October 10, 2017

The most important question you can ask for your health is a very simple one…

“Energy,” especially when it comes to the body, is one of those topics that get pretty hippy-dippy pretty quickly, depending on who’s explaining it to you.

But take a step back for a moment and think. What causes you to move throughout the day? How does your brain communicate things to the rest of your body? How do your muscles move?

The answer? Energy. Electrical energy, in fact.

Are you ready to lose weight… FOR GOOD? Register for our FREE Wellness Dinner Seminar and learn how here.

If you remember back to seventh-grade science, energy exists in two states. Potential energy is the energy that’s stored up. It’s not doing much of anything except sitting there. Kinetic energy, however, is the energy that is in motion. It’s the life force that powers everything from the miraculous microbes in your gut to the distant stars growing in strength and brightness by the moment.

THE MEANING OF LIFE

Philosophers have been at work for centuries attempting to figure out the meaning of life. And while that’s still an open question, I’m convinced that energy factors into it. Namely, we’re supposed to tap into our kinetic energy and, well, move.

If you take a look at the diabetes and obesity epidemics in our country, you see a lot of potential energy. A lot of stagnation, and very little growth and change (apart from our waistlines, which, c’mon, that doesn’t count.)

Growth is one of the six basic human needs (along with, according to Tony Robbins, Certainty, Variety, Significance, Love and Connection, and Contribution.)

And growth is just another example of kinetic energy.

We are designed to change. To grow. To become wiser, healthier, better.

We’re not designed just to sit back and let the world happen to us. That’s a recipe, quite literally, for disease. For death.

So, you have a choice. We all have a choice. We can continue to commit slow suicide by eating the junk we’ve always eaten, spend our time avoiding the problems that come standard with each human life, to exist in toxic relationships with those around us, and keep remaining in a state of potential energy.

It’s Newton’s first law of motion. Whatever state of motion (or lack thereof) you’re in will continue until something pushes it in a different direction.

And honestly, I see the consequences of remaining in this state of stagnation every single day. It doesn’t end well.

But, again, Newton gives us the key. Allow that other force to move you towards growth and change, and you’ll find health and happiness.

What’s Your “Why”?

And what’s that other force? What’s your “why” for getting healthy and staying that way?

For some, it’s knowing that your loved ones need you. For others it’s waking up one morning and deciding that enough is enough and it’s time to live. For some that “why” reveals itself when they catch a clear, terrifying vision of the future if they continue to stay the same.

Any of these reasons are perfectly valid for deciding to change your life and seize happiness.

Watch a video on choosing life each moment of every day below!

Or listen here…

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September 7, 2017

Caught in the yo-yoing cycle of fad dieting? Here’s how to shed those pounds and keep them off!

Anyone can lose weight. It’s a simple process: Use up more calories than you take in.

But, ask anyone who’s tried out a fad diet, and they’ll all tell you the same thing. “Yeah, it works. But only for a little while.”

Yo-yoing is the term people use to describe the process of losing—and then regaining—weight. If fad diets have anything in common, it’s that most—if not all—result in this drop-and-gain cycle.

It’s a disappointing process, really. You work really hard at a diet, achieve your goals, and then… you go back to square.

So, why is it so hard to keep the weight off?

THE WHY

For a lot of people, it has a lot to do with their “Why.”

Why are you trying to lose weight to begin with? To look good in a bathing suit? To fit into a particular dress for a class or family reunion?

The problem here is that often those things have an expiration date. Once vacation is over, that motivating factor is no longer present. And with it goes the “Why.”

The other issue with fad diets is that even when they “work”—and by “work” I mean that you lose the weight, at least initially—most of them are so bad for you that yeah, that bathing suit might fight, but you’re unhealthier internally than you were before.

Along those same lines, belly fat isn’t just an outer, physical problem. It’s a sign of what’s going on inside you. It’s a symptom of an unhealthy lifestyle.

(For example, it’s not uncommon to find people who look “thin” on the outside but have all sorts of insulin resistance and belly fat issues inside their bodies.)

Here’s how it works.

When your body is working as it should, your gut microbiome—the hundreds of millions of microscopic plants, animals, bacteria, and other tiny critters that live in your gastrointestinal tract—produce chemicals that improve your bodily systems. They are nutrifying your body.

But, when they’re out of balance, the secretions lead to sickness. And why do they fall out of balance?

It’s all lifestyle. It’s what you put into your body, along with how you handle the inevitable stress in your life.

A lot of times, this imbalance is a major factor in belly fat accumulation.

So, how do you get the weight off and keep it off?

The first step is to find your “Why?”

Ask yourself, why do you want to lose the weight? What’s the primary reason for it?

Are you ready to lose weight… FOR GOOD? Register for our FREE Wellness Dinner Seminar and learn how here.

For a lot of our members at the Wellness Training Institute, the decision to lose the weight and get healthy happens after a major medical event. An accident, a heart attack, a cancer diagnosis—or worse.

For some, it’s realizing that your family, kids, or grandchildren want them to be around for longer than their current lifestyle choices would predict.

For others, it’s merely reaching the point where enough is enough. You have one life, this is it, and you deserve to be happy. But without your health, happiness just isn’t going to happen.

FIND YOUR WHY

So, no matter what your reason is, find it. The important thing to know as you search for it is that it’s there. Sure, you might want to fit into a smaller size, but that’s rarely the real reason. I mentioned symptoms earlier, and a lot our external, maybe shallower impulses, tend to have roots deep within our selves.

Finding yours might be just what you need to get rid of that belly fat, regain your health, and grab that happy life that’s waiting for you just beyond your choice to take that first step forward—and then keep going!

 Watch and listen to more below!

The post How to Keep the Belly Fat Away… For Good appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

Healthy and Easy Thanksgiving Recipes

Every month at the Wellness Training Institute our Wellness Director Nicole Martin hosts a cooking day for our practice members.  This month the theme is Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes.  Below are the recipes for two main dishes, plus a cream sauce, gravy, and pumpkin seed toppings!  The best part is that they all use the same basic ingredients so you don’t have to buy a ton of groceries.

“There’s a lot of emotion and energy around Thanksgiving, whether you’re the host or going somewhere. If you’ve had traditions in your family for a long time, that’s a hard thing to change. The good news is… if you’re hosting thanksgiving yourself, you can choose the recipes you will be making, and if you’re going somewhere you can just bring something you can eat!” – Nicole Martin

Cauliflower Rice Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Why sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes? White potatoes are not necessarily bad, but how do you usually have white potatoes? Very few people just eat a white potato. Usually we add butter, sour cream, cheese, etc. Not to mention, in a battle between nutrient density, sweet potatoes win! 

As you’re cooking, sautéing with vegetable broth is a healthy alternative to oil!  Keep in mind when sautéing with vegetable broth to move the vegetables around a little more than you would with oil, and add more vegetable broth as needed.

Ingredients

– 1 head of cauliflower

– 1 sweet potato

– 1/3 cup low-sodium vegetable

– Desired spices (suggested: red pepper seasoning, garlic powder); Add spices to your desired taste

Directions

– Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

– Chop cauliflower into chunks and put into a blender or food processor (I use a Ninja food processor, it is compact and easy to use).

– In a sauté pan, warm about 1/3 cup vegetable broth.

– Add the cauliflower “rice” to the sauté pan, you can add spices like roasted red pepper seasoning or garlic powder, cover and cook for about 5-8 minutes on low.

– Stir occasionally, add vegetable broth as needed.

– Bake sweet potato at 400F for 45 minutes, cut in half and let it cool. Scoop out most of the sweet potato (leaving some in*), and put in cauliflower rice.   Place back in the oven at 400F for a few minutes.  *Save the scooped out sweet potato for mashed sweet potatoes, or cream sauce

Note: additional toppings could be sweet potato cashew cream sauce (recipe below), salsa, nutritional yeast, cinnamon, coconut flakes, Nicole’s cheese sauce (which is coming soon!) 

Sweet Potato Cashew Cream Sauce

This creamy sauce is a perfect addition to your sweet potato cauliflower mash (or any other dish!)

Ingredients

– 1 cup cashews

– ½ cup vegetable broth (low sodium)

– ½ cup nutritional yeast

– 1 tsp Dijon mustard

– Juice of ½ lemon

– ¼ baked sweet potato 

Directions

– Soak cashews for 8 hours or overnight to soften

– Drain cashews, and place in a food processor

– Pulse the cashews to break them up into smaller pieces

– Add vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, and lemon

– To make this a sweeter cream add in ¼ baked sweet potato

– Blend to desired texture

– Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Cauliflower mash

Ingredients

– 1 head cauliflower (slightly chopped)

– ½ yellow onion

– 2 cloves garlic (chopped)

– 2 cups sweet potato cream sauce

Directions

– Place 1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped into a soup pan.

– Add onion and garlic

– Fill with water, enough to cover the vegetables

– Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover for 10 minutes

– Drain

– Add to the food processor and mix with the sweet potato cashew cream

– Mash to desired texture

 Mushroom Gravy:

Did you know mushrooms are anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory!

Ingredients:

– 1/2 chopped yellow onion

– 1 clove garlic

– 2 tbsp nutritional yeast

– 1 cup vegetable broth

– 1 cup mushrooms, chopped

– 1 tsp. dried thyme

– 4 tbsp of almond flour

Directions

– In a sauté pan, heat 1/3 cup low-sodium vegetable broth

– Add mushrooms, garlic, and onions

– Sauté for 2-3 minutes and until all liquid is evaporated, stirring often

– add almond flour, dried thyme, and nutritional yeast

– Keep on low heat, whisking the mixture for 2 minutes, slowly adding in vegetable broth until desired thickness

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

These are great to add as a topping to any of your Thanksgiving recipes!

Ingredients:

– Raw sprouted pumpkin seeds

– Vegetable broth (if using stovetop)

– Desired spices (garlic, salt, pepper)

Stovetop: Add a small amount of vegetable broth to a sauté pan (you can also cook with a dry pan if you are constantly flipping the seeds), add pumpkin seeds and any spices (garlic, salt, pepper). Sauté until toasted.

Oven: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Scatter the pumpkins seeds on a baking sheet, place in the oven. Stay close because they will cook in 2-3 minutes. If you are using raw seeds, cook for about 40 minutes. 

Enjoy!

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September 30, 2016

“For he who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.”– Owen Arthur

The hardest part about getting healthy is, for a lot of people, knowing where to start.

And the hardest part of knowing where to start is the fact that every time you look into some health tip, you find a countering opinion. You have so much information at your finger tips— Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Youtube, Pintrest— but what is true? What will work? So, you start researching, hoping that you’ll find the right information to get you started.

But instead of finding a solution, all you find is information.

And there is A LOT of it. Much of which contradicts itself.

For example: Bananas are good. Also, they are bad.

Or: An apple a day keeps the doctor away… or does it?

Or: Grains are good. But they are also the opposite of good.

Or: Fats make you fat. And… they make you thin.

It’s enough to make your head explode.

And that’s just the beginning of the pain a solo journey down the path toward wellness is going to bring you.

Not to add to your confusion unnecessarily, but here are a number of other obstacles you are probably going to encounter in just trying to figure out where to even begin.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life? Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

Labels

Labels are hard to read. (And that’s not by mistake.) So, even if you’re attempting to begin eating better by choosing low-fat or reduced-sodium processed foods (don’t do this, btw), you’re still fighting an uphill battle with information.

For example, look at this label for cornmeal:

All of that seems pretty okay, right? You have corn, the word “whole grain” (which is supposed to be good, right?), a little plant oil, some salt, and then… what is this TBHQ business?

Well, the answer to that question is this: TBHQ (or Tertiary Butylhydroquinone) is a petroleum-based preservative. It’s there to lengthen the shelf life of the cornmeal. It also increases your risk of cancer. It’s also a neurotoxin. And, oh yeah, consuming more than five grams of it at one time may possibly kill you outright.

And that’s just one example. Figuring out what you’re actually eating when you choose processed foods—even the ones that claim they’re good for you!—is almost impossible without at least a doctorate in biochemical engineering.

Marketing

When was the last time you saw a commercial for a vegetable?

Probably never.

And there’s a very simple reason for that: Vegetables aren’t good business in the same way that soft drinks or breakfast cereal are. The reason why is because vegetables can’t sit on a shelf for months at a time in the market, don’t offer very good margins for the corporations themselves, and aren’t filled with addictive substances designed specifically to get you to buy more and more (and more) of them.

Advertisers know this. And so, they aren’t going to waste their time trying to get you to consume them.

Which is why it’s so hard to try to eat healthy. You are constantly bombarded with messaging telling you to eat things that will eventually kill you. And even if you know this, it’s still so hard to fight against that level of psychological warfare.

When you’re a single target, it’s hard to keep from getting shot up with arrows at every turn.

Everyone Else is Eating Junk

This is probably one of the most powerful adversaries you have when attempting to fly solo on your health journey. By nature, humans are communal when it comes to food. Sunday dinners with grandma. First dates out at an Italian bistro. Thanksgiving dinner.

We eat together.

So, when you drive past a McDonalds at noon on a Tuesday and the parking lot is filled beyond capacity, it’s easy to sort of make up your mind that yeah, McDonalds is terrible for you, but still… everyone else is doing it.

In working with our members at the Wellness Training Institute, this issue of community is far and away the biggest hurdle we have to tackle. So many of our members come into the program attempting to get healthy, but have little to no support back home with their friends and family. Misery loves company, and that applies to food as much as it does to anything else.

For all the reasons I gave above why getting healthy alone is such a hard—if not impossible—task, this one is probably the most revealing why.

I’ve had countless members come to me, right before they graduate, and say how they never would’ve accomplished their wellness goals if it hadn’t been for the community they found in our Healthful Evolutions program. They found the necessary support with the other members of the program—people with similar goals, encouraging and celebrating with each other—that they didn’t have back in their regular lives.

That’s really the moral of the story. You can’t go it alone. If you want to get healthy, you have to surround yourself with others who want the same thing—both for themselves and, just as importantly, for you.

So… where are you on your health journey? What are your goals? What are your struggles? Share them below in the comments!

The post Why You Can’t Get Healthy Alone appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

September 27, 2016

Very few people have ever decided that they are going to just throw up their hands, decide that whatever happens happens, and just choose to stay sick and broken down and headed for an early grave.

But at the same time, the evidence is there that a big chunk of our culture has done just that.

We eat terribly. We’re addicted to distraction. We spend enough of our lives not moving around to the point that movement becomes difficult—if not impossible—later in life.

And, any commercial break during any TV show at any time of day shows how much encouragement we are getting from the corporations intent on selling us more and more of this lifestyle that’s killing us quicker than we could ever hope to manage on our own.

So, how do we fix it? How can you, today, start making better nutritional choices to feel better, live better, and simply be better?

I’m glad you asked. It’s not nearly as hard as you might think.

1. Look at What You’re Eating

The best way to get as many calories (and toxic chemicals, empty carbs, and stuff that isn’t even food to begin with) through your mouth and down into your body is to just shovel it mindlessly in.

It’s like the old adage: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In this case, if all you’re eating is food from a bag or a box, then everything looks like food.

Which, of course, it isn’t.

Instead, if you choose your food mindfully—and then eat it in the same way—you are quickly going to become aware of what, exactly, it is that you’re eating.

And with everything you eat, ask yourself this question: Is this helping my body or hurting it? People know a Double Whopper with bacon-flavored cheese isn’t good for you. But, what if you thought about it in this way: If I continued to eat this, every day, would it help me or hurt me?

The answer is obvious. And if you keep that question in mind when both choosing and consuming food, you’ll be a lot more enlightened about what exactly is going into your body.

Just shovel it in. Seriously. Whatever it is, just eat it.

2. Eat Plants.

It’s really that simple. Plants are healthy. They have almost all the nutrition inside them that you will ever need. Vitamins. Minerals. Fiber. A whole array of nutrients.

And the best way to start introducing more plants into your diet is to do just that. Introduce them.

Don’t take anything else out of your diet. Eat what you’re eating now. But add in two servings of vegetables to every meal. For those of us who aren’t keen on counting, think about it this way: For every meal, half your plate should be vegetables. You like Twinkies? Fine. Keep eating Twinkies. But also add in some broccoli, or carrots, or (if you want to get fancy) a rutabaga. Whatever.

Just fill up half your plate with whatever vegetable you choose.

After a while of not feeling so horrid from dawn until dusk, you’re body is going to adapt. It’s going to want those vegetables. Like a truck you’ve been filling up with maple syrup for the past decade that now has a taste of what it feels like to run on premium gasoline, you’re going to be surprised at how much you won’t miss the garbage.

Don’t eat them. Don’t think about them. Don’t even look at them. Pretend they are all poisonous. (Because let’s face it… they are). 

3. Quit Frying things.

Seriously. Just stop it. No more frying your food.

Oil just adds calories. You can still use your frying pans, but use them for steaming or sautéing. Or, if the temptation is too much, take all your frying pans and make decorative planters out of them. Or give your cat a little treat in the form of a much wider, slightly shallower, and be-handled new watering dish. Or fill them up with soil and start growing sprouts for all the salads you are going to look forward to eating in the future once your veins de-grease themselves and your body is more animal than off-shore oil well.

4. Understand Why You Eat What You Do

This is a big one.

A lot of why we eat isn’t from nutritional deficit, but instead because we feel a certain way.

Happy? Grab an Oreo.

Sad? Grab a Double-stuff Oreo.

The food we eat often has very little to do if we’re hungry or not. A lot of people (and I used to be this way, so don’t accuse me of getting preachy on you) just eat out of simple boredom.

An Oreo in our culture is legitimately just something to do.

Being mindful about WHY you eat, on the other hand, puts the nutritional factorial back into the equation. If you are upset and start reaching into the snack cabinet, take a breath, and ask yourself why your hand is currently wrapped around a Ho-Ho. Are you hungry, really? Or are you eating out of emotion?

Eating mindfully is one of those habits that can make a big difference very quickly. We have members that come into the program that have legitimately never once thought about WHY they eat what they eat. And once that lightbulb goes on above their heads, you can see the change almost visibly in their faces.

Once you get it, you get it. And then, combined with the other steps on this list, eating starts becoming something life-giving and rewarding, and not a mindless exercise in chewing.

What steps do you want to take to begin eating better? Let us know in the comment section below!

The post 4 Things You Can Do Nutritionally RIGHT NOW to Improve Your Life appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

September 22, 2016

Do you feel good?

Right now, at this moment, do you feel good?

As a cardiologist now halfway through my third decade of practice, I’ve noticed two things about the possible answers to that question.

The first: Most people don’t feel good.

The second: Sadly, most people don’t even know what feeling good feels like.

Living in this toxic culture, eating what we eat, racing through our day, and rarely stopping to take inventory of what out bodies are telling us—most people I’ve talked to over the years have been miserable for so long that they have no idea what it means not to be miserable.

It’s sad. Heartbreaking, really.

And although there is no one cure for this problem, there are some systematic steps you can take to at least begin to understand what feeling good is like.

The good news here is that once you understand that feeling, you’ll want to preserve it. You’ll want to keep feeling good.

Here are two of the things we teach our members at the Wellness Training Institute. They are steps in a larger process, but they really all fall under one category: Getting Quiet.

Awareness

I preach awareness constantly. And there’s a reason for it.

Health is built upon the integration of the body, mind, and soul. If all of those things are working together, then you are healthy. It’s as simple as that.

One of the best ways of getting those things working together is through a practice of mindfulness… about everything you do.

It makes a lot of sense: To do something, or make something, or even consider choosing one thing over another, it takes a certain amount of concentration. It takes information. It takes awareness. You have to know that something is there, or that there’s even the potential of a choice.

The way to do that is to become quiet. To sit inside an individual moment. To understand where your body is in relation to the rest of the universe. To watch and listen for what’s actually going on inside your body.

It’s also about documenting what you do. We use a gratitude journaling exercise with our Wellness Training Institute members. It’s a highly effective way to force someone to pause, to look for the positives in their lives, and it sets them up to find more positive things throughout their day.

It’s about getting the mind quiet, calm, and ready to choose life over death, one minute after the next.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life? Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

Elimination Diet

An elimination diet is used, first and foremost, to quiet the gut. What I mean by that is this: By taking out potentially reactive foods from your diet (foods that might be causing problems, either by themselves are in a cross-reactive way with other, non-problematic foods), we can get your body to a place where it can just work the way it needs to.

A good example of this is gluten. For a lot of people, gluten doesn’t cause much of a problem. But for those whose bodies react to it, that reaction is usually pretty extreme.

So, by removing gluten from the diet for a little while, the body—the gut—can quiet down and get on with the business of doing its job.

Just like cultivating awareness, an elimination diet allows things to reset, to quiet down. It also allows you to understand what your body needs—as well as what it doesn’t.

It’s probably not an accident that in most cultures (but not ours, for the most part) there’s a time of fasting. For some, it’s a day. Or a week. Or, like Ramadan, a month.

They seem to know something that we don’t here in our culture. There’s power in putting the brakes on constant consumption. There’s power in letting things get still to the point where we can sense things, hear things. There’s power in just shutting things down for a time—for the body, mind, and soul—and just getting quiet.

So, how do you feel? If you feel great, then great!

If not, I would encourage you to come to our FREE Wellness Dinner Seminar. We’ll eat a good meal together, and we will give you a ton of great information about how you can get quiet and take that next step to getting healthy and staying that way!

The post The Power of Getting Quiet appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

September 19, 2016

Why should you eat plants?

Seems like kind of a dumb question, right? Our moms all told us to eat our vegetables, so it’s wired inside us to know that they are good for us.

Just knowing, though, doesn’t seem to be enough.

Without even including meat—in any form—into the equation, the American diet is at least 60% processed food.

That is a big number.

Here’s an excerpt from an article from Time:

In a study published in the journal BMJ Open, scientists led by Carlos Monteiro at University of Sao Paolo found that nearly 60% of an American’s daily calories come from “ultraprocessed” food, which Monteiro and his colleagues defined as food that contains ingredients such as flavors, colors, sweeteners and hydrogenated oils, emulsifiers and other additives that you wouldn’t cook with at home.

“Ultraprocessed” is now apparently a word.

And what’s interesting about all the things added into processed food is that, by definition, those things are even food!

Food is simply this: Anything that is consumed that repairs tissue and sustains growth. Yellow #5 does neither of those things. Artificial sweeteners DEFINITELY don’t do either of those things.

Which means that at least 60% of what we’re eating ISN’T EVEN FOOD.

The kid back in kindergarten eating horse glue in the back of the room was probably getting more sustenance from his snack than most of us are today.

So, if we aren’t eating food, what should we be eating?

The answer? Plants.

There are a lot of reasons why we should be eating plants. But life is short. So here are the two most important ones:

They Taste Good.

I have a theory. I’m not entirely sure that most Americans have ever eaten a GOOD salad. Most of the time, a “salad” for an American is a bowl of (artificial) Bacon Bits suspended in blue cheese dressing with a couple iceberg lettuce leaves floating on top, served at one of those steak houses with soggy peanut shells constantly underfoot.

That is not a salad.

And even if you go to the grocery store—and I’m looking at you too, Whole Foods—the vegetables there aren’t nearly as tasty as the ones from a farmers’ market, or ones you grow yourself.

I don’t think people know how good GOOD vegetables taste. And it’s not their fault… they CAN’T TASTE them because of all the processed food they are consuming.

This is not just a theory.

Good vegetables are delicious. And because our highly-processed diets have masked—or tainted—our actual sense of taste, a lot of people are missing out.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life? Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

They’re Good for You.

Just like mom said. She wasn’t lying.

The question is, however: Why?

Obviously, you know that vegetables contain vitamins, nutrients, fiber, protein, lipids, and tons of other stuff your body needs to keep being a body (as opposed to a corpse.)

But let’s take a more mathematical approach to this question.

Let’s talk about micronutrients.

Or, more specifically, let’s talk about nutrient density.

But first, let’s take a step back.

Let’s begin at the very beginning.

Why should you eat?

Answer: Because you’re hungry, right?

Well, then, why are you hungry?

Answer: Because your body needs nutrients and a host of other things to operate at even a minimal level, and hunger is just the word for the signal your body sends you when that nutritional deficit is getting too deep.

Which means that we eat to put nutrients and other good stuff back in our body. And when we have enough nutrients in there, our body tells us that by sending us a signal that we’re full.

This is why you can eat sugar or fat almost endlessly. Processed foods don’t contain enough nutrients, and so the body doesn’t send the “Cut it out!” signal.

So, the way we teach our Wellness Training Institute members to eat is to think about nutrient density. The more nutrients you can get per square inch of food you consume is important, because you can then eat less and actually get more nutrition into your body. And plants are very high in what are called micronutrients. There are a lot of them in a very small amount of food, so you get tons of bang for your buck.

When you think about food in this way, it changes your whole outlook on nutrition. And when you put it into practice, it will change your whole life!

So what nutritional changes are you looking to make in your health journey? What are your struggles? Comment and share below!

The post Why You Should Eat Plants appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

September 16, 2016

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.” — Eckhart Tolle

One of the hardest things to do in this day and age is slow down. Our phones constantly distract us, there are screens everywhere begging for our attention, and life doesn’t exactly allow you to just hit the pause button.

That’s why it’s so important to develop a habit of present moment awareness.

A lot of people tend to think about life in one of two ways: History or future. We spend a lot of time thinking about things that have happened to us over the years, both good and bad, and spend almost as much time—if not more—looking forward. Plans, fears, schedules, responsibilities… the list is endless, and it is always coming directly at us.

But there’s also another way that life is happening… in fact, it’s really the ONLY way life is happening. And that’s in the moment. That’s really all we have. The past is gone, the future isn’t here yet, and so all we have is the now.

So, why is it important to practice present moment awareness?

Glad you asked.

There are a couple reasons.

1. You are Alive

One, to live at optimum health, we have to first live. And since being alive means being alive in this one and only moment, then any alternative is really going to be a chore. In this moment, you are alive. The world is real and vibrant and awe-inspiring and all around you. Every tiny atom moves within this moment. Every wave of light is pulling a million different colors from every shining thing across the universe. Everyone alive on this planet is alive inside this moment. Everything within this moment simply is.

2. You are Built for Wellness

The second reason why developing present moment awareness as a habit is such an important principle for a healthy life, is that so much of our health is dependent upon how we see the world. How we experience it. And because it is so easy to simply drift through each second of every hour of every day until we’re old and frail and wake up one morning wondering where our lives have gone… it’s vital to our very wellness to begin to understand how we are tied to the earth, and to each other, and to every molecule vibrating out its own song within its narrow arc.

A habit of present moment awareness ties you to the world around you. It also ties you to your own body. Rushing around from one thing to the next with no real mind to how your body is feeling—or what it needs—is a fantastic way to invite sickness. Instead, present moment awareness gives us insight into what’s going on inside us. That pause from our worries, regrets, fears, and feelings of being overwhelmed disappears under the weight of that one single moment, and we are lighter for it. We get a sense of ourselves. We understand what our body is feeling, how our thoughts connect, and also begin to develop an inner sense of what our bodies are telling us.

Some of those signals might be just simple pleasures. Other times, we may receive warning signs. Our bodies know what they need, and also know how to communicate those needs to us. We are only tasked to listen, and then respond.

Why We Don’t Like the Moment

I think a lot of us tend to avoid spending time mindfully within our moments because we’re afraid. Afraid that there might be something wrong. Afraid that an old buried fear might rear its ugly head and ruin our day.

Or, we’re just afraid of the quiet simply because it’s so foreign to us. A quiet, mindful moment doesn’t come with a user’s guide. There isn’t an app for it. (Not really.) It’s unstructured. It forces us to be alone with our thoughts… and some of those thoughts aren’t pleasant. Without distraction as a salve, old wounds can emerge.

I get it: It can be a frightening proposition.

But stay with me here: Simply because present moment awareness opens us up to possible negative feelings, that isn’t an argument against practicing it. The tradition of yoga isn’t about avoiding negative emotions. Instead, it works hard to confront them, find the source, identify everything that fear connects to inside our minds, and then deals with all of that in isolation. It effectively short circuits that negativity.

Sure, you’re going to be sad sometimes. Or angry. Or hurt. Or lonely. All of these emotions are a huge part of the human condition. Present moment awareness isn’t going to rid you of everything negative. Instead, it’s one of the best tools we have to deal with it in a way that allows our bodies, minds, and spirits to process it all to make us healthier, happier, and much more fun to be around!

How do you practice present moment awareness? Comment and share below!

(If you want to get started cultivating awareness—or check out the technique we use with our Wellness Training Institute members—you can check out this post detailing a step by step beginner’s guide.)

The post Why You Should Practice Present Moment Awareness appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

September 13, 2016

When most people hear the words “eliminate” and “diet” together, they think of deprivation. They think about giving up all the foods they currently eat. They picture a grey wasteland of bland foodstuffs and unfed cravings.

They think of misery.

What an elimination diet actually entails, though, is far less severe.

And the benefits of doing one are nothing short of miraculous.

How it Works

Given your current habits and symptoms of illness, a good nutrition coach is going to be able to look at all the evidence and pinpoint certain things that are causing havoc in your system. Dairy, gluten, soy, peanuts, corn tomatoes and other nightshade vegetables—all of these are common system triggers.

But we’d never go after all of them all at once.

Instead, it’s a systematic, scientific and gradual process.

After determining some of the types of foods that could be causing you problems, we choose one and eliminate it.

If it’s dairy, then obviously we eliminate milk, cheese, etc.

Instead of taking it out altogether and leaving you curled up in the fetal position with fever-dreams about never tasting a milkshake ever again, we supplement all things dairy with nutritious, delicious substitutions.

And even if that still sounds terrible, here’s the thing:

Once we pinpoint the triggering food (or foods) and they’ve been out of your system for a few weeks, it’s amazing how much better you will feel.

It’s a biological truth: Take out the stuff that’s causing the problem and the body automatically starts working at a far more optimized level. By which I mean: You will feel better.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life? Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

Knowing How You Feel

And that’s where things start getting fun. After the cravings are gone (which don’t last that long, maybe a week or two at most) and you start to understand how it actually feels to not feel terrible all the time, that triggering food won’t appeal to you anymore.

We have this sense in this culture that cravings are some natural feeling. That they will persist no matter how long you stay away from the particular object of those cravings.

But it just doesn’t work that way. The cravings go away and new, better habits take their place. Cravings are simply another word for “habits.” Your body doesn’t like to change the way it operates and when you force it towards new directions, initially it baulks. But that doesn’t last.

The Other Side

Most of our elimination diets at the Wellness Training Institute last for six weeks or so. At that point, we can start putting some of the potentially problem-causing foods back into the rotation. You try them again, see how your body reacts, and then the decision becomes easy.

If you aren’t sensitive to it and your body is fine eating, say, tomatoes, then awesome! Eat tomatoes.

But if your body rejects that potential trigger again, then you’ll know it. You’ll also know how poorly it makes you feel.

At that point it’s your decision: Eat it and feel terrible, or don’t eat it and feel great.

Because, now that you’ve gone through the elimination diet, you know what it feels like to feel great.

After that, it’s just a choice. And I’ve met very few people who, once they understand how it feels to ACTUALLY FEEL GREAT, ever choose to go back to their old, miserable lives.

The post Feeling it Out: The Power of the Elimination Diet appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

September 8, 2016

Even after twenty-plus years as a practicing cardiologist, there is one thing that—above all else—drives me nuts.

Before I get to that, though, let me make something very clear.

My Passion

Treating people—seeing sick people become well—is my passion. It’s what gets me out of bed each morning. It’s what drives every healthy habit I’ve built over a lifetime dedicated to teaching others to do the same. It’s the goal of my life.

I love being a cardiologist.

But what I hate is the culture that the medical establishment has created over the last century.

Let me explain…

The “Moderation” Myth

We hear this a lot these days: “Everything in moderation.” It’s the idea that yeah, sure, some things are bad for you. But you can still consume them as long as it’s done in moderation.

Back in the 1960s, for example, if you smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day you would’ve been considered a health nut, simply because every one smoked. Everyone smoked a lot.

So moderation, in this case, would still have killed you decades before an otherwise smoke-free lifestyle would have.

What’s frustrating about this attitude is not so much that so many people have it. Instead, it’s the source. This idea is exactly what the medical establishment has been preaching for almost a century.

And it drives me nuts.

Here’s what “moderation” really means when the medical system uses it. It means that whatever you do, whenever you do it, as long as the thing doesn’t kill you outright, medical science will be able to take care of the consequences.

Turns out, that’s an empty—and highly dangerous—promise.

This is why I have people show up in my office on a weekly basis expecting that I can fix whatever is wrong with their hearts simply by waving a magic medical wand in their general direction. They’ve spent decades eating terribly, drinking heavily, smoking their lungs to a blackened crisp, and carrying around enough belly fat to choke a horse… but the expectation is that I will be able to undo all of that with a simple procedure or a script for few pills.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life? Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

This is NOT Your Fault

This, of course, isn’t the patients’ fault. Not at all. They only believe what they’ve been taught, repeatedly and loudly, over the course of their lives. Which is: Medicine and doctors are there to cure whatever is ailing you.

Live however you want to live. There’s a pill to fix everything when your health suddenly goes flying off the rails.

This is the magical answer to a very real problem. This is the end result of our “there’s a pill for that” society.

And it simply doesn’t work that way.

Not even a little, in fact.

This is how it actually works:

How “Healthy” Works

Getting healthy—and staying that way—comes when your bad habits are replaced with good, healthy ones. It happens when you slowly but deliberately gain awareness of what you are doing on daily basis, why you are doing it, and making the choice to replace the unhealthy with the life-giving.

None of this happens in isolation, however. And, like I said, none of it happens quickly.

Just like it took you fifty years for that smoking habit to finally corrode your heart and lungs to the point that it’s now life-threatening, so too does it take a while for new habits to form.

There’s not a pill for that, unfortunately.

But there is a plan.

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