The Real Happy Meal

As a Registered Dietitian, people often ask my opinion of current diet trends and fads - Paleo, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, low-fat, low-carb . . . they all seem to work (at least temporarily), so which is the best?  My opinion - none of them or all of them.  The type of diet plan you choose is less important than the principles of healthy eating - To elaborate, I am posting an article written by Dr. James Rouse, founder of mix-1 All Natural Protein Shakes, originally written for a Denver magazine.  I love what he has to say and I believe he speaks the truth about diets!

Justin Robinson, MA,RD,CSSD,CSCS,FAFS 


The Real Happy Meal
Dr. James Rouse
www.mix1life.com

This is your time to transcend and thrive! The right diet and lifestyle can be a blueprint to build over-the-top, fired-up metabolism, cellular vibrancy, mental and emotional clarity and inspiration. Diet comes from the Greek word diaita, which means, way of life. It is nearly impossible to sustain and thrive with a healthy diet alone; that is, in the absence of a healthy way of living. A healthy diet is integrally connected to a healthy outlook, positive daily rituals and experiences of movement, service, community, intimacy, friendship creativity and purpose. When your world is intentionally full with these practices your diet (almost magically) tends to be full of nourishment and satisfaction. When your life is more 'sweet,' you tend to crave less sugar. If you want to make good on your healthy eating intentions this year and beyond consider stocking your day and life with these synergistic forms of nourishment while you stock your fridge and pantry: deep friendships, unbridled play, purposeful work and service, spiritual connection and community (no additives, no preservatives and nothing artificial).

I consider myself an evolving omnivore that is a lifelong student of nutrition. I love good tasting, healthy, and nutritious food! In the last 20 years I have tried and experimented with macrobiotics, veganism, vegetarianism, pescatarianism and today I really know what works for me. I now put energy and intention on eating more locally and sustainably; doing my best to eat clean and consciously. There is no 'one size fits all' way to eat. We are blessed with biochemical individuality . To a certain extent you need to be somewhat of an adventurer and investigator to discover what feeds you best. Keeping a food journal along with how you feel physically and emotionally can certainly help you discover which foods really work for you and which ones make you a little crazy, cranky or just plain uncomfortable.

The Mediterranean diet is a great place to start and the diet I personally embrace and clinically encourage. This diet emphasizes non-inflammatory foods including wild caught fish, nuts, legumes, olive oil, colorful vegetables, whole grains, local fruits, and to a lesser extent, humanely raised and harvested poultry, pork and beef; oh, and wine ( love it). Choosing a Mediterranean style of eating is supported by the scientific literature. Evidence shows that a Mediterranean diet may help lower the risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and certain cancers. Naturally rich in fiber, antioxidants, and healthy fats, going Mediterranean should cover most all of your New Year's healthy diet intentions. Calorie–wise, it's all about portions, no matter what type of diet regime you follow. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the Mediterranean diet was more effective for weight loss than a low fat diet. Hopefully you're feeling hungry for great vitality and well-being and are inspired to make this year the beginning of a sustainable journey towards the ever-evolving you.

To thrive each and every day you have an opportunity to put these empowering practices to work for you:

• Feed your head first, your body second, and your emotions last. Whole-food nutrition naturally creates a chemical expression of confidence, balance and optimism. When your mind is fed well by eating real food, healthy food, and not skipping meals or snacks, your whole being is in a state of greater hormonal happiness. Strive to eat a whole food meal and/or balanced snack approximately every 3 hours throughout the day.
• Become a morning person and eat your breakfast! Breakfast eaters are the healthiest people around. They have lower rates of heart disease and obesity along with greater levels of productivity, energy and positivity.
• Add nutritious foods rather than delete the not so nutritious choices. Your body chemistry will "adjust" and begin to want healthy foods over the junk. For example, instead of snacking on a giant bag of potato chips, consider crunching on some celery topped with almond butter or peanut butter.
• Water your happiness. Our bodies are more than 75% water. Dehydration makes us more tired and hungry and as a result we often crave sugar and caffeine when instead we should be having a glass of water.
• Sweat your prayers daily with mindful movement and exercise. Dance, play, jump or hoola hoop; it's all good for your mind and body, memory and emotions. Exercise lowers stress, lifts positivity and raises every role you play in life, be it parent, spouse, friend, lover.
• Be grateful. Keep a gratitude journal and be healthier. Research suggests that this practice, combined with healthy eating and exercise, keeps us happier and healthier.

As your quest for optimal fitness continues, you may be romanced by a myriad of sexy and non-sustainable diets that promise results in mere days. Our egos and 'lesser selves' love the idea of a quick fix detox or radical interventions to heal bellies and butts gone bad. To realize your greatest mission and life expression get clear about what you are truly hungry for; peace and fulfillment, conviction with purpose and creative connection. These experiences will feed you greater than any one food or diet. Nourish and support your life with a clean, whole and sustainable eating and living plan. Trust that you are ready to take your body and your life from average to amazing. Balance is the path and the journey is most delicious.

RU Fit Challenge - Week 1 - Mindful Eating

Week 1 Concept: Mindful Eating

Week 1 Challenge: Eat at least one meal per day sitting down at a table – with no music, TV, or computer.  Company and conversation, however, is encouraged.  Listen to your body in terms of hunger, thirst, and fullness.

Mindful Eating – Rebecca Bass-Ching

We live in a multi-tasking culture.  In fact, we take pride on how much we can accomplish in a little time.  And this is often out of necessity as many juggle work, school, parenthood, life.  

Yet, multi-tasking = not paying attention. When we are not paying attention, it is impossible to care for ourselves by listening to our bodies.

When you are overextended and overwhelmed:

• You lose touch with when you are hungry for food or full from food.
• You get confused about the difference between true hunger and emotional hunger.
• You feel guilty, anxious, flooded, depressed, numb when we slow down.  So you keep going fast or you freeze and feel paralyzed.

No bueno!  And SO not good for our mind, body and soul.

One of the most meaningful philosophical changes I made in my life was adopting the Intuitive Eating approach to how I care for and nourish my body.  I believe in this approach so much it has become a cornerstone of the food philosophy at Potentia.

The following are the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating developed by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch.  As you read them, take note of your reactions to this list.

1. Reject the Diet Mentality: Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently. Get angry at the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure every time a new diet stopped working and you gained back all of the weight. If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet might be lurking around the corner, it will prevent you from being free to rediscover Intuitive Eating.
2. Honor Your Hunger: Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for re-building trust with yourself and food.
3. Make Peace with Food: Call a truce, stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can't or shouldn't have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing When you finally “give-in” to your forbidden food, eating will be experienced with such intensity, it usually results in Last Supper overeating, and overwhelming guilt.
4. Challenge the Food Police: Scream a loud "NO" to thoughts in your head that declare you're "good" for eating under 1000 calories or "bad" because you ate a piece of chocolate cake. The Food Police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created. The police station is housed deep in your psyche, and its loud speaker shouts negative barbs, hopeless phrases, and guilt-provoking indictments. Chasing the Food Police away is a critical step in returning to Intuitive Eating.
5. Respect Your Fullness: Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show that you're comfortably full. Pause in the middle of a meal or food and ask yourself how the food tastes, and what is your current fullness level?
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor: The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of their goals of healthy living.  In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence – the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes much less food to decide you've had "enough".
7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food: Find ways to comfort, nurture, distract, and resolve your issues without using food.  Anxiety, loneliness, boredom, anger are emotions we all experience throughout life.  Each has its own trigger, and each has its own appeasement; food won't fix any of these feelings. It may comfort for the short term, distract from the pain, or even numb you into a food hangover. But food won't solve the problem. If anything, eating for an emotional hunger will only make you feel worse in the long run. You'll ultimately have to deal with the source of the emotion, as well as the discomfort of overeating.
8. Respect Your Body: Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size. But mostly, respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It's hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.
9. Exercise – Feel the Difference: Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise. If you focus on how you feel from working out, such as energized, it can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm. If when you wake up, your only goal is to lose weight, it's usually not a motivating factor in that moment of time.
10. Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition: Make food choices that honor your health and tastebuds while making you feel well. Remember that you don't have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It's what you eat consistently over time that matters; progress not perfection is what counts.

Many people I meet personally and professionally do not trust food and do not trust their bodies.  When there is no trust in a relationship, the relationship is pretty bleak.  Healing your relationship with food and your body can take time depending on where you are at physically and emotionally.  And given our diet and weight obsessed culture, the concepts of intuitive eating can seem scary and/or unrealistic.  If that is how you feel after reading the 10 principals of intuitive eating, you are not alone.

That is why getting the support of a Registered Dietitian and Therapist who specialize in treating food and body issues is an absolute must.  Not everyone is ready for this approach for a variety of reasons and a specialized treatment team can be a necessary support in this process.  Plus, it can take a while to “detox” from the diet/body hatred mentality.  Beginning the journey to heal your relationship with food and your body starts with looking at food not as "good", "bad", "points", "calories", "carbs", etc. but also doing some deep soul work and cultivating your identity not from the number on the scale but on your true worth and value.

What do you think about the 10 principles of intuitive eating? Which of the 10 principles were you most drawn to?

Rebecca Bass-Ching, LMFT MFC# 44584

Disordered Eating & Trauma Expert

www.potentiatherapy.com

iaedp-SD Immediate Past President

Adjunct Professor: Azusa Pacific University