Welcome to week seven of my ten week Healthy Eating Series, to Kick off 2012!

To date, you have learned the importance of slowing down your eating, eating in a relaxed setting and meal cadence. You’ve also learned how all three of those things will boost your metabolism.

Just to recap your first six focuses, they are:

1. Slow down when you eat.

2. Create a relaxed environment while you eat

3. Create an eating rhythm with your eating times, (meal cadence)

4. Feel pleasure as opposed to stress with your food choices

5. Eating for nourishment

6. Awareness at Meals

Here is your eating focus for the week.  Work on this every time you eat, and you’ll start to create new habits. Enjoy!

Focus #7 – Quality of Food

It is important to make sure you are eating high quality food!  By quality food I mean food that is nutrient dense.  This nutrient dense food helps to regulate your appetite and prevents overeating.  Food dense in nutrients includes fresh food with no added chemicals or preservatives.

Nutrient dense foods signal the brain that we’ve received our nutritional requirements sooner than non-nutrient dense food. Therefore we are satisfied before we start to over eat.  These nutrient dense foods naturally regulate our appetites, because our bodies are inherently accustomed to eating them.

Eating foods that are processed or not fresh leads to:

• Decreased nutrient density of food

• Decreased nutrition for the body

• Increased food cravings

• Increased appetite

It is very difficult to address your weight, nutrition, fitness and health concerns when the quality of food that you eat is poor.  You are working against yourself by leaving your body feeling unsatisfied.

So this week focus on eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean cuts of meat (fish and poultry)!

Please feel free to pass this valuable information to your friends, family, and co-workers!

In Good Health,

John Preston

Your Fitness Tutor

john@fitnessknowhowhq.com

www.fitnessknowhowhq.com

The nutrition information in this post is all the more effective when combined with a  sound fitness program. Check out my S.U.P.E.R Fitness Training Program to learn how you can live The Ultimate Health Lifestyle.

P.S. The information in this email is from Marc David’s “Food Psychology Coaching” Program. It was written by Certified Food Psychology Coach, Lisa Olona, and shared with her permission. If you like the information and are interested in learning more you can contact Lisa at lisaolona@peoriabootcamp.com

P.S.S. In the spirit of full disclosure, Lisa is a friend and associate. The link to contact her is not an affiliate link. I stand to gain nothing financially by providing you with her contact information. I’m always striving to provide you with FREE, accurate and effective information, that will help you to reach your ultimate potential. And I feel this information that Lisa is sharing serves that purpose.

Welcome to week four of my ten week Healthy Eating Series, to Kick off 2012!

To date, you have learned the importance of slowing down your eating, eating in a relaxed setting and meal cadence. You’ve also learned how all three of those things will boost your metabolism.

Just to recap, your first three Healthy Eating Focuses are:

1. Slow down when you eat.

2. Create a relaxed environment while you eat.

3. Create an eating rhythm with your eating times, as opposed to eating sporadically.

I believe you will really appreciate this week’s focus!

Focus #4 – Pleasure

Enjoy what you eat.  It is common for people to make food choices that they label as “bad,” and then feel guilty about eating it.  First of all, this adds to the stress that ultimately slows down in your metabolism, as discussed in Focus #2.

Unfortunately, we are beginning to label foods as being morally good or bad.  How about taking the labels away, and allow yourself the opportunity to enjoy a food or snack that pleases you?

As Marc David explains, “Fighting pleasure means fighting our natural biology and soul design, which deeply impacts health.”

This week I encourage you to strategically include pleasurable food in your diet.  This doesn’t mean lose control and have 3 scoops of ice cream everyday.  That is why the word “strategically” is placed in that sentence above.

For example, if you love chocolate, then allow yourself a small piece of chocolate everyday.  Allow yourself that freedom to find pleasure in what it is you enjoy.  Keep the amount small, but give yourself that treat.

So that is your assignment this week.  Include pleasurable foods in your diet!

Please feel free to pass this valuable information to your friends, family, and co-workers!

In Good Health,

John Preston

Your Fitness Tutor

john@fitnessknowhowhq.com

www.fitnessknowhowhq.com

The nutrition information in this post is all the more effective when combined with a  sound fitness program. Check out my S.U.P.E.R Fitness Training Program to learn how you can live The Ultimate Health Lifestyle.

P.S. The information in this email is from Marc David’s “Food Psychology Coaching” Program. It was written by Certified Food Psychology Coach, Lisa Olona, and shared with her permission. If you like the information and are interested in learning more you can contact Lisa at lisaolona@peoriabootcamp.com

P.S.S. In the spirit of full disclosure, Lisa is a friend and associate. The link to contact her is not an affiliate link. I stand to gain nothing financially by providing you with her contact information. I’m always striving to provide you with FREE, accurate and effective information, that will help you to reach your ultimate potential. And I feel this information that Lisa is sharing serves that purpose.

Welcome to week two of my ten week Healthy Eating Series, to Kick off 2012!

So how did you do this past week with your eating speed?  Are you convinced that it’s important to slow down and give your body the time that it needs to function properly, allowing for a faster metabolism?  Did you pay attention to your personal eating speed?  Sometimes it’s just a matter of becoming aware of it.

Your focus for week #2 builds upon your week #1 Eating Focus.  Slower eating means relaxing.  Are you stressed while you eat?  For example, are you driving in the car and eating or having an intense conversation while eating?

Focus #2 – Relaxed Eating – Relax and Burn Fat

Remember, the slower you eat the faster you metabolize.

This same concept applies to eating relaxed.  If you eat when you are stressed, your body goes into a fight or flight response.  So imagine the stress your body goes through if you see a big gorilla running toward you.  It doesn’t matter if it’s something as scary as that, or if you’re simply stressed about what you’re eating.

During these moments your body doesn’t recognize the differences in what you are experiencing.  It is genetically programmed to initiate the fight-or-flight response when it perceives any stress.

When it’s in this stress mode, the metabolism slows down and even some of your digestion stops.

Here are some key points to remember about stress and eating.  These were taken from Marc David’s “Slow Down Diet.”

“Worrying about fat increases fat.  Anxiety about weight loss causes your body to put fat on and retain it.”

Slow down, relax your mind! According to Marc, you will burn food more efficiently if you breathe in more oxygen.  So relax and take deep breaths while eating.

Here are some helpful tips:

Breathe
Slow down and take your time
Create a relaxed eating environment by using candles, soft lighting, good company
Turn off your phone
Turning off the TV
Choose a restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere
Keep the conversation light and enjoyable

Try taking 10 long slow deep breaths before each meal, and after each meal.

While eating this next week really focus on creating a relaxed atmosphere, and think about slowing down and breathing.  Do this while keeping all stressors away.  You will be well on your road to a faster metabolism and an overall healthier you!

Please feel free to pass this valuable information to your friends, family, and co-workers!

In Good Health,

John Preston

Your Fitness Tutor

john@fitnessknowhowhq.com

www.fitnessknowhowhq.com

The information in this post combined with my Fat 2 Fit 56 Day Makeover will provide a great jump start for you. Make this year’s resolution a reality!

P.S. The information in this post is from Marc David’s “Food Psychology Coaching” Program. It was written by Certified Food Psychology Coach, Lisa Olona, and shared with her permission. If you like the information and are interested in learning more you can contact Lisa at lisaolona@peoriabootcamp.com

P.S.S. In the spirit of full disclosure, Lisa is a friend and associate. The link to contact her is not an affiliate link. I stand to gain nothing financially by providing you with her contact information. I’m always striving to provide you with FREE, accurate and effective information, that will help you to reach your ultimate potential. And I feel this information that Lisa is sharing serves that purpose.

One of my clients asked me an important question today. “Is Splenda OK fo my diet?” And here was my response. “For now. Eventually you shouldn’t eat any artificial sweeteners. I’ll do a little research on Splenda and get back to you.”

My reason for saying “For now..” is that I know he is making a commitment to change his nutrition and lose some weight. He wants to use the Splenda in his coffee. By reducing calories when he consumes coffee it will help with his goal of losing weight. I’m hoping that the success he’s about to experience will build some momentum to make some other changes, including not using artificial sweeteners.

The reason I’m against the use of Splenda and other artificial sweeteners is because they are “artificial”. I’m a proponent of eating whole and natural food.

But the reason that I didn’t give him an absolute no is because I’ve spent very little time researching Splenda. So I decided to keep my word and do a little research. Here is what I learned.

Splenda is the brand name of a chemical called Sucralose. Sucralose was discovered in 1976 by scientists while researching ways to use sucrose as a chemical intermediate in non-traditional areas. They found the compound to be exceptionally sweet.

Sucralose is a molecule of sugar chemically manipulated to surrender three hydroxyl groups (hydrogen + oxygen) and replace them with three chlorine atoms. Natural sugar is a hydrocarbon built around 12 carbon atoms. When turned into Splenda it becomes a chlorocarbon, in the family of Chlorodane, Lindane and DDT (pesticide).

Here is its chemical name – 4,1′,6′-trideoxygalactosucrose,

Sucralose has been accepted by several national and international food safety regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Joint Food and Agriculture Organization / World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives, The European Union’s Scientific Committee on Food, Health Protection Branch of Health and Welfare Canada, and Food Standards Australia-New Zealand (FSANZ). Sucralose is one of two artificial sweeteners ranked as “safe” by the consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest. The other is “Neotame”. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, the amount of sucralose that can be consumed on a daily basis over a person’s lifetime without any adverse effects is 9 mg/kg/day.

In determining the safety of sucralose, the FDA reviewed data from more than 110 studies in humans and animals. Many of the studies were designed to identify possible toxic effects, including carcinogenic, reproductive, and neurological effects. No such effects were found, and FDA’s approval is based on the finding that sucralose is safe for human consumption.

So, with the approval of all of those agencies Splenda must be safe? The truth is, we just don’t know yet. There are no long-term studies of the side effects of Splenda in humans. The manufacturer’s own short-term studies showed that very high doses of sucralose (far beyond what would be expected in an ordinary diet) caused shrunken thymus glands, enlarged livers, and kidney disorders in rodents. (A more recent study also shows that Splenda significantly decreases beneficial intestinal flora.)

Since Splenda has been on the market, no independent studies of sucralose lasting more than six months have been done in humans. Of those trials that were done, none were very large — the largest was 128 people. So, what happens when you’ve used sucralose for a year, or two, or ten?

Evidence that there are side effects of Splenda is accumulating little by little. Sucralose has been implicated as a possible migraine trigger, for example. Self-reported adverse reactions to Splenda or sucralose collected by the Sucralose Toxicity Information Center include skin rashes/flushing, panic-like agitation, dizziness and numbness, diarrhea, swelling, muscle aches, headaches, intestinal cramping, bladder issues, and stomach pain. These show up in the people who have an allergy or sensitivity to the sucralose molecule. But no one can say to what degree consuming Splenda affects the rest of us, and there are no long-term studies in humans with large numbers of subjects to say one way or the other if it’s safe for everyone.

Now for some information on how consuming Splenda can help with weight loss.

Eating sugar shoots our blood sugar levels up and triggers a spike in the hormone insulin, which is needed to prep our cells to absorb the sugar. If there are no other nutrients to sustain our blood sugar level, it crashes as quickly as it rises — and we crave another hit. This is how sugar addiction begins.

Moreover, sugar floods us with pleasure by stimulating the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin, and probably other mood-elevating substances.

And so our brains have learned over time to equate the taste of “sweet” with a rapid infusion of energy and pleasure. Even now when we eat sweet foods, special taste buds trigger enzymes that prime our brain to anticipate this extra boost. With a balanced diet and a healthy metabolism, a calorie–control mechanism kicks in after a few minutes to regulate the desire for more food, including the satiety hormone leptin. But with too much sugar, we eat and eat and can’t get satisfied.

So even if the “Sweet” taste comes from a zero-calorie artificial sweetener, our body still responds with increases of insulin. This allows the body to store extra calories (fat) more easily. Plus you’ll be more likely to turn to more food, more quickly to fill the hunger that wasn’t satisfied by the sweet tasting food.

So do I recommend the use of Splenda? NO!

I know that there are many legitimate an well meaning organizations that have deemed Splenda safe.

But if you want to be healthy then I advocate a nutrition plan consisting of whole and natural foods. And Splenda is not natural.

If you want to lose weight then I recommend avoiding sweet foods, natural or otherwise. Even if the sweetness comes from a zero-calorie source, the body still reacts the same physiologically. Making weight loss more difficult.

The information in this post is from the following sources;
www.wikipedia.com
www.womentowomen.com
www.holisticmed.com/splenda