Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Until last week I've never heard of the TED Prize, and was only marginally aware of "The Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver, the recent recipient of the prize. But since I saw the news and the interview with Jamie, I was greatly inspired by him. TED Prize is an annual award of $US 100,000 given to a speaker at the TED Conference. The recipient is asked to express their wish they hope will change the world. Jamie Oliver's message was near and dear to my heart. He said:

"My wish is for you to have a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, to inspire families to cook again and to empower people everywhere to fight obesity".

Ever since I started following the clean diet I've been bemoaning the difficulty of living in the world so full of bad foods. I made a transition from eating lunch out every day and ordering dinners in to cooking 95% of my food. I changed the way I prepare food and the way I shop for it. Nowadays I say that I am now married to my kitchen because whenever I am away from it I feel like I struggle to find food that is edible let alone "clean"!
Jamie also highlighted the problem with the quality of food:

"I'm a food lover. The problem that we have is a burger is not a burger, a pizza's not a pizza. Milk's not milk anymore, do you know what I mean? The big clean-up needs to happen."

But we are clearly far from this clean-up Jamie is calling for! In this country we are hooked on an unhealthy diet that is practically killing us! Whenever on the road, anywhere I turn (in an major airport or a large shopping mall) I find a burger joint or a fried chicken restaurant, not a falafel place. There are clearly many more people who prefer a burger to a baked falafel, and the market responds accordingly! Jamie reflect on this:

"You know, we don't have to pretend that burgers aren't indulgent. We love burgers! The chip is the most incredible, brilliant invention in the world. Eat your chips!" he told CNN on Wednesday night. "But not every day."

Another point that Jamie brought up that was kind of brewing in the back of my mind. Ever since I started examining food labels, shopping for groceries feels like a gotcha game, where I can never let my guard down in case the list of ingredients in the known product changes or the new product is labeled misleadingly!
In his interview Jamie echoed my feelings. He called America's current food-labeling system a "farce" and said that food labeling needs to be improved to accurately warn about unhealthy products! He proposed creation of a role for "food ambassadors" in supermarket to explain to customers how they can prepare local, fresh and seasonal foods, called on food companies to make education of customers central to their business model, and wanted make sure that each high school student can make 10 meals before graduating!

Jamie is starting a new ABC series where he promotes local, healthy food as a way to fight obesity in Huntington, West Virginia, which he called the unhealthiest community in the United States.

"This is a global problem. It is a catastrophe. It is sweeping the world. England is right behind you [America], as usual," he said. "We need a revolution."

I agree with Jamie that we need a revolution in food industry, and just as he, I believe that it will happen as a grass root movement. We, the consumers, need to vote with our feet and our valets so the healthy food becomes more affordable, organic methods of growing food the preferred ones. I've been refining my food choices one step at a time: trying to replace produce with locally farm grown or organic whenever possible and tasting the dramatic difference in taste, texture and smell of the healthier choices! I am already noticing that the local organic stores lower their prices on certain organic foods to the level that the difference in price between organic and inorganic is miniscule. More and more new organic (and delicious, I might add) labels appear on the shelves of supermarkets. All of this makes me think optimistically that we can express our preference and force a change. I agree with Jamie when he says that US must demand this clean up, this food revolution and need to lead other countries in that effort.

"If America does it I believe other people will follow," he said. "It's incredibly important."

It is important, indeed. After all, out health is at stake! Let's bring it in the kitchen and spread the word about healthy food!

Clean eating diet - is it only for people with tremendous will power?

For someone just starting examining their daily diet a prospect of eating from top two tears of the Mich’s Ladder can look like a daunting task requiring immense will power. Recently I started an on-line clean-eating challenge. One of the participants, a very motivated woman, said : “I can definitely understand why eating from the top 2 tiers(Mich’s Ladder) is working for everyone! I’ve got to say, I have a TON of respect for the will power you people have.“ To which I replied: “It has nothing to do with will power” and I meant it...
In spite of its tremendous health benefits, one cannot switch over to eating clean overnight. The process of cleaning your diet of junk has to be gradual and deliberate. Going “cold turkey” with diet will only make you feel deprived, and all your determination and will power won’t be able to sustain you for a long enough time to achieve any results. So, as with any habit change, you have to give yourself time and not aim for perfection at the start. Gradually find healthy substitutes for the unhealthy daily staples. It can be done by going from BK hamburger to lean chicken patties, from generic white bun to multi-grain one, from eating a bowl of ice cream with sprinkles to eating a cup of yogurt sprinkled with sugar-free all natural multi-grain serial, and enjoying it just as much! Impossible? Believe me, it is very doable for any person who wants to turn their diet around! Here’s why: our taste buds are adaptable! Our body needs basic building blocks: protein, carbs and fats. As long as it gets a reasonable amount of these, it will adjust! Here’s my favorite example: if you are used to drinking whole milk then at first reduced fat or fat free milk will taste watery to you. But give it a few weeks, and the whole milk will taste too rich, while reduced fat milk will be just what doctor ordered (well, mine did, anyway). Finding healthy substitutes will require some creativity on your part, and some things you may not be able to let go completely – so once in a while you can let yourself enjoy a treat – be it an ice-cream cone or a burger or fried onion rings. Let a little steam out and next day back to clean eating again!

To summarize, here are the things you need to do to clean up your daily diet:

- Come up with healthy substitutes for unhealthy food you eat now
- Don’t aim at perfect diet; slip-ups are OK.
- For hard to let go favorites allow a snack once in a while.
- If you fail off the clean-eating due to travel or holiday, get back on track without beating yourself up. Practice makes perfect.
- Remember - you are worth the effort!

Bring it!

You got to be in it to win it!

Happy mothers’ day, dear people!
This morning my husband and I treated ourselves to a brunch in a restaurant. We were sitting in a warm sunny spot in the outdoor space, basking in the glory of the day and taking stock of the good things in our lives. The most important thing for both of us was that we’re both healthy and we’re committed to staying that way. We are making an effort to eat healthy food and maintain a good exercise routine. I exercise 4 to 6 times a week, mixing cardio, strength and flexibility training. I am constantly refining my diet and exercise, tweaking little things, shaking things up to keep myself excited about it. I am always trying to learn new things from the health experts and coaches who I admire and follow. Joe is not quite there yet, but he runs at least 2 -3 times a week and does stretching routine daily and really enjoys all of it. I am hoping that one day soon we will be able to exercise together - it will be so much fun to challenge each other. Overall, we are in the good place health-wise and I hope it will only improve from here onwards.
It wasn’t always that way. When Joe and I married more than 10 years ago, we put two different routines together and the sum was not equal to its part, not in a good way, anyway, so I started gaining weight, was not feeling good and was not happy about it. But I was not about to give up. For years I’ve tried different things; when one thing failed, I tried another. Finally I’ve found Beachbody and understood what my body needs to stay fit and healthy. The sense of newly acquired control was incredible, and there was no turning back. I cannot imagine where I would be now, had I not tried to improve my lifestyle. I am truly proud of the progress I’ve made and am looking forward to taking my fitness to the next level.
What is the point of my story? Real simple: if I can do it, you can do it too. But you have to try. You and only you can do it! As the old adage goes: you got to be in it to win it!
Bring it!

Caffeine: Positive and Negative

When it comes to caffeine, everyone is different, and it’s important to gage your own reaction and usage. Mild excess (over 350mg in a day) in some people can cause restlessness, nausea and headaches, although these side effects vary from person to person. Others might suffer from disturbed sleep. Women especially need to be aware of their caffeine intake, particularly since the Journal of American Medicine links caffeine intake to the calcium loss leading to osteoporosis. And if you’re concerned about your iron status, you should know that some of the substances in coffee and tea could interfere with iron absorption, particularly if you drink a caffeinated beverage with meals. Similarly, the USFDA and the New England Journal of Medicine warn that high caffeine consumption can make it difficult to become pregnant, and/or lead to miscarriage or low birth weight infants. Caffeine also shows up in breast milk, so it’s best to avoid as a nursing mother.

Caffeine does have some positive benefits however. The Journal of American Medicine recently published a report that higher caffeine intake is associated with a “significantly lower” incidence of Parkinson’s disease. It also appears to increase the metabolism. A Danish study found that caffeine not only raises the metabolic rate, it makes body fat more readily available as fuel to exercising muscles. In addition, caffeine appears in many over the counter headache and cold remedies. While studies do disagree on benefits, at least one study in the Archives of Neurology showed that caffeine is “highly effective” in treating migraines. This is because by narrowing the blood vessels, caffeine restricts blood flow. And since blood vessels tend to widen prior to some headaches, especially migraines, narrower arteries can ease the pain.

Caffeine works by stimulating the central nervous system. It acts as an adrenaline rush on the body, and the following takes place upon ingestion: your pupils dilate, your breathing tubes open up, your heart beats faster, your blood pressure rises, your liver releases sugar into the bloodstream for extra energy and your muscles tighten up ready for action. This chain of events produces the "fight or flight" behavior, since your system believes it to be in a state of emergency. It also increases the rate and force of the heartbeat and thereby providing the brain and other tissues with more oxygen.
So you can see why your body might like caffeine in the short term, since it helps you feel alert and injects adrenaline into the system to give you a boost. But the problem with caffeine is the longer-term effects. If you take more caffeine to get the adrenaline going again, you are putting your body in a state of emergency all day long. Not only is this not very healthy, it is also the explanation why too much caffeine will make you jumpy and irritable. Therefore, it is up to each person to decide on the amount they take in each day.

Here are some common caffeine amounts in beverages:
• Coffee, brewed 40 to 180 mg per cup.
• Coffee, decaffeinated 3 to 5 mg per cup.
• Black Tea, about 40 mg per cup.
• Tea, brewed 25 to 110 mg per cup.
• Tea, decaffeinated (CO2 certified organic process*) 10 mg per cup.
• Cola, and other soft drinks with caffeine, 36 to 90 mg per 12 ounces.
• Cocoa, 4 mg per cup.
• Chocolate, milk 3 to 6 mg per ounce.
• Chocolate, bittersweet 25 mg per ounce.

Many caffeinated beverages are available in decaffeinated forms. For a healthy alternative to caffeinated drinks, try organic herbal tea, juice or water.

Weight Loss: Stages of change - Action

OK, we are finally coming to the point when we are ready to bit the bullet and spring into action.
You are starting this phase with renewed commitment to weight loss.
You made all the necessary preparations
You know that cheap change won't do - only the hard work!
You know there is no "magic bullet" - you will try to employ all the techniques and processes you've learned about and reach for all the support you can get from friends and family!
You will let go of old coping mechanisms, all the situations the led you to overeating and develop new habit

Even though the success is never guaranteed, utilizing tool at your disposal will help you avoid the usual pitfalls and traps.
When you are dieting, and you are experiencing a "snack attack", try to employ a countering and counterthinking and environment control and reward techniques.
The countering techniques are:

1) Active diversion:

Piano playing, crossword puzzle, knitting, walking, reading, calling a friend on a phone all constitute a good active diversion from eating.
You can come up with a few of your own!

2) Exercise

you know it is good for you and should be a part of your weight loss program in a first place!

3) Relaxation

We are all emotional eaters! Relaxing, putting your mind at ease can eliminate the desire of snacking as it eliminate the reason my we reach out for food when we are not hungry!!!
Relaxation can have other, very desirable, side effects such as increased energy, decreased blood pressure and muscle tension, decreased anxiety, improved sleep, improved concentration and overall health!

4) The counterthinking :

Eliminating self-deprecation thoughts that lead to anxiety by more positive and constructive thoughts. Instead of thinking "Everybody must love me" think "what is the worst can happen if some of my husband's new friends won't take note of me?" Instead of "I hate eating food that don't taste good" think "I like how the thin feels!" You get the drift! The anxiety induced craving should subside when you think that way!

The environment control techniques are:
1) Avoidance
We already talked about avoiding known situations in which your need to overeat is hard to control. You can't be a member of the Baker of the Month contest and be on a hard carb-limiting diet!
2) Cues
You can't avoid the situations in which you overeat forever. Eventually you'll be forced by life in one of those, so you better be prepared. A good prep for trigger inducing situations is to play the scenarios in your mind! Use your imagination to create a event and work out your reactions in advance! This sounds like a child play, but it works!


The reward techniques are:

Whenever you successfully resisted the temptation, give yourself a reward! Give yourself a pep talk for a job well done, take yourself on a shopping trip once you achieved you weight loss milestone! if As easy as it sounds some people have a problem rewarding themselves - you can even save up the money by not eating Three Musketeers every afternoon and give these money to charities, if that feels less selfish to you! Reward yourself by giving to others!The positive reinforcement of good behavior puts you on the road to weight loss for good!

Stages of Change - Preparation

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There is a subtle but a very important stage between contemplation and action the presence or absence of which can really make or break the effort to change. This stage is preparation.
I see a lot people I try to help to lose weight jumping onto a good system without being really prepared for it. Needless to say it leads to delaying the action in the best case, and disappointment in the worst.

Preparation is a lot like contemplation but a lot more forward looking, with focus on the future you.
It involves careful planning, positive self re-evaluation and commitment.

In the preparation stage we start to turn away from the past. Letting go of the activities and circumstances that lead us to overeating, like eating while in an depressed state, changing hobbies - picking up knitting instead of baking, finding new fiends who enjoy exercising and healthy eating.

Also in this stage it is important to insure support of your family.You need to explain to them that you decided to get fit and lose some weight in the process and it will require certain investment of time and resources as well as some changes in the usual routine.

During the preparation stage:

- Take small steps:

Details are important: buy exercise clothes or a set of measuring cups or a small scale for your kitchen, or any other logistics that you need for the weight loos program you selected. There is an excitement in little steps like this that build up for the big day! Speaking of date...

- Set a date.

Once you feel ready - set a date within a month, not longer so that your excitement does not wear out.
Once you set the date - stick to it - no excuses!


- Go public:

Announce your decision to lose weight to people in your daily life. That includes work, and people outside your family. That will helps you stay accountable and won't keep your colleagues and friends guessing.

- Treat your change as a major event:

Yes, it is as if you had an appointment for a serious operation. It is that important and will require all the emotional energy you can master!

- Create your own plan of action:

You can borrow other people plans but you must adapt it for yourself. Learn from other people plans of actions but don't follow them blindly. If the program requires you to workout on empty stomach and you are not a morning person, come up with a plan on doing the afternoon workout that will allow you to comply with the recommendation. If you are following a diet plan from a book but are vegetation, make appropriate substitutes. If the program call for a 2 day fast and you don't like to fast - find out if fast is mandatory!

- Commit to your plan!

Commitment is a "willingness to act, but also a belief in your ability to change, which in turn reinforces your will."* You evaluated your problem, worked through pros and cons of losing weight and honestly believe that your life will be enhanced by losing weight! Keeping in mind all of the above, you are ready for action!

Stages of Change - Contemplation

Transition from denial to contemplation stage of the change happens quietly, but once it happens you find yourself listening to people that offer you their advice for losing weight. You don’t switch the channel if the commercial is about some piece of exercise equipment; you find yourself picking a copy of Fitness magazine in the hair salon and actually reading it with interest!

This is an important stage to educate yourself about your weight loss, and design a strategy.
Things to beware in that stage:

- Avoid wishful thinking: wishing you could achieve your weight and fitness goal without having to change.
We all wish for a diet pill that would allow us sleep in and eat from sunrise to sunset and be in ideal shape. There is not such diet, so stop day dreaming and get to it!

- Don’t jump into action:
The rush to act may turn against you. You need to do a certain amount of prep before you are ready. Starting a diet without really committing to change may lead to a conclusion that "dieting is really not for me". Keep in mind: you cannot successfully diet and still be on your baking recipe circle or your bacon tasting club. Prepare a ground for yourself: insure support of your family, clean up your house of junk food and insure support of people who are successful at getting their diet under control.

- Don’t get into analysis paralysis. This is another extreme: trying to acquire a perfect understanding of you weight problem and perfect solution!
Some people take forever to learn everything there is to learn about the weight loss and can't commit to any program while waiting for a in depth understanding of the issue. While theoretical knowledge about various diets is good, you will not know what work for you until you try! So, get your feet wet, already!

- Don’t wait for magic moment to start the weight loss program: while some circumstances are less then ideal, like starting a new job, moving to another city, starting a new relationship, when you are handling way too much on your plate, there isn't a perfect moment to start a new regiment, so once you got your plan together - go for it!