So what’s up with all those meal delivery services?

Meal delivery services are here!  Everywhere you look you can see advertisements for this service, but what exactly is it and is it worth it?  Meal prepping is a great way to ensure you have delicious healthy food ready to go when you need it.  But it takes time, energy and organizational skills that some people just don’t have.  Enter meal delivery services.  Let’s explore the two types of meal delivery services and I’ll give you my honest opinion, as I have tried many.

In the first type of meal delivery, you get a box of ingredients and a recipe card.  You have to actually cook the food, but it is portioned out for you.  For example, if the recipe calls for a half a sweet potato, you will get a half a sweet potato in your box.  Most of these companies focus on healthy choices and with many you can choose a meal plan to follow, like vegan, paleo, gluten free, etc.  Each meal runs between $10 and -$15 dollars.  While this might sound expensive, you actually save money by not going to the grocery store and piling your cart with unnecessary items.  I’m looking at you family size bag of chips!

I tried three of these services, Purple Carrot, Green Chef and Blue Apron.  Overall, they were all a great way to try new foods.  The recipes were easy to follow and prep time for each service was about 30 minutes.  The actual food was pretty good, but all three were spice heavy.  Many times I ended up leaving out an ingredient to tone down the spice level.

Let’s look at Purple Carrot.  Purple Carrot is a plant based meal delivery service.  You can choose from 2 programs, the regular plan or the TB12 plan (TB meaning Tom Brady).  The TB12 plan is higher in calories and protein than the regular plan and meant for those with an active lifestyle.  In both plans you get 3 meals a week, with each meal being 2 servings.  The TB12 actually gave me 3 meals per recipe, because I don’t eat that much.  The food was delicious and easy to prepare.  The recipe cards were well written and have the nutritional information on them.

Unfortunately, the nutritional information is not listed on the meals on the site, which I didn’t like.  I wanted to know the protein, carb and fat content of each meal prior to ordering, but could not get it.  They also use soy, which I don’t like and you have no option to not order that meal.  There are no meal choices each week.  You either get the regular plan’s 3 meals or the TB12’s 3 meals.  At this time you cannot choose a combination of regular and TB12.  So, if there is a meal you don’t like, you are stuck with it.  Delivery material is recyclable which lowers the carbon footprint.  It was easy to cancel this service.

So, as you know, we preach a plant based, whole food smart carb lifestyle.  This meal delivery company hits all the marks.  I would like to see a soy free option and more weekly choices.  Otherwise, this is a great choice for meal delivery.

https://www.purplecarrot.com/

Next up, Green Chef and Blue Apron reviews!

Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.

Self Care is not Selfish

 

Self care is the new buzzword for 2018.  But what exactly is self care?  And is it selfish?  In a word, no.  Self care is taking moments out of your busy day to focus on YOU.  It can be thoughtful contemplation while you nurse a cup of coffee in the morning.  It can be a kick ass workout at the gym.  It can be a solitary walk, just you and your thoughts.

Take 6 long deep breaths.  Clear your mind.  Harness some positive energy and breathe.  By creating these moments throughout your day you can re-center yourself.  This makes you happier, calmer and more productive.  It changes the energy you give off and calms those around you.

Many busy women are so focused on their families and work that they don’t take time out for themselves.  And it shows.  They become stressed, anxious and irritable.  The hardest lesson to learn is that taking time out for yourself actually improves your relationship with your family and collegues.

I have many self care moments throughout my day.  My workouts are my time to set the tone for the day.  The endorphin kick I get from working out boosts my seratonin levels which makes me happy.  Then, I sit with my cup of coffee and breathe deeply.  I think about my day and what I need to accomplish and kind of map it out in my mind.  Before my shower I dry brush towards my heart to improve circulation.  Then, I hit the ground running and zip through the rest of my day.  I try to take a couple of minutes on my lunch break to breath deep and re-focus myself.  The end of the day is another few minutes of contemplation. Did I do what I needed to do in that day?

I do disconnect myself from all devices about an hour before bed.  Studies have shown that the blue light from phones, computers and TVs disrupts REM sleep.  As I lay in bed, I do 6 slow, deep breaths.  This slows my heart rate and relaxes my body and I drift off to sleep.

Self care is taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually and even financially.  It is being invested in yourself, and recognizing that you are important.  So take time for yourself. Nurture yourself.  Love yourself.  Care for yourself.  Choose yourself.

Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.

So Where Do I Start?

You’ve chosen which plan you want to follow, Wade In, Take the Plunge or Keto Clean.  You’ve started to eliminate sugar and processed foods from your diet.  And you have come to realize that FAT is not the enemy.  So, what’s next????  Over the next few weeks we are really going to delve into the foods we should be eating and those we should avoid.  We’re going to talk about what to eat, when to eat and how to make a plant based, whole food, smart carb lifestyle easy and affordable for everyone.

The biggest barrier to starting a new lifestyle seems to be cost and convenience.  Many people think that eating healthy is too expensive.  I don’t agree.  I think that, if you shop smart and open yourself up to new foods, you can eat healthy on a budget.  One of my favorite things to do is go to the farmer’s market.  You get good prices on fruit, veggies and other locally sourced food, like honey.

I wander around, looking for sale items.  These are the items I purchase, and I build my meals around them.  I also try to purchase fruit and veggies that are currently in season.  You pay a lot less for apples in the fall, than you do in the winter or spring.  Experiment with fruits or veggies you’ve never eaten before.  Find new recipes to make with your family.

Let’s face it, we all lead busy lives, and cooking many times gets pushed to the back burner.  It’s easy to open a box or a bag of some pre-prepared meal and throw it in a pot.  The health value of that type of meal is pretty much zero.  Even if you are eating veggies, they have the nutrients sucked out of them.  I propose that you take one day of the week, I usually do this on Sundays, and prep for the week.  Even if you don’t cook all of the food for the week, you can plan your meals out and gather your ingredients.

I pretty much eat the same food for breakfast every day; for lunch, I have 3-4 go to meals; then, for dinner, I like to experiment.  I’ll find a really yummy sounding recipe on Facebook or Pinterest and I’ll make that.  I always make extra to eat the next day or to freeze.  I freeze meals in single serve containers and labels then for a quick, easy meal on the go.

A lot of people have told me that they want to change the way they eat, but they have to also feed their families.  I don’t really understand this thought process.  This lifestyle is one that everyone should be following.  These are foods that your kids and your spouses should be eating.  I’m telling you, if you start your kids early on eating good, whole food, they will continue eating that way into adulthood.  I truly can’t think of anyone who shouldn’t be eating this way.

Remember, it takes one week to make a change and three weeks to make that change a habit.  Commit today to making changes that will make you and your family healthier and happier.

  Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.

Fat Facts! Here’s the skinny on dietary fat.

So, last we met, we spoke about sugar addiction.  Hopefully, you’ve spent the last couple of weeks decreasing your sugar intake.  But, now what?  We eat sugar because it makes food taste good.  Are we doomed to boring, bland tasting foods?  Not at all.  Enter fat.

Now I know your doctor has been telling you for years to reduce your fat intake, but what if he’s wrong?  What if you can actually increase your fat intake, make your food taste delicious, and STILL be healthy?  How can this be true?  Let me explain.

There are 3 types of fat, trans fat, saturated fat and unsaturated fat.  We’re going to go with the stop light analogy here and say NO to trans fats, CAUTION with saturated fats and GO! with unsaturated fats.  It’s seriously that easy.

Let’s talk about trans fats.  Trans fats are created by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oil.  This process enables the oil to become a solid.  It also increases the cooking set point, so it allows foods to be fried at a higher temperature and it can be reused over and over.  Trans fats, or partially hydrogenated oils, are also used in many processed foods because they’re cheap, easy to use, taste good and give the food a longer shelf life.  But…  Remember in the last blog we talked about the processing of processed foods?

What do trans fats do to your health?  Nothing good.  Trans fats increase your bad cholesterol (LDL) and decrease your good cholesterol (HDL).  They cause inflammation in your body and significantly increase your risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.  In fact, in 2015, the FDA deemed trans fats as not “generally recognized as safe” in human food.  Wow!  Trans fats are so dangerous to your health, that by the year 2018, they are banned as a food source.

Do you see why trans fats are RED  on the stoplight?  Do not use these fats as your fat source.

Trans fats can be found in pizza, cookies, crackers, cake, doughnuts, fried chicken and other fried foods, french fries, biscuits, margarine, and most fast food.  This list is by no means comprehensive, but it will give you a general idea.

Saturated fats are fats that are typically solid at room temperature and are “natural” rather than man made.  They come from a variety of sources including beef, lamb, pork, the skin of poultry, cheese and many dairy products, butter and certain oils like palm oil and coconut oil.

Saturated fat has gotten a bad rap for a long time because scientists believed that it caused bad cholesterol (LDL) to go up and caused plaque build up in our arteries.  There are several good recent studies, including the PURE study which came out this year,  that indicate that while saturated fat likely will make your LDL go up, it does not cause a plaque buildup in your arteries.  These recent studies indicate that processed foods and sugar, which cause widespread inflammation in the body, are actually the root cause of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

In light of these recent studies, we give saturated fat a YELLOW on the stop light.  They are okay to eat in moderation.

This leads us to the holy grail of fat, unsaturated fat.  Unsaturated fat is considered “good fat” and is liquid at room temperature.  Unsaturated fat is further broken down into poly unsaturated fat and mono unsaturated fat.  Poly unsaturated fat is a good source of Omega 3s.  Omega 3s protect our bodies from inflammation and we must get them from the food we eat.  Wild caught salmon and flax seed are excellent sources of Omega 3s.

Unsaturated fat raises your good cholesterol (HDL) and lowers your bad cholesterol (LDL).  It is considered cardio protective and lowers your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.  Fish, nuts, seeds, avocado and plant oils, like olive oil and sunflower oil are examples of unsaturated fat.

Unsaturated fat gets a GREEN light on the stoplight.  From a health perspective, you don’t really need to limit these fats; however, if you are trying to lose weight, too much of any fat will inhibit your weight loss.

To recap.  Fat is actually not bad for you, as long as you are eating the appropriate fat.  Do not eat trans fat, just don’t.  You can eat saturated fat in moderation and may have unlimited unsaturated fat.  If you are trying to lose weight, I would limit fat to less than 75 grams a day.

So, in actuality, between sugar and trans fats, we have eliminated processed food as a food source.  A down and dirty way to understand if food is processed is: if it goes bad, it’s good for you; if it doesn’t go bad, it’s bad for you.

Next week I will introduce the Choose You food pyramid and how you can incorporate this lifestyle into your life.

Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.

#fall back, #fall http://ow.ly/i/A8geq

#fall back, #fall http://ow.ly/i/A8geq

http://ow.ly/i/A1GHO

http://ow.ly/i/A1GHO

Sugar Addiction – A Nation in Crisis

What do you mean I’m addicted to sugar?  No I’m not!  Or am I?  Let’s break down the sugar we consume and how our bodies respond to it.  Then you can decide if you are addicted or not.  Most Americans are; because much of the food we consume has hidden, added sugar.  Let’s begin.

Sugar makes up 10-25% of all calories consumed by the average American.  And sugary beverages like soda, sports drinks and energy drinks are the largest source of those calories.  The rest of the excess sugar we consume comes from cookies, cakes, pastries and other treats, ice cream, fruit drinks, candy and ready to eat cereals.  Cutting these foods and drinks out is the first step in the Choose You lifestyle.  Unfortunately, there are more, hidden sugars that we need to address.

We’ve talked about the processing of food in previous blogs.  The decline in health in America can be directly linked to the processing of food.  In that processing process (say THAT 3 times fast…lol), sugar was added to your food without you even knowing it.  Common added sweeteners include: corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt syrup, raw sugar, sucrose, sugar syrup, cane crystals, cane sugar, crystalline fructose, evaporated cane juice, corn syrup solids and malt syrup.  These added sugars change your brain chemistry, making you crave more of these types of foods.  Hence, the term addiction.

So, let’s look at what happens in your body when you consume excess sugar.  You have receptors on your tongue and in your gut that signal to your brain that something sweet and wonderful has happened!  Sugar stimulates the reward center in your brain, similar to the way drugs of abuse and nicotine do.  In fact, in a study with mice, they were given the opportunity to choose sugar or cocaine.  Guess what they choose the majority of the time?  Yup. Sugar.  That’s amazing and a little scary at the same time.

In addition to its addictive properties, excess sugar changes the hippocampus of the brain, which controls emotional behavior and cognitive function.  It contributes to the accelerated aging of the brain cells, memory and cognitive deficiencies and brain atrophy.  And we already know that sugar increases your risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

So the first step in the Choose You lifestyle focuses on the reduction or elimination of sugar in your diet.  Whether you start with Wade In, Take the Plunge or Keto Clean, you must assess your intake of sugar and begin to eliminate it.  For those doing Wade In, we would like you to reduce your sugar intake to 6-9 tsp/day, which is approximately 30-50 grams of sugar a day.  Take the Plunger’s will need to get below 6 tsp of sugar/day, which is below 30 grams per day.  And those doing Keto Clean?  Less than 20 grams of sugar, which is approximately 4 tsp sugar per day.

When you reduce your sugar intake, you may develop flu like symptoms.  This is your body detoxing from sugar, similar to when an addict detoxes from his or her drug of choice.  It shouldn’t last more than a week, and sometimes having salty foods helps with the symptoms.  This may be the hardest part of your journey, but you must power through!  The rewards of a body detoxed from sugar include more energy and less pain and inflammation.

So what do you think?  Are you addicted?

Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.

Choices, Chances, Changes

So,  you’ve decided to Choose You, now what?  You need to decide, Wade In?  Take the Plunge?  Or Keto Clean?  All will give you the results you are looking for, just in slightly different ways.  Read on to see which lifestyle choice is your best fit.

Wade In is for those who want to ease into a new lifestyle.  You find that an all or nothing approach sets you up for failure and you want to do a slow and steady approach.  This is a great plan for those who eat a lot of processed food or fast food.  You will still get the same amazing results, it will just be over a longer period of time.  This plan works well because it allows you to make one change at a time, mastering that change before moving on to the next.  If you want a long term, sustainable lifestyle, Wade In is your choice.

Take the Plunge is for those of you who take an all or nothing approach.  You want to do it right and you’re jumping in feet first.  You don’t like to let yourself stray from the path and like clear direction and focus.  You will see faster results, but need to understand that, for some of you, this will be a complete change from your current lifestyle.  I recommend that people who are already eating somewhat healthy start with Take the Plunge.

        

 

Keto Clean is the strictest of all the lifestyle changes.  It is perfect for those of you who are already eating clean.  It takes the premise of eating clean and brings the carbs way down to turn your body into a fat burning machine.  By burning fat instead of glucose from carbs,  you will lose weight and feel great in addition to becoming a healthier version of yourself.  Choose Keto Clean for fast metabolic results.

 

 

Regardless of which plan you choose, you will all be eating similar foods. Choose You is a plant based, whole food, low carb diet designed to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, lower your blood sugar, and reduce inflammation which causes headaches, fatigue, chronic pain and GI woes.  You will sleep better, wake refreshed, and have energy and mental clarity throughout your day.  And, you will likely lose some weight in the process.  It’s a win all around!  Join us today to begin your journey to health!

Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.

Choose You

Choose you.  It’s such a powerful message.  It reminds you that you are important.  You matter.  And you have the choice to make changes in your life.  While I’m talking about changes for better health, the Choose You message can be carried over to the rest of your life.  Change is not always easy, but when you open yourself, the possibilities are amazing.

The whole premise of our Choose You campaign is to get you to recognize your value.  To recognize that you are worth the effort it takes to make a change.  To understand, that making the change of better heath positively affects those around you.  I do this every day.  I walk the walk.  And I see the people around me getting my message.  They are starting to make better choices for their health and their family’s health.  They’re even starting to sound a little like me…lol…Lexie….

Choosing you may require changing your mindset.  Many of us are caregivers, nurturers.  It’s very easy to get caught in the trap of “I have to take care of everyone else, I don’t have time for me.”    You HAVE TO make time for you.  The more you are pulled in multiple directions, the more important it is to take time for yourself.  Remember the instructions you get when you are flying?  If you are flying with small children and the oxygen masks come down, put yours on firstbefore attending to those around you.  Why is that?  Isn’t it selfish? NO, it’s not selfish at all.  How can you care for those around you if you lack the essentials to take care of yourself?  You may be able to do it for a while, but it’s not sustainable.  And really, the choices we are asking you to make, will benefit your whole family.

Choose You is a lifestyle change that incorporates healthy eating with good physical and emotional health.  It ‘s a journey to health.  As you travel down the path towards health, you may stop along the way, it’s OKAY.  You may meander off the path a little, and that’s okay too.  I find the most interesting paths are those that weave amongst the trees and cross the creeks.  The most important thing is that you continue your journey.

So what happens next?  What’s the next step after you decide to Choose You?   First, take a moment to pat yourself on the back, the changes you are about to make will rock your world!  You will feel better, look better and live better.

Next, you need to take stock of YOU.  What kind of person are you?  Are you a take charge, full steam ahead kind of person?  Or more of a slowly, easing into it kind of guy?  It matters.  If you need to ease into things, then following the Take the Plunge plan will overwhelm you and may make you quit.  If you’re a dive right in kind of person, you may feel the Wade In plan is too slow for you.  Or maybe you’re already following a pretty clean diet and want to turbo charge  it.  Then Keto Clean might be the way to go.  All three plans are amazing and will change your life.  You just need to pick the one that matches YOU to make it work.  Next week I’ll review the 3 plans so you can pick the one that works best for you.

Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.

Menopause!

Menopause!

That lovely word menopause.  I’ve heard so much about and was so hoping to avoid it, but it has reared its ugly head for the past two years, wreaking havoc on my body and life!  Normally, I would described myself as a pretty disciplined person with diet and exercise.  Sadly, I can say that  I have surrendered helplessly to the chaos that is, Menopause.

It started with a slow invasion. The slightly annoying pre-menopausal symptoms that were tolerable. The quick hot flashes that were a two minute interruption or inconvenience, but quickly returned my temperature back to normal and on my way I went. This lasted on and off for about a year, and silly me I thought,  ”this isn’t that bad, what’s all the fuss?”

Oh was I wrong! Ha, the jokes on me!  That sneaky devil went from those small annoyances to an all out battle raging through my body, and left my feeling utterly out of control.

The hot flashes I have to say are the worst. I don’t even get them to the point of breaking out in a full sweat, like some horror stories I’ve heard, but they are literally every hour on the hour. At night it’s like clock work.  And all night, which means no sleep. Which then transforms the polite and tolerant person I once was into this evil nasty witch.  The lack of sleep also leads to feeling confusion,  a fog like state and exhaustion.  The exhaustion leads to not eating right, which leads to feeling terrible, not having the energy to exercise (which would make me feel better but I’m too tired).

Then to make matters worse, I try to have an intelligent conversation and I sound like a complete idiot! I can not remember anything or speak correctly. I sound like a babbling baboon. It’s a never ending cycle of agony! A very cruel joke I might add. It’s not enough that babies and toddlers kept you awake. Then came teenagers, young drivers, and college. And just when you think you are done, bamm! Menopause!

Ok, so here’s the good part, no more periods. Yes. Um, anything else? Not really. There has to be a way out of this. I know one day there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, but when? I’ve read that this could last from four years up to twelve years! No way!  So what’s actually going on in the body? Who the hell knows.  They say it’s the decrease in estrogen and progesterone. Makes sense, but taking hormone replacement, is not always the best choice.  At the bottom of this article I placed a link to a great article on hormone replacement.  So, what to do?

Well, I’ve decided the only way I know how, is to attack this thing head on!  The one thing I know for sure is that, if I exercise regularly, eat a very healthy clean diet, lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, try to get a good night sleep and keep the right attitude, meditation and yoga, that I will feel a whole lot better. So, that is what I will be doing. I will take back control of my health and my body. The ball is in my court and I will prevail! Stay tune. I will let you know how it goes. If it works, I will put together a plan for others to follow. Meanwhile, remember its your health, your journey and your choice, so Choose You!

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/menopause/in-depth/hormone-therapy/ART-20046372

Your Health.  Your Journey.  Your Choice.  Choose You.