Saturday, September 19, 2015

When Sweet Is Too Sweet

Sweets.  There's no doubt, we are a society that loves sweet foods.  Food manufacturers know this, that's why it's a Billion Dollar Business.  Sweet Foods are highly addictive, lack nutrition, and alter body hormones and our blood sugar.  All these factors contribute to that situation we all hate being in- the one where we keep eating the M&Ms, the other where our hand seems to independently continue to reach back into the chips, or you eat the entire carton of ice cream.  Sugar rewrites our body chemistry, and its obviously for the worse.  Foods riddled with highly processed, man-made sugars are problematic and contribute to the major societal diseases that are commonly affecting people in our families or even you reading this:  Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, and certain Cancers.  

So, what's the alternative?  The big food companies want you to believe the answer is Artificial Sweeteners.  NOT SO FAST! Those of you reading this please pay attention and take this in.  Artificial Sweeteners are not the answer or the great improvement to the sugar epidemic.  

The Book, "It Starts With Food", holds the position that these artificial sweeteners may actually be more problematic that Sugar.  Why? These sweeteners are designed to deliver a larger amount of sweetness than what can be found in nature.  The Whole 9 guys call these, "Supernormally Stimulating".  Its so sweet that the body doesn't know what to do with it.  
Take a look at these numbers:  

The BIG 3
  • Aspartame (Equal) - 200 to 300 times sweeter than Table Sugar.

Aspartame is also on the EPA's list of "potentially dangerous chemicals".  The reason, it was shown to increase cancer risks in rats.  
  • Sucralose (Splenda) - 600 times sweeter than Table Sugar.  
Sucralose has been shown to decrease levels of beneficial Gut Bacteria.
  • Saccharin (Sweet 'N Low) - 700 times sweeter than Table Sugar.
The "Bad" Gut Bacteria loves sugar.  That's a bad combo:  deplete beneficial gut bacteria and then strengthen the bad bacteria.

If you consume these sweeteners in food and drinks chronically over time, and chances are you will because they are addictive, these empty calorie sweeteners will only cause you to crave more Sweet Foods.  This will begin a bad cycle of over-eating, and it will be highly addictive, highly processed foods.  The dangerous thing is that these "Foods" will replace the nutrient-dense foods you should be eating in your diet.  

What do you do?   Answer = Eat Real Food.  Skip the man-made, processed stuff.  
If you need sweet, use real, local honey as a sweetener.  Grab some organic dates and snack on those.  
Grab some fruit and allow that to satisfy your sweet craving.  
If you have to have sugar, opt for raw, unprocessed sugar.  BUT, realize this- it will make you crave more sweet/sugar.  Be smart and evaluate your overall Goal or Desire.  

Food strips down to a biochemical level as fuel that reaches every cell in our body.  I don't care what you do, Food affects all levels of Performance.  Remember this as we all have so many important things happening day in and day out.  

As always, Jami and I are here to offer benefit to your health.  If you need specific attention from us, please reach out.





Tuesday, September 8, 2015

A SWEAT A DAY-COASTAL

Lady is taking it all in. : )

For the update on our move....well, we moved. We are here in St. Augustine Beach, Florida and we are brand new, starting new jobs, finding our way around and taking it all in. Thank goodness Lady likes the beach! She loves to play in the water and get her daily vitamin D..so this is good!

We have just been here for a week so we have yet to establish any routine, familiarity or anything yet!! It's beautiful, it's what we've been working towards, it's scarier than $#!* to uproot everything you know to go somewhere to check out some opportunities and stretch yourself into growth and evolution....voluntarily. But it came down to realizing that we would have regret if we never took that chance we always dreamed about and we weren't willing to do that.: )

This time last year I was starting my FB page. I was feeling alive and inspired and I wanted to share with others things that help me to stay healthy, stay in the game of living a creative life, take lemons and make lemonade and so on. One year later, I am starting another new adventure in a new place.

I decided to do a challenge last year called A Sweat A Day. I did this because I enjoy moving and exercising with others. Alone too....but I love to move and sweat and be with friends. I thought if I enjoyed that then maybe some others do too. Even though we aren't actually together, this is a platform to tune in with some like minded peeps and share and move have a team.

Since we have moved I have not a had regular schedule for movement and it's time to take some action and create new healthy habits in this new place!!! I'll call this one A Sweat A Day Goes Coastal...in honor of change that we all go through.

The idea for this challenge is to have 30 focused days to find ways to stimulate movement, circulations, respiration and perspiration. This can be done in a number of ways ranging from an intense workout to a hot, steamy epsom salts bath. Ideally we want to be implementing exercise into our lives when we can so take the option of saunas or baths or whatever when you absolutely are too wiped out for working out. It's important to note that when we have not slept well, eaten well or if something else in our life is causing great emotional stress, an intense workout is not necessarily a good thing. You want to learn when to workout and when to do restorative exercise or therapies.

When you decide to do a challenge like this, inevitably your voices, habits, patterns, etc that normally get in the way of you reaching your goals will come up. These are the same voices, habits and patterns that will show up and stop you in other areas of your life as well. Just pay attention and remember that at the end of the day...you either got it done or not.....no matter the noise in your mind or life. : )

The intention is to bring into focus, creating a healthy movement routine in your life. When you move and breathe, your mind clears, solutions to problems become known, your body releases wastes, you feel stronger, more confident and accomplished. We all know this........sometimes we need a reminder and a re-boot!!!

We will start on Thursday September 10th and end on October 9th 2015. If you'd like to join, come hang out on my FB page (Jami Lynn McCormack) and move and breathe and share the love!!!!