YUDoDat?

When we were young our mothers had to wean us. Animal lovers who have experienced the joy of a pet giving birth to a litter knows the importance of weaning the little critters away from their mother and bringing them onto solid foods.

Now here we are as adults, with food issues — whether it’s weight or health or both. You try dieting and don’t seem to get anywhere. It’s no fun. It’s hard. There’s not much pleasure in it. It’s more of a burden than what it’s worth. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Why bother?

So, have you tried weaning?  Weaning involves slowly removing the antoginists in your diet and replacing them with protagonists. Think about — going cold turkey on soda, chips, desserts sounds impossible. But, what if you simply consumed a little less.

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It’s been two weeks since I set the challenge to add more water to your daily routine. Are you doing it?

A simple question for hydration is how do you know if you’re drinking enough. Well. There’s a very simple indicator than many don’t like to talk about. But we’ll venture into that here. The simplest indicator is the color of your urine.

A well hydrated person will have a very pale urine - to the point of being almost clear. If it’s a light yellow, you’re doing better. If its a dark yellow, you need to increase your water consumption. If it’s discolored consult your doctor.

Remember, keep that water glass full and by your side. Keep drinking. A sip here, a sip there and before you know it, you’ve drunk more than 8 pints in a day.

Trust me, you’ll get used to it, and your body will thank you.

OK. So resolve to come to my blog each month. I’ll resolve to offer a new habit to work on each month. I’m creating a 12 step program for better nutrition. Each month I’ll introduce a topic for you to work on that month. By the end of the year, you’ll have transitioned into a new you.

So. Here we go. Ready to pick yourself back up and try try again? Good. For the rest of January you have an easy task. Drink more water.

Most of us walk around dehydrated. So what you say? Well.  According to Chimes, in a  Calvin College Newsletter:

“You can survive about eight weeks without eating before you start to show vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Without water, though, your body can go only a few hours before it gets dehydrated, and it will only take a few waterless days to die.”

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This year I resolve to be more active on my blog.

Whoops. Messed that one up already. Yea, so, I’m late to the blog party writing about New Year’s resolution. What can I say? I had a good new year?

So here we are. How many of you resolved to lose weight, to exercise more, to be a better person, to stick to your diet, to find a fad diet and stick with it, to join a gym?

Buh humbug. You know and I know that they’re just wasted words. No one sticks to those resolutions.

So how about a simple, doable resolution for a change? Something like “I resolve to eat a little bit better this year.” That’s right. Forget about losing weight. It doesn’t work and forces you to focus on a negative goal. It’s much more fun and healthier to place your aim on eating well. We love to eat, we obsess about eating. So this year,why not turn your obsession on eating more superfoods, on optimizing on high protein, high fiber meals. You’ll be amazed at how well it works, and how good you’ll feel.

So here’s to a year of transition. That’s right, an entire year of transition. Day by day, week by week, month by month to adding more good food to your diet. Imagine yourself on this day, looking back and marvelling at all that bad food you used eat, and being confident and happy with how far you’ve come.

Exercise

• Search on any of these keywords and learn a little more about the types of foods you can add to your meals:  superfoods, omega-3 fatty acids, anti-oxidants, glycemic index
• Pick one of these foods and add it to your day or week.

I set out to write a post about the much talked about “glycemic index” and found a bunch scientific jargon. So, I’ve broken it into easily digestable chunks. At the end of the post I’ve included some links to websites so you can read the data for yourself.
What is it?
When you eat carbohydrates they are converted to glucose within your body. Some carbohydrates convert very quickly, thus causing a surge of glucose. Others convert more slowly creating a more steady-state of glucose.

Have you ever had a sugar rush? That’s what we’re talking about.

Yea, So?

Your body performs best when your blood sugar is kept relatively constant. When your blood sugar gets too high your body secrets more insulin in attempt to get the sugar level back in check. However, it does this by converting the excess sugar to fat. And if your blood sugar surged, it’s likely that your body produced an abundance of insulin which brought the blood sugar level too low. When your blood sugar drops too low, you become lethargic and in some cases you’ll experience hunger.

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There’s an interesting moving called “Run Lola Run.” In this movie, ‘Manni’ is in trouble and needs 100,000 Deutschmarks. He calls his girlfriend Lola. Lola must find and bring him the money or he’ll meet a horrible demise. What makes this movie so interesting is how the filmmakers play with this premise. They explore how the outcome of the story changes when Lola’s choices cause her to run just slightly faster or slightly slower. We watch Lola’s journey 3 times! In each case the slightest choice along the way causes a different chain of events to transpire which ultimately affect the outcome. Does Manni die? Does he live? Does he do something stupid? It all depends on the choices Lola makes in her journey to bring him the money.

Ok. So that’s nice. But what does it have to do with your health? Well, it’s an interesting metaphor for living. Just as Lola saves a life (or doesn’t) your daily choices create good health, or don’t. Shu2 says it in a comment on the “Pinnacle Moment” - “small changes consistently make it a way of life and not a sacrifice.” Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome! Thank you for finding me amidst the billions of other bloggers on the internet. You may be wondering “what’s with the name?” It’s IM speak. You know, the shorthand used when instant messaging. You’re probably familiar with phrases such as: LOL, ttyl, otp, wdyt?…

Get it yet? Yes, I made this one up. Look at it again. YUDoDat?

Y=Why

U=You (short for “Do You”)

Do= Do

Dat= That

Why Do You Do That?

Now say it fast and with some urban attitude: “YUDoDat?”

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Determination Follows the Realization
Some decide like a bolt of lightning. Some wake up and declare “Enough!” Some are struck by a sudden health condition. Some just come to a subtle conclusion.

There seems to be a common theme among people who change their ways and start living healthier. I call it the “pinnacle moment.” There seems to be some moment that transforms a person into dedicating themselves to losing weight once and for all. The pinnacle moment varies from person to person, but at its root, something reaches deep into your psyche and causes you to say, ‘enough already.’  Read the rest of this entry »