My Blog Has Moved…

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let you know I have moved my blog. Please go to this link and subscribe to my re-designed (still “under construction”) blog: Healthy Life With Max

Thanks for your support and for reading my blog!

To Your Health…

Debbie James
www.HealthyLifeWithMaxBlog.com
850-450-2000

7 Week Progress Update

It’s been 7 weeks already since I started. Boy, how time flies when we are having fun and working toward our dream size!

Thankfully, I have been seeing a Naturopath. She is wonderful and I am making great progress. My challenge is my thyroid and adrenal levels are still to low. Both of which, when in balance, help you to lose weight. That being said, for me, right now, it’s like pushing an elephant. Not impossible, just very difficult…ok maybe impossible (my Mom always says “the impossible just takes a bit longer”). Add to the fact I was (yes was) eating bananas everyday. I know bananas have sugar, at least the “good” kind. What I didn’t know is that if you eat a banana everday, DO NOT expect to lose weight. (Unless of course you are working out 8 hours a day)!

Dr. Leesa explained that when I would eat a banana, before working out, I was burning sugar, not fat. I would have to work out for hours before all the sugar was burned off. OOopppsssss. At least I found out now and not 90 days from now. The banana also goes back to the glycemic index. They are on the high glycemic index list. When losing weight you really need to eat low glycemic index foods.

I have been reading a fabulous book by Rick Gallop called “The Glycemic Index Diet”. He does a wonderful job at explaining why you want to eat low glycemic foods while losing weight. (Go to my post on “What is the Glycemic Index” for a video and website with great information).

Given that information, here’s how I have done over the past 7 weeks. To start I have lost 4 lbs. Now, I know people are going to say, only 4 lbs in 7 weeks?? To me, here’s the best part. I am down 8 1/4 total inches. Here are the areas where I have had the biggest results are:

Waist – 1.375″
Chest – 1″
Belly – 1.5″
Hips – .5″
Left thigh – 1.375″
Right thigh – 1.125″

I’ve had some reductions in my upper arms, knees and calves. Probably from lifting weights. The above are really the areas I care about. Here’s the best part…the weight loss supplement I am taking, is working!! It has been clinically proven to help reduce fat in your mid-section. It’s about the fat loss, not so much the weight. It takes time to reduce your Leptin levels (more about Leptin in my next post).

I’m about to kick things up a notch and I made changes to my eating, too! There is no magic pill to all this. If there was, I would be a gazillionaire ’cause I would have invented it. I don’t have patience, I’m the first to admit it. I would at least like to see progress, and progress we have.

Sorry, no video this time. Stay tuned for my next update in 2 weeks.

To Your Health…

Debbie James
www.YourDreamSize.com
850.450.2000

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Why Do Diets Fail?

While reading thru a bunch of websites and blogs, I found these 7 bullet points that I wanted to share. DIETS DON’T WORK, long-term. Remember you must make lifestyle changes and change your eating habits. Besides, I hate that 4 letter word…diet!!

• Dieters often underestimate the number of calories in foods and overestimate the number of calories burned through exercise
  —Dr. Barbel Knauper, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
• Nearly 1 in 5 people have tried to diet six or more times over the past 24 months
  —PacificHealth Laboratories, Inc. Diet Survey
• Socializing is one of the top three reasons people eventually fail with a diet
  —Dr. Michael Dansinger, Tufts-New England Medical Center
• 2 out of 3 people say they are most likely to go off of a diet between the hours of 5 PM and midnight
  —PacificHealth Laboratories, Inc. Diet Survey
• The number one predictor of weight loss relapse is stress
  —Dr. John P. Foreyt, Baylor College of Medicine
• Nearly 40% of women say they did not have enough willpower to stay on their diet
  —PacificHealth Laboratories, Inc. Diet Survey
• Satiety is the missing ingredient in most weight loss programs
  —Dr. Barbara J. Rolls, Penn State University Department of Nutritional Sciences

Why put yourself thru this agony? All you will end up doing is binging…I know, I’ve done it! You deprive yourself of say, chocolate, and then get so upset, mad, irritated, hungry, or whatever else and then eat more than you should. All you end up with is a tummy ache. Now you’re mad because you know you should not have binged.

Don’t diet! Just make some “tweaks” to your eating and make a lifestyle change. Just one…take baby steps if you must. I recently had to cut wheat out of my “diet” and there are some really yummy foods…try Millet bread (I buy this at my local health food store and you should toast it) and Bob’s Red Mill Gluten free brownies (I buy Bob’s brand at my local Publix).

To Your Health!

Debbie James
850.450.2000

Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

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What is the Glycemic Index?

I was searching on You Tube this morning and came across this video. Natalie does a great job at explaining the Glycemic Index. Check it out:

This site, by David Mendosa, also has some wonderful information, very detailed and easy to understand. There is also a ton of other incredible information. The Glycemic Index

To Your Health…
Debbie James
www.YourDreamSize.com
850.450.2000

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Do You Have Food Allergies?

Probably so!! Just about everyone has some sort of food allergy. Did you know that more than 160 foods can cause allergic reactions in people with food allergies? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified eight foods that account for 90 percent of reactions. They are:

• Milk
• Eggs
• Fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod)
• Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp)
• Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans)
• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soybeans

According to the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004, foods containing products made from these foods must identify them as source ingredients on packaging labels. Food products labeled before January 1, 2006 were not required to identify ingredient sources – only common names. ALWAYS use special care when reading labels.

I recently cut wheat out of my diet, and can breathe so much better! I’m also allergic to shell fish. I found that out years ago when I started taking a fish oil supplement. My skin started to itch so badly I wanted to come out of it! Good thing I don’t like to eat fish…never liked the taste. I take flax oil instead.

Maybe it’s true…you are what you eat?

To Your Health…

Debbie James
www.YourDreamSize.com
850.450.2000

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Mind Over Body

Diet. A word I absolutely HATE! When I think of that word, I think, “I’m going to be hungry”. I also think, I can only eat what “someone” tells me to eat. Rather difficult if you are as picky of an eater as I am. I don’t eat red meat and I’m allergic to shell fish, (which is not so bad since I don’t like fish!) hate mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, to name a few. So, where do we go from here?

What if we think of the word “diet” as a lifestyle change? Not so bad then, huh? My body doesn’t like yeast…yes, I could eat it, and my body reacts accordingly. So, I stay away from it. Same thing with wheat. I recently discovered that I need to stay away from wheat. At first you think, ugh…what can I eat?

Diet is also short term. Lifestyle change is long term. About 10 years ago, I cut yeast out of my “diet” and have never looked back. That was a lifestyle change. I went to the health food store and bought a yeast free, sugar free bread. Yes, I had to try several before I found one I liked. Since there are no preservatives, you just have to toast it first. No big deal…I made sandwiches, french toast, etc. I changed my “diet” (short term) and made a lifestyle change (long term) and have not had problems.

A Naturopath I started seeing earlier this year, suggested I cut wheat out of my “diet”. So I did. The bread I loved so much, that I mentioned above, has wheat! So, I go to the health food store and ask them for a wheat free, yeast free bread. They suggested a Millet bread, which is rice based. Love it!!! Again you have to toast it. I made another lifestyle change. The wheat was affecting my sinuses/allergies. Since cutting wheat out of my “diet” my breathing has been sooooo much better. Amazing! For many years, I was trying to figure out what was bothering me. My trial and error never seemed to work when I would eliminate a food from my “diet”. Now I know. Again, I can eat foods with wheat, and my body reacts accordingly.

I have been buying gluten free products and ‘testing’ them. Bob’s Red Mill and Pamela’s products are yummy! Cookies, brownies, pancakes are incredible. I would put Pamela’s pancake mix against any. You would be hard pressed to know it is gluten/wheat free. Same goes with Bob’s products.

Here are some differences between diet and lifestyle:

Diet: The goal is self-limiting. When you get to your goal weight, you stop the diet.
Lifestyle: The goal is open-ended. Weight management becomes part of your daily life, with strategies that vary as circumstances, priorities, and needs change.

Diet: A diet is a surface level change. It involves simple changes in behaviors you are already doing (or not doing). You take in fewer calories from food and (maybe) expend more calories on activity. Foods are “good” or “bad” based on calorie content.
Lifestyle: Lifestyle changes are made on many levels. In addition to healthy changes in your relationship with food and exercise, you will challenge the basic attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and feelings that made you overweight (and unhappy) to begin with.

Diet: Progress and success are measured by the scale. Anything that results in weight loss is considered acceptable, even if it poses potential problems or risks. Failure to lose weight as fast as desired is very upsetting, and the process feels like a constant battle. High stress is constant.
Lifestyle: Progress and success are measured in terms of satisfaction & quality of life.
Weight loss and maintenance continue to be important, but are put in perspective as one way you can move towards larger, more rewarding goals. Daily ups and downs become much less stressful.

Diet: Results don’t last. Even if you manage to stick with all the unpleasantness of a diet long enough to reach your weight goal, your odds of keeping it off permanently are less than one in twenty.
Lifestyle: Results are lasting. Your lifestyle change is an open-ended, ongoing process with goals that continue to expand and grow. There is no reason to go back to the habits that got you overweight in the first place.

Just make one lifestyle change today…

To Your Health!

Debbie James
www.YourDreamSize.com
850.450.2000

Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

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You Are What You Eat?

Why is it that over the years the “gurus” would say that? I guess, to a certain extent, it’s true. What I know is true, is the fact that you need to pay attention to how your body reacts to different foods. For example, whenever I would have dairy products, I would get very congested. (Which can be normal for a lot of people!) As I mentioned in my first post, years ago I had yeast issues. While I don’t eat “regular” bread (OK, I do cheat when my husband and I go to Carrabba’s…their bread is irresistable!!), I feel it the next day…bloated, congested and I know my body reacts negatively to it.

Did you know that yeast and molds can build up very quickly on foods stored in the refrigerator? Because of this, you should avoid leftovers as much as possible. If you do eat leftovers, heat them well to kill the yeast and molds. And if you are like me, always busy, no time to cook and don’t want to cook, I eat leftovers. In today’s day and age, we want it bigger, better, faster. Unfortunately, that is not so in the world of healthy eating.

Not too long ago I discovered the crockpot. Now, that is the best invention, EVER!! Put all the ingredients in the crockpot in the morning, and by the time I get home, dinner is ready! That is my kind of cooking. I made a reciepe, Chicken & Potato Curry. Oh my gosh was it yummy, and healthy!! It has chicken, potoatos, onions, pepper, tons of spices, chopped tomatos (I used a can of diced tomatos), and some chicken broth.

Eating healthy doesn’t mean food doesn’t taste good!!

To your health.

Debbie James
Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

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Are You Healthy?

 

 

 

What is Your Dream Size? What are you doing to get there? What are you eating? Are you eating healthy? Are you exercising? These are just some of the questions we will answer. I have had yeast issues and food allergies and will share my experiences and what I have done to correct these problems. It is truly amazing how much food can effect our everyday lives and how simple it is to fix…if you know what to do.

I am not a doctor, and will not make any medical claims or anything like that. I just want to help educate you and share experiences I have had along with the experiences of my friends and family. Please be open minded as far as learning about all natural products/supplements, and what food can do to your body. I’m not saying that I don’t believe in prescriptions and doctors…what I am saying is that there can be other alternatives to drugs. There is a time and place for everything.

In today’s day and age, so many of us go to a doctor, where they diagnose the problem, prescribe medication and send you on your merry way. We never get to the “root” of the situation. Doctors treat from the outside, in. With alternative medicine, the treat from the inside out. Huge difference. They are not just looking to treat the symptoms, they are looking at what is causing the symptoms and the reason why.

Many, many years ago, I had yeast issues. I went to the doctor and was prescribed an antibiotic. Yes, my yeast infection went away, and then it would come back. Obviously, something was causing this. Before I had yeast problems, I didn’t know any different either. I have learned a lot over the years, and continue to learn about how different foods can effect us.

If you are having problems, been to doctors over the years and still have no answers, maybe it’s time to try something different. Be open minded when it comes to alternative medicine, natural remedies and supplements. It could just be the answer you don’t even know you are looking for.

To your health!

Debbie James
Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

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