Can you really be healthy at any size?

www.freedigitalphotos.net

January is a great time to make new healthy goals for the year ahead. Apparently, its also a great time to make lots of excuses. Each January brings articles about how all those health goals are really just a waste because - great news! - you can be healthy and a couch potato, too! Articles like this one published last week:

Big Deal: You can be fit and fat

So can we really be healthy at any size? Fit and fat? Well, that depends on your definition of healthy.

The Healthy At Any Size campaign gets a lot of attention in January. Their website says: 

"Health at Every Size is based on the simple premise that the best way to improve health is to honor your body. It supports people in adopting health habits for the sake of health and well-being (rather than weight control). Health at Every Size encourages:

• Accepting and respecting the natural diversity of body sizes and shapes.
• Eating in a flexible manner that values pleasure and honors internal cues of hunger, satiety, and appetite.
• Finding the joy in moving one’s body and becoming more physically vital."

This is absolutely wonderful! Emotional health at any size is incredibly important, and as a wellness coach I get to help people achieve it every day. Learning how to follow internal hunger cues is vital to lifelong wellness. And enjoying exercise is a big part of making it a daily habit. But, often times this campaign is misinterpreted to mean abandoning attempts to lose and manage weight, and instead only focus on self-esteem, and this is where I start to get off board.

But did you notice my key word? Emotional health at any size is the key. Because here's the thing: yes, dieting is a problem, but fat is also a problem.

Read more about the hidden dangers of obesity.

I recently conducted a wellness program with a group where health as social responsibility came up as a conversation topic more than once. As I listened to a spontaneous discussion on the role we each have as members of society to maintain a healthy weight and body, I thought of our over-burdened health care system. So many of the health issues we face each day are related to diet and lifestyle. If those things changed, and we became healthier as a society, and we had less need for health care, how would that change our nation?

I've read many, many, many success stories of people who have lost tremendous amounts of weight. I've not found any that cited doing nothing as their strategy. No, there are plenty of accounts of starting daily walking routines, learning about nutrition, counting calories and measuring portions, finding supportive networks, making determined lifestyle changes, and putting a lot of hard work into changing their bodies. 

Yes, you can be overweight and strong. And yes, you can be overweight and aerobically fit. And, yes, you can be skinny as a rail and very unhealthy. Size is not the whole picture of health, but obesity is more than just the size of your body. Despite what some fat acceptance advocates say, obesity leads to heart disease, hypertension, arthritis, fertility issues, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, some cancers, and more. It is a problem, and you can deal with that and love yourself. 

I've been overweight, and I've dealt with the intense emotional issues that come with it. I've failed I don't know how many times at managing my weight; so many times that it became my life's work to succeed at it and help others do the same. But I am on the other side now because I didn't accept an unhealthy and unfit body as my 24/7. 

It was not easy. At times, it still isn't.

But managing my weight is about more than not being fat. I loved myself (myself, not my size) when I was a size 16, but that didn't make me healthy. I love myself at a size 4, too. And, I get the absolute joy of living in a hard-won healthy body every day. One that I shaped because I had the courage to admit that there was something better out there for me.

Let January be a month of positive steps towards a healthier body - physically and emotionally. Get out there and get healthy. You can love yourself at any size, but your health might still need some work. The good news is you can totally do it.

Newsflash: Paula Deen is Not Healthy

I knew something was up when I saw Paula Deen on the Today Show teaching us how to cook healthy.


Now the news that Paula Deen has Type-2 diabetes has hit the press, conveniently at the same time that she launches a new batch of lightened-up recipes and an advertising campaign for the diabetes medication Novo Nordisk. I'm always skeptical when someone makes a sudden about-face in philosophy, in this case going from "you know I love my butter, y'all," to explaining the basics of nutrition, portion control, and healthy cooking. It didn't take long to figure out that either a) her sons sat her down for  a heart-to-heart that convinced her she was part of the nation's obesity problem, or b) she had landed a new endorsement deal. Turns out it was the second one.


Paula Deen is being blasted for not revealing her medical condition to the public, but why should she? It's a personal issue and she doesn't owe us an update on her health status. As a fan of Southern cooking, I'm glad to see her embrace a healthier lifestyle and shift to a message of moderation and portion control. There is no way I would step foot in her restaurant because as an ambassador of health, I can't personally condone a lifestyle of food excess and worship. But if her recipes truly do reflect a lighter interpretation of the decadent meals that have made her famous, then I hope it is a true shift in priorities and not just one for self-promotion.


Southern cooking is often assumed to be unhealthy, probably because we immediately envision ourselves tucking a napkin under our chins to dig into a meal piled high with buttered biscuits, cheese grits, fried chicken, sausage, and of course, decadent desserts. But it doesn't have to be.  I'm a Southerner, and I cook healthy every day. Just check out these healthified Mardi Gras recipes for proof! Almost every single meal that anyone could want can be "healthified." Almost. I still cannot get my mom's buckeye cookies, peanut butter balls rolled in powdered sugar and dipped in chocolate, under 100 calories each! 


Are Paula Deen's new ways going to stick or will her recipes slide backwards in the name of "moderation?" Time will tell. In the meantime, I hope her medical condition raises awareness of the dangers of high-fat eating and helps a few people wake up and stop eating like they're at the state fair every day.


Don't get diabetes. Stop eating fair food and get out there and get healthy! 

Sugar: Who Needs It?

A friend sent me this video last week, and watching it was pretty scary because I could see myself being like one of these women someday...and I don't want to be either!



It's a spoof on the commercials expressing how high-frutose corn syrup really isn't bad for us at all, not any more than real sugar.  To the uneducated ear, it makes a perfectly sound argument.  But the truth is, even if is was the same as real sugar, we still don't need it in our diets because we don't need that much sugar.

WE DO NOT NEEEEEEED PROCESSED SUGAR.

We need glucose.  Glucose is a naturally-occuring sugar in fruits and vegetables that is necessary for energy and balanced nutrition.  But we do not need added sugar in our diets.  I promise.  I swear to you on a stack of apples that you can absolutely stop drinking sugar, putting sugar on your cereal, baking with as much sugar, or tricking yourself into thinking that because it is expensive or fancy-sounding it's an okay sugar.  Agave is sugar. Honey is sugar. Sugar in the Raw is sugar.  And sugar don't like you.

If you don't believe me, read what some scientists said about it.

And then, test your sugar IQ with this quiz.

And then cut out the sugar.

Bye, sugar!

Not Only Are You Poor, You're Also Fat

Okay we've all seen the People of Wal-Mart, and maybe sometimes we are the people of Wal-Mart. Hey, I change into robot-emblazoned men's pajama shorts when I get home from work. I won't judge you.

But this headline yesterday made me think there may be a little more than a social stigma attached to being a regular at discount grocery stores - the rising level of obesity among customers at economy grocery stores versus higher-end stores such as Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and the like. In fact, results from a small study cited in the article shows that the percentage of food shoppers who are obese is almost 10 times higher at low-cost grocery stores compared with upscale markets.

And since I shop at both, I guess that puts me at moderate risk for both obesity and fashion-related crimes.

This informal study, which was only conducted in the Seattle area, reaches the conclusion that poverty is a main contributor to the problem of obesity, since people who are stretching their grocery dollar are more likely to buy food with the most calories per penny, and these are likely to be processed foods like pizzas, pastries, white flour products, and other convenience foods.

But I'm a Wal-Mart shopper.  I loathe being there, but I go because I am a cheap bastard and I buy a lot of high-dollar food.  But each time I go, I completely skip the part between the eggs, milk, meats, and produce.  I manage to fill my buggy with fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, eggs, and clean ingredients for breadmaking every time.  The difference here is education - I suspect that the People of Wal-Mart who are trapped in the cycle of buying cheap, processed, unhealthy food are plagued by poverty, but also by lack of education regarding how to make healthier choices. 

It is possible to shop at Wal-Mart and buy healthy food. 

I do it all the time.

Here are some great tips for saving cash on healthy groceries no matter where you shop.

Good day! :)

Eating for Two? Not so fast.

Hell hath no fury like a pregnant woman who has just been denied chocolate.

Have you seen a one lately?  They're everywhere, and if you're smart you'll steer clear because their emotional state is usually somewhere between slightly annoyed and ready for battle. I've been pregnant, and I have to admit it I was pretty bad at acting happy about it.  Don't get me wrong - the end result is definitely worth it and I hope to do it again.  But as an ultra-competitve wellness overachiever, having restrictions placed on the who/what/when/where/why of my body had me spewing fire in about two seconds.

Plus, I gained 75 lbs.  Yes, s-e-v-e-n-t-y  f-i-v-e. Much to my dismay, my baby was not 75 pounds.  It was seven.

It didn't help that I didn't exercise for most of it, and during the time I spent not exercising I was eating mayonaisse, sour cream, ice cream, and anything that used to moo.  I'm still monitoring my son for mayo fetishes because seriously, I ate a lot of it.  I have the stretch marks to prove it.

Well, now I have bambinos on the brain again.  And, that weight gain.  I do not want to do that again.  I'm hoping that I will be able to maintain a running regime throughout any impending pregnancy (I am not pregnant now so just put down the phone, mom) and also steer clear of the dairy section of the grocery store. 

So I was interested to read this article about a study that is analyzing the results of obese women (between 50 and 100 lbs overweight) intentionally diet during their pregnancy with the intent of gaining far less than the conventionally  recommended 11-20 pounds (25-35 lbs for women who are not obese).  The theory is that these women already have the energy storage required to supply their babies with needed nutrients, so additional weight gain is not necessary.  Now, naturally there is some weight gain that is unavoidable, but you know what they mean.  They mean my 75 lbs.

The program is still accepting participants, so if you're interested, check it out.

Training Season for Tastebuds

One of the common themes in most news from the media about the sources of our national obesity problem is the amount of salt and sugar in the foods we eat. In fact, American processed food has become so salty that one researcher predicted that if things continue on the way they are, the food we eat 15 years from now will be like brine! The amount of sodium in packaged foods can be alarming, and the fact that there are about 25 different names for sugar is a pretty good indication that we're eating way too much of it.

So it is not suprising that one of the first things mourned by people looking to change their ways is sugar. I hear the same complaints over and over: "Coffee tastes weird without a packet of Splenda." Suggest to a Southerner that she not drink sweet tea and be prepared for mutiny. For real, one of my co-workers almost hit me with a stapler when I implied that her ginormous styrofoam cup of sugar water may be part of the reason her clean eating hasn't taken off. Liquid calories are still calories, and liquid sugar is like calories that haven't taken their Ritalin. You can eat fruit, vegetables, and whole grains all day long but if you top it off with an innocent "treat" of some sugar, you will erase all of that good work. I know, it isn't fair. Get over it.

I know it can seem insurmountable to consider life without sugar. As a former sugarholic, I've been there. I can clearly remember thinking it was completely unrealistic to think that I could live the rest of my life without added sugar. But I do. I get plenty of sweetness through fruits, vegetables, and the occasional drizzle of honey and by and large have lessened my sweet tooth to the point where baked goods are actually a little nauseating to me. I know. It's weird. I never expected that.

It ain't easy, but it does happen. You can retrain your tastebuds to recognize and appreciate foods in their natural, unsalted, unsweetened state. All it takes is some time and nerves of steel. Before long, what was once as bland and watered-down as a rice cake (don't eat rice cakes) will simply be food. It won't be a reward, it won't be a companion, it won't be anything other than wonderful, healthy, nourishment for your body that you will eat and then move on from. And isn't that what food is for anyway?

Some tips to get yourself over the first few days/weeks/homicidal thoughts of living the unsweetened life:

1. Stop expecting food to soothe, reward, vindicate, justify, or erase feelings. Food doesn't give a crap about you or your problems and isn't going to fix anything. Stop expecting it to do anything other than interact with your body in the only way it knows how. It doesn't know that you had a bad day and those calories weren't supposed to count.

2. Don't set yourself up for failure: change your behavior as well. If you know that every time you go to XYZ Restaurant you want to order the huge ginormous dessert, don't go there. I used to get a piece of 60% cacao chocolate almost every time I went to the grocery store, to the point where I became like some Pavlovian dog as I neared the end of my grocery shopping, knowing that I was going to have that chocolate. It was becoming a problem, as I didn't have a need for that much chocolate in my nutrition plan (unless I was seriously PMSing in which case back off) and I didn't like the habit I was forming. But instead of just trying to use self-control to not buy the chocolate, I changed my total behavior at the store. I shopped at a different store for a few trips and was sure to be either on my phone or otherwise engaged when I neared checkout so I would be distracted from it. It worked. After just a couple of trips, the habit was broken and I was no longer self-sabotaging.

3. Avoid sugar alternatives. Fake sugar is not acceptable in a cleaneating environment, and it will not help you get over a sugar habit. Quite the opposite, actually, as research points to evidence that man-made sweeteners actually trigger your brain to crave more of it. No, the point here is to alleviate your dependency on sweetness althogether. We are learning to eat food in its natural state, not a hyped-up version of it.

4. Be patient. Sugar is a tricky little devil. It's been said that sugar withdrawl can be even harder than quitting smoking, so be patient with yourself and the amount of time it will take for your tastebuds to get with the program. It can take days or even a couple of weeks for your body to adjust, but it will. I promise. Eventually, you will look at those big frosted brownies in the bakery case and think, "ugh, I used to eat that whole thing?!"

I know that seems crazy but it is possible if you are willing to put in the time, patience, and forward-thinking that it takes to give your tastebuds a fighting chance. They deserve it!

Are you struggling with sugar withdrawls? Have a unique challenge or question for how to make the conversion? Let me know how I can help; I've been there!

People, come on. It is NOT that hard.

You know, sometimes I get so mad when I see what some people eat these days that I just want to cry, especially when they do so while making excuse after excuse for why it just isn't realistic to eat healthier. It seems like these days everyone is on the childhood obesity bandwagon, but not nearly as many people are doing what it will take to change the health of our country and reverse the dangerous trend we are in: eat healthier.

Just freaking do it, people. It is NOT that hard. Stop buying crap and stop feeding it to your kids! Stop talking about it, stop blaming food manufacturers or marketing companies or the school system and just EAT HEALTHIER FOOD.

DO IT!!!

Each week, new studies come out with the shocking (not) news that Americans are fat and are immediately followed with editorials and blogs about how yeah, we're fat and all, but its just not realistic to think that we wouldn't be what with all the salt and sugar that is packed into our foods. It's not our fault, it's the food's fault for making us fat.

Hmmm. I'm an American and I'm not fat. Weird. I eat food all day long. I buy my food at the grocery store with all the fat people. It's so strange that I manage to maintain a healthy body while its unrealistic for other people with access to the same resources to do it.

This morning I heard a report about the rising levels of salt and sugar in processed foods, which featured a mother expressing how her kids "wouldn't" eat Shredded Wheat, so she compromises with frosted Shredded Wheat. Shredded Wheat covered in sugar. Is healthy. For her kids.

How about we compromise in a different way, mom? How about 1/2 shredded wheat and 1/2 frosted this week. Then next week add fewer frosted pieces. Then add some strawberries the next week for sweetness. Then omit the frosted pieces altogether. Give your kids some credit, mom. They deserve better than lazy "compromises" when it comes to the bodies they will live in for the rest of their lives. They may throw a fit today about how you're the meanest mom in the world and they're never going to eat again; my kid does that too, right before I remind him that I am #1 Mom in Charge and I love him too much to let him eat that crap for breakfast. He gets over it. We move on.

I don't think I am just being dramatic - a report released this week shows that American kids are too fat to serve in the military. More and more children are entering the first grade pounds overweight, indicated by a Journal of the American Medical Association's report that 16.9% of American children are obese. Not overweight. OBESE.

I shop at the same grocery store as the fat people. I just buy different food. I don't feel angry about it, I don't feel cheated, I don't feel restricted, and I don't feel like I am being punished.

Quite the opposite, actually. I feel happy. I feel like I'm ahead of the pack. I feel free. I feel like every day is a reward, because my body and I are working as a team.

I did feel angry, cheated, restricted, and punished when I was overweight, though.

Weird.

Clean Eating That Won't Clean You Out

I preach to people a lot about the importance of shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store and sticking to clean, fresh, natural food. It's absolutely the best way to eat, and I am a die-hard believer that eating clean is the solution to many of the health, obesity, energy, and stress related problems we face in our society.

But I also hear a lot of grumbling about how eating clean is more expensive, and at times that is a legitimate complaint. It's a real problem, and one that I don't have a quick solution for. It is a shame that some of our most malnourished populations, the ones in most desperate need for education about how to prepare and eat healthy foods, are also those that are often experiencing levels of poverty that exclude them from access to those healthy foods. I want to be part of the solution to this problem, but I don't yet know what that is. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Until then, there's hope for those of us who aren't necessarily in poverty but still don't want to find ourselves at the grocery register paying the equivalent of Harvard education just to eat for a week. Read this article that gives three examples of how to eat clean on a budget. Eating healthy can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be if you are willing to apply a little elbow grease and imagination when you head to the market.

Consider these techniques that I frequently use in preparing my own clean meals:

1. Sacrifice variety to an extent. Remember, food is fuel, not a companion. So, while variety can be important in regulating your metabolism, I choose to standardize my breakfast, snacks, and lunch during the week to allow me to buy in bulk.

• Preparing a cheap egg white casserole large enough for six servings during the week saves time and money


• Baking a turkey breast on the weekend to chop for salads during the week is a lot cheaper than buying lunchmeat or chicken breasts


• Buying a large container of Greek yogurt is less expensive than individual cups, just be sure to measure the quantity when spooning out a serving each day for a snack


• In winter, I'll make a huge pot of vegetable soup and have that for dinner or lunch most days. Its comforting, easy, and incredibly healthy.

For me, standardizing my meals not only saves money and time at the grocery store, it also takes the guesswork out of portion sizes. I have enough to think about in a day, I don't want to also have to think about what to eat.

2. Invest time in food preparation. Yes, chopping and portioning a turkey breast takes time. Spending an hour preparing salads or egg whites or chopping fruit can be a chore. And for busy moms, this seems like just one more thing to do in an already over-scheduled day. Well, get over it. If you want to get healthy and save money, you'll find time to do this, and depending on the age of your children, it can be a fun family activity as well. Personally, I look forward to my time on Sunday afternoon when I can flip on the TV, chat with my son while he plays nearby, and prep all my food for the coming week. It saves loads of time on rushed mornings, as well. You'll be suprised how quickly your kitchen will turn into a mini culinary institute, with a pot of stew on the stove, a loaf of bread in the breadmaker, breakfast scramble in the oven, fruit on the chopping board, and baked turkey waiting to be carved...and your house smells like Thanksgiving every weekend! The hardest part is keeping your family members from nibbling on all your clean eats. I often lose precious turkey to the ninja-like reflexes of my turkey-gobbling husband.

3. Buy seasonal fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are expensive, especially the really nutritious fruits like berries. But by buying produce when it is abundant (and prices are lower) you can enjoy some refreshing variety and avoid paying a premium. When your favorite item is too expensive to buy fresh, consider buying it frozen. I often buy frozen blueberries to mix into my yogurt when fresh are more than I want to pay. They last longer and the unit price is cheaper.

4. Make your own. My breadmaker may be one of the most useful items in my kitchen. Baking a loaf of bread for the week requires 5 minutes of prep time and costs a fraction of the price of lesser-quality store-bought bread. Buying oats, seeds, and dried fruit in bulk to make homemade museli is healthier and cheaper than paying for the marketing of packaged mixes. And while I will never profess to be a gardener, growing your own produce can be rewarding and inexpensive if you have the skill and patience. I'm personally pretty excited about the blooms on my first-ever tomato plant. I doubt my black thumb will ever produce enough food to feed more than the neighborhood squirrels, but it's fun to try!

For my recipes and other clean eating tips, visit the Recipes page of my website.

Eating clean might be expensive, but it doesn't have to be! The hardest part may be deciding how to spend all that money you can save. Hint: get a gym membership. :)

Bon appetit!

No Time to Get Healthy? Yeah, no one cares.

Reality check: your body doesn't care if you "don't have time" to get healthy. It's going to keep getting slower, softer, and fatter as you age, and a measly thirty-minute jaunt around the neighborhood each morning ain't gonna do anything about it.

So put down that latte and think again sister.

It's no secret to women that one of the great rewards of enduring years of hormonal swings, childbirth, breastfeeding, and monthly trials of feeling as if your life is being squeezed in a vice is being told to pedal faster: our metabolisms also start to slow down, adding a sucker-punch to the reality of living in a country where women are overtly judged by their appearance, the maintenance of which is biologically sabotaged. Except in cases of Helen Mirren, whose aging process appears to have been permanently frozen. She's 63. Yeah.

Cynical lately? Nah, just realistic. Research has recently shown that, contrary to popular advice and belief, it takes more than the usual American output of physical activity to gain any ground in the battle of the bulge. For years we have been prodded into physical activity, lured by the promise that just three moderate 10-minute spurts of activity each day could be enough to keep heart disease at bay. But it turns out that while taking the stairs is a great idea, it's not going to make up for all those mini quiches you had at Bunco.

One of the most frequent reasons for people to avoid facing the reality that becoming and staying healthy requires effort is that they do not have time. I can understand, we're all busy. But as many times as I hear someone say they "can't" make time to exercise, I see another story of someone who manages to do it despite greater odds. We can do it. We do have time. The truth is, we make time for what we really want to do.

And the more important truth is, we don't have time to not have time.

It is estimated that within the next 15 years, over half of our population will be obese. Children are getting fatter and fatter each year. Each season of The Biggest Loser features contestants who are breaking records of size, weight, and health issues. When are we going to face the reality that nature is going to take its course regardless of whether we have time to address it?

Long ago, I read an article about life in Sweden. Someone I knew was moving there and I was curious about their culture. One thing stood out - the physical activity of its citizens. I remember being tickled by the admission of one man that he would be embarassed if his friends saw him riding in a car because he would be considered "lazy," and also saddened that we do not share the same cultural habit.

We don't have time to not have time. The world does not care that we are busy. Please, get some exercise today, REAL exercise.

Sweat.

Work hard.

Challenge yourself.

And set your alarm to do it again tomorrow. It's time to stop not having time.