Servings: 2-3 people

Ingredients:

3 large sweet potatoes

1 cup quinoa

1 can black beans, drained

2 ears of fresh corn, cut off the cob

¼ cup red onions, cut in slivers

1 jalapeño, minced

1 jar marinated bell peppers, chopped

1 avocado, sliced

Dressing:

½ cup plain yogurt

1 lemon, juiced

½ cup cilantro leaves

½ cup basil leaves

salt/pepper

3 TBS olive oil

Directions:

Cook quinoa. Begin by rinsing the quinoa and placing into a saucepan. Add 2 cups water to 1 cup quinoa. Place on a simmer, covered with a lid, for 12-15 min or until the water is evaporated. Fluff with a fork.

Roast sweet potatoes. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into bite size pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper (can add other seasonings like garlic powder or onion powder, etc.). Roast for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F or until tender when pierced with a fork.

Drin black beans. Prep all other ingredients.

Assemble dressing. In a blender add yogurt, lemon juice, cilantro, basil, salt and pepper. Blend adding just a few tablespoons of olive oil, just enough to blend well.

With each serving, place in a bowl each of the ingredients: roasted sweet potatoes, cooked quinoa, black beans, corn, red onion, jalapeño, marinated peppers and avocado. Drizzle with dressing and serve hot or cold.

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Website: “Could This Seemingly Harmlee Vitamin Be Jeopardizing Your Patients’ Health?”

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• Helps keep blood sugars from getting too high
• Promotes insulin sensitivity/limits insulin resistance
• Slows the movement of food out of the stomach, increasing feelings of satiety/fullness
• Inhibits feelings of hunger, decreasing food consumption
• Decreases the pleasure/reward response to food (so ideally, once you have eaten enough, the food doesn’t taste as good as when you’re body needed the fuel)

As you can see, having appropriate amounts of GLP-1 is important to good health. Research shows that certain groups of people are more likely to have low GLP-1 levels, including individuals who are overweight or obese, and those with type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Here are some things that have been shown to increase GLP-1 levels (1):

• losing weight through healthy eating and exercise
• eating meals that are balanced to contain some healthy fat, protein, and fiber from whole foods
• chewing food thoroughly
• taking a good quality probiotic daily

There are also medical interventions that can have positive impact on GLP-1 function, including certain medications, and the bariatric surgeries Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4558455/

The post Metabolic Hormones 101: GLP-1 appeared first on Healthy Steps Weight Loss Center.

Here are some lifestyle choices you can make to decrease insulin resistance and normalize adiponectin levels:

• Exercise most days of the week
• Decrease and interrupt periods of sedentary time
• Follow a healthy, low-glycemic meal plan and moderate your portions
• Lose weight

If you’d like guidance or support around any of the above behavior changes, call to schedule an appointment today!

(1) http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/26/8/2442/

The post Metabolic Hormones 101: Adiponectin appeared first on Healthy Steps Weight Loss Center.

Insulin is a hormone that regulates the usage and storage of the energy we get from food. Insulin is made by the beta cells of the pancreas and helps regulate blood sugar levels. When there’s a high amount of energy in the blood (for instance, after a meal), the pancreas releases more insulin.

Insulin then regulates the amount of energy in the blood by:

• moving glucose into various cells (some of the energy will be used immediately, some will be moved to short term storage [glycogen] and the rest will be converted to fat for long-term storage in the fat cells).
• suppressing lipolysis (the breakdown of stored fat)

So the more insulin, the more fat is stored and when insulin levels are high, the body cannot burn fat. As you can see, while regulating blood sugar levels is critical for good health and for best weight management, it too is helpful to keep insulin levels low. We can affect our insulin levels by moderating our intake of carbohydrate, avoiding high glycemic foods, managing our weight and exercising regularly.

The post Metabolic Hormones 101: Insulin appeared first on Healthy Steps Weight Loss Center.

Leptin levels decrease naturally when we lose fat. This makes it harder to maintain weight loss because it takes bigger portions of food to feel full. One very new area of research is studying administering leptin to patients who have already lost weight. Early findings indicate this could be an effective way to prevent regain after weight loss.(1)

1)http://www.jci.org/articles/view/35055

The post Metabolic Hormones 101: Leptin appeared first on Healthy Steps Weight Loss Center.

Ghrelin is our body’s hunger hormone. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach, and causes the physical belly sensations of hunger. When ghrelin levels are high, we eat more food, naturally. In addition to increasing our intake, Ghrelin also suppresses the breakdown of fat from our fat stores, making it hard to lose weight when ghrelin levels are high.  

Two things that can elevate ghrelin levels are:

• having a poor night’s sleep
• not eating adequate protein to meet minimum needs

 
Three things that research show lower ghrelin levels are:

• savoring your food and eating more mindfully (and slowly!)
• following a ketogenic meal plan
• weight loss surgeries including Sleeve Gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (1)

The post Metabolic Hormones 101: Ghrelin appeared first on Healthy Steps Weight Loss Center.

Lindsay Pasdera, MS RDN

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/01/31/beyond-gluten-free-gimmick-how-to-actually-lose-weight.html

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You may have noticed in last week’s post that we are recommending avoiding not only Sugar but also Sugar Substitutes, even the calorie-free ones. Here’s why.

1. If you avoid all sweeteners, you can increase your palate’s sensitivity to the subtle sweetness of natural foods like whole fruit, vegetables, and unsweetened dairy. If you continue using sugar substitutes like non-caloric sweeteners, your palate won’t adjust.

2. All sweeteners stimulate the same area in the brain, which signals your body to prepare for carbohydrate (i.e., release insulin). Stimulating this area of the brain—whether from sugar or non-caloric sweeteners—has been linked in studies to increased appetite and cravings later in the day.

3. When your body prepares for energy (as carbohydrates) but doesn’t get any (as in non-caloric sweeteners), things can get a little wiggy. Research indicates consumption of non-caloric sweeteners on a regular basis weakens hunger and satiety signaling in the body, by decoupling sensory signals from post-ingestive signals. This can mean more overeating later and trouble with portion control.

4. Artificial Sweetener use has been linked to an INCREASED risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease—just like sugar.

5. Artificial Sweeteners negatively impact the gut microbiome. Having a healthy balance of the good bacteria (“probiotics”) you should avoid both sugar (which feeds the bad guys) and artificial sweeteners (which harms the good guys)

Now you see why it’s helpful to cut out both added sugars and sugar substitutes during our 21 day ‘No Added Sweetener Challenge’!

Lindsay Pasdera, MS RDN

Research studies of interest:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3772345/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-sweeteners-may-change-our-gut-bacteria-in-dangerous-ways/

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/nature13793.pdf

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/gut-bacteria-brain-cognit_n_7644484.html

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