There is a common denominator with poor health.....lack of routine. We eat what we want, we snack all day so called healthy foods that are nutrient deprived, our "healthy meals" aren't focused on nutrient dense foods but rather animal protein (how did animal protein become health food), and hydration comes from 44oz of soda instead of clean water. Everyone is looking for the perfect diet (I believe there is no such thing) or counting calories thinking calories in - calories out is the weight loss resolution, when they should be establishing a routine that creates a healthy balance between nutrient rich foods, celebration foods (sugar, fat, salt), and learning how to cleanse the body to create optimal health. I agree with Dr. Calwell Esselstyn and Dr. Colin Cambell from the popular documentary Forks Over Knives, that heart disease and I'm even going to say many health ailments are a toothless tiger if we eat WHOLE foods in there proper form. But, what is a whole food, can I cook them, should I eat organic, can I have chocolate and be healthy? The questions and confusion go on and on, between health professionals on what is the best way to be healthy.
Health, in my opinion, is a personal definition that is defined by your passionate motives (more to come on this subject). It is difficult to tell someone how to be healthy when all of us live in a complete different reality. We all have our own genetic strengths/weaknesses, there's social behaviors, work environments, family traditions, activities, disabilities and many more issues that become factors on how we define our health. This is why it is SO IMPORTANT! to establish a routine, not a diet. At first a routine may feel restrictive, but eventually it becomes YOU. You don't think about brushing your teeth every night, this is how your diet routine should be, it is just what you do everyday. If you do not set up the routine first then you will be like every other person jumping from "perfect" diet to "perfect" diet never really developing any confidence on how you should eat. There are a lot of good diets out there and you should learn to embrace the principles that fit into your routine.
Avoiding the Compulsive Cycle
The routine that I suggest has been very successful with people who are trying to establish healthy lifestyles because it allows personalization. I used to sit down with my clients, hand them a health program and say, "this is what you need to do to become healthy." I had 0% success with this program. So I went back to the "drawing board" and came up with the "Committed Nutrition" program. This programs allows people to continue to eat their current diet, but gives them structure to how eat their diet. Then over time the program encourages them to embrace healthier diet principles determined by their passionate motives. The Committed Nutrition program does not focus on the do not's. I have found that when we focus on the do not's, people fall into the compulsive behavior model which is:
1. We are told, "you can't have this." We are motivated at the time, it's new and exciting, and it's easy to refrain from the forbidden food.
2. Reality sets in and we realize how much we love the forbidden food and we start to think about it, crave it, which then creates this uncontrollable desire to have it.
3. Our craving becomes so strong the we give in and partake of the forbidden food with a defiant attitude.
4. We realize what we just did, and guilt sets in. The guilt usually drives us to start over and refrain from the forbidden food or, we realize that we have been through the cycle so many times that we just give up hope of even trying to refrain from the forbidden food.
Healthier lifestyles are developed more successfully when we develop a routine and place livable dietary guidelines within our routine. Then we set goals to embrace healthier lifestyle habits from the information we learn from the "perfect" diets. As we focus on the "perfect" diet guidelines, and except them as your "brushing your teeth" behaviors, the bad habits eventually fade to occasional guiltless moments. As you embrace this model of change you will be more successful at developing a healthy sustainable lifestyle, instead of bouncing between the fad diets.
The ROUTINE focuses on 3 areas:
1. Daily Diet Routine
2. Celebration Foods
3. Cleansing/Weight Loss/ Healing
Daily Diet Routine
I teach that there are 6 crucial habits that should be apart of your daily routine. These habits should be the HUB of your lifestyle, they are like brushing your teeth, you set up guidelines and tools to make sure they happen every day. Your passionate motives will determine how structured and disciplined you become with these 6 habits in.
I am not going into great detail about the 6 healthy habits in this blog entry. I will write more about each subject in a later entry, but here is a summary:
1. At least 50% of your daily intake of food should come from fresh produce. Everyone knows that there are substantial benefits from produce, high rate of nutrients assimilation, enzymes, probiotics, phytochemicals, antioxidants, protein/carbs/fat, hydration, etc. Don't get caught up in how to eat and prepare your produce, just make it at least 50% of your diet. After produce is 50% of your diet routine, then start educating yourself on the issues of , raw, steamed, cooked, canned, organic, glycemic index, and then determined what is livable within your routine.
Health, in my opinion, is a personal definition that is defined by your passionate motives (more to come on this subject). It is difficult to tell someone how to be healthy when all of us live in a complete different reality. We all have our own genetic strengths/weaknesses, there's social behaviors, work environments, family traditions, activities, disabilities and many more issues that become factors on how we define our health. This is why it is SO IMPORTANT! to establish a routine, not a diet. At first a routine may feel restrictive, but eventually it becomes YOU. You don't think about brushing your teeth every night, this is how your diet routine should be, it is just what you do everyday. If you do not set up the routine first then you will be like every other person jumping from "perfect" diet to "perfect" diet never really developing any confidence on how you should eat. There are a lot of good diets out there and you should learn to embrace the principles that fit into your routine.
Avoiding the Compulsive Cycle
The routine that I suggest has been very successful with people who are trying to establish healthy lifestyles because it allows personalization. I used to sit down with my clients, hand them a health program and say, "this is what you need to do to become healthy." I had 0% success with this program. So I went back to the "drawing board" and came up with the "Committed Nutrition" program. This programs allows people to continue to eat their current diet, but gives them structure to how eat their diet. Then over time the program encourages them to embrace healthier diet principles determined by their passionate motives. The Committed Nutrition program does not focus on the do not's. I have found that when we focus on the do not's, people fall into the compulsive behavior model which is:
2. Reality sets in and we realize how much we love the forbidden food and we start to think about it, crave it, which then creates this uncontrollable desire to have it.
3. Our craving becomes so strong the we give in and partake of the forbidden food with a defiant attitude.
4. We realize what we just did, and guilt sets in. The guilt usually drives us to start over and refrain from the forbidden food or, we realize that we have been through the cycle so many times that we just give up hope of even trying to refrain from the forbidden food.
Healthier lifestyles are developed more successfully when we develop a routine and place livable dietary guidelines within our routine. Then we set goals to embrace healthier lifestyle habits from the information we learn from the "perfect" diets. As we focus on the "perfect" diet guidelines, and except them as your "brushing your teeth" behaviors, the bad habits eventually fade to occasional guiltless moments. As you embrace this model of change you will be more successful at developing a healthy sustainable lifestyle, instead of bouncing between the fad diets.
The ROUTINE focuses on 3 areas:
1. Daily Diet Routine
3. Cleansing/Weight Loss/ Healing
Daily Diet Routine
I teach that there are 6 crucial habits that should be apart of your daily routine. These habits should be the HUB of your lifestyle, they are like brushing your teeth, you set up guidelines and tools to make sure they happen every day. Your passionate motives will determine how structured and disciplined you become with these 6 habits in.
I am not going into great detail about the 6 healthy habits in this blog entry. I will write more about each subject in a later entry, but here is a summary:
1. At least 50% of your daily intake of food should come from fresh produce. Everyone knows that there are substantial benefits from produce, high rate of nutrients assimilation, enzymes, probiotics, phytochemicals, antioxidants, protein/carbs/fat, hydration, etc. Don't get caught up in how to eat and prepare your produce, just make it at least 50% of your diet. After produce is 50% of your diet routine, then start educating yourself on the issues of , raw, steamed, cooked, canned, organic, glycemic index, and then determined what is livable within your routine.
2. Drink at least 64oz of WATER. There are hundreds of opinions on how much water we should drink. It is my experience that determining how much water you should drink is different for everyone. So I suggest starting with 64oz and then "listen" to you body and then determine if you need more or less.
3. If you are going to take supplements, your supplements should come from REAL food. Our bodies were meant to eat food, not man made chemical compounds. We can go the rounds forever on this subject, so my suggestion is to experiment yourself and do what you think is best for your body. My experience has converted me to herbal supplements.
4. Participate in physical activity at least 3 times a week. There are hundreds of activities for all abilities. Activity is a huge passionate motive for defining a diet routine. Exercise in the gym is great, but it's my experience that nothing motivates change and keeps you accountable to health like a "playful activity". When you see "benefits" from living your routine in your activities, your routine will be a huge motive to "stick with the program."
5. This habit will be debated by many - No Snacking!
If you choose to snack it should come from the 5 health foods, fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, seeds (in their natural forms) . Snacking, in my opinion, is a learned addictive behavior and not a hunger response. I am aware of the issues of blood sugar, metabolism, ancestors, ect. Many of these issues have valid arguments. But OUR society does not know how to snack healthily. We choose processed, nutrient deprived foods, and energy substitutes for our snacks....look where is't gotten our society. Snacking will be one of the hardest behaviors you change. That is why I encourage hydro-nourishing instead. Herbal tea is a great tool to help change the ADDICTIVE snacking behavior. More to come on this subject, but until then find a tea that taste good and enjoy the benefits.
6. My definition of cleansing is - avoiding processed foods for a period of time (1 meal through 40 days and 40 nights). There are several cleaning programs that can be great tools in a healthy lifestyle. But I want to encourage daily cleansing from eating meals that are from the 5 health foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seed. These food are nutrient rich and have a natural cleansing affect on the body to fight disease, sustain a healthy weight, and hit peak performance in your activities. I encourage people to eat 1-2 meals a day that are cleansing meals. Take one of your existing meals that you eat on a regular basis make it a whole foods meal, change the processed ingredients to whole food ingredients. If you need help or suggestions, contact me.
In my opinion there is no reason to wrestle with "perfect diets" if you do not have a healthy diet routine. My observation is that it's easy to lose weight by following a program or fad diet, but if you do not embrace the routine then you will be starting over in a few months until guilt and disappointment sabotage all hope of even trying to be healthy. You must establish a routine for any program to be successful, and I suggest that the 6 habits above should be apart of the DAILY routine to attain "good health."
Celebration Foods
Celebration foods break the body down while "true" whole foods build and strengthen the body. It is my belief that times of celebration are "healthy" for the human soul. The main foods used during a typical celebration period are animal products, processed foods, sugar, fat, and salt or what I call the heavy foods. During a celebration period you should enjoy these foods guilt free. Your body will not "wither away" after a celebration moment, especially if your daily routine is focused on a whole food diet. But, these foods are very addicting and so I suggest a cleansing period after a celebration period to help you get back into your healthy daily diet routine.
Note: The problem with the American diet is, that it is in a constant celebration with no accountability to discipline and structure.....it's a free for all. This lifestyle is one of the main causes of obesity and disease.
Cleansing
Cleaning your body is like cleaning your house, there is the daily maintenance chores (1-2 cleansing meals per day), and there is the "deep" cleaning periods (cleanse 1 day to multiple days) to get rid of all the clutter that has been collected. We should treat our bodies the same as a clean house. If you are a party animal you will need to deep cleanse your house/body more often. If you are the more conservative type, and stick to your daily routine with an abundant amount of whole foods, deep cleansing will be less frequent.
There are several ways to cleanse the body, from eating certain types of foods, to drinking only nourishing liquids. Each cleansing style affects the body differently, so you should embrace styles that work with you.....this may take some experimentation and practice.
A great place to start is the Isagenx 30 Day Cleansing System. It is a mild cleansing style that uses whole food and herbal supplementation to nourish the body. I highly recommend this cleansing system for first time cleansers, it is very structured and easy to follow. I call it the "RESET" button. It does a great job in helping people start over to get on track with a healthy diet routine. In fact I use the 30 day system to teach the actual diet routine. I have been very effective in helping people establish livable routines by using the Isagenix 30 day program. If you would like more information about the Isagenix 30 Day program, please contact me. I have 6 years of experience coaching people in Isagenix cleanses, so if you need help and advice let me assist you.
Free shake sample click here.
General Routine Outline
Celebration Foods
Celebration foods break the body down while "true" whole foods build and strengthen the body. It is my belief that times of celebration are "healthy" for the human soul. The main foods used during a typical celebration period are animal products, processed foods, sugar, fat, and salt or what I call the heavy foods. During a celebration period you should enjoy these foods guilt free. Your body will not "wither away" after a celebration moment, especially if your daily routine is focused on a whole food diet. But, these foods are very addicting and so I suggest a cleansing period after a celebration period to help you get back into your healthy daily diet routine.
Note: The problem with the American diet is, that it is in a constant celebration with no accountability to discipline and structure.....it's a free for all. This lifestyle is one of the main causes of obesity and disease.
Cleansing
Cleaning your body is like cleaning your house, there is the daily maintenance chores (1-2 cleansing meals per day), and there is the "deep" cleaning periods (cleanse 1 day to multiple days) to get rid of all the clutter that has been collected. We should treat our bodies the same as a clean house. If you are a party animal you will need to deep cleanse your house/body more often. If you are the more conservative type, and stick to your daily routine with an abundant amount of whole foods, deep cleansing will be less frequent.
There are several ways to cleanse the body, from eating certain types of foods, to drinking only nourishing liquids. Each cleansing style affects the body differently, so you should embrace styles that work with you.....this may take some experimentation and practice.
Free shake sample click here.
General Routine Outline
The daily routine guidelines are as follows: (I do make modification for specific ailments, athletes, and specific lifestyles.)
- 5 days a week
- Breakfast is smallest meal - 1-2 pieces of fruit and a protein or whole grain. (I like to make this my cleansing meal)
- Mid morning - Herbal tea or fruit/nuts for snack
- Lunch - 50% of the meal is vegetables, the rest of the meal is a balance between whole food protein and carbs.
- Mid afternoon - Herbal tea or fruit/nuts for snack
- Treat - Realistically most people need a daily treat. I suggest that it's in the afternoon. Note: there are plenty of treats that are not processed.
- Dinner - 50% of the meal is vegetables, the rest of the meal is a balance between whole food protein and carbs. (Try to make this a cleansing meal)
- Hydro-nourish after dinner to prevent evening bingeing.
- Drink 64oz of water by the end of the day
- 2 days a week
- Eat celebration/heavy foods, but still stick to your routine with the healthy habits.
- These aren't binge days,but days to enjoy heavy foods that are healthy for the soul.
- Enjoy celebration periods guilt free. I personally do not have a lot of routine structure during my celebration periods such as a camping trip. I enjoy the moment. Set your own guidelines for your celebration periods. Just have enough discipline to end your celebration.
- When the celebration period is over deep cleanse for a period of time. I recommend a 9 day Isagenix cleanse or a 3 day juice fast.
- I also suggest a deep cleanse at least once a year regardless of how healthy your diet is.
A routine day might look like this:
Wake up – one of
the most important things you can do upon rising in the morning is Hydrate
8 oz water
Multivitamin - Cleanse For Life
Breakfast - Breakfast is still one of the most
important meals, but it should be one of the smallest meals. (200-400
calories). Breakfast should have at
least 2 servings of fruit.
Good
High
fiber cereal with 1 cup of Fruit
Toast
and Fruit
Small
high fiber pancake/waffle covered in fruit
1
egg omelet smothered in veggies (peppers, onion, avocado, spinach, etc.)
IsaLean
Shake with fruit
Better
Cooked
high fiber grain (oats, bulgur, wild rice etc.) 1 cup of fruit, sweeten with
honey or real maple syrup, 1/8 cup of pecans
Fruit
Smoothie: ½ cup frozen fruit and 1-2 pieces of raw fruit/vegetables
Best
Sprouted
grain (soaked barley, wheat, rye) with 1 cup of fruit, sweeten with honey or
real maple
syrup, 1/8 cup pecans
Fresh
Juice only (6 carrots, 1 apple)
Fruit
Salad, raw pecans
Raw
smoothie
Morning Snack
Good
Isa-
Bars
Isa
Snacks
Better
Raw
Fruit and Veggies
Raw
Nuts
Best
Water
Tea
FRESH
Juice
Lunch - The main course of lunch should be vegetables (50%) complemented with small portions of carbohydrates, protein, and fat preferably from whole foods.
Good
Turkey
Sandwich with the vegetable fixings.
Better
Vegetable
soup
Vegetable
stir fry with 1/2 cup of brown/ wild rice
Best
Leafy
Green Salad
Vegetable
and bean salad.
Shortly after lunch - Tea Time.
This is a tempting time to eat starching foods.
Resist this temptation and hydro-nourish instead. A high nutrient drink/tea will satisfy the
craving to want to eat after lunch. I
suggest drinking the Energy Boost drink which consists of 1-2 TBSP of
raw apple cider vinegar in 8-12oz of water with 1 tsp of honey and a pinch of
cayenne pepper.
Tea
Suggestions: Red Raspberry Leaf,
Peppermint, Brigham Tea, Burdock, Calcium Tea, Liver Tea, Kidney Tea
Afternoon Snack – Remember DO
NOT SNACK, hydro – nourish. If you
choose to snack, stay away from starchy foods and eat Living foods (fruits,
veggies, nuts)
REALITY CHECK – on paper these
guidelines look doable, but it is with much experience and observation that
people need a daily “TREAT.” My
suggestion: if you follow the previous guidelines and avoid snacking, it is my
opinion that a small treat has some “health” benefit. I would suggest having it before dinner.
Dinner - The main course of
dinner should be vegetables (50%) complemented with small portions of
carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
Good
Broccoli,
BBQ chicken, and potato
Burrito with minimal meat. Fill the burrito with veggies and a little beans
Pasta
dish with lots of veggies on the side or in the dish
Better
Vegetable
stir fry
Potatoes,
Yams, squash
Vegetable
soups
Best
Vegetable
salad – this has a lot of options, not just a leafy green salad.
Sprouted
grain/bean casserole
Raw
Soups
To sum things up, if you are going to be committed to your health, you must be committed to a routine. Your daily routine should focus on the 6 healthy habits, that are the foundation of any health program. My experience with establishing a routine first is that it develops a balanced lifestyle for the many components of life and peace of mind. Without balance we are constantly feeling guilty for not living up to our expectations that are generally unrealistic.
Please feel free to share your thoughts about this article.
For more information about services that I offer, go to my website www.CHICKENorPIG.com or contact me at aaron@chickenorpig.com.
For a free sample of Isagenix shake click on the link:
http://chickenorpig.leanshakesample.com/fz/index.htm
1 comment:
I think you might want to read the latest research on the IsaLean ans IsaPro shakes. They definitely belong in the "best" category for breakfast.
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