Author: lisa

While I don’t usually like to use the word “diet” it did fit well into my title. I’m using it in a sense of a food change, not a restrictive, temporary word. There are many reasons why people decide to change their food and lifestyle habits. From weight loss to improving a specific health issue, setting these goals is a great step in the right direction.

Unfortunately in many cases, people give up on their  goals surrounding food. We tell ourselves that this change is just too hard, too uncomfortable, too unattainable. Many times we tell ourselves we are too busy to take the time to plan our meals or to food prep for a busy week. Well,  I think that saying “you make time for what’s important to you” holds true. Though we might be short on time if we truly want to change then we have to make food a priority. If you feel like you don’t have time then take a deep breath and slow down. Life shouldn’t be a race that has no time to actually think and plan what you will eat. Yes, what we put into our bodies is an absolute priority. I think we all get it by now. You eat good, you feel good, you look good. Period.  I’m not here to lecture you, there is good news, I promise, stay with me.

So now your committed, your staying on course with your food plan and your doing a damn good job! But then there is still that nagging difficulty in making a change and once in a while we just want to give in:

–  “I can’t eat healthy when I’m out and everyone is eating all of my favorite foods, it’s too tempting.”

–  “I’ve been so good all week and all I can think about is a slice of pizza.”

– “I don’t want to never eat sweets again.”

What if the answer to these frustrations comes with a simple solution. You ready- here it comes:

JUST EAT IT!

What? Did a nutritionist just tell me that if I go out to a restaurant with friends I can eat whatever I want?  Did she just give me permission to eat a slice of pizza or indulge in a dessert?

Why yes she did and here’s why: It’s called the 90/10 rule. If you are eating healthy and following your food plan 90% of the time than yes, 10% of the time it is okay to eat whatever you want. It is when we are overly restrictive that we set ourselves up for failure. It’s when we think we can never have the foods we enjoy ever again that we lose hope. This is why a lifestyle change is so important.

 The more we crowd out the junk foods with healthy ones something AMAZING starts to happen! We begin to crave healthy foods and actually have less of the bad stuff. We start to realize how good we look and feel from eating well and begin to notice how crappy we feel when we splurge on junk foods. We begin to learn what healthy foods can replace those once favorite foods and we stick with it until eventually those junk food moments are few and far between. 

Of course their are some of you out there saying “no way, if you put a piece of pizza or dessert in front of me, I’m done, I’ve opened the door and now there is no turning back.” Then I say to you, “I’m glad you know yourself. If that’s you then don’t give in, stay the course, dig in and find that will power and hold tight.” For some who have to be strict for a certain time period for a specific health issue then yes stick to your guns. However, for others, does that mean you will never indulge again? If not than great. Eventually though, most people will give in, feeling deprived, and in the process give up everything, throwing away so much hard work. This is why making a lifestyle change vs a diet is so important. Learning to save less healthy foods for a treat can help to create lasting balance with food in your life. It will help to tear down that all or nothing mentality. 

Making a change doesn’t always have to be scary. Making  a change is a huge step in getting to where we want to be. In fact, thinking of change as a step forward instead of a jump off a cliff can make the transition that much smoother. 

So, choose a healthy lifestyle. You won’t regret it, I promise. Realize that a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be the end of your life, but rather a new beginning to a better version of yourself. A version that respects your body and understands how important it is to feed it what it needs. But remember that sometimes that means it needs something you enjoy and sometimes it’s okay to let go…just a little. Balance is key.  

 

Yours in Health & Happiness,

Lisa

The Mind Mineral

You may have heard of magnesium. But did you know that it’s known as the mind mineral? That’s right, magnesium helps to relax the mind, relieve stress and anxiety, and even help with sleep. Magnesium plays an important role in dopamine and serotonin (your feel good neurotransmitters in the brain) responsible for a positive mood, the way we behave, our stress response, and ability to sleep. Hmm… I’m sensing some common struggles many of us are facing these days.

Are you running low on magnesium?

The answer is- quite possibly. Unless of course you eat a ton of whole, unprocessed foods like nuts, leafy greens, legumes, and whole grains. And you have minimal stress. Why stress? Magnesium actually gets excreted out of the body through the urine when we are stressed.

Sleep, Stress, and Anxiety

Anxiety is a condition that is running rampant. As a society, we are more anxious, stressed out, and burnt out than ever before. Maybe you suffer from the type of anxiety that makes you feel beyond stressed. Maybe you feel nervous or suffer from panic attacks. Maybe you suffer from more of an obsessive compulsive type of anxiety, or maybe you have won the genetic pool (pardon  my sarcasm) and suffer from all of the above. Regardless, magnesium can help with everything under the anxiety umbrella.

For years I struggled with falling asleep. There are several natural alternative supplements that have helped along the way, which I will commit an entire blog to about soon but for now I am highlighting magnesium because it is a simple, effective starting place. Sometimes I realize I may be running low on magnesium and when I begin taking magnesium powder in the evening before bed, it helps me to drift off into a peaceful slumber (yay for me!). It has also helped me not to wake up in the night. For those of you who struggle with this, you know how important it is to find something that actually helps!

Magnesium Powder 

Mixes well in water or juice
No pills to swallow
Great tasting lemon flavor
Easy to titrate when higher doses are needed
No fructose, sucrose, or artificial sweeteners

• I would recommend starting with half the dose and working your way up.
• Magnesium Citrate also helps with constipation

 

Available here

You can use my code LH10% to receive a discount!

 

Oh and here is a link to my Go Green Morning Smoothie recipe if you want to add in some more magnesium to your day with some whole foods.

 

Yours in Health & Happiness

Lisa

 

I hate the word diet.  I absolutely can’t stand that 4 letter word. The word diet down to its very core means to restrict oneself from eating. Should we feel like we need to restrict ourselves from food? Absolutely not. Yes portion control is a part of eating but there is an important component missing in the rules of food that have been laid out for the past 30 years. NOT all calories are created equal. What we are eating is more important than how much we are eating. We do not need to restrict ourselves from food when we are eating the right kinds of foods.

Like many of us, I grew up on lots of fast and processed foods.  I spent most of my adolescent years insecure about my body, believing that I needed to eat “diet” foods, believing that I needed to starve myself or feel guilty for eating delicious junk food. If I ate in public I felt insanely insecure like everyone was staring at me and I was too fat to be eating.  Needless to say regardless of what I ate I still battled with my weight and had a NEGATIVE relationship with food. When I say negative I mean I looked at food as a necessary evil that if I enjoyed too much of would make me fat. However, it took looking at and experiencing food in a “whole” new way to begin to develop a positive relationship with food and a healthy weight and body image.

Developing a positive relationship with food is not only a good idea but a necessity in  feeling completely comfortable being around food and putting it in our mouths. It has become so easy for many people to develop a negative relationship with food due to the ways in which our food system has transformed. 

It’s not your fault 

All around us are restaurants, fast food, convenient stores and the media telling us how delicious everything is as they advertise mouth watering foods on billboards and television commercials. We begin to look at food as enjoyment, as comfort, and as something that is suppose to be beyond satisfying. And yes being surrounded by an inescapable amount of junk food makes it much harder to make healthy food choices and many have succumb to this American way of eating.  In our hurried lives many of us have chosen convenience and pleasure over nourishment and our waistlines are expanding and our physical and mental health seem to be deteriorating.

Yet at the same time, we see celebrities flaunting their hot bodies, and stick thin models walking the runway. We see diet advertisements everywhere we turn, as if to keep reminding us that we are not thin enough. We aren’t beautiful enough. We aren’t perfect enough. We have no will power. So we tell ourselves we have to “diet” and learn how to restrict ourselves from all these foods that our in our faces 24/7…. This is simply NOT true. It’s not your fault. There is nothing wrong with you. There is however something wrong with the way we have been conditioned to view food as a way to comfort ourselves or feel guilty about eating. 

What if there was a simple way to  begin to lose weight, get healthy, and learn to have…wait for it…a positive relationship with food?

Well there most certainly is. You don’t need a diet- you need real food. Real whole, unprocessed food. This way of eating looks at food as nourishment.We need to go back to a simpler time, when we ate the foods that grew from the earth and from animals that were roaming freely. A time when we prepared our meals and took the time to sit down and eat and enjoy them. In modern times, we have strayed away from this view and experience with food. Our ancestors spent long hours working in farms and gardens connecting with the foods we put on our plates in a positive way. When we eat whole real foods we are are giving the body what it needs to fuel our cells and help our pathways to run smoothly in our bodies and our brains. In this way we are giving ourselves exactly what we need to maintain our health and naturally maintain our weight.We need to focus on a lifestyle change, not a temporary fix. This is by no means a secret. In fact it just comes down to a simple choice.   

Taking control

As a Nutritionist, I can help you to navigate and apply a new way of eating to your life but, the bottom line is you have the power to start somewhere. You don’t have to be afraid of food. Let me rephrase that…you should absolutely be afraid of fast foods and processed foods. You should be afraid of lots of fake chemically ridden ingredients that you can’t pronounce filled with bad fats and and lots of sugar. You do not however, need to be afraid of whole unprocessed foods. Foods that are grown naturally from the earth that were made for the human body to consume. You can begin to think about the actual ingredients in your food, where they come from, and how they are made. You can chose to eat foods that make you feel happy, satisfied, and free from guilt. You can be satisfied with nourishment and truly be content. This is the beginning of a positive relationship with food and this can begin to change your life more than any quick fix “diet” ever will.  

Warning: Side effects of eating whole foods may include improved health, weight loss, more energy,  improved body image, better moods and reduction in medication

Yours in Health & Happiness,

Lisa

                  Your Health Should Be the Biggest Investment of Your Life. It’s a New Year and it’s time to invest in yourself!

 

Do you want to feel better physically and mentally? Do you need to lose weight, improve your energy, improve anxiety, depression or problems with sleep? Are you suffering from digestive problems or other chronic conditions that just aren’t improving? Are you interested in preventative health? Well you came to the right place!

The following options are made available at discounted prices for the month of January:

 

Option 1

New Year, New You

4 week program including:

Health Assessment

Meal Planning and Recipes

Grocery Store Tour or Extra Session

 

 

Option 2

Mood Makeover

4 Week program including:

Everything from option 1

Analysis of food and supplements to support anxiety, depression, ADHD, insomnia and stress related disorders.

 

 

Option 3

Quick Pick Me Up

14 Day Cleanse ( paleo, non-GMO formula)

Includes:

Health Assessment, cleanse product and meal plan

 

All programs are $250 for the month of January! My gift to you!

Schedule Now!