Weight Loss

There is no cheating the system. In order to lose weight, one must follow the basic laws of physiology that you must consume fewer calories than you burn each day.

Or alternatively, you must burn more calories from exercise than you consume. Addressing the underlying causes behind poor eating and lifestyle habits is the ONLY way to ensure a healthy and long-term approach to weight loss.

The best approach to weight loss emphasizes lifestyle changes that incorporate whole foods and activity. It is our belief that sustainable changes in dietary and activity patterns can lead to maintainable, long-term weight loss success.

Physical activity guidelines are recommended to complement the nutrition counseling and make this process easier and more productive.

While each person has different needs and will require a custom tailored dietary program, there are some basic concepts that are helpful for most people. A health promoting, weight control diet will be:

• HIGH in fiber-dense carbohydrates found in whole grains, beans, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Also, it is important to drink plenty of water (approximately 2 quarts per day).

• MODERATE in fish and chemical-free lean meats (chicken, and turkey).

• LOW in red meat, animal fats, hydrogenated oils, full-fat dairy products, pre-packaged, processed, and refined foods, sugar, alcohol, and caffeine.

General Tips
• Set a realistic weight loss goal, usually 1 to 2 pounds per week is recommended.
• Balance food intake with activity. The most successful weight loss programs combine increased activity with decreased caloric intake.

Tips to Increase the Amount of Physical Activity in a Day:
• Try some group activity classes at the local gym, fitness center, or swimming pool.
• Work out with family, friends, or neighbors. Motivation is increased with partners.
• Take a walk at lunchtime.
• Use a bike to run local errands and go for pleasure rides.
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Walk to the bus stop or work
• Park the car a few blocks away and walk.
• Dance to some favorite music at home or sign-up for a series of classes.

Tips to Reduce the Quantity of Food Eaten:
• Plan and prepare meals ahead of time.
• Identify foods that are often over consumed and set limits, or avoid.
• Identify and limit problem foods.
• Eat small, frequent meals and healthful snacks.
• Eat slowly and savor each mouthful. Allow 20-30 minutes for each meal, rest, set the fork down, and/or converse between bites. Chew the food well.
• Wait 10-15 minutes before taking a second helping.
• Serve food on a smaller plate.
• Drink two glasses of water or a cup of hot tea 30 minutes before meals to reduce appetite.
• Postpone a desired snack for at least 10 minutes. It may be helpful to take a walk, get some fresh air, drink a cup of water or tea, or take a short nap during this time.
• At restaurants eat half of the portion and take the rest home. Prepackage the food to go before starting the meal.
• Nurture with nonfood related activities, such as a hot bubble bath or a massage, developing a hobby, relaxing with a good book, or listening to some music.

Tips to Eliminate Eating Cues that Promote Overeating:
• Designate a specific place in the home to eat, preferably the kitchen or dining room. Eat snacks and meals only when sitting down at this place.
• Avoid watching TV, talking on the phone, reading, or driving while eating. This will help increase the awareness of fullness.
• Do the grocery shopping on a full stomach to decrease impulse buys.
• Create a schedule for eating. Plan meals and snacks at regular intervals, including the types of food to be eaten.
• Carry food to work or when going out, to eliminate long periods without eating.
• To prevent visual food distractions, keep all food stored in the kitchen cupboards or refrigerator, rather than out on the counter.
• Read or listen to motivational books, join a support group, or consider seeing a therapist to help with any emotional issues involving food, eating, and/or weight loss.

Diet, activity, and emotional work can provide feelings of health and wellness, which establish new patterns that support and nurture the body.

Think well! Eat well! Be well!

Related reading:

Why You Should Invest in Fitness

Are You on the Sumo Wrestler Diet?

Rock it – Pilgrim Style

How to Eat Healthy While Traveling

6 Steps to Calorie Counting in Your Kitchen

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Does this Snuggie Make me Look Fat?

by Dr. Nicole Sundene

With 1/3 of Americans obese, every month is now “Weight Loss Month” at the kitchen table!

It may be acceptable for me to hide in a Snuggie like I did on Mother’s Day, but I am moving down south to Arizona and need to tone up FAST! Here are some of my favorite weight loss tips and tricks:

• Best Alternative Medicine Plan for Weight Loss
• Know your fat burning zone so your exercise counts.
• Ride the Wave or find a new fun toy to help you burn a few extra calories and stretch out those hips from sitting around the office all day.
• Sleep: Studies show if you don’t get enough sleep that is a cause for weight gain, and during these “Tough Economic Times” we need to use all the freebies we can snatch up!
• Calcium: Are you getting enough calcium? Research supports calcium supplementation for weight loss. Woo hoo!! This is a simple and cheap thing we should be taking anyway. I am not a fan of calcium carbonate as commonly used in many antacids, because we actually need acid to absorb our minerals, therefore I prefer calcium citrate. Non-menopausal adult women should get about 1200mg in daily divided doses to prevent osteoporosis and help control weight.
• Fiber: Best source for fiber is fruits and veggies. I also use these chewable fiber tablets by Enzymatic Therapy, add ground flaxseeds to smoothies, and typically don’t recommend psyllium fiber as it can make some people really gassy….especially if I have to be around them!
• Chomium Picolinate: To help balance cravings try 200mcg of chromium twice daily.
• Multivitamin: If you are restricting your diet be sure to make sure all your bases are covered by taking a high quality multivitamin.
• Make a Zero Zone: Your fridge feng shui is Uber important. Zero calories and guilt free snacks like fruits and veggies should be readily available and accessable. Hide the non-whole food treats for the “out of site out of mind” benefit.
• Make it a Gym Date: Whether catching up with a girlfriend over the stairmaster, or strutting your stuff on an actual date at the gym, suggest healthy alternatives to the typical dates that consist of sitting around and overeating, overdrinking, and over-overing in the Standard American Diet (SAD) fashion.
• Reading: Join our book club just by staying tuned, or subscribed. Bobbie Laing will be writing about many different genres between self help books, engaging novels, and so forth. When we have a quiet night reading, we are nurturing that within us that is stressed and needs to be calm while avoiding television ad brainwashing.

Read More: Weight Loss category

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Are You in the Fat Burning Zone?

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

Yesterday we were talking about Fat Burning Flip Flops, and today we are going to make sure that you are working out in the fat burning zone, because as Fitness Trainer Bonnie Pfiester said in one of her last articles we need to “Make Our Workout Time Count.”

How to Calculate Your Fat Burning Zone

220-Your age=Max Heart Rate
Max Heart Rate x 0.60=Fat Burning Zone

If you aren’t in the fat burning zone when you are exercising then you really aren’t doing SQUAT to lose weight, and I am not talking about doing squats here people!

First of all, this little rant about the fat burning zone was inspired by the obese man I saw jogging along yesterday. He was jogging along red faced, sweating profusely, and had his face distorted in pain. I quickly reviewed my ABC’s of CPR:

• Airway!
• Breathing!
• Circulation!

So why did we just review the basics of CPR when discussing burning fat for weight loss?

Because most overweight people I see working out are either working out MUCH TOO hard or just not hard enough. You need to get in to that fat burning zone. If you are all red and sweaty and look like you are about to die, you are likely working too hard. If you aren’t even breaking a sweat, you likely are just wasting your time. I see this often, and then I see these same people complaining they are not losing weight.

My dad, the Ironman traithlete, gave me his “Sports Instruments” heart rate monitor about ten years ago and it still works great! I have heard that Polar and Omron are good brands as well. Remember that if you are not a professional athlete you likely don’t need the fancy one with all the bells and whistles. Simplicity is bliss!

Lance Armstrong may need to know all that but you really just need to know what your number is until you are training for the Tour de France….and maybe an estimation of calories burned to help keep you in The Reality Zone. Because to maintain weight, calories in have to equal calories burned. To lose weight…you do the math.

We just want to know the basics: your heart rate, and if you want to get fancy you can add a bit of info such as your age and weight and it will give you a ballpark figure of how many calories you just burned, which can be frighteningly depressing information.

Do you exercise with a heart rate monitor? Do you like it? Which brand do you personally use or recommend to patients? Feel free to share in the comments section of this article.

If you manufacture Heart Rate Monitors and would like me to report on your brand contact us to make arrangements for our product testing reports.

Related reading:

Fat Burning Fit-Flops

The Wave: Firm Up and Have Fun

Fueling for Fitness

Is Food a Bad Ex-Lover?

Weight-loss: Balance Your Dieting Checkbook

Make it A “Gym Date”

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Favorite Protein Powder

Designer Protein Ult. Whey French Vanilla

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

This is my favorite brand of protein powder, as I discussed in my article, “Fourteen Ways to Unleash your Inner Fabulosity.” I am sure there are a ton of other great protein powders from Jarrow, and the other supplement companies that pass independent quality assurance at ConsumerLabs.com, but I just like this tasty vanilla formula in my berry smoothies. Or stir in to your oatmeal, or shake up with milk and poor over your AM cereal so you don’t get the afternoon slumpies.  If you are a chocolate lover, the chocolate designer protein is delicious with milk, frozen bananas, and almond butter!

Anyways I am hooked on this vanilla one, and also love their new weight loss protein powder with added fiber and weight loss nutrients.  This protein powder also comes in a smaller size that I’m linking to at a great SALE price if you are on the “Tough Economic Times Diet.”

The small size normally retails for about $15 bucks.

You can get the larger sized one in order to vigilently make “Dr. Nicole’s Smoothie Recipe” which should be a daily regime for everyone trying to LOSE WEIGHT and for athletes as a protein supplement post exercise. As well as for those that are trying to increase protein to healthfully gain weight.

For more information on how to save money on vitamins check out my article, “Save money with eVitamins.” Feel free to ask questions anytime on the product you are looking for.

p.s. Frankly I don’t like the “natural flavor” I can only be so natural I guess *wink*.

Thanks for your purchases that help support this free news publication and nagging!

Dr. Nicole

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Fat Burning Flip Flops?

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

I kept seeing these Fit Flops everywhere, even on my own website, and curiosity finally got the best of me.

So I just ordered a pair of these “Fit Flops” to um…er… “product test” for Weight Loss Month.  Which is now every month, since 1 in 3 Amercians are obese.  I’ll take every fat burning edge I can get, thank you very much!. Plus I like that they have arch support and a bit of a thicker heal.  I love to wear flip flops but know from a medical perspective how bad they can be for those with foot, knee, hip, back, and neck problems….so thought I might give them a whirl.  If anything they likely provide more structure than the average flat flip flop.

Has anyone tried them yet?

What do you think?

I think if anything it’s an interesting concept.

~Dr. Nicole

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If a Shrimp Can Run on a Treadmill…So Can YOU!

Okay Kitchen Table readers -  May is weight loss month, so if this shrimp can run on a treadmill…then so can you! Better yet, get out there on those sunny spring days and hit the pavement.

~Dr. Nicole

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The Wave: Firm Up and Have Fun!

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

Meet my new fav exercise device.  The Wave!

As a recovering infomercial addict I was hesitant to buy and then talk about my new favorite thing.

I bought it despite my friend’s laughter, and secretly played on it for a few weeks before coming out of the closet.

I was as tight lipped about this new fun fetish as I was about the first season of “Dancing with the Stars!”

However, I would like to openly thank whomever designed The Wave because it is the best thing that was ever invented for buns, thighs, and abs!

I asked my Physical Therapist friend Eric Robertson about it and he said, “I like that tool as a therapy device! I use things similar to this. Devices like the Firm Wave help to promote the development of proprioception, or your body’s sense of where it is in space. This sense is important in how joints are stabilized and so this tool is very useful when rehabbing an injured knee or after an ankle sprain.”

See?  I am not the only genius that thinks this is the shizzle on the nizzle.

This surfing motion you do on The Wave is exactly why surfers have such nice abs and legs, and the Wave works all typical problem areas simulataneously!  Inner thighs, buns, abs.

Holy smokes! It tones you up QUICK….they say ten work outs but I dropped a jeans size in just a week.

Being less active during the winter had caused me to gain a pants size and I thought I needed something new and fun to get me out of my inactive funk.

The pedometer just wasn’t enough. I was nowhere near my 10,000 daily goal steps, and it is cold, rainy, and bipolar weather here in Seattle. I had canceled my gym membership because I didn’t like the old men leering at me and instead, opted to build up my home gym.

For less than a hundred bucks I can take this into any room of the house, travel with it, talk on the phone with it….I just absolutely love it!

If you love pilates and yoga, you will love the Wave! It tucks away easily under a bed (although I leave mine out by my patio and use it while I’m waiting for the dogs to sniff around.)

To create your own pilates/yoga home gym and still be stylish about it, you just need a small trunk or wicker basket boxes (get these at a craft store) to keep your work out stuff in, and your extra space can easily become a work out zone.

Back to my story…

So I bought the Wave without a bit of skepticism despite my friends laughter (I know she secretly wanted it too though).

I have seen physical therapists prescribe much more complicated balancing boards that would be too dangerous to achieve a fat burning heart rate zone.

The Wave is great for an anti-aging program because the KEY to anti-aging is to retain lean muscle mass, flexibility, and balance, as all three will otherwise deteriorate with age.

My personal exercise goal is not to bulk up with heavy body building activities but rather to slim down as I lengthen and strengthen my muscles.  The Wave certainly firms you up and most importantly it is FUN.

I just love this thing….and despite the fact I quickly went from a size 8 jean to a size 6 jean in just ten days, I think it is a great physical therapy device as well as anti-aging weapon.

I could write a number of articles on how this fun weight loss/fitness board can be used for physical therapy, and I just might.

• “Strengthen Your Ankles and Knees with The Wave”

• “Improve Balance and Propioception with The Wave”

• “Stretch Tight Hips from sitting all day with The Wave”

• “Work the Abs that Matter with the Wave”  You know the ones that make us look HOT….  and without having to sit on the floor! Make sure you put a hand on your abs while your rock back and forth so you can adopt the correct posture that makes them properly engage.  If you can’t feel your abs engaging you likely aren’t doing it right.

On and on and on and on I could go…but all I have to say is this fun little exercise body board is a great deal, and a great way to both start and end the day with some stretching and strengthening. I love it because I think one of the best ways we can prevent disease and injuries is to lose weight and strengthen the muscles of our midsections.

Plus, balance is a common issue in the elderly that results in death.  Many old folks fall and break a hip, and then get a DVT that gives them a pulmonary embolism from chronic inactivity….yet another reason to work on your balance NOW!

Common Sense Cautions: Consult your physician if you have any health conditions. Don’t rock your baby on this and drop him. Before you get started, practice standing on the board first, then advance to slowly rocking back and forth to stretch out before quickly moving.  Remember if using hand weights that the board is not designed for a total weight over 275 pounds. And if weight loss is your goal…always exercise with a heart rate monitor!

The Wave is also on sale right now:

Exclusive Introductory Offer! Save $29.95 off THE WAVE Personal Gym – Now only 3 payments of $29.95, Plus $40 in Bonus Products! Start today.

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The Tough Economic Times Diet

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

Jay Leno joked last night that “the economy was so bad that women in LA had to resort to diet and exercise to look good.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that one.  Because the REAL dark irony is that a whole food diet and lifestyle will help you look a million times better than anyone botoxed or pumped full of collagen. Trust me, I assisted the dermatologist back in the day.

During these Tough Economic Times (TET) times we can at least laugh because laughter is still free AND it burns calories.

Despite the “Obesity Tax,” politicians have yet to tax us for laughter.  Perhaps I shouldn’t give them any ideas!

Feel free to leave your frugal “TET Diet” tip in the comments section.

As with everything, going with the flow seems to be the most logical cure for this economic crisis.

As we learn to move away from “Unfulfilled Consumerism” and make choices that are healthier for the environment as well as our pocketbooks, we can certainly remind ourselves of some great dieting tips brought on by these “tough economic times.”

Weight Loss Tips We can Learn from these Tough Economic Times:

1.  Drink a cozy warm mug of water in lieu of your expensive latte.  Warm water gives your intestines a bath, aids elimination, while still making you feel like you have a warm drink to comfort you during the traumatic morning time (well for me).  For more detox on the cheap just add a squeeze of fresh lemon.

2.  Eat less. Yes! I am guessing that since 1/3 of America is obese and many of us are overweight that we can just eat less. I love the Swedish Proverb, ““Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours.”

Maybe it is just because I am Swedish, or maybe it’s because it’s great advice.  But longevity studies indicate that the less we eat (within reason) the longer we live.  Never starve yourself as that slows your metabolism down.  Instead try eating five small meals a day.  Focus on whole foods and simply stop  bit before you actually feel full (more on this later).

3.  Chew chew chew your food! If we are eating less we need to be chewing more so that we can spend our time eating and not feeling like we are deprived because we are eating less. Spend the same amount of time eating less food. It works.

4.  Take a break. Everyone needs a break, especially your poor stomach. At the beginning of your meal, visually or physically divide your plate in half.  When you reach that half way point, take a little break.  Let your body digest for a few minutes, it takes about twenty minutes to register that we are even full so give yourself some time to ENJOY your food, and you may as a result spend less time eating.  That is more leftovers for later, remember “The Doggie Bag” is the hot new trend of 2009.

5.  Share your food. Not only will you look cool while you feel generous, but you’ll be reminded of how much you actually have, while secretly saddling those around you with those unnecessary calories.  We all know that the easiest way to look thinner is to fatten up those around us *wink*

6.  Split your food. If you aren’t the sharing type then visually split your food in half and eat the next portion of it the next day. Restaurants have trained us to think that a normal portion size is over 2-3 times of what it truly is.

I try to make three meals out of every restaurant meal.  A habit I got in after waiting tables and throwing pounds and pounds of food away after clearing tables all day. It was such a waste!

It may not have been cool before to ask for that “to go” box, but it sure is now.  Set the example.  Take the doggie bag, and remember that you can also save money on kibble by feeding your dogs leftover meat, veggies, cottage cheese, yogurt (non-sweetened), potatoes, and rice.  Just don’t give them too many grains, bread, wheat, sweets, etc.

7.  Focus on disease prevention. Staying healthy and eating the basic boring whole foods diet is exactly what prevents disease, and it is cheap!

8.  Walk everywhere. I know gas prices are down but still, it is really fun to challenge yourself with basic exercise errands around your urban area.

9.  Find a walking buddy. If you live in suburbia and can’t challenge yourself with walking to your errands, find a walking buddy (aka free counseling.) Since no one can afford real counseling during these tough economic times, remember that nothing makes people vent their stress like a nice long walk. Walking means burning calories, and spending time that we could be wasting eating.

10. Make it a Gym Date, as Fitness Trainer Bonnie Pfiester reminds us. You will be a cool role model, and for just a ten dollar guest pass, you can keep your date busy for several hours.

11. Drink water and only water. If your only beverage of choice is filtered tap water you will save oodles on both your pocket book and waistline. We never want to drink our calories. Read “One Soda per Day Can Change Your Waistline.”

12. Stressed? That is great, try eating less instead of eating more. It is not normal for us to be “running from the proverbial bear” while we are trying to digest a double bacon cheeseburger, curly fries, and a chocolate shake.

Under stress, our digestive systems essentially shut down while blood and oxygen are shunted to our muscles and cardiovascular system. The more stressed you are, the more you will benefit from a nourishing diet eaten while you are calm and sitting down.  Try a few minutes of breathing exercises before your meal. Over-indulgence is not your friend during TET times.

13. Plant your own food. Spring is the time to start thinking about cheap food you can plant and grow to enjoy later.  I love planting zuchini, squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, and so forth because they are so simple to grow as I mentioned in my article “The Top Eleven Laziest Foods to Grow.” If you don’t want to grow your own, make your kids do it by “Planting an Organic Kids Garden,” and that teaching activity should help kids eat more veggies. Don’t forget to let some “Berries Run Wild” on your property.

14. Grow your own herbs. Do you need to take stock in the tons and tons of supplements you are paying top dollar for in your cupboards, when the herb growing season is about to start? Many healing plants chock full of the antioxidants you are paying top dollar for, literally grow like weeds in your back yard! If you don’t spray your yard with pesticides you can use rosemary, dandelion, stinging nettles, garlic…and if you aren’t sure what to do with an herb growing in your yard…just ask me! If you are stressed you can easily grow lemon balm and lavender as I mentioned in, “The Fifteen Most Fabulous Herbal Sedatives.”

15. Eat at the Kitchen Table! If you can afford to eat out, then by all means please go out and stimulate the economy.  But for everyone on the TET Diet, eating out is bad for our wallets and our waistlines.  When we eat out at poor quality cheap fast food, fried, fatty places we are likely causing disease and not preventing it.

You should at least be eating one meal a day at the kitchen table if not two.  Kitchen Table time is important family bonding time, improves posture, digestion, and saves us in both the long and short run.  If you can make three meals at the kitchen table a day then you get  gold star!

What is your TET Diet tip?

Dr. Nicole

Related Reading:
Best Weight Loss Diet 2008
The Best Long Term Weight Loss Plan

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What Diet Is Best For You?

Dr. Nicole, what is the best diet?

The best diet is the diet that works for YOU.

The best diet is something that you can healthfully follow for the rest of your life.

The best diet for you is the diet that gives you energy, keeps your health in balance, helps you to be emotionally stable, maintains your religious or spiritual ethics and is sustainable for the environment.

With that being said, I am happy to announce that we have a variety of great diet plans to choose from and follow. If you are new to a particular diet and want some help simply leave your question or request for support in the comments section so that we may assist you with your goals.

Diets for health, wellness and weight loss:

The Whole Foods Diet

The Weight Loss Diet

The Low Glycemic Index Diet: stay feeling full longer, by eating a diet with a high “satiety index”.

Therapuetic Diets:

Allergy Elimination Diet

Anti-inflammatory Diet

Blood Pressure Lowering Diet and Helpful Tips for Reducing Sodium

Candida Diet

Cholesterol Lowering Diet

Diabetes Diet

Detox Diet

The Diet for Depression

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Amen to the Obesity Tax, Let’s Just Call it Something Else

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

Honestly, I’m not sure if the NY officials in charge of the “Obesity Tax” truly intend to call it thus, or if the media has just coined the phrase.

However, there are many more causes than just soda when it comes to obesity. And there are many more ills upon society that soda is at fault for.

Furthermore, beverages with sugar substitutes such as aspartame and splenda (sucralose) also make people fat so those should be equally taxed as the Cephalic Response created by these sweet flavored toxins makes us hungry, which makes us eat more, which makes us fatter.

Also, I would suggest that New York tax juice containing High Fructose Corn Syrup. The only thing that makes me mad about the obesity tax is that it is called the “Obesity Tax.” Why pick on people who are overweight? Poking fun at someone for being obese or “taxing them” is truly unfair and perhaps unconstitutional.

Six Better Names for the “Obesity Tax”

#1 The Water Tax: How about just straight across the board tax all beverages that are not plain water? Water is what nature intended for humans to drink after they were weaned.

I wish it was mandatory for all vending machines to sell bottled water at a four time reduced rate than the typical vending beverage. When we see water priced the same as a fruity looking or flashy drink we immediately feel deprived if we pick water, and from a psychological standpoint we all want to get the most for our money.

Not all beverages are unhealthy, but they all still have containers that place an environmental burden on our planet and our seventh generation. I say we tax everything but water, and let water, the “pristine health beverages for all humans”, be tax exempt from this environmental fee.

#2 The Dental Carry Tax: Why haven’t dentists spoken up on this issue? I’ll bet we could fund dental coverage (and maybe even some bling diamond grills) for all the kids in America and Africa if we taxed both sodas and refined candies. It’s not just the HFCS in sodas that is the problem; it is the acids that erode enamel, with sports drinks like Red Bull being the worst offenders.

#3 The Diabetes Tax: Diabetics cost the health care system $13 dollars per every $1 dollar that is spent on the average healthy person. Now I don’t need a bunch of hate mail from Type I diabetics, although you all know that you shouldn’t be drinking HFCS either, but people in America are literally drinking themselves diabetic with soda consumption.

It is not normal to drink calories unless you are getting them off your mother’s teat. For everyone else, water and herbal tea should be staples while red wine, organic coffee, and pure fruit juice can be enjoyed in moderation in exchange for their beneficial antioxidants.

#4 The Pollution Tax: If you are purchasing a bottle that cannot be recycled or reused then the environment should have the right to tax you!

Plastic bottles in our landfills are a problem that no one within the last century has taken a seriously critical look at. Plastics have really only been on the scene since 1950 and their use has only escalated in the last few decades.

What most people don’t consider with plastics is that we have introduced a new substance into the environment, and in LARGE quantities.

Some constituents such as phthalates, BPA, and other such “xenoestrogens” are already showing carcinogenic qualities as well as issues with endocrine system disruption as their steroidal molecular structure weakly mimics estrogen and thus may be a culprit or contributor to estrogen sensitive cancers.

We are already seeing an increased percentage of females species in smaller species.  Larger species are yet to follow.  As much as I am for equal rights I don’t think that plastics are the best way for women to take over the world!

Think of all the plastic in our landfills that will inevitably break down in a thousand years. The pollution from that will likely wipe out all human existence. But that is just my biochemical and medical opinion…and what do I know after ten years of studying this stuff.

If I get to place a vote on what New York should call this tax, I vote to call it the pollution tax. We need to be drinking filtered water out of our reusable glass jars or Klean Kanteen containers.

#5 The Bad Parenting Tax: If you are feeding your kids tons of sodas and hotdogs, and not actual whole food and balanced nutrition then you should be taxed. If you aren’t doing it that often, then you shouldn’t even notice the increased 20 cents on the beverage.

Hopefully this “parenting tax” will go towards better parent education for parents, and television programs that will both educate and inspire parents to provide more wholesome foods for children. It isn’t just about their childhood, you know?

They are going to grow up with the habits that you teach them. The habits they see in you will influence them and they are going to end up a casualty of the American Health Care Crisis, which is actually a problem caused by the food that graces our kitchen tables…or worse yet, our cars and minivans when we drive through.

#6 The Health Care Burden Tax: Aside from the aforementioned soda consumption is also implicated in osteoporosis and heart disease.  Two GIANT burdens on the health care system.

Americans are soon to likely overtake Finland in the challenge to become the MOST unhealthy country in the world. I am not sure how it is possible that Finland is more unhealthy than us–what are they chain smoking and chugging lard for breakfast?

I’m not sure, but Barack Obama will never be able to fix the health care crisis until he fixes the crisis at every American kitchen table. What we need is not health care what we need is AFFORDABLE healthy food.  Imagine if the billions of dollars wasted on prescription meds were actually funneled in to healthy eating and nutrition programs for all Americans?

We know diet and lifestyle prevent disease. However, our cheap processed food options limit us from practicing true prevention. The Reason why our healthcare system is in crisis is that Americans eat the cheapest food they can possibly find. Is this just the case in strapped families and broke college students? No. We have CEO’s of companies feeding their kids mac and cheese from a box, hot dogs, and dinonuggets when they can easily afford better.

You are what you eat. Set the example for young children now, as at these rates likely one in three children born today will end up diabetic. Europeans shop from produce stands and local delis three times a week. Americans shop at large Warehouses to stock up on bomb shelter food monthly.

This has to change.

Con’s of the Obesity Tax:

• Obesity is a clinical term and diagnosis and it is unfair to tax individuals and stigmatize them.
• The money from the obesity tax will be utilized for balancing the NY state budget and will not directly go towards improving health care, helping obese people lose weight, or anything of the like.
• Many people don’t believe taxing is the answer.  I’m Swedish so I say tax away! You can feel free to send me hate mail on this one if you wish, but I already get enough.  Trust me.

Pro’s of the Obesity Tax:

• Makes unhealthy food products less affordable.
• Media coverage of this tax has brought to national attention the crisis we have with soda consumption.
• Increased awareness of High Fructose Corn Syrup.
• Just like the cigarette tax, if it stops just one person from smoking and developing cancer then the tax is a success.  If we educate one person about drinking calories and they don’t become obese and diagnosed with Type II diabetes, then I call the “Obesity Tax” a success.

What are your thoughts on the Obesity Tax?

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How to Eat Healthy While Traveling

 By Bonnie Pfiester, Fitness Trainer

Traveling is a dieter’s nightmare.

Traveling can destroy a diet if your not careful.

Traveling can be tough for dieters. Convenience store junk food, the infamous airline snack box and combo meals all add up to a diet disaster.

There is something about traveling that makes us think we’re hungry. Let’s start with road trips. I don’t know about you, but Steve and I have the worst snack attacks when driving long distances. Although the need to feed mostly stems from boredom, the million billboards showcasing juicy hamburgers don’t help either.

Once a billboard convinces you to stop and eat, you find yourself driving down an unknown road with restaurant after restaurant calling your name. Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Denny’s, Dairy Queen, Applebees – they all have a special, or menu item, to capture your attention.

Once you decide where to eat you, have to battle the menu. No matter how many times I’ve been to a restaurant, and even if I know what I should order, I still feel the need to read the entire menu. What in the world am I thinking? I’m just welcoming temptation. Before you know it, I’ve justified why I can afford to eat a Hamburger and fries.

If you are not traveling on the ground you have a different set of problems. Opposite of having too many choices, airline passengers have very few food choices. You’re trapped 35,000 feet in the air when a stewardess offers you an unappealing selection of nuts, cookies, crackers and cheese surprise. While first classers eat their high-calorie mystery meal, coach passengers get a sorry selection of the most boring sandwiches, bagels or salads they’ve ever wasted calories on.

In any case, the answer to the dieter’s traveling blues is planning ahead. You’ll pack your toothbrush so why not pack your food? It’s not like you don’t know you’re going to be stuck in a car or plane for several hours.

First, pack healthy snacks like pretzels, whole fruit, veggies, yogurt, cheese sticks, beef jerky, lunch meat, nuts, rice cakes or protein bars to prevent you from getting hungry and making poor choices. Second, learn to say no – plain and simple. Third, keep a calorie book on you. It’s much easier to cheat when you don’t know what you are eating. Lastly, bring other things to entertain you besides food, like a good book or magazine.

Traveling will always be tough for dieters, but with a little planning you can beat the need to feed.

~Bonnie

Bonnie Pfiester is a Personal Trainer, wife to the famous fitness trainer Steve Pfiester of the reality TV show “Fat March”, and owner of the women’s health club Longevity Fitness.

You can enjoy more of Bonnie’s fitness and beauty articles at www.BonniePfiester.com or here at the kitchen table by visiting the Bonnie Pfiester page.

You are invited to leave your fitness and sports nutrition questions in the comments below for Bonnie to briefly answer or write about in future articles.

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Japanese Prawn and Noodle Salad Recipe

Prawns are a delicious, healthy light protein choice.

Try pairing them with veggies for lunch and keep the carbs “slow” for optimal energy at the office or while chasing kids around all day.

Today’s healthy recipe is brought to us by my friend Zesty of ZestyCook.com. Visit his website for more whole food recipe ideas.

Ingredients

• 150 g Japanese noodles or Chinese
• 6 Cups Mixed Greens
• 2 Cloves garlic; crushed
• 1 Red pepper; deseeded and cut into thin strips
• 4 tb Brown rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp. Coconut Milk
• 1 Tbsp. Fresh root ginger grated
• 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Sesame seeds toasted (1oz)
• 2 tb Sunflower oil
• 1 Lb. Prawns

Method

1. Place the cooked drained noodles in a salad dish and chill.
2. In a small bowl add the the rice vinegar and soy sauce. Leave for 10 minutes.
3. Heat the sunflower oil in a wok and add the crushed garlic,stir fry for 1-2 minutes and add the red pepper.
4. Add Prawns to the hot pan and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add coconut milk and allow to thicken. Then cool slightly.
6. Combine the vegetables with the noodles and add the rice vinegar and soy sauce directly to noodles. Take the grated ginger and holding in one hand squeeze the juice over the salad and discard the pulp.
7. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.
8. Toss with mixed greens.

Delicious served as a light lunch or as part of an oriental meal.

Zesty Tip: When dressing a salad, place the dressing in the bottom of the bowl and the greens on top of them and gently toss with a pair of tongs just before serving. This will prevent damaging the greens.

More Zesty Recipes:
The Healing Power of Cauliflower
Sauteed Spinach Recipe

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How to Enjoy Holiday Treats without Fattening Up

By Bonnie Pfiester, Fitness Trainer

Everyone knows it’s easy to gain weight over the Holidays. Christmas parties and yummy treats seem to replace exercise and healthy food. Once high calorie foods are in our view it’s hard to get them out of our head.

Although most people admit going off their diet this time of year, we still act shocked at how fat we feel by New Year’s Day. Did we really eat that much?

Over the years researchers have found we don’t gain quite as much weight during the Holidays as we once thought, but we do gain some weight. I feel like I already gained 10lbs just from Thanksgiving alone. There’s no wonder we end the season feeling like a fat Santa.

First, our bellies stay stuffed. Family and social gatherings are always centered on enormous feasts, making overeating a trend of the season. It’s as if we’ll never be able to eat again. Interestingly enough, no matter how disgusting or fat we feel after pigging out we often repeat our actions the very next day.

Another reason we gain weight is because we snack more. Between large feasts and fancy parties are delicious sweets. Chocolate covered pretzels, fudge, fruit cake, Christmas cookies – you name it, they are all floating around every office in the country. Of course we’re going to eat it! We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings right?

The next explanation for fattening up over the Holidays is because we drink more calories like eggnog, cider and hot chocolate. Alcoholic beverages replace water. All the sudden you’ve added several hundred calories to your day in just beverages alone.

Lastly we feel fat because we don’t workout as much. If we could just burn as many calories running errands as we do running miles we’d be set.

Unfortunately we trade workouts for shopping and our neglected muscles begin to feel mushy. In the end we feel like Santa looks – no wonder gyms are so busy each New Year!

So how can we survive the Holidays?

We have to make time to work out so we can “afford” to eat the extras if we want them. Doing more cardio makes room for more calories and lifting weights helps you to feel nice and firm instead of fat and flabby.

The Holidays are hard for all of us. As my grandmother once said, “you can’t always change your circumstances, but you can change how you respond to circumstances and that’s what counts.”

Average Calories in Popular Christmas Treats:

• Chocolate Fudge with nuts: 472 calories (1 serving)
• Pumpkin Pie: 340 calories (1 slice)
• Pecan Pie: 503 calories (1 slice)
• One Brownie: 242 calories, (2” square)
• Chocolate Covered Pretzels: 190 (13 pretzels)
• Chocolate Chip Cookie: 210 (1 cookie)
• Eggnog (non-alcoholic): 343 calories (1 cup)
• Apple Cider: 130 calorie (1 cup)
• Nestle Hot Cocoa: 112 calories (1 packet)

Approximate Calories Burned During Activity: (calories vary per individual)

• Walking: 135 calories per hour
• Walking for exercise: 230 calories per hour
• Power Walking: 400 calories per hour
• Jogging: 600 calories per hour
• Yoga: 240 calories per hour
• Aerobics: 400 calories per hour
• Spinning: 440 calories per hour

Bonnie Pfiester is a Personal Trainer, wife to the famous fitness trainer Steve Pfiester of the reality TV show “Fat March”, and owner of the women’s health club Longevity Fitness.

You can enjoy more of Bonnie’s fitness and beauty articles at www.BonniePfiester.com or here at the kitchen table by visiting the Bonnie Pfiester page.

You are invited to leave your fitness and sports nutrition questions in the comments below for Bonnie to briefly answer or write about in future articles.

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Best Weight Loss Diet 2008!

Welcome to my favorite diet!

Personally I hate the word “diet” because it sounds so restrictive and the restrictive nature of most “diets” is exactly what sets us up for failure in the form of diet rebellion.

Instead I would like to introduce my favorite eating system for weight loss and disease prevention, and for today’s educational purposes I will refer to it as a “diet”.

The best diet is the diet that is right for the individual and their metabolic type. As a physician, I am not a fan of high carb diets, or low carb diets, or no carb diets unless they are used to treat a specific health condition.

Low carb diets are hard on the environment as they force humans to eat high on the food chain. Can you imagine the even more disastrous state our environment would be in if everyone in the world was eating steak and eggs for breakfast each morning?

The best diet is low in refined grains, but rich in the “slow carbs” or “complex carbohydrates” that keep us feeling full and satisfied with a nice steady stable blood sugar.

My favorite diet coincidentally prevents and treats diabetes. This is also the diet I recommend for weight loss as it increases the “satiety index” of your meal (so you stay feeling fuller for longer) and is the basic principle behind my anti-aging program.

With the dramatically rising rates of diabetes in America, I am going to have to make this article, along with Dr. Scott Olson’s brand new book Sugarettes, a guide to sugar addiction, mandatory reading for all Americans.

If you need some motivation to kick the sugar habit and jump on the whole food wagon you can visit his website and sign up for the 30 Day Sugar Free Challenge, I will be participating along with everyone else and blogging about being sugar free at the kitchen table.

Early registration is FREE and includes expert coaching and support if you go sign up today at www.OlsonND.com.

Dr. Olson’s groundbreaking book, “Sugarettes” addresses the signs and symptoms of sugar addiction in America and how sugar is systematically aging us. I personally think that sugar is the bane and burden to the failing American health care system. Sugar appears to play a role in nearly every chronic disease due to the inflammation caused by glycosylated proteins.

The “Low Glycemic Index Diet” is the best diet of 2008 and probably 2009, and 2010. It teaches us how to pair protein and fiber with other whole foods to keep a steady blood sugar state which is beneficial for diabetics, hypoglycemics, and those trying to curb hunger throughout the day to lose weight.

Eating your meals with a “Low Glycemic Load” means that you are going to stay fuller longer and thus less likely to go out and binge on a bunch of junk.

Staying full is as simple as eating foods with a high protein, fiber, and water content.

Keeping yourself feeling satisfied is the most important aspect for success with any weight loss program. Regardless of it you have diabetes or not, you are in the right place when it comes to learning the basics on how to eat correctly to stabilize your blood sugar.

Stabilizing your blood sugar translates long term in to weight loss, ridding yourself of that jittery, irritable, faint feeling associated with hypoglycemia, improving energy and mood, as well as providing the foundation for an anti-aging program!

Wow all that from just one diet!

How exciting.

I bet right now you really want to buy whatever I am selling. Well I am not selling anything, except healthy diet and lifestyle.

I am simply here to teach you how to change your eating habits permanently over the long term, and field any questions or concerns that come up as you start this new adventure to a healthier you.

The most exciting thing about this diet, is that I can sum up how to do this diet in one simple sentence:

Every meal you eat should include protein and fiber.

Yes, it is that simple.

Memorize that.

Make that your new mantra.

We simply never ever ever eat carbs by themselves!

Fiber is your new best friend forever!!!

Lean proteins are your new favorite friends.

The next step is to memorize what high fiber foods are and what foods are healthy sources of protein and to stock your cupboards with all these foods. Vegetarian sources of protein make for great snacks as they contain both fiber and protein.

Trust me we will get fussy about the numbers later. But you need to get the basics down before you will be ready for anything like that.

Most foods high in fiber are either fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. Begin to make best friends with vegetables now as for diabetics and those trying to lose weight they are essentially “free foods”, meaning the calorie count is relatively insignificant, with of course some occasional exceptions as I discuss in my article “What is in Your Zero Zone?”

Here is a quick list of healthy lean protein choices: Chicken, fish, white cheese, plain nonfat yogurt, beans, and whole grains.

Now let’s keep in mind that certain proteins high in saturated fat like beef, bacon, and cheddar cheeses are just not conducive to a healthy lifestyle. Especially for those of you with diabetes we want to be on the look-out for heart disease and kidney problems. If you are having a hard time giving these up then simply treat them like the garnish for your plate. Instead of a pile of bacon you get just have one little piece.

Over time you will begin to feel so much better on this diet that it will be WORTH it for you to get rid of the offending foods. Remember “nothing tastes as good as being healthy and looking good feels”.

Be sure to drink plenty of water in between your meals. A high fiber diet will naturally require more water. Water will also help keep you feeling full. Sometimes we feel hungry when really we are thirsty.

Now most diabetics with Type II diabetes (non-insulin dependent) have it because they already have a very unhealthy relationship with food, if not engage in compulsive eating patterns, and use food as a drug. For my patients having a hard time making these necessary dietary changes, I recommend counseling. Counseling may help treat the underlying problems of anxiety or depression.

While they are trying to make the necessary changes to change their emotional relationship with food, I recommend that they keep chewable fiber tablets on hand so that if all else fails they can at least lower the Glycemic Load of the binge. Make sure they aren’t loaded with crap! I personally use the brand by Enzymatic Therapy that can be found over at eVitamins.

Now you have to be careful not to get the chewable fiber tablets high in sugar! But sometimes a glass of Metamucil or your favorite fiber supplement can help offset the huge quantity of sugar consumed on a binge while you address the underlying causes of the disordered eating. Yes this is a quick fix tip, and no it is not addressing the root cause of the problem, it is simply offering a solution to a common problem and trying to approach it realistically while we work towards a permanent solution.

Now that you are eating lean proteins and high fiber foods, the next question is…

“Can I have carbohydrates on this diet?”

Most doctors agree that in most cases a “Slow” carbohydrate diet is better than a “Low” or “No” carbohydrate diet. Personally I am not a fan of the No/Low carbohydrate diet unless it is for specific therapeutic purposes.

“So how do I know if my Carbs are “slow” or not?”

Well that is where the magic of the low glycemic index diet and the numbers assigned to certain foods come in to play. This usually is a bit too complicated for me to just start patients out with right off the bat. I prefer to have my patients on a whole foods diet of lean proteins and fruits and vegetables before playing around with various carbohydrates.

Glycemic Index numbers are determined in a laboratory by measuring how quickly a test panel of humans blood sugars rise after consuming the food. The higher the blood sugar rises, the higher the glycemic index number is as a result. For instance a piece of white bread has a high index number as it will raise your blood sugar rapidly.

Interestingly enough after analyzing the numbers on the Glycemic Index chart one can conclude that not all carbohydrates are created equally. Some will release more rapidly in to the system than others. This might explain why you have a half cup serving of pasta at dinner and your numbers are different than when you have a half cup serving of corn.

The take home message with all of this, is that if you have diabetes…especially type II, it is sincerely in your best interest to get off all the “white” refined foods and stick with the healthier choices of carbohydrates found in fruits and vegetables and whole grains as they are high in fiber as well as packed full of vitamins and minerals which will not only protect your system from long term damages associated with diabetes, but will also keep you younger and feeling more fabulous as part of an anti-aging program.

The take home message one more time is: High Fiber + High Quality Protein= Healthy Diet

That is the basic long term recipe for diet success!

~Dr. Nicole

Related Reading:

Diabetes
Dr. Scott Olson on Sugar Addiction
Weight Loss Articles
The Best Natural Solutions for Permanent Weight Loss

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Best Chewable Fiber 2008

The best fiber sources obviously come from whole food dietary sources.

However, occasionally we need a little something something to “cheat the system” and this is my favorite weight loss trick, as I have mentioned the importance of utilizing fiber for satiety and stable blood sugar in my “Favorite Weight Loss Diet of 2008″.

You should never take fiber with your vitamins or minerals as it will absorb them and defeat the purpose, however, two of these chewable fiber pills pack 4 grams of the needed 25 grams (if not more!) of recommended daily fiber. Don’t forget to take these chewable fiber pills with an eight ounce glass of water, as we never take fiber without water.

Fiber is therapeutic for those with diabetes, high cholesterol, hypoglycemia, in need of losing weight, and detoxing or in need of liver support. Fiber binds with cholesterol and toxins in the bowel and prevents the cholesterol and toxins from recirculating into our blood stream as I explained in my natural cholesterol lowering plan. Instead we eliminate the toxins and cholesterol out.

No, these chewable fibers aren’t as delicious as candy but they do satisfy the sweet tooth and come in both vanilla and chocolate Even better, they are not a psyllium based fiber, as many people do not tolerate psyllium (found in Metamucil) very well, and it can make them extremely gassy or constipated.

Most Americans only get about 9 grams of fiber each day, according to the latest studies. If you want to increase the “satiety index” (the amount of time you feel satisfied before you get hungry again) of your meal or snack and decrease the “glycemic load” as I recommend for weight loss, diabetes, and anti-aging simply have a few of these fiber pills with your meal!

I also have a few fiber pills when I am stuck in that inevitable bad eating situation, and fiber at the very least helps to mop up excess saturated fat that we consume, or when I am out running errands and want to make it home to eat instead of eating out.

I buy a bunch of these bottles and stash them everywhere: in my car, in my purse, by the fridge, etc. An ounce of weight loss prevention is worth a pound of cure and fiber is a fantastic way to manage hunger.

Between meals these fiber pills can be used as a little sweet snack. Remember they are not free of calories, and two tablets have 25 calories, but they are free of a lot of the other typical refined garbage that goes in to supplements.

Of course my purest friend Dr. Ben over at HealthEgoods would recommend chewing on chia seeds as the best chewable fiber, but sometimes I just need a little something sweet to get me through the rough patches and prevent me from grabbing some McInflammation in a mad hungry hypoglycemic rage.

The Enzymatic Therapy line was established by naturopathic physician Dr. Michael Murray and is a great widely available trusted supplement brand. You can find their products on sale through eVitamins.

I purchase most of my health products through eVitamins because it is super convenient, and a great savings deal if you simply order $75 worth of products to qualify for the free shipping. By shopping online for your vitamins you can save between 20-70%. The packing peanuts come from recycled sources—don’t worry, I already checked.

If you do continue to shop at eVitamins remember to click their link through the kitchen table homepage first so that your sale supports our free publication and future product reviews and expert recommendations.

Thanks for shopping to support the kitchen table!

~Dr. Nicole

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The Healing Power of Thanksgiving

Contrary to popular belief Thanksgiving Dinner is actually quite healthy.

When we remove all the notorious “white foods,” such as white refined flours, sugars, and other carbohydrates devoid of nutrients we are actually left with a very colorful whole food fare.

Of course you should never try a new recipe while entertaining, but I have given each popular dish a “whole foods makeover” so that you can try a healthier option next time. There should be a next time–in just a few weeks. We should try to eat a turkey dinner more than once a year! Baking a whole turkey is a fantastic healthy and frugal way to optimize your grocery budget, and turkey is the hottest trend this winter. Plus it just makes the house smell good. I freeze carcasses until I have enough to make into a great turkey wild rice soup.

Here are the top eight superfoods found in our traditional American Thanksgiving spread.

1. Turkey

Renowned for its high tryptophan content, turkey has the potential to lift our mood and/or make us sleepy. It really depends on how we choose to pair up the amino acids in turkey. When turkey is consumed in conjunction with refined carbohydrates found in mashed potatoes or dinner rolls, the tryptophan converts to serotonin, and in low light conditions the excess serotonin converts in to melatonin, the nighttime hormone that makes us feel sleepy. Serotonin gives you that good “Turkey Buzz” and Melatonin is what sends you straight to the couch for a nice nap. If you are depressed you should work turkey, cottage cheese, and salmon in to your weekly rotation so you can benefit from my other favorite high tryptophan foods, or you can also just try some 5-HTP.

When we eat turkey in the absence of carbohydrates the amino acids that increase energizing catecholamines are able to cross the blood brain barrier and the result is an energized good mood. If you aren’t a breakfast person try a bit of salmon, cottage cheese, or turkey to start your day, support your adrenal glands, and keep you energized until lunch.

Turkey Makeover: Hold the butter, skip the stuffing and go straight for olive oil and lemon as your poultry flavorings of choice. If you bake your turkey at 320F you will be well below the smoking point of olive oil.

Stuffing the cavity of the turkey with whole lemon halves will also give the turkey a “salty flavor” so you can use the least amount of organic sea salt necessary. Stuff some garlic cloves and thyme under the skin of the turkey, and in the cavity along with the lemons.

Medical geeks like me can get crafty and inject herbal seasonings mixed with your basting solution of olive oil and lemon straight in to the meat with syringes (yes you can buy meat syringes at the store too.) Then just baste and bake as usual. Salt and pepper your turkey mainly on your dinner plate, not in the oven. Salt always loses flavor as it cooks and the best flavor comes from that final sprinkling. Salting your meat while cooking also dries it out, so really it is not just healthy but smart.

To benefit from the tryptophan in turkey don’t over do it with your carbs….that is unless you are heading straight to bed! To boost your mood opt to pair your turkey with the “slow carbs” found in fruits and veggies. Skip the dinner roll and the mound of mashed potatoes.

If you are adventurous, you can also go outside for a little walk after you eat your turkey to stay energized. The full spectrum light will prevent the melatonin formation that makes us all so sleepy.

The moral of the turkey story is that tryptophan converts to serotonin which makes us happy, and in the presence of excess dietary sugar and darkness serotonin converts to melatonin, and melatonin makes us drowsy. That is why all of us in Seattle are so darn tired all the time and left with no choice but to hang out at Starbucks or stare at a light box.

Got that? Fabulous. Moving on.

2. Thyme

Did you ever wonder where that traditional flavor of Thanksgiving came from? You may not know if you haven’t ever prepared the meal. That certain flavor comes from the herb thyme that we traditionally use to flavor our stuffing. Thyme is a fantastic healing herb as it is antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal just like most of it’s relatives in the “laminacea” or mint family.

Thyme is used in making “Listerine” mouthwash, or at least it traditionally was. The aromatic oils in thyme are also fantastic for indigestion, no wonder this is the key point herbal medicine of our great American overeating day!

Stuffing Makeover: Just lose the stuffing! Stuffing although delicious is one of the biggest calorie mongers on the menu. If this is your favorite thing you will need to cut back somewhere else on your plate. The trend of white bread went out with eating McInflammation. The new America is a whole foods America.

Whatever you do, please don’t bake your stuffing inside the turkey, this makes it that much more fattening, and sets people up for food poisoning if not adequately cooked through. You HAVE to check the temperature of your stuffing AND your turkey.

Instead try a stuffing in your crockpot of brown rice or quinoa, thyme, raw nuts and seeds, dried fruit, garlic, and your favorite stuffing spices instead of the traditional white food fest. At least experiment with healthy stuffing alternatives for your non-holiday feasts. I will allow everyone to eat stuffing one day a year on my whole foods diet. If you can “just say no to stuffing” then you get bonus points and will immediately benefit by feeling good about yourself and not overstuffed from stuffing.

3. Cranberries

Delicious and healthy antioxidant rich fruit that fight aging, inflammation, and bladder infections.

Why are berries all the latest rage? In my Mangosteen Scam tirade I discussed that all deeply pigmented fruit skins are high in antioxidants. From a botanical standpoint the plant smartly creates these antioxidant polyphenols known as “proanthocyanins” to protect the skin of the fruit from the sun. The fruit cannot use sunlight to produce energy in the manner that the leaves of the plant do, so the antioxidants are “nature’s sunscreen”. Without their protective antioxidants, berries would shrivel and burn under the sun’s harsh rays.

The ingenious antioxidant protection devised by the plant also kindly protects us from the free radical damage that results from the reactive oxygen species we are constantly exposed to in our polluted stressful environment. The skin, eyes, and blood vessels are especially protected by the proanthocyanins in berries.

Most people know that cranberry juice is good for bladder infections. E. coli, the bacteria that causes most bladder infections is unable to adhere to the lining of the bladder thanks to cranberry.

What most people don’t know though is that there is not a therapeutic cranberry juice out there that really tastes that good! If you are drinking a “delicious” glass of cranberry juice every day then you are probably not doing much to prevent a bladder infection. You should read the label because you are probably drinking a delicious glass of high fructose corn syrup(HFCS) and food coloring.

When shopping for cranberry juice, be sure to read the label and purchase only 100% pure cranberry juice. The HFCS juice trend faded out in the nineties. And a cranberry juice loaded with grape juice, apple juice or heaven forbid high fructose corn syrup is simply not going to be effective for preventing disease or bladder infections. To make cranberry juice more palatable, mix with 50% pure blueberry juice. Blueberries are also fantastic antioxidants that prevent bladder infections and aging.

Cranberry Sauce Makeover: Try experimenting with healthier natural sweeteners like agave, brown rice syrup, and stevia for homemade cranberry sauce. Adding a bunch of refined sugars and other refined pollutants to cranberries defeats their protective healing purpose.

4. Yams

Because of the beautiful orange and yellow pigments, yams, sweet potatoes, and even that delicious pumpkin pie are all a rich source of beta carotene and other important carotenoids that prevent cancer and support a healthy immune system.

Yellow and orange foods are particularly protective to the lungs, reproductive system, and eyes.

No, carrots probably don’t improve your vision, but the carotenoids in them have been shown to be protective and preventative for both cataracts and macular degeneration. So they may not perfect your vision, but they will prevent its degeneration. Certain antioxidants have affiliations for certain tissues in our systems. Be sure to eat something yellow and orange every day, and I’m not talking about circus peanuts! Eating by the rainbow is the diet for the new millennium. If you are struggling with this new trend you may need to grab my favorite Whole Foods Multi that just happens to be “Buy One Get One Free” right now.

Yam Makeover: Lose the marshmallows! Marshmallows are completely out of style. Less is more now. “More is more” went out five years ago, and for some of us a few months ago when the stock market crashed. Try your traditional whipped yam recipe without the marshmallows. Garnish with pecans instead, or just let them stand alone as the amazing super food they are. Try healthier sweeteners in your candied yam recipe like brown rice syrup, agave, or stevia and flavor with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or pumpkin pie spice.

Baked yams as pictured are delicious and simple! Try roasting yams in the oven at 350F 30-40 minutes until fork tender. You can also steam yams till tender, drizzle with olive oil and give a sprinkle of sea salt for a regular dinner side dish. The peel of vegetables is where all the nutrients and fiber lies. Buy yams organic if you are going to eat the peel since they are a root vegetable. All root vegetables are naturally riddled with pesticides as they absorb and concentrate them from the soil. But, since yams and sweet potatoes are dirt cheap, they are worth the extra splurge. Everyone that is “cool now” is eating yams and sweet potatoes, so hopefully that includes you.

For a healthy wheat free “sweet potato pie” scoop out freshly baked sweet potato just like what is pictured here, sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, drizzle with honey, and top with shredded coconut! Without the pie crust you have earned the calories to add a small dollop of your favorite organic vanilla ice cream. It sounds weird, but it is truly delicious. Who has the time to bake an entire pie anyways when you can just toss a couple sweet potatoes in the oven? Isn’t healthy easy? That is why it is so stylish.

5. Green Beans

Green beans are loaded with fiber, beta carotene, B-vitamins, calcium, and potassium. Eating any beans are a fantastic diabetic trick for lowering the glycemic load of a meal. Beans truly are the “magical fruit” for a reason. Now eating too many beans may not make you too popular, but at least they will make you more attractive and youthful and trim your waist line.

Green Bean Makeover: Lightly steam your green beans, they are done when they turn bright green, don’t boil them in to a nutrient devoid lifeless brown mess. We just don’t boil vegetables anymore. If you boil them you should drink the water too as that is where all the vitamins go. It is just wrong on so many levels, and the kind of thing that only belongs in the “worse dressed” section of the tabloids. Canned green beans went out with acid washed jeans. Always opt for fresh or frozen before grabbing for cans.

I don’t mean to sound bossy, but you have to lose the white canned cream of mushroom soup garbage, and dress your beans with olive oil or your favorite olive oil based salad dressing. If you have to defy me and use a cream based soup then grab an organic one, as most cheap soups are the worst of the worst processed food fests.

Now add carmelized REAL onions, not those fake canned crunchies that were SO 1981. It is important that you keep up with the latest trends. Almond slivers should be RAW to maximally benefit from the cancer fighting phenolic acids and healthy fats, and of course that also is the stylish thing that everyone else is doing. Especially celebrities. This is how celebrities eat on their “designer diets” so if you want to send me a thank you check you are welcome to make a donation.

6. Mashed Potatoes

If you keep the peel on the potatoes before you mash them, then I will give you permission to eat them.

Potatoes get a bad wrap because we don’t eat the peel. Buy organic potatoes and mash them WHOLE. The peel of the potato contains fiber, vitamin C, thiamin, and potassium.

Some people with arthritis don’t tolerate potatoes well, if you have arthritis, potatoes and foods in the solonacea family like eggplant, peppers, onions, and so forth just may not be the right choice for you.

Mashed Potato Makeover: There are a few great makeover tricks you can implement to freshen up a rather dead ugly lifeless food like mashed potatoes. Definitely stand by ready and loaded with your garlic press and press about a clove per large potato. Garlic supports the immune and cardiovascular systems. Garlic also prevents and kills parasites.

I always add cottage cheese to my mashed potatoes to give them that creamy consistency, this protein bump also decreases the glycemic load for dieters, and diabetics. Cottage is also rich in mood boosting tryptophan. Remember we have to eat protein, and fiber with EVERY meal to prevent diabetes, blood sugar crashes from hypoglycemia, and obesity. Plus all the cool kids are doing it.

Try olive oil instead of butter, try adding some steamed arugula or spinach in at the end to create a gourmet effect, and if you HAVE to have that buttery flavor from organic butter (please don’t EVER use margarine if you learn anything from my nags. Please just go throw out your tub of margarine in the garbage where it belongs, and never buy it again, or any other hydrogenated oil product that serves no other biochemical purpose in life but to rapidly age you, clog your arteries, and make you unnecessarily fat. We want to be the least amount of fat right? Your body can’t use margarine so it converts it to fat storage…) just add some low fat buttermilk in lieu of regular milk if you must do dairy and NEED that butter flavor. Sprinkle with sea salt and organic pepper. Enjoy!

7. Minced Meat Pie

Are you terrified of minced meat pie? Well most of us are, until we discover that modern “minced meat” is just a fruit sauce made of dates and other dried fruits and not some leftover cafeteria meat concoction.

Well the beauty of this is that dates, figs, prunes, apples, and most dried fruits score high on the ORAC, meaning they have extremely high free radical fighting potential. Antioxidants=Anti-aging. Memorize that. Aging isn’t just about vanity and outer appearance. Your organs and blood vessels are aging on the inside as we sit here. If it doesn’t look good on the outside it doesn’t look good on the inside either. True beauty is an inside out job. Eat more antioxidants to prevent disease and you will be rewarded with a continuously youthful glow.

Let me be the first to announce that Minced Meat Pies are now the HOTTEST trend for fall. Don’t worry they only show up on the whole foods runway once every 50 years.

Minced Meat Makeover: Opt for a whole grain crust and use organic butter rather than margarine (heaven forbid.) If you really want to impress those avoiding gluten with your gourmet skills, you can add a dollop of your favorite organic minced meat filling to half a sliced date and top with a splash of real whipped cream. Dates are also delicious stuffed with various nut butters, and chocolates as I just recently learned from RN, Rod Newbound.

8. Red Wine

“Yes! Dr. Nicole says I can have a glass of red wine!” Just remember that is only ONE to two glasses of red wine–max. That is one drink per day not per hour–and no you can’t save them all up for the end of the week. It just doesn’t work that way. The benefits of the cancer fighting, anti-aging polyphenols in red wine known as resveratol go down as you burden your liver with alcohol. As with everything, moderation is key. Even too much water will kill cause hyponatremia and kill you.

Red Wine Makeover: Remember that one glass is better for you than the entire bottle. Opt for an organic alternative like our Kitchen Table 2008 Favorite, Badger Mountain. Remember to never drive while you are drinking. The most stylish people always have a driver…er…cab driver. Even one glass of alcohol impairs your judgment enough to put an end to your happy holiday–or worse yet–someone else’s.

Please always be considerate to the safety of others when imbibing during the holiday season.

Hope you all have a Happy AND Healthy Thanksgiving! Have fun wowing all your friends and family with this questionably boring kitchen table talk of the Thanksgiving superfoods and how to give them makeovers. Let me know if you manage to pull it off and keep them interested! Feel free to share any of your healthy Thanksgiving recipe tips in the comments section.

Thanks much for sharing my whole foods tips with your friends and family.

~Dr. Nicole Sundene
Naturopathic Physician

References: Medical Nutrition from Marz by Dr. Russell Marz, Medical Herbalism by Hoffman

Related Reading:
The Healing Power of Cauliflower
The Healing Power of Music
The Healing Power of Positivity
The Healing Power of Mexican Food
The Healing Power of Stinging Nettles

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6 Steps to Calorie Counting in Your Kitchen

By Bonnie Pfiester, Fitness Trainer

One of the greatest treasures I received after my grandmother died was her recipe box. Recently, I was thumbing through all the recipes and noticed an odd number written on the top of some of the cards.

All the sudden it hit me, the number reflected the calories for that dish.

One recipe, Salmon-Broccoli Bake, had the numbers “1600” noted at the top of the card. Another recipe for Overnight Coffee Cake had “3700 cal” written in my grandfather’s handwriting.

It’s funny how the smallest thing can bring back certain memories.

Since I was a kid, I remember my grandfather jotting down notes with his unique squiggly handwriting on 3×5 cards in the kitchen. Over time, I watched him weigh food on a small scale and listing numbers as if he was doing some science experiment. Although my grandfather was a professor at Florida State University, I learned his mad science skills were simply being used to manage his waistline.

As I reflect back on those days in my grandparent’s kitchen, I can vividly remember my granddad counting out his favorite rye crackers, making sure to abide by the serving size on the box. He would then add the number to his 3×5 card. After supper he would continue his list of calories for each dish, always keeping a tally for the day.

Once I saw those recipe cards it made me think how we could all learn by his example. Unfortunately, many people don’t know exactly how to count calories. Truth is, besides reading labels and looking up whole foods, I rarely took the time to add up all the ingredients in my own recipes until lately. I discovered tracking calories is easy and rewarding.

Here are a few steps to help you get started.

1. Use a calorie book or an online calorie counter to find the number of calories in your whole food ingredients.

2. Measure ingredients using food scales and/or measuring cups for the most accurate information.

3. Tally the total calories for packaged foods by multiplying the number of servings used in your recipe by the number of calories per serving.

4. Use alternative ingredients for high-calorie items to help save calories in your favorite dish.

5. Add the final list of calories for each ingredient and divide by number of servings to get your final count. For instance, the 3700 calorie Overnight Coffee Cake served 15 people 247 calorie treats.

6. Once you have completed the math, document your answer on your recipe card or book.

If you love to cook but need to watch your waistline, begin counting calories in your favorite dishes today. What you will learn in the process will be more valuable than you could imagine.

~Bonnie

Bonnie Pfiester is a Personal Trainer, wife to the famous fitness trainer Steve Pfiester of the reality TV show “Fat March”, and owner of the women’s health club Longevity Fitness.

You can enjoy more of Bonnie’s fitness and beauty articles at www.BonniePfiester.com or here at the kitchen table by visiting the Bonnie Pfiester page.

You are invited to leave your fitness and sports nutrition questions in the comments below for Bonnie to briefly answer or write about in future articles.

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The Raw Foods Diet

Ever wonder what is going on with this new “Raw Food’s Diet” everyone is talking about?

Well actually the diet isn’t all that “new” it is simply a snapshot of the way our ancestors ate before the advent of factory refined foods.

Don’t worry you don’t have to be a vegetarian to benefit from raw foods eating, raw foods can and SHOULD be enjoyed by EVERYONE! And…no this is not about gnawing on a nasty raw piece of chicken or steak. I do NOT recommend the consumption of raw meats. Instead enjoy more raw fruits and vegetables fresh picked and full of nature’s abundant energy. A raw foods diet can also be done as a quick detox if you are feeling sluggish and need an easy “pick me up”.

You don’t have to go 100% raw either, you can benefit from this diet simply by eating less cooked “dead” foods and more fresh foods that are full of life.

To help you get the basics down I interviewed the mother of raw foods eating herself…Earth Mother, the author of “In the Raw”.

What is “Raw Food” eating?

Ask 10 different people that question, Doc, and you’ll likely get 10 different responses. So, I’ll tell you what “raw food eating” is for me: eating food in its natural state, not refined, not processed. That means, I consume a primarily plant-based diet, consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts.

Do you realize that we are the only animal on the planet that cooks its food? Strange, huh? We are living beings, yet we consume food that is dead, or cooked. Nutrients and enzymes are heat sensitive and destroyed at temperatures above 118 degrees. So, 85-90% of my plant-based diet is uncooked, or raw. By choosing to eat this way, I am infusing my body with live enzymes.

What made you decide to go raw?

The short answer? I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, all the time.

While at the local library, a book on the “New Arrivals” shelf jumped out at me: Crazy, Sexy Cancer by Kris Carr. What possessed me to check that book out, I’ll never know, but I am so glad I did. Kris’ story of being diagnosed with an extremely rare, incurable cancer and her journey toward health and healing is so inspirational. A big part of her healing journey has been adopting a raw foods lifestyle. The back of the book is loaded with resources and I started checking out websites and other books. The more I learned about eating raw, living food, the more sold on the idea I became. It was when I read The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose that I thought, “I can do this!”

What were the biggest challenges of adopting the raw foods diet?

It was a big change for me. BIG. I grew up in a Hungarian household, where I was weaned on chicken paprikash and stuffed cabbage. Vegetables were potatoes and corn. Not too many salads, because Dad thought “they taste green.” As I grew into an adult and began living on my own, I couldn’t be bothered with cooking. Convenience was key — get more, faster. So, I ate food in packages and racked up frequent flyer miles at the drive-thru windows. I thought the four food groups were Starbucks, cheeseburgers, fries and milkshakes.

There was the whole emotional component around food too. I’ve had to change my relationship to food. I used to live to eat. Now, I’m learning to eat to live.

What changes have you noticed in your health since switching to a raw foods lifestyle?

I’m really glad you said “lifestyle.” Diet implies something you start and then stop when you reach your goal (or fizzle out). Lifestyle, on the other hand, is the way in which someone chooses to live and reflects their beliefs and values.

The changes to my health have been amazing. Gone are the debilitating headaches, the fire-breathing dragon heartburn, the constant fatigue, the edema, the chronic depression, the joint pain…oh, and 62 pounds! My energy level is through the roof. I sleep like a baby at night. My skin is smooth, clear and radiant.

I have a mental clarity today that I have never experienced in my life. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but it feels like I have broken a long-term drug addiction. It feels almost like I was walking around before under the constant influence of alcohol, and then suddenly becoming alcohol-free. The thing is, I had already been sober for 18 years!

Who should NOT be on a raw foods diet?

Can’t think of a single person who would not benefit from incorporating more raw, living foods into their diet. But, if you do not want to feel better, strengthen your immune system, reverse the effects of aging, stop counting calories, fat grams and carbs forever, then by all means, do not eat a diet high in raw plant foods.

***Dr. Nicole pops in and says: Pregnant women and rapidly growing children should work with their doctor before continuing a strictly raw foods diet to ensure that the required amounts of iron, B12, protein, zinc, and omega -3 oils are attained. Also people with a history of disordered eating should be cautious before implementing any restrictive diet plan.

Who should benefit from a raw foods diet?

Everyone!

People have reversed heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, cancer, fibromyalgia, autism, depression, arthritis, and a host of other illnesses by consuming a raw, vegan diet. And the thing is, you will begin to feel the benefits almost instantly.

Really. Look, we live in a society that craves the quick fix and wants instant gratification. When you start to feel and look so much more healthy and vibrant, it’s a great motivating factor. Start where you are. Begin now.

Intimidated? Natalia Rose lays out a simple, safe program that anyone can follow in “The Raw Food Detox Diet”. It doesn’t have to be traumatic. You don’t have to change your lifelong eating habits overnight and go 100% raw or vegan tomorrow.

Can you give us a snapshot of your diet for the past 24 hours?

Sure. Let’s look at yesterday.

• 1 quart fresh juice (kale, cucumber, sweet pea sprouts, apple, ginger)
• 2 bananas
• 1/2 cantaloupe
• large salad w/raw ranch dressing (mixed greens, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomato, red onion, cucumber, avocado, dried cranberries, spicy sprouts)
• raw harvest butternut soup
• 1 quart fresh juice (purple cabbage, carrot, apple)
• Asian salad w/carrot-ginger dressing (baby romaine, baby bok choy, sugar snap peas,mung bean sprouts, fresh basil and cilantro)
• Pad Thai (purple cabbage, carrot, zucchini, young coconut, raw cashews) w/raw “peanut” sauce, served over seaweed noodles
• 2 dates

Please share your favorite recipe.

Oh gosh, only one? Keep it simple is my motto, so here’s a super easy and super delicious “pasta” dish.

Zucchini Fettuccine with Sesame Mango Sauce

• 2 zucchini
• 4 mango diced
• 1 lemon juiced
• 2 Tbsp raw tahini
• 1/4 C water
• chopped mint leaves for garnish
• black sesame seeds for garnish

Spiralize the zucchini into fettuccine noodles, using a spiral slicer or a regular vegetable peeler. To make the sauce: blend mangoes, tahini, water, and lemon juice in blender until smooth. Top the zucchini noodles with sauce and garnish with chopped mint leaves and sesame seeds.

How can people learn more about The Raw Foods Diet?

Enroll in the University of Google and go wild! Just doing a search on “raw food diet” ought to keep you busy for a while. Visit your local library and start reading. Besides Kris and Natalia’s books, I’d recommend “Rawsome: Maximizing Health, Energy and Culinary Delight With The Raw Food Diet” by Brigitte Mars. “Green for Life” by Victoria Boutenko is another great place to start.

I think besides educating themselves, one of the most important things a person who is transitioning to a raw foods diet can do is to connect with other individuals who are living this lifestyle. A wonderful cyber community of raw foodies that I belong to is Raw Fu. You’ll find loads of support from folks who have been eating this way for years and years, as well as newbies. There’s an upcoming Holliday Mini Challenge you can get involved in or sign up for the 100 Day RawFu Challenge that kicks off on January 1st!

To participate visit Raw Fu: http://www.rawfu.com/

What a great idea for detoxing after the holidays! Thanks for being a guest at my kitchen table Earth Mother! For more great tips and recipes ideas for eating raw please visit Earth Mother at: http://earthmother-intheraw.blogspot.com/.

More Raw Food Resources:“5 Simple Steps to Transition to a Raw Food Diet”, “Raw Food FAQ”, FREE Raw Food Weight Loss Report, Delicious, Simple Raw Food Recipes and Pictures

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Is Food a Bad “Ex-Lover”?

By Bonnie Pfiester, fitness trainer, and wife of fitness trainer Steve Pfiester, trainer for the reality tv show “Fat March”.

Obesity is so much more than a physical condition.

There are reasons people are overweight, many of which are purely psychological. This became extremely apparent on “Fat March”.

As Steve spent countless hours with the marchers, they had plenty of time to really search their heart for answers. Loralie’s description of her relationship with food was probably the most profound.

“Steve” Loralie said, “Food is like an ex-lover that is just no good for me. Not just any ex, but a really sexy ex. When I think about him (food) all I remember are the good times. I forget how much pain and guilt he would cause. And after an incredible night together full of passion he just leaves you crying on the living room floor in the fetal position full of guilt” “And yet, late at night… I still want him so, so bad”.

Like a real relationship, people often feel trapped in their overweight body. They feel they have no way out and no hope. Many times, like an unhealthy relationship, it just takes support and guidance. Without help it is easy to just give up and give in to simple pleasures that leave you “crying on the living room floor in the fetal position full of guilt”.

Also similar to unhealthy relationship, people can lose self-worth. Food, like an abusive husband, puts you down every time you indulge. Fat can make you feel unworthy and unattractive. Before you know it, you are just trying to accept things the way they are, only to live in a lifestyle that continues to make you miserable.

There is a way out and it starts with making a change. People often fear change because they fear failure. Women may stay in an abusive relationship because they fear failing. Whether it’s the fear of being alone or not being loved again, the fear of the unknown often keeps people in the known, no matter how bad it is.

There is nothing to fear, health and fitness is not a mystery. Fitness loves you more than any great tasting food. It doesn’t lie, it takes care of you, it rewards you – it is tried and true. You are absolutely no exception. It may take time, but most great things take time. The one thing I know for sure is nothing will change without making a change.

~Bonnie

Bonnie Pfiester is a Personal Trainer and owner of the health club Longevity Fitness. You can enjoy more of Bonnie’s fitness and beauty articles at www.BonniePfiester.com .

You are invited to leave your fitness and sports nutrition questions in the comments below for Bonnie to briefly answer or write about in future articles.

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Weight Loss: Balance Your Dieting Checkbook

By Bonnie Pfiester, Fitness Trainer.

Dieting is all about checks and balances

Have you ever looked at your checking account and been surprised to see the balance was lower than you expected it to be. I think we’ve all been there before. At first you think “there’s no way I spent that much money”. Then as you look further you begin to uncover all the small stuff that created the big problem.

It’s funny how the little stuff adds up quick and the same applies to our diet. It’s all the extras that can get us in trouble. Condiments, salad dressings, snacks, cream and sugar – they add a lot of extra calories to our diet. Unfortunately most people have no idea how many calories they are taking in.

Dieting is all about checks and balances. The only difference is, most of us don’t ‘balance’ our diet account to see where we stand. That habit would never fly when it comes to our money. Most of us can’t afford to just keep writing checks without reconciling our account. The truth is we really can’t afford to ignore how much we eat either. Eventually it will catch up with you.

We can fool our self into thinking we don’t have to count calories, but just because we don’t count them doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. The only difference is no one is there to cut you off once you’ve gone ‘over the limit’ like the bank does when you are in the red.

Managing calories is like writing a budget. It takes a little time in the beginning, but as you begin to journal your food you quickly learn what you can and cannot afford to eat. The good news is, unlike managing your bank account, you don’t have to do it forever. Part of the initial discipline is just a learning process.

You may be a good steward of you money, but are you a good steward over your body? Your body is the most valuable asset you have. Maybe it’s time to do some checks and balances with your health this year.

~Bonnie

Bonnie Pfiester is a Personal Trainer and owner of the health club Longevity Fitness. You can enjoy more of Bonnie’s fitness and beauty articles at www.BonniePfiester.com .

You are invited to leave your fitness and sports nutrition questions in the comments below for Bonnie to briefly answer or write about in future articles.

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