This rotating map offers a glimpse into the increase of obesity in the United States. This depiction say it all.
Here is one time when going with the trend could be costly both financially and medically. That is why healthy eating, healthy choices are mandatory.
Obesity prevalence by state, 1985-2006.[8]
Source, Wikipedia.org – Obesity in America
I bet you are!
Most of us are dehydrated and don’t even know it. We think our body can take care of itself much like we think the ocean, having its own eco-system, can take of itself. We can’t feel the dehydration our system is enduring. We can’t feel when our body isn’t working optimally until we have a headache, a rash, a runny nose or get so sick we can’t do anything except stay in bed.
Did you know your body is over 70 percent water! This water forms blood, lymph, intracellular and extracellular fluid (that’s the fluid inside and surrounding the cells). “It constitutes the environment of the cells. Our cells live in an aquatic environment, swimming in an ocean of liquid that both surrounds and fills them with water” says Christopher Vasey, N.D., author of the Acid-Alkaline Diet book.
Hydrations helps the cells have enough water at their disposal to function properly. When your body lacks water your enzymes cannot function and work effectively. Your enzymes are the little “workers” responsible for a large number of biochemical transformations that are necessary to physical function. In addition, water carries nutrients and oxygen to your cells, helps to add cushion for your tissues, and is a natural cooling system for your body. Your cells need water to produce water to wash the toxins you are bombarded with constantly out of our body.
When you are dehydrated, the substances the fluids contain, as well as the enzymes, are more tightly packed together. They become thicker and less fluid, can’t absorb nutrients, and their capacity for circulating and transporting wastes diminishes. Think of it like this – if you are dehydrated, your insides are like frozen ice cream, hard and stuck together in a mass that takes some force to pull apart or that can’t absorb any more stuff. As that ice cream melts, it becomes liquid and much more fluid so things can be added or subtracted with ease. When you are hydrated, your body can best operate to move nutrition and oxygen, eliminate waste and have you feeling great.
The best way to hydrate your body is to drink at least 8 glasses of pure water each day. I’m not talking about soda, coffee, tea, milk, alcohol or any other type of fluid as part of that daily intake. I’m talking pure H2O, filtered clean water. According to the World Health organization, everyone should drink a minimum of 2 liters of water a day. Vasey actually recommends 2.5 to 3 liters a day. And Shereen Jegtvig, a nutritionist and chiropractic physician from About.com recommends drinking ½ your body weight in ounces each day. That means if you weigh 200 lbs, you drink 100 oz. If you are 150 lbs you would drink 75 ounces.
GET HYDRATED! Make it a habit to get at least 8 – 8 oz glasses of water into your body each day. I did it and I can tell a difference.
DO IT TODAY!
Did you ever stop and think about how much you eat at every meal? Or how big the portion sizes are at restaurants? Do you eat everything on your plate or take a doggie bag home?
Do you go to a fast food drive thru for a meal and then have them super size it?
The portion sizes in the U. S. tend to be larger than other places. My nieces were amazed when they visited us last year just how big the portion sizes were. They are from Canada and both worked in the restaurant business there.
Want to get your portion sizes under control? Here is what some experts have said:
The first step toward healthy eating and getting a handle over those expanding love handles is portion control.
Note: For additional reading see: Karen Hammonds article 25 Little Tips for Big Weight Loss at www.weightwatchers.com and Top 10 Rules for Eating Right by David L. Katz, MD at http://www.oprah.com/article/health/nutrition/200908-omag-katz-food-rules
Consider this… up until the 20th century (that would be the last century) all of our food was grown “organically”. There were no synthetics added to the process. Same goes for raising cattle, there were no antibiotics or hormones introduced into the herds until this past century. Only recently have we had to make the distinction between farming and “organic” farming. Very interest and extremely telling.
We have little enough control over many things in our lives – the economy and jobs, the weather and climate, pollution and urban sprawl, where and how our food is produced. Just when you think it’s OK to eat “organic” you come to find out that it’s not really healthy, it’s not really better, it’s just a less of a bad thing. And, wait a minute, that’s the good news.
Our bodies are forced to deal with toxins of every variety – in our water, our air, our environment and, of course, in our food. There is literally nowhere on the face of the planet that has not been touched by pollution of some sort. Over 10,000 chemicals are used in the processing of our food and less than 10% have been tested. Read the rest of this entry →
Ahh! You’re reading my blog! How long have you been sitting in front of that computer? When was the last time you got up and did something else? Got a drink? Went to the bathroom? Checked on your children? Bet you didn’t even have to move to answer the phone!
It’s time to get some activity and build muscle instead of fluffy fat. Every schedule needs to have incorporated fudge time. So schedule 5 minutes every hour to move and stretch.
It’s really easy!
Stand up from your chair and march in place. Take about 10 deep cleansing breaths, walk up and down your stairs a couple of times, take some more deep cleansing breaths, do some stretches right there by your chair, try reaching up to touch the ceiling (ha – bet it’s too far away and you just got in a GOOD stretch!), get 2 containers of bottled water – full of course – and do some arm flexing exercises. You don’t have to leave your chair for this one.
Stop being so sedentary and add some activity every day. And with the right diet – that’s a good, healthy eating plan – you’ll be surprised as you start to feel more energized and the inches start to melt away.
So are you going to keep sitting there or get up and move!?!
What do you do to keep yourself active??
So you’ve had a good night sleep and your bed is so comfy and warm you don’t want to get up. Like so may others, you stay in bed until the very last minute, then rush around to bolt out the door to catch the train, get to work or your next appointment.
Did you eat breakfast?
Ahhh! No time again. You didn’t even grab a piece of fruit. Thought you’d stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee and something???? Or some other fal-da-rah!
Do you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? You are breaking the daily fast done while you are sleeping and your body is rejuvenating. That is the longest period of time you have gone without food in any 24-hour period unless you are trying to starve yourself.
Here are some suggestions to help you eat breakfast. For quick breakfast starters, try a piece of high fiber fruit, 8 ounces of low fat yoghurt (fruit on the bottom would be ok), or grab a piece of string cheese, a handful of almonds or other nut mix. Have a few more minutes. Then scramble up some eggs and throw in a handful of diced turkey and maybe even some cheese, toast up some whole grain or sprouted grain bread with a bit of butter. Have a bit more time then cook up a bowl of oatmeal with low fat milk (not the instant kind, steel cut oats would be even better and they can be cooking while you are doing something else). A great breakfast would bean omelette with fresh vegetables, fruit and whole grain or sprouted grain toast.
The Benefits. Breakfast helps you be more alert; it improves concentration, focus and mood. It can even help lower LDL or bad cholesterol and help you lose weight. Your late day sugary snack and junk food cravings will go away. It’s true! They will!
You will be fueling your body, giving it the energy to operate optimally all day. Eating high fiber foods and protein slows digestion and keeps your blood sugar on an even keel for longer periods of time.
Now, stop reading this blog and go eat breakfast or plan your breakfast for tomorrow.
Have you ever thought about what your metabolism is and how it works? Wikipedia’s definition of Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in living organisms to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Note: It is quite a page so if you want some good scientific material on Metabolism go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism.
William Wolcott explains it even simpler in his book “The Metabolic Typing Diet”. He says “Metabolism is simply the sum total of all the chemicals and biological activities that are necessary to sustain life.” These activities not only control your weight but your overall health as well and require energy. We get this energy from air, water, sunlight and food. The food we eat has to get digested, absorbed into the blood and then sent to the cells to use for energy, to work optimally and keep us healthy. That energy is called calories.
“The process of metabolism establishes the rate at which we burn our calories and, ultimately, how quickly we gain weight or how easily we lose it,” says Robert Yanagisawa, MD, director of the Medically Supervised Weight Management Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
So, metabolism is essentially the speed at which a body’s motor is running. Since we are not all created exactly the same, each of us uses the energy we get from food differently. That’s why I follow and help others follow a diet based on the way my/their body metabolizes food. It works great! I feel great! And everyone who follows this way of eating experiences many of the advantages of good health and feeling well.
What type metabolism do you have?
.JUST WHAT IS YOUR METABOLISM?
Our body is an amazing machine. It is made up of numerous systems working together synergistically day in and day out to keep us alive. And that all happens without us thinking about it, just as a car works because of the systems men have put together for its operation. What makes a difference for our body is the food we feed it and how it reacts to that food. If we don’t give it good, healthy foods to keep all our systems running optimally then our body gets sick and diseased. What would happen if you didn’t keep water, oil and gas in your car? It wouldn’t run. That is just so with the human body. We have to feed it proteins, carbohydrates and fats and digest it so our bodies get nourished all the way to the cellular level.
Do you feed your body foods that are wholesome, healthy and nutrient dense or do you buy things that are quick and easy to fix and eat? Those types of foods are usually heavily processed, loaded with chemicals and difficult for the body to assimilate. Sticking with an easy diet of fresh raw and natural carbohydrates, healthy monounsaturated fats and lean proteins will have you running a lean mean operating machine. Ready to get started?
Tired of throwing out Rotten Foods, here’s the solution!
These food storage bags prolong the life of your fruits, vegetables and cut flowers without the use of chemicals.
Here’s how they work: Most fruits, vegetables and flowers release ethylene gases during the natural ripening process after harvest. Exposure of the produce to these gases accelerates aging and deterioration. GreenBags are made with a natural mineral that is known to extend the life of produce by absorbing and removing the ethylene gases that cause normal deterioration.Not only will your fruits and vegetables stay fresher longer, the bags are reusable several times. Simply rinse them, allow them to dry and re-use.
Recommended to me by my friend Irma, I finally went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy a box. They work just great! Bananas don’t turn brown in the refrigerator and ripen very slowly. The salad greens I am storing in one would have turned to mush days ago stored in the store packaging.
They may not always be available on the internet. We did find them on www.AsSeenOnTV.com. 
If you can’t find them on the ‘net there may be a bath and kitchen store in your local area that sells them
Check them out and buy a box. You won’t be disappointed!
When Rick and I started living together I weighed between 215 and 220. As my weight kept inching up over 220, I said I had to do something not to get any bigger. Rick didn’t have any complaints; it was just me who did. So I just watched what I ate and kept a close watch on the scale. A bad idea I later found out!
When we got married in 2001, we made a pact to each other to age gracefully and generate good health and well being. We also joined a network marketing company in the wellness industry. By using their products we started losing weight. We did pretty darn good, too! But you know how dieting can go – on one day and off the next. Then back on again.That perpetual yo-yo! We went back to some of our old habits and ways of eating gaining back almost all those lost pounds.
Then, in 2006, we found the diet program that worked for us. On this one we learned a new way of eating based on the way our bodies metabolize food and incorporating low glycemic eating. We started losing inches and weight. We never looked back! This new way of eating has become a lifestyle change for us. We still follow it today and maintain that weight loss. No more yo-yoing for us! I can now say I’ve lost over 40 lbs and buy size 12-14s where I was growing out of a size 18 – in the wrong direction!
We want to and do share this plan with others. Most have been very successful. One of our clients just told us the other day how she lost 12 pounds and has kept it off just by following what we taught her. Another has created a business helping others in her community by cooking healthy meals. Cooking is her passion!
I have an insatiable quest to learn as much as I can about healthy eating so I can share it with others. Everyone can have the opportunity to live a long, healthy and well life. Like Rick always says: “When you are well life is all about what you want. When you are sick life is about getting well.”
