Gratitudes Keep You On Track

Daily Gratitudes

One of my commitments during my 30 days is to engage again with my Gratitudes Diary.  This diary has a special talent. That special talent is that it creates an uplifting energy to my day.

A few years ago I may have said that a Gratitude Diary was a good thing to have, but I wasn't engaging in it.  I remember thinking, "surely just thinking positive thoughts is enough"?

I don't believe it is, the thought is a great beginning, don't get me wrong, I love the power of positive thinking, however, as a stand alone, I believe an action needs to be undertaken to complete the power of the thought.

This action is writing about it. The action of writing about a positive thought, lets that thought settle into your very being, it creates a vibration within you that goes cellular - well, I believe so anyway!

Actions cement a thought. Have you ever tried to learn a new concept? Did just reading about it cement it in for you? Or did you have to actually go out and do the thing to really learn about the process?

I have always found in learning, especially when it comes to new habits, that repetition, repetition, repetition always works well!  

So, take action today, grab a piece of paper and start tonight. Write out five things you are grateful that happened to you today - it may have even been someone cutting you up in the traffic, because it led you to a different way to work, that meant you got to see some amazing graffiti that you wouldn't have seen before (now you get to see how my mind works!!).

Get writing and let me know how you feel after you've written out the five things that made you smile throughout your day today, and whether it gave you a lift or not.

Check out my video on my Facebook page too where I discuss the Gratitudes Diary!

Recipes - more nutritious salads

Beetroot & Feta Salad

I was checking out the vege rack today and noticed that I still have some beetroot sitting there from last week.  Now, I'm not a person to extravagantly throw away veges just 'because', so I have made a choice to make a salad from the beetroot.  I always keep some feta in the fridge for moments such as these!

So, I was on the search for a recipe that will suit me and be relatively easy to make (I currently don't have any rocket or lettuce in the garden, so this limits most recipes for me).

I found this interesting looking one on BBC Good Food 

Here is the recipe:

1kg heirloom beetroot 

200g feta cheese

100g pumpkin seeds, roasted

Dressing: 

zest and juice of one lemon

2tbsp white balsamic or white wine vinegar

2tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil

Now, I'm usually great at changing the recipe to suit what I have in the cupboard.  So, for my salad today, I'm going to do the following:

Change the white balsamic to carmelized balsamic and white wine vinegar mixed. 

Reduce the rapeseed oil (and change it to olive oil), to 1tbsp

The amount of beetroot, feta cheese and pumpkin seeds will be reduced based on the weight of beetroot I have.

Boil the beetroot (skin on), for about 20 - 30 minutes until they are tender, drain and leave to cool.

Peel (now, if you're worried about pink/red fingers, use gloves. I'm not fussy, so am happy to peel without gloves. I find if I wash my hands quickly, it's not so bad, and the colour usually goes within a day).

Slice the beetroot

Mix the dressing ingredients together, usually I do this in a shaker. Season. Pour over the beetroot. 

Cut the fetta into small cubes, toast the pumpkin seeds (I normally heat these in a pan over the stove until they start to roast), then scatter these over the top of the beetroot and toss together.

For a kilogram of beetroot, this serves 8 people, with 204kcal per serve

Borrowed from BBC Good Food

Raising Healthy Kids In The Kitchen

Weight Loss Begins In The Kitchen

How many times do you include the kids in the food preparation for dinner, or for their specific meals?  By including the kids, you ensure they respect where the food comes from, how it's cooked, how you cook it, and it sets them up for a healthy future in that they understand how to feed themselves quickly and easily, without resorting to quick unhealthy takeaways.

Obesity in our kids is on the rise, you can see it in so many places, and we need to find ways to combat this.  Often there is discussion around the food convenience in this regard, it is too easy to say you're tired, can't be bothered preparing a meal, or that it's too late to make something nutritious. Is this really true?  When you look at the quality of the takeaway meals, I believe it's quicker, easier and more nutritious to quickly prepare a stirfry in your own kitchen.

Imagine involving your kids as well, that way, it's not all about you preparing and cooking the meal (obviously, it does depend on the age of your children).

Here's a great article from Isagenix Health giving some great easy and implementable tips to get your kids involved in the kitchen - if they help prepare it, I've found they also make sure they eat it!

I also love the link to Eat Right, giving tips on what is age appropriate tasks in the kitchen for your kids.

Raising Healthy Kids Starts In The Kitchen

There’s an art to cooking with youngsters. It’s about sharing favorite recipes. It’s about passing on family traditions. Yet it’s a forgotten art in many households. For busy parents these days, it’s tough to find time to make dinner for a family, much less include kids in the process.

As any busy parent knows, including kids in cooking meals requires time, patience, and some extra cleanup. But experts agree that it’s well worth the added effort to help children gain skills that they can use their entire lives.

Help Prevent Obesity

To help children and adolescents avoid becoming overweight or obese later in life, the American Heart Association recommends that parents engage in the following two practices (1):

• Minimize the number of meals eaten outside of the home. Through better observance and control of meals in the house, parents are able to more closely monitor the quality of the food, the way that it is prepared, and the portion sizes for their children.

• Set aside structured family meal times. While it’s not always possible, parents should try setting aside at least one night a week to come together and eat as a family. In addition, have children help prepare food so they will have a more positive attitude about meal time.

4 Tips to Cooking With Your Kids

Enlisting the help of your kids to help in the kitchen can be a little intimidating, and cause for a headache. But with the following four tips, you can take some of the stress out, and focus on the fun!

• Set your kids up for success. Structure their work areas so that they are less likely to spill or break anything and give them age-appropriate tasks.

• Set aside a time for cooking when there are no added time constraints. For example, weekends and school holidays can be a great time to do some fun activities in the kitchen with your kids.

• The easier a meal is to prepare, the more likely kids will be to want to try making them again. Try starting with things like breads, muffins, pasta, smoothies, salads, and sandwiches.

• Focus on creating balanced meals. Encourage children to serve themselves a variety of foods including fruits and vegetables (even if they won’t eat all of them).

While it’s inevitable that kids will snack on unhealthy foods like potato chips at school or enjoy some ice cream for a friend’s birthday, what’s most important is how they eat most of the time. This is where parents play a huge role. Studies suggest that when children help with meal preparation, they are much more likely to give new foods a try all on their own (2). Children who are involved in preparation also have a more positive attitude toward healthy eating, and tend to enjoy an increased variety of foods, including those dreaded vegetables (2-5).

Outside of the nutritional benefits kids gain, they also gain a sense of accomplishment for having contributed something to the family by helping prepare the meal. Most importantly, it’s a fun opportunity to pull kids away from the television or other electronics, and spend quality time together trying something new as a family.

References

1. Gidding S, Dennison B, Birch L, Daniels S, Gilman M, Lichtenstein A, Rattay K, Steinberger J, Stettler N, Van Horn L. Dietary Recommendations for Children and Adolescents. Circulation. September 27, 2005, Volume 112, Issue 13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.169251
2. Cooke L. The importance of exposure for healthy eating in childhood: a review. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2007 Aug;20(4):294-301.
3. Cunningham-Sabo L, Lohse B. Impact of a school-based cooking curriculum for fourth-grade students on attitudes and behaviors is influenced by gender and prior cooking experience. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2014 Mar-Apr;46(2):110-20. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2013.09.007. Epub 2013 Nov 20.
4. Ritchie B, O’Hara L, Taylor J. ‘Kids in the Kitchen’ impact evaluation: engaging primary school students in preparing fruit and vegetables for their own consumption. Health Promot J Austr. 2015 Aug;26(2):146-9.
5. Cunningham-Sabo L, Lohse B. Cooking with Kids positively affects fourth graders’ vegetable preferences and attitudes and self-efficacy for food and cooking. Child Obes. 2013 Dec;9(6):549-56. doi: 10.1089/chi.2013.0076.

Healthy Mind & Body - Accountability - Completion

Weight Loss Help

After Day 60 was completed ( a couple of days late, for sure), I felt a sense of achievement.  A sense of completing what I initially set out to do.  This sense of achievement doesn't stop here though.  Now it's about completing my next 16 week challenge.

In 13 weeks and 4 days (as you may observe, I am not counting!!), I will be turning 50.  My goal for this 16 week challenge, is to achieve a trim, taught and terrific body by then.  This is not a weight loss challenge. It is a challenge about gaining muscle, more energy, clarity of mind and the love of life.  I am turning 50 with a passion, a mission and a sense of well being that I've not had for a while.

Why have I not had that?  It may be the same for you, sometimes you feel that you are just moving forward and not achieving all that you set out to do.  Life gives us obstacles, and hurdles, and curveballs and many other 'things' that steer you off course of what you set out to achieve.

When I was a child, my ambition was to help mankind to health.  This ambition has not changed. It has taken some detours along the way, for sure.  However, ultimately, the core self belief, that this is my mission in life, has remained true.  I trust that is why I support nutrition and I'm a natural therapist!

The only difference now, with completing my 60 day Healthy Mind and Healthy Body course, is that the focus on this mission is defined, it is full of passion and wisdom and it is being done already!  

By helping others achieve their sense of wellness and health, I am already achieving this mission.  My ability to see it in a bigger format has been clarified. I now know more about the depth that I wish to carry this forward.  The people I want to help, the communities that are looking for the particular help I'm offering and the ability for me to complete this mission is growing.

I seem to have gone off on a tangent - do you do that too?  It's the passion I'm feeling, I'm sure.

In order to complete my initial 16 week challenge, I have started my nutritional program again, I have set myself goals and I have initiated an exercise routine.

When are you setting your goals so that they are achieveable?  When are you starting on your Life Journey?

Contact me now to begin your Life Journey and make 2016 your year!

http://bit.ly/weightlossdetoxnaturally

Chocolate, Today & Every Day!

Yes, I've written before about having chocolate on your life journey, now there are studies confirming that a little chocolate every day will reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Interestingly, these studies highlight that it can also be milk chocolate, for those of you who don't really go wild for the dark chocolate!

The average intake of chocolate was only 7g, so keep a lid on the chocolate box! Remember, everything in moderation is okay, it's the times we take them to excess that causes us to flounder when we're going on our life journey of change to good health.

I should know, over the last few months, I've definitely been taking some things more frequently than I should have been. Consequently, the scales have noticed a change on the upwards trend (thankfully, I'm still quite toned and the clothes all still fit!). 

Interestingly, it is because I still regularly monitor what I weigh, and regularly take part in 30 day challenges, that allows me to be on top of any silly mistakes I've been making lately.  What are my mistakes?  Well, here they go:

• exercising only twice a week, ususally it's four times
• having more than a glass of wine on a Friday night
• staying snuggled in bed on these cooler winter mornings

Essentially I've been indulging a little too much in the department of wine, and not enough in the department of alcohol!  However, I know that it's fixable, and this month will see that change! 

In saying that, I won't be stopping my regular treat of chocolate over this time. For a few good reasons:

1. I don't believe a way of life is about restriction
2. The chocolate I eat has green tea infused into it, thus improving my mood, metabolism and energy
3. Now I know that a small amount can be beneficial to my overall health
4. I LOVE chocolate!!

My Favourite Chocolate Treat

How Much Protein Is Good For You?

There are many differing opinions about how much protein is enough protein.

A recent review of studies has indicated that the intake of protein helps improve appetite, manages a healthy body weight, reduces cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors and increases dietary compliance.

The dietary compliance, for me, has been a major change in how I have managed my diet over the last couple of years.  Prior to understanding the benefits of ensuring my diet was protein rich, I used to attempt to lose weight by calorie restriction, and notably the protein content of my overall food would reduce.  Ultimately, this slows the metabolism, so when I stopped the calorie restriction, the weight would come back on!!  The CLASSIC YO-YO DIET EFFECT

The effect of feeling 'hungry' and not satisfied was that my ability to comply to a new lifestyle was soon broken down and I would resume my old habits.

With the increase in protein I now get from my diet, and the nutritional products I use, I can now happily stay satisfied and feeling full between my meals, this ensures my dietary compliance!

Needless to say, this is the first time I have ever kept my weight off (apart from a natural cycle of increasing and decreasing) for well over a year.  Enormous pleasure!!

Ultimately, if you are looking to decrease your weight, you need to speed up your metabolism.  Your metabolism uses 20 - 30% of the protein you take in, in metabolism and storage, compared to only 5 - 10% of your carbohydrates.  This means that your metabolism is less likely to slow with the protein sources, meaning that it remains high, thus burning up the extra 'storage' you have on your hips and abdomen!!  Love it!

Muscle building is what we are aiming for when we are losing weight, to do this, we need the protein! About 20 - 30g of protein per meal to ensure the muscle is being built, rather than lost. 

Most changes of diet that include calorie restriction ultimately result in muscle mass loss, which in turn results in a slower metabolism, and that yo-yo effect again!

Ensure You Obtain Your Protein!

I Do!

Delicious Snacks For Your Lifestyle

I've been thinking about snacking lately.  Admit it, we all do it, we are all tempted to snack.

But, do you have a plan in place to have healthy, easy to go to snacks?

Here are some protein balls I made today.  Overall, they are high in fibre (giving sustained energy release), and are also balanced with protein and fats for overall satiety levels.  The calorie count, for you counters, is 152 calories (636 kilojoules). Making this a tasty, sweet, yet slow releasing energy and satisfying snack.  Enjoy

Isagenix Chocolate Protein Balls

• 2 cups rolled oats (uncooked)
• 2 tablespoons honey, raw
• 2 scoops Isagenix Isalean Creamy Dutch Chocolate
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil, raw, organic
• 1/2 cup filtered water
• 1/4 cup dates, pitted and chopped
• 1/4 cup craisins

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Make into 11 balls, using your hands to roll them.
Refrigerate.
Enjoy!!

Chocolate Protein Balls

If you wish, you can roll these in 1/2 a cup of coconut. Or, add coconut water (2/3 cup) instead of the filtered water and coconut oil (reduces calories).  There are a variety of ways  you can change these, so have fun experimenting!

Secrets To Fasting

Over the last year there has been much written about fasting as a way to lose weight.

Fasting is not a diet though, it is a way of life.  The change to this type of lifestyle needs to be permanent for you to achieve the desired outcomes.

What are those outcomes?

Well, they can be whatever your body needs at the time. It could be burning excess fat as energy, it could be growing more lean muscle, or it may just be giving your digestive system time to rest and recover!

Recently there has been some media coverage on the type of fasting that is beneficial to a healthier lifestyle. Personally, I really enjoy the 5:2 ratio of fasting.  This is where you eat from a healthy menu for 5 days of the week, for the remaining 2 days of the week, you fast.

The most recent ratio being written about is 14:10. This is where you fast for 14 hours every day, and eat from a healthy menu for 10 hours.  There have been no available studies that I have found on this ratio, whereas for the 5:2 ratio, there are more available studies highlighting the benefits to your body.

So, the secrets to fasting. 

My 7 TopTtips:

1. Stay busy.  Keeping the mind active doesn't allow you time to dwell on the fact that you're not eating
2. Treat yourself.  Okay, it's not food, but the benefits of a relaxing bubble bath, getting your hair done, getting a manicure, or whatever it is that feels like a treat, allows you to have something other than food to look forward to
3. Keep hydrated.  Drinking plenty of water to assist your body with removing the impurities that have been in your body.  Remember, when you are fasting, this gives your digestive system time to actively remove those impurities that have been stored within your fat cells (or other places in your body), so the body needs a little extra help to flush out.  Drinking 1 litre of water for every 20kg of body weight is ideal.
4. Drink herbal (non-caffeine) teas.  Personally, I love lemon and ginger in the mornings of a fasting day, and over the day I can change this to a peppermint tea.  Both these teas (make sure you obtain the herbal ones, and not the black tea that is flavoured) support your digestive system and don't put an added load onto it, while also supporting your hydration.
5. Try not to snack, but if you need to, try a low-sodium, organic vegetable broth.
6. Try a guided meditation. There is a free guided meditation by Rick Reynolds
7. Gentle exercise. Take a gentle walk, not a full on cardiovascular workout, something gentle in nature is what I love to do. I've also recently started yoga on my fasting days.

Bonus Tips:

1. Write a journal. When you are fasting, there can be a release of emotions, it's great to write these down for reflection.
2. Have an early night. Take a good book to bed and relax into your nightly slumber.
3. Avoid the supermarket or food halls. On your fasting day, do not venture into a supermarket or near any food halls or stalls.  These will put too much temptation in your way and encourage you to fail at your day of fasting!

Remember to always ease into eating again after a period of fasting, with good quality nutrition.  Also, never fast for longer than 48 hours, the studies show that there is no benefit to your body by fasting for longer than this period of time.

I follow a system of fasting that is the simplest way I have ever experienced and my increased energy at the end of a fasting is incredible! 

To contact me to find out more about the system I follow, click here and I will be in contact with you.

White Fat or Brown Fat

Do you hear these terms bandied around, but you're not sure what they mean?

Well, if you're like me, you have heard of them, but need them explained in plain language.

This is as simple as I understand it to be:

Brown Fat

This is the GOOD Fat. Brown fat is the fat that the body burns when it needs energy.  So we use this up, helping us to remove the fat from our bodies

White Fat

This is the BAD Fat. White fat is the fat that the body stores.  It's the fat that seems to accumulate on our hips, thighs and stomach area!  We need to convert this to the Brown Fat, so it can be used up.

The interesting thing is how the body does this.  We have an appetite suppressing enzyme (measures our current fat reserves) and an enzyme that monitors how much sugar we have coming into our body (measures our future fat reserves).  

These enzymes/hormones play a role in keeping our body at the required fat levels when they work together and trigger other actions in the body to convert the white fat to brown fat!  Simples!!

Photo from: www.freedigitalphotos.net, Mister GC

Forget Diets!

I've just finished reading about an author that is advocating forgetting to follow a traditional diet.

It did resonate well with me.  I am a great believer in changing your lifestyle, not setting steadfast rules to be followed when you are looking to change your eating habits.

Why?

Because the word "dieting" creates an image that it's something you only need to do until the pounds have disappeared, then you can step right back into all your old habits!!

Trust me, this doesn't work!  I know, I've been a yo-yo dieter for the majority of my life!!

How can you make 'missing a food group' a way of life?  Have you ever started a diet, say for example low carbs, high protein, and then been invited to your friends for dinner?  Did you find this awkward and embarrassing as you begin to explain all the foods you can't have??

This is why I agree that traditional dieting is not a great way to go. 

Instead you need to create a new lifestyle, one that is fun and engaging to follow, that will allow you to have treats occassionally and not to feel guilty!  This is what I do, my eating lifestyle now is one that I really enjoy, the foods are tasty and I have a lot of fun with those around me who are into my lifestyle!

Imagine this, you've reached your goal weight, and there is no relaxation of rules, no 'great, I'm really going to enjoy my desserts again', no 'thank goodness I can go for takeaway again', no slipping into the junk food aisle at the supermarket and loading up the trolley.  Why won't this happen?  Because you are enjoying the choices you have made for your new lifestyle and DO NOT miss the old foods, patterns and habits!

What bliss!

Enjoy your new lifestyle