Tag Archives: Health

May 24, 2012 · 10:04 am

What I’m Loving Right Now

Quite a bit! That’s the short answer. But I can’t write a blogpost with a short answer because that would just be silly.

Now, I should tell you that I am very happy these days. Very busy. But very happy. I recognize that I have so much to be grateful for. So I’m loving quite a bit at the moment.

In addition to having lots of wonderful people in my life and lots of wonderful things going on, I have some foods that are really hitting the spot. Yes, that’s right. I’m giving a shout out to the foods I’m loving right now.

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Goji berries

These little fruits are really getting to the point of being addictive for me. And that is, of course, when I know I need to scale back. They’re like little chewy candies and it’s the chew, more than anything, that keeps me coming back for more. Admittedly, they’re not for everyone, but I recommend them for more than just their chew. This Himalayan superfood is loaded with vitamins A and C, a good dose of protein, fiber, iron, and amino acids.

I will confess, our relationship started off pretty rocky. I didn’t see the love affair coming. It was about 7 years ago when I first tried a goji at work, and then the phone rang, and the goji lodged itself in my throat, and I choked my way through the entire call. Horrified, I vowed never to eat goji berries again. Until a couple weeks ago. Someone recommended them to me and I decided to give them one more go. Now, my second bag of them is nearly gone. Buy online, at Whole Foods, or your local health foods store. And eat carefully. 😉

2. Organic Peanut Butter

You probably saw this rec making an appearance in yesterday’s post. It’s such an integral part of my day that it’s starring in it’s second post…in two days! This is good stuff, people. Nut cravings are a sign that you’re in need of fun and with all the work I’ve been doing lately, I believe it. But if this satisfies my need for fun and then I can get back to work, that sounds pretty good to me!

3. Yogi DeTox Tea 


On the front of the box, it says this tea supports liver and kidney function. Okay…so? Well, the liver and kidneys help get the junk out of our bodies. And this tea helps them do that better…all the while tasting amazing. It’s spicy, it’s sweet, it’s complex. Gonna go make a cup now!

4. Baby carrots

This is just the easiest snack in the world. I buy the organic peeled baby carrots, leave them on a shelf in my fridge, and grab a couple every time I get a little hunger. So refreshing. So sweet. A perfect little snack for warm days.

So there you have it. My favorite foods right now. That being said, it’s important to remember that health isn’t just about food. It’s also about the people and the things that make your life incredible.

Give some thought to who and what those are. Take a moment to be grateful. And feel free to share below!

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May 15, 2012 · 10:47 am

Victory

The hubby announced this morning:

“My weight is down again. It keeps dropping! It just feels better to eat real food. It just does. You can put that in your blog.”

Well, hon, I will. Because it’s a victory for the hubby! And a victory for Health Coach Jillian!

Here’s a little background for you followers who don’t know the hubby. He is from Ohio. Land of meat and potatoes. (No offense, Ohio ;). ) When I met him, he had cabinets full of Pop Tarts and a fridge full of diet soda. Vegetables were not in abundance.

Now he puts chia seeds in his cereal. He eats organic meat and organic lettuce on whole wheat bread. He eats salads with organic, gmo-free dressing. He eats organic peanut butter and organic jelly. He had an 18 Rabbits granola bar for the first time today. And liked it. And that was on the heels of celery and pistachios. For breakfast. He now eats most of his meals at home. He has come a long way. But I want to stress that this was no overnight change – he is where he is now after making many small changes over time. And that is the best way to do it. Remember the baby steps?

These days, if he eats something not so healthy, he deals with the aftermath. He tastes those cheap ingredients and artificial flavors for the rest of the day. I helped to lay the groundwork and now he’s devoted to being healthier because he sees how much better he feels. It’s not like he’ll never eat Chinese food again because that’s his favorite. But he’ll think twice before he eats it. It’s a rare occurrence. And that’s the key.

I am proud of him and for anyone who makes positive changes. If you do it, you reap the rewards. If you don’t, you will suffer the consequences, which may look a bit like fatigue or acid reflux, bloating or a bad taste in your mouth, stomach problems or something much worse. This isn’t meant to scare you. This is meant to show you that taking control of your health can have such a positive impact on your daily living. And when your wife is also happy with what you’ve done…well, you can’t put a price on that! 😉

Question of the Day:
What great news did you get this week?

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Filed under Artificial Flavors, Baby Steps, GMO-free, Organic

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May 9, 2012 · 2:50 pm

More on Soda

My post “Getting Down to Basics” covered a lot of info in one place. One of my readers asked for me to elaborate on why soda is bad for you. I want to emphasize here that I will absolutely go into more depth on any topic in a separate post. All you have to do is ask!

Soda. Whether diet or regular, soda is a beverage of chemicals. There is no nutritional value to drinking soda.

We know regular soda contains chemicals and sugar. And we know sugar is bad for us (see my post on sugar). But what about diet soda?

Diet sodas contain the following: aspartame, artificial colors and preservatives, and phosphoric acid.

Aspartame is one nasty artificial sweetener, folks. The easy explanation here is that “artificial” just isn’t food. But beyond that, why is it so bad? In short, aspartame is linked to approximately 92 different health problems. I won’t go into it all here, but you might be interested to know that in addition to nearly any problem you can think of – anxiety, depression, insomnia, eye damage…the list goes on – aspartame is linked to weight gain.

Say what?!

That’s right. Diet food is causing weight gain because the body doesn’t know how to process all of the fake ingredients, like aspartame and other artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. As a result, your body stores the unknown ingredients as toxins in fat cells to protect you. Fat, as much as we hate it, is there to protect us. So lose the toxins, lose the weight. Eat real food that your body knows how to digest. Aspartame is also known to cause unstable blood sugar and sweet cravings, which also lead to weight gain. You can read more about aspartame from Dr. Mercola, Dr. Hull, and The Health Ranger.

Phosphoric acid is a chemical that is added to keep your soda bubbly but is linked to lower bone density. When we consume phosphoric acid, calcium is released from your bones and teeth to balance the levels of phosphorus. When the body excretes phosphoric acid, the calcium goes right along with it. This contributes to our risk for osteoporosis.

Did you know that most of the world does not consume dairy products and their rates of osteoporosis are much lower than ours? This means that despite our high consumption of dairy, which is a great source of calcium, we’re still not protected. The Health Ranger has some good info on this one, too.

So, in summary, soda, whether diet or regular, is best avoided as much as possible. Water should be your drink of choice. Look for a post about water coming soon!

Always feel free to send me questions. Health Coach Jillian is here to help!

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Filed under Artificial, Artificial Flavors, Dairy, Diet, Sugar, Water

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