Eat, Enjoy & Lose Weight

The bad news for people who are trying to lose weight is: Diets don't work! The good news? You can learn to eat creatively, enjoy what you eat, eat as much as you want... and lose all that excess weight that is making you unhappy and unhealthy! Here I would like to share some great tips with you so you never have to worry about being overweight again!

It's incredible how much hype and misinformation is out there about what is the best diet to go on for losing weight. While the Internet has been great in getting a lot of important information to us, there is also a lot of confusion resulting from information overload.

Most weight loss programs today focus on calorie counting which has proven to be ineffective as the average dieter often ends up worse off when they started. Such weight loss programs can also slow down the metabolic rate, making the weight loss more difficult to maintain.

Formulating an effective and healthy diet plan is not difficult, once you understand the basics of healthy eating and what would help you not only lose weight fast, but also maintain the weight and stay healthy as well.

So, just what is healthy to eat? First, allow me to stress that there is an almost inexhaustible list of good, health-promoting food out there, so if you have whole, natural, nutrient-rich foods you love, go ahead!

I picked these foods based on a few criteria:

1.They are nutrient-dense.

2.They are whole foods.

3.They are affordable and easily available.

4.They taste healthylicious!

The last point is so important as I always tell my clients: “The best diet is one you enjoy so much, you don't even know you are on it!”

So, go ahead – eat, enjoy and stay healthy!

1. Avocado - contains lots of Omega 9 and high in beta-sitosterol which lowers cholesterol levels

2. Bananas - packed with the mood enhancing protein tryptophan, which helps the body produce serotonin, also know as the “happy hormone”, high in potassium and B6

3. Broccoli - rich in vitamin C, A, K, B-complex, iron, zinc, phosporus and phyto-nutrients

4. Cabbage - high in vitamin K, sulphur, potassium, helps to detoxify, lowers blood pressure and blood sugar levels

5. Nuts and seeds – almonds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts

6. Olives and olive oil, extra virgin - rich in Omega 3, Omega 9

7. Quinoa - loaded with riboflavin, magnesium, potassium, iron.

8.  Salmon - high in amino acids and omega 3 which will help to get you into fat burning zone

9.  Spinach - loaded vitamins C, A, K, helps stabilize blood sugar levels, great for heart health

10.  Sweet potato - contain carotenoids that help stabilize blood sugar levels, improve metabolism

11. Tomatoes - high in lycopene

12. Watermelon - high in glutathione which is an essential antioxidant

And don't forget to get some herbs and spice to life – black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili, cinnamon, ginger, mustard seeds, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, turmeric and more!

One final note – no more processed foods like refined sugar, white rice and breads. These are literally poison for your body, so substitute with healthy alternatives like blackstrap molasses, coconut sugar and honey instead of refined sugar, and brown rice and quinoa in place of white rice.

Who says eating healthy is boring? You just need to be creative and you can cook up a storm for yourself and your family.

For those of you who need extra help to burn the fat that has been piling up over the years, especially the visceral fat surrounding your major organs, I would recommend you to take FitLine Proshape All-in-1.  The green coffee bean inside has been tried, tested and proven to be particularly effective in helping those inches around the waist and hip to literally vanish! I have customers who report inch loss of up to 3 inches around the waist in less than a week! ProShape All-in-1 is a great tasting meal replacement that also contains mate tea extract to keep away craving and helps you feel full longer, as well as nettle, an effective diuretic to get rid of water retention and great for supporting the kidney, thyroid. With ProShape, not only do you lose weight healthily, you will find yourself more alert, full of energy, and most importantly - it tastes yummy!

For more information on ProShape, just drop me a message and I would be happy to share with you!

In my next article, I will share more on how fat is burnt and what foods you should avoid to get into the fat burning zone.

Coco Sugar - Perfect Sugar Substitute!

I always tell my new clients the first thing they need to cut out from their diet is white sugar. It not only makes you put on weight, but also is the main culprit behind diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, as well as cancer and even Alzheimer's Disease.

I was looking for a natural sugar substitute or sweetener that is healthy to recommend to them, when a friend of mine, who is also a health practitioner, introduced me to Coconut Palm Sugar. After a lot of research, I decided it was indeed the perfect sugar alternative, for many reasons.

First of course, it has a very low Glycemic Index or GI of 35 and Glycemic Load of 1.4. Glycemic index is a measure of how quickly your blood glucose rises after you consume a standard amount of a specific food. Glycemic load determines the carbohydrate content of that food based on its glycemic index and the portion size. This is an important concept for diabetics, who strive to keep their daily glycemic load to a minimum. Other sugars such as refined white sugar, muscovado sugar, and molasses have a range of 65 to 100 GI per serving! Other natural sweeteners such as date sugar has a 100 GI per serving, Maple Syrup has 69+ GI per serving and Honey has a 70+ GI per serving.

Secondly, raw coco sugar granules is dark brown in color like the muscovado sugar from cane. It tastes like an ordinary cane sugar but with a difference, it smells like roasted coconut meat. The sugar particles look rough, but felt soft in one’s hand, melt easily in the mouth and taste great with your coffee and other hot drinks. The added bonus is, because it looks just like brown sugar, it's great for cooking and baking, and for diehard sugar lovers, you almost cannot tell the difference!

Nutritional Values of Coco Sugar

Coco sugar is now commercially produced in southern Philippines. It is 100% natural, free from additives and artificial flavoring.

Coco sugar is produced by natural process of heat evaporation with no preservatives added. It is derived from evaporating coconut sap through boiling in an open container where it is then allowed to cool and solidify. Coco sap, if distilled, turns into wine (known as toddy in Malaysia and lambanog in the Philippines).
If it is fermented it turns into vinegar. If cooked it turns into sugar. Comparative chemical analysis also revealed that coco sugar contains higher amount of nutrients compared to brown cane sugar: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, chlorine, magnesium, sulfur and micro nutrients.
 For the health conscious consumers and diabetics, I would consider it to be the best sweetener substitute because of the many benefits that it has to offer.

If you want to purchase Coco Sugar in Singapore, write to: coach-health-coach-international.com

Eating Mindlessly

Dear Friends

I had a tearful evening watching the tear-jerker, My Sister’s Keeper. I suppose it’s never easy watching your loved one die. It creates the eternal debate: Is it better to know when you are going to depart from this life, or simply go without knowing? Those who have watched the movie Bucket List (my favourite!) would probably say, “yes” to knowing; at least we can make our bucket list and do all the things we have always wanted to do before the final goodbye.

Anyway, what such movies do is to reinforce in me the passion to get more people to take full responsibility for their health. There is so much we can do to keep and stay healthy – all simple disciplines that we will even enjoy, once we make a decision to follow them. It’s just that most people are just too lazy to even think about them. They would rather remain ignorant, and as we know, if we had ever seen a sick person dying, or watched the movies I mentioned, ignorance is certainly not bliss.

Take good nutrition for example. As you see in my last two articles, the foods I listed as Top 5 Beauty Foods and Top 5 Energy Foods are all so delicious. Why not focus on taking more delicious foods that are good for us, and less (not total deprivation) foods that we know are not good for us?

The trouble is most of us are indulging in mindless eating and lifestyle habits; often we don’t even enjoy what we put into our mouths or know why we like to stuff ourselves with potato chips whenever we turn on the television. Or why we just automatically light up that cigarette that we know is poisoning our lungs? Or must drink that cup of coffee in the morning? If you really think about it, you will realize it was probably not about how you enjoyed the taste.

The first time you smoked, you probably choked. Similarly the first time you drank coffee, you probably didn’t really like it. This is our body reacting to what is really not good for it.

THIS WEEK'S LESSON:
Take time to reflect on lifestyle habits that you know are bad for your health: Describe in detail why it makes you feel good following them, and then explore if there are healthier alternatives.

But the road to success is not ruthlessly cutting out all your habits, although that has worked for many, once they found their motivation. My mother quit smoking “cold turkey” after she was hospitalized for a stomach ulcer. My husband also quit immediately after a speaker at a seminar pointed out how distasteful it was for non-smoking business associates to breathe in the foul breath of a smoker.

You don’t have to go that road where food is concerned. As Dr Brian Wansink suggested in his book Mindless Eating, the key to change lies in middle. You can turn the food in your life from being a temptation or a regret to something you guiltlessly enjoy. You can move from mindless overeating to mindless better eating, says Dr Wansink.

“It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to.”  ~Annie Gottlier

THIS WEEK'S ACTION STEP

Better eating means different things to different people. It can mean eating less, eating without guilt, eating more nutritiously or eating with greater enjoyment.
As we often emphasise at Health Coach International, there is simply no one-size-fits-all solutions. Over the next few days, think of three (yes, only three!) food trade-offs or food policies that are specifically relevant and motivating for you.
Food trade-offs are statements which goes like this: “I can eat x if I do y.” Example of a food trade-offs is: “I can eat dessert if I have done my 20-minute morning exercise.”

Meanwhile a food policy is a personal rule that you stick to, without exception. Examples are: “I serve myself 80% of what I normally would.” “Eat only at the dining table.” “Only order dessert after I have finished my main course and if I still feel hungry.”

As Dr Wansink says, “We don’t have to commit to big sacrifices, we only have to pick the habits we can easily forego.
If you need help to work out a healthy diet plan that is suitable for you specifically, drop us an email at coach@health-coach-interntional.com or visit Health Coach, giving us your name, age, race and any health conditions.  

Talk to you soon!

Jessica See




For more information on MaxOne, go to: Max International.