A Fat Kid’s Tips for Raising Healthy Children

A Fat Kid’s Tips for Raising Healthy Children

My weight was the center-focus of my childhood. I was raised to view foods as either “good” or “bad” I was acutely aware that everyone in my life wanted me to lose weight.

We rarely had junk food in the house. I was discouraged from getting seconds at a meal and having any type of sweet was usually frowned upon.

From my mom’s standpoint, she felt that by stocking the fridge with healthy options, discouraging sweets and encouraging exercise, she was helping me to be healthy. Seemingly, she did most things right. From my perspective, however, the constant focus on food and exercise turned it into an unhealthy an obsession.

Fundamentally, food restriction encouraged me to sneak food and it increased the appeal of sugary junk foods. As with most things, knowing that certain things were “off limits” made them larger than life. Sneaking food quickly snowballed into overindulging, food obsession and bingeing.

I’m not a parent but I do understand that you don’t want food to be a free-for-all and you need to set healthy boundaries for kids. However, there’s a fine line between healthy boundaries and an unhealthy focus on food restriction and limitations.

Based on my own personal experiences and my educational and professional background in nutrition and health education, here are my thoughts on walking that fine line and raising healthy, fit kids free of food obsession and unhealthy relationships with food or exercise.

  • As cliché as it is, lead by example. This goes far beyond making good food choices. This is about the way you talk about food, dieting, exercise and body weight. It can be just as damaging for your children to see you restricting, dieting down and stressing as to see you overindulging and constantly making unhealthy choices. Show your children that you choose healthy foods because you enjoy them and they fuel your body best. Show your children that you workout because it makes you feel strong and vibrant. Show your kids that you love your body – show them by how you talk, how you eat and how you move.
  • Don’t use food as a reward. What adult can’t relate to thinking “I’m ordering pizza tonight because it was a long day and I deserve it” or “I’m stressed and the only thing that will make me feel better is ice cream! I deserve it!”. That is food-rewarding at it’s worst. If you want pizza, have pizza. If you want ice cream, enjoy every bite! But teaching kids (or yourself!) that food is comfort or reward is a very slippery slope.
  • Get them involved in food and fitness choices. Encourage them to try new, healthy foods until they find one they really love. Avoid forcing foods on them just because they’re “healthy”. Involve them in cooking, or even better, in growing veggies, herbs or fruits in a garden. The more ownership they feel, the more likely they are to enjoy it. Similarly, let them try out lots of activities until they find one they really enjoy. Try not to force activities on them that they don’t look forward to.
  • Relax a little. Food, fitness and exercise should not be the daily focus of energy and conversation. Kids need to be kids. Yes, they should absolutely understand the value of quality nutrition but let’s not stop the world over the gluten-containing cupcake your kid was served at school. Food is fuel. Can we all agree to please stop attaching strong emotion to it?

I don’t have kids. It makes me nervous. I don’t want my kids to be bullied the way I was. I don’t want them to feel ashamed of their bodies. I don’t want them to feel pressured to diet or lose weight in elementary school. I want them to love and cherish their bodies! I want them to understand that food helps us become strong, fit and capable. I want them to enjoy a cupcake without attaching emotions like guilt, shame or regret to it. It’s sugar and flour and butter. There’s no emotion in the recipe and I want them to keep it that way.

5 Steps To Building Healthier Habits

5 Steps To Building Healthier Habits

Chances are, in order to reach your fat loss goals you’re going to have to create some new habits. If only it was as easy as bottling up your good intentions and writing down some goals. It wasn’t so easy for me.

My terrible habits were so deeply engrained in me they felt automatic. Choosing comfort foods on a bad day almost didn’t feel like a choice, it had become instinct. There were days that it felt like my car went on autopilot to the Mexican restaurant after work. I didn’t feel like I was actively “choosing” junk anymore than I chose to fall asleep or yawn. Yes, I know they were choices. But 20+ years of making poor food choices and using food as a drug DOES create a degree of instinct. So if our habits have become automatic, how can we possibly make new ones?

It’s pretty easy to stick to a new routine for a day or two but for lasting fat loss your new habits have to become a part of your everyday life. When I started my weight loss journey I had such a long road ahead and found success by breaking up the necessary lifestyle changes into small, manageable adjustments.

Need to adopt some new, healthy habits? Here’s 5 ways to make sure you can stick to it over the long term!

  1. Understand your current ones
    Are you even aware of how, why and what you eat? That’s really the first step. I suggest keeping a journal of not only what you eat but when you eat it and how you’re feeling before you eat. Beginning to see the patterns around your eating is an absolutely critical part of being able to change them.
  2. Start small
    If you’re living on microwave popcorn, PopTarts and Taco Bell, declaring that you are cutting out all processed foods might be a big leap. It’s a great long-term goal but it might not be the most feasible starting point. Take an honest look at your lifestyle and identify one, small, meaningful area for change. One change I like to recommend is avoiding processed foods before 10am. It removes the pressure to be perfect all day but it starts you out on the right foot and it’s easy to build upon once you get comfortable. If incorporating physical activity is important to you, commit to stretching for 5 minutes first thing in the morning or to taking the stairs at work. This isn’t a race and taking on more than you’re ready to handle is a fast way to fail and get frustrated.
  3. Focus on one thing at a time
    I’m definitely guilty of feeling a surge of motivation and writing out an aggressive, detailed plan to have killer workouts, a super clean diet, an early bedtime, etc, etc. When you’re ready to change your life, you’re ready to change it all, right? That’s totally my MO. However, you’ll be far more successful if you focus on one thing at a time. Make it a part of your life, invest your energy in making it an effortless habit and then tackle the rest. Most of us will claim to be wonderful multitaskers but your focus is finite and if you want to master lasting change, take it one by one.
  4. Practice makes progress
    Once you have identified the small, singular habit you’re going to work to incorporate, practice it at every opportunity. If you come up against a roadblock, embrace it as a great opportunity for practice. Just because you’ve declared walking for 30 minutes each day your new habit doesn’t mean it’s going to be effortless. When your day gets crazy and you feel like there’s no time, don’t respond in frustration. Respond with excitement because your life is giving you an opportunity to demonstrate that you’re willing to put in the work to find a way to reach your goals. Prove to yourself that when things get crazy, you make time for this healthy, new habit. It’s easy when it’s easy, right? We need it to be consistent when it’s NOT easy. That takes practice. When it rains for days on end, don’t throw in the towel and give up on your habit, take advantage of the opportunity to practice your habit and find an indoor track or a shopping mall and get your walk in! It’s going to take consistent practice and commitment to overcoming obstacles. Don’t get frustrated, look for those chances to practice and make progress.
  5.  Hold yourself to a high standard
    We are our own greatest ally and our own greatest enemy. We can be very effective excuse-makers. Commit to holding yourself to a high standard. Commit to living up to the potential you know you have. Don’t give in and don’t give up. Push yourself and expect consistent practice. You don’t have to be perfect but you DO have to be consistent. Creating new habits is easy until it isn’t, right? That’s when you need to keep pushing through and not allow yourself to give up or move on. No one can do it for you. Hold yourself to the standards you know you are capable of.

When you identify one small change and consistently practice it, soon it will be an effortless habit just like brushing your teeth or starting your day with a cup of coffee. The process, however, takes focus and commitment. When you buckle down and focus, you’ll soon be ready to take on more and before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to person you want to be.

The BEST Vegetables For Fat Loss

The BEST Vegetables For Fat Loss

Just like all carbohydrates, fats and proteins are not created equal from a fat loss or nutrient density standpoint, the same is true for vegetables. Yup, some vegetables are far more healthy than others. There is a particular group of vegetables that are health and nutrient POWERHOUSES. They can facilitate fat loss, boost the immune system, balance hormones and much more. Which vegetables are these? Cruciferous vegetables.

Cruciferous vegetables should become a daily staple in your diet for health, longevity and fat loss. Seriously. Every day. They include veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts and bok choy. I routinely eat 3-5 cups of cruciferous vegetables every day and here are a few reasons why.

  • They are high in fiber
    Because they are a great source of fiber, they’ll help you stay fuller longer, curbing your hunger and reducing your cravings. They can also help to promote bowel regularity.
  • They are low calorie
    Eating 3-5 cups is no big deal because cruciferous veggies are so low calorie. You can enjoy them to your heart’s content, relying on them for snacks, meal fillers or to help satisfy your hunger and cravings without upsetting the caloric apple cart.
  • They are natural estrogen detoxifiers
    We’ve talked before about how there are good forms of estrogen and bad forms. When we have too much estrogen that can really impair our ability to burn fat (among other things). Compounds within cruciferous vegetables help to bind and eliminate the bad estrogens, bringing down your total estrogen load.
  • They help manage blood sugar and moderate insulin release
    Numerous clinical studies have shown that consuming cruciferous vegetables, likely in part due to their high fiber content, helps to reduce blood sugar and therefore manage the insulin response. This allows you to burn fat, as compared to having high blood sugar and elevated insulin, which prevents the ability to burn stored fat.
  • They are anti-inflammatory
    Consuming cruciferous vegetables reduces systemic inflammation. This not only reduces cortisol, a stress hormone that can slow fat loss, but it also protects your overall health. Systemic inflammation is the starting point for almost all chronic disease.
  • They reduce your risk for cancer
    Compounds in cruciferous vegetables known as glucosinolates break down into isothiocyanates and other protective compounds when you chew. Isothiocyanates have been shown in repeated studies to protect your cells from DNA damage, neutralize carcinogens, induce cell death in unhealthy (cancerous and precancerous) cells, and inhibit tumor formation.
  • Uh, they’re really yummy! ‘Nuf said.

Here are some of my absolute favorite cruciferous vegetable recipes, but I also love to enjoy them steamed or sautéed with a little coconut oil or bacon fat!

The Slim Palate’s Broccoli Soup

PaleOMG’s Mexican “Rice” Bowls with Cauliflower Rice 

Fed & Fit’s Detox Salad (featuring cabbage)

Nom Nom Paleo’s Brussels Sprouts and Bacon 

Play around with recipes until you find a way to eat these nutritional powerhouses that you absolutely love! Eating your veggies isn’t something to suffer through – it’s something to enjoy!!

The ONE Factor That Kept Me Fat

The ONE Factor That Kept Me Fat

When I look at pictures from when I weighed over 300 pounds I inevitably wonder how I let it happen. At some point along the upward journey why didn’t I stop and say, “Woah now, enough is enough”? Why did I just keep buying larger sizes without recognizing that things were out of control?

I had no accountability. I’m not talking about a counselor or trainer; I’m talking about the fact that I never allowed myself to see what was happening. I avoided scales like the plague. At times, I cancelled doctor’s appointments to avoid finding out how much I weighed. I never looked in the mirror. It’s true – the only mirror I would use was the small one on my car’s sun visor. I turned away when walking past the bathroom mirror or looked down when washing my hands in a public restroom. I rarely turned the lights on in the bathroom, especially when taking a shower. I was doing it because I was ashamed of how I looked but it had an unintended consequence – it allowed me to balloon to 300+ lbs without ever really noticing what was happening. I never wore fitted clothes. I wore baggy pants and shirts that allowed me to pack on the pounds without struggling to get dressed each day.

Accountability is key. It can take many forms but it’s completely essential whether you’re looking to start your weight loss journey or not. Accountability is necessary for me now as I reshape my body. It will be an important part of my process for the rest of my life.

When I first started my journey I stayed accountable by checking my weight, my measurements and by paying attention to how my clothes felt.  On their own, none of these are foolproof but together they always let me know if I was on the right track.

Now I stay accountable in a few different ways. I still pay attention to how my clothes feel and I’m always working towards fitting into something that’s currently a little snug. I also pay close attention to my hunger, energy and cravings. If any or all of these are out of whack I know I’ve got to make adjustments. Finally, and most difficult of all, I’ve stopped avoiding the mirror.  It’s still hard for me, especially after a cheat day. I don’t want to see the bloat or puffiness. I want to pretend it’s not there but I face it head on. Ignoring things that made me uncomfortable is how I got into this mess and I won’t behave that way anymore. I take pictures of myself every day. I pay attention to my body and how it’s changing. I leave the light on when I take a shower.

You know those days when you think “I better not even try those skinny jeans today, I overdid it this weekend”? Those are the days you need to wear those jeans the most. You know when you wait to go dress shopping thinking you’ll drop a couple pounds this week and shop after you’ve cut back? Don’t think that way. Face the music and do it today. Wear the pants, shop for the dress, take a good, long look in the mirror. When you don’t want to face it is when you NEED to face it. Avoiding for a day or a week turns into 2 days or 2 weeks and before you know it, you hardly recognize yourself. Accountability is a daily practice.

I get it. You don’t like the way you look. It can be painful to see the reflection of someone you don’t recognize and aren’t proud of. But avoiding it is only compounding the problem – it’s giving permission for you to continue making the choices that created that person you don’t like. Swallow your pride, accept that it’s going to hurt a little and start to face the music. If you don’t like what you see, it’s time to change. Force yourself to confront what you aren’t satisfied with. Open your eyes, stop trying to deceive yourself and create the person you want to be.

Gluten: Is It Stalling Your Fat Loss?

Gluten: Is It Stalling Your Fat Loss?

There’s lots being said about gluten these days, huh? It seems like most people are wondering if they should eliminate gluten or not and the grocery aisle of gluten-free products is growing by the second! But what IS gluten and who needs to be concerned about it?

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barely, rye and other grains. Due to modern food processing, it’s also in most oat products. We tend to think of those foods as carbohydrates, and they are, but they also contain about 10-15% protein, most of which comes from gluten.

It is estimated that more than 1/3 of the population is sensitive to gluten and this sensitivity manifests in a number of different ways. You might experience headaches, acne, stomach discomfort, mood swings, bloating, joint pain, fatigue or menstrual irregularities. On the other hand, you might not notice any physical symptoms even though gluten may be triggering silent, symptomless inflammation throughout your body that might not produce symptoms for years!

Some people avoid gluten for health reasons. Others avoid gluten to accelerate their fat loss goals. Today I want to talk about some of the reasons you might want to consider eliminating gluten to help support your fat loss efforts. Here are a few ways gluten can seriously slow your progress:

  • Gluten may lead to or worsen insulin resistance
    Insulin resistance increases hunger, cravings and fat storage. Insulin is one of the most important hormones in the fat-loss process and it can either work for you or against you. Consuming gluten allows insulin to to fight against all your fat loss efforts.
  • Gluten encourages leptin reistance
    Leptin is the hormone responsible for letting your brain know when you’re full and don’t need to eat anymore. Gluten encourages your body to not be as responsive to the messages coming from leptin, which can lead to insatiable appetite and deafness to satiety signals. To successfully lose fat, your want your body to be VERY sensitive to leptin signals to keep hunger at bay and be able to easily feel satisfied after eating.
  • Gluten-containing foods cause blood sugar spikes
    Gluten-containing foods are generally high carbohydrate. This leads to rapid surges in blood sugar and associated insulin spikes. This causes the vicious cycle of carbohydrate cravings, energy crashes and fat storage. Stay far away from this cycle by avoiding these carbohydrate bombs.
  • Gluten triggers inflammation
    What does inflammation have to do with fat loss? It causes a stress response in your body. These stress hormones do NOT favor fat loss. Not only is inflammation a real concern as it relates to overall health, it also makes fat loss far more challenging.

Are you curious to know if you’re sensitive to gluten? The best way to find out is to commit to eliminating it from your diet for 7 days and see how your body responds. After 7 days, begin to re-introduce it slowly and note changes in your mood, energy, water retention, joint comfort, skin health, mental clarity and stomach comfort.

What can you eat if you want to eliminate gluten? A lot!

  • Eggs
  • Meat/Fish/Poultry/Game
  • Dairy
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Nuts/seeds
  • Fats/oils

A word of warning: if you want to lose fat, stay away from processed foods. I don’t care if they say “gluten free” – if it’s processed, you shouldn’t be eating it everyday. There is a ton of gluten free junk food out there…it’s still junk food, gluten free or not.

Want to learn a little more about gluten? Click here for a great overview of gluten and what it can do inside your body, whether you feel it or not!

For detailed information on carbohydrate strategies for fat loss including more on fruit, wheat, oats, gluten plus strategies for improving your carbohydrate tolerance, check out the comprehensive carbs & fat loss ecourse! Follow the link below and use the coupon code Primal10 to get lifetime access for only $69 (including troubleshooting help from me on demand!)
https://www.udemy.com/carb-strategies/?couponCode=Primal10

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