Here’s Why You Don’t Need to “Get Back on Track” After the Holidays

Some great tips from Food & Nutrition blog!

The holiday season is part of our life! It’s a time to celebrate, a time to spend with friends and family, a time to enjoy, a time to feel good about, and a time to make memories. So placing this dark cloud over it sends the wrong message. I also think the diet industry really overemphasizes holiday weight gain and this sense of the holiday season equating to a “bad track.” So I am hoping to relieve any anxiety over the holiday season in terms of food that you may have. Let the holidays integrate into your life and you can absolutely maintain your healthy lifestyle during it and I would encourage you to do so too!

Here are my tips:

1. Get enough sleep (7 to 8 hours) most days. And if you stay up later than normal hanging out with friends or talking on the porch with your dad then guess what — you are going to have some good memories from that time spent together and the next day you can get that eight hours of sleep. Your body will recover. However, it is harder to recover if day after day after day you are sleep deprived so make this a priority most of the time when you can.
2. Keep exercising! And exercise to celebrate what your body is capable of doing. Exercise to challenge yourself, to feel good, to feel energized, to feel strong, to feel confident, to feel accomplished. Don’t exercise to work off what you ate. There are major differences between these two mindsets.
3. Know that if you have an extra piece of pie then it’s OK. And if you eat more in one sitting than you typically do then that’s OK too — your body will do its thing; it will digest the food and you will get hungry again. So don’t feel guilty and don’t feel anxiety over these choices. Have the pie if you want the pie. And if you don’t, then that’s OK too.
4. If you view the holidays as a time to binge then perhaps reflect on why. My thought is being too restrictive over time will lead to binges. So to prevent this, make sure your lifestyle is balanced, meaning if you want the pie on a non-holiday than that’s OK too.
5. Know that it comes down to what you do most of the time that truly impacts health. Finding an eating pattern that you enjoy and also makes you feel healthy and energized is what is sustainable. I’ve personally found a predominantly plant-based diet makes me feel the best. And bonus — it is good for the environment and our health. So I still include these foods that make me feel good throughout the holiday season.
6. Start now. There is no better time than now to eat well and feel good. Don’t wait until the new year to work on goals you have. Start now. Start where you are. And make it consistent.

Be Good to Your Gut

Dieting, cutting calories and avoiding entire food groups in the name of health could be sabotaging your gut health. And that’s no small consequence.

The colon, once thought to be a rather dead place where undigested waste sits until you are ready to poo, is actually brimming with activity primarily from trillions of active, beneficial bacteria. Researchers now know the gut microbiome plays an important role in strengthening your immune system and helping to regulate important daily bodily functions, including hunger signals and your mood fluctuations. In fact, 95 percent of the feel-good hormone, serotonin, resides in the gut, meaning what you eat can impact your ability to respond to stress, reduce anxiety and help the body fight foreign invaders that could make you sick.

Turns out, your gut bugs love to eat plants. Bacteria take the undigested plant carbohydrates and use them for energy, creating fatty acids that can refuel your brain and body. The more varied the plants you consume – fruits, veggies, beans, legumes, whole grains, seeds and nuts – the more varied the “good” bacteria are that survive in your colon. They are like picky toddlers who will only feast on certain foods. The best way to optimize the health of your gut is to give the bacteria enough variety of the types of foods they love to eat.

One of the best ways, then, to hurt you gut health is by dieting. Here are three gut-unfriendly dieting practices – and how you can correct them:

1. You restrict calories.

If you cut calories to try to lose weight, you may not get the amount of food and fiber you need to allow the best bugs to thrive. Most Americans already fall short of the recommended 25-35 grams of fiber per day.

In order to consume enough fiber to keep your good gut bacteria happy, you need to eat enough calories from high-quality plant foods. Low-calorie diets tend to be low in fat and may not have much in the way of seeds, nuts and avocados, which contribute to both your fiber totals and healthy fat intake.

When your calories are low, your eating needs to be pretty darn near perfect in order to hit optimal nutrition. A perfect diet isn’t always fun, and when your diet isn’t enjoyable, you lose motivation to follow it. Then you probably blame yourself and where does that leave you? Being hungry all the time means you aren’t eating enough, and there’s a good chance your gut bacteria are starving too.

Instead of making yourself miserable, make healthy foods tasty. It doesn’t take but a dash of salt and some fat to liven up a humble head of broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage. Splashes of citrus juice, herbs and spices are excellent choices to brighten up and layer flavor in the dish. Don’t feel an ounce of guilt using a little oil to get delicious vegetables. In fact, a moderate amount of fat with plant foods helps your body better absorb fat-soluble vitamins that plant foods provide.

2. You eliminate food groups.

Some popular diet plans today prefer the term “lifestyle” because they don’t promote calorie restriction, but to me, they are diets in disguise because they don’t allow you to get a robust variety of nutrients.

Low-carbohydrate diets, for example, are notoriously low in fiber and excessively high in fat and protein, which has been shown to reduce the diversity of bacteria living in the colon. The paleo diet and the Whole30 plan, meanwhile, don’t allow for resistant starches such as beans, legumes, whole-wheat foods and white potatoes, but these carb-heavy foods are key players when it comes to a healthy and happy gut. These diets also eliminate dairy foods. However, there is good research showing that fermented dairy foods, such as yogurt and kefir, are key probiotic foods that help replenish bacteria in your gut. Of course, if you are allergic to dairy, this would be a reason to avoid it.

To be sure you get the right variety of foods, aim to put plant foods on three-quarters of your plate. Even on your least healthy burger nights, adding a side of carrots and a piece of fruit makes a big difference. Any little effort leads to the next best choice, so just go for it.

3. You put your gut in a rut.

Even if you’re not dieting, food ruts are bad for your gut. Often, when you’re uninspired by food, you become very rigid in your routines and do not consume nearly enough volume or variety to satisfy your healthy bacteria. When this happens, you are essentially starving your good gut bugs, causing them to become weak and scarce. Over time, this leads to a lower microbial diversity in the gut.

The good news? Coffee, wine, tea and chocolate – in moderation, of course – all contribute to a healthy microbiome, studies suggest. That’s one way to expand your palette. Another way is simply by giving yourself a break. Don’t make cooking and eating more complicated than it needs to be. Any vegetable-and-bean combination will taste good sauted with a little sauce. Then, add your protein. Try taking advantage of an hour on a weekend to roast veggies all at one and reheat them different days.

Building a pattern of eating well means establishing eating habits that are sufficient in calories, heavy on plants, rich in variety and, most importantly, enjoyable. That’s how you’ll keep those gut bacteria thriving right along with you and working hard for you every single day.

Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

I saw this recipe in my Food & Nutrition Magazine (one of the few I still get and actually read!) and wanted to give it a try. I’m not adverse to mixes as this one starts with just that and then kicks it up a notch with some added oats, nut butter, goji berries etc. Easy to make and a new treat for the fam.

Ingredients:

1 box Simple Mills Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup goji berries (or other dried fruit)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp nut butter

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients. Stir in the dry ingredients. Spread mixture into a loaf or cake pan. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Weight Fluctuations? What Gives?

What I hear:

I gained a pound this week! What am I doing wrong?

My weight stayed the same this week! This is not working.

I only lost two pounds this week! I want to quit. 😦

I lost 5 pounds in 10 days – woohoo!

What I say:

What you should do at this point in time… RELAX!!!

You did not gain three pounds of fat overnight – it is impossible, and you did not lose three pounds of fat overnight either.

Body Weight Fluctuations of 1-5 Pounds a Day are Perfectly Normal.

1. Sodium: Think of your body like a pendulum scale. If you eat more salt than usual one day, your body will react by trying to balance the scale by retaining more water. Eat less salt than usual, and you have the opposite affect.

2. Alcohol: This diuretic causes dehydration in the body, which leads to water retention. The water retention is a result of your body wanting to make up for the difference in water levels drinking alcohol has caused.

3. Carbohydrate Intake: The body turns the majority of eaten carbs into glucose for immediate energy. Glucose that is not used for immediate energy, turns to glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the muscle tissue and liver, which is stored with water. Eating a low-carb diet often leads to weight loss as you use up your glycogen stores and the stored water is released. In the long run, fatigue can set in as your quick energy source (carbs) is depleted and not replaced.

4. Strength Training: Lifting weights or doing body weight exercises causes trauma to muscle tissue. This is how the muscle rebuilds itself and makes you stronger. But in order to rebuild the muscle fibers, your muscles retain water to help speed up the process in the cells.

5. Restroom Usage: 1-3 pounds a day of body weight change can be seen by using or not using the restroom. I’m not going to go into detail here, because I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

6. That Time of Month: Most women are probably familiar with this one already. Experts believe that water is retained when hormones fluctuate, especially about one week prior to your monthly visitor. Once your cycle is over, the water is released.

7. Stress and sleep: High cortisol levels affect water balance in your body by regulating anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). ADH tells your kidneys how much water to hold back and pump back into your body.

PRO tip: Don’t stress about the number on the scale. It does not define you (up or down). Subtle changes are normal and should not affect you emotionally (for help with body image click here).  As you can see from the above, daily weights are mainly fluid shifts within your body. If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t think of it as a quick process (quick means fluid). Think of it as a long term goal where you slowly see progress over many months. You will see ups and downs along the way. This is totally normal as it’s not a linear process. Stay the course because your consistency is what maters most.

Bloating: How to Cope

Bloating is generally the result of not being able to properly digest foods. These not-so-easily-digested foods feel like they’re just sitting around causing discomfort and a general feeling of being stuffed and ‘windy’!

It can happen at any age, but if it seems to be more frequent as you’re getting older it can very well be because of your stomach’s reduced ability to produce enough acid for proper digestion.

Normally, when we eat, cells in our stomach release more acid which is important for so many digestive processes like breaking down foods. As we age this process can become less efficient and the result can feel like it’s wreaking havoc on the rest of the digestive system.

Unfortunately, this can have wide-ranging effects on all of our digestion abilities and can result in bloating.

Bloating Reason #1:

Sometimes our bodies are (or become more as we age) sensitive to the fiber in certain fruits or veggies. This can also occur when we introduce new ones into our diet as it may take a while for our body to get used to them.

Try chewing your vegetables more thoroughly, or lightly cooking or steaming raw ones. If a fruit or veggie seems to be consistently related to bloating try eliminating it for a few weeks and monitor your symptoms.

Bloating Reason #2:

Decreased stomach acid can reduce the activation of a key protein-digesting enzyme “pepsin”. This means that the proteins you eat aren’t broken down as much and they can pass through your system “undigested”.

You may consider reducing the amount of animal-based foods you eat and see if that helps.

Bloating Reason #3:

All this lack of digesting in your stomach and small intestine puts extra stress on the large intestine. The large intestine is the home of all of your wonderful gut microbes that have SO many functions in the body.

Try eating more fermented foods. Fermented foods contain probiotics which will feed the good bacteria and microbes in your system to keep the bad bacteria at bay. This includes things like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kimchi. Make sure they’re unpasteurized and contain live cultures.

Ginger has been found to help with digestion and reduce nausea for certain people. And peppermint is thought to help your digestive muscles keep pushing food through, so it doesn’t stay in one spot for too long.

Consider drinking a digestive tea like peppermint or ginger.

If bloating is a serious problem for you, always consult your doctor for evaluation.