During the month of February we’re focused on how you can best give yourself a Valentine with some Self-Care. I know you’ll agree that some healthy, self-caring behaviors can deliver immediate results or in a very short term. For example, you might have some favorite music that you play that always cheers you up or a hobby that gives you a lot of joy and its not hard to make time for it.
 
There are also some areas of self-care, though, that deliver more results in the long term and can, for some people, seem like a tough choice in the moment. For many people, good nutrition is an example of this, especially if they’ve never experienced the long-term benefits before. People know they need to have good habits in this area to feel their best, but when it comes right down to it, they can struggle with making those sensible, long-term choices. We know this to be true because of the massive failure of dieting as a strategy for getting healthy. It turns out diets are hard to stick to!!
 
So what is going on? Well, two different parts of the brain are in a battle here.
 
The emotional part of the brain responds positively to instant gratification. It can seem so much more appealing in the short term to eat that brownie when you get home from work. After all, it tastes delicious and the sugar and processed flour give a bump to your feel-good brain chemicals. You are on a sugar high! Actually we humans are designed in our hard wiring to seek out high calorie foods so it is natural for us to want them.
The emotional brain says “Yes” to the brownie!
 
The logical part of the brain, though, tries to reason it out. It knows that you should just wait to eat a healthy dinner, that would be better for your long-term health and that you’ll feel better in the long run.
 
Unhealthy choices usually happen on impulse when the emotional part of your brain triumphs over the logical one.
So how do you keep your logical brain in the driver’s seat?
 
I’ve found that one of the biggest reasons for the emotional brain to be running the show is stress and overwhelm. The logical brain can only function well when you have some reserves in the tank. If you are run ragged emotionally and physically depleted, then there is a good chance you’ll be short on logic and behave more impulsively. It’s going to be really tough in these conditions to implement any healthy, new habits that will only pay you back in the long term.
 
Reducing stress and overwhelm by having a backdrop of regular self-care and ensuring that you include positive activities in your life that bring you joy, are essential to you being able to respond well in the moment.
 
Ways to do this could be hobbies, connecting and being present with loved ones, reading, regular exercise, yoga, massage therapy, daily meditation, daily affirmations, being organized, setting boundaries, essential oils or journaling. I am sure you have many other ideas so brainstorm your own list and start incorporating them in your routines.
 
Of course there are a number of other things you can do to increase your chances of success with transforming your unhealthy patterns. I love helping people figure out and implement these strategies. It’s a huge piece of the Break the Yoyo Diet Cycle Program and for many people it is foundational to being able to implement real and lasting change in their lives. After all, if it were easy to stick to a nutrition self-care plan more people would be doing it.
 
We’ve got some great deals this month to help you with Self-Care so please take a look, we’d love to help. <3

I just had a wonderful meeting in preparation for the discussion about Reclaiming our Beauty at the Parillume SHINE Soirée on March 22nd. I’d love to share some thoughts with you about what beauty means to me both personally and in my nutrition work with clients.
 
The ideals of beauty for women that are out there are pretty much meaningless. There are ever changing fashions in body shape, facial features, hairstyles, etc. that are not going to be attainable for us. For example, in the 1960s women were striving to be stick thin like Twiggy, the 1980s brought the aerobic body which was athletic and toned and then again in the 1990s extremely thin bodies were fashionable again. How could we possibly keep up? It really is a ridiculous concept if you think about it.
 
Historically we have really only been given one tool to help us reach these ideals around body type and this is The Diet. The story goes that if we want to meet these certain rigid ideals of the ideal body then we’d better show some willpower and follow a rigid eating plan to get there. The truth is that dieting just sets most people up for failure and often a cycle of yoyo dieting and body dissatisfaction that is super destructive to health and happiness.
 
As a result of so much media pressure, plastic surgery procedures have increased massively over the last decade as people try to get to that perfect place and feel that they measure up to the ideals.
 
The truth is that these ideals are really just sticks with which we can beat ourselves and serve to make us feel less than adequate if we choose to buy into them. We are each born with a certain body type, particular facial features etc. and our true path to beauty is to keep ourselves as healthy and vibrant as we can. When we are healthy on the inside that health shows on the outside and we cannot help but be beautiful. That’s where nutrition can come in in a positive way, instead of as part of the problem.
 
What we put in our mouth, our food choices, are the raw materials that our body uses as fuel for energy and also to maintain all of the complex systems within us. We need not only a certain number of calories but vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, phytochemicals etc. that are part of the complicated chemistry that runs our body. When our body is functioning well that will show in so many ways. On the outside that might show as clearer and firmer skin, shinier hair, strong nails and a healthy weight, all traditional beauty ideals, but there’s so much more. What about our moods? To me, happy, confident people are certainly beautiful. I know I never felt beautiful at times in my life when I was depressed. Our moods are influenced by our body’s production of neurotransmitters (mood chemicals) and those are made from nutrients. Our sex hormones impact our drive and energy, our libido and our moods too. Guess how we make these – yes, from nutrients! These are just examples but you get the picture. When we feel good, we shine more in the world.
 
I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments about what beauty means to you and as always if you’d like help reaching the Optimal You then please get in touch. 

​What does cholesterol do in our bodies?

• Cell membranes – This is kind of technical but cholesterol keeps the cell membranes at just the right level of fluidity and permeability and helps regulate what goes in and out.  In other words we need the cholesterol for the cells to function properly.
• Memory and learning – Cholesterol is needed for the neurons in the brain to form connections.  (One of the main benefits of sleep for learning and memory is due to the fact that cholesterol production is highest when we sleep.)
• Digestion of fats – Bile acids are made from cholesterol and this allows us to digest fats and access fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
• Vitamin D –It isn’t just the sunlight that increases our vitamin D levels.  Cholesterol is a precursor to vitamin D.  Vitamin D is best known for its role in calcium metabolism and bone health, but new roles are continually being discovered for it, including in mental health, blood sugar regulation, the immune system, and cancer prevention.
  • Hormones - Cholesterol is the precursor to all steroid hormones, including:
  • Glucocorticoids (blood sugar regulation)
  • Mineralcorticoids (mineral balance and blood pressure regulation)
  • Sex Hormones (many functions)

Sounds important, right?  Well that’s because it really is!

So why do we think of cholesterol as the enemy?
Cholesterol has been one of the most maligned and misunderstood substances of the twentieth century.

Eating foods high in cholesterol was thought to raise blood cholesterol levels.  At the same time, high blood cholesterol has been painted as the enemy or our arteries and the main cause of heart disease.

The popular version of cholesterol goes something like this: when you eat fatty foods, especially foods rich in animal fat, the saturated fat and cholesterol in these foods ends up in your blood and sticks to your arteries. Since saturated fats are solid outside your body, they will be solid inside your body too — (despite the 30-degree increase in temperature – ha ha!). Arteries are much like pipes. When they get caked up with grease, blood flow is impaired, and a heart attack ensues.

OK, so that is just not true!

The truth is that atherosclerosis, where plaque builds up in the arteries, is actually caused by inflammation.  Initially it is caused primarily by the consumption of industrial seed oils like canola oil, which are degenerated due to the heat and pressure of processing.  Other causes of inflammation in the body can then accelerate and exacerbate the process.

Since cholesterol is found in fatty foods that contain a greater proportion of saturated fat, these high cholesterol foods are likely not the culprits of atherosclerosis and heart disease.

So, bring back cholesterol in your diet!  Bonus – it’s found in delicious foods that you are going to love reintroducing!

Want some help navigating all of this?  Get in touch for some personalized suggestions.  We can help you with your diet and offer comprehensive cardio metabolic blood testing which is a step above what you'll get from your doctor.

Check our blog next time for more info on your cholesterol blood test numbers and what to look for.

This issue comes up time and time again in my practice and I was reminded of it again this week.  I have had many clients, particularly but not exclusively women, who are afraid to eat because they think they are going to get fat.  They have entirely bought into the story we have been told for decades, that the way to lose weight is by restricting calories below what we expend through our daily activity.  Not only this, but the more calories we restrict, the faster we will lose weight.  They eat less and sometimes exercise more and expect results.  The fact is that 95% of diets fail and so clearly the advice we have been receiving is not working! 

Here’s the truth about calorie restriction:

​When you restrict calories your body will compensate by slowing down your metabolism.  In other words it will start burning less calories and that’s entirely counter productive.

This is a survival mode that is programed into us because in times of famine we needed to be able to survive and preserve resources.  We might know that the fridge and the pantry in the kitchen are well stocked and that the store is just 5 mins away, but our body doesn’t receive that signal.  What it hears when food is in limited supply is that we are in danger of starving and we need to hang on to fat as much as it can and expend less energy.

Ummm, yes, I did say HANG ON TO FAT!!!  Not what most people are shooting for by restricting calories is it?

Often people will see initial weight loss in a calorie restriction situation but much of the weight loss will be muscle and not the body fat that they are trying to reduce.

As time goes by, the calorie restriction becomes unsustainable.  If you have ever been on a diet or met anyone that has, you know!!  Dieters are typically hungry, tired and in a very, bad mood.  Eventually they can’t keep it up any longer and they just go ahead and eat (and usually they don’t blow it on salad greens and roasted beets!).  Remember, their metabolism is slowed, so any additional calories are mostly going to be stored.  Most dieters will regain the weight they lost and then some.  And here’s the kicker…most of the weight regained is fat!!

That loss of muscle mass followed by regain of fat might mean the same initial number on the scale because muscle is denser than fat, but the body composition with a higher proportion of body fat is not only unlikely to be what the dieter wanted aesthetically but is also a less healthy outcome.  In terms of metabolic rate, fat tissue burns fewer calories than muscle tissue and so the metabolism is slowed further.

Many people feel that they are to blame for not being disciplined enough and so will go back on a diet, maybe consuming even fewer calories than the last one, and so the yo-yo diet cycle begins.

At Ways to Optimize our passion is to get people off diets for good and get them living a healthy, sustainable lifestyle where they feel healthy and happy with their bodies.  Get in touch if you want to learn more.  We believe in education to empower you with your health.