Snack Attack

There’s no denying that everyone, at one time or another, has had a snack attack.  Views on snacking differ.  Some feel that snacking is bad and that eating between meals leads to weight gain.  Others believe that eating many small meals and snacks throughout the day is healthy for maintaining energy levels and optimal weight.  If there were only one way of snacking that was right for everyone, we would all be doing it!

To alleviate snack attack guilt, try to understand why you are snacking and what snacks work best for your body.  Perhaps you snack because your daily diet is missing nutrition, or because you are eating too little at meals.  You might be snacking to soothe jangled nerves when you are emotional, or to entertain yourself when you are bored.  Whatever your reason, acknowledge it and start thinking about how to create a life that is nourishing and truly satisfying.

Although snacks are no substitute for loving your life, they can be great energy boosters.  Many convenient snack foods are highly processed and full of chemicals, additives, damaging fats and refined sugars.  When a snack attack hits you, try foods that are filling and satisfying, but also nutritious.  Here are some tips:

*Snack on things that don’t come in a plastic wrapper or a box, like fresh fruit, leftover vegetables or rice cakes with almond butter and fruit spread.

*Make your own signature trail mix

You can also try “upgrading”:

*If you are craving something crunchy, upgrade from potato chips to raw carrots, apples or whole grain crackers

*If you are craving a candy bar, upgrade to a handful of nuts and dried fruit

*Instead of a cup of coffee, upgrade to green tea

Upgraded snacks are high in nutrition and give you a greater sense of satisfaction and fullness; you won’t feel physically or psychologically deprived, and you’ll have plenty of energy to sustain your activities for hours.

Snacking is enjoyable and there is a wide variety of healthy goodies for whatever you’re craving, be it sweet, crunchy, salty, creamy or spicy.  Dive in, be creative and enjoy your snack attack.

 Milissa Harding is a Certified Holistic Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She works with busy women to provide health and wellness support in a variety of areas, such as: improving nutrition, increasing energy, decreasing stress, managing sugar and coffee cravings and weight loss. She shares a weekly newsletter, “Time Out For Health” filled with lots of healthy tips and recipes, and she offers complimentary Health & Wellness Strategy Sessions. Milissa offers a variety of personalized Health Coaching programs, which are customized to meet individual needs. For more information, please visit: www.healthystartcoaching.ca or email Milissa at: milissaharding@gmail.com.

Getting my weight under control has come from a process of treating myself as well as I treat others in every way. -Oprah Winfrey

 

Why Weight? Diets Don’t Work

You can’t turn on the TV, drive down the road or go to a party without being confronted with America’s hottest obsession: weight. Diets are a billion-dollar industry; companies spend millions and millions luring you to try the latest diet (low carb, high protein, low fat, no fat, you name it) with promises that this will (finally!) be the solution—your shortcut to a thinner body. Advertising efforts also deeply affect our children, who develop distorted body images and are often on diets as early as nine or 10 years of age. 

 Photo Credit to Stuart Miles

Our culture touts diet pills, celebrity workouts, convenience foods and trendy diets to help us achieve our desired weight, but these quick-fix solutions have backfired. America’s populace has reached its highest weight in history. About half of Americans are overweight; one-third are obese. Diets steer us away from our common sense and dip deeply into our pocketbooks while eliciting few, if any, lasting results. Why?

• Diets don’t work because each person is unique, with different needs based on gender, age, ancestry and lifestyle; how could one diet be right for everyone?
• Diets don’t work because they are extreme solutions. As in physics, if a pendulum swings to one extreme, it has to swing equally to the other. A diet might work for a short amount of time, but research shows that almost all diets result in a 10-pound gain once off the diet.
• Diets don’t work because they are too restrictive. People who fail on diet plans are not flawed or weak. Diets by nature require discipline and restriction at levels that are unsustainable by a healthy human body.
• Most people are disconnected from why they gain weight and see diet as the only culprit. For example, ignoring or discounting emotions is often the first thing to cause weight imbalances.

In our fast-paced world, we have lost sight of many aspects of life that truly nourish and balance our bodies, such as slowing down, eating a home-cooked meal and spending quality time with loving people. Eating consciously and making simple lifestyle changes will create positive results and release you from the endless cycle of dieting.

Given half a chance, your body will balance out by itself, but this is only possible by getting out of the diet mentality and listening to what you truly need. Imagine taking all of the outward energy you expend on diets, fads and gimmicks and turning it inward, so that you can listen to your heart and inner wisdom. There is no such thing as a quick fix; you already have everything you need within you. With careful thought and loving reflection, you can feed yourself in a nourishing way. Working with your body rather than against it will bring you increased energy, stabilized weight and sustainable health.

Food Focus: Asparagus

Now that spring is finally here, it is a perfect time to add some asparagus to your diet!  Here are some wonderful ways in which asparagus can benefit you:

Detoxifies our bodies

Anti-aging functions

Cancer-fighting qualities

Reduces pain and inflammation

Can prevent osteoporosis

Reduces the risk of heart disease

Reduces the risk of birth defects

Recipe of the Month: Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan       

Ingredients

2 bunches of asparagus

1 tablespoon olive oil

Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

2 -3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Trim the tough ends off of the asparagus.

On a baking sheet, toss the asparagus with the olive oil, salt and pepper.  Spread the asparagus on the sheet, side by side.  Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.

Roast the asparagus until tender and the cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Milissa Harding is a Certified Holistic Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She works with busy women who struggle to maintain healthy energy levels.  Milissa creates personalized coaching programs integrating both a nutrition and lifestyle focus to enable busy women to:  increase energy levels, reduce stress, improve eating habits and prioritize self-care. Request your FREE 25-page copy of “Feeding the Busy Mom: Nourishing Yourself from the Inside Out” and schedule an Energy Strategy Session by visiting www.healthystartcoaching.ca.

Happy Being Me

One of the steps that I coach my clients through in my program is called “Your Health and You Time”. As a mother, it is sometimes very difficult to take the time to take care of ourselves. If we have also left an abusive relationship, sometimes our mind cannot even wrap around that concept initially. We forget how it is to be “Happy Being Me“. We feel like we are being selfish.
 But, who determines selfishness? I would say that it is usually an outside source. Now, I’m not talking about buying a Gucci purse and not buying groceries for our kids~that is negligence. I mean doing something really nice for yourself.
Let’s examine something simple like getting your nails done, for instance. A manicure with a massage is $20-$30 tops. Perhaps you could push back on the grocery money by $5 without having a really noticeable difference in the whole budget. In five or so weeks, you can have a manicure with a hand massage. I am almost certain that your children will love the mother that comes home that evening! I call that “Cheap You Time”!
As Moms, we often don’t take care of our health, either. Although I am “Happy Being Me” in many ways, my weight is not one of them. I have been overweight for most of my life. At the beginning of January, I cut out sugar and simple carbs from my diet. I also had a colon hydrotherapy session to remove the crud from my system. I feel fabulous, but I now need to address my eating habits.
This time, I decided that I am going to use an accountability method. I have been on countless eating plans (aka diets), and have never been successful. There was no accountability for what I was doing, so whenever I felt challenged, I reverted back to my old habits. I have decided that I need to splurge on this for ME. What good am I to my kids if I cannot keep up with them? What example am I showing them if I am overweight? If I want them to eat properly and be healthy, I have to do the same.
To be “Happy Being Me“, I believe that we have to take care of ourselves. We need to put the correct food into our system, and give our bodies the exercise necessary to keep us fit and alert. But, we need a little pampering as well, because sometimes, we have been through a lot, and we deserve it.
May you have Water for Your Journey,
Stephanie, Emerging Princess

The moment we give up our excuses and fully accept responsibility for our own health and happiness, is the moment we harness our true power to change. ~Bill Phillips

Stephanie Titus-Andrews is a Speaker, Author and Recovery Coach to women who are going through divorce, especially if there was abuse.  Her mandate is to give women an injection of hope, direction and strength to help them thrive.  She has appeared on The Small Business, Big Ideas Show, That Channel, and in ShimmerZine Magazine.  Presently, she is working with the Canadian Women's Foundation Shelter From the Storm Campaign.  Her first book is expected to be released in September, 2012.  Stephanie can be reached at www.CreatedToExcel.ca or 6447.928.4728. Stephanie is also a member of Entrepreneurial Moms of Toronto.