Why this diet works
Posted on September 19, 2019 Leave a Comment
If a diet produces fat loss, but the weight comes back, that’s not a diet that works. You want a diet that’s sustainable, one that’s flexible enough so that the weight stays off. This diet works because it’s flexible enough so you can go out to eat, have desserts, and eat the foods you enjoy, without counting calories, excessively limiting carbs, or eating a lot of protein.
So, what is this diet? The High-Five Diet, is a dairy-free diet and nutrition book with over 40 delicious dairy-free recipes. A dairy-free diet has been shown to reduce cholesterol, clear up skin conditions, alleviate stomach issues like bloating and cramping, and rids the body of excess bodyfat. It’s up to you decide if you love milk and cheese more than looking and feeling good. Once my clients stop eating dairy, they are so much happier, and have a ton more energy. They even tell me that they don’t crave dairy products anymore.
With the carbohydrate and calorie-controlled dairy-free recipes provided, High-Five Diet proprietary program, tips and tools, this plan is not only easy to follow, it’s a healthy-food promoting plan that can reverse or protect against many diseases, that you can use for the rest of your life that will get rid of that unhealthy excess weight once and for all.
Click this link: https://thehighfivediet.com/ to order your copy and start your new weight loss program today.
why I stopped eating coconut
Posted on September 17, 2019 Leave a Comment
Coconut oil, coconut flour, coconut milk, and dried coconut flakes contain a substantial amount of saturated fat, which can increase cholesterol. Even though my cholesterol levels are normal, it’s not a good idea to eat products often, that contain saturated fat, so I’ve swapped out coconut milk for almond milk. I try to use olive oil instead of coconut oil, and I limit the amount of coconut flakes I add to my desserts and smoothies.
neck pain relief with one simple stretch
Posted on September 12, 2019 Leave a Comment
Neck pain is awful! I sit a lot and end up with lower back aches, and neck tension. These lat (latissimus dorsi: the largest muscle in the back) stretches are very easy to do, and alleviated my neck pain in just one week. I do these stretches three times a day, and will continue to keep doing them because my lats are really tight.
These are the stretches that I’ve been doing. I gently, and slowly, move in and out of the stretch in all different directions.
The key is to keep the arm straight and pull gently; you should feel tension, but never pain.
why I don’t meal prep
Posted on September 10, 2019 Leave a Comment
Just because a lot of people meal prep, that doesn’t mean that’s the only way to lose weight. I don’t meal prep. In other words, I don’t cook my meals, and portion them out into small containers so that each one is a perfect-sized meal. The reasons why are that I don’t have enough Tupperware, that my husband might grab my boxed-up meal and I may grab his by mistake (we don’t eat the same amount of calories: I’d get fat and he’d waste away), and some days I may want more carbs or more protein than others.
The days that I’m very active, or the days I exercise my lower body, I eat a little more (especially carbs). On the days I’m less active, I’ll eat less (usually fewer carbs). For those days that I need extra energy, I’ll either eat more carbs, like sweet potatoes or oats, or more fat, like an ounce of slivered almonds and chopped walnuts dipped in almond butter. By boxing up perfect little meals, I don’t want to feel like I’m being bad if I’m eating extra because my body is giving me the proper signals to adjust my eating habits.
Even though I don’t put my meals in cute little containers, I do plan all my meals ahead a week in advance. My husband and I make 1-2 new meals each day, like chicken enchiladas and tilapia salad. We make large meals, usually 4-6 portions, so we have plenty of leftovers. I weigh my proteins so that each meal has a sufficient amount, and I do portion out my carbohydrates my using a measuring cup. For those meals that I cannot weigh or measure, like a stew, I just guess (usually a half a bowl for me and ¾ of a bowl for my husband).
These techniques that I use really help me lose or maintain my weight. It doesn’t work for everyone so I don’t tell my clients they have to do what I do, but I do ask that they try it for a little while to see if it helps them eat better and eat less calories (it usually does). Whatever method works for you, keep doing it!
Are you inadvertently eating arsenic?
Posted on September 5, 2019 Leave a Comment
Arsenic is a poison, and it is naturally occurring in the food we eat and drink. Too much arsenic is associated with cancer and death (1, 2). Since rice has a substantial amount of arsenic, I’ve reduced my rice consumption, or I’ll eat white rice instead of brown rice. By removing the outer kernel of brown rice, it lowers the amount of arsenic.
Arsenic is in practically everything we eat, but we can reduce the amount by making small changes such as eating apples instead of apple juice, eating oranges instead of orange juice, and buying drinking water that’s been filtered several times (2).
Bottle water can, and in some cases, has exceed the FDA’s maximum threshold for arsenic (1). I buy bottled water, but I also pour it through a water filter I have on my counter at home (I bought it at Bed, Bath & Beyond). By double-filtering my water, I’m reducing the amount of contaminants, not just arsenic. Buying the filters costs more, but my water tastes better, and I feel it’s a good investment in my health.
Sources:
- “Is Bottled Water Safe? CR study reveals it sometimes contains arsenic.” Consumer Reports: On Health. July 2019. Page 2. Print.
- “Arsenic in Food: FAQ. How arsenic gets into foods and what it means for you.” WebMD. December 2011. https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/arsenic-food-faq#1
aspirin is not for everyone
Posted on September 3, 2019 Leave a Comment
Everyone over 40 was told to take baby aspirin daily, but aspirin increasing the risk of brain bleeding. Vincent Bufalino, M.D., cardiologist and spokesperson for the American Heart Association says that “if you don’t have heart disease, it’s (aspirin) not protective.”
Even over-the-counter drugs can cause serious harm, so ask your doctor about the side effects of all drugs you are taking, and do additional investigative work yourself. Keep in mind that some doctors will tell you to take medications to protect themselves as a liability, even though those prescriptions may make you sicker.
Source: “That Little White Pill” “Consumer Reports: On Health.” May 2019. Page 12. Print.
Steroids for pain? Don’t do it!
Posted on August 29, 2019 Leave a Comment
When my elbow started hurting I asked my doctor what I should do. He said a quick steroid injection would take care of the pain, but what started out with a little twinge here and there, ending up causing extreme shooting pain. Steroid injections may damage your joints and cartilage, per “…Joseph Herrera, D.O., chair of rehabilitation medicine at New York City’s Mount Sinai Healthy System.” I’m staying away from steroids from now on, and you may want re-think getting injections if you get them or are thinking about getting them.
Source: “How to Ease Joint Pain. Injections? Prescription drugs? What works and what doesn’t.” “Consumer Reports: On Health.” May 2019. Page 9. Print.
Photo from Word Swag
The ab exercise that flattens your belly
Posted on August 27, 2019 Leave a Comment
A woman at the gym came up to me and asked, “Would you tell me the one exercise that will make my belly flat?” I told her there is no one exercise that can do that. As a matter of fact, there are no exercises that are guaranteed to give someone a flat stomach. The only way to shrink belly fat is by reducing calories.
I have seen women who are very thin whose stomach’s have a little roll, but after they correct their posture with some corrective exercises, in addition to some abdominal exercises targeting the lower abs and obliques, it looks like they’ve lost 10 pounds even though their weight stayed the same.
P.S. Try this routine from AthleanX, without stopping, which will get your abs strong.
Two worst foods
Posted on August 22, 2019 Leave a Comment
Two of the worst foods, according to the movie “Diet Fiction” are sugar and saturated fat. If you’re eating sugary foods and unhealthy saturated fats, you’re increasing your chances of heart disease, cancer and a slow metabolism.
Saturated fat = high LDL cholesterol, that’s the bad kind. If your doctor says your LDL is high, he’ll want to put you on medication, which will lead to higher medical costs, and risks of other problems (side effects from the drug(s)).
Saturated Fatty Foods:
Butter increases Alzheimer’s disease risk by three times. It’s not healthy, stop eating it. Use olive oil instead, but reduce all oils, or eliminate them completely.
Coconut oil has 60% of its calories from saturated fats
Eggs have 20% of its calories from saturated fat. Remove the yolk if you want to eat eggs.
Meat is the 2nd worst of all saturated fats. Meat is the #1 food most associated with weight gain. The leanest red meat has at least 40% of its calories from saturated fat.
Dairy – You don’t need to eat dairy, that’s a myth pushed by the dairy industry; cheese is the 1st worst saturated fatty food.
Bacon – I don’t care if you are on a keto diet, bacon is not healthy! If you feel best on a ketogenic diet, try vegan keto with fats from dry-roasted almonds, chia seeds, and avocado.
Chicken – the leanest chicken breast meat has at least 30% of its calories from saturated fat
Wild salmon – the leanest has at least 20% of its calories from saturated fat
Tofu – 40% from saturated fat
Nuts – 80% from saturated fat
If you have high cholesterol, or it’s on the high side, you want to limit, or avoid foods that contain saturated fats. That may mean going on a vegan diet. Changing the way you eat is challenging, but it sure beats chemotherapy.
Source: Diet Fiction. Dir Michal Siewierski. 2019. Film. Amazon.
Photo: Sugar cookies made with butter are delicious, but they promote inflammation, induce insulin spikes and high blood sugar, cause weight gain, and cause you to crave sugary-processed foods the more you eat them. If you can’t survive without your sweet snacks, I have a sweet tooth too, check out my no-sugar, low-oil, good-for-you treats from my dairy-free dessert cookbook at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997665424/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1507756038&sr=1-1&keywords=slimming+Dairy-free+smoothies+and+desserts
The surprising reason we gain fat
Posted on August 20, 2019 Leave a Comment
It’s true that we cannot eat the same way, or eat the same number of calories we used to when we were in our teens and twenties. A few reasons is that our metabolism slows, we move less and work more, and our hormone levels change.
What’s surprising is that eating just one extra cookie or 30 extra pistachios, on a daily basis, can, theoretically, cause a person to put on 10 pounds in just one year. So, that extra bite of this or that can have a profound effect on your weight.
While the math is not perfect, since the more we weigh, the bigger our organs get, and bigger bodies burn more calories; this explains why people get frustrated when it seems like they are eating the same as they always have, yet keep getting fatter.
The good news is, if you reduce your calories, little-by-little, you’ll see a smaller you, little-by-little. When you weigh less, the organs shrink, which is when your weight loss might stop. At that time, you’ll need to reduce your calories a bit more, and maybe add more exercise, to drop the extra weight.
We all tend to underestimate how many calories we eat, and overestimate how many calories we need.
Photo: me cutting up bell peppers
