This blogpost is the first of a three-part series to help you create health. When I first heard the idea that we can “create health”, I thought – yes! We need to create our own health. But how?
There are three-main ways that you can create health:
- Maximize your nutrition
- Optimize your lifestyle
- Reinforce your immune health
Today’s Post is about Maximizing Your Nutrition
Maximizing your nutrition does not necessarily mean you need to go Vegan or Keto, drink Kale Smoothies or start grating Turmeric. There are 4 easy things you can do right now to maximize your nutrition and create health:
Number 1: Get off sugar! Sugar increases brain fog, disease, body weight, obesity, Alzheimer’s, high blood sugar and high blood cholesterol (that’s right, not fat!) and heart disease.
When you eat refined carbohydrates (aka sugar), you promote certain bacteria to grow in your gut. These bacteria interact with your hormones to create food cravings. Makes sense – right? It’s basically survival of the fittest. Those bacteria want to grow, they need sugar to do so and they get you to want foods high in sugar: white bread, pasta, rice, candy, cookies, cakes, soda, ice cream, jam, juice, jelly etc.
When you avoid refined carbohydrates, you poop out these bacteria. This is why if you have ever stopped eating refined carbohydrates, after about 2-weeks, you no longer crave foods high in sugar.
Number 2: Nutrient Timing! Avoiding refined carbohydrates might seem impossible and very likely will be IF you don’t plan your meals – something I call nutrient timing.
Eating every 3 to 4-hours will keep you from becoming overly hungry.
- If you go too long without eating, you will be more inclined to eat impulsively.
- If you go too long without eating, you will likely over eat.
- If you are not timing out your meals – then it’s likely that you are grazing all day which likely means you are eating snacks all day – never really ever feeling hungry or full.
Number 3: Balance Meals. When you are eating every 3 to 4-hours, aim for each main meal to include protein, starch and veggies or fruit.
- Most people add fruit to breakfast and the meal between lunch and dinner
- I recommend making half your plate veggies at lunch and dinner
- Yes, starch at every meal! This can be starchy veggies (i.e., yams, potatoes, squash), grains (i.e., whole grain brown rice, quinoa, oats) or beans/legumes. They help you feel fuller longer.
- Protein can be meat, fish, poultry, beans/lentils, eggs, dairy, nuts and seeds.
- A Mini-Meal containing protein and fiber (veggies or fruit) between lunch and dinner can help you avoid bottom loading calories at dinner/night.
Number 4: Support Your Immune System! Support your immune system by including the following nutrients in every meal:
- Vitamin A: Leafy greens, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, mango, beef liver, cod liver oil, eggs, milk
- Vitamin D: Salmon, canned sardines and tuna, fortified milk or yogurt, egg yolk, beef liver and cod liver oil, mushrooms
- Vitamin C: Leafy greens, sweet red bell peppers, citrus, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, strawberries
- Zinc: beef, pork, oysters, chicken, beans
- Probiotic Foods: Yogurt, Kefir, Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Tempeh, Kimchi, Miso, Pickles
- Fiber: Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and legumes. Certain fiber-filled foods are great pre-biotic foods that support the growth of healthy bacteria and supplemental probiotics: apples, bananas, whole grains (oats, barley, wheat), artichokes, asparagus, garlic, onions and leeks.
- Phytonutrients and antioxidants: Vegetables and fruits. These nutrients are designed to protect the plant from bacteria, mold, fungus and viruses – and they do the same for you.
If you want stop your addiction to sugar, stop feeling like crap, reduce your risk of disease, lose weight and maximize your energy levels then take advantage of the fact that your insurance company is now allowing Telehealth – in fact, insurance companies are now waiving co-pays for nutrition counseling!
Join me on Healthie, a HIPAA compliant platform that I use for Nutrition Telehealth Counseling. Call me, Beth Candela, today at 973-852-3335.