A Testimonial of Hope

While I’m always talking about the benefits of a health coaching program, I thought I would let you hear from one of my clients what working with me has done for her.  Laura is someone who decided that she was ready to make a commitment to her health, for herself as well as for her family.  In a little over three months, her transformation has been remarkable and she shares her story below:

Four months ago, I decided I was sick and tired of being sick and tired (and 30 pounds overweight).   I had swung back and forth between utilizing a lemon-maple syrup detox to the Atkins diet, always reverting back to eating the things I shouldn’t because it was a holiday, or someone’s birthday, or a wedding, or the Fall (who doesn’t like comfort foods in the Fall!), or the sky was blue today or it was raining.  I always found a reason for comforting myself with food – and knew without a doubt that one bite would lead to weeks of bad habits…I would refer to sugar being like crack to me (no – I never did crack!)  I would always justify what I was doing to myself and decide that “It’s the weekend – I might as well enjoy it and start over on Monday”.  So many Mondays came and went, and the result was my deteriorating health, confidence, and well-being.

I changed myself over to a more “whole foods / organic / no preservative” way of eating and lost 7 pounds, but I still wasn’t feeling good and was very frustrated with the amount of arthritic pain I was experiencing at only 46 years of age.  I felt like I was 86!  This was keeping me from fully enjoying life, including what one would consider normal activities with my husband, children, and grandchildren.  Climbing a flight of stairs winded me.  My legs would ache and my heart would pound. I woke each morning with pain in my back (inherited degenerative spine) and significant pain in my hips and ankles.  I would literally shuffle to the bathroom like someone twice my age.  Everything hurt – and I was tired of it.  If this was how I felt at 46 – what would the next 30-40 years bring?  Would I even be here in 30-40 years?  I honestly wondered (and worried).

I was on the phone one day, complaining about the things that were getting in the way of my getting in better shape.  My friend mentioned that she had a friend who was a nutritionist, and that she had done a detoxification program with her that she thought might be beneficial to me.  My friend gave me Linda’s contact information, and that was the beginning of a real transformation in my life.  Truly, working with Linda and utilizing the guidance she provided has most certainly added years to my life, and more importantly, life to my years.

After speaking with Linda for my one hour consultation, I knew I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I felt my health was worth the investment, and I owed it to myself and my family to give it a try. 

Within the first two months of working with Linda, I had dropped an additional 15 pounds and no longer required blood pressure medication.  I believe this to be far more important than the weight loss. I noticed that, despite still hurting in the morning, I awoke looking forward to my day.  More of the clothes in my closet were fitting, and people were noticing not just the weight loss, but that I looked healthy and had more energy.

While I was feeling better, had lost some weight and gotten off the blood pressure medication, I was still dealing with the issues of the arthritis, and this was frustrating to me.  Talking through this with Linda, we decided that it could be beneficial for me to go through her detoxification program. While I was no longer taking narcotic pain medication, I’d been on a lot of narcotic pain medications over the years for Fibromyalgia and following several difficult surgeries (spinal fusion and two shoulder surgeries).  Years of being in pain and on medication could not have been good for my liver, and Linda explained that sometimes our bodies hold onto this, causing a myriad of health issues.  If the detoxification program could be helpful in dealing with the arthritis, I was willing to try anything and signed up for the 28 day detox.

I am in week three of the detox as I write this testimonial.  I have lost a total of 27 pounds (20 since starting with Linda).  What is most significant about the detox is that I have absolutely no joint or muscle pain.  Funny – it suddenly struck me in the middle of week two that my pain was completely gone.  I could get up in the morning and walk down the stairs normally (not sideways to ease the hip pain like before the detox) and get the coffee instead of having to shower first just to limber up my joints.  I no longer shuffle, my ankles do not hurt and I wake up each morning pain-free.

I am completely gluten free – and I believe this to be the largest contributor to the change in my health.  While I was not having any stomach issues relating to gluten, it was most definitely responsible for the inflammatory response in my body, resulting in significant pain. Once I stopped putting all of the garbage in, my palate became much more sensitive and I could taste the natural sweetness of whole foods!

I believe I have found the way my body wants me to eat.  I can’t even imagine going back to my old habits and ways of eating.  I really appreciate that I am no longer living to eat, but eating to live.  There is a very big difference. Food no longer consumes my thinking.

I am now 47 years old.  My husband and I have thirteen very energetic grandchildren, whom I want to be around to enjoy for years to come.  The pictures included with this testimonial say it all. There’s one from last Fall on a motorcycle ride to Lake George.  You can see the weight I was holding onto.  I felt even worse than I looked.  The other pictures are recent…with a couple of my grandchildren, of course.  I no longer look tired and worn out – nor do I feel it!

It’s my hope in writing this testimonial that others will have hope and that you will realize your health is worth it.  Three months is not an exorbitant amount of time.  You can do anything for three months.  I say three months because I knew that was enough time for me to determine whether or not the program was having an impact on me and then make an educated decision about moving forward.  I’ve since decided to continue with Linda for a bit while I finish out the detox program.  It has been worth every moment and every cent. 

While everyone’s story is different, Laura’s demonstrates that with determination, it is possible to turn around your physical health.  If poor health is preventing you from doing the things you want to do, please make a commitment to yourself to change that.   I can help you get on a path to healthier eating and lifestyle habits that will increase your energy, help you shed unwanted weight, reverse the effects of lifestyle diseases, and improve your mood.  It will change your life…

Why Diets Work - and Don't

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, then you’re probably familiar with the vast number of dieting books on the market.  Every author promises that you will lose weight on their diet.  And in many respects this is true.  In fact, every diet can be backed up by people who have shed weight while on the diet plan.  So in this regard, diets work. 

However, there are a couple of important things to consider about diets.  First, while all diets will work for some people, not every diet will work for everyone and if you’ve ever failed on a diet (and felt like a failure), it’s probably not your fault.  Finding the right plan can sometimes be a challenge. 

Second, and more importantly, diets may work when followed, but how you feel when you’re on the diet and what happens afterwards are the true tests of a diet’s success.  With that said, here are five reasons why most diets do not work:

1. Diets mean deprivation. Naturally, when we think of losing weight, we think “diet”.  And it takes some mental and emotional fortitude to actually commit to the diet. Does this sound familiar? “I’ll start on Monday, bracing myself for feeling uncomfortable, knowing I’m going to be hungry and knowing I’m going to be thinking about all the foods I won’t be able to eat.” 

And then after the days or weeks of deprivation, what inevitably happens? When you “go off” the diet, you will naturally compensate for what you missed out on while you were on the diet.   You may gain the weight back and then some.

In fact, may I suggest that if you have wanted to lose weight but have been unsuccessful, that you are already feeling deprived and have been trying to cure those feelings with extra food that is not fulfilling your needs and is only making things worse?

Most often, successful weight loss requires a healthy, sustainable eating plan that helps create a positive feedback loop.  Why?  Because a healthy, balanced diet will not only give your body what it needs to function, it will help your weight normalize, provide lots of energy, and improve your mood.  As a result, you’ll feel motivated to take better care of yourself consistently. 

2. Diets are temporary. So, you finally get up the strength and determination to go on a diet and you assure yourself that it’s only until you reach your goal - it’s only temporary! If you’re anything like I was in the past, you start to imagine all the situations coming up where you won’t be able to enjoy yourself because there will be lots of food and drinks that you can’t have. 

Maybe you’ll even avoid social invitations because of a diet.  So now what happens?  You associate going on a diet and losing weight with deprivation in other areas of your life as well.  You actually find yourself on a life diet.   What are the chances of success?  They’re very low.

When you think you can’t be happy or have fun until you lose weight, then you completely miss out on the journey.  In fact, losing weight and getting healthy is part of a journey and you can make it as enjoyable as you wish! Granted, if your weight is causing significant health issues and causing significant pain or difficulty getting around, then weight loss will certainly make life more enjoyable.  That said, none of us know how long we have here and you can learn a lot about yourself as you adopt new lifestyle strategies to get healthier. 

3. They’re all about the food.  How often do you reach for food to fill an unmet need or suppress uncomfortable feelings or emotions?  Maybe you use it to deal with sadness, stress, or boredom, or after a bad day. In all of these situations, when you reach for food, it conveniently gives you something else to obsess over.  In addition, the excess weight may provide a safe place to hide from the real you that wants to express itself.

When you use food to deal with your emotions, you’re not actually comforting yourself at all, you’re really punishing yourself. Most diets don’t address the emotional component of eating at all.  They stress willpower.  And trying to practice willpower is just another opportunity for feeling bad about yourself. In fact, depriving yourself of food when you’re already feeling deprived in some other way will only make the problem worse.

4.  They focus on weight.  Are you addicted to your scale? Do you let that slab of metal decide whether or not your day starts off on a positive note? Besides the power it has over your mood and how you feel about you, another thing to consider here is that the number staring back is only part of the picture. 

Your body composition, that is, the percentage of fat to muscle and other tissue is equally, if not more important than the number on the scale.   If you’re attempting to lose weight, obviously, the right way to do it is to lose the fat and preserve the muscle.

If you’re now exercising and especially if you’ve added in resistance training, then you may be gaining muscle as you lose fat.  This is a good thing but may make weight loss slower than you expect.

Instead, ask yourself, “How do I feel?”, “Do I have more energy?”,  “Do I feel stronger?”,  “Are my aches and pains disappearing?”, “Am I thinking more clearly?”, “Do I feel less stress?”, “Am I getting sick less often?” These are all important questions to consider rather than the number on the scale.  If you answer yes to any of them, then you’re on the right track and the number on the scale is not so important. 

5. They require you to eliminate whole food groups. This is very common, I think, particularly today with all the low carb diets out there. Have you decided to completely cut carbs out of your diet?

Please know that long term, all three groups of foods:  proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are necessary to looking and feeling your best.   They are all needed for healthy brain function, a strong immune system, strong bones, strong muscles and functioning organs, and glowing skin.  Also, studies have shown that when whole food groups are left out of meals, that it can cause cravings for the missing foods. 

In fact, a study in the journal Appetite found that when people ate meals that were either high in protein, or high in carbohydrates (so there was very little of the other nutrient), the participants did in fact crave the foods that had been missing, but the people who ate the low carb meal had more significant cravings for carbs than the people who ate the meal low in protein. 

What often happens when people go without carbohydrates for too long is that they will begin to reach for the junk foods, loaded with sugar and the worst kind of carbohydrates that will relieve their cravings the most quickly.

When you include all three food groups in your diet and incorporate them into your meals, you’ll likely be choosing healthier choices from each food group, you will be more satisfied with your meals, and be less likely to crave the foods you think you need to avoid.

Are you wondering how to incorporate a healthy eating plan into your schedule that won’t feel like a diet but that will improve your health and help you release excess weight?  Contact me and see if working with a health coach is right for you. 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles

Does This Diet Make Me Look Fat?

Today in the United States, ~35% of the adult population is considered obese and this number is expected to reach 50% by 2030.  This is a sobering statistic.  Even more worrisome is the rising rate of obesity among children and the potential for early onset of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  In the health survey I sent out a couple of months ago, 100% of the people who responded said they wanted to lose weight.   As much as total body weight is an important factor that determines overall health, the number staring back at you on the scale only reveals a small part of the picture.

To understand what’s not found in this number, let’s consider two people of similar body frame and weight who have lost a similar number of pounds. Suzie lost most of her weight in the form of fat and now has a body composition of 22% fat and 78% non-fat mass (muscle, bones, etc.).  Sarah, on the other hand, lost most of her weight as muscle and has a body composition of 35% body fat and 65% non-fat mass.  Both of them may look similar in size, but their bodies are functioning very differently biochemically.

The diet Suzie followed allows for a slow release of sugar into the blood stream and the pancreas to release insulin in a slow but steady manner.  Her cells are highly sensitive to insulin, which allows them to take up sugar easily.  Her cells are also efficiently producing energy and she maintains healthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as hormone balance, which further supports healthy cell function.  She is energetic, well rested, can think clearly, and has good mood balance. 

Sarah’s diet causes her pancreas to rapidly release excess and unhealthy amounts of insulin.  Her excess body fat is likely in the form of visceral adipose tissue, or VAT, which accumulates around the organs and acts as an endocrine organ itself, dumping excess hormones and inflammatory molecules into the blood, leading to hormone imbalances and inflammation throughout the body.   The inflammatory signals weaken the insulin receptors on her cells, making it difficult for her cells to take up the sugar in her blood, so energy production is poor.  Excess sugar in her system increases triglyceride levels, and Sarah’s body composition raises her risk of high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type 2-diabetes.  Although Sarah is thin, she is metabolically fat and may also be suffering from low energy, depression, digestive problems, unexplained aches and pains, skin problems, hormone-related disorders, and more.

HOW you lose weight is just as important as how much weight you lose.   A healthy balanced diet along with supplementation, exercise and stress reduction versus fasting or crash dieting combined with unhealthy food choices, stimulants, and a sedentary lifestyle make all the difference in how you feel, and look, as you lose weight.   At the conference I attended last week, I met a woman who had lost sixty-five pounds on one of the popular already-prepared-foods diets, but when her body composition was analyzed, she discovered that she had an unusually high percentage of body fat!  The information immediately gave her the incentive to change her diet and lifestyle to improve her body composition.

Stay tuned, because after the holidays, I will be launching a three-week program designed to help you make changes to diet and lifestyle that your body, mind, and spirit will love!  

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici