It’s true! Awful right?  Well, I knew it was going to happen. I set myself up.  Since my last blog I have been focused on removing inflammatory foods in my diet to help me heal my gut and thyroid.  But, I decided to continue my tradition of eating an Italian sub while watching the Superbowl.  That means I consciously consumed foods that I know for a fact create inflammation as well as foods that I’m still testing.  What happened? Six pounds overnight happened! It’s not that I ate six pounds worth of calories, I assure you I did not.  What happened was that I ate things like gluten that make me bloat.  Within minutes of eating it my fingers began to swell.  And, yes, I will lose the six pounds over the course of the next week without much effort (other than going back to my anti-inflammatory diet) because, again, the weight was simply a reaction (inflammation) to the food.

Why am I sharing this?  Because up until recently I didn’t understand or appreciate that how much of the weight I had put on during my under-treated thyroid years had to do with consuming foods that created inflammation rather than eating “too many calories”.  This could easily be happening to you too.  I hear from people all of the time saying that they are eating the “right amount of calories” and exercising but still not losing weight or even (gasp) gaining.  When you start to remove foods that create inflammation (note, everyone may have different trigger foods), the focus on counting calories disappears.

How do you figure out your trigger foods? You have to play detective.  You refocus your diet on “nutrient dense eating” – lots of veggies, some protein, some fruit – for 30 days and then slowly reintroduce foods back into your diet.  Then you observe your body’s reaction to each of the foods.  It takes time but what you end up with is a better understanding about which foods are the best for you.  Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as saying “eat vegetables” because some people have a difficult time with things like nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, etc.).  That said, it’s worth going through the process.  Understanding this has made me feel a little less crazy when I think back to how I would endlessly track my calories and workouts with little results.

And, once you become more aware of your trigger foods you’ll start to decide whether they are worth eating.  Clearly I went into this knowing full well what would happened.  I had estimated that I’d put on 5-7 pounds and I was right (lucky me).  Maybe next year I’ll rethink my options!

I’ve been noticing more and more commercials advertising the virtue of probiotics recently so I wanted to blog about it.

First, let’s start with explaining what probiotics are – microorganisms that live in our bodies – yup that’s right, tiny little things living in our bodies.  Sounds kind of creepy huh?  However, they are actually really good for us.  These bacteria live in our intestines and help reduce the growth of bad bacteria (think good guys vs the bad guys).

Do you need more of them?  If you watch any TV lately, you’ll think you do.  But tread lightly my friends, we are still learning about them.  And while there’s some indication that they are helpful in terms of boosting the immune system and digestive support they are yet to be proven as the end-all-be-all.  How can you get your hands on these microorganisms?  Most people turn to supplements but they are readily available in the form of food too (see list below).  That said, there are skeptics on both sides of aisle.  As Michael Pollan pointed out in his article last May, “… the probiotic marketplace is largely unregulated, it’s impossible to know what, if anything, you’re getting when you buy a “probiotic” product. One study tested 14 commercial probiotics and found that only one contained the exact species stated on the label.”  Note the grimace on my face.  Don’t forget that supplement business is big business.  There’s a ton of money to be made.  Who doesn’t want to just pop a pill to make the years of eating poorly “all better”?  Too bad, it’s just not that easy.  You’re thinking, okay, maybe I should be wary about probiotics in the form of supplements but can’t I just eat certain foods?  Again, if only it were that easy.  As I mentioned not everyone believes that food sources of probiotics are safe either since it is unknown which types of bacteria these foods carry.  In addition, while I eat many of the probiotic foods, some of the claims for things like Kombucha curing cancer are unproven and probably a bit exaggerated.

And what about prebiotics you ask?  Unlike probiotics, which are live organisms, prebiotics are substances that encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria.  Again, they come in the form of supplements and real food (see list below).

So, do you need them?  There’s no conclusive answer yet although most studies support some positive impacts on the immune system and digestive support.  Should you consume them through supplements or food?  That’s really up to you.  If you go the supplement route, make sure that they don’t contain “extras” like gluten or soy.  What do I do?  Well, I took supplements on and off for several years but now I really try to get all of my nutrients through food.

I know, I didn’t give you a clear “Yes” or “No”.  I gave you a yeah, probiotics and prebiotics are probably good for you but they won’t magically make you all better especially if you are still eating poorly, not getting enough sleep and living a high stress life.  I know it sucks to hear this, but there is really no ONE solution to good health.  If someone claims otherwise chances are they are trying to sell you something.  We know a little about a lot of things when it comes to proper health but everyone comes to the table with different health histories.  Everyone may need different versions of “healthy living”.  So when you hear about new diet trends, or supplements remember that the best thing you can do is to focus on nutrient dense eating – focus on whole foods, limit processed foods, consume organic, grass-fed, wild-caught when possible.

I was definitely a calorie counter.  It started early. My mom and stepfather used to go on a diet from time-to-time called the rotation diet or something like that. It was a 3-4 week program and you would eat a prescribed number of calories from week to week.  Most of what I remember is 1. That there was A LOT of orange roughy eaten over those years and 2. That I thought eating 900 calories a day was healthy.  Sure, they lost weight but they typically gained it back too because there was no way to maintain it over the long haul.  Eventually I grew out of thinking ultra-low calorie intake was okay but I did continue to count calories.  Whichever way you look at it, food became a numbers game.  When I gained a ridiculous amount of weight because of my untreated hypothyroidism I joined weight watchers. While I wasn’t counting calories I was counting points.  Or we’re told to make sure that you eat a certain percentage of carbs, fat and protein/day.   Listen, I like numbers. I’m a bit OCD and counting things can be a favorite pastime of mine but I can’t even picture what 15% of my daily intake would, could or should look like.

After the birth of my first child, I still counted. I wasn’t obsessed with it but I counted and tracked how many calories I ate and how many I burned.  And I was so good at counting that I could do it in my head.  The weight came off but something else happened too. I learned that counting is not that way to go about it.  And I reminded myself that being obsessed with counting calories isn’t healthy.  What made me come to this realization?  Looking at my daughter and thinking I never what her to count calories. I never want her to feel uncomfortable in her own skin whether she’s thin or round. 

So I liberated myself.  It’s not always easy. Sometimes I catch myself adding up the number of calories or grams of fat I ate that day.  I mean, sure you can lose weight that way but it doesn’t mean that you’re making healthy choices to facilitate long-term health.  If you want to feel good in your body, have less visits to doctors and maintain a higher level of health (and by the way be a good role model for your kids) follow these simple rules:

1. A calorie is NOT a calorie.  What I mean is that all calories are not created equal. The fiber in the fruit helps your body break down the sugar much more efficiently than drinking a glass of juice.

2. Eats lots and lots of vegetables.  I don’t care if you eat 2000 calories worth of vegetables/day just eat them.  Eat them at breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And, no I’m not suggesting that you don’t eat meat. I eat meat, I just eat a lot more vegetables alongside my meat.

3. Eat whole foods.  Reduce, limit, cut out as much processed food as you possibly can. It will eliminate the fillers that interfere with good health and weight loss.

I know that we’ve been trained to track calories.  It seems like an easy enough solution to getting rid of excess weight. But ask yourself this, did you maintain your long-term health goals by counting calories?  Probably not.  The focus has to be less of a numbers game and more about eating whole foods.

A few weeks ago I saw a post that a friend of mine responded to on Facebook.  It’s such an important subject that I thought I wanted to post about it as well.  If you read it, maybe you’ll add to the conversation somehow, whether online or at home.

How do you plan to raise your child to have a healthy relationship with food?

While there’s a growing awareness and acceptance about healthy eating it is still often perceived as something for the elite or…obnoxious.  I know that when I told people about my certification as a holistic health coach eyes rolled and they thought, “Great, I’ll never be able to eat cookies in front of her again.”  The truth is, we have been inundated by awful food information for years and what I do has nothing to do with eliminating cookies.  It has to do with teaching people to understand what’s in their food, how they feel in general and the strong connection between the two.  It’s about adding to your food choices not about strict elimination.  I really do think that we are in the midst of a change.  I believe that, as more and more people become aware of what happens to their food from seed or egg to plate, more people will demand that the way our food is processed and delivered is changed, for the better.  But until then, I don’t want to have to hide the fact that our family eats mostly organic, locally grown food.  And I want my daughter (and son, come June) to embrace these habits as well.

Unfortunately, the cost difference can be a real obstacle for many people in this country.  Not only are there limited options in neighborhoods with traditionally low-income families, but there’s lack of education on how this can impact the overall health of their families. We need to continue to push for healthy options for everyone regardless of economic status, age, ethnicity, location, etc.  In addition, we need to end the myth that eating pre-packaged processed food is the easiest and best option.  There are ways to get healthy meals on the table without adding a ton of extra time or cost.  Over the next couple of weeks, I will start posting food ideas for you to try.

I’ll be honest, I’m already worried about the school lunch situation.  I recently looked over the menus for the local schools and they have a long way to go to be considered healthy.  It’s not that our children will never eat things other than vegetables and lentils…but, in our house we will try to limit the processed foods and make as much as we can using organic, whole foods…and cookies can and will still be eaten!

I think what it comes down to is practicing the 70/30, 80/20, 90/10 rule (whichever you feel most comfortable with) and education.  The first is eating whole, organic, local foods as often as you can but leaving room for treats when desired, special occasions or a guest in someone’s house. The second is educating our children early about where our food comes from.  This takes on a more non-traditional approach. Getting your children involved in planting even a small garden, preparing food with you, getting them to see how they feel when they eat certain foods will teach them how to make responsible choices.  But, and this is important, totally restricting them from even trying food will create animosity and rebellion.

When we were growing up, we couldn’t eat sugar cereals.  Not that the cereals we ate were super healthy but we couldn’t eat the typical all-sugar cereals on a regular basis.  Once in awhile we would get the mini packs of cereals that had something chocolatey or fruity and that was our treat.  And I’ll be honest, I never really liked them and I think some of that had to do with being able to try it once in awhile. On the other hand, we did grow up in a household that was always on or falling off a diet.  And that created confusion and ultimately bad decisions later on.  If the focus is on just eating healthier, you don’t need to count calories and fat and everything else. And while a movement to get kids to eat better is happening, some of the focus is too heavy on counting calories which, unfortunately, can lead to obsessive eating behaviors.

Just like with everything else, there is a line between healthy eating and obsession about healthy eating.  Orthorexia Nervousa was recently identified as an eating disorder. Unlike Anorexia, people are not obsessed about gaining weight but obsessed with eating only what they consider healthy pure foods.  People become so rigid in their food choices that they actually become deprived of adequate nutrition, exactly the opposite of what they are trying to achieve.  My point here is that it’s not as easy as saying “eat healthy.”  And it ends up being a delicate balance, especially when it comes to our children who already face so many pressures, including pressure about how they look.  It’s critical that we raise them in ways that build strength in character and intelligence in decision-making.  Neither of which are easy given outside influences.

So what do we plan to do?
1. Never complain about how we look and “walk the talk”. It’s important for our children to view us as healthy role models.
2. Get our children involved with planting and cooking the food we eat early and often
3. Crowd out the bad stuff with more healthy options
4. Provide experiences to learn about where food comes from and how it can impact overall health and well being
5. Avoid strict “never’s” and “no’s” that can lead to rebellious behavior in children- just as it does in adults

Again, none of this is easy.  And I hope that my children don’t end up being the outsiders in their school or with their friends.  What I really hope is that our children grow up demanding more transparency about the process of food for all people and that eating well is no longer a luxury that exists for only those that have the time and money to think about it.  It’s a big hope but one that I believe we can achieve.

If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder please contact your doctor for support and guidance. 

It’s been awhile.  The storm at the end of October, overnight guests for two weeks in November, traveling for the holidays all took a toll on my writing.  But, excuses now aside, I’m back!

I think some people think I’m a bit over the top about my interest in food transparency.  I can see people rolling their eyes or glazing over if it comes up in conversation.  I try to avoid preaching about it because I know it will go on deaf ears if they are not ready and interested in having the conversation.  I often hear people tell me that they ate like crap as a kid and they turned out just fine.  Usually in my head I think “maybe”.  The thing of it is that for most of us close to 40 and older, our food was processed very differently.  And while I was part of the fast food and frozen dinner generation (an early version), we didn’t eat it everyday or even once a week.  The rules of the game are different now.  And, unfortunately, we didn’t all turn out “just fine”.

I always think that if we could see inside our bodies on a regular basis – see how are organs are aging or reacting to different things, we would make very different decisions about what and how much we eat.  Think about how concerned we are with our outside appearance as we age or fall ill.  Sadly, what most of us don’t realize or care about is that often what we see on the outside is because of what’s happening on the inside.  And since we can’t see our internal organs we don’t give enough credit to the connection.

While I don’t love lawsuits for the sake of lawsuits (who does), I am very interested in the latest development in Big Food.  On Sunday, August 19, the New York Times reported that the lawyers that won settlements in the Tobacco cases are now focusing on the food industry http://tinyurl.com/c9eytw8.  Are we finally going to have transparency about how our food is processed, what it does to our body and even how the FDA is lobbied?  Maybe not and it will probably take several years to see any real development but for now I am hopeful.

I don’t necessarily blame the Big Food companies, I mean, they are out to make a buck right?  They aren’t really there to provide us with a nutritious meal even if their marketing tells us otherwise.  And, I don’t think that we should outlaw bad food.  But I do firmly believe that consumers should be told, in language that a 5th grader can understand, what’s in their food and what it could do to them if eaten too often.  But we have to go further.  Knowing about food choices, having food choices is still a luxury.  If you go into grocers in poor neighborhoods in the US you don’t find real choices and if you do it’s typically more expensive.  We have to start valuing the connection between food and health in this country.  Eating isn’t something that we just do to pass the time.  It is intended to fuel our bodies and provide balance.  Eating can still be fun and tasty, but we need to honestly reconnect to it’s purpose in life and allow everyone to have greater awareness of the cause and effect.

I’m also a big fan of Just Label It http://justlabelit.org/.  Their whole purpose is to demand that genetically engineered food should be labeled as such.  Let the consumers know so that they can make the decision whether or not to eat it. If you haven’t yet, check out their site.

Remember too that eating well for you will look very different than it does for me or other people you know.  Some people can process things better than others.  The idea is not to restrict, restrict, restrict but to open up your choices and taste buds to a variety of healthy foods.  In the meantime, start thinking about where your food comes from.  Read the labels if you don’t.  Don’t believe that your whole grain cereal is really whole grain…you can still eat it, just don’t fall for it.  And don’t worry, if you see my out and you happen to be eating a big slice of chocolate cake, or Doritos, or wings, I promise you that I’m not thinking “they should NOT be eating that”.  I’m just happy to see you and may just sit down and order a piece of cake too.  Balance is everything.

As I was scrolling through my BBC app the other day, I came across a piece about an Ivory Coast artist:  http://tiny.cc/zi1mhw His muse is the full figured women that surround him.  As you scroll through his paintings the images and colors represent a sense of pride, happiness and maybe even fulfillment.  It once again reminded me that thin wasn’t always in.  At one point a full figured woman was a sign of prosperity – something to be honored and cherished.  Nowadays, at least in America, the focus is on thin, thin, thin.  Even though several leading ladies are honoring their “curvy” bodies, most of them are still pretty damn thin.  And as much as we can both worship and hate these women, really, there’s nothing wrong with being thin OR full figured as long as you’re healthy.

Learning how to respect and understand your individual body is really the key.  This isn’t easy.  But it’s not as difficult as you think either.  First things first, toss out all of those fad diet articles you come across.  They won’t do you any good.  Why?  Because they are not made for your unique body.  Think about it like this: like it or not, no matter how much you weigh at any given moment, you can fit into a pair of jeans in one size at the first store and not be able to get a leg into the same size jeans at the second.  It’s frustrating, right?  You feel good about yourself one moment and then the next deflated.  Same thing goes with these diets.  If you don’t understand your body and what works for you, you’ll always be disappointed.  Maybe you feel good for a little bit but then you plateau, give up and you’re back to ground zero.  Or maybe you never even take off in the first place because again it’s just not the right balance for you.

And, your body changes through the years.  This doesn’t mean you have permission to be unhealthy, eat whatever you want and sit on your butt all day.  What this means is that you have to continue checking in with how you feel as well as learn how to accept the changes that either time or experience has blessed you with.  Under one of the captions of the artists’ paintings a woman is quoted saying “because in Africa when you have one or two children you take on a new form”…this is exactly it!  As you age your body takes on a new form.  It’s supposed to.  And if you can learn how to accept it, live within it and continue to refine what it means to be healthy you’ll find a real since of pride, happiness and yes, maybe even fulfillment.

Do you ever stop and wonder why Americans seem to be getting bigger?  What’s so different now?  On Monday, the NYT reported one theory to the obesity epidemic – too much food http://tiny.cc/al1mhw.  Mathematician, Dr. Carson C. Chow has concluded that the biggest change in our diet over the past 30 years is the amount of food we consumed. Furthermore, Dr. Chow theorizes “The epidemic was caused by the overproduction of food in the United States.”

So what does this mean?  Dr. Chow states:

“Beginning in the 1970s, there was a change in national agricultural policy. Instead of the        government paying farmers not to engage in full production, as was the practice, they were encouraged to grow as much food as they could. At the same time, technological changes and the “green revolution” made our farms much more productive. The price of food plummeted, while the number of calories available to the average American grew by about 1,000 a day. “

And, as you can imagine (and maybe know firsthand), if there’s extra food around, most people tend to eat it.  In my opinion it feels like we’ve gone from a need to eat for energy and nutrition culture to a need to eat because I deserve it culture.  Now I think of myself as somewhat of a foodie and I really can’t imagine just eating for sustaining purposes only.  To me eating is fun, interesting and exciting.  The process of preparing a dish, choosing the ingredients or even picking a restaurant is a favorite pastime.  But somewhere along the way we’ve lost touch with what it means to eat and nourish our bodies for energy, nutrients and enjoyment.  Instead we eat anything and everything without pausing to understand and respect the impact our choices will make on our bodies, our families and the environment.

In addition, I think this gap has a lot to do with where our food comes from and our connection (or lack of connection) to it.  I wonder if we depended on community farms and we saw and experienced the growth and harvest process if we would connect differently – if we would consume differently.

I’ve been thinking about the role nutrition plays in my life for several years now.  And I’m not perfect.  I fall into traps like most everyone else.  But every year I take another step forward to my goal of eating the types and quantity of foods that make me feel physically and mentally as strong and healthy as I deserve to feel.  The types and quantities that are right for me might be very different for you, as they should be.  For example what I need now is very different than what I needed while I was pregnant.  The key here is listening to your body.  Let go of the media blitzes and trendy fads and take time to listen to what works best for you.  I really believe that if you can find the time to do this your intuition will be your best guide forward.  My guess is, if we all did this, we would probably eat a little less.