Eating Right for Your Age

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Rob Bee for his The Art of Vibrancy podcast. It’s a super quick, 8 minute podcast filled with great info. I hope you enjoy it.

He also has a great freebie for all of you.

www.breakfastofbrilliance.com

You can listen to the podcast here.

1. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh 100 pounds you would drink 50 ounces of water. Start your day with 1-2 glasses of water at room temperature or warmer. You can add a bit of fresh lemon to aid digestion and bowel movements. Don’t drink any liquids during or right before meals.
2. Sleep is essential, we all know that. But what is really important are the hours in which you sleep not just the total hours. Your body needs to be rejuvenated and restored each night, sleep between 9pm to 5am or 10pm to 6am. Human growth hormones, which stimulates cell growth and influences weight control is released during the earlier hours of the night. It’s essential to sleep in total darkness in order to allow your brain to secrete the hormone melatonin. Melatonin also influences the immune system and helps to protect against infectious disease.
3. Remember to chew your food thoroughly before swallowing. And eat slowly putting your fork down between bites. Eat warmer foods when the weather is cold. Your plate should be half in vegetables, quarter lean protein and quarter complex carbohydrate. It’s important to remember that a serving of rice is 1/3 cup cooked. That is a very small amount in comparison to what most people eat.
4. Keep grains to less than 22 carbohydrates per serving. This is a good rule of thumb when shopping and reading labels. Higher servings tend to raise the blood sugar levels too high leading to a crash and increased hunger.
5. Eat breakfast containing protein and eat small amounts of protein with each meal. People who eat protein for breakfast average about 80% less calories throughout the day.
6. Eat dinner between 6 and 7pm. It’s the ideal time for the stomach and best for digestion.
7. Reduce or eliminate caffeine and don’t’ drink caffeine after 11am. If you implement the above list of food, water, and sleep changes, you won’t have that 3pm slump in energy that makes you run out for that cookie and latte. Take a weekend to reduce or get off the caffeine and you’ll see your energy will come up naturally.
8. If you have been eating high carbohydrate diet, when you decrease your consumption you may go through a period of feeling down because you have been using carbohydrates as a way to get serotonin and beta-endorphin boosts. In order to counteract this, flood yourself with serotonin and beta-endorphin by boosting pleasures such as:
   • Sunshine
   • Walks in nature
   • Dancing
   • Listening to great music
   • Playing with children and pets
   • Sitting in a Jacuzzi or steam room
   • Getting a massage
   • Using aromatherapy
   • Watching a good movie
   • Having a romantic evening
9. Take a high quality nutritional supplement that contains optimal levels of nutrition and anti-oxidants. Find one that separates the minerals so that those can be taken in the evening to help with sleep. Email me if you want my suggestions.
10. Any thoughts you’re having are being experienced in your whole body. You have about sixty thousand thoughts per day. Studies show 90 percent are the same you had yesterday and that 85 percent are negative. Medical literature states that the brain thoughts are connected to the physical body. Chronic stress is a good example. Your muscles feel your stressful thoughts. Pay attention to where you hold stress in your body. Research shows that whatever you’re thinking changes your body chemistry. During exams, students have been tested and show that their immune system is lowered.