Holding A Grudge Is Bad For Your Health

From the wise Nelson Mandela:

"Holding grievances and resentments is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemy."

In other words, when you don't forgive, the person you're hurting more than anyone else is yourself. It can permeate your thoughts and taint otherwise joyful experiences. And for what? Punishment against the perpetrator? Over time, the punishment redirects itself inward, while the perpetrator likely gives up and moves on - believing there's really nothing more they can do or say to fix the situation. Or perhaps they don't really care. No matter the situation, you're left with the shorter end of the stick - and a fertile breeding ground for negative emotion.

I could go on and on about the negative effects of added sugar, hydrogenated oils, artificial this and that on our health. I have and will continue to. However, I firmly believe anger and stress are far, far worse for us than any food is. No leafy green can cure those.

Now, I fully recognize that a lot more than a lack of forgiveness contributes to anger and stress. I'm also aware that some things are a lot easier to forgive than others. I'm not suggesting this is snap-your-fingers easy. But it's really worth thinking about. And if you can...

Forgive not to alleviate their suffering; forgive to alleviate yours. And think of it not as a sign of weakness, but as a tremendous source of freedom and empowerment.

The Scientific 21-Minute Workout

Anything that sounds too good to be true typically is. Especially when it's health-related. These sound familiar... and ridiculous?

Only suckers believe this stuff. (Ummm, like me and you and everyone else I know - at least until we fall for it one too many times and finally wise up.)

But when I read about the Scientific 7-Minute Workout, I have to admit I was a little intrigued. Here I am, with a background in marketing and a certification in health coaching, and they still got me with "scientific!" Darn them! That said, SEVEN minutes? Even it were as beneficial physically as a long run, how could it possibly be able to provide the same high? The same opportunity to cleanse my mind? The same feeling of accomplishment? I decided to find out yesterday morning.

The verdict: it didn't. 

So I did it again. And then again. 21 minutes later I was sweating like crazy and feeling wholly powerful. My endorphins were as high as they are after an intense run around the park and my mind was prepared to take on my inbox (and my kids)! So I'm going to take the liberty of calling this the Scientific 21-Minute Workout, at least for me.

I did this three times in a row. You?

Try it for yourself and see how many times it takes for you. Though I've just done it once, I'm predicting this to be a really fun way to vary my workout. Feels like a gym class but it's absolutely free, totally convenient and a lot shorter. All you need is yourself, a wall, a chair and, ahem... an open mind :)

Being a Humanevore

hu·ma·ne·vore [hyoo-man-uh-vawr] noun:

a carnivore who only eats meat that has been raised in wholly natural environments, fed the most natural and healthy foods and treated humanely with as much care and respect as we expect ourselves.

Humanevore is not a real word.

It should be.

I’ve been reading a lot of Michael Pollan lately. I can’t get enough of him. I’ve been health-conscious all my life, and I’ve been actively studying nutrition for over a year now, but The Omnivore’s Dilemma opened my eyes and ears more than anything else has into the perils of being an uninformed meat eater, which I fully admit I was.

There are reasons why 100% grass-fed meat, pastured eggs and wild fish cost an arm and a leg (no pun intended.) Those reasons are worth it.

Pathfinder Farms, Catskill, NY

Another of Mr. Pollan’s books, In Defense of Food, led me to eatwild.com, a site dedicated to carefully-researched information (it's owned and operated by an investigative journalist) about eating the way nature intended. Among lots of other interesting facts and resources, it provides a directory of farms across North America that raise animals a Humanevore can safely eat. Each has met very specific criteria to be included in this directory.

What strikes me most about these criteria isn’t that these farms meet them, but that they even have to exist. Doesn’t it make you wonder what criteria all other farms meet? Or, unfortunately-but-likely-more-accurately, don't?

“You are what you eat” has taken on a whole new meaning for me. While it’s not my normal M.O., I’m going to get all spiritual on you. Beyond the nutritional (and of course animal rights) argument in becoming a Humanevore, there is another more poignant one: Most of us don’t choose to spend a whole lot of time hanging out with chronically sad and depressed people; eventually, their negative spirit would affect us. What kind of effect, then, is eating chronically sad and depressed animals having? I have to believe it’s compromising us in ways far beyond poor physical health.

It’s easy and financially convenient to “forget” all of this once the meat’s been packaged, the eggs are in cartons and the fish is in the case. I’d go so far as to say it’s inconvenient to remember, because for the most part, you have to go way far out of your way to shop as a Humanevore. But…

I think it’s worth it. What do you think?

Three Very Promising Trends

Organic food is on the rise!

  

In less than a decade, organic food sales have increased over 150%. Not wholly impressed just yet? Then think about the state of the economy over the last decade. Shaky at best. And organic food ain’t cheap. (By the way, if price is a concern, check out this link for a list of most and least contaminated produce that can help you decide what the must-have vs nice-to-have organics are. Include peanut butter, ketchup and milk in the must-have's, by the way.) The media also makes it very easy to justify continuing with conventional. As is the case for anything, there will always be an article or piece of research that supports whatever you might want to hear, the latest from September concluding there is little evidence that organic foods are more nutritious than conventional foods. Yet despite studies like these, we continue to spend more on it and eat more of it each and every year: a strong sign that we’re paying more attention and drawing our own conclusions, despite constant conflicting and often deliberately confusing reports.

More and more are on the run!

A record 21,378 people ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon this past weekend. Back in February when registration opened, runners had a matter of hours to sign up before the quota was filled. In fact, I had to have my husband sign me up as my three-hour meeting precluded me from getting to a computer in time. They ended up opening it back up a month or so later, so that everyone who wanted to register was able to, up to 39,999 people!!! (I’m not entirely sure why only just over half of those who signed up actually ran, but I'm choosing to focus on the record number of runners!)

Farmers’ markets are all the rage!

Another incredible trend – the number of farmers’ markets are up 400% over the past 20 years. There are all sorts – ones focused exclusively on food, ones that sell crocheted blankets next to enormous barrels of pickles, others that also entertain with live music, face-painting and the like, making the market much more than just the place you buy fresh produce a couple times a month, but a fun family destination. In no matter what form they come, they’re all growing in number and size, and that wouldn’t happen unless they were lucrative. This means we are going out of our way to spend money on local, fresh stuff. We like knowing where our food is coming from. We like (feeling as though we’re) meeting the guy who picked the kale. More than like it, it seems more and more of us are understanding how important it is. 

So there you have it. Three promising trends. Of course these trends have been moving in the right direction for years now, and obesity rates have sky-rocketed. But recent reports indicate obesity rates may now be plateauing (see chart in April 20 blog post.) Are we finally starting to nurse ourselves back to health? The optimistic health coach in me is responding with an emphatic yes!

Banana “Ice Cream”, Orange Bean Dip and Rainbow Sandwiches - Oh My!

So you ask your kid: “Want to help me make chocolate chip cookies?”

"YES!!!!!!"

What kid doesn’t say yes to this question? It was one of my favorite things to do with my mom growing up. Sure, I loved the end result – and, let’s face it, licking the batter, salmonella be damned – but I also remember the cracking, the stirring, the measuring, the pouring. Some might assume this to be a little revisionist history, but I remember loving the helping part of the process almost as much as the eating the cookie part.

Think beyond chocolate chip cookies!

Put a toy kitchen in front of a toddler and they’ll go to town, asking anyone who’ll play to taste their imaginary pancakes, hot dogs and ice cream. So why not involve them in the real thing? With food that’s actually good for them? The benefits are huge:

1.     It’s quality time spent with your kids when they’d likely otherwise be off playing on their own (or, let’s face it, watching TV.)

2.     You’ll boost their confidence by giving them an important job with a tangible, fulfilling result: deliciously healthy food!

3.     You can use it as a way to teach math (I need one and a half cups of x, so how many ½ cup scoops do we need?) and reading (the recipe!)

4.     They will be more apt to eat the finished product if they’ve been part of making it: fewer dinner table struggles!

5.     You’ll be cultivating an ever-lasting healthy relationship between your child and food – a simple and fun way to help prevent all sorts of future health issues like obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

You game?

I know (from experience, believe me) that cooking with kids is messier. It takes longer. And depending on how old they are, you can’t just leave the knife on the counter while you wash out the bowl. But the next time you’re about to say “Out of the kitchen! All of you!” think back to all the wonderful benefits. And check out Chop Chop, a fanstastic magazine whose stated mission is to inspire and teach kids to cook real food with their families, for thoughts and ideas on how to get started.

And then rather than making imaginary pancakes and hot dogs, you’re little ones can help serve real one-ingredient banana ice cream, orange bean dip and rainbow sandwiches (see left)! Yummy!

Be Your Own Know-It-All

Be it an author, a politician, a co-worker, there’s always someone who thinks it’s okay to tell us how to think and behave, what’s right and what’s absolutely wrong. Not only are know-it-alls some of the more obnoxious people around, to truly know everything is impossible.

Take nutrition, for instance. Who hasn’t fallen for the latest in silver bullet theories for good health? Not so long ago, we were told not to eat any fat. Fat makes you fat. No more butter. Margarine is where it’s at. Whoops, sorry, margarine might actually kill you. Instead, bring on the bacon! And throw away the fruit. Because it’s actually carbs that make you fat. Then we were told to only eat organic. Until we were told organic didn’t matter. Or maybe it does? But stay away from eggs, for sure. Oh wait, our bad. Eggs are fine. Oh wait again. We may have been right the first time. And the very, very latest: No Benefit Seen In Sharp Limits on Salt In Diet. Ummmm, everything in moderation?

And all of this only in the last three or so decades.

The bottom line is that nutrionists don’t know it all. Doctors don’t know it all. The FDA doesn’t know it all. Bloggers and authors who write about all of this stuff as experts don’t know it all. Love this article and accompanying illustration: The Power Of I Don't Know

Here’s what we DO know: Nutrition is a fledgling science.

This statement has been repeated over and over again in many lectures throughout my health coach training. And it’s simultaneously comforting and discomforting. Comforting because I’m relieved to admit I don’t have all the answers, despite my hours upon hours of study! Discomforting because we are suffering from a growing health epidemic in this country, and “fledgling science” doesn’t exactly provide the kind of confidence we might wish for.

Discouraged? Don’t be. Make it a challenge: become your own know-it-all. Though there’s no magic pill, there is a magic formula:

THINK + EXPERIMENT + LISTEN + ADJUST = YOUR OWN KNOW-IT-ALL

THINK: Yes, there’s lots of confusing stuff out there. But you can start by applying some common sense. (For instance, if I’d thought about it more, I could have figured out Snackwells weren’t the answer to all my problems!)

EXPERIMENT: No gluten! No dairy! No sugar! These are just a handful of thousands of directives being tossed around today. Experiment a little – with them and/or other theories.

LISTEN: How do you feel, look, sleep after you eat and drink or don’t certain things?

ADJUST: Adjust accordingly long-term.

Follow this formula rather than chasing the next fad and you’ll learn what is and isn’t right for you. And if that feels overwhelming, contact me for a free evaluation. I’d love to help you become your own know-it-all (the only kind it's ok to be!)

Eating should be enjoyable!

A new study has just revealed that diners who ordered from restaurant menus listing the amount of exercise required to work off each dish were less likely to overeat.

Just how much exercise will this cheeseburger cost me?

I’m struggling with this one. Though I’m sure well-intended, this feels like the start of a slippery slope.

Let me start by saying that I am a huge proponent of the FDA push to have as many restaurants as possible display nutritional content (would love for them to go so far as listing the ingredients, too) on menus. We deserve to know what we’re putting into our bodies and those of our families. And displaying it reinforces its importance, making us wiser and more curious consumers. I’d also imagine it makes the restaurant itself think twice about what it’s selling: do we feel okay about what this label says or should we perhaps re-think this recipe? (Though maybe that last one is just wishful thinking on my part.)

But telling people how much they have to exercise to work off the food they’re about to buy? Obesity is a growing epidemic we absolutely need to fight, but I fear with tactics like these, we have a better chance of breeding a new generation of anorexics and bulemics than we do of reducing obesity rates.

First off, this line of thinking seems to rely on a previously believed but now highly refuted claim that calories in = calories out. In fact, it’s not the quantity, but the quality of calories that matters.

Think quality over quantity when it comes to calories

And this sort of effort would do nothing to further consumer education about quality.

Secondly, a good rule of thumb is that maintaining (even losing!) weight is 80% about the food we eat, and only 20% about the exercise. An effort like this would mislead folks into thinking that exercise can make up for a bad diet. Sure, it’s better than not exercising, but it won’t cancel out bad eating habits.

Thirdly, I question how accurate this exercise information could possibly be. Age, gender, weight, height, genetics, etc. Certainly my 30 minutes of walking can’t have the same effect on me as the dude’s down the street has on him?

Fourthly (is that a word?), two hours of brisk walking for a cheeseburger? For most, this seems so unachievable that it risks backfiring. Why bother worrying about it at all when you can’t come close to satisfying the recommendation?

Lastly, isn’t food – and the ritual that surrounds it – supposed to be enjoyable? Picture this. I’ve just worked a really long week. It’s Friday night. I’m just excited to be going out to dinner with my husband and my kids, whom it feels like I haven’t seen for more than a combined hour this week. I want to know how my husband’s big meeting went, how my daughter’s school play is coming along, and what new experiment my son did in science class. But before I find any of that out, I open the menu to see that I’ll have to walk for over three hours tonight if I want to eat anything in the restaurant. And just like that, the mental health benefits I was getting from finally sitting and enjoying time with the people I love most were compromised.

An extreme example? Perhaps. But you can picture it, right?

I decided to become a health coach when I read that we’re the first generation in U.S. history whose children won’t live as long as we do. Unhealthy living will be the culprit. So you don’t have to convince me that food and exercise are incredibly important. But there are ways to encourage better habits, and ways to discourage them. And pairing exercise regimes with menu items feels pretty discouraging to me.

Elephant bones don't rely on dairy

There’s been lots of debate lately about whether dairy is all it’s cracked up to be. As I discussed in one of my recent posts (Thinking about doing a cleanse?), cleanses are all the rage right now. And you’d be hard-pressed to find one that includes dairy. There’s a whole host of reasons why. A few of the biggest ones:

• Around 75 percent of the world’s population is unable to properly digest dairy (it’s called lactose intolerance and apparently many more of us suffer from it than we realize!)
• Dairy can contribute to health problems including allergies, sinus issues, constipation and ear infections.

As is the case with anything related to food these days, these claims are challenged as much as they are supported. But think about this: humans are the only mammals that consume the milk of another animal. Hmmmmm…. (and ewwwwww if you think too too hard!)

So why do we consume it?

Ask most people and they'll give you a one-word answer: calcium. No calcium = weak bones. And that is true. Calcium is also essential for your bloodstream, because it helps keeps your pH steady and therefore illness at bay. But let’s not be misled into thinking dairy is the sole source of calcium. Think about some of the biggest-boned animals in the world – elephants, cows, giraffes. These guys are vegetarians. They eat PLANTS. And their bones seem to hold up just fine. Leafy greens are full of calcium.

Let’s also not make the mistake of thinking that calcium = bones. We often overlook the other essential nutrients our bones depend on. There is a bunch. And thankfully, lots of ways to get them.

• Vitamin D, because without it, calcium isn’t absorbed. (sourced from the sun, lots of different types of fish.)
• Magnesium (sourced from spinach, beans)
• Vitamin K (sourced from many green veggies)
• Protein (sourced from meat (organic, grass-fed a huge bonus!), legumes, nuts)
• Phosphorus (sourced from barley, soybeans, seeds, lentils)
• Potassium (sourced from lots of different types of fruits and veggies)
• And for the purposes of this explanation, let's consider exercise a nutrient as well: our bones depend on a good amount of weight-bearing activities like walking, running, dancing, lifting weights and weight machines.

So as it turns out, the diet required for strong bones is pretty much the same diet that every part of our body is begging for: whole, natural foods, and lots of fruits and veggies. Pretty darn simple when you put it like that, right?

****By the way, I’m not suggesting that dairy is bad for everyone. In fact, I come from a dairy-loving family: bring on the milk, cheese and yogurt as far as we’re concerned. But I am a firm believer that one person’s food is another person’s poison. And with 75% of the world’s population suffering from some degree of lactose-intolerance, it might be worth it to think about eliminating dairy from your diet for a period of time. Notice any changes. Then slowly introduce it back. Notice any changes. Dairy may have an effect you never realized. And if it does, now you know you can find its benefits elsewhere. (Though I’ll admit I would really miss cheese too.) 

Plain Bread Crumbs: anything but plain

Have you looked at the ingredient list on bread crumbs recently?

No. Why would you? They’re just bread crumbs, right? Crumbs. From Bread. And sure, bread alone probably has more ingredients than you think. But still, can bread crumbs really be that bad?

Yes. Apparently they can really be that bad. This is the ingredient list from a can of plain – yes, I said PLAIN – bread crumbs.

Intentions were good. Grandma wanted to make meatballs for the kiddos. And the meatballs stick together better when you use bread crumbs. There even may have been a quick glance at the nutrition facts before the can was put in the cart. Nothing too terribly concerning here to the naked eye:

Makes you wonder what other guilty food may be feigning innocence on the shelves of your refrigerator and cupboards. Take a look. The bad news is that there’s probably a lot more than you think. The good news is that it’s often really easy to replace a bad thing with a good thing. Sometimes that means just buying the good thing vs the bad thing. In the case of bread crumbs, it means making it. You’re already making the meatballs. Why not the bread crumbs? Here’s just one of the many many many recipe links you’ll find when you search for homemade bread crumbs.

Homemade Bread Crumbs

Despite what this says, however, I would think about the kind of bread you use. Bread labels can be scary too. Play detective. Fewer ingredients the better. And if you’re worried about lack of taste, add in some garlic, oregano and parsley. Saute some onions to mix in as well if you feel you need it. Sooooooooo much healthier. And if anyone tastes a difference, promise it will be for the better.