New Year, New You: Baby Steps

So you've started your New Year's health resolution. How's that going for you?  Many people I have spoken to have already fallen off the wagon and it's only 6 days into the new year. Why is that? I think it's because their goals were unrealistic. If you are one of those people who've already said good-bye to their resolution to eat better or to go to the gym everyday, perhaps you should read my post: New Year, New You: Tips on Setting Goals 

After ready New Year, New You: Tips on Setting Goals I encourage you to re-write your New Year's health resolution using my tips.

Now that you have your new New Year's health resolutions I want you to start each resolution at a pace you can keep up with. Think of this before you start. A baby doesn't learn how to walk overnight. He takes a serious of steps to get to the end result, walking.

Step 1- Holding his head up.
Step 2 - Sitting up on his own.
Step 3 - Pulling himself up.
Step 4 - Assisted walking.
Step 5 (End Result) - Walking on his own.

If your New Year's health resolution is to Eat Better  here are a few baby steps that apply to most people who are currently eating an average North American diet.

Step 1 - Avoid congesting foods (fatty meats, bad fats, refined flours, refined sugar, dairy)
Step 2 - Eat a diet rich in non-glutenous whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh pressed juice, fresh spring water, raw nuts and seeds.
Step 3 - Replace animal products at dinner at least 2 times per week with alternative protein sources such as legumes, grains, greens, sprouts, nuts and seeds.
Step 4 - Eliminate or at least cut down on caffeine, alcohol, recreational drugs and tobacco.
Step 5 - Eat in a calm and relaxed state, chew food thoroughly, keep meals simple and avoid overeating.

It’s inevitable that you will have a minor or major setback along your journey. A baby doesn't walk perfectly without have a few tumbles. They may cry but they always get up and start where they left off. You can learn a lot from them. After all we were once in their shoes, weren't we and we are doing just fine now walking on our own. A couple of chocolate cookies in the big scheme of things won’t ruin your entire weight loss goal. It may set you back a bit and you’ll probably feel guilty about it, but that’s it. Relax. My advice to my clients: Take a deep breath, brush it off your shoulder and move on. Learn from each lapse and come up with a strategy to work around it next time.

You may also find these articles I wrote helpful:

New Year, New You: Tips on Setting Goals
The Un-Diet: Say NO to Dieting in 2014

The information presented here is not intended to replace professional medical care when needed. Consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for disease diagnosis, therapy choice, medicine selection and dosage.

The Un-Diet: Say NO to Dieting in 2014

So you're on a diet, eh? Undoubtedly the most popular New Year's Resolution is to lose weight, meaning going on a diet. I hate diets and completely disagree with them. You could say I am an old fashioned Nutritionist when it comes to making changes in your life. If you've read yesterday's post, New Year, New You - 5 Tips to Help you Stick to your New Year's Resolution you'll see that I am a believer and advocate on finding balance in your life. For the sake of this blog post I will be using the word diet, as in what you eat. If your New Year's Resolution is to lose weight then please consider not going on a diet and instead making a lifestyle change. Concentrate on getting healthy and naturally the excess weight will come off.  Please take it from me when I say dieting does not work! Have you heard the phrase, easy come, easy go? It also applies to dieting. Drastically cutting calories will give you weight loss but as easy as it came off the easier you'll pack it on, and some. So say no to dieting, will ya? No more grapefruit diets, master cleanses, cabbage soup diets and all that other garbage. Just eat, and eat well. Here's how...

Eat Whole Foods – This means eat foods that are closet to their natural state or closet too natural state. For instance, eat a baked sweet potato as opposed to a bag of potato chips, which has been processed, striped of its nutrients and saturated in oil and salt. Enjoy a crisp apple as opposed to packaged applesauce which in most cases contains refined sugar and preservatives. Choose sprouted or multi-grain breads over refined wheat where the bran and germ (the reservoir for vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids) have been removed.

Choose Certified Organic – The term organic simple means foods that have not been exposed to pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, hormones, fertilizers and other harmful chemicals during their growing stages. More organic in the diet means less toxic material entering the body, therefore less work your body has to do to get rid of it and less damage to your body. Your body is an organic being and needs organic, natural foods to be well. Certain organic foods can be pricey and others are quite comparable to non-organic. Find a ratio of organic and non-organic foods in your kitchen that fit your household budget. Fact: If you are healthy and eating all fresh, organic foods you should have no body odor. Body odor is a sign of toxicity. See: Spring Cleaning: Your Body for more information on toxicity in the body.

Choose Foods that are Dense in their Nutrients – When making food choices concentrate on picking foods that are dense in their nutrients. For example, eat oranges for their vitamin C and Kale for its calcium. Also, go for more nutritious foods; romaine lettuce over iceberg lettuce, yams over white potatoes, brown rice over white rice and lean cut meats over organ meats and pork.

Moderation, Variety and Rotation – We are all human and sometimes you just want to go out and have a burger and a beer with your bff. Let yourself have a cheat day and don’t feel guilty about it. A cheat day is an example of having moderation in your diet. Remember this: Everything in moderation, even moderation. Don't be too laid back, you must own your lifestyle change to stick with it. Variety is just as important. A good rule of thumb is to buy brightly coloured fruits and vegetables to ensure you are getting a variety of different vitamins and minerals in your diet. Remember this: Similar Colours = Similar Nutrients. Lastly, make sure to rotate your foods every day. Eating the same foods day after day can result to food intolerances.

Drink Water – Drink fresh spring or distilled water everyday. Your body is 55% body after all so it just makes sense! How much you ask? Divide your body weight by 2 and then divide by 8 to get the number of 8oz glasses of water you should drink per day.

Balance – Find a diet that is realistic and complements your lifestyle that way it becomes a part of your life and not just another fad. Balance in nutrients, food groups, flavours and colours, prevents boredom and nutritional imbalances. For more information on realistic goal setting read: New Year, New You - 5 Tips to Help you Stick to your New Year's Resolution 

Pledge that 2014 will be the year you finally say NO to ridiculous dieting. Eat, eat well and be well. Don't make it complicated because it's not. 


You may also find these articles I wrote helpful:
Tips on Healthy Snacks
Sports Nutrition: Pre-Workout
Sports Nutrition: Post-Workout
Top 5 Healthy Sugar Substitutes 
5 Stress-free Stress Busters



The information presented here is not intended to replace professional medical care when needed. Consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for disease diagnosis, therapy choice, medicine selection and dosage. 

Originally posted on January 2, 2012. 

New Year, New You: Tips on Setting Goals

5 Tips to Help you Stick to your New Year’s Health Resolution...once and for all!

Be Realistic –Every year millions of people make resolutions that never make it past March 1st because their goals sound great at the time but are completely unrealistic. If you’re starting a fitness and/or nutrition program, you need to ask yourself if it’s something you can do for the rest of your life. If the answer is no! Stop, Reassess, and Start Over.

Find your Motivation – Whether it’s the teeny weeny polka dot bikini or 10 proper push-ups figuring out why we want these things and having that motivation as your end goal is very important. Having that light at the end of the tunnel will give you the motivation you need when the road gets bumpy.

Set a Timeline – Write down your goals, come up with ways to reach them (Be Realistic – see Tip 1) and set a goal date. For example: Goal #1: Lose 10lbs of fat (that’s your goal), training with Personal Trainer 3 times per week + session with Nutritionist once per week (these are the things you’ll be doing to reach that goal) in 10 weeks (realistic goal date – 1-2lbs fat loss per week)

Hire an Expert – Once January 1st hits the gyms are swarmed with New Year’s Resolution-ers. Many people don’t even bother to look at their current fitness level. Rather, they look to cardio machines and weights and just throw something together with the thought it will help them reach their goal. The best thing you can do is seek the advice of a Certified Personal Trainer and a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. Certified Personal Trainers are invaluable to showing you the exact things to do to reach your goal in the safest, most effective and shortest amount of time. Registered Holistic Nutritionists design nutrition and lifestyle programs which are unique to the individual's bio-chemistry and lifestyle patterns. Remember to check their credentials. You want a Registered Holistic Nutritionist with a diploma in Holistic Nutrition and a Certified Personal Trainer or Pilates/Yoga Instructor (depending on your needs and goals) who has completed all their courses, passed their exams and/or holds a diploma or degree in Exercise Physiology.

Learn from your Setbacks- It’s inevitable that you will have a minor or major setback along your journey. A couple of chocolate cookies in the big scheme of things won’t ruin your entire weight loss goal. It may set you back a bit and you’ll probably feel guilty about it, but that’s it. Relax! My advice to my clients: Take a deep breath, brush it off your shoulder and move on. Learn from each lapse and come up with a strategy to work around it next time. End of story.

The information presented here is not intended to replace professional medical care when needed. Consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for disease diagnosis, therapy choice, medicine selection and dosage.

Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating

The Holidays are here and in full effect! You’ve already found yourself surrounded by chocolates, eggnog, cookies and party invites! Here are a few strategies on how to stay on track during this tempting time of year.

Pre-plan-Decide ahead of time how you will handle the different events of the season. For non-festive days, plan healthy meals and snacks, and make sure to get some exercise in every day, even if its just 30 minutes.  


TIP: No time for exercise this time of year? Split your workout into two. 15 minutes first thing in the morning and 15 minutes before you go to bed.

Snack  - Eat a snack before you head out to a dinner party. Have a cup of yogurt with fresh fruit or some lavash and raw vegetables with hummus, so hunger won’t rule your choices. TIP: Before you eat, have an 8oz glass of water. Often we mistaken thirst for hunger.

Slow down – There is no need to do without your favourite foods, just take small portions , chew your food and eat slowly. TIP: Put your cutlery down between bites and talk between bites, so your meal will last longer and you will actually enjoy it rather than scarfing it down.

Moderate - Avoid guilty pleasures you can have anytime, such as chocolates, cookies and chips, and go with small portions of your seasonal favourites such as eggnog, rum-drenched fruitcake and all the yummy fancy cheeses. TIP: Before eating, see what is being served. If there are raw vegetables, seafood (sans the butter), mini quiche, dips (sans the cream), start with those, to take the edge off your appetite.

Have Dessert - Have some fruit half hour before having any rich dessert to avoid over doing it.   TIP: Try to split dessert with a friend and have a cup of herbal tea with it.

Enjoy a Drink...or two – If you are going to have that eggnog be aware that an eight-ounce serving of non-alcoholic eggnog has about 362 calories. A five-ounce glass of white wine is 100 calories, a 12-ounce beer is 150 calories and a three-ounce martini has about 195 calories. Weigh out your options. Do you want to drink your calories or eat them? TIP: Hold your drink in your right hand if you are right-handed (or left hand if you’re a lefty) as it will make it more difficult to reach for food on impulse. 




The information presented here is not intended to replace professional medical care when needed. Consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for disease diagnosis, therapy choice, medicine selection and dosage.