STRESS & WEIGHT GAIN

We all have stress! We can’t escape it! We need to learn how to effectively manage our stress. It will play a big part in influencing your overall health.

Your body pays a heavy physiological price for every moment you feel anxious, tense, frustrated or angry.

The danger is in experiencing these emotions on a chronic basis! Some things it does along with weight gain:

• Speeds up your heart rate

• Diverts most of your blood supply to your large muscles to run or fight

• Slow down digestive system or shut it down

• Stimulates release of extra glucose into your blood for energy

• Causes adrenal glands to increase cortisol which will increase blood sugar and other chemicals in the body

This can cause:

• High blood pressure

• Heart Disease

• Indigestion

• Constipation & Upset Stomach

• Low sex drive

• More susceptible to colds, flu and other diseases like cancer

There is hope! There are skills you can learn that will reduce the output of stress hormones, limiting the effects of chronic stress. Chronic stress causes increased cortisol levels and weight gain around the belly. We all have stress in our lives and just need to learn to handle it differently. Eating a balanced diet and getting rid of foods that cause inflammation helps immensely. You can learn what to eat step by step with the help of a Health Coach.

Of course, none of these things will help unless you do them. Learning to manage stress takes action! So, start today.

1. Breathe deep and regularly! By deliberately breathing slowly and deeply, you will begin to immediately counteract the effects of stress and will be able to face your problems with a clear head. Practice deep breathing for at least 5 min. twice daily. It will make a difference in your stress level and promote relaxation and good digestion!

2. Spend some quiet time every day in prayer, meditation, or a purposeful relaxation session. This can help decrease blood pressure, pulse rate, and improve blood circulation. There are many CD’s out there. Try some and use on a regular basis. You can listen at night while going to sleep or in the day at the computer or while doing things like walking, etc.

3. Practice Visualization. Almost all great athletes do this. Spend time daily visualizing yourself going about your day in a balanced and emotionally poised manner. You can include this in your prayer/meditation/relaxation exercise.

4. Make sure you’re getting the nutrients that you need for a healthy nervous system. Your nutritional status makes all the difference when you are handling stress so you don’t suffer health problems. Eat well balanced diet and get adequate B vitamins, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids.

5. Drink your stress and anxiety away! It’s not what you think. I’m talking about water. Even slight dehydration affects your nervous system, increasing your level of anxiety and nervousness. Drinking more pure water will help you fell calmer and sleep better. Skip the sodas, coffee, and energy drinks. All the sugar and caffeine will just add to your feelings of stress and anxiety. So will alcohol, as it rapidly turns to sugar in your body. Drown your troubles with water!

6. Move your body. Regular exercise is one of the best habits to help avoid depression and stay balanced. It doesn’t matter what kind of exercise you do. Ever notice how just taking a walk when you feel stressed helps you to clear your mind? Any enjoyable activity like yoga, swimming, golf, walking, etc. will help you burn off stress hormones and relax! Use your muscles and joints on a regular basis. Use it or lose it!

7. Be honest about your feelings. One of the best methods to increase awareness of what you are truly feeling is journal writing. Just write down whatever you feel. Pure thoughts from your mind and heart onto a piece of paper or computer even work. Regular journaling can be extremely beneficial to your emotional health.

8. Relax and get a good night’s sleep. Sleep is vital to our health and ability to deal with life’s problems. Think of how much better you feel after a good night’s sleep. Use some natural supplements if necessary. Turn off lights, computers, etc. before bed to give your body time to unwind and avoid the stimulation of these things.

9. Pamper yourself a little. A pleasurable experience does more good for the body than a stressful experience does harm. Pleasure enhances health, energy and emotional well-being. It causes our muscles to relax and even triggers healing. So, instead of focusing on avoiding stress, plan time for pleasure, instead. Get a massage, engage in a pleasurable hobby or activity, take a relaxing bath, soak in a hot tub, listen to beautiful music, and surround yourself with pleasant fragrances, colors and sounds. Doing these things will counteract the harmful effects of stress on your body and mind.

10. Do these things for yourself. You deserve it. Put them on your “To Do List!”

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Free Consultation when you Contact Karen Russell, Certified Health Counselor www.recipe4wellness.com

7 Ways to Live Healthy

What does it mean to be healthy? It’s not always easy. The decisions you make and what you eat play a big part in being healthy. It takes time and you need to do it a little bit at a time. As time goes on, you get used to making healthier decisions. After awhile, being healthy will seem effortless.

Here are some ways to live healthy:

1.  Realize that it’s not easy at first. None of us want to have extra weight, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or any other health issue. So why do we still eat unhealthy? It has to do with the foods available, our emotional ties to the foods and our lack of understanding what’s really good for us and what’s not. We need to educate ourselves and find out why we are attached to certain foods.
2. Don’t buy unhealthy foods. It sounds easy but you have to be conscious about making that decision no matter what you’re doing or where you are. Pack your lunch. Replace unhealthy food with healthy food (that tastes good).
3. Get support from family and friends by telling them that you are going to eat healthy and why. If someone teases you or tries to convince you to eat something unhealthy, don’t cave in! Stick to what you know is right. Misery loves company!
4. Set goals and stay motivated. Why are you doing this? Write it down and put it where you can see it. Break it up into small mini steps. Remind yourself of your goals daily and reward yourself each step of the way.
5. Make it liveable. You will be successful if you are making recipes you like and eating where you like to eat. As you make healthy changes, you will change. Find new places to eat and shop.
6. Stop the negative thoughts. These go through our heads all the time! As soon as you get a negative thought, replace it with a positive one. Over time, this habit will change your outlook and you will feel better.
7.  Move often. Don’t sit for long. Get up and move. Stretch, dance, run, walk or jump. Just move.

If you incorporate these healthy ways into your life, you will do them without thinking and you will have a better and more fulfilling life!

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Karen Russell is a Certified Health Coach and Nutritionist with over 20 years experience working with the most challenging health issues facing our society; weight and blood sugar management, including: diabetes, hypoglycemia, and metabolic syndrome.  Contact Karen for your free consultation!

KALE CRISPS

Ingredients:

Organic Kale
Celtic sea salt
Nutritional Yeast
Spray Oil

Directions:

Clean kale and pull of stems into pieces.
Place on baking sheet and spray with oil or drizzle oil on top.
Sprinkle with nutritional yeast.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 8-10 min. Don’t burn. They will be crispy and delicious!

Better Than Chips!

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More recipes can be found in our Gluten Free Living cookbook!

Dieting Mentality

One thing that hasn’t worked for me in my life is putting my focus on what I shouldn’t be eating. I’ve tried it it in the past with sugar, carbs and chocolate! The more I focused on dieting and staying away from these foods, the worse I did.

As a result of thinking this way, my weight would go up and down and I would tell myself things like, I was bad today or I cheated today on my diet. These are very negative comments that we say to ourselves a lot. It’s part of the reason that dieting doesn’t work in the long run and why we end up feeling so bad about ourselves.

Wouldn’t it be better to concentrate on what we should be eating and learn how to tweak what we do eat to make it taste delicious but healthy? I can’t even imagine a life without chocolate!

So, what’s one food you are saying NO to? How can you create a YES?

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Karen Russell is a Certified Health Coach and Nutritionist with over 20 years experience working with the most challenging health issues facing our society; weight and blood sugar management, including: diabetes, hypoglycemia, and metabolic syndrome.  Contact Karen for your free consultation!

IS STRESS MAKING YOU FAT?

Are you exercising, taking supplements and eating decent but still not losing weight? So many women are in this boat. So what does stress have to do with weight loss?

Our bodies respond to stress by storing fat around our belly. Here’s what happens when we are stressed:

• Cortisol levels increase.
• Leptin sensitivity goes down. (This is what tells us we’re full.)
• Hunger goes up.
• Belly fat increases as fat gets stored. (Visceral fat)

  Finally, weight goes up!

This all takes place even if stress is not real and only perceived. When cortisol is out of whack and our adrenal glands aren’t functioning the way they should, we can gain weight in the belly and also have less energy when we need it. With long term stress, cortisol and insulin remain high and the extra glucose gets stored as fat. This cycle continues unless you get to the root of the problem.

Here are some symptoms:

1. Do you feel tired during the day and perk up at night?
2. Do you like to snack in the evening or stay up late?
3. When under pressure, do you feel shaky, hungry or confused?
4. Do you rely on caffeine and sugar to get through the day?
5. Do you notice a spare tire around your middle?
6. Do you exercise and eat right but still have a hard time losing weight?

These are some signs that you may have imbalanced cortisol levels. You can go on for a long time this way but the end result in the long run is exhausted cortisol levels and very low energy or possibly disease.

The good news is that you can get to the bottom of this. You can have your cortisol levels checked to see what’s going on. I have test kits available with all my programs to help you get to the root of the issue so you can be successful with losing weight and increase your energy.

Your cortisol levels are checked 4 times during the day with saliva to see if you are out of balance at any or all of these times during the day. It’s easy to do and very informative.

CONTACT ME to set up a time to talk about it.

“Flip Your Internal Fat Switch!” 

When you eat you want to kick in your body’s heat burning mechanism or thermogenesis. Your insulin level increases after eating certain foods and this creates energy or heat. Our bodies will use energy stored in fat cells to burn if needed. Protein takes longer to process and will have a higher thermic effect. Eating processed food without fiber and little protein does the opposite!

One way to kick in this effect is to drink tea. One type stands out from the rest to help with melting fat and that tea is oolong tea. It’s between green and black tea. You get the benefits from both!

The catechin you get from green tea is EGCG which helps this process. The antioxidants in black tea are flavonoids. They help you keep the fat off according to Dr. Al Sears. Oolong tea falls in the middle. The leaves aren’t whole or crushed, they’re bruised. This way they hold on to the benefit of both black and green tea.

The catechin you get from green tea is EGCG which helps this process. The antioxidants in black tea are flavonoids. They help you keep the fat off according to Dr. Al Sears. Oolong tea falls in the middle. The leaves aren’t whole or crushed, they’re bruised. This way they hold on to the benefit of both black and green tea.

To get the benefit drink a cup in the morning and one in the afternoon. You will kick up the fat burning process in your body. Add some lemon and a piece of fresh mint!

Happy drinking & fat burning

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Karen Russell is a Certified Health Coach and Nutritionist with over 20 years experience working with the most challenging health issues facing our society; weight and blood sugar management, including: diabetes, hypoglycemia, and metabolic syndrome.  Contact Karen for your free consultation!

]]> http://www.recipe4wellness.com/boomer-health-article-flip-your-internal-fat-switch/feed/ 0 http://www.recipe4wellness.com/boomer-health-article-flip-your-internal-fat-switch/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Recipe4wellness/~3/6pvyhleLDdk/ http://www.recipe4wellness.com/recipe4wellness-healthier-magic-cookie-bars/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:54:06 +0000 Karen http://www.recipe4wellness.com/?p=1151

Healthier Magic Cookie Bars

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
1 crust (see below)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 to 1 cup mini dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup plus 1/6 cup unsweetened coconut

For Crust:
2 tablespoons organic unsalted butter, melted or coconut oil
1 cup almond meal flour
1/2 cup ground organic pecans
1/4 teaspoon organic cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pure organic vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Lakanto or other healthy sweetener
1/4 teaspoon pure stevia extract (Optional)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 organic egg white, beaten

Sugar-Free Caramel Sauce:
1/2 cup Lakanto or other healthy sweetener
1/2 tablespoon raw agave nectar
1/4 cup organic coconut milk in can – *Not reduced fat* (don’t use the kind in carton)
1/4 teaspoon pure organic vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure stevia extract (Optional)
Mix together ingredients for the crust, minus the egg white. Beat egg white with a fork and measure out one tablespoon of it. Add to crust ingredients and stir until a dough comes together. Press crust into an 8 by 5 loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes.

For caramel sauce, measure out cream and vanilla and set aside. Heat 1/2 cup Lakanto or sweetener and 1/2 tablespoon (1 and 1/2 teaspoons) agave in a deep saucepan over medium heat. Swirl pan occasionally until all sweetener is dissolved. Watch the color of the dissolved sweeteners closely, and pull from the heat when it turns a dark amber color (do not let mixture turn black!) Add coconut milk and vanilla immediately. It will foam up considerably. Stir mixture until caramel sauce is smooth. Stir in stevia. Pour into a metal or glass bowl and set aside.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over crust, then top with chopped walnuts and coconut. Pour caramel over the coconut, taking care to drench all of the coconut in sauce. Press down on the coconut all over with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting and storing. These are best when eaten the day after making. Wrap in plastic wrap and foil to freeze.

Enjoy!

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Karen Russell is a Certified Health Coach and Nutritionist with over 20 years experience working with the most challenging health issues facing our society; weight and blood sugar management, including: diabetes, hypoglycemia, and metabolic syndrome.  Contact Karen for your free consultation!

COOKING MORE CAN CHANGE YOUR HEALTH

100 years ago only about 2% of our meals were eaten outside of the home. Now over 50% of meals are eaten outside of the home! Fast food, frozen microwaved food and frankenfood is eaten because it is fast and easy. We eat in front of the T.V. and in the car while on the move.

A lot of research has been done showing that kids that eat meals with the family at the dinner table get into less trouble than kids that don’t. We complain about not having enough time to cook but we watch the cooking channel and watch T.V. Cooking isn’t a priority a lot of times and other things get in the way. On top of it all, our foods have changed and what used to be simple and plain is full of chemicals, pesticides and words we can’t pronounce. The importance of what we put on our fork is more important now than it ever was. It is the most powerful tool you can use. Our grandparents and great grandparents ate fresh food that was real and didn’t have as many health issues as we are having now. Our children and grand children have more allergies to foods now too because of eating this way.

What to do?

Get rid of foods with high fructose corn syrup, trans fat, and chemicals.

Here are 5 Things To Do That Can Change Your Health

1. Replace with fresh organic fruits and vegetables.
2. Eat meat that doesn’t contain all the antibiotics & hormones.
3. Shop at farmers markets and support the local farmers.
4. Have family dinners and cook more.
5. Learn to shop smart.

Bottom Line: Our food is the most important thing we purchase so it’s an important part of our lives. Make it a priority! One thing I help my clients learn is how to shop healthy and cook simple, nutritious and delicious meals, desserts and snacks.

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Karen Russell is a Certified Health Coach and Nutritionist with over 20 years experience working with the most challenging health issues facing our society; weight and blood sugar management, including: diabetes, hypoglycemia, and metabolic syndrome.  Contact Karen for your free consultation!

Easy to make gluten free high energy fudge and low glycemic too. This can be a pick me up snack or dessert. Lots of quality ingredients for great energy and good taste!

It’s Christmas and you want to make sugar cookies. How do you make them gluten free?

Here is a recipe that I adapted to fit into a healthier cookie that still can satisfy.

Enjoy!

• 1 cup Lakanto or other healthy sweetener
• 1 cup organic butter or ghee, softened
• 2 organic egg yolks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups Gluten-Free Flour Blend (see below)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

Combine sweetener and butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add egg yolks and vanilla. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; add flour blend and salt. Beat until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate until firm (1 hour).

Heat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on surface sprinkled lightly with gluten-free flour, one-half at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

Gluten-Free Flour Blend:

To make flour blend, combine 2 cups rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca flour, ¼ cup almond meal flour and 1 teaspoon xanthan gum. Use appropriate amount for recipe; store remainder in container with tight-fitting lid. Stir before using.

Recipe Tip

- Use any shape 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, depending on the season.