Are your kids eating well?

Everything in moderation is okay

In today's society parents globally tend to agree that everything in moderation is okay for their children.  Do you agree?

Does this mean that of the 17,000 new processed foods introduced to the market every year, these are foods you want to be giving to your children in moderation? (1)

At what point does moderation become excess?

I feel that moderation becomes excess when we are giving similar ingredients in foods that are multiplied in processed foods.  These ingredients are not necessarily those that we wish our children to be getting on a daily basis.

The foods children need to grow include:

• fruit
• veges
• whole grains
• proteins
• healthy fats

The best way for your children to get these healthy food types, including their vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that are all required for their growth and brain development, is through eating locally grown organic wherever possible.  If not locally grown, then organic, if not organic, then locally grown in season.

What do you do though if you cannot access these all year round? Or you  have fussy eaters?

Did you know that our soils are depleted of minerals? (2)  Did you know that over 80,000 environmental toxins are released yearly and many are not tested for? (3).  How do you think this is affecting the nutritional content of the foods you are feeding to your children?

Are they receiving the nutrients they need to grow into healthy adults? To grow up without the added risk of Type 2 Diabetes? To grow up without the risk of obesity?

There are statistics available (4) that highlight that children in the US today do not get enough fruit and vegetables, and that this is a greater problem as children age.  What foods do your children eat that contain high sodium levels (lots of extra salt added), high fat levels (fried foods), high sugar levels (sweets, cakes, processed foods, even 'low fat' foods)??

How to change this for your children?

Switch to superfoods that have natural ingredients, no artificial sweetners, flavours or colours to supplement your healthy food choices.

• Look to locally grown, inseason organic foods to cook with,
• skip processed foods,
• reduce your concept of 'moderation' for processed foods or treats
• increase exercise for your children, go to the park and run around for 1/2 an hour every evening

Change the eating patterns of your family by joining a revolution of good quality foods that provide nutrients for healthy growth, increase exercise routines in your family to have more fun as a family. Ask me about how.

Home grown bananas

By doing these things, and following a healthy nutritious diet, you are more likely to be creating a foundation for your children to grow into healthy, strong adults.

Ask me how now!

1. Pollan M. Food Rules, An Eater’s Manual. The Penguin Press, New York, 2011.

2. Davis DR, Epp MD, Riordan, HD. Changes in the USDA food composition data for 43 garden crops, 1950 to1999. J Amer Col Nutr, 2004;23(6):669-682.

3. Reuben SH. Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now. President’s Cancer Panel, Annual Report 2008-2009. Retrieved from: http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/annualReports/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf

4. Cohen, E. Ten Ways To Get Kids To Eat Their Veggies. 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/02/kids.eat.vegetables.ep/

 

Secrets to Success

Your life journey takes you down many differing paths, each one has positive and negative success associated with them.  The choices we make along our path results in different outcomes.  How do we know we are travelling well?

One of the secrets to success I have discovered is

POSTURE

I have been listening to various podcasts lately, and they are stating some ideas of similarity - the posture you hold while undertaking a task, whether it's a new one, or one you've repeated many times, will determine a number of different things:

1. Your sense of ability to accomplish the task
2. Your energy that surrounds the outcome of the task
3. Your motivation to complete the task

I first discovered this when I was out running.  It's amazing how a simple thing like running with your chin pointing straight ahead can change

• your pace,
• your sense of lightness in your step and
• your motivation on whether you can make it to the next point in your run

I've been trying out this technique when I'm feeling tired on my runs, and to date, every time, it has changed how I'm feeling about the completion of the run.

Next, I discovered that this very same aspect of posture can change how you see the outcome of a task you're undertaking when working.  Whenever I am feeling like I'm hitting a block in my thoughts, whether it's for writing, researching or speaking to new people, I change my posture.  The difference in my ENERGY, CONFIDENCE & INSPIRATION for the task at hand is amazing.

Try this out at home. 

When you're feeling low about an issue (no matter what it may be) that has troubled you during the day,

1. stand up and,
2. with a smile on your face, and
3. your head held high,
4. talk about what that issue is

Do you notice the change in energy associated with that issue?
Imagine if you do this when you're in the middle of a task that is draining your energy, your motivation or inspiration?
Try practising this in the mirror too - you will definitely notice a change in your posture - the smile helps with that too.
How you hold yourself during the day makes a difference to whether your tasks have successful or non-successful outcomes - mainly because your energy around the task changes, which invariably changes the whole situation and the potential outcome too.

Take the path and journey to success, change your posture, lift your chin, hold your head up high and remember to smile, the energy will definitely change for the better.

Mindfulness and Ageing Well

As I have mentioned, the concept of Mindfulness is everywhere lately.

I listened to a podcast discussing mindful meditation and the research that has been done on this topic.  What caught my attention was a discussion on the effect of mindful meditation on the length of telomeres.

I know, the first thing you're asking right now is: What is a telomere??

Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of our chromosomes.  They break down over the years as we age and our chromosomes replicate as part of our natural body function.  They appear to have a connection to how we age.

Summary: telomeres are considered to be linked to how quickly we age - improve the length, slow down your ageing!

There is research going on that looks at the telomeres and the role they (and the corresponding enzymes, telomerase) play in the role of health and ageing.  It appears that the telomeres reduce in length when the body is stressed, so mindful meditation can reduce the stress, see this review

/study. Though, as with much research, more research is required.

There is a great TEDx talk on mindful meditation by Diana Winston, if you wish to learn more about this type of meditation

And, of course, there are free guided meditations available here.

So, why did that catch my attention?

Well, mainly because I use a product that is to aid the telomerase and consequently reduce the shortening of my telomeres.  Since I've been using this proprietary herb blend, it has been commented upon that I am looking younger.

Am I really? I'm not sure myself, but then it's not my opinion that counts, but that of those having to look at me regularly! I'm certainly feeling a lot less stressed, my health is great (in my humble opinion) and I'm looking amazing (again, my humble opinion!) - check out the selfie from last month!!

Another way to address the stress your body is put under and to assist in reducing this oxidative stress and the resultant ageing process, is to address your nutritonal status.

Did you know that putting your body through a high stress load on a continual basis increases the oxidative stress on your body's cells?  This increased stress can result in a faster ageing process.

Looking at keeping your nutrition, meditation and stress within a healthy Life Journey plan is the way to go!

Ask me more about your nutrition and stress levels now

More Mindfulness

A couple of days ago I mentioned that Mindfulness Meditation was talked about a lot.  Well, it's been upfront and personal again today.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think the Universe was stalking me about meditation!!

I was listening to a wonderful podcast by The Wellness Guys this morning and the discussion was about mindful mediation, their guest was Dr Elise Bialylew.  Dr Elise runs a campaign in May every year (this year I heard about it too late to join), called Mindful in May.  Essentially people register to do mindful meditation every day for a month (and are given a course to follow, instructions on 'how to' and a journal to record your meditations), in doing so, they also undertake to fundraise for Charity Water.

Did you know it only takes $30 to provide clean water for one person?  Did you know that 1 in 9 people in the world do not  have access to clean water?

If you're interested in joining, it appears that the registration date has been extended. It costs you $25 to register, and for that you receive an online course in mindful meditation.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is talked about a lot in today's online blogs.

In this particular blog, I really enjoyed how Ian Gawler speaks about ensuring you are truly relaxed first, meditation without relaxation is not so useful :) http://ow.ly/wdKXn

Do you mediate? If so, do you ensure you relax fully first, or, like most things we attempt in today's society, do you rush into it, try the quick 5 minute version, then state it doesn't work?