Real Advice from a Weight Loss Coach

How to Get Your Body Back in Balance so You Can Start to Lose Weight More Easily
Our Diet and Tastes Reflect our Culture - But it CAN be Changed!
Why has Weight Loss Become so Difficult?
Healthy Foods the Way Nature Intended
Vacation Mode - Are you Able to Get Yourself Out of it?
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How to Get Your Body Back in Balance so You Can Start to Lose Weight More Easily

If you think your body may not be in the best condition or if you are having difficulty losing or maintaining weight take a look at the following steps you can take to get your body back in balance:

Cleanse your Body

Years of eating processed and fried foods, taking over-the-counter or prescription drugs, over-eating foods with hydrogenated oils, white sugar and white flour, and consuming alcoholic beverages and drinks with artificial sweeteners - have taken a stressful toll on your liver, colon, kidneys and gall bladder - the primary organs responsible for digestion and detoxification. When the organs designed to take on major protective roles in the body are over-worked trying to rid your blood of consumed toxins they can no longer do their job well.

The kidneys work to filter toxins from the body. When it becomes stressed from an overload of toxins and insufficient water intake it puts more of a load on the liver. The liver plays a major role in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins - the nutrients that supply the body with energy. If the liver is over-loaded it can not do its job properly and it puts a strain on other organs like the gall bladder and colon. The colon can hold as much as five feet of bile. The debris becomes compacted over the years and the toxic matter eventually begins to leach into the bloodstream. The body is now loaded with more toxins and is unable to do its job of breaking down food and supplying the cells with nutrients that help to feed your hormones and metabolism.

It is no wonder hormones become out of balance and the metabolism slows down over the years. This is a major contributing factor as to why you may not be losing weight so easily. Thus, cleansing is a necessary start to any successful weight loss plan.

De-Stress the Body

Regardless of your diet, if you are constantly under stress or producing stress hormones (for instance, Type A personalities) you are doing harm to your body. When you are under stress your body produces cortisol. Cortisol production is designed to save you from dangerous situations by giving you a reserve of energy to flea or fight to save your life. Unfortunately our lifestyles are such that we are constantly under stress and producing cortisol all day long. The cortisol designed to save us is now shutting down our digestive system, stealing our nutrient reserves and sending alert signals to start storing fat! No wonder stress is involved in 90% of disease. The body essentially shuts down so you can deal with the stressful situation at hand. If you’re stressed on a daily basis it can lead to a situation where you are no longer producing enzymes, you’re not breaking down foods properly, and your body is no longer getting the nutrients that it needs. The real kicker is your body has gotten the signal to store fat in case food becomes scarce due to the stressful situation.

Looking at the stress in your life and how it has affected your body is so important to having success with any weight loss program. A stressed-out body’s response when you cut its food supply is "Red alert! Lack of food! Keep storing fat!" It’s no wonder it’s so difficult to burn fat when you’re highly stressed.

Get Moderate Exercise

The main message here is that exercise is great but be kind and do not over do it! If you have not been on a regular exercise routine and suddenly decide it is time to lose weight and start burning calories, you may be tempted to exercise like a maniac. Understand that exercise is also a stress on your body. Exercise puts a demand on nutrient reserves to burn calories and heal and repair muscle tissue. If all of a sudden you put this demand on your body and at the same time start cutting calories (nutrients) - imagine what your poor body is going through! Start slow with exercise and find a routine you can stick with for a lifetime. Small periods of over-exercising will do nothing for your long term weight management goals. It’s better to exercise 2 times a week for 30 minutes all of your life than 1 month a year everyday for 2 hours. An active lifestyle that includes various forms of exercise (a mix of weights and aerobic) 3 to 4 times a week, 30 minutes a day is enough to keep you fit and trim.

Put your Cravings to Rest (Carbs/Salt/Sugar)

When the body becomes imbalanced from a poor diet and a polluted digestive system, problems start to develop in the colon that can actually contribute to your cravings. You may have heard of healthy bacteria or healthy flora. This good bacteria is needed in the colon to rid your body of parasites and bad bacteria. Stress, white sugar, white flour, caffeine, alcohol, medication (including birth control antibiotics, even hydro-cortisone creams) all work to deplete your supply of this healthy flora. Without the good guys, bacteria is able to grow rampant. The bacteria and parasites now compete for nutrients - weakening your natural defenses. They also feed on white sugar and white flour to grow and cultivate - causing you to actually CRAVE these foods!! The harmful bacteria (yeast) continues to grow and multiply in the body causing all kinds of health issues - from sinus problems and skin disorders to chronic fatigue.

A body in balance does NOT crave! Tackling the yeast problem (harmful bacteria) and discontinuing the overuse of sugar and salt will work to stop your cravings. Lemon water (full lemon in a glass of water) is a good way to quickly balance the body when you feel a craving for salt or sugar. Believe it or not - if you stop eating the sugary or salty snacks, over time, you will not only stop craving them, but find them to be much less enjoyable.

If you do not tackle your cravings effectively, you will be faced with the temptation on a daily basis and will have to rely on will power to keep you from indulgingwhich is not a great long term strategy, because eventually your will power will weaken. Things happen in your life that will threaten your will power - whether your just stressed out or you get depressed, eventually you’re likely to cave in... What then…you gain all of the weight back that you worked so hard to lose.

Eat only Natural Foods

Since the body does not function properly when exposed to chemicals and foreign man-made foods, it makes good sense to feed it with natural foods only. This means no artificial sweeteners, including Splenda (sucralose), Nutrasweet (aspartame) and acusulfame potassium. Artificial sweeteners are everywhere - especially in "diet" foods, protein powders and beverages. You will have to read labels and be cautious of foods that have 0 or 1g of sugar on the nutrition label but taste sweet. Only natural sweeteners, such as raw sugar (better than table sugar), molasses, honey, agave nectar, and Stevia (a plant derivative) etc. add sugar grams without the toxic chemicals. But use these natural sweeteners in moderation.

Natural means from nature - or as close to nature as possible. Try to stay away from boxed, canned or prepared foods. Learn to read the nutrition and ingredients labels. Look for the least amount of ingredients as possible in your foods. Use fresh or frozen fruits or vegetables. Stay away from fried foods or foods with hydrogenated oils in them. Use natural oils like olive oil or coconut oil. Eat whole grains and foods without a lot of added sugar and salt. Eat a balanced diet of complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetable, and be sure your diet consists of adequate protein throughout the day.

Drink Mostly Water or Unsweetened Beverages

Your liquid intake should be mostly water; drink other beverages in moderation. Be sure to drink water as soon as you wake up in the morning, after meals and exercise. Note: it is easiest to drink room temperature water. Stay away from sugary drinks (only adds to your sugar addiction and adds quick energy and calories that store as fat if not burned off). Naturally sweeten your herbal teas with agave nectar or honey. Only use drink flavor packets that use Stevia. This means no Crystal Lite, no diet sodas or teas or other unhealthy diet drinks. Once you start drinking water you will find that the other sweet drinks you used to enjoy don't taste that great anymore because if you clean your body out of the sugar and salt - you will no longer crave them! And remember the lemon water trick I mentioned earlier.

Eat Small Meals throughout the Day (natural metabolism booster)

No metabolism booster pill is as effective as eating spurts of high quality food throughout the day. This means no huge meals and no skipping meals. You want to eat small quantities of food regularly so your body constantly has energy to burn. Imagine your goal is to keep a fire going in your home. Would you not put any wood in the fire place all day until dinner - then load it with a ton of fire wood?... NO! Would you put a ton of firewood in the morning and then nothing again until night time? No! The best way to keep the fire going is to give it a continuous small amount of quality slow-burning fuel throughout the day.

Equate this scenario with eating. To keep your metabolism furnace at full throttle (or to awaken it) you must feed it small meals throughout the day. The meals should all consist of some sort of healthy protein like eggs, natural protein powder, natural protein bars, natural peanut butter or almond butter, almonds, cottage cheese, yogurt, meats, poultry, or seafood. Add other foods like fruit, vegetables and whole grains to make your diet complete.

You should NEVER feel hungry when you are trying to lose weight. This may get confusing because some people mistake appetite or thirst for hunger. Generally you should not experience stomach pangs. If you are truly hungry you are not eating enough and need to add more quality foods in small amounts throughout the day. If you eat regularly during the day you will NOT feel hungry late at night because your body will be full. If you are consistent, eventually your body will get the message that the supply of food is constant and thus move out of survival mode and begin to burn fat. It now "trusts" you to feed it with the necessary nutrients and no longer has to store energy because it knows that more is coming.

Correct your Negative Mental Thought Patterns

This is probably the most complex part because most people are not aware or in tuned with their self talk or their thinking. You can not successfully accomplish your goals if you have a continuous flow of negative feelings surrounding them. If your goal is to lose weight and fit into your old clothes, you can't continue to look in the mirror each morning and say to yourself how fat you are and how ugly you look in your clothes, moan to your friends that you can't lose weight no matter what you do, look at the foods you can no longer eat and feel deprived, or refuse to treat yourself with dignity and respect until you lose weight.

You have to work on your attitude and stop the self-defeating, self-sabotaging thinking or you will find it extremely difficult to achieve your weight-loss goals. You have to have a positive attitude about what you are trying to accomplish despite your past experience that has left you with a self-defeating attitude. You have to work to consciously turn around the negative statements and negative self talk. If you can master a positive attitude you will find that the goals you never thought you could accomplish are actually within your reach.

Get Coached through this Process
The path to balancing your body is not a simple one. If you decide to take this route you may need some additional support to effectively address your issues.

Coaching Program - If you believe in the natural way of getting your body back in balance and want to work to correct the imbalances by following the steps I outlined - I have a program set up to help you. Use my Nutrition Questionnaire to determine what your imbalances are - your cleansing needs and the effects that stress has had on your body. Get the support and training you need to change your diet and refine your thinking so that you are not sabotaging your efforts. My program addresses all of the areas outlined above and is designed for the person who is ready for a lifestyle makeover.

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Our Diet and Tastes Reflect our Culture - But it CAN be Changed!

Our Diet is a Matter of our Culture - How we were Raised

The way we were raised, our culture, affects our diet, our likes and dislikes, our tastes and our daily eating habits. If you are used to eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains and natural foods, you will find these foods most desirable and likable. If you were raised eating fast food and highly sweetened and processed foods, natural foods like vegetables and whole grains will not be desirable. If you are used to eating foods with sugar, salt and fat..... you will think vegetables and whole grains taste funny. However, if you were only raised on these natural foods - eating processed foods will taste funny to you as well!

You CAN Change your Tastes Over Time!

Your diet is all a matter of what you are used to eating. However, you can get used to anything over time. You can always change your diet for the better (or worse) with an adjustment period of a few weeks or months. That is why many people tell me after they improve their diet, the taste of soda or a donut is not the same. They no longer enjoy it the way they used to. Their body has adjusted to a new diet and now expects more of the same. The old diet is no longer appealing.

This is hopeful for some of you who may be reluctant to change your diet in fear that you will no longer be able to eat the foods you enjoy most. The funny thing is - if you really clean up your diet, those foods are no longer enjoyable - so there really is no loss...except maybe a nostalgic one.

How Does Your Diet Compare with Other Cultures?

I got this information in an email today. I am not sure of its origin but it certainly depicts how culture affects our food choices.

Take a good look at the diet of each country and the cost of what is eaten
in one week.

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina

Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

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Why has Weight Loss Become so Difficult?

If you have tried just about everything to lose weight but found that simple methods like cutting calories and increasing exercise didn't work well for you - you may have to take a different approach. You will have to work to correct some of the damage you have done to your body over the years. You need to look past the short term weight loss solutions and work to put your body back in balance so it can respond to simple weight loss methods. By focussing on a healthy long term solution you will not only correct the damage from your past to help you lose weight but you will be able to maintain it for the long term.

Consider the damage you may have done to your body in the past and how it may have altered your ability to respond to simple weight loss methods.

Have you Taken Over-the-Counter or Prescription Drugs?
Over-the-counter or prescription drugs are necessary in that they keep people living longer and saves them from needless suffering. The problem is they also have side effects. Medications take over bodily functions and can cause chemical imbalances. These imbalances affect your hormones and your body's natural ability to keep you thin. Drugs are also a pollutant that your body has to work to remove. This toxic overload further interferes with the body's ability to function and regulate body weight.

What is your Diet History Like?
What extreme diet methods have you used in the past to lose weight quickly? Did you starve yourself to fit into that dress or look great on the beach? The problem with cutting your calories too low is that if you abuse this weight loss strategy - it will stop working for you. Your body sees a lack of food as threat to its survival and gets the signal to go into "Survival Mode". In this mode the body no longer relies on you or trusts you to give it the essential food and nutrients it needs on a daily basis. Your body stores food for later use in case you decide to starve it again. Every morsel of food is being taken in and stored. Your metabolism slows and you stop responding to calorie cutting and exercise.

Use this paycheck metaphor to understand why your body responds this way. If you never knew where or when your next pay check was coming from - you may be tempted to sock away money whenever you got it. You would make sure you had enough to keep you fed and housed and not spend on anything else. You would not feel safe spending money again until the supply was constant for a period of time. Relate that story to what your body goes through when it gets little or no food. It does not want to efficiently burn the food you eat for energy - so it slows everything down and stores the energy (fat) for later. That is one of the reasons why the metabolism slows down. It is your body's way of protecting itself.

What is your diet like?
Do you eat a lot of processed foods or junk foods? Does your diet consist of artificial sweeteners?These foods are fake and have no food value to the body. Anything that is not considered food to the body is considered a toxin that needs to be eliminated. It is just another stress to the body. An overload of toxins in the body can cause damage to your thyroid, hormones and metabolism. If you have a poor diet history or love using artificial sweeteners you may have messed with your body's natural ability to keep you thin.

You have to work to correct the imbalances in your body and begin to adapt a natural long term strategy. You have to ignore the short term fast fixes that cause turmoil to your body and long term health complications.

If you eat well, exercise in moderation and correct some of the damage from your past you will begin to finally see long lasting results. You will feel great, regain your health, possibly get off some of your medications, look vibrant and get your body weight back in balance.

In my next post I will outline the steps to get your body back in balance and correct the damage from your past so that you can lose weight and keep it off.

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Healthy Foods the Way Nature Intended

A friend sent this to me and I thought it was worth posting. It is a great guide on how foods if eaten correctly work to keep the body healthy and balanced.

GOD'S PHARMACY

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish… all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners..

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

God's Pharmacy! Amazing!

Carrot Image A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye… and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

Tomato Image A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grape Image Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today sh ow s grape s are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food. (For more heart-healthy remedies, visit www.BloodPressureNormalized.com and www.CholesterolSecrets.com)

Walnut Image A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.

Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys. (For a natural kidney stone remedy, visit www.KidneyStoneNaturalTreatment.com)

Celery Stalk Image Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avacadoe Image Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (mo dern science has only studied and named about 141 of them)

Fig Image Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility. (For more info about male sexual health, visit www.NaturallyStiff.com)

Sweet Potatoe image Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic

index of diabetics.

Olives Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges Image Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onion Image Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

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Vacation Mode - Are you Able to Get Yourself Out of it?

Vacations are great. We all look forward to them and usually end up enjoying every minute of our time away from it all. I call it vacation-mode. Unfortunately, I have seen too many people go into vacation mode and never find their way out of it. For one week they allow themselves to say YES to all of things that in their normal everyday life they resist. "Yummy" to the fries on the boardwalk. "Yes!" to the fudge and water taffies. "Why not!" to the ice cream with the kids every evening. Binging on the fried foods, milkshakes, beer, beverages, chips, snacks... why not - it IS a vacation? Well okay - if you want to go home about 5-10lbs heavier, possible sick to your stomach and a body that is completely off-balance. It may take weeks or even months or frighteningly - never - to recover from this vacation mindset. You worked so hard to clean your body of junk and the horribly tempting cravings of sugar - throw it all away and have to start over from scratch? You call that a vacation? If that was my idea of a vacation - I don't think I would ever go home. I would not want to go home and face the "bottom" again. Why undo all of your hard work in one lousy week that we label "vacation"? Why not instead figure out a way to vacation sensibly while still enjoying every minute?

Action:

I talked about in other articles ways to find pleasure in other things besides over-indulging in food. A vacation is a great time to practice this. List all of the things that you enjoy when vacationing that don't involve food? There has to be quite a few. Even simple things like the sound of the ocean, a good book on the beach, the sound of sea gulls, the live bands, the smells of the boardwalk, the freedom...

Now I am not telling you to deny yourself of every one of life's pleasures...just pick your battles and pick them wisely. Select things that won't throw you over the top. If you have a carb/sugar addiction (like me!) - DON'T choose to over-indulge on these foods as it will be extremely hard to work your way out of it. Why do that to yourself? When my body is in balance I don't crave these foods but once I start to eat them in excess I want nothing else and I find the urge uncontrollable (really!!). Getting myself out of the addiction is worse than the enjoyment I get from eating the foods in the first place... so it is not worth it to me. That is a battle I choose NOT to have. Sure I eat some but in complete, controllable moderation.

I do choose to have cocktails. I find them enjoyable and relaxing and not at all addicting. So I know once the vacation is over so are the cocktails. Any weight gain easily comes off once the behaviour stops. I can't do this with sugar/sweets/simple carbs. The behaviour doesn't stop as easily. I guess that is why I call it an addiction.

So when you vacation - select your over-indulgences wisely. Remember you are a healthy eater with a healthy body.... a person with that mindset simply can't allow themselves to eat junk for a week.

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