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Daily Challenge: Ace-ing Asparagus
Challenge:
Today’s challenge is to broaden your palette by tasting asparagus, which is a great green vegetable, chock full of superb vitamins and minerals, and in season in the late spring and early summer.
Points:
15
How to Collect Your Points:
Once you’ve risen to today’s “Ace-ing Asparagus” challenge (try the asparagus “steamed-crisp”), send your holistic health coach a message and describe the taste (yuck doesn’t qualify as a description!)…you could also leave us a comment right here - but, make sure to send that email or you won’t get full credit for meeting the challenge!
Your holistic health coach will then credit your account with today’s challenge points, which you can redeem later.
**Remember.….Collect points and redeem them in our store to earn discounts and free stuff that will assist you on your journey. Points are given for one challenge per person per day, and challenge must be posted within the past 7 calendar days.
Arrrrgg! Need dieting help!
OK, so about 5 weeks ago I began to change my diet. The first week and 1/2 were great, went from 225 to 215. However these last three weeks or so I\’ve seen NO difference.
I\’ve changed my eating habits a bit - used to eat fast food about 3 times a week, now maybe once every other week. Used to drink LOTS of soda, eat late late into the night, etc - basically bad eating habits.
I work out every other day - I ride my exercise bike for 20 minutes (yes not much, I\’m building it up every time I ride) and run some during the week.
However I seemed to have hit a brick wall. Can anyone make some suggestions? I can list my diet if needed, however I don\’t think there is anything wrong with that and my goals. Anyways…
Thanks!
Comment by Yahir — October 30, 2006 @ 8:36 am
Yahir,
Here are my immediate questions for you, followed by a few comments. As an aside, I never take a client who simply “wants to lose weight”. That motivation rarely continues after the goal has been achieved, and being overweight is almost always a sign of other imbalances. At Your Holistic Health Coach, we take a whole approach to health - it’s not just about losing weight or learning to meditate, it’s about looking at the person as a whole and helping them to find their way back to a natural state of health.
That being said, here are my immediate thoughts….
1) You mention that you are still eating at fast food restaurants once a week. During the first month, we encourage clients to get away from fast food completely. There are many additives in fast food that you won’t find in home-cooked food. I would recommend against any fast food! If it’s a time issue, buy a crock pot (skipping just a few fast food meals should allow you to work one in your budget), and cook in your pajamas (either before work or before bed - depending on when you want to eat the meal). If you are the one cooking, you have total control over the contents - which means that you also know exactly what is and is not in it nutritionally.
2) You mention that you are exercising and that’s great. What intensity are you exercising at? Are you sweating for at least 15 minutes of your workout? If not, you aren’t working hard enough! Also - on the running, I wouldn’t recommend running when you aren’t used to exercise. Even our clients that want to run a marathon don’t start out running! Walking is by far the better exercise for your heart, and it’s very easy - you may be able to find more time for brisk walking (again, you need to be sweating to know that you are at the right intensity - at least a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10 with a 1 being not working at all and a 10 being the point where you are gasping for breath). At a 7, you *could* talk to someone if they were walking with you, but, you really don’t want to - once you hit that point, you are where you want to be.
2b) I didn’t see a regime of strength training on your summary. This is a MUST for anyone wanting to change their body or their health. It will actually help you lose fat because the muscle takes more energy to maintain itself. While I never recommend a goal of weight loss alone, I always recommend strength training.
3) About your diet, are you still eating refined sugars? White flour? Are you drinking diet soda? Even diet soda is bad for our bodies - if you are drinking *any* stop immediately. If not, what are you drinking? You need to drink half your body weight (in lbs) in ounces of water EVERY day (so, at 215, you need AT LEAST 108 ounces of water a day - don’t guess on that - measure it out and make sure you are drinking it - preferably not tap water!). I know it sounds like a lot…but, you need that water to flush toxins and unwanted stuff out of your body and give your cells the hydration they need to You need to become an avid label reader. Know what’s in your food and find out how it affects your body. 3 big no’s are: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Partially Hydrogenated oils, white foods - including things like white bread, white rice, cream sauces (unless you make them from scratch using something that isn’t white - like whole wheat flour).
3b) When is your last meal every day? You shouldn’t eat less than 2 hours before bed - and preferably, 2 1/2 to 3 hours before you retire for the evening. You don’t want to go to bed with undigested food in your gut!
These are just a few notes that leap out at us. We wish you much success on your health journey.
Your Holistic Health Coach
Comment by wellness — October 30, 2006 @ 10:39 am