I’m a big fan of Redondo Beach medical center Nourishing Wellness, which integrates a mind-body-spirit approach in their practice. Below is an except from an e-newsletter that I wanted to pass on because it’s filled with easy tips on how to eat healthier for greater fat loss and greater overall health.

Tip 1:  Add Quality Fats to Lose Fat

That’s right! Eliminating fat intake to get rid of fat from the body may seem like a good idea at first glance; however, your body needs quality fats to maintain and repair all the cells in your body. Quality fats improve insulin sensitivity and allow the cell receptor sites to absorb more sugar into the cell to be burned as fuel. This greatly improves energy and cellular metabolism.

But, if you eat large amounts of trans-fats or have a severe imbalance between the omega-6 and -3 fats in your diet, your cell lipid layers are made up of these unhealthy fats which leads to insulin resistance and allows less sugar into the cell and puts you at risk for diabetes.

Balance your Fats: For ideal fat loss, you want a balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.  Most people get way to many omega-6 fats because they are abundantly found in our diets in the form of  nuts, seeds, grain fed meats and poultry and vegetable oils (corn, sesame, safflower, peanut, etc.).

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish oil (often referred to as DHA, EPA and ALA) and naturally found in grass-fed beef and lamb, wild meats and omega-3 rich eggs.  A study in the Journal of Nutrition showed that people who consumed fish oil with their higher-fat diet metabolized more fat and gained significantly less weight than the people who did not get fish oil.

Eating Tip: To improve your fat loss, we recommend a fish oil dose in the range of 1 gram of omega-3s per percent of body fat. For example, if you have 25% body fat you would take 25 grams of fish oil or 1.5 tablespoons per day. If you have more than 30% of body fat you will limit your fish oil intake to 30 grams a day or about 2 tablespoons/ day.

Think of this strategy as getting a good oil and lube job in your car. This helps your car to run better. Your cells need this to repair the lipid membrane. This is an excellent tip to consider if you want to see a difference in your fat loss in the next 6 weeks.  After a few months, your cells will be in such good shape that you can cut back your dosage to a .5 gram of fish oil per percent of body fat up to 30%.

Tip 2: Aim for 30 Grams of Fiber Daily

Fiber slows stomach emptying and suppresses ghrelin, a hormone your stomach produces to remind you to eat. More fiber means you’re less likely to have cravings during the day. A study in the journal,  Nutrition Review showed people who ate 14 grams of fiber a day, lost four pounds over four months without any additional food restrictions. Getting 30 grams of fiber per day will  helps you detox heavy metals, lowers total and LDL cholesterol, raises HDL cholesterol, and helps support a healthy gastrointestinal tract and feel more full between meals.

Eating tip: If you’re not meeting your fiber quota from food, try adding in a scoop of a fiber such as Paleofiber from Design for Health or Medibulk from Thorne Research. Both of these products provides a therapeutic eight grams of fiber per scoop.

Tip 3: Eat Breakfast With Protein: No Cold Cereal Allowed!

Eating breakfast is one of the easiest things you can do to boost your metabolism, increase energy, burn more fat and improve brain function and neurotransmitter levels such as dopamine.  But there’s one catch. You have to eat sufficient quality protein at breakfast. Eating cold cereal for breakfast doesn’t count! How much is ideal? Aim for about 1/4  to 1/3 of your daily needs should be eaten at breakfast or about 15-20 grams for breakfast. Most cold cereals give you about 5 grams per serving.

Cold cereal is a poor choice because it is typically higher in carbohydrates than protein. A high-quality protein breakfast will produce the neurotransmitters or chemicals that send messages from the brain to all your muscles and tissue throughout the whole day.  If you eat a  high-carb cereal along with a banana or orange juice,  you’ll produce a lot of sugar which triggers a big insulin response which slows down fat loss and gives you a feeling of a “foggy” brain soon afterwards. To counter these feelings of fatigue, people will grab an energy drink or another cup of coffee which raises cortisol and causes a new round of problems such as anxiety and stress.

Eating Tip:  Aim for a breakfast that includes grass fed meats or high quality eggs + a cup of cooked or raw veggies.  Or, try 1 Cup of Plain Greek Yogurt + 1/3 C of mixed berries + 1 Tbsp fresh ground flaxseeds and a few walnuts. This provides a nice dose of protein and “good” fats to start your engine and keep your metabolism going throughout the day. Plus, these with these low carb meals you will have a very moderate insulin response and more constant blood sugar level.

To ask questions or get in touch with Nourishing Wellness, click here.

Heathy thinking is just as important to our well-being as healthy eating.

Sometimes the noise from inside our own head is the biggest stressor of all. People average 60,000 thoughts a day and 80 percent of those thoughts are negative.

Ouch.

Negative thoughts are bad news for the body as stress causes wear and tear on many physical health systems. Positive affirmations may be the key to stress-free health, according to Dr. Maoshing Ni, author of Second Spring.

This isn’t all in your head: Affirmative self-talk suppresses the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands which can help you feel calm and peaceful. Ni recommends offsetting that stress by repeating calming, soothing positive affirmations to ourselves because the thoughts that bubble up from our consciousness affect our health, just as our diets and exercise habits do.

The next time you have negative thoughts, imagine a big stop sign in your head, and tell yourself, “Stop!” Then, replace it with a positive, soothing message. Here are some examples:

• When you feel fat, think, “I love myself just the way I am.”
• When you feel inadequate, think, “I can accomplish anything.”
• When you feel afraid, think, “I trust in the process of life.”
• When you feel overwhelmed, think, “This, too, shall pass.”

Think of what it is you wish were true, and then state it over and over. Positive thoughts feed the mind nourishing mental energy like good food feeds the body nourishing physical energy. So do yourself a favor and feed yourself well—both below and above the neck.

If you have any favorite affirmations, please share them by sending an email to Shannon@positiveportions.com or leaving them in the Comments section.

Source: realage.com and Spectrum Redondo Beach.

The beginning of the New Year always brings new opportunities to make changes to improve our health and enhance the quality of our lives.

One of the best, easiest and most effective ways we can take charge of our health is to practice portion control. Because we now live in a super-sized world where portions have grown considerably over the past few decades—along with America’s obesity rates—it can be difficult to figure out what a “normal” portion size is.

Here are ten simple tips to learn what a normal portion is and how to keep your portion sizes under control:

1. Read nutrition labels. The nutrition label on the package will tell you what a portion size is. Be sure to read “Serving Size.” If the package says there are two servings per package, and you eat the whole package, you need to double the calories, carbs, fat, etc. on the label.

2. Ask for a To Go box before you start eating. Restaurants are notorious for serving overflowing plates of food. Get a To Go box when your meal is served, and immediately put excess food in the box. Once we get eating, it’s nearly impossible to stop. Set yourself up for success by cutting yourself off at the pass.

3. Eat one plate of food. Second helpings are usually not necessary. Serve yourself a well-balanced plate of food and don’t allow yourself to go back for seconds unless you are truly hungry.

4. Pause before getting second helpings. Before going back into the kitchen for more, let yourself sit for a few minutes. Ask yourself if you are really hungry. If you are, eat only one additional serving of one food—don’t reload your plate completely.

5. Keep a food and fitness journal. The best way to see what you’re eating is to write it down. Seeing your food in black-and-white will tell you if you’re eating too much.

6. Learn to “eyeball” portions. Get familiar with what normal portion sizes are so you can eat only that much at restaurants or dinner parties.

7. Weigh your food. Most people are stunned when they measure food portions on a kitchen scale. It’s worth the shock to the system to get an accurate idea of how much a serving size is.

8. Order a kid’s meal. Some restaurants will let adults order off the kid’s menu. If that is an option (and the food choices are healthy), take advantage of both the smaller portions and smaller prices.

9. Share your food. Split a dessert, appetizer, or even a large entrée with a friend. That will keep both your food portions and bill right-sized.

10. Don’t let yourself get too hungry. If we allow ourselves to become famished, we set ourselves up to overeat later. Make sure your meals are substantial and that you are eating at regular intervals.

A Portobello mushroom has just 19 calories per serving and makes a fun, lo-carb crust for your favorite pizza toppings.

Who doesn’t love pizza? I know I do. But when I started eating healthy, I thought my pizza-eating days were over. That was before I came across this innovative recipe that substitutes a Portobello mushroom for a pizza crust.

Yes, that’s right. You can have your pizza and eat it, too.

Ingredients

• 1 large Portobello mushroom, stem removed
• 1 tablespoon tomato sauce
• 1 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
• Your favorite pizza toppings such as pepperoni, sausage, olives, etc.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place the mushroom on a baking sheet, and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, and spread spaghetti sauce in the cup of the cap.
3. Add toppings.
4. Bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden.

This recipe is completely versatile – you can substitute pesto for tomato sauce and experiment with different cheeses and toppings.

Make it your own and enjoy!

Apples are rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene.

This easy and flavorful salad provides both protein and carbs with the combination of fresh chicken and apples.The apples give the salad a sweet crunch and perfectly offsets the tanginess of the Dijon mustard.

It’s a versatile dish that you can serve with salad greens, tomatoes, and olives or as a filler for sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1              Rotisserie chicken, skinned and chopped

2—3       Granny Smith apples, chopped

1              Bunch chopped scallions or onions

8 T          Light mayonnaise

2 T          Apple cider vinegar

4 t           Dijon mustard or to taste

Chopped walnuts to taste

Salt and pepper

 Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients.

2. Let sit overnight in refrigerator.

3. Serve and enjoy.

Notes:

• For extra crunch, add chopped celery.
• You can also use ranch dressing instead of the Dijon mustard and mayonnaise.

In a study published in Nutrition Metabolism, dieters who increased their protein intake to 30 percent of their diet ate nearly 450 fewer calories a day. Without employing any other dietary measures, the dieters lost about 11 pounds over the 12-week study.

Experts advise consuming between 0.8 grams and 1.1 grams of protein per pound of your body weight. (An example: If you’re a 140-pound woman, you’d need 112  – 154 grams a day.) Skew on the high end if you’re very active and on the low end if you’re trying to lose weight. If both apply, shoot for an amount somewhere in the middle.

How Much Protein Do You Need?

Even more important is to aim to get at least 30 of those grams at breakfast, says Donald Layman, Ph.D., professor emeritus of nutrition at the University of Illinois. (That’s roughly the amount you’ll get from two eggs and a cup of cottage cheese.)

After fasting all night, your body is running on empty and may start drawing on muscle tissue for fuel if you don’t replenish its protein stores first thing in the morning. In addition, studies have found that protein-rich breakfasts can help regulate your appetite all day.

One egg provides 6 grams of protein and all the essential amino acids our bodies need.

What Kind of Protein Should I Eat?

Not all proteins are created equal. While nuts, whole grains, and veggies technically count, they don’t contain all nine of the amino acids your body needs in order to build lean muscle. Those that do, known as complete proteins, are typically found in animal products. Your best flat-belly bets are skinless white chicken or turkey, seafood, low-fat dairy and lean beef. All of these foods have just 1 to 3 grams of fat per 50-calorie serving.

What If I’m a Vegetarian?

Vegetarians can get complete proteins by eating tofu, hemp seed, buckwheat, and quinoa. Or they can combine two incomplete proteins, such as peanut butter on whole-wheat bread or brown rice and beans, to create a complete protein. The beauty of protein is that with so many tasty options, getting your daily dose is a simple pleasure.

Protein On the Go

Here are some fast protein ideas for those of us with hectic schedules:

• Hard-boiled egg
• String cheese
• Low-sugar energy bar
• Roasted soy nuts
• Protein powder added to yogurt, water or milk

If you have some protein faves, please share them. You can leave them in the Comments section, or send an email to Shannon@positiveportions.com.

Give yourself (or a friend) the gift of health this New Year with an autographed book.

I’m not a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions, but I do believe in setting intentions for living our best lives. We just started a New Year, which makes it the perfect time to make a fresh start. Why not get an autographed copy of The Positive Portions Food & Fitness Journal, set new goals and take your health and fitness to new levels this year…if not now, when?

Event: Please join me as I sign books at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan Beach. I’ll be on hand to show you how to use your book to reach your best self in 2012.

Date and Time: Saturday, January 14, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Location: 1800 Rosecrans Avenue, Manhattan Beach, CA

I look forward to seeing you there!

Here is an article that appears on Fitbie…enjoy!

Shannon Hammer tried every single crash diet but kept on gaining weight. Then she made the commitment to cut back on carbs and shed over 100 pounds
By Alyssa Shaffer

Shannon Hammer Before

How she did it: Low-carb foods and exercise
Height: 5’5 1/2″
Heaviest Weight and Size: 230 lb; size 24
Current Weight and Size: 123 lb; size 4
Vitals: Redondo Beach, CA; magazine editor

What Packed On The Pounds
Destructive dieting

Put on her first diet at the early age of 4 by her family, Shannon Hammer grew up feeling as though her weight was constantly monitored. As a child, she’d rebel by sneaking food—a bite of cake here, a few cookies there—and then covering her tracks. Later, she tried every diet from cabbage soup to grapefruit, but her feelings of anger and shame, coupled with the intense hunger brought on by calorie restriction, led to full-blown binges. One of her most vivid memories: finishing off a half-eaten pint of ice cream and running to the corner store to buy a new pint, then eating that to the halfway point to keep her family from discovering her shameful secret. “By the time I was thirty, I had tried every diet out there and even had taken laxatives and appetite suppressants—and I still weighed 230 pounds,” says Hammer.

My Lowest Moment
Eating the cupboards bare

“I’d eat whatever was in the house—half a loaf of bread, four bowls of cereal. I wouldn’t stop until I was panting in pain.”

Shannon Hammer After

What Finally Worked for Me
Going cold turkey on trigger foods

After seeing a photo of herself in January 2001, Hammer, then a size 22, knew things had to change: “I was looking at an obese woman with my face. I was horrified.” She started following a low-carb diet, largely because it eliminated sugar and flour, her trigger foods. She began looking at cake, cookies, and pasta the way a recovering alcoholic views a glass of bourbon: as off-limits—forever.

She also began walking almost every day, and, eventually, 20 minutes became 2 hours. Over the next 2 years, she dropped 40 pounds. Another 2 years later, exercising nearly an hour a day and controlling her portion sizes, Hammer had shed an additional 70 pounds.

What Keeps Me Motivated
The fear of backsliding

“I still feel like I’m one bite away from a binge. You can’t return to your old habits after you lose the weight. This is a lifestyle that has to continue.”

My “Take It Off, Leave It Off” Secrets

• No more straight to the plate. “I weigh or measure everything I eat or drink. Practicing portion control is key.”
• Fight pig-outs on paper. “I used to turn to food for comfort, but now I write in my journal when I’m frustrated or worried.”
•  Investigate ingredients. “I always check labels to make sure I avoid sugar.”

Now

Lost 107 pounds; has kept it off for 8 years

 

 

I'm featured on page 77 of the January issue, which is on sale now.

Be sure to pick up the January 2012 issue of Prevention magazine. In it, I share how I’ve kept over 100 pounds off for more than eight years along with four other inspirational women who’ve lost weight and stayed slim for years.

Here’s an excerpt from my story:

Put on her first diet by the early age of four by her family, Shannon Hammer grew up feeling as though her weight was constantly monitored. As a child, she’d rebel by sneaking food – a bite of cake here, a few cookies there – and then covering her tracks….One of her most vivid memories: finishing off a half-eaten pint of ice cream and running to the corner store to buy a new pint, then eating that to the halfway point to keep her family from knowing her shameful secret. “By the time I was thirty, I had tried every diet out there and even had taken laxatives and appetite suppressants – I still weighed 230 pounds,” says Hammer.