Dean sez...

Hey so how the heck are you? So I am honoured to have my friend Alison Golden provide a guest post today. I actually invited her to write the post for a few reasons.

First, she can write.  And second, she gets this journey that we are on.  There is the pie in the sky thinking about going Paleo and getting results and then there are those who understand that there are nuances to this journey that go beyond simply eating real food.

Alison falls into the second group.  She gets and writes about the nuances that most experts refuse to discuss (mostly because they don't understand the nuances themselves.)

The third reason I invited Alison to post was that she just published her first book, The modern no-nonsense guide to paleo.

It's a beautiful book. Really it truly is.  It's wonderfully designed and organized. And the content is great and practical for those who are struggling to make this thing work.   So with no further ado, lets turn this over to Alison.

Alison sez...

Ever read nutrition guru’s Facebook pages and find plastered all over them comments like these?

“I’m 100%.” “Never eat sugar.” “My kids turn down the pizza and birthday cake at parties.”

Do you ever read those things?

Or maybe you watch your co-worker eating salad for lunch every day, except on Fridays when she adds a banana. Or see your spouse eat two squares of chocolate, then carefully wrap the foil back up and leave it in plain view on the kitchen counter with barely a backward glance.

Have you noticed these people?

And marveled at them?

Picture perfect

Their lives must be so perfect, so organized, so wonderful, they must look like pictures from Real Simple and Oprah magazines rolled into one, don’t you think? Well, possible, but unlikely, methinks. It’s much more likely that you and they are more similar than you could possibly think.

Yes, you

You, who is 85% on a good day. You, who can’t resist the cupcakes. You, whose kids go back for seconds and sometimes thirds at parties…

Similar, really? But how can that be?

Those "other" people work right next to a bowl of candy and don't touch a one, while you put two miles between yourself and the bowl in order to avoid downing them all in one. “Inhale” doesn’t even begin to describe it. And yet the two of you are very similar. You are only different in the details.

Similarities

Let me be clear before we go any further: You both have formed habits.

"Eating healthy is not about discipline, nor is it a virtue; it is about learning habits and developing skills."

And you know how to do both of those. You’ve demonstrated these qualities since you were born.

Since birth

You learned how to drink, how to walk, how to go down a slide. As you got older, you learned more complex processes. You may not have learned how to eat healthy food and moderation, but you learned how to clean your teeth in the morning, how to have a shower, get dressed. (I realize I’m making some assumptions here about your personal hygiene habits, but I hope I’m in the ballpark…) You also learned to do them daily, often multiple times daily. They were repeated until they became habitual, tied to some other action in your daily routine.

Cues

Before bed, you cleaned your teeth. When you went to the park, you went down the slide. When it was someone’s birthday, you ate cake. When you had dinner, you ate all of it. Habits. That’s all it is. Like hanging your car keys on a hook or always taking your handbag with you everywhere. The only difference between you and those healthy eating, moderately consuming people are your habits.

The difference is not self-discipline, being smarter, and most certainly not, being more worthy.

Those “super-people” above, have simply learned at some point how to eat healthily, in appropriate quantities and do so habitually. Every day, all the time. The lucky ones had their parents help them do it. Others trained themselves at a later age.  But the bare facts remain: We all learn new skills and habits all the time. Any time we change a job, move house, develop a new interest, we go through this process of learning new skills and developing new habits. We have the basic fundamentals down.

So what do we do?

• We learn how to do something
• We practice
• We make errors
• We correct our errors
• We continue until we master the skill and embed the habit

For example, when we start a new job, we learn where our desk is, and we sit there on a daily basis.  We probably have a whole scenario built around it. Perhaps we walk the same route, put down our bags, go get a cup of coffee, chat to our friend in the next cubicle, then sit down at our desk and log on to Facebook our email. The first few times we do it, we might get lost because we’re in a large, unfamiliar corporate building, or we don’t know anyone so we just take our coffee back to our desk. We feel a little awkward or frustrated but over time and with practice we make friends, find our way, and get our habit down so that it becomes automatic. We lose our discomfort to the point we don’t even think much about what we’re doing any more. This is what we need to do with changing our eating habits. Learn what to do, and do it daily. Practice it over and over, refining as we go, learning what works and doesn’t work.

Eating paleo is easy

I hear this over and over. It is only partly correct. And the missing piece is why people fall off the wagon and go back to eating a Standard American Diet. People think eating healthy is easy when you know: a)   what to do, and b)   why you should do it.

The problem comes when the piece about how to do it is missing.

When this piece is absent, the temptation is to think that we’ll wake up one day, and eat healthy from then on using our willpower. And that’s misleading. To be successful, we need the third piece of the puzzle, skill development and habit formation.

How to form a habit

BJ Fogg, Ph.D., Director of the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford University, believes they should be tiny, and follow on from an already established habit. I think this is good advice. For example, start having fruit for dessert at lunch. Make it a habit by doing it every time you have lunch. Cue it up in your mind, or write it down on an index card or in your planner:

When I have lunch, then I have fruit for dessert.

Once that has been established, Fogg suggests doing it for every day for five days, add another habit. Have salad, instead of a sandwich, for lunch:

When I have lunch, then I have salad and fruit.

After five days of this, drop the soda for water. And so on, and so on. Build up your habits slowly over time, set them up so they are connected to a regular habit you already have established using the when/then principle described above.

The role of willpower

If you choose to change habits you do daily, you can leave your finite willpower for those infrequent times such as parties and celebrations that you are not so practiced at. In time, you can set about to change even these in the same way, but first concentrate on the daily habits.  Even habits such as having cake at birthday parties can be changed if you view it as simply a habit.

Once upon a time...

Some time ago, you didn’t know how to drive. You went through a time of frustration, humiliation and despondency. But you got through it, didn’t you? And your life opened up because you acquired that skill. The process for developing healthy eating skills is just the same. It’s about knowing what to eat and instilling a habit to eat it. Remember: tiny, every day for five days, cue it up by connecting it to an already established habit. Which healthy habit will you choose first?

Alison Golden writes on the topic of paleo over at Paleo/NonPaleo. She aims to share ideas, inspire and motivate readers by teaching them how to live paleo in a non-paleo world. She is also the author of the bestselling book, The Modern, No-Nonsense Guide to Paleo, a unique tool that gives the reader hundreds of strategies to navigate the learning process to successful paleo living.

I loved the tips so much I asked her to write a guest post about it.  I have actually implemented a number of these in fact.  And what I like the most is that I truly believe a clean organized kitchen (or any room for that matter) helps keep the mind focused.  And the more focused we are, the better decisions we make.

Enjoy!

Lea sez: On my first day of knife skills class in culinary school, the instructor, a fit, high energy guy who resembled a drill sergeant, walked up to a student’s work station.  He smushed his palm into the cutting board, and came up covered in crumbs and other food particles.  He proceeded to shove it close to the student’s face and screamed, “ A messy space is a messy mind.  Keep your mind clean!”.  I immediately wiped off my cutting board.

I have come to internalize the truth in his statement.  If my kitchen is not clean, I find it hard to breath, to distracting to cook a meal, and difficult to make good choices about what I eat.  If your body is your temple, then your kitchen is the threshold of your nutrition.  Turn your kitchen into a sacred space.

By turning your kitchen into a sacred space, you are creating an opportunity for yourself to clear your mind.  The world outside your kitchen can be hectic, but inside your sacred space of nourishment, you are taking a moment to focus on something very important: your health.

1. Respect your kitchen and equipment.

I view my main knife as an extension of my soul.  It is a tool that helps me produce beautiful meals.  When I am finished using my knife, I immediately wipe it off and put it away.  By showing respect and maintaining my knife, I am insuring that it will be ready for the next time it is required to slice a tomato.

2. Break your prep down into small steps.

Begin with collecting your ingredients, then move on to portioning them out and cutting them.  After that let the cooking begin.  That same chef I mentioned earlier also used to say, “The prep is the work; the cooking is the reward”.  It’s fun to flip things around in the pan, but it can be very overwhelming if you are scrambling to cut up an onion, while the items in your pan are burning.  By breaking down your meal, you can focus on each task at hand, giving that onion your full attention.  That way, when you are cooking and you realize you forgot an ingredient, you have more time to collect and chop.

3. Keep a container next to you to eliminate trips to the garbage can.

Nobody enjoys having something like a trash can blocking their path when they’re in the groove.  Having a bowl that is easy to reach keeps your trash contained for one easy trip to the garbage.

4. Clean as you go.

I know you have heard this tune before, but sometimes it seems to general of a phrase.  Let’s look at it a different way.  After you are done chopping, cleaning your knife and cutting board is an opportunity to pause and consider the next step.  Wiping the random pieces of food and drippings off your counter top is a chance to finish that step, and move on to the next task without looking back.  When you empty a container of ingredients into a hot pan, refrain from hovering over the food.  Take a moment to clean the container, giving the pan and food an opportunity to get acquainted.  Cleaning as you go is the same as taking a deep breath.

5. Wash a pan while it’s still hot.

This will make the job so much easier.  When cool water hits a hot pan, it helps release the particles attached to the bottom of the pan.  This cuts down on soaking time. It also gives your food a brief opportunity to cool so that it’s not too hot to eat.

By implementing these 5 actions, you are not only keeping your kitchen clean, but you are keeping your mind clean.  Your mind is a part of your sacred space.  The dread of cleaning the kitchen after enjoying a good meal is a horrible feeling.  Season your food with love and sass, not emotions like dread and frustration.

Lea Rumbolo began her cooking career in a very Italian family and is currently fulfilling her dreams of teaching people how to feel comfortable in their own kitchen space, with The Red Spoon.  You can find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theredspoon.  You can also read her blog at http://hearthcommunity.wordpress.com.

You may not realize it, but those nicely browned and crispy cookies you just pulled from the oven contain something that is likely to age you faster. Browned and crispy foods and foods containing sugars, contain a substance called A.G.E.’s.

What are AGE’s? AGE’s are Advanced Glycation End products. AGE’s occur when sugar molecules attach to protein or fat molecules without an enzyme. This can occur either in the food you eat, or they can formed within your body.

So what’s the big deal about this, you ask?

AGE’s are a serious promoter of aging in the body, as well as the beginnings of many chronic diseases. In fact AGE’s are one of the biggest factors in the diseases of aging including, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and others as well.

These AGE’s form a sticky plaque-like substance in the brain, nerve tissue, and the rest of the body. It is reported that when AGE’s are consumed, about 10-30% are absorbed into the body. The body’s ability to eliminate these once they are absorbed is very limited, meaning that once these gunky, gooey, nasty things get in human cells, it’s damage that cannot be undone.

While all human tissue is subject to damage by AGE’s, the lining of blood vessels is especially sensitive, as well as certain nerve cells that can quickly accumulate damage—especially in blood capillaries of the kidneys and eyes, brain and nerve cells, collagen, and your DNA. This is pretty serious and destructive stuff.

AGE’s are responsible for wrinkly, sagging skin, damage to the pancreas that causes diabetes, and damage to blood vessels, which leads to the plaque buildup that causes heart disease.

Besides the irritation and inflammation they create in blood vessels, they damage collagen in blood vessel walls, which leads to high blood pressure. Glycation also weakens the blood vessel walls, can cause aneurisms and deadly hemorrhagic strokes.

AGE’s also help form the sticky amyloid proteins and neurofibril tangles that take over the brains of those with Alzheimer’s disease, causing severe memory loss and dementia.

They can easily damage the nerves, causing peripheral neuropathy and deafness, as well as attacking the tiny blood vessels in the eyes, which in turn can lead to blindness, as well as creating dangerous by-products that can become cancer.

The wide variety of diseases is the result of glycation interfering with the cellular function of the body and highly oxidizing byproducts.

As you can see, AGE’s are highly destructive. Where do they come from?

Advanced Glycation End products are from two primary sources:

• From our diet (Exogenous AGE’s)

• Internally produced in the body (Endogenous AGE’s)

Any food that is browned or roasted such as brown bread, browned or grilled meat, bacon, crispy brown cookies, chips, crackers, etc. contains AGE’s. They form whenever food browns with heat as in roasting, frying or grilling. Cooking food at high temperatures without water or liquids (as in frying) causes the sugars in the food to bind with the proteins or fats to form AGE’s.

Any food that is high in fat, protein or sugar is likely to cause AGE’s when cooked. Using water when cooking as in steaming, poaching or boiling helps to prevent the sugars from attaching to the proteins and fats and helps to prevent AGE’s. Cooking at a lower temperature also helps to minimize AGE’s.

You know that crispy skin on the roasted Thanksgiving turkey? That’s full of AGE’s. So are French fries, bacon, chips, and just about anything that is baked or fried to a golden brown. Even that juicy steak, dark roasted coffee in your espresso, and that delicious caramel on your dessert are full of AGE’s.

Processed, packaged foods often have added AGE’s to enhance their flavor and make the food look more appealing. Caramel coloring is a good example of this. The list of foods with added AGE’s also includes donuts, cakes, crackers, chips, dark colored soda, and even dark beer.

Endogenous (or internally formed) AGE’s occur in the body from the sugar and carbohydrates in the food you eat. Excessive sugar in the body (in the form of glucose) binds to proteins causes glycation. People with chronically elevated blood sugar have the most damage from AGE’s, such as those with type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

As nutrition expert Johnny Bowden says, “It’s like putting sugar in your gas tank, it totally gums up the works.”

Certain types of sugars such as fructose are much more likely (as much as 10x more likely) to glycate. If you look at the huge amount of foods that contain high fructose corn syrup, or the large numbers of people eating sugary, processed foods and drinks, is it any wonder why there are such high rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other inflammatory diseases?

AGE’s can be measured by the same test given to diabetics to monitor long-term blood sugar control. This blood test is known as the Hemoglobin A1c test, or HbA1C. For optimal aging, your A1C levels (whether diabetic or not) should be less than 5%, which would mean keeping your blood sugar level at about 90 mg/dl or lower on average. While that seems fairly low by some conventional medical standards, this percentage is easily attainable if you eat to keep blood sugar stable.

How to Reduce the Effects of AGE’s

• Keep blood sugar low with a low carb/low sugar diet. Especially avoid the sugar that comes from fructose, as in high fructose corn syrup and fruit juices.

• Avoid grains—especially wheat and corn, they tend to raise blood sugar. And grains are often baked or fried to become crispy and brown, which makes them even higher in AGE’s. Yes, that includes that wood fire roasted pizza, too.

• Cook meats at lower temperatures. Higher temperatures produce far more AGE’s than slower cooking over low heat. Cook meat in broth if possible. For example, rare and medium-rare meats have fewer AGE’s than fully cooked, browned meats, like chicken wings, barbeque, bacon, or well-done steak.

• Eat vegetables and fruits raw, boiled, stewed, slow-cooked, or steamed. Boiling and steaming introduce water to the cooking process, which stops glycation.

• Avoid all processed foods. Not only are they higher in sugar content, they often have caramel coloring and other additives high in AGE’s to improve color and appearance.

• Avoid browned, roasted, grilled, carmelized, or fried foods. If it’s golden brown or brown, it most likely contains AGE’s. Yes, that includes bacon too, sadly.

• Avoid dark colored sodas, dark beer, and anything with caramel coloring in it.

Supplements that Battle AGE’s

• L-carnosine - An amino acid found in protein. L-carnosine helps prevent glycation by generating an enzyme that is able to counterattack AGE’s that have already been formed. This supplement is said to decrease the risk of attracting neurodegenerative disorder and inflammatory diseases by removing the unsaturated aldehydes (sugars). Since meat contains this amino acid, eating meat is less likely to produce as many dangerous AGE’s in the body.

• Benfotiamine - A fat-soluble synthetic form of vitamin B-1. This substance has been studied to stop AGE’s from being formed. It blocks the biochemical processes that can cause vascular, nerve, kidney and retinal damage that are connected AGE’s and high blood sugar levels. Benfotiamine is a supplement and not naturally found in foods

• Pyridoxamine - Vitamin B6 is involved in hundreds of beneficial enzymatic reactions in the body. This unique form of vitamin B6, called Pyridoxamine, is thought to interfere specifically with toxic glycation reactions in the body.

• Antioxidants – Foods and supplements high in antioxidants will help to combat the damage that AGE’s do in the body. Supplements include alpha lipoic acid, astaxanthin, vitamin C and vitamin E, beta-carotene, zinc, selenium, quercetin, and flavonoids.

While aging is inevitable, you can definitely speed it up or slow it down drastically by the foods you eat. Eat Young and Live Young!

So a while back I alluded to the fact I have a new course in the works that focuses specifically on willpower.

Today I am going to reveal a few more secrets, 5 in fact, about what that course is about, when I’m going to offer it and how you can get $39 off the list price.

So lets jump right into it shall we?

Part 1: Five secrets to Building incredible willpower

1. What is the course called?

It’s ironic I lead out with this because this was in fact the hardest part of the process for me.  I knew what the title was, but I was really struggling with a subtitle that captured exactly what I knew my course would do.

After spending a good 3 or 4 weeks working on it every day I finally had my Eureka moment.  Subsequently, the course will be titled…

2. Why did you decide to build a course around this

One of the shifts that I made on my weight loss journey was to STOP doing things people told me I should be doing, and START testing and measuring ideas that made sense for me and the philosophy I had created for myself.

Consequently, I only adopted ideas that worked for my body type. If they didn’t work, they were quickly discarded regardless of the source.

That is called validated learning. It’s learning where we have actual evidence that something works.

This course was also created based on empirical evidence.  Back in May of 2011 I launched my podcast and my very first episode was called, Building Incredible Willpower.

Almost one year later that episode still sits on the iTunes top 200 charts.  In fact, it is always in the top 100 and usually in the top 50 on any given day. As of this writing it is #37.

It still gets a tremendous number of downloads because it is a topic that many struggle with.

3. Willpower is more than simply changing how we look

You can see from the subtitle that I mention that learning this skill will change how you look, but also how you learn, love, lead and live.

I could just as easily call this course a host of names that my system accurately addresses.

• Building incredible habits
• Building incredible patience
• Building incredible relationships
• Building incredible resolve

But willpower most accurately captures the essence of what we are trying to accomplish, BUT it can be applied in all areas of our life.

For instance, the 5 steps I teach can be used to be a more loving wife or mother or husband or father.  They can be used to be more patient. They can be used to exercise more consistently. They can be used to become an early riser.

And here is the best part.

It is a system that you can teach to your kids so that they will be empowered to make better choices now rather than suffer by following in our path. More on that in #5.

4. The SCORE method.

I have been working on this idea for almost 2 years now and have honed it to the point where the 5 steps are aptly called the SCORE method.

In another post I will reveal more about what those 5 steps are, but I wanted to squash a myth that most people think about willpower.

IT IS NOT SOME MAGICAL POWER THAT A SELECT CHOSEN FEW POSSESS.

To the contrary, willpower is methodical and measurable. And the score method will reveal exactly how that can be accomplished with startling results.

5. A legacy of willpower

Here is what I think is the most amazing part of the SCORE method.  You can teach it to your children.

Parents want their child to thrive.  I believe there is no better tool to allow a child to accomplish this then the SCORE method.

The method can be taught to all members of the family. It can be posted prominently on the fridge or some area where everyone would see it and refer to it.

And it can be used for something as simple as teaching your children how to WILLINGLY make their bed everyday to making better choices when it comes to food and other temptations that they will face in their young lives.

I will continue to share more about my course over the coming weeks.

If you would like to get on the INSIDERS LIST to learn more about pricing and special offers and other details, then add your name on the list below (if you haven’t done so in the past) and be sure to go to your inbox and verify your email within the next 5-minutes so you can get all the exclusive updates and discounts that I won’t be sharing with the general public.

Part 2: When will it be offered

The world premiere of BUILDING INCREDIBLE WILLPOWER will be opening its doors Monday, May 20^th, 2103.

It will be a 21-day course with one new lesson delivered each day. You will graduate from the program Sunday, June 9^th, 2013.

Part 3: A $39 discount right now

Neely Quinn, who is one of the Big Cheeses over at Paleo Plan, put together a STELLAR collection of products from a variety of Paleo Superstars and called the program, PRIMAL LIFE KIT.

Here is a breakdown of what it comes with…

• 11 primal recipe and meal planning eBooks
• 2 meal plan programs
• 4 autoimmune and PCOS programs
• 6 informational how to eBooks
• 3 magazine subscriptions
• 2 free bonuses
• 8 products with discount codes

If you use my link to take advantage of this incredible offer, then I will do the following for you.

I will apply the $39 spent on Primal Life kit to the price of my Building Incredible Willpower program.

If that is of interest, click here, Primal Life Kit, and get your copy of this super duper offer today.

Just remember the offer expires Tuesday, April 9^th at 12am PST.

To building incredible willpower my friend,

Deano

Hey primal peepsters,

So just wanted to give you a quick update and offer a really cool bonus to my loyal followers (Yup! I am talking about you).

On Tuesday I sent an email out about a cool bundle that Neely Quinn over at Paleo Plan has put together.

I just got an email from Neely today letting me know that 2750 people have already purchased this bundle. That's HUGE!!

In case you missed the first email, it's a $485 offer for $39, BUT the offer ends April 9th. Here's what is included.

You will get...

* 22 ebooks with contributions from Mark Sisson, Abel James, Primal Palate, etc.
* 2 meal plans
* 3 magazine subscriptions
* 2 fitness programs
* 1 audiobook
* 8 discount codes

BUT, I'm going to add an additional bonus for those who purchase through my link.

-->Click here to purchase the Primal Life Kit

I have mentioned in the past that I have a new course that will be coming out next month.  The program is called...

If you use my link to purchase the Primal Life Kit, and then later decide to take my course, I will subtract the cost of this program ($39) from the course purchase price.

I'm biased about my course, but it is unlike anything out there.  In fact, I describe it as EPIC.  I truly think people are going to be blown away with the impact this course will have in all areas of their life.

So hopefully this will inspire you to invest in this bundle and, of course, your overall health.

Remember it only takes one idea to change your destiny.

-->Click here to purchase the Primal Life Kit

To your health and making some serious shift happen,

Dean

ps...I'm going to write a blog post tomorrow explaining what my course is about (HINT: It's called the SCORE method.)

pps...if you have already purchased the program you will get the bonus if you decide to take my WILLPOWER course.  I am able to track everyone who buys through my links.  So I know who you are. Or as they would say in Avatar, "I see you." ha ha! OK that was wacky.

I have sort of ignored all the noise about Genetically Modified foods, thinking it didn’t apply to me, etc. Well, once I started researching this particular subject, I realized how scary this stuff could be! Genetically Modified foods have slowly and quietly found their way into our food supply and onto our grocery shelves. But the scariest thing is that we often don’t know we are eating GM foods, since labeling is not yet mandatory.

While there have been no ‘official’ studies done on humans, some of the effects GM foods have on animals is pretty frightening. The thing is, GM foods are not just for animals. They are well entrenched in our food supply. In fact over 80% of soy, corn and cottonseed are now genetically modified.

Animals fed genetically modified grains or seeds like corn, soy and cottonseed often have  problems with infertility, immune function and allergies, accelerated aging, blood sugar instability, and diseased organs, including the GI system.

Genes have actually been added to some soy as a built in insecticide. These genes are thought to be able to transfer themselves into the DNA of our intestinal flora, so when ingested, they may keep functioning in our bodies. Since many GMO’s are developed to fight off insects, you could end up with is something like a human pesticide factory within your GI system, long after the genetically modified food has been eaten.

Here are a few of the reactions that animals reportedly have had to some genetically modified foods:

•    Female rats fed genetically modified soy lost most of their offspring in less than 3 weeks.

•    Mice fed genetically modified soy had altered sperm cells and DNA structures, and their offspring had changed DNA as well.

•   When male rats fed were fed genetically modified soy their testicles changed from a healthy pink to dark blue.

•    Sheep died by the thousands after grazing on genetically modified cotton. Autopsies showed severe irritation and black patches in the intestines and liver, well as enlarged bile ducts.

•    Buffalo died in three days after eating GM cotton plants for the first time.

•    Thousands of farm workers have had severe allergic reactions from working around GM cotton.

•    Buffalo fed GM cottonseed had premature deliveries, abortions, infertility, and uterine problems. Most calves died, and the cows and bulls became sterile.

Because GM foods also contain increased amounts of phyto-estrogens or plant estrogens, they can contribute to excess weight gain, gynecomastia (“man boobs”), and stubborn belly fat, as well as being a factor in some cancers and other serious health issues.

Because genetically modified foods contain modified proteins they are also possibly tied to severe allergic reactions in people. Genetically modified foods now contain new and unknown substances that have never been present in nature before.

Do you want to trust this? I sure don’t. We have no way of knowing what kinds of ill health effects GM foods can produce in humans, but when you look at some of the negative reactions that animals have had to GM foods, it’s not a big leap to think that GM foods can be very harmful to our bodies as well.

Similar to so many other chemically altered foods, there have been no long-term studies done on the safety of GM foods. It appears that once again we will be the human guinea pigs. And at the present there is no mandatory labeling of GM foods, so this leaves it up to you, to protect your own health and avoid these biological experiments.

How do we escape the possible health consequences of genetically modified foods?

The most common genetically modified foods are:

•    Soy

•    Corn

•    Cottonseed Oil

•    Canola Oil

Around 80-90% of these foods are now genetically modified, unless they are organic.

And that’s not all the genetically modified foods:

Rice–Allegedly, there are reports of rice varieties containing human genes to be grown in the United States. Genetically modified rice can cause allergic reactions and gene transfers.

Tomatoes–Tomatoes have been genetically modified for longer shelf life. In studies on animals, the animal test subjects died within a few weeks after consuming GM tomatoes.

Rapeseed or Canola Oil—Canola oil is often used in cooking oil and margarine spreads. A variety of canola oil developed in 1998 is considered to be the most disease- and drought-resistant variety of rapeseed to date. Today about 80% of the acres sown are genetically modified canola.

Honey often comes from GM canola plants as well.

Peas—GM peas contain a gene that functions as a pesticide inside cells, and could cause an an allergic response when eaten.

Conventionally raised meat, dairy products, farmed fish and eggs—These animals are fed with genetically modified feed. Buy “organic,” wild caught, or from “100 % grass-fed” animals.

NutraSweet and Equal—According to some reports, these artificial sweeteners are created with genetically modified microorganisms. While this stuff is bad for you in many ways, here is just one more reason to avoid it.

There are also zucchini, crook neck squash, Hawaiian papaya, and sugar beets (used for making table sugar) that are now genetically modified as well.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly do not want this stuff in MY body!

Besides the health issues that have appeared in animals, who wants their DNA altered?

Eating genetically modified foods could cause weird forms of cancer and other deadly diseases—and some new diseases that modern medicine has never seen before. That’s a dangerous gamble I’m not willing to risk with my health.

A biotechnology scientist had this to say about GM foods:  “For the first time in the world, we’ve proven that GMO’s are neither sufficiently healthy nor proper to be commercialized. [...] For all three GMOs, [soy, corn, cotton] the kidneys and liver, which are the main organs that react to a chemical food poisoning, had problems…”

How do we avoid genetically modified foods and their potential health problems?  It’s easy if you follow a natural, healthy diet.

Avoid the packaged, processed foods, especially those containing soy, corn, sugar and vegetable oils. These foods are terribly unhealthy, full of chemicals, and cause inflammation and fat storage anyway.

Genetically modified foods look exactly like any other foods, so you can’t tell by looking at them if they are or not. On the other hand, produce like tangelos, seedless watermelons, seedless grapes, low acid tomatoes, and other new varieties of fruit and vegetables are created by natural breeding, not genetic modification, so these foods are fine to eat.

The bottom line is that genetically modified foods have not been tested and we don’t really know whether these foods are safe to eat or not.

We may probably never really know the real harm genetically modified foods can cause, because of the length of time it may take diseases to develop. If you take a look at the health problems that genetically modified foods are causing in animals, it should be a fairly easy assumption that they can and will cause serious, and often deadly health issues in humans as well.

Remember these three things to avoid genetically modified foods:

1.    Eat organic—Foods labeled “Organic” or “Certified Organic” cannot be genetically modified in any way.

2.    Look for “Non-GMO” on the label. Many food companies label foods as “non GMO” or add this phrase to the label,  “Made without genetically modified ingredients.”

3.    Avoid any foods or food additives that contain the most genetically modified ingredients. These are: soy, corn, cottonseed, canola, and artificial sweeteners.

Just one more reason why paying attention to the food you eat, and eating a diet of only REAL, natural foods is extremely important.

How do some people totally change their habits while many of us are stuck in the same rut day in and day out?

It appears that the key to losing weight, gaining healthy lifestyle habits, exercising regularly, and being very productive in your work all have to do with having a knowledge of how to form good habits.

Did you realize that most of our lives is really just a mass of habitual behaviors.

In fact almost half of the behaviors we do on a daily basis (about 45%) are based on habits. Yes we humans are truly creatures of habits. But think about it, habits do serve a very good purpose as well. If we had to actually think through everything we did on a day to day basis, we would go nuts with the details. Habits allow us to function in our lives, and our minds can actually be occupied with other, more important thoughts.

Take driving for example. When you first learned to drive, you had to think about everything—and there were a lot of details! Sit down, put on your seatbelt, adjust the seat and mirrors, adjust the radio and temperature controls, take off the parking brake, put the car into reverse, turn around, look behind you, and put your foot on the gas, and back out of your driveway. Put on the brake, put the car into drive, gently press on the accelerator, and drive. And that’s just the first few feet! Now we can drive for several miles and our minds can be totally preoccupied with other thoughts, but we (usually!) get from point A to point B in one piece with no traffic infractions, right? It’s habit.

One of my favorite books "The Power Of Habit," by Charles Duhigg, takes a close look at habits and how they are formed. In it, he points out that in almost any scenario in life, habits can be changed for the better, provided we know how they work, how to disassemble then and rebuild other better habits in their place.

And yes, learning about habits can fill a whole book, so I am here to highlight a few things that may help see habits in a whole new light.

The funny thing about habits is that once they are ingrained, they sort of disappear and  operate in the background in our brains, making us behave somewhat like robots with automatically pre-programmed behavior. The key then, to changing some habits, is to learn how to spot those behaviors and find ways to change them.

It’s not always as hard as it may seem.

One of the interesting things about habits is the ‘context’ in which they happen. Many habits are unconscious behaviors that exist because of certain sets of conditions in the environment. When the context changes, then so do the habits.

The same applies to the things you do or don’t do for your diet and health. Most all of those things we do or don’t do for our health are habits. Now here is where the habits become very important. People often eat out of habit, and exercise or NOT exercise out of habit. Perhaps the cue is sitting down in front of the TV at night. Since you are used to munching on something, every time you sit down in front of the TV, you eat—whether you are hungry or not. You eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Habit. Sometimes you eat at meals not because you are hungry, but because it’s habit.

Do you follow an exercise routine? If you do, it’s most likely become a good habit. Or, are you TRYING to get an exercise routine in your life? You need to make it a habit.

How do you do that? Well, if you break it down into its parts, you can analyze how habits work and start implementing the changes you desire. But first, it requires a bit of mindfulness on your part and an awareness of the habits you want to change. Being mindful can really make things snowball in your life. So start paying attention to what you are doing. Really paying attention.

When you take a look at any habit, you will find that habits generally have three parts:

• The cue
• The routine, which is the actual behavior or habit
• The reward

Changing any one of these three parts will help to change a habit.

And the coolest thing about changing any one of these three parts of habits is that they often set off a chain reaction that can be so powerful its ripples affect other habits in a good way.

Take exercise for example. When people add the habit of exercise into their lifestyle, generally the ripples of that habit begin to extend to other parts of their lives—in a good way. Often exercise leads to eating better, and that makes you feel healthier. And then that leads to weight loss, which leads to other good things. Because your mood is better and you feel better, perhaps that leads to better relationships in your life. And maybe the improved relationships in your life improve your work and add to its success, and then you make more money, and on and on…

And the ripples can keep on going…and you end up realizing how much control you have over things in your life, things you thought you could never change!

So what’s important to remember here is that when you change a habit to become a positive habit, the immediate reward is not the only the actual positive change.

There is a definite ripple effect that goes on here.

The other thing about habits, and this is one that I KNOW is important, is that tiny changes and minor little habits have a cumulative effect over the course of your life and when you think about those little ‘things’ that you do, day in and day out, these little ‘things’ matter more than some of the BIG things or big changes.

That cookie you had last night while you watched TV is inconsequential, but if you have cookies EVERY night, it become a much bigger thing. And conversely, adding in a small behavior that benefits you in a positive way may not seem like a big deal, but if you do it day after day, after day, after day, the cumulative benefits start to really add up. You gotta look at the big picture here.

Those small decisions can have a huge impact, as they add up over time.

Ok, so what about old habits, how do we get rid of them, and do they just go away?

Well, first of all, lets talk about physiology first. Habits actually create a neural pathway in your brain. Much like a dirt road becomes a major highway with repeated use, repeated behaviors create neural ‘highways’ so to speak, in your brain. So, yes, reverting to the major highway instead of carving a new path out of the wilderness is the easiest way to go.

But you want to change your habits, right? So that bad habit that has become the super highway, has to be diverted. A detour. And that detour then needs to become a major roadway. Just like cars and traffic help to change narrow little roads into major highways, you can create that major highway in your neural pathways.

It’s just repeated use over time.

What then happens to that now deserted highway in your brain—the neural pathway that was once a major habit? Does it just disappear? Well, no. It’s still there. Like a deserted highway, weeds may grow up around it, and cracks may appear in the road, and eventually it crumbles over time, but it is still there.

So this is where it gets a little tricky.

You have to find a new behavior that responds to the old cue and gives that behavior a reward and build on that.

So let’s break this down...

1.     Be mindful of your daily routine—and remember that’s more than half of the things you do on a day in and day out basis. Pay attention.

2.     Identify the behaviors or habits you want to change.

3.     What is the cue that brings on this habit? Is it a time of day, a location, an emotional state, or other people? What happens right before the habit that triggers the behavior?

4.     And finally, what are the rewards of that habit? Look closely. Think about this one. Find the reward. Its there, no matter how small that reward is and how unconscious, there is a reward.

Let’s use exercise as a habit. Do you have it now? Want it to be a habit? Ok, add in a reward. It can be a seemingly silly as a smoothie at the end of your workout or you get a latte from the local coffeeshop when you are done. Or it’s just the awesome way you feel afterwards.

Identify a cue—perhaps its your alarm clock going off an hour earlier in the morning, perhaps it’s the workout clothes you have at the end of your bed, ready for you when you open your eyes.

And then, repeat. Build that highway in your brain and reap the rewards.

Once you pinpoint the behavior or habit, the cue and the reward, you can make a plan to change it.

Begin now.

Start with ONE habit you want to change. Put a positive one in place of a negative. It may be something as simple as kissing your child, or spouse or significant other every morning and telling them you love them. The cue is the morning, the habit is showing someone you love them, and the reward is the good feeling it provides both you and them. Small, seemingly insignificant, but huge in the course of a lifetime.

Now do that with your eating habits. Take one thing and change it. Do it over and over again and your life changes. Remember the ripple effect? Go for it.

Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error, but you can do it. Once you figure it out, you can gain power over your habits and make some major changes in your life.

Takeaway #1

Be MINDFUL of the things you do on a day to day basis.

Takeaway #2

Look at habits you wish to add, remove or change. Replace a bad habit with a good one.

Takeaway #3

Identify the cue and identify the reward. Replace the behavior with a positive one. Add in a cue and a reward. Lather, rinse and repeat over and over again, and you are on your way to positive changes in your life!

What habits do you want to change? How successful have you been? I’d love to see your comments below.

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling is a mom of three college age  kids, author of four successful books, blog writer, foodie and health coach. She is an RN BSN and a certified personal trainer as well as a competitive cyclist. She lives in St Louis with the occasional kid, two cats and a Rhodesian Ridgeback.  You can check out  her many articles, recipes and blogs here., and visit her on Facebook too!

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday and I thought I would share the gist of what I said.

In a nutshell, most of the information presented on weight loss everywhere is useless.

And here is why I say that.  Because people think physical transformation is a "doing" issue. You know, if people simply do what people tell them to do everything will work out perfectly.

Contrary to what people think, change is not a doing issue.  It’s a thinking issue.

Most people already know the things they should be doing.  Telling them again or writing it IN CAPS or giving them an additional 101 things to do isn’t going to help.

In fact, it only makes things worse when people start piling on.  Contrary to conventional wisdom, more options makes things worse, not better.

What people don’t know how to do in weight loss is navigate the mental landscape of their mind and their emotions when it matters most.

All the strategies in the world won’t help anyone if we don’t teach people how to train their brains so they can begin to navigate the murky waters of weight loss, eating disorders, sugar addictions and overall physical transformation.

Now it would seem logical that next question to ask is, “So how do we begin to do that?”

And while that is a great question, it is not the next piece of this puzzle.

What we need first is a framework that clearly explains why most of us fail with change in general and why it is so damn hard.

And I believe I have the perfect analogy to help you understand why most never succeed at change.

The Rubik’s cube.

I’m clearly dating myself here, but the Rubik’s cube is the perfect analogy for how most of people approach change and problem solving in general.

Imagine for a moment that I handed you a Rubik's cube and I asked you to solve it.  What would you start doing?

Well if you are like most, you would just start moving pieces around hoping that you would magically be able to solve this incredibly challenging problem.

And you would do so until you burn through your will or resolve.

That might last 5 minutes, or it might last 30 minutes, but once your will was exhausted you would be done.

It is possible that you might pick it up again later and have a second go at it, but if the approach is the same as the first (and it almost always is) two things are a certain guarantee.

You won’t spend nearly as much time as you did the first time around unless you make a critical discovery and second, you will quit again and most likely never pick it up again.

The unfortunate thing is that most people (I was one of those people btw) approach weight loss almost exactly the same way they would try to solve a Rubik’s cube.

They simply perform a bunch of random moves hoping they will miraculously discover a solution.

And like the Rubik’s cube, they perform a bunch of these moves until they burn through their willpower and eventually quit assuming the problem is unsolvable.

So let me go back to my initial premise as to why I think the Rubik’s cube is the perfect training tool to teach people the successful behaviours of weight loss.

Behaviour #1: Think like Einstein.

A Rubik’s cube is an incredibly difficult problem to solve and requires a higher order of thinking that we seldom, if ever, access.

Weight loss is no different.  It is a problem that requires the same level of higher order thinking if we are going to be able to solve the problem.

This is not Sudoku people.  This is a chess match like nothing you have ever played before.

Your challenge to unravel your weight loss mysteries is no different than Einstein’s challenge to come up with a theory for relativity.

Weight loss is your theory of relativity.  I would suggest you do some reading on Einstein and the strategies he used to unlock the mystery of relativity and look to apply them to your weight loss journey.

Behaviour #2: Visualize the destination.

You have to have a clear visual of what the solution is going to look like.  In a Rubik’s cube, that is easy.  All the colors are properly aligned. [Refer to diagram below.]

In weight loss, it is a more difficult proposition. It requires us to use our powers of imagination to get a clear sense of what our solution is going to look like.

Ironically, most people spend NO TIME ever thinking about this and that is a BIG reason why they have no success.

This is where a strategy like cutting out images of a body types you aspire to have is so crucial and brilliant.

It creates a clear image of what the solution looks like so you can gauge your success.

Behaviour #3: Document like Edison.

A Rubik’s cube requires a systematic approach.  You can’t just dive in and start moving shit around without being aware of what you are doing.

The reason for this is so that when you do uncover success you understand how it occurred so you can replicate it.

There are LOTS of people who have success in weight loss doing a million different things.  The problem is they have no real idea why they are successful and as a result cannot repeat it and eventually resort back to their old behaviors.

There are lots of ways to record what you are doing whether you use video, an audio recorder or a journal.

This is what I would call thinking like Edison.  That dude documented everything he did so when something didn’t work, he new exactly what NOT TO DO next time so he could enhance his chances of getting a successful result.

This journey is as much about learning what not to do as it is learning what to do.

Behaviour #4: Persevere like Lincoln.

Solving a Rubik’s cube requires a lot of things, but the most important is the ability to persevere when little or no progress seems to be made for prolonged periods of time.

Effort has been discounted in our pop-culture world of quick and dirty tips, but it is one of the key ingredients of high achievers.

It’s not that they are smarter than others.  It’s just that they find ways to persevere long after others throw in the towel.

Study Lincoln’s history and you will see that his life was one big lesson in perseverance as he endured defeat after defeat after defeat.

Weight loss is no different.  It is a series of bitter defeats piled on top of bitter defeats.

But anyone who truly understands what this journey is about realizes that it is lifelong march, not a short sprint and works equally as hard at building strategies to persevere.

Failure is expected.  Failure is a constant.  Dejection is normal.  But we can teach ourselves to keep systematically trying new things knowing that if we try enough times, the problem will eventually crumble to our will and sheer determination to succeed.

The willpower code…

If you enjoyed this article you might really enjoy my latest product that I’m launching soon called the Willpower code: how to build incredible willpower to do what you must when it matters most.

If you want to stay updated on some of the free training I will be providing, sign up below. Signing up also allows you access to some special bonuses and discounts I will also be offering.

It will change your life.

To making shift happen my friend,

Deano

[Bonus: There is a detox salad included to help you recover from those dietary disasters.]

So, last week we talked about guilt and getting back on track. What foods seem the hardest to avoid, and then the most difficult to stop eating for you?

For most people, it’s foods containing sugar, grains (especially wheat), and dairy products. While these foods seem to be everywhere, they are also actually highly addictive. And don’t be fooled for a second in thinking that food manufacturers don’t know this little factoid, and do their best to put sugar, wheat and dairy in as many things as they can.

These foods can stimulate opiate-like receptors in the brain, and your body actually responds to these foods just as it would heroin or morphine. The opiate-like ingredients in dairy and wheat are proteins, which coincidentally are also known to be highly allergenic. In dairy, that protein is casein, and in wheat, it is gluten.

These proteins trigger the release of exorphins (very similar to endorphins) that go straight to the brain and create a feeling of instant comfort and pleasure. Think of all the combinations of dairy and wheat that people love and consider as comfort foods, or foods they can’t live without: macaroni and cheese, pizza, bagels and cream cheese, cookies and milk, grilled cheese sandwiches, and on and on.

Are sugar, wheat and dairy your weakness? Think about it. Maybe you weren’t even aware of that addiction.

The tough thing about straying off your diet and eating foods with wheat, dairy or sugar is that the addiction makes it especially difficult to get back on track. You are totally addicted--you want more, and more. And just like the heroin junkie who thinks he can have “just a little bit of heron”—once you’re off track, it becomes exceptionally difficult to control yourself, and break free from these foods’ grasp.

The interesting thing about wheat and dairy is that most often if you find you have a hard time living without--or staying away from these foods, you most likely are allergic to the proteins in wheat and dairy—the gluten and the casein. I don’t mean the kind of allergy that makes you break out in hives, and or makes your throat swell, but these foods often cause allergic reactions, nonetheless.

What do these allergic reactions cause? Inflammation in the form of stuff like bloating, weight gain, (usually excess water) stomachaches, sinus and nasal drainage, earaches, irritability, depression, fatigue, brain fog, ADHD, acne, joint pain, headaches….and non-stop eating.

This vicious cycle of allergy and addiction can interfere with digestion and your body’s ability to extract nutrients from food. It also affects the immune system, helping to magnify allergies, and weaken it’s defense system, so you become more susceptible to viruses, bacteria, and yeast overgrowth.

Ironically, the very foods that you just cannot live without are usually the same foods that cause the worst reactions, and cause you to overeat. So you get caught in an allergy-addiction cycle. Think about it. Can’t live without your bagel? Your pasta? You must have your daily bread, or you just can’t stop when you eat crackers and cheese? Or is it the ice cream? Addiction often lurks in your daily habits, so take a closer look at them.

Does this mean you’re weak? Do you lack willpower? No. It’s these addictive substances wreaking their havoc on you and your best laid dietary plans.

Many ‘diets’ actually contain a built-in plan to fail if they contain dairy, wheat or sugar. And the leading diet plans like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig all contain moderate amounts of the big three addictive allergens—wheat, dairy, and sugar. No surprise here. They want consumers to keep coming back and buying more of this stuff.

Having an allergy-addiction to any one or more of these substances is a little like an alcoholic thinking it’s ok to have just a small glass of wine or beer, instead a big one. What would you guess is going to happen at some point? The size of the serving gets bigger and bigger.

The best solution is to eliminate wheat, sugar and dairy from your diet altogether. While that may sound somewhat extreme, you will be amazed at how much easier it becomes to stick to a healthy diet that maintains your weight at the optimal weight without these problematic foods.

If giving up bread or milk makes you feel anxious and deprived, I can sympathize. I too, was once addicted to bread, milk and sugar. I’d try to cut back and cut calories to lose weight, only to end up on a (coffee cake, cookie, bagels and cheese, cinnamon toast, milkshake) binge after just a few days. Withdrawals were painful...

Trying to eat less only gets you on that Merry-go-Round of addiction, withdrawal, and overeating. I gained weight, and I felt awful but couldn't stop. It wasn’t until I actually tried a two-week elimination diet, that I realized how fantastic and energetic I felt once I had gotten away from those foods. And I lost a lot of weight fast.

Next week, I will go more into the details of an elimination diet, but basically you totally remove wheat, dairy and any other foods you feel you just can’t live without. Then you re-introduce them, one at a time, and observe your reactions over a period of 24-48 hours.

I’ve kinda developed and evolved a dietary strategy that helps me get back on track after a few days of this type of dietary disaster. I’d like to share that with you and hopefully you will be able to adopt this and find success as I have.

First of all, the best thing to do is to go ‘cold turkey’. Take the offenders out of your diet, totally. Remember the alcoholic with the small glass of wine? It doesn’t work. Take it all out—the sugar, the wheat and grains (other grains contain addictive gluten-like substances as well), and the dairy.

Then plan out your meals for the next couple days. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but make it super healthy and high fiber. You’re doing a mini detox basically.

Surround yourself with awesome superfood veggies that are brilliant and brightly colored and will make you feel so spectacular that you won’t want to go back to those addictive foods. Add in some top quality protein and good fats and you’re golden. Cravings go away when you give your body what it truly needs.

So the idea is to load your body up with a ton of powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, kick-butt nutrition to overcome the toxic load you’ve put in your body. And you want to have a lot of veggies in there that will feed your body what it needs and help to clean house as well.

So I generally plan on a few humongous salads with a good portion of satisfying healthy protein added in—free range chicken, grass fed beef, or some wild-caught fish, like salmon with some good fats.

So before I share my favorite humongous Mexican Chicken Salad recipe, I want to leave you with a few takeways:

TAKEAWAY #1

Wheat, Dairy and Sugar are addictive substances, and for many people they produce an allergic, inflammatory reaction in addition to the addiction, making it extremely difficult to eat ‘just a little’. Meanwhile, it makes it increasingly more difficult to lose weight and it messes with your health, your immune system and your moods.

TAKEAWAY #2

AVOID Wheat, Dairy and Sugar all the time. Avoid all processed, packaged foods and especially avoid “Diet” foods. Just an alcoholic cannot drink once in a while, neither can you eat this stuff “once in a while”.

TAKEWAY #3

When you get off track, quit the grains, sugar and dairy, COLD TURKEY, and arm yourself with a healthy diet plan for the next few days. Load up on veggies and healthy proteins and let your body detox this junk out. You’ll feel better quickly!

Have a plan, and have some healthy meals lined up and you will feel satisfied and ‘clean’ again in no time.

The Detox Salad for Dietary Disasters

This salad is one of my all time favorites—it is jam-packed with nutrition and fiber, and it tastes great. Plus it is satisfying, and fills you with energy. You just can’t NOT feel good after eating this! And as you start feeling better, you climb out of that addictive cycle from wheat, dairy and sugar, and you are back in control with a healthy diet.

Have you ever eaten something you just KNOW was good for you, and FELT that payoff? It’s good and your body knows it. And so does your conscience, AND your waistline. This salad is it. Enjoy!

Dressing...

¼ cup chopped shallots

¼ cup fresh lime juice (juice of 1 lime)

½ cup fresh cilantro chopped

2-3 cloves of finely minced garlic

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Dressing Directions...

Combine first four ingredients in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Salad...

2-4 cooked chicken breasts, cooked and sliced in thin strips, or shredded with a fork

(Grilled chicken tastes best for this recipe.)

3 cups of thinly sliced red leaf lettuce (preferably organic)

3 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage

2-3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

½ roasted red bell pepper (you can buy these already roasted or you can make your own)

½ roasted yellow pepper

Half (or more) firm avocado, peeled and diced

¼ cup minced red onion

Half a can black beans, drained and rinsed, optional

1 small jalapeno, de-seeded, de-ribbed and minced

2 small tomatillos, hulls removed and chopped (green Mexican tomatoes)

¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Salad Directions...

Combine salad ingredients in large bowl and toss in dressing just before serving. Place cut or shredded chicken on top. Serves 4.

To roast peppers: heat oven on ‘broil’.

Slice peppers in half; remove stem and seeds. Place skin side up on flat pan in oven near heat.

Roast for 4-7 minutes until skin begins to turn black. Remove and cool. When cool, slide off blackened skin and slice peppers in thin strips.

Bon Appétit!

Stay healthy and lean, my friends!!

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I remember the first time this concept actually clawed its way into my grey matter.

It was March of 2010 and I had just returned home from a 40^th birthday party (not mine) where I was surrounded by cakes, and treats and an assortment of other goodies that were on my “do not devour like a hungry dog” list.

As I thought back to the night that was, I suddenly heard myself say, “What the in the name of Joan Rivers happened tonight!”

This had been a monumental night for me.  It was the first time in my life that I was actually able to avoid EVERYTHING I had hoped I would avoid.

There were all kinds of tasty grain based treats that I repeatedly said, “No thank you” to.

There were these tasty little cupcakes that I came face to face with on numerous occasions that I was able to shun as well.

In fact, the whole night went exactly as I had planned.

But the weird thing is that had never EVER happened before. You see I have always been someone who can eat well when I control the environment (my home), but can suddenly turn into my brother’s dog (he has a Beagle) and eat everything I see once I leave it. Literally that dog will eat anything from Cigarette butts to anything that grows on a vine. (I should clarify however that I no longer eat cigarette butts.)

So this was complete foreign territory to me.

As I sat on my couch that night reflecting on what was, I found myself oscillating between two different states of mind.

On the one hand, I was thrilled with myself for having had the willpower to resist those things I knew I was not supposed to have.

But there was another part of me that wanted to know the secret as to why that was. I did NOT want this to be a one-shot deal where I just got “lucky.”

As I reflected more deeply on the outcome, it dawned on me that there were a series of things I had done long before I had ever arrived at that party, that contributed to my success.

For starters, I had thought long and hard about whether I should go or not.  Avoidance had long been my most primitive weapon of choice against impulse eating.

But I also realized that avoidance was not a sustainable strategy long-term.  It makes you live in fear that when temptation does rear its tasty scrumptious little self, you are going to fall apart quicker than a hard taco shell after the first bite.

So not going was not an option.

Instead, I actually started preparing in advance.

For starters, the party didn’t start until 8pm.  One of the mistakes I had always made in the past was showing up at events hungry and unprepared.

BIG MISTAKE! So I remedied that by eating dinner shortly before I left.

I also realized that there would be temptations galore that I would be drooling over, so I brought two servings of almonds with me to counteract the temptation to stray should they arise.

And here was the most significant thing I did.

I actually decided in advance how I would say, “NO thank you.” And then I rehearsed mentally what that would look and sound like.

Now it is possible that I am embellishing my story for dramatic purposes. GASP!

My point is to simply emphasize that I spent time before I left imagining myself saying, “No thank you” and making every effort to make it as realistic as possible.

As a result, the night ended up going exactly as I had planned.  I ate nothing I was not supposed to and I never had to dip into my almond reserve either. SWEET!

Over the next few weeks I found myself reflecting on the outcome of that night more frequently.

And then I had my EUREKA moment (no nudity involved in that moment fortunately.)

Like most people, whenever I didn’t exercise the self-control I thought I should, I chalked it up to a character flaw and as such, I would promise myself that I would try harder next time to be more disciplined.

But the night of the birthday party made me realize something SIGNIFICANT.  What I had often thought was a character flaw, was in fact a system failure.

I did not succeed the night of the birthday party because I suddenly had more willpower.

I succeeded because I had begun to unlock the secret components of willpower.

It is not a magical trait that some have and most don’t.  It acts very much as a muscle. In fact, there is significant scientific evidence to back up this point.

And like any muscle, with the proper training, it can be strengthened if you train it properly and it can be exhausted if the training is inadequate or non-existent.

So I got to work to build a system that would unlock the secrets to this elusive thing we call willpower.

And what I discovered is that it is comprised of 5 parts.  Consider it a formula or blueprint if you will.

If you know the steps, and the steps within the steps, then you have the ability to not only enhance your willpower, but you have the ability to start BUILDING INCREDIBLE WILLPOWER.

And the great thing about blueprint is that you it is not relegated to eating choices. You can replicate in aspects of your life whether your desire is to become an early riser, to be a more loving spouse or parent, to have more patience, to be more positive, or to build any other new habit you desire.

It’s that powerful.

In fact, I am now applying the formula to my business to help me make more money. Cha ching!

So I have a question for you.

How might your life change if you could take my blueprint and apply it to the most pressing aspects of your life that you are desperate to change?

What if I could take the magic out of this idea of willpower and turn it into a five-step formula that you could practice and repeat in any situation and begin consistently getting the results you want?

• Perhaps it’s finally losing that weight you have so desperately tried to lose these past few years.
• Perhaps it’s getting up an hour earlier everyday so you can finally launch that writing career you have longed to start.
• Or perhaps it’s adopting new habits that invigorate your love life.

The framework has no boundaries. It can literally be applied to any area of your life.

If this is something that you would love to add to your arsenal so that you can ROCK YOUR LIFE, then add your name and email below so you can be on my list for a FREE webinar I’m putting on where I will give away a some of my MOST POWERFUL strategies on how to build incredible willpower.

It will literally change your life.

Spaces will be limited for the LIVE event so be sure to confirm your email address IMMEDIATELY upon signing up so you can get all the updates on the upcoming training.

OK, so what is your takeaway from today’s post?

There are two my little pretty (sorry I’m channeling an Oz character it seems.)

First, drill this into your grey matter.  Heck write it down and refer to this daily.

What you think is a character flaw is often a system failure.

And second, be sure to sign up below to be part of my live webinar where I reveal my best strategies for BUILDING INCREDIBLE WILLPOWER.

That’s it!

To making shift happen my friend,

Deano