Eating Tips and Recipes for a Healthier YOU!

Where shall I begin? This is a topic that I could talk about every week and give suggestions from different perspectives but I’ll keep it short and sweet!

First off, I’m a passionate environmentalist, as those who know me well can attest to. So, I would recommend a GREEN diet which is good for your body and for our planet’s sustainability. You’re probably asking yourself, “What does she mean by eating green?” Well, it all starts with the shopping. Here are some quick tips:

-Bring your list and your canvas bags. This will save you and the environment on plastic bags and the fuel of making additional trips to the store.

-Don’t buy bottled water! Not only does it cost over 500% more than filtered tap water but according to the Environmental Working Group investigation conducted in 2008, 10 of the most popular brands had 38 contaminants; not to mention 1.64 tons of packaging waste comes from bottled water each year!

-Buy local and organic. This will reduce your exposure to pesticides.

-Eat less meat and more vegetable based protein. When you do buy and eat meat, choose organically raised meat and poultry, it’s a healthier choice!

-Avoid processed foods as much as possible

Having said that, once you’ve got your shopping out of the way, let’s talk about how to cook healthy. Using lots of spices, particularly home grown, are a great addition to any meal. Lemon is a great addition to almost any meal as a salt replacement. If you prefer to use salt, use sea salt. When using oils in your cooking, there are many options, some of which are healthy and some of which are not so great. I could easily discuss oils as a topic all on it’s own. So I’ll keep it simple and say the easiest healthy choice is Cold or first pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Now for some eating tips:

-Only eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re comfortable.

-Eat slow. If you eat too fast, you won’t know that you’re full until you’ve overeaten.

-Don’t wait until you’re starving to eat. You’ll end up overeating again if you wait too long to eat.

-Savour your food! Don’t multi-task. Just sit down to eat and savour it. This way you don’t wind up eating too fast again.

-Select food satisfying for your body and your mind and eat them in moderation.

-Avoid fast food.

-Don’t eat after 8pm (or 2 hours before bed). If you get the late night munchies, eat negative calorie foods such as celery, cucumbers and much more. If you’re interested in a complete list, you can get in touch with me at 647-405-4471.

So I hope my tips have given you something to think about. I’m going to close with a recipe for Baked Portobella that I hope you’ll enjoy!:

INGREDIENTS:

1 t olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

2 large portobella mushrooms, cleaned. Lemon/ sea salt and pepper, to taste

4oz mozzarella cheese, sliced and shredded

5 fresh basil leaves

1 large, fresh tomato, sliced roasted, or grilled

DIRECTIONS:

Combine oil and garlic in small bowl and run mushrooms with mixture. Place mushroom cap side down on an oiled baking sheet. Season with lemon/salt and pepper and then arrange the cheese, basil and tomato slices in a circle on top of mushrooms. Bake at 450 degrees F until cheese melts, about 3 minutes.

Makes 2 servings.

Calories: 231/serving

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER SERVING:

18g protein

11g carbohydrate

14g fat

310mg sodium (if use salt)

31mg cholesterol

2g fiber

To your health,

Nadia

Your weight loss partner

1-877-405-4471

healthyweightdancingfeet@gmail.com

www.healthyweightdancingfeet.com

Your Transition to Wellness

I’m blogging to you today from HOT and SUNNY South Carolina. So I thought, what a better subject than to talk wellness success. Imagine this. You did it! You’ve lost those unwanted pounds and inches and can officially report that you now fit into your “bikini” or “swim trunks”. You can walk along the beach holding your head up high. Congratulations on a job well done!

But, before you throw all caution to the wind, keep in mind the commitment you made to lose the weight and inches in the first place. It will go along way towards keeping you on the road to success. Maybe it was the goal of fitting into your skinny jeans or simply to look great for your up and coming high school reunion.

But if your goal was to make an improvement in your overall health and well-being, you’re ahead of the game. Losing just 5 to 10% of your body weight can significantly improve your health by helping to lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and the risk of joint problems like osteoarthritis.

To maintain your weight and transition to wellness, vigilance and a long term commitment are in order. Start by reassessing your calorie needs to maintain that weight. Your height, age, current weight, and activity level all need to be considered when determining your new calorie needs. I have some great tools that makes this simple to do. It also provides a variety of weight maintenance meal plans for you to choose from to better guide your food choices and track your calories burned through physical activity.

Then use these additional strategies to help turn your new and improved healthy eating and exercise habits into permanent lifestyle changes:

1. Regularly review the personal benefits of losing weight and getting fit that you first identified.This can keep you motivated and committed.
2. Continue making small, realistic steps in changing lifestyle patterns. Remember that even the smallest change makes a difference and helps you make the next small change easier. For instance, stop eating after 8pm and you will see your weight drop!
3. Acknowledge your accomplishments on a daily basis.
4. Reward yourself for the successful changes you make at any time.
5. Continue to actively problem-solve and contract with yourself for behaviour change.
6. Make a commitment to keep a food and exercise journal. People who do this regularly are most successful. This keeps you accountable to yourself!
7. Anticipate challenges before they occur and visualize how to deal with them in a healthy way.
8. Utilize Cinch™ Shakes, Meal-in-a-Bars, and Snack Bars as part of healthy diet. They are nutritious, delicious and convenient and should be used as needed.
9. Transition from Cinch 3-in-1 Boost™ to Shaklee Vitalizer™ as the foundation for a more comprehensive wellness program.
10. Remember that temporary setbacks are part of life. Live with them, learn from them, and then get right back on track. DO NOT DWELL ON THEM!

Keep in touch and let me know how you are doing on your journey to a lifelong healthier YOU!

To your health,

Nadia

Your weight loss partner

1-877-405-4471

healthyweightdancingfeet@gmail.com

www.healthyweightdancingfeet.com

Why Women want Chocolate!

Let’s talk chocolate! Yeah! It's 3 p.m, you're trying to get work done, but all you can think about is chocolate. At first you try to ignore it, but that only seems to make things worse. Your craving is powerful and demanding to be fulfilled! After waiting for what seems like an eternity, you inhale a candy bar in three seconds flat and then feel guilty for the rest of the day!

Sound familiar? Is this you? It’s me at times. Don't worry, food cravings, especially for women, are a real phenomenon and are often based on real physical changes. Food cravings are our body's way of telling us to eat a specific food in order to feel and function better. When we listen and appropriately respond to food cravings, we can actually help lift our spirits when we're down, boost our energy when we are fatigued, fuel our bodies when we need nutrition and even calm our nerves when we feel stressed. The secret to managing your weight, while dealing with such urges is to know the difference between a biological craving and an emotional craving. This can sometimes be really difficult for me and I’m sure many others.

Biological food cravings make sure women have enough body fat for fertility, proper nutrition for a healthy body, stable blood sugar levels for sustained energy, and that we have balanced brain chemicals for stable moods. More cases than not, women crave what their bodies need. For example, when you crave oranges, you body may be in need of vitamin C. Other times you may crave foods that will enhance your blood sugar like bread or candy, or foods that enhance brain chemistry like fat, sugar and chocolate (every woman knows about the mood enhancing effects of chocolate). A biological food craving usually don't go away if you try to wait it out. It will most likely intensify over time and nothing will satisfy it except that food you're craving.

Emotional cravings, on the other hand, are based upon what your "heart" needs, not your body needs. With an emotional craving, you aren't truly hungry and the craving can be satisfied by other means. Begin to learn the difference by regularly assessing your body's signals for hunger. Next time you have a craving, instead of eating something right away, drink a full glass of water and wait 15 minutes. If it's an emotional craving, chances are it will go away. If not, don't struggle, just try satisfying your craving with a small amount (1-2 bites) of the food your body is asking for. For example, have an ounce of dark chocolate, not a large candy bar or satisfy your craving by eating something similar enough to what you desire. Instead of eating that jelly donut high in fat and sugar, try spreading a little 100% fruit spread on a half of a whole wheat bagel.

If female food cravings are an ongoing challenge for you, it's time to put them in perspective. They are not a sign of weakness or lack of will power; they are part of what makes you the special and unique woman that you are. Embrace it.

To your health,

Nadia

Your weight loss partner

1-877-405-4471

healthyweightdancingfeet@gmail.com

www.healthyweightdancingfeet.com

Get Cinched, Not Stressed

Our body's stress response is rooted in the survival mechanisms of our ancestors. Their response to stress, such as a wild animal attack, consisted of fighting or fleeing - thus the stress response is sometimes called the "flight or fight" response. This causes our bodies to create adrenaline.

Today we don't need to flee wild animals, but our bodies still respond to stress the same way by producing adrenaline. Adrenaline release increases heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and body temperature. In addition, your blood shifts to your muscles; you start retaining water and sodium; and sugar, protein, and fat are mobilized as sources of energy.

Often our means of coping with stress sabotages our weight control and fitness efforts. Many people under stress engage in binge eating: They increase sugar and caffeine intake, skip meals, drink more alcohol, and eat on the run. The really bad news is that these eating habits can actually intensify the effects of stress on the body and cause us to gain weight.

If stress is a problem for you, take some time to list all the situations that are typically stressful for you and how you currently cope with them. Then consider what other coping strategies you might use, such as:

Exercise

Gardening

Screaming

Crying

Punching a pillow

Progressive relaxation

Deep breathing

Meditation

Visualization

Playing an instrument

Reading

Listening to soft music

Getting a good night’s sleep

Keeping a thought journal or stress diary

Once you’ve mastered coping with your stress, consuming protein will assist your fitness efforts. Protein is an essential building block to a healthy foundation for your body. Much like the foundation to your house, without it, the house will eventually fall apart. With one’s body, the “falling apart” takes place internally and in most cases does not surface in the form of symptoms until months or sometimes years later. That is why I strongly recommend a high quality vegetable based protein to start your day.

Shaklee’s Cinch® or Soy Protein Shakes provide the highest quality of soy which meets the soy quality control checklist*. In addition to meeting the soy quality control checklist, Shaklee scientists conduct 350 tests on every single new ingredient for heavy metals, pesticides, or any of the hundreds of other harmful contaminants. They also conduct over 80,000 quality tests annually to guarantee the purity and safety of each and every product. For further details on these Shaklee products or the weight management program, contact Nadia at 1-877-405-4471.

To your health,

Nadia

Your weight loss partner

1-877-405-4471

healthyweightdancingfeet@gmail.com

www.healthyweightdancingfeet.com

*Soy quality control checklist:

The soy beans must be organically grown

The soy beans must NOT be genetically engineered

Each batch must be checked to confirm that it contains the 9 essential amino acids

In the manufacturing process to produce the soy isolate, the crushed soy flakes must be water washed (not alcohol washed).

The anti-thyroid/anti-growth substance MUST be removed

The process must be without heat

The soy isolate must have calicum added (when the oil removed it becomes an acidic food - when calcium is added it makes it neutral again)