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Category: Nutrition

How Healthy Are You Eating Habits?

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As we wind down our vacation trip , part of me can’t wait to get back to my normal eating schedule. My body is not used to eating out for every meal. Travel destinations often offer different eating habits than we have at home and we can learn from these different styles of eating

Take time in preparing your food. From the shopping to the cooking to the plating, treat it as an art. After all, if we are going to put it into our bodies, isn’t it worth some time and effort?

Eat smaller portions.

Take more time to eat. Not only will you truly enjoy the experience and the conversation, it’s better for your digestion.

Eat with others and have fun. As Americans, we are always on the go. Family dinners are a rarity. Eating should be about enjoyment – talking, relaxing and socializing.

Eat REAL food. Use butter, not margarine. Whole Milk. No artificial sweeteners. Better ingredients contribute to tasty food that is often rich, fatty and sweet. And yet, in many other countries, including France, there are lower rates of obesity-related illnesses like cardiovascular disease. This so-called “French paradox” demonstrates that enjoying food may be conducive to health and fitness.

Why not take this week to tweak your eating habits and see how you feel at the end of the week?

A Cheat Sheet of Healing Foods!

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Certain foods are known to help heal particular organs. Isn’t it interesting (and in my opinion, it’s by design) that the healing food is similar in shape to the designated organ?

I Love Soup…..

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but homemade is the ONLY way to go for me!

It will soon be soup season and I’m getting ready. Did you know I was recently reading soup can labels and the label on Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup says: “Contains bioengineered food ingredients”.
What?
If you google it, you’ll find that…..
The USDA defines bioengineered foods as containing “detectable genetic material that has been modified through certain lab techniques and cannot be created through conventional breeding or found in nature.”
Ummm…makes me a little nervous, what exactly are we consuming? Plastic? Chemicals? I don’t know. Do you?
So it is only homemade for me from now on!
Do you have a homemade soup recipe that is your favorite? Let’s share!

How Do You DETOX?

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When we go on vacation, we eat differently (and usually more) than we’re used to. When I was in away recently, every restaurant greeted us with complimentary drinks and then I had wine with dinner. We never eat dessert but often our meals came with one automatically. (What’s a girl to do?)

I love my vacations, but I hate feeling bloated, etc.

What’s YOUR secret for detoxing and getting your body back to pre-vacation status?

Science Says Eating Chocolate Every Day Is Good for Your Brain

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Now this is research we can get behind.

Forget about an apple a day. If you really want to keep the doctor away, try a piece of chocolate instead. Regularly snacking on cocoa-flavored treats can help protect your brain from cognitive decline, according to a new review from the University of L’Aquila in Italy.

Packed with both antioxidants and iron, dark chocolate has already made a name for itself as a smart choice for dessert lovers. Its potential brain-boosting powers only sweeten the deal. Eating some every day helps improve attention, processing speed, working memory and verbal fluency, based on the recent compilation of past studies.

“Regular intake of cocoa and chocolate could indeed provide beneficial effects on cognitive functioning over time,” said review authors Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara. Their analysis published in Frontiers in Nutrition found that seniors at risk for memory decline received the biggest perks from eating chocolate. Regularly choosing the treat could help improve vital thinking processes over time. A quick snack may provide some short-term advantages, too.

Eating cocoa also helped young and healthy adults perform better on tough cognitive tests almost immediately, although the effect was more subtle. The powerful benefits come from cocoa flavanols, a compound known for its health benefits. Dark chocolate packs in way more flavanols than its milk counterpart, but you can also find them in apples, pears and grapes, among other foods. The special type of flavonoid supports a healthy cardiovascular system and could increase blood flow to a part of the brain particularly affected by aging, Socci and Ferrara say. Both of them indulge in a little dark chocolate every day, but warn against eating too much, especially if the bar’s packed with sugar and other additives.

Luckily, choosing chocolate can also stave off cravings for more indulgent desserts later on, says Jaclyn London, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., Nutrition Director at the Good Housekeeping Institute. “Having an ounce of chocolate per day, or about 150 to 200 calories, has a number of different benefits,” she says. “While no food is a miracle-worker, I’m a huge proponent of treating yourself with chocolate daily.”

While you probably shouldn’t give up on apples entirely, adding a little dark chocolate into the mix doesn’t hurt. Hey, you don’t have to tell us twice!

[h/t Science Daily From: Good Housekeeping US

What happens to your body on sugar

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It is so important to get rid of that sugar addiction!

Once upon a time I was the ”snack lady”. I had the desk drawer at work filled with sweets and treats. From dark chocolate to the “rot your teeth in a second” kind—like Gummie Bears, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Sweet Tarts, Good & Plenty, Mike & Ike’s, Caramels and Licorice. But Chocolate was my favorite and Dark Chocolate was the best!.

Well, I gave it all up… cold turkey with R3. Guess what? I lost so much of my mid section and gained so much energy. I learned how to break that addiction to all things sweet with R3. Think about joining me on this journey. Your body will thank you!

The Fit For Fall 2023 Challenge begins October 2, 2023. Message me to find out how you can participate!

Aspartame

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Did you know Aspartame is a Neuro-toxin? Aspartame is made of the two naturally occurring amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, which are also components of proteins in our body and in food. The phenylalanine in aspartame has been slightly modified by adding a methyl group which gives aspartame its sweet taste. As a neurologist-toxin, it basically “excites” your brain cells to the point of death.

although Aspartame being labeled by IARC as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” does not mean that aspartame is actually linked to cancer. The FDA disagrees with IARC’s conclusion that these studies support classifying aspartame as a possible carcinogen to humans.However, certain people with the genetic disease phenylketonuria (PKU), those with advanced liver disease, and pregnant women with hyperphenylalanine (high levels of phenylalanine in blood) have a problem with aspartame because they do not effectively metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine.

In fact, Several studies link aspartame to weight gain, increased appetite, diabetes, metabolic derangement and obesity-related diseases. This artificial sweetener, has also been linked to behavioral and cognitive problems. Possible neurophysiological symptoms include learning problems, headache, seizure, migraines, irritable moods, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

Yet, every week I see people load their grocery carts with these beverages and it hurts my heart. If folks only knew the damage they were doing to their bodies using this artificial sweetener. Unexplainable, crippling symptoms ALL have a root cause and this could be your cause of inflammation and pain. Try switching to a more natural sweetener

For more information about Aspartame, click here.

Sugar addiction

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So important to get rid of that sugar addiction! I was the ”candy lady” once upon a time. Had the desk drawer at work filled with candy. Ate the “rot your teeth in a second kind,” like Sour Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Sweet Tarts, Charms Blow Pops, Sour Mike & Ike’s. Anything sour was my favorite. I gave it all up cold turkey and lost so much of my mid section, gained so much energy. Learn to break that addiction to all things sweet in this challenge. Your body will thank you!

Are you team Butter or team Margarine?

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Did you know that the vegetable oils used in margarine are actually inflammatory and contribute to heart disease? Plus all the other chemicals! Highly processed junk food.

Ditch it and enjoy Butter, full of omegas, CLA, vitamin A, D, E, K and the kind of fats all of our major organs need to thrive, especially if it is made from pastured grass fed cows.

Eat real food, ditch the sugar.

Are you team Butter or team margarine?

So what is CoQ10?

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Did you know that……

When you take a statin drug, that it lowers and can even stop your bodies natural production of CoQ10? 

CoQ10 is a major antioxidant and your body needs it! It is naturally produced in our body and is used for cellular growth and maintenance. CoQ10 is mostly concentrated in our cells’ mitochondria (our cell’s brain). As we age, levels of CoQ10 decrease and the mitochondria in our cells start to use oxygen less efficiently, which impairs ATP (energy) synthesis within our cells, resulting in increased free radical production. This damages mitochondria and other cell biomolecules as well.

I have found that cardiologists don’t educate their patients on this important nutrient, so if you or a loved on are on a statin drug, I am more than glad to help guide you in the right direction!