Thought for the Day

"The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness".

Impressive, huh? Certainly made me think, that's for sure. But not for too long. The way I see it is, if you're looking desperately and constantly seeking for things outside of you to possess, to "make" you happy, to keep up with the Joneses: then you're setting yourself up for trouble and a very unhappy life indeed.
If, on the other hand, you practice what I call personal peace, instead of looking for some all encompassing panacea outside yourself, then I think you have it made for a very happy life.

Think about that and let me know what your ideas are - post a comment.:)

Guilt Free Food - Always

Did you know that unnecessary negative stress in your life increases your chances of being overweight and decreases the chances of you losing any weight you might have to lose? It does. Cortisol, one of the key hormones released into your body in times of stress

• is catabolic (it helps break down muscle protein into glycogen that your body and brain can readily use),
• increases your appetite once the initial stressful situation has passed and adrenaline levels drop; and
• encourages the accumulation of abdominal fat (identified as the most dangerous to your health
  

None of these are conditions are what you're looking for when you're trying to maintain or improve your health. Of course, right now I could go on about how you can control and even eliminate the negative stress in your life, but it's not what got my bug-bear going when I sat down to write today.

What got me going was hearing these three words "Guilt Free Food". And my thought was ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Food should never be associated with anything so negative as guilt. Imagine what it feels like to be stressed out every time you consider eating (maybe you don't have to imagine). Here are the facts:

1. Your body needs fuel to maintain your optimal health
2. Food is Fuel
3. You need to eat

Bottom Line: If you get stressed about eating, your blood cortisol levels rise, your appetite increases, your muscle mass decreases and your ability to accumulate abdominal fat skyrockets - to say nothing of the other effects of being in a near permanent state of negative stress has on your life and health.

Read and listen carefully: Food is not "Good" and "Bad".
There are highly nutritious foods and less nutritious foods. Enjoy the high nutrition foods regularly and enjoy the less nutritious foods for fun sometimes, but NEVER, NEVER, EVER feel guilty. As you've read above: Feeling guilty only compounds the effect of consuming the less nutritious food. If you have a real craving for something like chocolate, twinkies or Cheezels...go for it: But let me clarify. I'm not talking about an addictive rush, when you're hungry for anything and everything in the fridge (or even the world) but what you're really doing is reacting to your feelings of anxiety and you're stuffing food into you to stuff down your emotions. No.
I'm talking about a ridgy-didge craving.
If you're truly craving something, your body is telling you that it needs something provided by that food choice - so first - have some water, and if that doesn't do it for you then have whatever it is that you're craving and really, really enjoy it, for your health's sake! Drop the Guilt - it doesn't serve you, or your health goals.

Want to know all about high and low nutrition foods and the effect they have on your health so that you can make well informed choices? Check out this book: Ultra-Metabolism by Dr Mark Hyman MD from Amazon.com or, in Australia, Dymocks Bookstores

Simple Portion Control

Yep, I'm sure you've heard this one before. Reduce the size of your meal portions if you're looking to reduce your waist line.

So: how do you control those portion sizes?

As an athlete, I was always told that about 1/2 my plate should be filled with carbohydrates like pasta and or rice; that the lean meat/ protein portion should fit into the palm of my hand; and that the remainder of the plate should be filled with plenty of colourful vegies. It was a guide designed to create a fairly consistent 60% Carbohydrate/ 20% Protein / 20% Fat macro-nutrient balance for active people. While I have my own thoughts and theories on the 55-60 CHO/20-25 Pro/15-20 Fats 'balance' ratio, it's a whole other topic and I'll stick to the topic at hand for now.. Meal size and portion control.

The guide was a fairly good one for it's purpose, but it failed to recognise that the size of your plate would dictate how much food, and therefore how much energy, you took on board at each sitting.

Controlling food portion sizes can be tough and doing it "by eye" isn't the answer as our views of what we need are distorted, BUT this device just might be the answer. The Meal Measure frames your plate and portion sizes conveniently for you, to show you how you should be eating. We think it's one of the better uses of plastic this world has seen in recent history. Buy the Meal Measure Now