HAPPY NATURAL NEW YEAR!!

It's time for a fresh new start! (pic)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


Welcome to 2011, my friends!! And what a wild ride 2010 has been! (And my New Years Eve was spent, among other things, making sock puppets... but that's it's own story! Haha!)

ADDN is now 1 year old (awww, happy birthday, little blog!) It was a great chance for me to work on some of my new years goals last year - to be healthier, to get back into writing, and to get more research done on food and nutrition. (Though, admittedly, I did slack more as the year progressed and work got busier.)

But what did 2010 have for you? What good things did you do that you want to build on? (Isn't that a more positive spin on the whole "I've been bad, and NOW I'll be good for the new year"?) Hopefully we've all made strides towards growth of one kind or another. Taken time to learn ourselves, to focus our lives, and hopefully love ourselves and those around us.

I know I have many non-food related goals for this upcoming year, but in the spirit of this blog, we'll still be sticking with natural health related topics, and aiming for a more natural, plant-based diet.

Rev those engines, it's time to GO! (pic)

So what's your reason for wanting to continue a wild ride on the health roller-coaster?

To age gracefully: be healthy enough to stick around for grandchildren, decrease risk of any numerous diseases or painful conditions, maybe even turn gray hairs back to their natural color?? (More about that in a future post!)

To be healthier now: to not be huffing and puffing after a simple flight of stairs? (Hey! I used to have that problem!), run a 5K, fit into a new pair of pants, have more mental and physical energy?

To help take care of the earth: promote agricultural animal care, support local farmers, cut out processed poisons, cut down on your pesticide intake, fight for a cause you believe in?)

To have more self confidence: improve the health of your hair and skin, drop some burdensome fat, smooth cellulite, be able to say "I DID IT!"?


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And what are the things that make that difficult to stick to your goal? Time? Convenience? Taste? Not knowing how to make new recipes? Lack of family support? Share your struggles - here or wherever you can! You have my constant support! (And understanding - In this fast-paced, Food Toxic society, it can be difficult to make the effort to change your eating and exercise habits. BUT IT'S WORTH IT!!)


What direction are your first steps taking you?

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Make a plan:
What do you want and by when?
What are the first three steps you can take on your journey?
What are the three biggest barriers to you meeting your goal?
What can you do to overcome those hurdles?
And if you trip, what are three ways to pull yourself back up quickly without getting completely trounced before so?

Think about it, write it down - maybe it's a s simple "First Step" goal such as walking daily, adding a green smoothie to your morning ritual; or more general (to be tweaked later) such as losing weight, running a 5K, deepening your self understanding - and share it! With us or whomever you are comfortable. Sharing your goals makes them more real to you (instead of a passing thought to be tossed aside at the first cookie!) PLUS, hopefully you'll start to gain support from your friends, and maybe someone who can help pull you up when you fall!

What future do you hold?

Make it happen! (pic)

And well, hey, if you're indecisive about a resolution, jump over to
http://moninavelarde.com/newyears/ and have fun playing with their pre-made resolutions ;-)

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Blessed renewals, and joyous journeys!

Sending love and prayers to everyone reading this :)

~Katie


P.S: all pics have a "pic" link to the original site where I found them

The Day After

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I was blessed with a 3-day weekend thanks to Independence Day! We drove up to visit my relatives in Cleveland - and what a beautiful place we got to see! My uncle took us out on his boat to Lake Erie - so so so peaceful as we got farther from shore and people! He sped us down the water ways, the wind whipping by, but it was so invigorating! Followed by stopping the boat, and just lulling to the waves (and a little bit of the Moody Blues concert could be over heard from a distance!) We also got to check out a national park (I love nature!), saw a small museum display of Lincoln memorabilia, climbed a waterfall, nibbled on wood sorrel ("God's candy!" One of those weeds that you can enjoy!), and relaxed with the relatives. And ate. And ate. Oh, and did I mention - lots of food?

Boy, did we over-indulge! Dave and I enjoyed the all-you-can-eat cornucopia that is always present at the grandparents' :) Three days, three huge meals, and dessert after breakfast?! Yep! Well, that's the love of a grandmother! Such love-filled food, how can you say no?

But, it was a splurge, and I am feeling the bloat today! Ah well, on ward and upward! "Never give up, never surrender"* the fight for good health! So it's back to a week of energy and fresh foods for me! And lots of water to try to help flush out the salty snacks of the weekend.

Just remember - no matter how rough the tumble from the bandwagon, it's always rougher to just lay there and let it run you over than to pick yourself up, smile for the fun foods and times you splurged on, and grab an apple to get you back on track :)

Lots of love - and no judgement of self :)
~Katie

*Yes, I'm a dork. That's a quote from Galaxy Quest.

Half-Way Happy New Year!! ...Summer Style Resolutions!

Well, well, well, we are 6 months in to 2010 already (holy cow! Where did the time go!?) and how are YOUR New Years Resolutions coming?

Not like you'd planned? That's okay! Pick back up! Recommit today! We're at another turning point! The sun is shining, the weather is warming, and vacations (or staycations) are calling!

Take today to recommit to that healthy life you were all excited about on January first. Reassess your goals, reformulate a plan, get back on that bandwagon, and enjoy loving life! Quit the smoking! Lessen the drinking! Get out and walk a little! Eat some veggies! Drink some health!

If diet plays any role in your health goal, summer is an ideal time to kick it up! With all the wonderful produce that's in season, your menu can get a total make-over cool style! Cool, fresh smoothies in the morning; a big crisp salad for dinner; snack on a hunk of juicey watermelon after work; go for a long sunny walk and return home to cool off with a pitcher of water flavored with berries or orange slices... I love summer! And all the fruit it brings! In Ohio, July begins the peak produce season :) And I can't wait! Peaches and watermelon that are truly fresh are just around the corner!

Sadly, most jobs these days lock us in temperate offices. So try to get out as much as you can - take a walk at lunch or right after work before heading to your car. Get that warming, Vitamin D inducing sunshine! You will appreciate the natural crave for cool foods if you do! It's hard to want to drink an iced fruit smoothie when you're trapped in a cold office. And at home, leave your air conditioner off or don't set it so low! Let your body return to the natural shifts of the seasons. Maybe there's a reason all these cool fruits are at their best during our warm months... hmmm... ;-)

See you soon!

~Katie

I got busy!

Oh my goodness! I can't believe I have only posted ONCE this month! I appologize for not being more on top of things, but life has been busy!

I have been studying to become a Certified LEAP Therapist (a diet therapist for food sensitivities that may cause suffering for migraines, IBS-D, fibromyalgia, and a host of other problems), applying for a new job, planning a baby shower for my current job, and planning a lecture on organics and healthy - yet still tasty - foods for busy people. Yikes!

But I will try to get back on top of things here. After all, it IS spring time and the warm weather definitely turns me towards healthy, fresh foods - and many people become more concerned with swim suit season! I have noticed my gym getting frustratingly crowded at new hours...

So Hooray for home workouts! Videos are nice; I still have my eliptical machine; jogging outdoors gives me some peace; or I'm learning about "Primal Workouts" using stuff you have around. Much fun to watch - I'll post more on that as I get further in to it!

But let's look at the spring cleaning... how about cleaning up your house in a more healthy, earth-friendly manner?

That wonderful Enviromental Working Group that I enjoy so much has come out with a Healthy Home Checklist you can use! There is a lot of great information about getting chemicals out of your clothes, your cleaning, and your body! See where you feel comfortable making some tweaks! And keep up with trying to spring clean your diet and your body, too!

Happy cleaning!!

~Katie

Get outside and get some clean air! ...if you can find it ;-)

Wednesday Words and The "Unsexy" Detox

Today’s words are two I’ve been using lately, and I realized that I don’t use them in the same sense that the media often does. DETOX and CLEANSE. Wooo-ey! These are terms that get thrown around a lot in the news! I mean, who hasn’t heard the latest celebrity Miss Skinny doing a master cleanse, or Mr. Fancy Pants doing such-and-such a detox regimen. And wow, don’t they just look great and slim?!

The way they media uses them, you might as well say “UNDERNOURISH” and “STARVE.” But that’s not what these terms really mean! Sure, there are many fad programs around that ask you to drink crazy concoctions, or fast, or use enemas, or who knows what else! And yes, with such a caloric restriction, you will probably lose weight - while your on it. But most of the time, people who follow these plans just end up back where they started afterwards, because they haven’t changed their lifestyle. They only brute-force made their way through on shear determination and will-power, not a gentle lifestyle change of acceptance.

(slow and steady does it! It's not a race to heal your body!)

But, you body IS made to detoxify and cleanse itself naturally. And you CAN do some things to help promote these functions!

Usually DETOXING is the process of loosening undesirable toxins from being stored in the body. Undesirables can be medicines, alcohol, pollution, chemicals, pesticides (go organic when you can!).

The liver is your primary detoxifier, with the kidneys offering some help. So if you want to better “detox,” you want to support your natural kidney and liver functioning and avoid things that drag down efficiency. Alcohol, fried foods, and processed foods can be tougher for your liver to deal with, so try to avoid those. Conversely, I mention in a previous blog about kale helping to stimulate digestive enzyme production in the liver, so kale may be thought of as a “detoxifying” food. Kale comes from the cruciferous vegetable family. Other veggies in this family can help as well: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, and Brussles sprouts. These foods contain sulfur. For me, sulfur often dredges up images of the demons from Frank Peretti’s book This Present Darkness... ;-)

(or on a less book-nerdy level, burnt matches!)

But sulfur is a molecule the liver uses to detoxify the body of a wide range of prescription medications, pesticides, and other types of environmental toxins. Other sulfur-continuing foods include onions and garlic. Studies are now also looking to turmeric, cinnamon, and licorice as helpful for the liver detoxing.

And CLEANSING is often your body purging those toxins out of your body completely.

So primarily, your intestines and skin are important routes for disposal. You want to keep these pathways healthy. When I counsel women suffering from constipation, I always recommend “The 3 F’s: Fluids, Fiber, and Fitness.” Fluids keep things soft; fiber helps push it through; and aerobics (even just walking) can also help stimulate movement. These three items work together to help your intestinal tract and eliminations moving efficiently. Go for that Smooooth move!

Regarding skin, general hygiene keeps your pores open so they can provide a way for toxins to leave. Sweating is good! (I hear my little sister groaning now, ahh, the sweet sound!) ;-) But seriously, it can help get some of the junk out, just be sure to wash it off as soon as you can rather than letting your body reabsorb it! And try to avoid caking your face in a make-up once in a while to let your skin breathe! So, due to its skin benefits, yesterday’s Skin-So-Smoothie recipe could possibly even be considered a “Cleansing” drink!

There has been suspicion that there is a link between dairy and acne. There still needs to be more research done to be sure, but one study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology looked at 47,355 women (that’s a lot o’ estrogen!) and compared their dairy intake to acne history. They looked at milk, instant breakfast drink, sherbet, cottage cheese, and cream cheese and all were positively associated with acne. They said “We hypothesize that the association with milk may be because of the presence of hormones and bioactive molecules in milk.” Hmmm… so, if you’re going for the dairy, AT LEAST please grab the organic, hormone-free variety! …But I digress…

Detoxing and Cleansing are very detailed topics in the nutrition world, so I really only touch on them here. But I hope that covers some of the basics, at least! Remember: your body loves you; love it back! :)

I’m sorry if I have disillusioned any “sexy” ideas of detoxing and cleansing. There really aren’t magic bullets, and natural health is best! Your body is made to take care of itself – just don’t overdo the harmful things! And help it along with the right healthy lifestyle.

But, if you want an “unsexy” sounding detox plan… well, try this plan for 7 days and let me know how you feel!

The Unsexy Detox:

1.Eliminate these “toxins”:
-Table sugar
-Pops/colas/sports drinks
-Fast food/highly processed foods
-Foods with added sugars – cookies, cakes, candy, etc
-Refined starches – white flour, white rice, white pasta

2. Drink plenty of fluids
–aim mostly for water (plain or with some lemon, lime, cucumber, mint, etc), and maybe a little tea -Listen to your body, but usually the average recommendation is 6 to 8 8-ounce cups daily.

3. Eat real foods with plenty of fiber
-fruits, veggies, seeds, whole grains
–try some fun grains! Quinoa, millet, amaranth, buckwheat…

4. Get AT LEAST the recommended 5 fruits or veggies daily, if not more!
-Have a green smoothie with some extra kale and collard greens!
-See if you can get 10 servings in! (C’mon, all those smoothie recipes will usually have at least 4-5 servings for just one recipe!)

5. If you need meat, eggs, or dairy, make sure it’s the lean versions, and go organic and hormone free!

Do that, and I bet you’ll feel better (after the first few days), and likely, you’ll drop some weight!

Ok, so that was a long one. But I hope you start to apply some of the ideas and remember how much food can affect your health! Enjoy some whole, healing foods and save that dessert for this Valentine’s weekend!

Honeydew Hugs!
~Katie

Wednesday Words: Label Reading

Label Reading

As you probably have noticed, I would encourage you to buy and eat mostly foods that DON'T contain food labels - fresh fruits and fresh veggies. But there will of course be items that do have labels. I just wanted to look at a few terms found on food packaging labels, but there are many, many, many terms.

And, boy howdy, can they be sneaky!

Did you know that "fat free" doesn't really mean fat free? And that "calorie free" doesn't mean there are zero calories?

Ahhh, and the fun begins!

So, here's the top two tricky lingo you may see on a package, and what it can legally mean.

Calorie Free: Less than 5 calories per serving

Fat Free: Less than 0.5g of fat per serving

Yup, on labeling, they are allowed to simply round number down.

Another trick with fat free - it SO does not mean "calorie free"! If there's less fat, chances are the flavor is being made up with extra sugar and/or salt. Just because a cookie is "fat free" or "diet" doesn't mean it's helpful towards your weight goals - and by no means will it guarantee natural and healthy! Chances are, it's a highly-processed nutrient-depleted, love-it-for-a-moment-feel-guilty-later hunk of immediate gratification that does not lend itself towards natural, healthy, beautifying goodness. Better than an even more yucky option? Maybe. Worth it for the moment if you truly enjoy it and won't feel guilty later? Possibly. But that's your call.

Fun stuff, eh? ;-)

When working at a weight-loss retreat, the best examples of this were seen with a spray butter, and artificial sweeteners, both that claimed "fat free, calorie free." One poor woman would douse her potatoes, salads, vegetables... with the "fat free, calorie free" butter spray, assuming that would be conducive to her diet plans. The catch? She was going through about 1 bottle a week, which - despite misleading labeling - contained something like a whopping 200g fat, and over 1000 calories!

Little packets of sweeteners can be the same. Nutrasweet, Splenda, Equal, etc - debates on being potential carcinogens aside - all tend to average 4 calories per packet. So, legally, they can claim to be "calorie free." One woman liked to sweeten her daily yogurt with 3 packs, her cottage cheese with 2 packs, her coffees with 4+ each, her pineapple with 3 packs... In a day, she said she was adding well over 20 packs per day. So, from "calories free" items, she was adding almost 100 calories PER DAY from "calorie free" foods. Perhaps you feel 100 calories isn't that big a deal, but when you're basing your weight goals on counting calories, that extra 100 per day can add up to an additional pound per month that you aren't losing as you expected!

So, be label savvy, and also label minimizing - go for the good stuff! The natural, healthy, healing, vibrant stuff that doesn't need all the confusing jargon anyways!

xoxox

~Katie

Happy New Year! Happy New You!!

Welcome to your next decade!

Like so many others, I have made the resolution to recommit myself to health and wellness. Not always an easy task!

But, after drifting through my days with a so-so standard American diet, I felt that, especially as a dietitian, it was time to step things up a notch and really strive for more!

There were two main motivators for me. Things that have inspired the changes that are starting to reshape my life:

1. In Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live," he had a graph that depicted the correlation between fruit and vegetable consumption, and risk of disease. Now, I know we’ve all been told to eat more fruits and vegetables (5 a Day, baby!) but I guess I’m visual, and this graph just grabbed me! The almost perfect correlation was just so glaringly obvious in his graph that it really struck home for me.

(Sadly, I don't have a copy of the graph available yet. Perhaps someday I can pester Dr. Fuhrman for permission to post that!)

2. After hearing much debate and doubt over food preparation, I did find a gem buried deep down on the USDA website. It is a huge 200+ page report listing various types of foods, showing the detrimental effect different processing methods have on several nutrients.
   The gold standard for nutrient maximums? Raw.

(Fruits begin on page 23; general vegetables on 83. Just to explain an example: if you are on page 83, looking at "VEG, GREENS, BAKED" and see "Calcium 100" - that indicates, that 100% of the calcium is retained, or kept intact when baked. Well good! But then look down; you can see that other nutrients, such as Vitamin C, are decreased to about 70% of the original, raw value.)

So, even according to the USDA, other nutrients can be depleted to as little as 20% of the original amount when processed! Cooking, boiling, steaming, drying, canning, etc. All of these things can cause nutrients to be lost. How important is that? Pretty darn, I'd say! Why not get the best possible dose of natural health I can, as often as I can?

To me, these things told me it was time to boost my intake of raw fruits and veggies as much as possible! I always aimed for a vegetable at dinner time, and maybe trying to get a salad here and there for lunch, or snack on some carrots, or celery and peanut butter… sound familiar? Yeah, that’s probably a standard goal for most people. Well, it’s just not cutting it, is it? Do you feel healthier? I sure didn’t! Is your weight where you want it? Mine sure wasn’t!

So what does all that have to do with YOU and a resolution for health and/or weight loss?

Many things!
If you push your intake of raw foods, you will:

*fill your stomach with a large volume of low-calorie foods, thus helping you feel full while staying low in calories.

*boost your vitamin and mineral intake in a NATURAL way (rather that supplements and pills) which will help boost your immune system, natural body processes, and energy! (and couldn't we all use a little more of that?)

*get extra fiber that can help with keeping you regular, which helps fight that awful bloated feeling you may get, and helps your body with its natural elimination of stored up toxins in your system.

*get extra water that remains in the raw form of the produce, which means extra hydration for you! (and your skin - helping to keep it from looking tired and dry)

*and have less cravings for other processed foods, over time! I know, I wouldn't have believed it myself, until I started to feel it.

Have a wonderful, fresh-filled day! I'm going to go eat a fruit salad :)

xoxox
~Katie

About a month before my wedding, I began doing so many raw fruits and veggies that my dear sister took me out to a juice bar for one stop of my bachelorette party! Here I am enjoying a giant cup of cucumber-carrot-orange juice. After only a week, I was able to cut my dependency on coffee (3+ cups a day) and started noticing that my urge for snacking on junk foods at night was decreasing. A cool bonus? My clothes are fitting better!