Nutrition tips: Lifestyle changes that increase health

It’s not just about WHAT you eat, but also the HOW, WHY, and WHEN you eat that have an impact on your health and waistline.  Could the extra weight you carry around merely a symptom and your body calling attention to something deeper? Join CJ as she interviews Mindy Gorman-Plutzer, certified Health Coach and Nutritional consultant on her newest book “The Freedom Promise: 7 Steps to Stop Fearing What Food Will Do TO You and Start Embracing What It Can DO FOR You”.

Nutrition tips: How does  HOW, WHY, and WHEN we eat affect our nutrition? – Interview with Mindy Gorman-Plutzer

* HOW we eat?  A few tips on how we can eat with mindfulness and pleasure? Some tips on avoiding eating with fear, anxiety, guilt and shame? Why does eating with guilt and shame affect our nutrition?

* WHY we eat?  A few tips on knowing if we are feeding our Emotional Hunger, Toxic Hunger, Craving, or a true Physical hunger?  How can we  eat when we are really hungry and stop when we are full? How can knowing WHY we eat affect our nutrition?

* WHEN we eat?  How does eating fast, eating on the run, eating while multi-tasking effect our overall health?

Book Review: The Freedom Promise: 7 Steps to Stop Fearing What Food Will Do TO You and Start Embracing What It Can DO FOR You

–By  C.J. Liu

The most dreaded moment of my day starts with a weigh-in.  I was hopeful this morning because I was “good” yesterday, eating lean proteins, lots of veggies, and just a few bites of dark chocolate.  Plus, I’ve been pretty good with my exercise with 10,000 steps on my pedometer and a work out every day last week.  Sigh, no significant weight loss.

Now, the stories of woe start with a litany of unhelpful thoughts and damnation,  “What am I doing wrong?”, “It’s getting harder to lose weight with age”, “It’s those crackers that did me in”, and “What if I never lose this weight?”.  A sense of hopelessness, depression and unease set in.  I begin to wonder whether in fact it’s not the exercise or foods that I’m eating, but something about how I’m thinking about food.   Lucky for me,  Mindy Gorman-Plutzer book arrives and it’s the perfect reminder for things I knew and forgot, and it provides the perfectly timed PAUSE to my crazy tape of discursive thoughts.

The book is a very quick read and in a matter of 4 hours, I have a good plan on new ideas to try.  As a coach, I recognize the successful formula presented in the”The Freedom Promise”.  It’s not only the step-by-step approach with lots of health-related information, but also a bunch of helpful tips.  The nutrition tips include: Daily affirmations to say, questions for me to contemplate, small tips for me to try over the course of a week (e.g.-eat while sitting with no distractions), and a few books to read to dive deeper.

Here are some of my favorite ideas, quotes from the book:

• Your relationship with food is a reflection of your relationship to yourself and your story.

STRESS and EATING

• Eating fast creates a stress response as that’s not how our bodies are designed to receive food. Eating while distracted creates a stress response because our bodies don’t have the opportunity to receive the sensory stimuli of the food being digested.
• Worrying about fat increases fat. Anxiety about weight loss causes your body to put fan on and retain it.
• Our bodies function at optimal levels for digestion, assimilation of nutrients, metabolism and fat burning when relaxed.  Letting go of tightly held stress allows us to create space and time.  When we use that time to enjoy our meals, we can become relaxed eaters.  As relaxed eaters, we receive true nourishment as we accept nurturing.
• How we eat and why we eat will have as much as an impact on our weight as what we eat; in some cases more of an impact.
• Today, instead of thinking comfort food, I think peaceful food- what can I eat that will make me feel at peace, beloved, and nurtured in the healthy sense? =

HUNGER: Physical, Emotional, and Toxic

• Hunger regulation is a function of fuel in and energy out.  A system of brain chemicals signal the body whento eat and when we have enough stored energy, we get the signal to stop.
• When we diet in a way that restricts the food that gives us pleasure, or act on the thoughts and beliefs that actually create nutritional deprivation, we are going to crave the foods our bodies truly need for energy, and we are going to crave the foods we’ve deemed “illegal” such as fats and carbohydrates.
• Emotional eating- We often look to food to distract us from boredom and emotional turmoil.  We sometimes look to food when we really need a hug, a human connection, and to experience security and intimacy.  These “cravings” come from another part of our selves.  Often we overindulge because we aren’t accustomed to allowing ourselves to receive pleasure from food on a daily basis. Emotional hunger appears suddenly and needs to be satisfied instantly, while physical hunger happens gradually and you can wait to eat.  When you eat to fill an emptiness that is not your stomach calling out, you crave a specific food, such as pizza or ice cream.  When you eat because you are actually hungry, you are open to options.
• Toxic hunger refers to the withdrawal symptoms that occur form eating foods with little nutritional value.
• Salt cravings may be signs that you need rare minerals like potassium, chromium, or copper.  Chocholate cravings may indicate you need more iron or magnesium; you may need to eat more leafy greens like kale or bok choy.

MINDFUL EATING

• Mindful, healthy eaters breathe during the meal, chew well before swallowing, and pause often to enjoy the taste of the food.
• Eating according to seasons.  Extremely hot climates call for more carbs than fat, while colder climates will create the need for more protein and fat so we can stay warmer.
• The energetics of foods: Plant foods such as greens reach toward the sun, soaking up the chlorophyll, Eating such foods provides our blood with oxygen and therefore lift our spirits, helping us to feel lighter.  Other vegetables like squash grow close to the ground and are more mood balancing.  Root vegetables, which grown downward into the ground, have strong energy to ground us when we feel overstimulated.

Author of “The Freedom Promise” Mindy Gorman-Plutzer – CHC, CEPC, AADP

I went on my first diet at age 12, beginning an almost 30 year spiral into a life where days were spent counting calories, fat grams and carbs. I bounced between extreme restricting, compulsive eating and consistent purging. I judged my self worth and attractiveness by the size of my thighs.

By my 30’s, my disordered eating was the focus of my inner world and taking its toll on my self-esteem, personal growth; not to mention the negative impact it was having on my then teenaged daughters. By my late 40’s the social drinking I had once enjoyed evolved into another way for me to avoid life on life’s terms. During the same time, the rug was literally pulled out from under me when my husband of 28 years lost his battle with malignant melanoma.

Here I was, a widow, a single Mom, a woman who was numb to how to deal with feelings or the ability to ask for what I needed. I was in what I now refer to as a “black hole”, a sewer of sorts, that I had to climb out of if I was to live my life as a woman whom my children, and I, could be proud of. Determined to break free, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery. What followed was a series of life-changing experiences which taught me that facing my feelings won’t destroy me, this blessed life we are given is a lesson in itself, and that how and why I eat is as important as what I eat. I learned that I need not use food OR alcohol to numb me or get me through the days and nights.

The experience, strength and hope I have gained from this journey, education in Nutrition and Holistic health, and trainings in Transformational Coaching and Eating Psychology have inspired me to create The Freedom Promise, a variety of programs which will guide you to explore your beliefs and behaviors as they relate to food and your body; and the tools and skills you rely on to get you through the days of your life.  I will share with you the proven strategies I have developed to successfully find my way back from a life ruled by disordered eating, addictive behaviors and negative self-talk about my body.

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