It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not...

Hello dears,

Today I would like to talk about persistence in what we are doing.

The reason why I chose this subject is that, we often happen to see our results much lower than we expected and it makes us feel sad and doubtful.

Sometimes changes enter our lives in "too slow" motion, so as the result we often tend to go back to our old ways as: IT'S NOT WORKING ANYWAY!!!!!

The truth is, that when you try to change your life and old habits by yourself it is a very difficult task and I am not going to sugar coat it for you - there will be times when it will get really hard to stay on track. 

So if you have a possibility to join a support group or to do it altogether with your family members, I strongly recommend you to do that, as this will give you boost of motivation you need.

But what if you have no one to support you, what then? 
How to motivate yourself to stay on track?

Well, it's harder but possible, but it will require from you self motivation and self appraisal, yes you've read it correctly: 
Self appraisal is the key to your success.



So how to stay motivated?

First of all you need to tell yourself that you want those changes as you want to get healthy, and always remember to say thank you to your body for all years of supporting you in your daily life.


The next step is to look through all of your food in your cupboards and divide it into 3 parts: 

• healthy
•  so so,
• not healthy

Next step is to systematically  keep choosing 1 item at the time from "not healthy" pot and replace it with a healthier option.

Why I say one at the time? Well, I know from my experience that, if I introduce to myself too many changes at once I tend to fail and go back to old habits much quicker (reason - it's too difficult, I say)!


Meantime it's good to add some physical exercises to your daily routine:

• At the beginning choose walking (the easiest option), set yourself a goal that no matter what, you will walk 1 hour each day/3000 steps/3 miles or so...
• Next thing is to get yourself a notebook/calendar in which every day you will add a note of your activities/food choices on particular day - so no cheating.

When it comes to food I call myself a "sugarholic" (I am aware that this  word doesn't exist yet, but it matches perfectly to my condition). 

It's not like I don't want to stop eating sweeties, but when I don't eat sugar my mood swings, my hands are shacking, I cannot focus and I really really get depressed and only think about food (junk food).


So, how I managed to stay away from sweeties?

• Firstly I decided that I will make myself a promise, that due to my self love and respect I choose to obtain myself from sweeties for particular amount of time.

I started from easy step, I decided that once a week on Tuesdays I will not be eating sweeties. 

To make sure I keep my promise I started adding comments to my calendar +/- depends on day going (I am not a saint, so there were days I failed)...

• Next thing I did was to challenge myself more and to eat sweeties only every second day, and the next faze was to eat them only during weekends. 

To make things work smoothly I hang my (handmade) calendar on the wall so I was passing it few times a day.

• My next challenge was to stop eating sweeties for 60 days in a row...

How did I manage?

Firstly I wrote down a note for myself that this was a promise given from Me to ME, that I was going to help myself with getting healthier.

I chose a very sophisticated name for it: "THE PROMISE"

Then I decided on starting date (after parties sezon).
Next thing I did was to write down numbers of days of My Promise (day 1 to day 60).

At the end of preparation time, I bought some healthier snacks, as I knew that when cravings would come, I needed to munch something in exchange.

I have succeed, and only 3 times I munched something from "forbidden" food, and what's more, it was the first time I did something for myself (and to no one else).


 For the first time I was feeling powerful, loved and taken care of. It was a great adventure to find out that I can actually do it, that I can be a winner.

Small tip for you - if you break your promise and eat sweeties on some days - 
DO NOT JUDGE YOURSELF! 


You can say ok,we failed today, but I know you try hard, lets make sure we keep our promise tomorrow.

I deliberately use words We/I/You alternately, as:

• I - means my mind
• We - means my mind and my body
• You - means I am talking to myself.

You need to understand that your mind, body and soul exist separately but altogether, we need to pay attention to whole of us, as mind cannot live without body, and without a soul we wouldn't be even existing.


I must say, that once you make a promise to yourself, you will find more difficult to fail, as you would be failing yourself.



TIP:
What to eat in times of sugar crisis?

• Dried prunes - not only they are very sweet but also help with digestion (you will find yourself producing more gases but that's ok, because they will help you to clean your gut),
• bananas, cherries, mandarins, dark chocolate (at least 75% cocoa)...

I often have craving for crunchy snacks, so I choose nut snacks or when I feel really struggling, I choose whole grain low fat crisps...



What to do after 60 days?

You need to celebrate it!!!


I would suggest you to plan it before you start your 60 days, as reward will help you to stay motivated.

You can choose anything you want, but it must ne something special, so you could feel important, it can be movie/theater tickets, some nice trip, or simply going to the restaurant.


TIP:
If you want to reward yourself with "bad food", please make sure you do it once in a while, as old habits coming back easier than you think.

All permanent changes require time to settle down.

You can speed the process up by signing yourself to a gym/swim/or any exercise as it will help you to burn more calories at once.

I personally try to walk around 1 hour a day, as I am having troubles with other activities to settle down as a habit with me.

• I would like to finish my post with few positive affirmation, as you remember, positive attitude is a key to success: 

1. "I am feeling healthier and stronger with each day that passes
2. I choose to breathe in relaxation and breathe out stress
3. With each day, I am learning how to love my body
4. My health is improving and so is my life
5. Today I focus on the good things that are unfolding in my life
6. Trusting my body is becoming easier and easier
7. It's safe for me to be myself
8. Healing is happening in my body and in my mind
9. I am surrounded and protected in healing white light
10. Everything I eat heals me and nourishes me
11. Making small changes is becoming easier for me
12. Healing happens with each baby step I take
13. I am choosing progress over perfection
14. I am guided by my intuition, I know what to eat and how to live my life" www.thelawofattraction.com

So heads up and don't give up, you can do it and you can do it well, all you need to do is believe in yourself.


In my next post I will share with you my knowledge about some herbs and how they can help us.



For now I wish you a pleasant night.

Why do we eat?

Hello dear all,

Today I would like to talk about answering "obvious" question:

Why do we it?

It seems to be an obvious answer, we eat because we are hungry ... but do we always?

Our habits of food choices start when we are still little, when women are pregnant they tend to eat certain food which in the future influence at some point of child's food choices, also when we think about our society we grew up in, we can see similarities and patterns we tend to repeat when we are adults.

For ex. if in our family people eat heavy foods late in the evenings, we tend to do exactly the same things even when we live far away from them

I would like you to now read a few lines below and answer yourself if that sounds familiar:

• When a child is an infant and doesn't have those "Michelin" rounds - means that has a bad mother, who doesn't care for her child.
• Young mother worry about her child constant cry feeds it, as she confuses it's need of being taken care off (attention) with possible hunger cry.
• Young children are often rewarded with  chocolate or cookies for their good behaviors.

Other beliefs brought from our family homes:

• You need to eat everything from your plate (don't waste the food)! 
• You will make your grandma very happy if you eat it all (acceptance)!
• Chubby kids are healthy kids!
• If you don't eat it all, you won't go out! - or watch TV nowdays!
• The best solution to brighten your mood up are sweeties!
• You mustn't waste your food!
• From tummy to the heart!
• You were always chubby child anyway!

When we start your diets, it is crucial for us to have a positive state of mind, as if we start our diet full with anger and disgust towards ourselves, we will shortly start using food as a reward for a good behavior and within short time we will go back to square 1.

People who often struggle with their emotions often use food as a substitute of feeling "in charge". Food becomes their only source of any power. They start obsessively focusing on keeping this "under control" feeling and become bulimic or anorectic.
Those are very dangerous state of minds and need to be treated by specialists, as it is crucial for people's recovery (never try to do it only by yourself, because you are not alone).

Other type of people with emotional needs are ones who use food as a substitute of emotional stability, they feel helpless in their lifes and often feel powerless towards various situations, so they use food as a substitute of happiness, which in the future  might change into "compulsive overeating disorder".

They tend to "eat their problems" and use food as a distraction beacon.

But in those cases before turning to specialists, we can try to help ourselves by for ex. using various types of distractions from food.

Whenever we have a craving for food (even though we just ate our meal) 
we can for ex. go for a walk, go sleep (not after the meal), take a long shower or simply call  relatives for a chat.

To get help to overcome those situations, we need to observe ourselves and notice in which situations we tend to reach for a junk food.

We can use a diary, in which we will be writing down our feelings at those particular moments. It can help us to answer ourselves a few questions:

• What do I fancy to eat right now?
• How I am going to feel after eating it?
• and the most important one - How do I feel at the moment?

It is very important to write down all of the emotions we feel at those moments, even though they might seem not relevant or chaotic.

I tell you, that what you discover about yourself will shock you to the bitses, but it's ok, this is what suppose to happen.

The Important part is NOT TO JUDGE your feelings nor yourselves, you are there to observe those emotions and to realise which of them are triggering your food cravings. 
Once you know them, then you can change them into positive thoughts.

Remember it's not going to happen within few days, our brains often tend to go back into old behaviors and fellings, so we need time and attention to ourselves, and every time those feelings appear, we need to gently to let them go and assure ourselves that everything is alright, and this is only a change.

TIP: To be able to change something in your life, firstly you need to make a peace with it,
 so remember to  always have positive attitude!

In my next post I will talk little bit about meditation and what kind of benefits we can gain by practicing it.

I would like to finish my post with a fantastic quote, which I recently found on the internet:

"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you are not." - The Law of Attraction

Ground rules of balanced diet, continue...

Hello dear all again,


Today I will continue my subject regarding balanced diet.

There are two types of food we consume:
The food which feed us and the food which eat us...

Depends on our daily choices we create happy, relaxing and healthy environment for our bodies or we helping our governess to save some money on our pensions...


I would like to refer to my previous post and remind you again:
THERE IS NO PERFECT DIET WHICH SUITS EVERYONE


We all are different, live different life styles and most of all we like different things to eat, so to create a perfect diet plan we need to remember not only what is healthy but also what we like to eat, as those rules I am talking about are „in plans” to be life changing permanent behaviors.

So for example, if you are vegetarian as you don't like killing animals, so be it, in my blog you will definitely find something for yourself.

On the other hand, if you are a person who cannot imagine life (meal) without a meat, you can also find lots of useful things for yourself in here.


Going back to my main thought, I was recently ask by one of my colleagues:

„So what exactly I should eat? Are there basic rules for everyone?” - Yes and Yes.


There are even numbers which might help you to decide about variety of food you choose to eat everyday:

On everage (ones who don't exercise or do moderate sports) our daily plan should contain of 50-60% of carbs, 10-15% proteins and 30% of healthy fats



But where to find them?

CARBS:

The main source of carbs should be a selection of whole grain bread, brown rice, groat, cereals, durum pasta,legumes (beans, peas, lentils), also vegetables and fruits, for those last ones please remember that some of them will rise your sugar level very high and we all know what happens then (if you forgot, please go back to my previous posts).

Proteins:

You can find them in products like:
Eggs, poultry, fish (salmon, makarel, herring, tuna, sardine), eggs, yoghurts, cottage cheese.
For vegetarians: avocado, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, cuscus,flax seeds, all kind of nuts( specially walnuts, pistachios), seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sezam...) and last but not least soy, but I deliberately put it as a last one on the list, as this (any) poor soy been genetically modified which makes her last in our list.

Fats:

When we talk about them we always use a fraze healthy fats, but what does exactly mean?

"...Our bodies need some fat from our food. It's a major source of energy. It helps us absorb some vitamins and minerals.

 Fat is needed to build cell membranes, the vital exterior of each cell, and the sheaths surrounding nerves. It is essential for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation.
 For long-term health, some fats are better than others:

1. Bad ones include industrial-made trans fats
2. Saturated fats fall somewhere in the middle
3. Good fats include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats

1. Bad fats:


The worst type of dietary fat is the kind known as trans fat.They are made in a process of vegetable oil been heated in the presence of hydrogen and a heavy-metal catalyst such as palladium.
This turns oils into solids. It also makes healthy vegetable oils more like not-so-healthy saturated fats. On food label ingredient lists, this manufactured substance is typically listed as "partially hydrogenated oil."

Eating foods rich in trans fats increases the amount of harmful LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream and reduces the amount of beneficial HDL cholesterol. Trans fats create inflammation, which is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other chronic conditions. 

They also contribute to insulin resistance, which increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

 Even small amounts of trans fats can harm health: for every 2% of calories from trans fat consumed daily, the risk of heart disease rises by 23%!!!!!
Trans fats have no known health benefits and that there is no safe level of consumption. 

2. Saturated fats:

Saturated fats are common in the American diet. They are solid at room temperature — think cooled bacon grease, but what is saturated fat? Common sources of saturated fat include red meat, whole milk and other whole-milk dairy foods, cheese, coconut oil, and many commercially prepared baked goods and other foods.
The word "saturated" here refers to the number of hydrogen atoms surrounding each carbon atom.
Are saturated fats bad for us?
 A diet rich in saturated fats can drive up total cholesterol, and tip the balance toward more harmful LDL cholesterol, which prompts blockages to form in arteries in the heart and elsewhere in the body. For that reason, most nutrition experts recommend limiting saturated fat to under 10% of calories a day.
A handful of recent reports have muddied the link between saturated fat and heart disease. One meta-analysis of 21 studies said that there was not enough evidence to conclude that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease, but that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat may indeed reduce risk of heart disease.


3. Good fats:

They come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. They differ from saturated fats by having fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains. Healthy fats are liquid at room temperature, not solid. There are two broad categories of beneficial fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Monounsaturated fats: 
When you dip your bread in olive oil at an Italian restaurant, you're getting mostly monounsaturated fat. 
Good sources of monounsaturated fats are olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, and most nuts, as well as high-oleic safflower and sunflower oils.

Although there's no recommended daily intake of monounsaturated fats, the Institute of Medicine recommends using them as much as possible along with polyunsaturated fats to replace saturated and trans fats.

Polyunsaturated fats:
 When you pour liquid cooking oil into a pan, there's a good chance you're using polyunsaturated fat. Corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil are common examples.
 Polyunsaturated fats are essential fats. That means they're required for normal body functions but your body can't make them. So you must get them from food. Polyunsaturated fats are used to build cell membranes and the covering of nerves. They are needed for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation.

Eating polyunsaturated fats in place of saturated fats reduces harmful LDL cholesterol. It also lowers triglycerides.

Omega-3 fatty acids: may help prevent and even treat heart disease and stroke. In addition to reducing blood pressure, raising HDL, and lowering triglycerides, polyunsaturated fats may help prevent lethal heart rhythms from arising. 
Good sources of omega-3 fatty acids include fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines, flaxseeds, walnuts, canola oil, and unhydrogenated soybean oil.

Omega-6 fatty acids: have also been linked to protection against heart disease.
 Foods rich in linoleic acid and other omega-6 fatty acids include vegetable oils such as safflower, soybean, sunflower, walnut, and corn oils..."

For more information, please feel free to pop into this page:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-truth-about-fats-bad-and-good

As you can see eating healthy requires to invest some time and preparation.

Once you understand the basic rules of dieting, you will be able to choose food for your benefits instead of waiting others to do it for you.



Below as always some helpful tips for you:


TIP:

• Please in your diet reduce white flower, sugar, salt and hardened fats!!!!
• If you are a meat lower go to a good butcher, so you can be "more" sure that meat contains NO harmful preservatives
• Plan your shopping in advance
• Focus on quality not quantity of food
• Always read the label as it is the law that all ingredients must be written in there.
• If you cannot read the name of ingredient DON't eat it
• No TV while eating, as then we tend to eat more
• Drink around 2 liters of liquids per day
• Eat your last meal at least 3 h. before sleep time
• Leave at less 3 h. between meals

I was recently told by one of my friends, that sometimes my posts are very long - well, like I once said I love to learn and even more love sharing my knowledge, so enjoy it.


In my next post i will start focusing on reasons of "Why do we eat?"


Wish you all a pleasant evening and see you soon.

Basic rules of balanced diet

Hello dear all again,

Sorry for posting slightly later than I promised. 


So, to start I would like us to go back to the task I gave you couple weeks ago: 7 to 7.

As you remember I asked you to write 7 things you think about yourself you don't like, and then write them down again but changing them into positive ones ,next thing was to read them at loud in front of the mirror - repeat this thing for next 7 days.

If you managed?
Congratulations!!! Job well done!!!
If you didn't don't worry, try again and again until you manage.

It is important for you to complete those tasks I give you, as this is going to be your first steps for your happier future - sometimes it  takes  many trials, but the most important is to keep trying all over again until you  succeed.

The purpose of it, is to teach our minds some new routines – positive thinking.
I promise, that after you manage to do it, you will feel extremely proud of yourselves.

Remember that changes starting from the smallest steps, but ...

WE STILL NEED TO DO THEM TO ENCOURAGE NEW THINGS TO   HAPPEN TO US.




Now, I would like to go back to today's subject:

"Basic rules of balanced diet"

At the beginning I would like to clear something out:


THERE IS NO PERFECT DIET WHICH SUITS EVERYONE!!!!!


As we all are different, our bodies need different types of food, saying that I would like to point out, that there are some ground rules which can be implemented to all of us, and today I will talk about some of them.

TIP:
・ On a daily basics we should consume equal amount of food (energy) as we need to spend on to keep our bodies to work

What does it mean?

Well, if you have an office job, drive a car to work or use public transport, then at home, you spend evenings laying down on a sofa and watching TV, you will obviously spend less energy during the day, than a person who works  physically.

Do you get what I mean?

The less we move, the less we should eat, as our bodies use (burn) less energy on a daily basics.

・ We should drink at least 2  liters  of water daily (if you need more explanation why?please go back to my previous post)

・ We should drink any liquids 30 minutes before and at least 2h after each meal, as by drinking during meals we are simply diluting our digestive juices, so in result it takes more time and energy for our bodies to change food we ate into energy, so basically means, that the food will lie down undigested in our tummies for hours.

Why is it bad?

Well, let me explain it simple way:

Try to leave your food for few  hours  outside  of the fridge – how fast do you think it will get spoiled?
And now please remind yourselves, that our bodies temperature is 37'C - so I think that explains it all.

・ Fruits should be eaten as a separate meal or at least 30 minutes before meal, as fruits ferment in our tummies, causing acidity and gases, and if we mix them for example with meet – we will end up having really bad  heatburn.

・ We should take at least 3 hours break between our meals, so our bodies can digest the food we ate (without working on a new one coming).

・ Our last meal should be at least 4 hours before we go to bed, as night is the only time for our bodies to freely (with no additional stimuli) work on repairing itselves.

・ Little bit of alcohol often helps us to digest some heavier meals - hahaha -  saying that I mean small quantities.


To be able to make the right food choices, we should first learn some basics about our food:

We can divide our food into few groups:

・ Proteins
・ Carbohydrates (carbs)
・ Fats
・ Minerals
・ Witamins
・ Microelements

Proteins

“They are living organic cells, they create structure of muscles, liver, internal organs, brain...

Our bodies can produce some of them, but mostly they come from our food.

We have 2 types of proteins:

・ Animal origin  – meat, fish, cheese, eggs, diary
・ Plant origin –  soya, almonds, hazelnuts, whole grain cereal and some legumes (peas, lentil)..."

Carbohydrates

"They are also called sugars, are particals made of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen.

They are transform into glucose, which is fuel for our bodies:

・ single-carbohydrate carbohydrates
glucose (honey, fruits)
fructose (honey, fruits),
galactose (milk)

・ bicarbonate carbohydrates
sucrose (sugar beets, sugar cane)
maltose (bear, corn)
lactose (milk of mammals)

・ multi-nutrient carbohydrates
starch (wheat, corn, rice, potatoes, legumes)...”

Fats (fatty acids)

"We have 2 types of fats:

・ Animals fats – meat, fish, butter, eggs, cheese, sour cream

・ Vegetable fats – peneut oil, olives, walnuts, margarines...”


All of above information were translated for you from book:
“Eat to loose weight” by Michael Montignac

 Minerals

“Inorganic chemical compounds from the salt group.

This term often refers to salts found in nature (in living organisms, food, etc.). 

・ Mineral salts are an important component of human diet, because they fulfill a building and regulatory role. 

・ They constitute about 4-5% of the human body (the most important being sodium chloride, as well as calcium and magnesium salts)..."

Witamins

“A group of organic chemical compounds of various structure, necessary for the proper functioning of the living organism. They may be of natural origin or obtained synthetically.

The classic division of vitamins is made due to their solubility.

The vitamins are divided into water-soluble and fat-soluble:

・ Water-soluble vitamins include: 
vitamin B1 - thiamine vitamin B2 - riboflavin PP vitamin - niacin vitamin B6 - pyridoxine vitamin H - biotin Vitamin B5 - pantothenic acid folacin - folic acid, folates Vitamin B12 - cobalamin vitamin C - ascorbic acid

・ Fat-soluble vitamins include: 
Vitamin A - retinol and its pro-vitamin ß-carotene vitamin D - calciferol Vitamin E - tocopherol vitamin K – phylloquinone...”

Microelements

“Micronutrients and macronutrients - chemical elements occurring in very small (trace) amounts in plant and animal organisms. Despite their small amount, they are necessary for the proper functioning of these organisms. Deficiency or excess of these elements may lead to physiological disturbances.

 The role of minerals in systemic metabolism is wider than the role of vitamins: 

・ Mineral components are necessary in the body for building purposes (especially in bone tissue), being part of body fluids, some enzymes, high energy compounds, etc.

・ They also affect the regulation of organ and systemic functions. Taking into account only quantitative relations, it was assumed that mineral components should be divided into macro- and microelements. 

・ The macroelements include: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chlorine and sulfur. Some also include iron here.


 The list of micronutrients essential for nutrition include: 
・ copper, zinc, manganese, iodine, fluorine, cobalt, selenium, molybdenum, chromium..."

All above information were translated for you from webpage:
https://pl.wikipedia.org


As you can see there are lots of things we need to know and be aware of before we can call ourselves "Diet Masters".


I deliberately took so much time and effort to prepare this post, as I wanted to give you the 
power over your lifes and bodies, and the power I am talking about is  THE KNOWLEDGE.

No one should be making life choices for you, specially when it comes to the quality of your life or your health.

Please take some time to read and familiarize yourself with content of this post - for your own sake.


In my next post I will continue today's subject with more detailed explanations.



Wish you all a good evening.