October 31, 2017

As Americans, we eat a lot of sugar. On average we consume about 300 calories worth of added sugar each day. And one in five of us consumes more than a cup of the stuff during that same timespan.

And, don’t get me wrong. I’m not casting judgment on anyone here.

I know, it can be hard to avoid.

Because we don’t just get massive amounts of sugar from stuff we’d usually think of as sweet treats—cookies, soda, cake, candy.

Thanks to the misguided research of the 1970s where fat was demonized in the public eye, once that was removed from foods, big food companies still had to make their stuff taste good, or no one would buy it.

So, they took out the fat and packed in the sugar.

Which is why sugar is in so many things we wouldn’t think of as sweet. Salad dressings, sauces, yogurt, soups… These and more all have tons of added sugar.

So, we need to eat less of it. Giving it up can be tough, of course. If you’re among the 20% of the population who are mainlining a cup of the stuff each day, you’re going to go through a withdrawal period to rival kicking hard drugs. And even if you don’t eat a ton, you still might feel lousy for a few days.

But here’s the good news. Once you kick it, here are five things to expect to have back in your life.

You’ll Need Some New Clothes

The quickest way to lose weight is to stop drinking pop—which is just an incredibly efficient sugar-delivery method.

It’s going to be different for everyone and will depend on a number of factors, but the average weight loss for people who give up sugar tend to lose between one and three pounds per week.

You’ll Be Happy to Say Cheese

Your smile will look better. While not exactly health-related (although dental hygiene is a biggy when it comes to overall health) not giving all those plaque-producing bacteria in your mouth the sweetness they crave is going to keep things brighter in there.

Your Skin Will Look Better

Sugar tends to cause a lot of inflammation with your body, and it’s common for that inflammation to affect your skin. Cutting out the sugar ends up resulting in clearer skin.

Have diabetes? Did you know it’s reversible? Learn more at our next FREE Wellness Dinner Seminar by clicking here.

You Won’t Have to Worry so Much About Losing a Foot

Type 2 diabetes isn’t something to mess around with. Aside from also the hassle of having to spend a good portion of your life hooked up to a dialysis machine, you also run the chance of suffering some serious health consequences—including amputation of your extremities.

You’ll Need Some Shades

Because your outlook is going to be so much brighter. Inside the sugar trap cycle, your mood is dependent upon the sugar for a boost. After you’re off the stuff, however, your mood evens out, and you’re far more likely to feel great—and feel it consistently.

Again, that first initial step isn’t going to be a comfortable one. But your health is worth it. And so is your happiness.

If you decide to embark on the life-changing journey to get out of sugar jail for good, your body will thank you.

Want more? You can watch our video about kicking the sugar habit below:

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October 3, 2017

If you view a change in diet as something you “get to” do, as opposed to something you “have to” do, you’ll be much more likely to one, stick with it and truly feel the benefits, and two, enjoy yourself as you go through the process. Here’s what I mean…

I once had a patient who had an eating problem. He had some serious health issues, and he was in and out of the hospital pretty regularly. But what triggered these episodes was his habit of going out and eating so much he’d end up on a ventilator by the end of the night. He would eat so much that he could no longer breathe on his own.

I remember one instance where he was in the hospital for a few weeks. We were attempting to get his symptoms alleviated enough for him to go back out and live his life. He was making progress, and finally, he was discharged.

Not two nights later, I saw him again. At a local steakhouse. When I made my rounds the next morning, I was not surprised to see he was back.

It’s All About Perspective

It’s a sad case, but it’s not an isolated one. Many Americans are stuck in a pattern of this kind of self-destruction. It’s not only limited to diet, of course, but the whole idea of eating ourselves into an early grave is alarming to me.

Why?

Because, for one, we know which foods are bad for us. It’s not a mystery. A 20-ounce steak served with butter, a deep-fried onion dipped in fatty batter, and a loaded baked potato? That’s not good for you and you know it.

Secondly, part of what makes those foods so bad for you is that they cause inflammation inside the body. And these staples of the Standard American Diet— aptly shortened to SAD— aren’t just bad for your heart, or your arteries, or your liver. They’re also terrible for your mental health. A recent study showed that out of a group of 120 women, the ones who ate more meat and refined grains and drank more soda were far more likely to be depressed a decade later.

This vicious cycle is one reason why the the SAD diet persists. You eat it, it makes you physically and mentally sick, and to alleviate that feeling, you eat more.

And the crazy part? This state of affairs is what “normal” looks like. It’s how most people eat. And it’s impossible to be happy when what you’re eating is making you actively depressed.

So How Do You Break the Cycle?

This might sound a little overly simplistic, but what I’m about to say is true.

Happiness, at its core, is about perspective. It’s a choice.

You can be eating a huge steak and get a lot of pleasure out of it. But you could also eat a stick of celery and, depending on how you view your life and health, be equally happy. Or, more likely, even happier.

If you view a change in diet as something you “get to” do, as opposed to something you “have to” do, you’ll be much more likely to one, stick with it and truly feel the benefits, and two, enjoy yourself as you go through the process.

Ready to take back your health? Connect with us at our next FREE Wellness Dinner Seminar. Just click here to learn more!

Now, the patient I referenced up top was probably in a spot where it was going to take a lot more work than the average person on his end to shift his view of life. He didn’t get that way overnight, after all. But you’re probably in a much better place. And just changing the angle at which you look at things can have a massive impact on both your health and your happiness.

Learn more about breaking the cycle in your life in this video!

Or listen below…

The post Is Your Diet SAD? appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

September 25, 2017

So much of our health builds upon the patterns we either fall into or mold ourselves, slowly and over time.

I have a theory. I think one of the leading causes of obesity in this country is a lack of mindfulness.

We’re very good at keeping ourselves distracted. Full days can fly by and, by the end of them, a lot of times you can’t even remember what you did.

But a healthy, happy life first starts with being present.

Presence

Being present in your life, in each moment. Being mindful of where you are in the world, your place, and how you relate to both yourself and others.

I say that the obesity epidemic is, on one level at least, a lack of mindfulness because of this one simple question: “How do you end up obese?”

It doesn’t happen overnight. And sure, some of us are a little more environmentally susceptible to it, but never in an absolute, fatalistic way.

From my work with our Healthful Evolutions members, I’ve seen a pattern that happens in a lot of people’s lives. They start out eating the Standard American Diet, mainly because that’s what their parents fed them. And from childhood on, they don’t ever consider eating anything else. Once those dietary patterns settle in, autopilot kicks on.

Have diabetes? Did you know it’s reversible? Learn more at our next FREE Wellness Dinner Seminar by clicking here.

This learned response is one of the reasons why you can sit on the couch, turn on the TV, and at the end of an hour find that you’ve eaten an entire family-size back of Lay’s sour cream and onion chips.

In our culture, it’s easy to do. It’s easy to find something that distracts us away from our lives. And a lot of that temptation, I think, has to do with our desire to avoid the negative things inside us. The stuff that causes painful, internal tension.

Avoidance

We’re amazing at not dealing with things. At avoiding the questions that we ought to be asking every day… Why do I do this or that? Why is feeling unhappy, distracted, and physically sick better than sitting down and working through the underlying issues?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not being judgy about this at all. I struggled with exactly this problem for most of my life. In fact, I still struggle with it. We as humans have a constant desire to escape danger. And when that danger is inside of us, abandoning the moment, getting outside of ourselves, feels like a legitimate choice.

The problems will be there later. We can just deal with them sometime in the future.

But you can see how this ties into our obesity epidemic. By not being mindful of what we eat, what we do with our bodies, and how we’re genuinely feeling… It doesn’t take long for those patterns of distraction and escape to take over the steering wheel and direct us toward disease and depression.

So, What’s the Answer?

The first step is to understand that you tend to run on autopilot. Recognizing that will go a long way toward allowing you to take back your health.

The second step is to do the hard work of asking the questions you’ve been avoiding for so long. How are your feeling? Why do you feel that way? What makes you feel better? Why do you mindlessly move toward one type of distraction instead of another?

And finally, begin building a habit of mindfulness. To start to take just a few minutes each day to just be. Take a walk, or sit in a quiet spot. Do something relaxing.

Then spend that time just paying attention to what’s going on inside you. Breathe deeply and let those internal problems rise to the surface. Look at them from different angles, see what emotions they connect to.

Do this for a few weeks, gradually increasing the time you spend, until you find yourself practicing mindfulness at other points during the day without consciously doing it.

So much of our health builds upon the patterns we either fall into or mold ourselves, slowly and over time.

If we all did this, our nation would be far healthier, happier, and much lighter. It would be a wonderful place to live. But, here’s the thing. It doesn’t have to be just a dream. You can start doing your part today by practicing mindfulness. It won’t be long before you see real changes throughout every area of your life. Changes, I know from experience, that will surprise you!

It’s your life. And you only get one. You deserve to be happy. And you also deserve to live every last minute of it.

Do this next: Watch the video out reversing the health care crisis below:

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