Losing 180 pounds can change someone’s life. But it was only the start of a long journey for Hattie Montgomery. Although Hattie wasn’t ignorant to the fact that she was morbidly obese at 530 pounds, it took the dying plea of her grandfather for her to wake up and start living her life.
Living Well with Passion and Purpose
Choose to be Healthy
February 13, 2013 by
Superfoods for Healthy Hair
February 12, 2013 by
We’ve all learned through the years that a well-balanced diet is healthy for our body and critical for optimal health and performance. Our hair is no different, a mixture of protein, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and iron are all required for healthy, strong hair.
Good hair nutrition begins with getting enough protein, which is the building block of your hair. Then you need complex carbohydrates to help assemble the proteins for hair growth. Other important vitamins and minerals include B complex, which is associated with energy production and building good hair and skin issues, folic acid, B12, and zinc.
Hair follicles can have low energy levels just like we do. Therefore, it’s very important that you eat a high protein meal at the start of each day. Consider the following food choices for breakfast and the other daily meals in order to give you hair the healthiest opportunity to grow and thrive.
If you don’t have high cholesterol, try eating red meat twice per week (Should be grass fed beef). It has the protein your hair needs, but also is full of B vitamins, iron and zinc, which are all important for healthy hair. Eggs and egg whites are another great protein option, especially for vegetarians or those who cannot eat red meat due to dietary restrictions. Salmon is another great protein choice, and works great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You’ll find it’s also full of B vitamins, including B12, and other vitamins and minerals.
Just be sure to keep in mind that you should also have complex carbohydrates, which feed you energy over a longer period of time than refined carbohydrates, with your protein source at meals. Brown short-grain rice is an ideal form. It’s also a good source of B vitamins and some fiber. Whole grain choices complement your protein consumption by helping organize the proteins for the hair to utilize for optimal growth and health.
Are You Too Busy to be Healthy?
May 15, 2012 by
I often listen to people complain that they are too busy to eat healthy. Instead they pick up convenience foods on the run, skip meals, or even not eat for hours at a time.
I’m here to tell you that you can eat healthy, even if your day is filled with driving kids to 3 different events or meeting clients in two cities.
Eating healthy consists of 4 main points:
- Choosing foods free from artificial ingredients and pesticides
- Choosing foods rich in nutrients- no empty calories
- Eating smaller meals more often
- Drinking lots of pure water instead of most other beverages.
My Daily Strategy
- Pack a cooler: It takes about 30 sec to pack a small cooler for the day.
- Carry a water bottle: we keep water bottles in the fridge ready to g0.
- Keep a variety of small containers on hand that fit well in your cooler.
What to Pack:
- Here are some items I always have in my cooler. I eat low-glycemic foods to keep my blood sugar steady throughout the day.
- Grilled Chicken left over cut into strips so I can easily eat it with one hand
- Raw nuts
- Fruit that is easy to eat or cut in pieces to put in yourindividual containers
- Low Glycemic meal replacement shakes that mix with water- choose carefully
- Low Glycemic bars choose carefully and check ingredients
- Fresh Vegetables: have veggie sticks prepared ahead of time so they are easy to grab and go
- GOOD Salads: Salads should be flavorful and make your mouth water. Ask me for some recipes :~)
- Nut Butters or Hummus: fun as a dip for veggies or fruit.
Keep lots of good food close to you at all times to create the convenience that your life demands and you will be shocked at the positive changes you see in your health.
Live Well!
Robin
Robin Thomas spent 22 years in medical research at the University of North Carolina focusing the last 7 years on the inflammatory process of chronic degenerative diseases. In 2004 she left the laboratory to start her own health and wellness business. Both her experience working with participants of clinical studies and caring for a child with multiple health challenges has given Robin a passion for helping others improve their own health. Robin shares informative articles about new research discoveries in nutritional medicine and adopting lifestyle changes aligned with a healthful and passionate life at her blog, http://robinthomas.biz
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Enjoy Your Fruits and Vegetables for a Healthy Heart
March 3, 2012 by
We all know that eating more fruits and vegetables is part of a healthy diet. Research now shows that these healthy foods also appear to decrease our risk of heart disease by actually modifying our genetic code.(1) A comprehensive diet and gene heart study published October 2011 in PLoS Medicine recently concluded that people with high-risk gene mutations who ate at least two servings of raw fruits ,vegetables and berries each day had a similar risk of heart disease as those with low-risk versions of the gene.
“Our research suggests there may be an important interplay between genes and diet in cardiovascular disease. Future research is necessary to understand the mechanism of this interaction, which will shed light on the underlying metabolic processes that the 9p21 gene is involved in.” Lead author, Dr. Ron Do
10 Easy Ways to Add More Fruits and Vegetables to Your Diet
Adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet is easy with a little planning. Here are 10 tips I use every day that help my whole family eat better:
- Add whole fruit or berries to your breakfast. A handful of blueberries or strawberries is great over breakfast oatmeal, quinoa, or yogurt.
- Stuff an omelet with vegetables. Adding peppers, onions, tomatoes, and other veggies turns eggs into a complete meal.
- Add some variety to your morning smoothie. Use your favorite meal replacement shake as the base and add fresh or frozen berries, mixed fruit, or banana. Check out some Heart Smart Smoothie recipes.
- Place a bowl of colorful fruit where everyone can easily grab something for a snack on the run. I keep bowls of apples, oranges and bananas on the kitchen counter. You’d be amazed how quickly that fruit disappears.
- Keep cut vegetables handy for mid-afternoon snacks, side-dishes, lunch box additions, or a quick nibble while waiting for dinner. Ready-to-eat favorites: red, green or yellow peppers, broccoli or cauliflower florets, carrots, celery sticks, cucumbers, snap peas or while radishes.
- Exchange cut veggies and hummus for that chips and dip.
- Add color to your salads: Berries and mandarin orange slices are great, as are grape tomatoes and carrot slices. Be inventive!
- Add vegetables to your sandwiches. Ripe avocado makes a yummy spread instead of mayonnaise, and sliced pineapple, apple, peppers, cucumber and tomato add both crunch and flavor.
- Make salad a main dish of dark, leafy greens and other colorful vegetables. Add chickpeas or edamame (fresh soybeans) for protein. Squeeze fresh lemon wedges on the salad for a quick, low calorie dressing.
- Grill colorful veggie kabobs with tomatoes, green and red peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Perfect as the weather gets a bit warmer this spring and summer.
Do you eat 5 or more more fruits and vegetables everyday? Share some tips that you use to increase the number of servings of these colorful and flavorful foods. I’ll pass your tips on to my readers. :~)
Live Well!
Robin
Reference:
1. PLoS Med. 2011 Oct;8(10):e1001106. Epub 2011 Oct 11. The effect of chromosome 9p21 variants on cardiovascular disease may be modified by dietary intake: evidence from a case/control and a prospective study.Do R, Xie C, Zhang X, Männistö S, Harald K, Islam S, Bailey SD, Rangarajan S,
McQueen MJ, Diaz R, Lisheng L, Wang X, Silander K, Peltonen L, Yusuf S, Salomaa V, Engert JC, Anand SS; INTERHEART investigators.
Robin Thomas spent 22 years in medical research at the University of North Carolina focusing the last 7 years on the inflammatory process of chronic degenerative diseases. In 2004 she left the laboratory to start her own health and wellness business. Both her experience working with participants of clinical studies and caring for a child with multiple health challenges has given Robin a passion for helping others improve their own health. Robin shares informative articles about new research discoveries in nutritional medicine and adopting lifestyle changes aligned with a healthful and passionate life at her blog, http://robinthomas.biz
Robin Thomas’s Posts – The 919 Business Network – Local Business Networking
Healthy Weight Loss
January 11, 2012 by
Is losing weight on your list of resolutions?
You are not alone. Losing weight is always one of the top New Year’s resolutions in America. There is a surge in the purchase of weight loss products, gym memberships, and even ( gasp!) diet pills. Everyone wants to lose weight fast, but generally by the middle of January, most people have already given up. Besides, the Super Bowl is coming up, and who wants to deprive themselves of all those delicious chicken wings and sliders?
Why do we give up so easily? What is holding us back?
Think about what has held you back in the past. Those habits will always tend to creep in to your daily life if you don’t change the way you think. Do you feel like you are “too busy” to change your habits? Do you tend to procrastinate? Do you feel defeated even before you ever really begin?
Many people have strong limiting beliefs that hold them back.
Have you always been overweight? Some people who are starting a weight loss program have struggled with weight their entire lives. They are frequently slaves to their scales, their mood rising and falling according to the pounds lost or gained. They have a hard time believing that they can actually live life off the weightloss rollercoaster.
Were you thin as a teenager and find yourself overweight now? Other people were once quite thin, and now weigh more than is healthy. There is a danger that these people can be stuck in a mindset of denial of where they are. They may think they shouldn’t have to work as hard to lose the weight, and when weight loss takes longer than they think it “should” they develop a resentment that the program is not working.
Are you generally a “thin” person who just wants to lose a few pounds? Many people are just starting to gain some weight around the middle. They have been thin most of their lives, and can’t understand why this is happening to them. We hear them say: ” I haven’t changed anything in my diet or exercise and I’m still gaining weight!” Their mindset is one unwilling to make a change to a more healthy lifestyle. They think they “know it all”.
Are you healthy and happy and just want some information? There’s an old saying: “Ya don’t know what ya don’t know”, so these people in particular need to keep an open mind to new ideas. Any complete healthy lifestyle program provides emotional and mental as well as physical transformation. Often people focus only on the physical weight loss. All aspects of a healthy lifestyle are of vital importance for true health both now and in the future.
Get Off Your Diet and Change Your Life
Break free of disempowering beliefs and habits and live a vibrant, healthy life.
What if you could learn a healthy lifestyle that has the side effect of releasing weight that you could share with your whole family? What if you had more energy and felt more positive about yourself? What if you could truly have it all? The Healthy Edge lifestyle offers you just that!
Get started with two complementary weeks through this link: The Healthy Edge .
Live Well!
Robin
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When Does Healthy Aging Begin?
January 5, 2010 by
Is There Hope that I will be backpacking into my 80s?
The picture to the left is one of my personal heroes, Edna Northrup. In 2010, at the age of 84, she hiked 100 miles to the base camp of Mt Everest.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to go camping and backpacking. Unfortunately, I have not been out on the trail in a couple of years, and I was beginning to wonder if that part of my life was over.
Wait just a minute!
I am not letting life pass me by that easily!
No matter what your age- whether you are 17 or 70, healthy aging begins right now. Most of us don’t think about getting older until we start losing our health, in particular if we are suffering with a chronic degenerative disease. But, really, all of us are constantly aging, all the time. A huge gift we can give ourselves and our families is to take control of our health as early as possible. Our own individual attitudes toward our health makes the difference between someone who lives their life fully with passion and purpose and someone who lives in the Lazy Boy recliner.
Take Control of Your Life: Body, Mind and Spirit
10 important ways to age heathy, in no particular order:
- Keep Moving~ Make Exercise Fun. It doesn’t matter if you are playing with your kids, taking a walk, or dancing. If you make exercise fun, you’ll keep doing it your whole life.
- Follow Your Heart Find something that makes your heart sing. This can be your career, a hobby you love, a chosen cause, or being with your family. What’s important is the passion you have.
- Maintain a Healthy Weight It’s a sad fact that obesity is the root cause for way too many degenerative diseases. I’m not talking a healthy overweight here- but when your weight interferes with normal activities.
- Don’t Smoke Not only does smoking shorten life expectancy, it also has a significant impact on the quality of life in old age.
- Sleep Although individuals vary in the amount of sleep they need, chronic sleep loss can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s strength.
- Good Digestive Health The health of your gut is of prime importance in many chronic health issues. For the body to feel healthy, the digestive tract must be functioning optimally. The bowels are needed to absorb nutrients used to perpetually repair the body and eliminate toxins.
- Frequent Health Checkups Yes- visit your doctor! Take appropriate action on suggested screening tests. Have your lipid panel and your vit D level checked. They really are here to help you- but you must also become your own health advocate.
- Eat Well Fill up on whole foods-vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans. Stay away from processed foods. An apple is much better than apple juice. If you crave a hamburger~make your own! It will reduce the bad fats, salt, and toxins your body has to face.
- Take High Quality Supplements Even eating whole foods will not provide our bodies with the quantity of nutrients needed today. A doubleblind study out just this month shows that a multi-nutrient supplement may help middle-aged individuals to prolong physical function and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle. (1)
- Don’t Procrastinate Don’t put off lifestyle changes until you start feeling badly. Act on at least some of these NOW. As you improve one aspect of your life, it will be easier to have FUN and Enjoy Life!
For my own inspiration I look to Edna Northrup, fellow USANA associate and mother of Christiane Northrup. Enjoy this short video and tell me whether you agree that Edna lives life fully, with passion and purpose!
1. Nutr J. 2011 Sep 7;10(1):90. [Epub ahead of print] A multi-nutrient supplement reduced markers of inflammation and improved physical performance in active individuals of middle to older age: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Dunn-Lewis C, Kraemer WJ, Kupchak BR, Kelly NA, Creighton BA, Luk HY, Ballard KD, Comstock BA, Szivak TK, Hooper DR, Denegar CR, Volek JS.
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