Can I eat for nutrients?

Here is that ages old question of food, that I and others have frequently asked ourselves. The question is, if I eat intuitively, will I get all the nutrients I need in one day? Is it possible that my body is not asking for all the nutrients it needs, but instead, the food that it requires? What if what my body needs, doesn't completely have to do with what it is intuitively bugging me to consume? What then, say you? What now? WHY ME??

Well of course I don't actually feel that last sentiment, but sometimes I am definitely tempted to ask myself a few questions that beg understanding. Let's face it. I don't always want to eat for the healthier side of the way I choose to live my life. I at times battle with my body's hunger, And what message that may be sending. 

I know that for one thing, I have been spending a lot of time honoring what seems to be my body crying for vitamins. I haven't given my body vitamins in such a long time, that I'm not even sure it recognizes them. However, seeing as my body feels and looks quite a bit younger and fitter, I am making vitamin mineral electrolyte consumption part of my fitness routine once again. I have done green drinks, I've been vegetarian, carnivorous bullet proof primal Paleo citizen whackadoodle of planet earth, but still I nutritionally rise. I began using herbs as a simple energetic fix, to fill in nutritional gaps.but at some point most recently, my body said to give it some vitamins and stop messing around.

There are some philosophies that I have studied, that says hunger is not real. Then some studies will tell a person to actually feed the hunger because it means that your metabolism is dropping below the realm of desired metabolic acceleration. So could that actually be how my mind is fashioned, as to whether either statement could be true for me or not? Or is it not nearly as philosophical as this? Could it really be physiological, how the body gets hungry and is telling you actually to eat? Or could it be that the body is telling you it is about to lose weight, and then proceeds to do so? Is there an easy way to lose weight? What I mean is, do you mean I really don't have to starve? Or is there still some form of extremism involved in pushing the body to lose weight?

What else is possible?

The best suggestions I have been given so far, is to truly honor whatever the body wants to eat, learn the difference between the mind and the body and know that both speak… And to only listen to and act on the body message. Honor and listen to the mind, but acting on it is not always the quickest approach to the expected outcome. 

Oh yeah and...stop expecting anything, and you'll always be surprised when something wonderful happens to your body.

Doing it Different.

I'm doing it Different, with a capital D. And this D stands for me. Truly. Everything unseen, is showing up in this moment. And all I'm doing is letting my body tell me what it sees.

This morning for breakfast was a spoonful of protein enriched peanut butter, called P28. Apple crisp flavor equals a deliciousness that transcends reality. It contains whey protein, a touch of granola and apple pieces, cinnamon and vanilla. Any craving for peanut butter or decadent food is cared for in this meal. 

After which, I took an electrolyte drink. I prepared a lime and electrolyte drink for the gym. Lifted for 30 minutes and got on the recumbent bike for 30 minutes and I'm so glad I did that, because I sweat out the bacon jerky I consumed at 1a. The only thing is, I consumed more post- workout! A whole package of bacon jalapeño jerky and maple bacon: GONE. it's the X-Files of missing!

 About 300 calories and 40g of protein later, I got up to my mom's house and ate slices of beef roast and a vegetable mixture. Then, I suddenly got struck by a cookie dough cake pop and the next thing you know, it was done. Then two. Then my consciousness took a walk...

Why oh why must my mind struggle with this?? And then that's when it hit me: it's not your mind you need to struggle with. It's your body that you need to talk to,and all will clarify with ease. Simply put, the body does not care what the mind wants. I might want a taco salad, but my body said lobster. Or body said tea and I drink coffee. The body is just going to keep asking until it gets its request.

Do not eat diet chocolate, and other holiday woes.

Hi.

     This is a short public message to alert and advise all interested citizens of the known world,  that if you plan to enjoy any chocolate at all, please do so with moderation,  and the hope that you will consume the real deal.

     This summer I was sugar free but one of the things I didn't want to give up was chocolate, dear chocolate. Ah, chocolate....

     But yet and still, I stuck to my diet, much to my dismay. I was saddened by two ideas: one, that I had no chocolate. Two, that not having chocolate saved me no calories in the end, and I was still needing to lose weight. so I guess I'm making a new pledge to honor my craving no matter what silly regimen I may be on.
   
     Let me tell you what I did to satisfy my chocolate fix: I ate that fake chocolate from Russell Stovers. Of course it was delicious and low in carbs! The problem was that it was filled with those sugars that would have been okay had the sweetener not twisted my system to the point where it was no longer fun to eat something that questionable for my system. I'm also thinking that it depletes essential nourishment from our bodies. Plus, there are so many wonderful nutrients in chocolate that it is a crime not to eat when the mood hits (unless you cannot control yourself, new topic). Let the lesson be the one where, if you don't have six hours to spend on the toilet,  diet chocolate may not be for you.

Break up to make up.

Okay intestines.

     Now is the moment of truth. Let's see if you can stand being empty long enough to manage some other new cleansing processes the body would someday like to undergo, if only you would allow it that. Do you think you can manage it? Or will you fill it soon after with the highest, yummiest, fattiest food possible? Sure it isn't "bad" food, but zucchini smothered in Romano and butter may after Awhile start to register as the good ole fat you know and love. Yes. There is a limit that everyone needs to find, especially if the goal is fat loss....

     I know that we spend our whole vacation trying to undo all the good work we've done. We spend our holiday eating ourselves into a certain oblivion. But before that, we were sure that we were gonna make it this time, that we would be good and true to ourselves. Then what gives?

     We step into this universal arc of surrender and we begin to think we need to do this poor eating thing because it's our last chance  and that we will be unable to ever eat this crap again, because at no other time in the  year will it be acceptable to consume. ..and that gives people stress...because they implant such unrealistic ideas that they make themselves tired and give up soon after. The whole idea of the diet becomes obsolete. ..but it doesn't have to.

     Some of us like the diet roller coaster. It gives us something to strive for in an otherwise dismal world of "dirty food ." Or we can stay happy and faithful to a relationship with food that will never let us down, if we can manage moderating our excessive desires to lose control at every holiday. 

The Search for Truth and Justice in the American Diet.

Is it fair to assert that we the people use food as a tool for merriment in an otherwise bleak, cold season of hibernation and solitude? It's no time to get lost in the woods. But the season also speaks to a higher incidence of calorically challenged foods, usually involving sugar, fats and an abundance of such food frivolity.

Is it the best idea that we constantly assert that we eat these foods and consider the food connects us to some level of joy and peace? All it really does is make us feel we are further away from our goal instead of closer.

Do we continue to celebrate such debauchery with fattened glee? How do we celebrate if our minds work like mine in the sense that everyday is another chance to be lean? Is it really a distortion of my mind and those who think this way? Or is it a distortion to have holidays that celebrate lack of control and restraint? Ask yourself these questions and reflect on which one has caused more of the problem. Maybe the opposing ideas have worked in concert to create the state of affairs our society could possibly be in.

It seems that the most successful food participants learn to cook and find a way to consume healthful paths of purpose that do not blow health goals out of commission.

We can do this. We can learn to adapt and overcome. Carry on, holidays.

Just random thoughts I should consider trying to answer.

Does anybody ever REALLY admit how imperfect their diet really is?

Can bodybuilders afford to screw up their diet, or is that the ultimate test of discipline and diligence?

Can a fitness maverick or maven truly still get their results if they are indulging too much? Is there really this extra room for error, even in their diets?

Am I a health coach and specialist who will ever claim to know it all? (The answer is no.)

Is any one diet really going to deliver the benefits that are promised and supposedly proven in trials?

Will I ever get this right? Will any of us?

Why do people think that their leadership is or should be perfect, in order to help them? Doesn't it matter what the goal is?

Should we choose our trainers, fitness experts, health coaches and training partners based on the diet and the body we want to have?

Do already fit people need to lose more weight?

Does Hollywood exacerbate our quest for perfection?

Do we do too much in an effort to be, look or attain "perfect?"

From Chinese Wood to Ayurvedic heat...

Here I go again....

Summer comes and goes and my carbs were virtually nonexistent. So the autumn time was a moment of reassessment for my diet and with an Ayurvedic doctor, was beginning to think she'd be the answer. I hated the fact that she was telling me to slowly revert back to grains. I didn't want to! But my palate fought me, and before long I was exercising my right to a slice of sprouted grain bread, even to the point where I'm concerned that I can't get enough due to taking this supplement called GX Assist, with six different essential oils and caprylic acid, all designed to heal the intestines and digestion. So basically I've been working on my digestion since the fall. Doc put me on this long pepper, ginger and fennel blend, and we happily discussed herbs, oils and possibly the over potency of the oils at a time when she thought I should treat the system gently. Here I am thinking that my system needs a more aggressive cleansing, due to the previous low carb abuse I must have somehow done to it. I simply think that I let my induction go on too long, and suffered the low carb flu and mood/energy swings, finally finding "normal" again.

But did I? Doc suggested that low carbing is just an extreme thing to do, and for years I would agree. But I think that the diet industry now takes on what the bodybuilding community has done for years: carb cycling. However, food pundits such as Dave Asprey, Dave from PaleoHacks and PaleoPeople in general still feel pretty well attuned to a no grain, no dairy lifestyle. Some say it is the only way. I say give me enough fat to smile and everyone will be okay.

But I wasn't agreeing with the influx of grains. While it didn't change my weight drastically, I do remember a noticeable amount of brain fog leaving. How do you know you aren't functioning at optimal levels when you simply aren't that? It's like telling a person who isn't smart, to see that he or she isn't. Can they really see that? So once I felt clarity, it was an education, an awakening that I wanted again.

Even though there were these great therapeutic advantages with the different Ayurvedic massages she offered and the herb therapy she wanted me to sign onto, I'm still interested but have since tried a few other supplements to my benefit. I was thinking that since I work for doTERRA I should try their digestive aids, as they are fully formulated by doctors, chemists and botanists as a team working together, using the best technology and highest data measurement methods. The only problem is that I'm doing something I fully disagree with, right alongside the digestive protocol, and that is the consumption of deli processed meats. Somewhere in my head I thought they were easy and cheap, and that is exactly why I'm eating them. I have these momentary lapses in sanity....