Breakfast, teas, and cleanses :)

First thing is first and I want everyone to know this: I will never recommend or suggest a product, lifestyle change, or meal that I myself haven’t tried or that I myself haven’t seen results with! I won’t steer you wrong, I would hate for someone to do the same to me! I’m also not here to tell someone how they should or shouldn’t live there life; I’m hear to help those who are ‘wanting’ to change there life and simply live a better tomorrow than yesterday.  I am a motivator and an encourager; not a demander or someone who will become disappointed! 

 I start work on the daily around 6:30am; I see other co-workers and what they eat for breakfast. One part of me living a healthier lifestyle, I’ve noticed that I will pick apart what someone is eating in my head. This isn’t just at work but this is also when I go out to eat or with friends and family. Is this a bad thing? Not in my eyes . I’m a motivator not a person to make others feel bad about what you’re currently doing or what you’re currently trying to change about yourself or your life!

Just a few tips from myself, health research, and nutritional editors!

Stop drinking your sugar drinks in the morning. Despite what you think, just because it has sugar in it, doesn’t mean that you’re going to get more energy. In the long run, you will actually end up more tired which means…. You’ll end up drinking more sugar based drinks.

STOP MAKING EXCUSES!!

The picture listed above shows you just how much sugar is entering your body with whatever drink you are deciding. Also, just because it's "diet" soda doesn't make it any better for you. Diet soda is usually WORSE for a person :)

So, you wonder what you can drink besides what you usually drink or what is currently listed above....

Green Tea:

• Caffeine + polyphenols = a metabolic boost that promotes weight loss (pop doesn't do that!)
• The majority of people trying to become healthier and drop pounds will drink one to two cups of Green Tea a day. You’re able to still get your caffeine (illuminates pop and morning coffee).  Along with having a strong naturally based foundation (not pumping your body full of chemicals to drop weight).
• May reduce risk of lung, breast & skin cancer.
• There are multiple healing factors in Green Tea which is why it has been around for so long! 

• Frequent cups could slow the rate of bone loss. 

Black Tea:

• Lowers blood pressure
• Improved blood flower after a high-fat meal
• Helping to flush out stored toxins
• Lifts mood and improves attention
• In many holistic settings black tea is used to help with stress and anxiety

Now that we’ve got our drink replacements out of the way, lets talk about possible options for breakfast!

Adults along with children are usually eating: 

Toast

Cereal

Eggs

Oatmeal

The Right Cereal:

• Look for a whole grain 
• (Whole wheat, whole corn, oats, brown rice) listed as the first ingredient
• Good source of fiber (at least 3 grams per serving)
• Limit sugars to no more than 6 grams per serving (1 ½ tsp.)

Toast:

• Follow the serving size for pieces to be eaten
• Whole Grain toast
• Natural jelly or peanut butter (serving size)

Eggs:

• The yolk (yellow) is high in fat
• The Whites of the egg are low in fat with high protein factors
• Try one whole egg mixed with just egg whites

Oatmeal:

Oatmeal is my favorite! I’m not a cereal fan; if I eat cereal it is non-frosted shredded wheat which I dip in my hummus . I think toast is just nasty, and I will try to get in a total of 4 eggs a week because of the high protein but, I cut back due to the high fat as well!

*Try to stay away from instant oatmeal!*

Think of it this way:

Package + food = preservatives = bad!

Yes, oats are oats how many perseverates can be in a bag of instant oatmeal? See that small writing on the front of your box that says “artificial flavor added”. I found your persevered! They come in all forms! 

Wanting to save some money?! Who isn’t! 

Making your own oatmeal is actually way cheaper and so much healthier!

What I do:

½ cup oats (Quakers dry)

1 ½ tbps flaxseed (great for the digestive system)

Added water 

ALL DONE! 

My mom will add different grains into her homemade oatmeal; she will also go to the River Market and purchase her FRESH fruits to put into her breakfast!

What I love about making my own food is I know what is going into it! I don’t know what makes the instant oatmeal last so long in a package or what gives it all the flavoring. I rather have a clean diet. Clean diet makes a healthier mind and body! 

All of these foods can be used for any age along with any gender! No matter the mixer, sugar, or fat placed in a food it’s still going to read the same no matter the age or gender! Wanting to get your children on a path to a healthier lifestyle to stay more active as they get older, start with a change as simple as there breakfast!

Since we are talking about healthy eating; why not talk about detox! Many people get confused on the difference between a detox and a body cleanse. It’s also hard to tell which you should and possibly shouldn’t do! When it gets really confusing… when a body detox can turn into a body cleanse 

Easiest way to explain it: Just read the picture  

First thing I want you to pay attention to:

“The marketplace is cluttered with detox diets that promise to help you lose weight, boost energy levels and much more”

“Many popular detox diets, use extreme low-calorie fasting that can rob the body of important nutrients and place it in starvation mode, slowing your metabolism”

First, just because they say it works doesn't mean that it does. Congratulations to the skinny minnie's who are paid millions of dollars to look sexy who usually under go surgeries, not detox or diets like the media is told!

Second, low-calorie while working out will simply cause your body to shut down! You should only do low-calorie for a short amount of time which is usually only done when your wanting to change up your diet to lose a couple extra pounds. (see previous posts).

Liver: Filters out toxic substances in foods before entering the blood stream.

Colon: Flushes toxins out of the body before they can do harm

Kidneys: Constantly filtering the blood and removing toxins in the form of urine.

The picture listed above has some pretty awesome food choices that are recommended to be added into your daily diet. This helps to cleanse and detox your body without having to make extremely drastic changes. There are a few foods in each column that I highly recommend and eat in my diet weekly!

(Some foods are listed multiple times in different columns)

Aloe: Great for your digestive system. this can be purchased at the Vitamin Shoppe or through Herbalife and I take a "shot" a day which really helps!

Green Tea and Grapefruit: I eat a grapefruit for breakfast with a warm cup of Green tea.

I HIGHLY recommend everyone "like" the facebook page The Science of Eating, that is actually where the detox picture came from. There is also a ton of helpful information on that that anyone can find useful! 

The "S" words!!!

The "S" words ill be talking about in this lovely post are: Supplements and Saturated fats!!!

 I was asked the other day at work what the tricks are that I use or what type of diet pills I take to continue to be successful over the last few months. Well, here’s the big secret…. I don’t! I personally hate allowing chemicals in my body. It’s pulling teeth to get me to take antibiotics or any other chemically based medication/supplements. Of course, she was shocked but I was more than willing to share with her what I have been doing to continue to be successful.

What I take:

Omega’s (more information listed below)

A daily women’s vitamin (also listed below)

Protein powder drink mix

(Listed below explains why I take what I take)

Facts on Fish Oil

1. Fish oil fights fats
2. Fish oil makes you anabolic (muscle growth)
3. Fish oil lifts strength
4. Fish oil reduces inflammation
5. Fish oil improves Mood

Look for fish oil with:

• EPA (Eicosapentaehoic Acid)
• Helps with human diet
• Fish do not have EPA but obtain this from algae they consume
• Lowers inflammation 

• DHA (docosahexaenoic Acid)
• Helps brain, skin, and eyes 
• Cold water oceanic fish oils are rich in DHA
• Most abundance omega- 3 fatty acid helps the brain and retina. 

Fish oil pills can be found almost at any store anymore! You will want to make sure that you are getting  the correct dosage amount along with also having EPA and DHA provided in the supplement. Many people prefer the burp free and/or they will take the supplement at night in case this issue occurs!

Daily Women’s Vitamin

It has been scientifically proven that women are physically unable to get all the levels of vitamins that they need from what we eat. Women’s body of course, works much differently then a male’s body.  For instants, women usually product more iron than men which is why women should try to get a vitamin WITHOUT iron or with a lower level. 

Vitamin A (eyes), Vitamin C (wound healing), and Vitamin E (red blood cell production): these can all be found in the foods that we eat; usually in fruits and vegetables. These particular vitamins help with the females reproductive and cell production. 

As a female, you will always want to get all of your B vitamins! These are one of the most important vitamins a female can take in. 

B Vitamins: 

Red blood cell formation, DNA reproduction, and brain functions. 

DONT FREAK OUT IF YOUR PEE IS LIME GREEN/YELLOW WHEN YOU PEE! :)

That is just your bodies way, and color of getting ride of the vitamins that we don't currently need. There are a lot of women who will take a "daily" vitamin every other day for this. In my eyes, if I have the vitamins currently in my body, I don't want to waste the money on just peeing them out :)

Protein Drinks/powder mixes

• Always pay attention to the protein amount per serving. You don’t want a mix that is less than 18 grams of protein, your just wasting your time and your hunger level will still be there!
• Keep in mind the sugar level that is in each serving. Yes, sugar makes some of them taste better BUT, so does adding sugar free dry pudding mix  
• Easy way to get in more protein servings a day 

Now, i'm going to talk about the "fats" that we eat and enter our body on a daily. Yes, this is confusing in many ways and yes, most people aren't aware that there are more than one or two forms of fats that we consume. (pictures will be provided because they are easier to follow :) )

What the picture above is telling you:

Saturated fats are unhealthy along with Trans fats are also unhealthy. I know I know!!! These are the foods that taste good but, your causing yourself to fail in the long run!

Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated fats are GOOD for you :)

So, this is when paying attention to the food labels, understanding our bodies, and the correct foods to eat come in handy!

A nice little cheat sheet website to also help with the understanding is : http://www.healthcheck.org/page/different-types-fat

And this is also a list of the bad and good foods! I figure putting up actual research of studies along with articles will help people realize that what i'm saying is actually a "thing" and i'm not just making it up as I go along :)

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week! Remember, set yourself a goal every week and try your hardest to stick with it! It will show how determined you really are and if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish it!!