Category: Diet

Five Reasons To Eat Slowly And Enjoy Your Food

Five Reasons To Eat Slowly And Enjoy Your Food

I’ll be the first to admit that I can eat way too fast at times and I have to remind myself to slow down and enjoy my meal.  When you are busy and eating to fuel your body, meal time can turn into a chore or a forgotten moment in time.  In today’s fast paced lifestyle where sit down meals are becoming more rare, inhaling our food can be easy.  However, current research suggests that eating at a slower pace can give the body a better chance to feel satisfied and enjoy the food which leads to less mindless overeating.

Slow eating can also help control blood sugar and have a positive impact on one’s overall health. If you are like me , and have to remind yourself to eat a little slower from time to time,  here are five reasons to give you some incentive.

1. Your body needs time to tell you that you’re full.

It takes approximately 20 minutes for your body to signal that you’re full, so people who eat at a faster pace can overeat before they even know it’s happening.  When you eat slower you give your body a chance to let you know that you’ve eaten the right amount of food.   This works as a great motivator for most people because none of us like feeling “stuffed”.  It’s uncomfortable!

2. Eating fast can cause indigestion.

When we start to eat, our body goes through a multi-step digestive process.  If you eat too quickly, your body isn’t ready for the incoming food which can lead to indigestion.  Ugh!

3. Slow eaters are less likely to develop metabolic syndrome.

People who eat fast are more likely to have the conditions, known as metabolic syndrome, that can lead to future cardiovascular disease. Those conditions include increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol.  While eating slower alone doesn’t make you bullet proof, it can certainly help contribute to better health.

4. Eating slower can positively affect your weight.

By slowing down when we eat, we become more aware of when we’re full, and are more likely to stop eating when our bodies have had enough.  This helps limit overeating and consuming more energy than your body may need.

5. take a break to enjoy your food.

Eating should be an opportunity for all of us to take a moment and enjoy the food in front of us and the company around us.  I always eat great food, but sometimes I eat it so fast that I don’t really appreciate all of the great flavors and textures.  If we treated most of our meal times like fine dining experiences, I believe we would be more likely to savor every bite even when you’re eating something as simple as a bowl of soup or a sandwich.

Slowing down to eat a meal helps us to become more present and to take a break from the busyness of the day which can lower stress and improve your overall sense of well being.  There is a reason why sitting down for a long meal is one of the top ways that we relax and connect with one another.

Please remember that everyone eats too fast and even overeats from time to time.  Don’t ever beat yourself up or feel guilty about anything food related, ever.   Guilt can stress you out which is NEVER  helpful.  Taking care of your health is a long term effort and it’s all about balance.  None of us are perfect.  🙂

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and mindful week!

Shared with love,

Jennifer

 

 

Why And How To Avoid Tempting Fad Diets

 

How to avoid fad diets

It’s January, it’s a new year, and almost every magazine or health related email you open this month will have advice on what you should and shouldn’t be eating.

It can be really tempting to try the latest fad diet that the fitness and/or diet industry is promoting.  It’s a normal human response to be intrigued by all the marketing that these industries roll out in January… especially if you’ve gained a few pounds over the holidays.

While I completely understand the desire to want to lose weight quickly, research continues to  show us that restrictive dieting is not very effective long term and can potentially do you more harm than good.

Some of the reasons diets fail you are:

  • They slow down your metabolism
  • They cause you to store fat, not burn it
  • They’re unsustainable for most people’s lifestyle
  • They are a means to manipulate bodies to become a size they were never designed to be
  • When you stop starving yourself and go back to normal calorie-consumption, you WILL gain weight
  • Lack of energy due to being hungry
  • Some diets ask you to eliminate entire food groups and key nutrients
  • They can cause binge eating due to a scarcity mentality
  • They can cause stress which is known to cause belly fat due to hormonal changes in the body

There is nothing wrong with wanting to lose unwanted weight.  I recently lost a few pounds after recovering from a broken foot.  What’s important to remember is that long term, sustainable, weight loss happens when you focus more on health and less on the size of your jeans.

Healthy weight loss is not about counting calories just to reach a number on a scale.  It’s about feeling good, having plenty of energy, feeding your brain properly, creating balance in your life, being happy,  and allowing your body to settle into it’s own natural and healthy weight.   Things like eating the appropriate amount of food, cutting back on the foods and or liquids that you know are excessive,  avoiding overly processed foods, and meal planning are all considered healthy eating, not starvation diets or skipping meals entirely.

HERE ARE Seven TIPS THAT WILL HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DIETING

1) Eat enough food.  It absolutely amazes me that there are still diets out on the market today that recommend dangerously low calorie meal plans when the science says otherwise.  Your body will get really good at storing what it doesn’t get enough of.  For example, if you eliminate fat from your diet, your body will not want to burn fat. It will want to store fat.  Sound nutritional research tells us that you need to eat fat in order to burn fat.  I am a firm believer that the low fat and low carb craze has contributed heavily to the weight issues in the United States.

Instead of restricting what you eat, you’ll find more success when you focus on a balanced diet that is centered around whole foods.   A balanced diet includes carbohydrates, proteins, fruits & vegetables, healthy fats, and water.  Any diet that cuts one of these important nutrients out should be avoided.

2) Exercise.  One of the most effective ways to lose weight for good is a combination of eating well AND regular exercise.  However, there are many other reasons we should all be exercising regularly besides a desire to lose weight.  Research shows that exercise can help with depression, lower the risk for heart disease and cancer, reduce the risk of diabetes, and even grow new brain cells.  Exercise is an excellent anti-aging tool!

3) Eat in.    Cook at home as often as you can and bring your lunch.  When I make our food, I get to choose how much butter, oil, salt, and sugar I add.  Sometimes I add more than the recipe calls for and sometimes I cut it back.  I can also make substitutions that I think are healthier for us like swapping out more refined grains for whole grains, adding more veggies, and choosing oils that I believe are better than others.

4) Cut back on liquid calories. Try substituting alcohol, sodas, and other higher calorie drinks with water. Try adding lemon or cucumber for some variation.

If cutting out liquid calories sounds extreme, take a more moderate approach and cut down to half or even a quarter of what you usually drink. You can always go back to your normal consumption if you want to.  This is about figuring out what works for you personally.

5) Get plenty of rest.  Substantial medical evidence is telling us that a lack of sleep affects hormones which are linked to an increase in appetite. Your body becomes less satisfied and you are tempted to eat more food than you may actually need.  Sleep deprivation can also affect your hormones in such a way that your metabolism will literally slow down.  The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.

6) Tell guilt to take a hike.  First off, guilt should never be associated with food ever.  When I go into a restaurant I order what I want and I do not feel guilty about my choices.  Guilty thoughts that attempt to beat us up usually come from a desire to be perfect.  And, even though most of us know that perfection is impossible, much of the”professional” advertising we see focuses on displaying perfection as a form of happiness or acceptance.  Thank goodness for social media!  Live raw video helps to remind us that nobody is perfect and to give ourselves a break.

7)  Be yourself.  It’s really important that you know what’s most important to you.  Not everyone wants to be or was designed to look like the models on the cover of fitness magazines.  If challenging yourself to reach an elite athlete status is fun for you and you can achieve it in a healthy way, then by all means go for it!  However, if you know in your heart you’d just like to live a long healthy life, fit in your clothes, and have the stamina to do the activities you enjoy without a whole lot of restrictions in your life, then general health and fitness is for you so please don’t beat yourself up because you’re not “doing whatever it takes” to try to look like a fitness model.  Perfection is overrated and impossible to achieve.  Even fitness models don’t look like their photos all of the time.

Instead of dieting, I recommend you pick as many things from above that you can realistically implement without stressing yourself out and then stay consistent.  Diet and exercise are very personal which is why a canned approach rarely works.  We all have different lives, different goals, and different needs. 🙂

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2018!

Shared with love,

Jennifer

Eight Ways To Save Money on Your Groceries

Eight Ways To Save Money on Your Groceries by Jennifer Ledford

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Regardless of whether you’re shopping for one or feeding a whole family, you may be noticing that high quality groceries can be a bit costly.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that food is the third-largest household expense.  And for a family of four, the average monthly bill runs between $568 for the super frugal to $1,293 for those on a more liberal budget, according to the USDA.

Eating healthy is important but it shouldn’t cause financial stress in your life.  I personally believe that stress is just as bad for you as smoking.  The good news is that it is totally possible to eat well and still save money on your grocery bill.

Eight Ways To Save Money on Your Groceries

Here are eight of my own personal tips on how to save money on your groceries without compromising on quality.

Shop bargain stores first.  It can pay off big  to shop the discount grocery stores in your area. For years we were blessed to have a Trader Joe’s just minutes from our house which allowed us to eat really well without having to rent out a room in our house just to do it.  Now that we have moved, it’s not as easy for me to get to one.

After experiencing sticker shock at one of our local grocery stores, I decided I wanted to explore other options.  A friend recommended Grocery Outlet.  I have to admit I was avoiding this store because as a kid I remember something with a similar name that we had nicknamed the “dented can store.”  It seemed to be filled with dented cans of food that didn’t sell for a good reason. Since I trust my friend, I decided to give it a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised!  They have a variety of organic foods and high quality choices.  It turns out that the Grocery Outlet is a great place to shop first (it’s actually part of their advertising) and then you can hit up your supermarket to find the things on your list they weren’t able to fill.

Take a trip to the Farmer’s Market.  Buying locally sourced food in season is usually more affordable.  When going to the Farmer’s Market you may want to try what I call reverse meal planning.  Basically, you find the food that looks tasty and cost-effective and then do a search for recipes to help you cook it when you get home.

Do inventory and make a list.  Go through your pantry and refrigerator before making your grocery list.  Choose recipes that will use up food you already have on hand.  I find it helps to have a list I work on throughout the week.  I keep a list attached to the fridge that I can update when one of us notices we are out of something.  This method can save you time while meal planning, multiple trips to the store, and buying unnecessary duplicates.

Shop Imperfect Produce.  I love this concept! If you grew up in an area where people grew their own fruits and vegetables, you probably know that they don’t always look perfect when they are harvested.  Imperfect Produce is a company that sells the less than perfect fruits and veggies that grocery stores won’t accept and delivers them to your door for a cost savings of thirty to fifty percent.  Imperfect helps stop food waste by finding a home for ‘ugly’ produce. They source it directly from farms and deliver it to customers’ doors and offer subscription produce boxes that are affordable and customizable. By eating imperfect produce you’re helping build a more sustainable and effective food system while saving money.  Talk about a win-win!

Limit the extras.  Shopping once a week is a good way to avoid those tempting impulse buys.  I don’t recommend completely depriving yourself because that can contribute to binging. However, limiting  items in your cart  like desserts and sugary drinks can help lower the final bill at the checkout counter.

Take advantage of sales.  If possible, check for sales and design meals around the discounts. Buy extras of things you know you will use up or are able to freeze.  It may cost a bit more on the front end but will result in a yearly savings.

Invest in a soda machine.  Shaming people about their beverage choices seems to be commonplace on blogs these days and I refuse to do that here.  This is a safe place for EVERYONE.  With that being said, investing in a soda machine allows you to save on sparkling water and/or soda.  When you make your own soda you have more control over the ingredients while you are saving money.  We use our Soda Stream to make sparkling water and will add a splash of juice, a slice of lemon, or a squeeze of lime to make it a bit more interesting but most of the time, we just drink it plain.

Buy store brands.  Name brand isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.  Just recently, I was checking labels on some stewed tomatoes and the store brand ended up having better ingredients than the high-end name brand which was double the price.  You can save quite a bit by buying store brands especially when it comes to non-food items.

No matter what your budget allows, it’s always nice to save money and use it for other things like vacations, investing, college funds, or a nice meal in a restaurant.

Here’s to eating healthy without straining your bank account.

Shared with love,
Jennifer