Our body is like a bank account.  We have approximately 3-5 times per day (meals and snacks) to make a deposit. Will it be a good deposit (whole, clean food) or NSF (non sufficient nutrient food)?

Along with deposits, we make withdrawals as well.  We expend energy through daily mental and emotional activity as well as physical.  From a physical standpoint, we run, jog, bike, hike and maybe lift weights which we feel makes us “healthy”. When we expend energy either through emotional or physical activity, this requires additional nutrients from food.  However, it seems stress pushes us towards craving excess NSF’s like sugar, processed foods and caffeine. This creates an even greater nutrient deficit.

For those engaged in high intensity physical activity, these folks focus on high intakes of animal protein based on the belief that our bodies require more and that animal protein creates more muscle than plant foods.  However, there are plenty of research studies that prove antioxidants from fruits, vegetables and greens grow muscle faster than animal protein.

Excess animal food will create yet an even larger antioxidant deficiency.  We then attempt to make up for the deficit by ingesting mass quantities of synthetic supplements adding additional toxins foreign to the body.  Americans are NOT experiencing a vitamin and mineral deficiency, we are experiencing a whole food deficiency mainly from fruits, vegetable and greens!

The latest dietary guidelines state that 50% of our daily intake should be from fruits, vegetables and greens.  We also need to receive the nutrients from a wide variety of these wonderful plants instead of eating the same same 2-3 plant based food choices we gravitate towards.

Week 39 Action Step:

How to we obtain the required 7-13 fruits, veggies and greens per day? Isn’t that virtually impossible Bonnie?  Not at all!

Here are a few tips to challenge you to create positive changes that I hope will help on your journey:

• Keep fruit out and clean where you can see it.  Place it on the counter in a beautiful basket or bowl, clean and ready to eat.
• Eat a piece of fruit between meals as most fruits digest better independent of other foods.
• Bag the potatoes. White potatoes are a low nutrient food so consider switching to sweet potatoes or another root vegetable.  Some of my other favorite root veggies include turnips, daikon radishes, and beets. Check out this super easy recipe for roasted root veggies which is my favorite.
• Create a Meatless Monday.  Prepare a vegetarian dish like vegetarian chili, bean soup or a veggie wrap or salad.

Next week we’ll delve into more specifics on the benefits of plant phytonutrients.

Are you feeling sick, unhealthy or miserable? Then you are likely (unknowingly?!) doing some counterintuitive health related things that have kind of be ingrained in us.

For the new few weeks I’d like to debunk and discuss these hidden roadblocks to wellness in an attempt to educate and empower for better health and wellness.

To start out I’d like to address the issue of Belief Without Research.

Are you believing the media, ad agencies and food packaging when they tell you what foods are healthy?

So many of us truly believe that the foods in our grocery stores are safe and ignorance is bliss, it’s also extremely detrimental to your health.

Do the words “fat-free”, “sugar-free”, “added fiber”, “All Natural”, “low carb”, “no trans fats” etc. make you feel good about buying a product?The product makers sure hope they do.

In fact, for most products, extensive research studies have been done to formulate the specific wording on and packaging design for products to maximized like-ability. They are literally designed and labeled to get you to buy them, not to inform or disclose product specific information.

Do you really think they have your best interest in mind when ultimately their decisions are stemmed in making money off you?

Usually these healthy claims are to make up for something bad, plus many of the claims aren’t even actually healthy. Why is added fiber better than consuming naturally occurring fiber in foods? Sugar free might seem like a good idea until you consider what the sugar substitute does to the body and your wellness efforts.

If you a blindly buying things based on what you’ve seen without doing due diligence and researching beforehand then this could be why you are feeling sick, unhealthy or miserable.

Don’t trust the food packaging, instead take a look at the listed ingredients for that food product. As a general rule of thumb I steer clear of anything listing:

• “Natural Flavors”  is another way for food manufacturers to fool you when it comes to disclosing ingredients because “natural flavors” are basically the result of something natural being toyed with in a lab and then put in your food. The flavors can contain any number of undisclosed preservatives, enhancers and the flavoring formulations are proprietary so they want to keep their details a secret.
• Artificial food colors. These have been shown to lead to allergies, asthma, and hyperactivity; they are possible carcinogens.
• MSG better known as “monosodium glutamate”. Common allergic and behavioral reactions include headaches, dizziness, chest pains, depression, and mood swings; it is also a possible neurotoxin.
• High fructose corn syrup or “corn sugar”. These may lead to obesity, dental cavities, diabetes, and hypo glycemia as well as to increased triglycerides (blood fats) or candida (yeast).
• Preservatives such as BHA, BHT, EDTA, THBQ and others. These may cause allergic reactions, hyperactivity, and possibly cancer; BHT may be toxic to the nervous system and the liver.

Week 23 Action Step:

Do your own “Pantry Purge” and check out the labels of the stuff you already have on hand. How much of it contains the above ingredients? What can these food items be replaced by? Tell us in the comments below.

Now that we know how the digestive system works and the importance of removing additives, preservatives, sugar, fats that the body can’t or will struggle to digest, here are a few Keep It SIMPLE Sweetie (not a fan of the other S word) tips to improve digestion and reduce symptoms connected with poor digestion.

How to reduce or eliminate digestive issues:

• Avoid processed, instant, sugar-laden, chemical-laden, hydrogenated/trans fats, “lifeless” foods
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, soda
• Avoid antacids
• Reduce or eliminate drinking iced or hot liquids immediately before, during or 30 minutes after a meal. Consider drinking 4 ounces or less of room temperature water as to not disrupt the digestive process
• Eat fruit separate from meals especially citrus like oranges and grapefruit
• Avoid high amounts of red meat & dairy
• Avoid gluten
• Avoid chewing gum (unnecessarily simulates enzymes)
• Don’t eat meat and starches together
•  Don’t eat numerous different types of foods. Buffets, carry ins, holiday dinners, etc. are danger zones for creating digestive upset.
• Reducing the number of different foods on your plate in a meal is a simple habit to implement.

Clients are always asking what to eat and I tell them to keep it simple!Fish or chicken with a green vegetable or quinoa with pasta sauce with vegetables would be two simple dinner options. Lighten your digestive overload by reducing the number of foods you include in a meal.

Week 21 Action Step:

Tackle lightening your digestive overload using one or as many of the above suggestions as you can. What is a simple dinner or lunch item that you use to keep it simple? We would love for you to share it in the comments below.

We used to say, “you are what you eat” and now we say, “you are what you digest.”

You can eat clean, whole, natural and organic food all day every day but if your body can’t digest it, you are not going to experience optimal health. If your food is not broken down by chewing then your body will not be able to use it.

When digestion isn’t happening correctly your body no longer provides the appropriate amount of enzymes to break food down and you will not be able to use the food for energy and to rebuild and your good eating habits will be doing no good.

Did you know most children properly digest their food until their bodies are corrupted with excess sugar, fats, additives and preservatives? Our bodies know how to digest foods and have the abilities to do so until we disrupt the process with excess foreign substances and toxins.

Surprisingly, most people don’t recognize digestive disruption and therefor don’t pay attention to the body’s cries for digestive help.

Can you recognize the signs of improper digestion? Which of the following do you think aren’t signs of digestive issues? Tell us which you think aren’t signs in the comments below to be entered to win our monthly giveaway.

1. Gas, belching after meals, bloating
2. Indigestion or sourness 2-3 hours after eating
3. Heavy, tired feeling after eating
4. Chronic thirst
5. Meat is no longer appealing or easily digested
6. Constipation or diarrhea
7. Early satiety, or fullness after a few bites
8. Consistency of your stool
9. Sudden weight loss or weight gain
10. A chronic dry cough, sour taste in the mouth
11. Frequent periods of nausea or excessive gas

Week 19 Action Step:

Take a close look at the body’s messages regarding digestion this week. Keep a journal of the foods you eat and how they leave you feeling so you’ll be able to easily pinpoint problems.

MSG or monosodium glutamate is an addictive flavor enhancer used in many processed foods. It can be listed under 20-30 different names so it is very difficult to detect.

Those warm, fuzzy ingredient names such as natural flavorings, spices and seasonings can do some major damage to our body.

One major concern with MSG is that it has been labeled an excitotoxin. You may remember reading in week 8 we learned that according to Neurosurgeon, Dr. Russell Blaylock, M.D., Neurosurgeon, says excitotoxins like MSG, overstimulate neural cells and cause other nervous system issues. MSG causes brain cells to fire rapidly, become exhausted and die.

They literally are killing off your brain cells.

“What are excitotoxins? The word excitotoxin is derived from two words, excite and toxin. A ‘toxin’ is a poison. So excitotoxin is a poison that excites any brain cell it encounters until it dies. These substances are usually amino acids – sounds rather natural and harmless but when these react with specialized receptors in the brain in such a way as to lead to destruction of certain types of brain cells.” Quote source and much more excitotoxin info can be read here.

MSG can impact hearing, destroy nerve cells, heart rate, lungs, brain, digestive system, blood pressure. Another area of the body that is impacted is vision. There are glutamate receptors in the retina and laboratory studies on animals have shown the retina to be damaged by MSG. We can also see how this impacts other health epidemics. Glutamate stimulates the pancreas and may cause Type II diabetes, obesity, and insulin resistance. Need I go on? Not much safe or natural about it!

So what can you do to ensure you and your family are not consuming this substance?

Eat whole, clean foods grown locally or purchase certified organic. Stick to foods in natural state and not in bags or boxes. Fresh, raw fruits and vegetables, dark leafy greens, whole grains, and nuts/seeds (unroasted and unsalted) are pretty safe bets!

The following list of ingredients may contain MSG:

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Hydrolyzed Protein, Hydrolyzed Plant Protein, Plant Protein Extract, Sodium Caseinate, Calcium Caseinate, Yeast Extract, Textured Protein, Hydrolyzed Oat Flour, broth, boullion, natural flavorings, seasonings, spices,whey protein concentrate, soy protein isolate.

Week 17 Action Step:

Challenge this week, see how many items you can load up your cart with that aren’t in a bag, box or package! What did you score, how did you make a meal of it? Tell us in the comments below.