12 Steps to Wellness

I received this in an email from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and it's by Joshua Rosenthal, IIN Founder and Director.  He called them the 12 Steps to Wellness:

1.    Drink more water

2.    Practice cooking

3.    Increase whole grains

4.    Increase sweet vegetables

5.    Increase leafy green vegetables

6.    Experiment with protein

7.    Eat less meat, dairy, sugar and chemicalized, artificial junk foods; consume less coffee, alcohol and tobacco

8.    Develop easy and reliable habits to nurture your body

9.    Have healthy relationships that support you

10.  Find physical activity you enjoy and do it regularly

11.  Find work you love or a way to love the work you have

12.  Develop a spiritual practice

Do you agree or disagree?  Is there anything you would add to these steps?

Weight Loss Strategies

This is taken from my Unit 7 Seminar Post from NS220 Nutrition Planning and Management class at Kaplan University.  The question posed was "If you were educating an overweight client, what types of strategies would you provide for weight loss?"  Here is my reply: 

When it comes to educating a client on weight loss, I would have to say that I would start with a lot of what the Mayo Clinic has to say regarding the six main strategies of weight loss:

1.  Get them to make a commitment to their weight loss.  Some are not aware of the mental and physical aspects of losing weight, so I would want to make them fully aware that this is not an easy road ahead, but by committing themselves to the process, they can and will achieve success.

2.  Help them find their inner motivation.  What is motivating them to achieve this weight loss?  Better health?  Do they want to be around longer for their kids and family?  Maybe an event like a wedding, reunion or vacation is coming up and they want to look and feel their best.  Finding their inner motivation will not only help them focus to their commitment to weight loss, it will also help them weed out the negativity in their life.  It will surprise a lot how unsupportive some friends and family members will be.   With their inner motivation they will be able to shrug off those people and comments, and know that that's their own insecurities and to not let them affect their own goals.  Which brings me to #3.

3.  Help them make S.M.A.R.T. goals with their weight loss.  They will be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time oriented.  How much weight are they looking to lose?  How long will it take?  What changes will they be able to allow in their lives to make it possible?  Having long and short term goals, and even writing them down, will help them on their weight loss journey, and will help them change their lifestyle and not just "diet".

4.  Have them start eating and enjoying more healthier foods.  Honestly, a lot of times, there are foods that are healthy for them they've never even tried!  Healthy doesn't mean bland, boring food!  There is a wide varieties of things that can be prepared and enjoyed that I truly feel they would be surprised with.  I would add one more specific thing to this strategy - meal planning.  When you take a little bit of time just once a week to sit down and figure out what you will eat for your meals in the upcoming week, not only will it save on calories and get your eating the right foods, it can also be a money saver, and an extra bonus in changing your lifestyle.

5. Get moving, and stay moving!  When I personally hear the excuses of "no time" for exercise, I have to ask that person, what is so important in your life that you've put your own health at risk for it?  If you are not healthy and active, you won't be around for those things that you made more of priority than your own health and well-being.  Whether work, kids, functions, events, if you don't take time for yourself to improve on your health, you won't have the ability to keep up with it all, and your health, mental state and physical abilities to do all that you do will become less and less, and your quality of life will be poor.  There are a number of ways to keep active that don't involve going to the gym and working out for X-amount of time a day.  I would show my clients the possibilities that fit into their current lifestyle and responsibilities.

6.  Help them change their perspective on losing weight and getting healthy.  So many times people give up because they want to see instant results on the scale.  A lot of times they are gaining muscle mass, or maybe that week they are retaining water more than normal, and sometimes they just aren't being truthful with themselves about what they are doing.  Many of the changes can be seen in their bloodwork and lab results.  They have to remember that is something that is changing almost every aspect of their lives, so it's not easy, and it's not an instant change.  Celebrating your successes is KEY!  Maybe the stuck with their exercise plan that week, or maybe they planned their dinners and kept to it.  These are great successes in the long term goal of not only losing weight, but having the tools in place to keep it off.

When it comes to my client, I would try to stay actively involved with their weight loss as well.  Maybe suggest a website such as www.FitDay.com to help them keep track of their calories, exercise, moods and be able to keep a journal for themselves to vent or praise themselves, or have them email me and touch base with them directly.  I honestly feel that people can achieve great success in weight loss and maintenance when they have a great support system in place.


References;

Mayo Clinic Staff (December 18, 2010) Weight loss: 6 strategies for success.  Retrieved 10/10/2011 from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/HQ01625

You Need to Watch This!

If you haven't seen this 2011 documentary, I highly encourage you to do so.  Forks Over Knives is an amazing documentary with wonderful studies and comparisons over the past 100 years on how the newly adapted "Western Diet" is linked to the increase in cancers, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic and life threatening diseases.

The hubs and I watched it on Netflix this past week, and it's a real eye opener on how what we put in our bodies can either have a positive or negative effect on our health and well-being.  To this day, it amazes me that there is all this information out there, yet people still live to eat instead of eating to LIVE!!

Why is it we don't change our diets until something happens to us.  So many people not only avoid the truth about foods, they are in denial themselves about what they put in their bodies, and how they themselves are partial responsible for the diseases being able to rule their life.  

This documentary, as well as a documentary I reviewed last year called Food Matters, are definitely something I feel every American needs to watch.  Both stress an d repeat Hippocrates quote - "Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine".  Is yours?

Happy 1/2 Year to my Dylanbug!

6 months old <3

I cannot believe 6 months has already passed. Who would have thought that lively cute face you see before you was in the NICU for 5 weeks. Dylan was born on February 25th of this year by emergency c-section after I went into the hospital to check on him since I had not felt him move all day. If I would have went to bed that night, the smile you see before you would have never graced this earth. My placenta had detached from the womb and he was being asphyxiated.  He was delivered 3 1/2 weeks early, and was hooked up to a cooling bed, along with a nitric oxide/oxygen therapy to slow down his functions and help him breath, putting him into a state of suspension to minimize any brain damage.  5 weeks later, we were able to take him home, and he's been one of the biggest joys in his dad's and my life.

He's eating new foods, trying to crawl and learning to sit up.  He can babble nonstop, has the most contagious belly laugh and has the best facial expressions.  Plus, I just find him to be handsome as all get out!  He's truly made great strides over the weeks and months.

Happy 1/2 Year Birthday Buggy!!!

February 25, 2011

Diabetic Ketoacidosis - Knowledge is Power

Diabetic Ketoacidosis is something that can occur when there is low or no insulin for the body to break down sugar for fuel and instead, the body will begin to break down body fat, and the results are severe.   Many of you that  know me, know I myself and diabetic, and there have been differences of opinions with physicians and medical professionals on whether I am a type 1 (no insulin production) or a type 2 (low insulin production due to weight/diet).  Either way, when I was pregnant this last winter/spring, I was hospitalized for gastroenteritis and ketoacidosis.  I was hospitalized and monitored for a few days in the hospital, and it wasn't pretty and something I hope I never suffer from again.

Symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis range from light to severe.  One is constant thirst and frequent urination. Another is fatigue, headaches, muscle stiffness, trouble breathing when lying down. These are common symptoms, also found in diabetics that goes undetected, as it's something that is shrugged off easily.  In my case I was pregnant!!  Why would I think anything was wrong?  Are these all things that most pregnant women complain about?

I finally went to the hospital because I was vomiting even after drinking water.  Nothing was held down, and even though I looked flushed, I really wasn't holding any type of fever.  At first we thought it might be food poisoning, but after blood and urine testing, it was clear ketoacidosis was the issue.  I was in there for 4 days as they pumped my body intravenously with fluids, as I continued to vomit the grey/black broken down body fat, because I hadn't eaten anything in days until my body finally reached a moment of homeostasis and I was able to keep food down and process it, instead of regurgitating it.  It was not a pretty picture, and you feel so helpless, because there is nothing you can do.  The scary thing about this too is, if not treated properly, the mental stupor it can put you in can lead into a coma.  I slept for almost the entire time I was hospitalized, but thankfully I never slipped into one.  Keep in mind, I was going through all this while 7 months pregnant, and less than a month later is when the placenta broke away from my uterine wall and caused Dylan to asphyxiate in the womb, leading to an emergency c-section and him being in the NICU for 5 weeks.

And, for the most part, I was doing everything right.  Taking my insulin, trying to watch what I ate, but treating diabetes isn't an exact science.  Sure there are things we are all told to do, how to do them, but there are days our bodies have their own plan that goes against everything we've been educated and trained to do in dealing with diabetes.

Read more on Diabetic Ketoacidosis on Yahoo Health.

For more information on the warning signs of diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.