Found While Doing Some Research Today..

About 80% of Health Care $$$ spent is related to:
Smoking, Over consumption of alcohol, Bad dietary choice, Lack of physical activity, Stress-related disoders

PREVENTION!
"Although immunization and screening tests remain important preventive services, the most promising role for prevention in current medical practice may lie in changing the personal health behaviors of patients long before clinical disease develops."

10 Good Reasons to Eat Organic

First this is not my two cents and I don't know who to give credit to for writing this but here goes because I liked it:

1.  TREAT YOUR BODY LIKE A TEMPLE
We are what we eat.  And if we want food grown as if the biology inside counted, look to organic food.

2.  INCREASE AGRICULTURAL DIVERSITY
Eating organic helps preserve thousands of agricultural varieties not accommodated by industrial agriculture.

3.  CREATE BALANCED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES
The community of life extends from the rich microbial ecosystem in living organic soil to the insect, animal and predator communities, all linked together in an interdependent web of life.

4.  WE HAVE CHOICES
Where do the pesticides; herbicides and fungicides go after agribusiness sprays them on food?  Everything goes somewhere: in our water, our land, our atmosphere and our bodies.

5.  AVOID BEING A GENETIC ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT
Only organic food offers us the ability to sidestep the risks of genetically engineered food.  Genetic engineering tampers with a process which took nature billions of years to evolve.  We think it opens Pandora's Box.  Will the genie fit back in?

6.  CREATE A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY
It only takes about ten families eating organic to support one small-scale organic farm.

7.  BLOSSOM THE PLANET
Our farmland is a thin web of living earth blanketing the planet.  It needs to be nurtured and protected.

8.  LEAVE A LEGACY FOR OUR CHILDREN
How do we expect to have seven generations follow us if we don't provide them a healthy future?

9.  MAKE YOUR CONNECTION
Who planned your last bite of food?  You get a tangible and edible relationship with the living Earth every time you eat organic.

10.  YUM!
Top chefs agree: "You need great tasting ingredients to make great tasting food."

Carbohydrates, Carbs, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly!

Carbohydrates (good vs bad)

Carbohydrates also known as Carbs pretty much come in two varieties. 

COMPLEX (aka “good”) or SIMPLE (aka "bad") based on their chemical makeup and what your body does with them.  My body craves carbs!  Ugh!  And the more simple carbs I eat the more carbs I want!   

COMPLEX carbs, like whole grains and legumes, contain longer chains of sugar molecules; these usually take more time for the body to break down and use. This, in turn, provides you with a more even amount of energy.

SIMPLE carbs are composed of simple-to-digest, basic sugars with little real value for your body. The higher in sugar and lower in fiber, the worse the carbohydrate is for you.

Fruits and vegetables are simple carbohydrates ~ still composed of basic sugars, although they are drastically different from other foods in the category, like cookies and cakes. The fiber in fruits and vegetables changes the way that the body processes their sugars and slows down their digestion, making them a bit more like complex carbohydrates.

Describing carbs as being either simple or complex is one way to classify them, but nutritionists and dietitians now use another concept to guide people in making decisions about the carbs they choose to eat.


The glycemic index of a food basically tells you how quickly and how high your blood sugar will rise after eating the carbohydrate contained in that food, as compared to eating pure sugar. Lower glycemic index foods are healthier for your body, and you will tend to feel full longer after eating them. Most, but not all, complex carbs fall into the low glycemic index category.


The bottom line: Just be sensible about the carbs you choose. Skip low-nutrient dessert, consider the levels of sugar and fiber in carbs, and focus on healthy whole grains, fruits, and veggies to get the energy your body needs every day.

Note to self:   those carbs in that there bottle of coffee creamer are obviously SIMPLE and HIGH on the glycemic index!  Just reminding myself to back away from the java fix.

How many carbs should you eat a day?  The fact is that there is no one carb level that will be best for everyone.  So why not take some lifestyle change baby steps for yourself?  Switch from that white rice to brown rice.  Switch from that coffee creamer to half and half or skim milk.  Switch from that white bread to a whole grain bread.  And start backing off foods with High-fructose corn syrup ~ when you start reading the label you will find this added to almost everything!  That will be another blog!

Lifestyle change, baby steps, live-it not diet, YOU can make a difference in YOURSELF!

What To Research And Blog...

So many topics running through my head!

Carbohydrates (good vs bad)
Success (how do you define it)
Goals (setting and keeping them)
Mental Health (where's your head)
Fiber (enough said)
What To Eat and What To Avoid  (olives anyone?!)

Gonna have to pick one and go for it....I'll be back!

Label Reading 101

"But I don’t eat that much"  ….well OK, maybe not but let’s just look @ how you start your day....

Breakfast:  Ensure, Orange Juice, Banana and Special K cereal with milk.

 

567 Calories,  117.8 Carbohydrates - for breakfast....think about it.  (This doesn't calculate the calories or the carbohydrates in the milk you poured over your cereal)


READ the label peeps!! 

What Is Wellness?

well·ness  (noun)

1.  The quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort.

2.  An approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing illness and prolonging life, as opposed to emphasizing treating diseases.

Wellness: 

An active, lifelong process of educating ourselves and making choices that will lead to better health.

Is about embracing a way of life; an individual lifestyle based on one's own abilities, interests and habits.

Encompasses choices about our lives, our work, our families and our priorities that influence our lifestyles.

Is about our physical, emotional, spiritual, and nutritional well being not just about diet and exercise.

So How'd That Food Journal Work Out For You??

Did you keep it for a week?
Did it help you pinpoint some eating problem times?
What ya think?
Gonna do it again this week?


I found for myself it was an excellent tool to show my perfection mess of an eating plan I have!  Oh wait, I have no plan so that is part of the problem.  Let me just say each morning started out well.  Same boring thing.  Java times two.  Lunch was later in the day and usually kicked off an eating frenzy until bedtime.  ;-(  By Friday I stopped writing in my journal all together.  Here it is Tuesday and did I start writing anything this week?  um no.  As I have declared already I know what to do, how to do it but I don't always do that which is right when it comes to my own wellness.  So what am I gonna do the rest of the day today?  Track my food intake!  Why wait until the morning?!  Are you with me?  I have stumbled ~ thanks for picking me up so we can carry on together!

Keep A Food Journal

It's a pretty basic thing to do and a good thing to start your journey to your healthy future with.  After all how can you make any changes in your diet if you don't remember what you ate?   Remember to be HONEST with yourself in your journal ~ if you ate 6 cookies then write it down!  The journal will reflect your food choices, your portion sizes and your daily eating habits.  It can be a great tool in your health quest and with setting goals for yourself.  Your journal can be as simple or as complicated as you want it.  The choice is yours.  I don't care what you decide, just do it! 

NOTEBOOK:  Remember you decide!  Any kind/size of notebook will do.  Bigger notebook gives you more writing room, smaller notebook gives you more portability.  <insert ~ more likely to carry and keep near you and use>.  If you are more into electronic devices, I'm sure there's an AP for it.  You can try some free websites that will keep an online journal for you.  www.sparkpeople.com is a good one.  And if you want Uncle Sam to spy on you to know what you are eating you can try www.mypyramid.gov for fun. 

ORGANIZE:  Set your notebook up how you want.  It's yours, personalize it your way, make it a tool you will want to use.  Record the date, time, place, food items eaten, quantity of food, beverages consumed, feelings while eating, and physical activity.  You can make little columns for easy glance or you can just write the items as you go in a list fashion.  I think it's important to record these things so you can see patterns in your eating habits.  Example...you find yourself eating everyday around 3:30 PM a little snack while you are standing in the kitchen thinking about what to do next, you are not hungry but you eat anyways.  Can you pinpoint this time of day and relate it to those after school snacks you had growing up?  Just a thought but you see how you can relate your current eating habits to something you grew up doing?  Solution ~ eat a healthy snack @ 3:30 or do another activity so you are not standing in the kitchen @ that time of day! 

RECORD AS YOU GO:  Be as specific as possible and record one item at a time.  Don't wait until the end of the day and write "around 11:30 AM I ate about 2 handfuls of nuts"  break it down!  Pinpoint it!  Don't write hamburger on a bun ~ write 4 oz of ground sirloin, on a whole wheat bun, with ketchup, mustard, fat free cheese, etc.  This uncovers the hidden food we eat without thinking about it. 

RECORD YOUR FEELINGS AND HUNGER LEVELS:  I mean be for real ~ do you only eat when you are hungry?  Or do you eat when you are happy, bored, nervous, tired, depressed?  I think the only time I don't eat is when I am mad!  So I'm thinking if something makes me mad every day I'll be skinny as a twig soon!  Did I just go there?!  But you get the jest of it, it's important to know why you are eating.  Don't feed the emotions ~ go ahead and write the emotions down in your journal ~ it may make some sense to you later on! 

DRINK UP!  But do record it in your journal.  If your goal is to drink eight 8 oz glasses of water per day, write it down and track your progress.  If you drink high calorie bevs record it.  If you drink big peep's drinks ~ well record it if you can.  <insert hard to write in your journal when you are on the floor with room spinning>  And have you any clue how many calories a Starbuck's bev puts in your body?  Google it. 

LET'S GET PHYSICAL!  Now I'll have a certain song stuck in my head the rest of the day... anyhow, when you workout journal it!  What did you do?  How long did you do it?  Did you survive?  Maybe do something different tomorrow....  Did you park in the far out parking lot to avoid door dings <doesn't work someone will always park right next to you> and walk to the store?  Did you take the steps instead of the elevator?  And what about at home in that two story house ~ do you take items up as you have them or do you pile them on the bottom step and make one trip?!

REVIEW:  No, we aren't gonna review this post....you are gonna review your journal!  Take a close look after about a week.  Do you see any patterns <insert eating when not hungry @ 3:30 PM everyday>.  Do you eat the same thing every day?  Do you exercise the same intensity every day?  Do you see where you can eliminate some high calorie foods here and there?   Is there a certain high calorie beverage you can cut back on?  Baby steps, baby steps!  Think about it, think before you eat, be honest with yourself.

NOTE TO SELF:  That's right make notes to yourself in your journal like I am a fat cow and I need to take off 100 pounds by tomorrow morning little positive notes, inspirational quotes, Bible scriptures, jot your short term and long term goals down <you don't have goals set yet?! we'll cover that another time>.  You can even draw little picture doodles in your journal ~ just a plain ;-) will do!

Remember it's your future....be there healthy!