Easy Changes for 2015
Throughout January many of us have been trying to start off the new year with a healthier lifestyle. If you're like many, you've spent this past month determined to carry out your New Year Resolutions, and you welcome the idea of “change” with open arms. But as the days start to drift into February the excitement of transforming into a “new you” can die down and those resolutions get just a little bit harder to maintain... and some of us might even revert back to our old habits.
The key to transforming yourself into the healthiest versions of you is by making small, easy changes that can be implemented into your everyday life and maintained throughout the year.
I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by a board-certified family physician and researcher who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods - Joel Fuhrman, M.D. I am happy to say that I learned a lot! Dr. Fuhrman is also a New York Times best-selling author of "Eat to Live," which provides a dietary guide to achieving weight loss and superior health base on scientifically-proven nutritional advice with the most up-to-date research.
Although Dr. Fuhrman’s "way of life eating program" might be a bit challenging and a little extreme/cutting edge to some, there are many easy-to-do takeaway changes that can make all of us just a little bit healthier.
There are four principals to Dr. Fuhrman’s "Eat to Live" way of life, they are:
1. We want to eat nutritionally dense foods - These are foods that give us the most bite for our buck. For example, foods that contain vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, anti-disease compounds, fiber, energy etc. are all
2. We want to eat the proper amounts of food – proper ratios and proper calorie intake.
3. We want to eat foods that are hormonal-ly favorable. This has to do with insulin, glycemic load and IGF-1 (insulin growth factor)
4. And lastly, we want to avoid foods that have toxins in them. For instance, we don’t want to eat farmed raced fish, that can have huge amounts of PCB’s in them. And we want to avoid chemicals like artificial sweeteners, soft drinks, and many highly processed foods.
I also learned that the "Standard American Diet" is not only undesirable, but is even detrimental to our health - invoking diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and man others. The Standard American Diet looks like this:
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54 % Processed food (calories with no nutrition)
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32% Animal products
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11% Vegetables and fruits
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4% whole grains
However, Dr. Fuhrman’s “Eat to Live” weight loss regimen recommends:
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30 – 40 % vegetables
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10 – 40 % seeds and nuts
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10 – 40% fruits
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10 – 40% beans
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Less than 10% from animal protein
Dr. Fuhrman also recommends "G--BOMBS" - great foods to eat to adhere to his four principals. They are:
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Greens
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Onions (raw)
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Mushrooms (cooked)
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Berries
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Seeds
Now, my "clean eating" way of life isn't in exact alignment with Dr. Fuhrman, but I love to take away bits and pieces of what I learn from various nutritionists and doctors to help me "tweak" my eating program to try to attain my goal of eating healthier each year. I will definitely be adding some foods and eating less of others after hearing this lecture.
Here are some super foods I recommend adding to your diet on a daily basis:
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Tomatoes (cooked or raw)
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Onions (raw)
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Flax seed (ground)
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Beans
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Mushrooms (cooked)
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Berries
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Kale
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Nuts
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Seeds
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Cruciferous veggies (raw)
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Vegetables
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Fruit
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Green Tea
And here are few things you might want to avoid, or eat less of:
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Too many oils,
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Animal fat,
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Processed foods,
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Salt,
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Sugar,
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Too many milk products,
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Alcohol,
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Foods that contain chemicals and toxins.
I hope these lists help you make some easy changes to your lifestyle! Do you have any tips for a healthier diet this year?
To learn more about Dr. Fuhrman’s "Eat to Live" way of life, click here: Lose Weight Healthfully With Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian Diet
About The Author
Beth Bielat has spent 35 years as a fitness professional. She is the fitness director for Joan Lunden’s Camp Reveille as well as the fitness professional and manager at the Ocean reef Club in Key Largo, FL. Beth specializes in life coaching, martial arts, self-defense, yoga, tai chi, and she is a certified nutritional councilor. Beth founded the LifeBreath Institute and she is an author and speaker on health, nutrition, and fitness. Beth is also a mom, grandmother, devoted wife, outdoor enthusiast including cycling, hiking, canoeing, backpacking and swimming, healthy cooking devotee and a strong believer in spirituality and faith.
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