Category Archives: Uncategorized

January 19, 2011 · 11:22 am

How to get unstuck in 3 steps

Have you ever had to stop short on the road because a squirrel darted in front of your car and then just stood there, frozen, staring at you?  It’s as if the squirrel doesn’t know whether to run to the right or run to the left, but knows it needs to run and it needs to run fast.  But the confusion is so paralyzing, it just keeps standing in the middle of the road, terrified, causing you to have to drive around it or wait a few minutes until it finally figures out which way to turn.

Do you ever feel that way?  Like you know you need to move, but you’re not sure in which direction? Or you know where you need to go, but you’re not sure how to get there?

On Monday I got stuck.  It felt as if the universe was determined to prevent me from moving forward.  I tried to pay bills, and my online banking account was not letting me log in.  Three hours and dozens of phone calls later, I tried to blog about staying cool under pressure, and wordpress was telling me that my account had expired (it hadn’t).  I went to wrap a gift – no tape.  Tried to make soup – no onions. It was just one of those days.

All of this frustration left me unmotivated – stuck right where I was and unable to move forward.  If you’ve ever felt this way, here is a three-step guide to how to move on:

1.  Figure out what is holding you back. When you are in a rush to move forward, the last thing you probably want to do is take a step backward.  But it’s important to evaluate what is holding you back, so you can develop strategies that will help you tackle these things and get them out of your way.  In order to reach your goals, you need to make space for them to materialize.  Write down all of the things that you feel are preventing you from reaching your goals.  What makes you feel like you can’t move forward?  What do you wish weren’t the case, so you could move on?  Next to each item, write five ways you can get past that item.

2.  Before you try to tackle the thoughts you wrote down next to each item, take a deep breath and find some motivation.  What pulls you forward?  Who can you connect with and what activities can you practice that will help you get out of the doldrums?  For me, running is a way I nourish my body and give it the energy it needs to move forward.  I also look to my friends for motivation.  I read my friend Jen’s blog for inspirational tips on how to live life to the fullest and be my authentic self (this week’s post on heart asanas really spoke to me), and I connect with other female entrepreneurs through a group my friend Jordana Jaffe founded, She’s the CEO.  All of these things help pull me forward.

3.  Next, set some small, attainable goals that will move you closer to getting what’s in your way out of your way and achieving the bigger picture.  The key word here is attainable.  Sometimes we can be our own worst critics.  If you set expectations for yourself that are too high, you’ll only be disappointed and hard on yourself.  As my friend Karen put it this afternoon, we often want me time – we are our favorite people to be around – and yet we can be so mean to ourselves, we spend the entire time yelling at ourselves and being critical. Take a deep breath and treat yourself like you would a mentee or friend.  You’ll be happier, more productive and more successful for it.

Don't get stuck! Figure out what's in your way, seek inspiration and set small goals to move yourself forward.

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Filed under Emotional eating, life transitions, Self development, stress management, taking risks, Uncategorized

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July 30, 2010 · 12:05 pm

The artificial sweetener experiment

So far on this blog I have written a lot about food, supplements and diets that I have found help create optimal health and reduce stress and anxiety.  Today I want to tell you about my experience with something that I’ve found to do the opposite - artificial sweeteners.

You may be confused about artificial sweeteners due to the plethora of conflicting information out there on the topic.  Some say they’re fine, and some say they’re harmful.  And as frequently happens, each study seemingly proves different results. 

Artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, sucralose and saccharine, are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. and are approved for consumption.  According to the FDA and the National Cancer Institute, “studies of these sweeteners have not provided clear evidence of an association with cancer in humans.”  However, the short story is that when consumed in large quantities, these substances do cause cancer in animals. (Click here to read more).  And cancer aside, these sweeteners have proven to cause many other side effects, including headaches, aggravated PMS symptoms, dizziness, moodiness, fatigue, chance in vision, diarrhea and anxiety.  Aspartame in particular is thought to be an “excitotoxin,” a compound that can damage nerve cells by overstimulating them, and some studies suggest that this can cause neurological disorders.

And even though there are no studies that show that artificial sweeteners aid in weight loss (in fact, the opposite is true, as they have been linked to obesity), and they have a bitter, off taste, they are in many of the products most Americans consume.  And because they can taste up to 600 times sweeter than sugar (for all of you foodies reading this) they are throwing off our palates and making us crave more of exactly what we’re trying to avoid – sugar.  Some studies even show that they can stimulate appetite.

So what do I think?  I am not a doctor, or a researcher with a grant for a study.  But I am an average woman who, like the rest of us, gets stressed and craves sweet things from time to time (who doesn’t?)  Years ago, I was addicted to Diet Coke.  I’d have two or three a day, and would frequently consume other products that contained artificial sweeteners like light yogurt and different types of cereal.  I’d also put whatever I had on hand – Equal, Splenda, Sweet-n-Low, in my tea and coffee almost every morning and every night.  A few years ago, I read about the potential link between artificial sweeteners and anxiety, and in addition to the research that has been conducted on sugar substitutes and cancer, it was enough to make me want to give it up.  I used to always suffer from horrible nightmares at night, and although I still get stressed and anxious from time to time, I was shocked when my nightmares disappeared entirely after giving up the sweeteners!

This month has been a particularly stressful month, and like the best of us, I had a few slip ups.  It was extremely hot outside and there was no water at the event I was attending.  There was a Diet Sprite, and although I knew this would dehydrate me more, it looked so nice and cold that I grabbed it and took a few sips.  Why do we do eat things when we know they will have adverse effects?  Then I got the “might as wells.”  I figured I had a Diet Sprite, so I “might as well” add a Splenda to my unsweetened iced tea.  And then I had the iced tea, and figured I “might as well” have a low-fat yogurt.  And so on… Long story short, I had horribly vivid nightmares all week!  I will not tell you what they were about so you don’t influence your dreams (one involved a knife, and the other, the Ben Franklin Bridge and a shark!  At least I have some Spielberg creativity in my subconscious somewhere…).  And I have felt irritable, stressed out and nervous like I used to for the past few days. 

I do believe that everything affects everyone differently, so you may have a different experience.  But in short, be wary of these sweeteners if you have trouble with stress, anxiety or nightmares.  And because I never like to say that you should have “none” of something, if you are trying to avoid sugar and must use a substitute, a great alternative is stevia, which comes from an herb in the chrysanthemum family and has been used around the world for centuries to sweeten tea and other food. 

But in general, I think I am going to stick to the real thing from now on.  Honey, raw sugar and agave nectar are all great options.  Life should be as sweet as tupelo honey, right?

Want an even better way to reduce sweet cravings?  I’m offering complementary initial one-hour health consultations to readers of my blog throughout the summer!  Send me an email and I’d be happy to tell you all about how I really beat sugar cravings and how you can, too.

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Filed under cravings, Food and mood, Good mood food, Optimum health, stress management, Uncategorized

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June 27, 2010 · 1:05 pm

The “most powerful anti-anxiety measure” Dr. Weil has ever found

About a month ago I had the privilege of attending a whole weekend of lectures at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York.  I am so grateful for the amazing curriculum at IIN that enables me to learn from the world’s leading integrative medicine and nutrition experts directly (email me if you want to know more about IIN).  The weekend was filled to the brim with great information, and, hands down, the highlight was hearing from Dr. Andrew Weil, the leading proponent of integrative medicine.

This is post #3 covering the weekend (click here to read about Joy Bauer’s tips for great health, and here to read about Annemarie Colbin’s thoughts on cravings and whole foods).

Dr. Weil spoke for two hours – the first, primarily about the health crisis we currently have in the U.S.  The second hour was focused on what we can do about it.

“We don’t have a health care system,” Dr. Weil said.  ”What we have is a disease management system.”  Dr. Weil said that we spend more per capita on healthcare than any other country in the world, but we rank 37th in the world when it comes to addressing chronic disease – just behind Serbia.

Before the financial meltdown, experts were saying that healthcare could destroy our whole economy, mostly because we’ve created a recipe for trouble: no prevention and only intervention + using high-tech solutions to most problems = a very costly and inefficient way of fixing (or not fixing) the health of the country.

“How did we get into the habit of thinking the only way to cure disease is to take drugs?  Unless we drastically change our ways, we are headed for certain collapse of our economy and our health system.” Dr. Weil said this is also becoming a matter of national security, since many people now are too obese or sick to join the military.

So what can we do about it?  Here are the top points I took away from Dr. Weil – I hope they motivate you to make positive changes for yourself and for our country:

1 – Health does not mean “absence of disease.”  Dr. Weil’s definition of health is “an inner state of resilience and balance that allows you to go through life and be unharmed by the things that can harm you.”  Our bodies have the ability to heal.  We should make this definition of health our goal.

2 – We need a broad, cultural change in which health becomes cool.  Do what you can to help others choose health by making simple, better choices.

3 – Practice integrative medicine – medicine that is not focused on drugs, but rather on prevention, paying attention to lifestyle factors, considering other dimensions of our life than just our physical bodies (emotions, spirituality), and insisting on the importance of the patient/practitioner relationship.  This is the solution to our healthcare crisis.

4 – Eat real food – According to Dr. Weil, all of the processed foods we are eating are contributing to inflammation – which is causing chronic disease.  To read more about Dr. Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet – a great resource if you are trying to eat for your health and prevent disease – visit his website.  Out of all of his books (all of which are great!) my favorite is Eating Well for Optimum Health.  This is an amazing, basic guide to nutrition that should be required reading for all Americans.

5 – Recognize the importance of physical activity and maintaining social and mental interconnectedness as part of a healthy diet.  Studies show the people who live the longest are both active and well-connected to friends and loved ones.

6 – We need to learn how to neutralize the most harmful effects of stress.  Find an activity that helps you calm down – even if it’s simply listening to music, taking a bath or doing yoga.

7 – Lastly, do you want to know what the most important thing I learned from Dr. Weil – and from the whole weekend – was?  It will surprise you because it seems so simple.

It’s that I have to breathe more.  ”Breath is a mastery key to healthy living.  It’s the connection between our conscious and our unconscious mind, and is the master of our central nervous system,” Dr. Weil said.  He didn’t learn much about it when he attended Harvard Medical School, but since, has come to learn that it is “the single most effective medical intervention” that he has ever discovered.  It can cure everything from heart arrhythmias to anxiety.  And it costs nothing, and only takes one minute.  Here is Dr. Weil’s breathing technique:

Breathe in for 4 counts through your nose.  Hold for 7 counts.  Exhale for 8 counts through your mouth.  Repeat four times.  Do this twice a day, without fail.

“This is the single most powerful anti-anxiety measure I’ve ever found, in all of my years of work.  This is the most important thing I am telling you here today.”

This is something we all can afford.  And no matter how busy you are (and I’m pretty busy) I bet you can find one minute to do this each day.  Imagine what the wold would be like if we all took Dr. Weil’s advice?

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June 11, 2010 · 2:15 pm

Cravings and guilt

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a whole weekend of lectures at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York.  It was an amazing weekend in which I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear NBC Health Consultant Joy Bauer; world-renowned author, physician and  leading proponent of integrative medicine Dr. Andrew Weil; Zone Diet creator Dr. Barry Sears; and Founder of the Natural Gourmet Institute Annemarie Colbin all in a two-day period! 

This is post #2 covering the weekend (click here to read about Joy Bauer’s tips for great health).  Today I want to tell you all about Annemarie Colbin’s presentation. 

I loved Annemarie.  As the Founder and CEO of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, the oldest natural foods cooking school in the U.S., Annemarie has been offering cooking classes since 1977.  Originally from Argentina, she came to America in her teens wanting to be a movie star.  She obviously ended up taking a different path, but is just as fearless and sassy as she must have been when she was younger. 

She spoke to us about food therapy, and how by eating whole foods, we can cure some very common illnesses.  She addressed the fact that some people are skeptical that whole foods can be so powerful.  “There was a time when people were adamant that the world was flat, and there was no way that it was round,” she said.  Today, people may not believe that whole foods can cure common illnesses, but her work proves them wrong.  Throughout her years of teaching people how to use whole foods for optimal health, she has helped people cure everything from constant headaches to reproductive issues.  I don’t know about you, but hearing that was enough for me to grab a pen and start trying to capture all of her tips.

Our bodies are very, very smart.  And according to Annemarie, when we give them things that are not “whole,” or in their purest form, our bodies know, and start to get confused.   For instance, a piece of rice has a bran, starch, and germ.  When we strip whole – or brown – rice of these things to create white rice, we are removing parts of the grain and confusing our bodies.  Ever eat Chinese food and you’re hungry two hours later?  Exactly her point.  Our bodies start to look for what’s missing.  This is when it starts talking to us – through headaches, stomachaches – that something is wrong or missing.

This is also where cravings come in.  According to Annemarie, there are three main causes of cravings.  The trick is knowing when to give in to them and when to resist them.  “Cravings are important because they give you information about how your body is doing,” Annemarie says.  Here are three reasons why you might be craving a certain food:

1 – Addictions:  For instance, sugar and alcohol can be addictive.  In this case, it is okay to resist the craving/it is not something that is necessary for your body’s survival.

2 – Imablances:  If you don’t get enough calories, you will crave sweets.  Not enough fat?  Protein?  Carbs?  Sweets, sweets, sweets.  If you’re on a low-fat vegetarian diet, you may be craving sweets because you’re not getting enough of these macronutrients.  Sound familiar?  It’s all about balance.  This is just one example.  Salt cravings, bread cravings – these could all be about an imbalance in your body.

3 – Memory or emotion:  We want things our moms gave us.  It’s that simple.

Here’s the good news about these cravings.  Annemarie says that we should not beat ourselves up when we have them.  “Guilt is something you can feel if you have been mean to someone and didn’t get caught,” she said.  “Consider everything you eat research.  If anyone gives you a hard time about your diet, say, ‘mind your business, I’m doing my research!’”  Note when you crave certain things, and why you think you might want them.  Then write down how that food made you feel.  Eat way too many cookies and feel gross?  Get over it.  Mark how you feel, move on, and don’t do it again. 

Annemarie also gave us great advice on specific cravings (sugar, salt) and how to manage them.  If you struggle with these (how about that 2:00 p.m. I-need-sugar-or-I’m-going-to-crash snack time at work?) drop me a line.  I’m offering free health consultations for blog readers, and can tell you about how I could support you as a health coach.

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Filed under cravings, Food and mood, Food cures, Grains, Optimum health, Super foods, Uncategorized, whole foods

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April 27, 2010 · 6:30 pm

Super stress-relieving chocolate smoothie

It is so important to get the right amount of essential fatty acids (EFAs).  The thing about EFAs is that your body can’t make them on its own, and needs them in its diet.

Both Omega 3 and Omega 6 are essential fatty acids – you’ve probably read a lot about how you need to get more Omega 3s.  That’s because the standard American diet is loaded with Omega 6s, but Omega 3s are less common in the foods we typically eat, and the trick is to make sure they are balanced.  An imbalance in polyunsaturated fatty acids (which these both are) can lead to lots of not-so-great things, including: asthma, coronary heart disease, many forms of cancer, inflammation, depression, obesity, and even a tendency toward violence.  Joseph Hibbeln, M.D., a psychiatrist at the National Institutes of Health and one of the leading authorities on the relationship between diet and mental health, conducted a study that showed that violence in a British prison dropped by 37 percent after omega-3 oils and vitamins were added to the prisoners’ diets!

Basically, Omega 3s and Omega 6s’ have opposite functions, and work together to control immune function, blood clotting and cell growth.  Before we relied so much on processed foods (which have lots of Omega 6s due to the vegetable oils in them) things were balanced for most people.  But today, it’s important to pay attention to this balance to make sure your diet isn’t out of whack.  Here are some great ways to get both of these EFAs:

Omega 3s can be found in salmon, sardines, flax seed, walnuts, eggs (especially Omega 3-fortied eggs) and soy

Omega 6s can be found in nuts, seeds, legumes, soy, and oils (including refined vegetable oils, such as grape seed oil)

I am a bit of a chocoholic, and tonight I made a delicious smoothie that was full of good fats, vitamins and minerals while giving me a dose of my favorite ingredient!  The cocoa in chocolate can increase serotonin levels, literally making you happier after every sip.  Plus, you may have noticed soy was on both of those lists – its a perfect way to get both fats in one place.

Super Stress-Relieving Chocolate Smoothie

1/2 cup Silk chocolate soy milk

a few ice cubes

1/2 cup frozen berries (I use blueberries and raspberries)

1/2 fresh banana

1 T ground flax seed (I use Trader Joe’s flax seed with blueberries)

1/2 – 1 scoop All One multiple vitamin and mineral powder (you can omit this if you don’t feel you need extra vitamins)

1 scoop Gold Standard 100% natural whey chocolate (this is my favorite protein powder because it doesn’t have anything artificial in it and is not loaded with sugar, but again, you could skip this and just add more chocolate milk and ice to make it more chocolaty).

Blend.  Enjoy!

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Filed under Chocolate, Food Energetics, Good mood food, Omega 3, Omega 6, Serotonin, stress management, Super foods, Uncategorized

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