities are (nutrition should be one of them) and no one or nothing should be able to derail your commitment to that. It should be right up there with quality family time, exercise, spiritual time, work, etc. You can do it!