TIMING OF MEALS AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS (ISSUE 65)

By Anahad O’Connor, Comments And Action Steps By Diane Gold

In The New England Journal of Medicine last week, a prominent researcher noted that much of the conventional wisdom about weight loss has little basis in science. But his article did not address one oft-asked question: Is your waistline affected by when you eat, or is a calorie always just a calorie whenever you eat it?

To seasoned dieters, the claim that eating late can spell trouble is nothing new. But the idea has lacked evidence from credible human studies. Most of the research to date has shown that eating late is linked to weight gain, but late eaters also tend to consume more calories over all.

In a new study, published in The International Journal of Obesity, researchers at Harvard and elsewhere followed 420 overweight men and women in Spain in a 20-week weight loss program.

The subjects were split into two groups. Each followed a similar diet, got equivalent amounts of sleep, and had similar caloric intakes and expenditures. They also showed no differences in two hormones that play a key role in appetite, leptin and ghrelin.

But there was a critical difference in the timing of their main meal of the day, which in this case, because of the Mediterranean setting, was lunch. In both groups, the meal comprised about 40 percent of their daily calories. But one group consistently ate it before 3 p.m. daily, while the other did so after 3 p.m.

By the end of the study, despite similar caloric intakes, the late eaters had lost significantly less weight. They also showed lower insulin sensitivity, which increases the risk of diabetes.

Weight loss strategies, the authors wrote, should focus not just on calories and nutrients, “but also the timing of food.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

The timing of your meals may not be everything when it comes to weight loss, but it does appear to play a role.

Link to original article is below.

COMMENTS AND ACTION STEPS

by Diane Gold

For about 3 years now, almost as long as I have been a vegan, I have chosen to finish my meals by 6 pm on purpose. On the rare occasion that I find myself eating evening dinner in company, I eat an additional meal of salad with no dressing. Or, if I can get away with it, I have a hot water, one of my favorite drinks.

When I traveled to a different time zone to see family, I ate in that time zone, 3 hours later, but, you guessed it. I went to bed 3 hours later, or more. And the 6 p.m. curfew was tough for the rest of the group (although they were quite accommodating), which is why so many people don’t even attempt the task.

So, why did I decide to do it?

There were many times I experienced what it feels like to wake up the morning after drinking alcohol. In contrast and most of the time, I have experienced waking up feeling crystal clear, powerful, joyful and healthy. Once I decided to rid myself of drinking alcohol at all, I woke up lucid every morning. This got me to thinking.

But how alert would I be, I asked myself, if I could increase the period of time between my last meal and drink (except for hydrating water or green tea because the quercetin in it is a great anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer enzyme)?

So I decided to complete my last meal by 6 p.m. every night to see how I felt.
Oh, my. I felt great, and I continue to feel great using this eating schedule I recommend highly. It’s not for everyone, but here are a few facts that may contribute to why it makes sense:

1) As Anahad’s article mentions, there is scientific proof that shows that weight loss is directly related to eating earlier.

ACTION STEP

Figure out a way to finish eating before 6 p.m. If you want to or have to socialize after that time (this will inevitably end up in eating), plan ahead that you will only eat raw greens in a salad with a little olive oil and lemon juice or a plate of steamed leafy greens with a drop of olive oil and lemon juice.

2) Gravity helps digestion. When we are lying down (for sleep), we lose this benefit. Did you ever eat late and feel your food up high in your digestive tract when you were in bed? I have, but not recently.

ACTION STEP

Consciously decide to pay attention to the food in the stomach. Enjoy how it feels while you are upright, and notice when it seems to have gone down. This could be 3 or 4 hours after eating.

3) Our greatest risk of heart attack is in the early hours of the morning, according to Robert Manfredini of University of Ferrara, Italy, in a Time article, July 22, 2008. Because digestion utilizes blood and oxygen that would normally be employed by the heart  and because respiration is reduced when we sleep; eating a large meal at night can divert too much of the body’s resources to digestion during the most vulnerable time in our daily cycle of physical processes. (Information from Ed in South Carolina, moderator of Paleohacks.com).

ACTION STEP

Now that we have spelled out some of the biological implications, really decide to finish eating at 6 pm. If there are family factors in the way, like children’s extra-curricular activities don’t finish until 7 p.m. or all family members aren’t home until 8 p.m.; start the routine of finishing by 6 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday or whatever days the family has “off.”

There are always excuses not to, so just do it! You and your family are worth it.

4) When we are not using our body’s resources for sleep-time digestion, we have a more restful sleep. Otherwise, our quality of sleep may be hindered (Jason Bellows, Stop And Breathe, Mar. 15, 2011).

ACTION STEP

The better we sleep, the more productive we will be the following day and the several days after that.  The more we will be able to handle stress, and the more able we will be to follow a great eating plan to maximize our weight loss (gain) goals.

5) It feels good to lie down without the weight of recently eaten food in our GI tract. It’s 10 pm (4 hours since my last meal), and I’m already feeling that the food has digested. (This is not true, of course, since it takes a good 6-8 hours to pass through the stomach and small intestine, and then another 41-43 hours (as opposed to 27-29 hours in men) to go through the rest of the process, according to Michael F. Picco, Mayo Clinic GI, M.D.)

ACTION STEP

Enjoy how great it is to lie down without food feeling high in our digestive system. Eating early is a good way to prepare for sleep.

CONCLUSION

The idea of timing of meals affecting our weight loss and our health verifies an action we, humans, have been acting on for many years. Happily, there is proof in study form. Yes, we were correct, but now it is documented by researchers at Harvard et al.
Although the studies didn’t address the fact that when we eat later, there have been more hours in our day in which to eat; it is logical that, in reducing the waking hours we permit ourselves to eat, we automatically reduce our intake. This leads to weight loss.

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ANAHAD O’CONNOR, AUTHOR

Anahad has been writing for the Science Section of the New York Times since 2003. He is passionate about investigative science and wellness reporting. He is one of our panelists whose full bio you will find in the Experts section.

The original article appeared on February 4, 2013 at this link:

DIANE GOLD, CO-AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She is extremely excited to hear that her eating schedule was validated by a current scientific study . She says,

“There are so many weight loss misconceptions. It is exciting that I am using a technique that can be matched to scientific study and statistics. We know that eating earlier in our day feels better. Now we know that it promotes weight loss.

“Putting a time limit on food ingestion also creates the habit of learning to wait, which is something that dieters have to learn anyway. The self-imposed time restriction is a great way to learn it, and it makes it easier to cope with weight loss and weight maintenance after that.”

THE PROTEIN MYTH: THAT WE NEED ALL THE ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS AT EVERY MEAL (ISSUE 64)

By Diane Gold.

The protein myth has to do with combining proteins so as to consume all essential amino acids (the 9 that the body does not produce), the building blocks of protein, in 1 sitting. This concept was promoted in the 70s but was repudiated 10 years later as false and misleading.

Funny how habits stick with us so naturally. Think about before you knew how to ride a bike. Hard to recall because once we know, the steps to riding are ingrained in our head. For those of us who ride, there was a time when we didn’t. Now, it is second nature and never forgotten once learned. Take driving a car. The reflexes and reactions we use to accomplish safe driving are habits ingrained in that come back quickly if we put them down.

So my habit of believing the protein myth – that it’s necessary to combine vegan proteins at every meal – is no exception. 42 years ago, I began a dairy vegetarian diet. 3 years, ago, I became vegan. Until just recently, I didn’t learn that it’s not important to count protein grams, that it wasn’t important to combine my tempeh with my quinoa to consume all the essential aminos together.

The media didn’t correct me. The meat and dairy industry certainly wasn’t going to correct me because they wanted the macho words “high quality protein” attached to their food for the purpose of making sales. And I was an educated eater, or so I thought. Imagine those who consume the “regular Western diet.” Most only know the words “high quality protein” meaning meat. fowl, fish, dairy, eggs. They certainly aren’t taught the ills of these foods or the majesty of plant-based nutrition.

WHY, THEN, DOES THE PROTEIN MYTH STILL EXIST, IF IT HAS BEEN DISPROVED OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR DECADES?

There are 3 reasons that I see. And these are hurting the American people as well as others around the world.

1) IGNORANCE

There are nebulous references all over current nutritional literature that talk about complete and incomplete protein. This is, in part, because many dieticians and nutritionists learn from books that still promote this combining idea or the superiority of a meat diet over a plant-based diet.
Although the Center For Disease Control website mentions,

“In the diet, protein sources are labeled according to how many of the essential amino acids they provide.”

This speaks to the failure of our labeling system, which I have been monitoring since the early 1970s. Not much has changed. The words complete and incomplete protein, high quality protein and low quality protein are obsolete words.

The CDC website goes on to say,

“Is it true that complementary proteins must be eaten together to count as a complete protein source?

“In the past, it was thought that these complementary proteins needed to be eaten at the same meal for your body to use them together. Now studies show that your body can combine complementary proteins that are eaten within the same day,”

Quoted from the American Dietetic Assocation and Dietiticians of Canada, JADA, 2003; 103(6) 748-765, by the CDC, but demonstrated scientifically from many sources.

This quote should have flashing lights around it and be given more attention as to re-educate people to this fact. It is a conservative quote because many research studies have studied amino acids pool themselves over several days and make themselves available to create protein as needed.

IT IS NOW KNOWN THAT A PLANT BASED DIET DOES NOT REQUIRE PROTEIN COMBINING AND THAT, WHEN WE CONSUME ENOUGH CALORIES AND VARY OUR FOODS, WE WILL GET ENOUGH PROTEIN FROM PLANT FOODS.

2) PROFIT

The meat and dairy industries are quite anxious for this information to stay buried so that they can continue to thrive. Further, because money is such a powerful motivator, these industries work hard to hide knowledge that a non-plant-based diet causes heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study is a report of a 20+-year study that gives scientific support to this statement.

The industries that have the most advertising capital, meat and dairy, are the ones whose ads we see and hear. When was the last time we saw a billboard up saying how nutritionally sound spirulina was? Or kale juice from actual real, raw, unsprayed leaves?

Bottom line, I haven’t seen these signs.

3) SOCIAL PROOF

Social proof is the concept that we are more likely to act the way others are acting or assume the same action in order to act correctly. It’s kind of a monkey see, monkey do pattern, a habit obtained through peer action, but, nonetheless, a habit.

Eating meat, fowl, fish, dairy, eggs are a habit we are taught. Most people are not raised on a plant-based diet. Most Americans eat meat. Many others want to be able to afford meat in their diets. The world has been seduced by meat and dairy media to think that having meat makes us healthy. Advertising would have us believe that the meat and dairy diet is more healthy than the plant-based diet.

There’s lots of evidence to the contrary. But, consumer advertising leaves people associating plentiful meat and dairy with affluence, keeping up with the Joneses, being in a position of power, being surrounded by the beautiful people.

Restauranteurs open restaurants and serve all kinds of meat, fish, dairy, egg dishes. They demonstrate how their best customers eat meat. They help perpetuate the myth that the plant-based diet is still for hippies.

CONCLUSION

When medical students get the pathetic total of 3 hours training in nutrition, while school lunches are subsidized by arrangements with the meat and dairy world, while the advertising we see subliminally and overtly affects our understanding of food and diet; how can we expect to understand that there are proteins in almost everything plant-based we eat?

ACTION STEPS

1) If we are so inclined, we can take a few minutes to dispel the protein myth. Tell a friend, have a discussion at work, do some research to confirm the scientific truth that protein combining is an out-dated lesson and that a whole plant foods have plenty of protein.

2) We can set people straight about the stories people tell about getting sick or weak on a plant-based diet. These stories are about poor eating, not about lack of protein. Processed foods and lack of variety may have been the cause.

3) 1 last thing we can do now that we know our protein supply is abundant is we can contemplate saving our natural resources by starting a plant-based diet. This will save on our medical bills from the ills of meat and dairy, on grazing land, animal feed, water for manufacturing, electric power, and, last, ethical dilemmas about animals (which should be first, not last).

The corn and oats we feed to our cattle would be enough to insure that not 1 person in the world would ever go hungry. If we changed our diets. But the protein myth is no longer on the table.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE

It’s true that people can be vegans without eating whole living foods. Having been dairy vegetarian for so long and vegan for 3 years; I am only now eating on purpose, including lots of raw foods that are green and leafy. I am no longer counting protein grams because, for the first time in my life, I know the veggies, fruits, grains, seeds and nuts I eat balance the way my body works.

FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She is extremely revved to have uncovered a flaw in her education about protein. She says,

“Like so many others, I was mistakenly hanging on to the old, unscientifically broadcast myth that was started in the book Diet For A Small Planet. The author, Francis Moore Lappe, critiques how hunger could be prevented by removing the need for feeding livestock if we switched to plant-based food. In her 1971 book, which has sold over 3,000,000 copies, she also mentions the need for protein combining for proper essential amino acids use. It turns out this was incorrect, but her words echo to this day since fewer have read her retraction and the industries she speaks about, meat and dairy, want this info hushed up.

“I am excited to know more about the great amino acid process where aminos are stored in a pool and called upon to recombine to make a particular protein as needed. Very spectacular, this human body. May we live long and prosper.”

TURNING HABITS INTO HEALTH: HOW 1 STEP AT A TIME CAN MAKE THE CHANGE (ISSUE 63)

By Diane Gold

Turning Habits Into Health is just another way of saying we are committing to nurturing ourselves and matching our behaviors with our current goals and game plan.

Habits, as we know if we think about them, are patterns of behavior reinforced through repetition until they are almost involuntary action. Here’s a short list of these responses: eating oily, salty or sugary snacks to satisfy a food craving; verbally reacting to a child because that’s how we were raised; using mind/body-altering substances (prescribed or not) because we are tired, bored, nervous or emotional;  shutting down our emotions because it’s safer than experiencing pain; acting out anger when someone challenges us; eating processed, unhealthy foods to escape; meditating before breakfast; brushing our teeth; taking our shoes off before we enter a residence; swimming after work; praying
before eating.

Obviously, diverse behaviors serve us at various times in our lives. Most of the time, we aren’t even aware these habits are developing. And, usually, we don’t focus on them until our body, mind or spirit call out in despair. Weighing too much signals that our bodies are imbalanced. Pain in our teeth makes us examine our oral hygiene and diet. Emotional over-reaction makes us look at our stability. Our comfort level with the questions of our position in the universe arouses our spirit and calls for grand examination.

Because we are all so universally tied to habits and we all have them, WarriorsOfWeight.com now honors moms, daughters, fathers, sons, teen girls, teen boys, grandparents in focusing on and educating about Turning Habits Into Health and discussing all the astounding techniques to help each one of us along the way.

Whether we speak about personal development techniques like tai chi, free dance techniques, music and its effects on balance, involvement in social change to get us personally where we want to be or the science of proper nutrition to maximize our bodies;
WarriorsOfWeight.com aims to share material for all our supporters. From now on, our new tag line is (drum roll, please)

Turning Habits Into Health!

And we are focusing on solutions for all of us.

So what are the ways to make this miraculous change in habit? Do we have to turn ourselves inside out?

The answer, of course, is no. The prospect of making the change may seem as if we have to climb a mountain. The actual journey, if approached step-by-step, is only as difficult as each individual step.

ACTION STEPS

1) Step 1 is to look as far as the first step. The first step is the beginning action step. It’s like the running a race. When we look at 1 more step, and only 1 more step, we get to continue without collapsing – for that 1 step only.

This step could be changing 1 meal to vegetable juice or overcoming the fear of crossing the street or drinking apple juice instead of wine. With all of these habits, there is a first step, the golden step, the one that will begin the habit change.

2) Step 2 is a repetition of step 1 except that we have actual experience doing step 1. We can note that the original habit began because we repeated the same action over and over again.

Therefore, changing the habit is going to require repeating the same action over and over again. Thus, we repeat step 1.

We know we have looked at step 1. We have also looked at step 2. They are the same. So are the next steps.

3) As we get used to this step, we can repeat it more easily each time. If we continue to take the step as a replacement for some negative action that is not supporting our goals, we will begin to replace the habit.

Our journey for change starts out as a cold mountain.

With repetition and confidence, as we begin to get familiarity and control with our new actions, our journey becomes a mountain of joy.

CONCLUSION

We can change a habit with 1 step. It is the way. There is nothing mysterious about it, and the technique is as straight forward as normal breathing. We always have our collection of habits, all of them. Whether we allow them to trigger depends on how well we have replaced them using any means necessary, but usually the 1-step plan.

If we follow each individual step on blind faith, we don’t get distracted with other thoughts. In time, we can take a look at what we’ve accomplished, but not while we are doing it.

ACTION STEPS: THE HABIT CHANGE PROCESS

This section overviews The Habit Change Process. The “snack” habit is chosen so that we can act out the process without getting stuck on which habit to change. The method of 1 step, then repetition of the same step, then repetition of the same step again and again can be used for all habits.

OBJECTIVE

Replacing 1 snack a day with healthy food instead of cookies, chips, soda, anything else. (If you only eat raw food, have an allergy to 1 of the foods; please substitute. If you don’t usually have a snack, please add it for 21 days, just to be part of this process.)

1) Buy veggies (the culinary term “veggies” which would include mushrooms): carrots, broccoli, onions, garlic, spinach, mushrooms.

2)  5 minutes ahead of the broccoli, steam sliced carrots. Then add broccoli and steam for another 7-10 minutes.

3)  In another pot, use some water to brown sliced mushrooms, re-adding water several times as needed. so they don’t burn.

4)  Once the steaming is complete, in a wok or saucepan, heat a small amount of olive oil, add garlic to cook, 30 seconds later, add onions.

5)  In a couple minutes, add mushrooms, steamed carrots and broccoli.

6)  Add low-sodium soy sauce or amino acid liquid, a few drops of sesame oil, black pepper, rice vinegar, if you like.

7)  Stir fry until everything is tender.

8)  Add spinach for 30 seconds.

9)  Remove from the stove.

10) When cool, separate into 7 snack bags, 1 for each day of the week.

11) Refrigerate.

12) Now, you have a mid-afternoon snack for the next 7 days.

13) Set a phone/computer/clock alarm to facilitate this snack.

14) Do this for 7 days.

15) Repeat 1) through 14) for 2 additional weeks in a row.

16) Congratulations. You have gone through the steps to change a habit. Keep it up, and it is changed.

17) Grab your certificate below!

FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She is more excited about the idea of looking at 1-step until that 1 step is completed. She says,

“When the mind is focused on 1 thing, it is not focused on 2 things. Of course, we need to do a physical act to make the concentration happen, as opposed to intellectually thinking about it.

“When we want to take a step for our betterment, whatever it is, if we focus our attention only on this 1 step; we are less distracted. Imagine walking a tight rope, for example. Because the risk is so great that we would become injured with less than 100% concentration, we concentrate.

“If we don’t take the same care with changing a habit, we can get off track. Easily. So, concentrate on the physical action we have decided would be in our best interest. And we will be happy with the results.”

JUICING AT HOME vs. JUICE FROM THE HEALTH FOOD STORE (ISSUE 62)

By Diane Gold

Let’s start with a nice quote from The American Cancer Society.

“…whether organic foods carry a lower risk of cancer because they are less likely to be contaminated by compounds that might cause cancer is largely unknown,” but “vegetables, fruits, and whole grains should form the central part of a person’s diet, regardless of whether they are grown conventionally or organically.”

The compounds in this quote are the pesticides, herbicides and artificial additives that go into our food that might be carcinogenic, the testing of which has had definitive negative outcomes that are largely untraceable in mainstream media lest the publicity poorly impact the financial success of the food manufacturing industry.

ORGANIC, NATURAL OR VEGAN?

The above info leads us to speak about organic food. In order to do so, we have to clarify how organic, natural and vegan are different. One is not the others, and the others are not the 1.

ORGANIC

Organic food refers to how the food is produced and that it has been produced without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Unfortunately, foods that are 95% organic can be labeled organic. Also, very unfortunately, pesticides that are “not synthetic” are permitted to be used on products that are labeled organic. This includes petroleum oil as a pesticide, since this is a naturally occurring substance that comes from decayed carbon-based life forms. Lime, sulfur, tobacco water and household natural dish soap are also used as pesticides in organic food as well as a variety of other materials that may not be completely safe.

It’s difficult to farm produce without encountering nature’s little bugs that want to eat. In order that these natural organisms don’t eat all the produce, some form of protection in the form of a pesticide, either non-synthetic in organic food or synthetic in non-organic food, must be used.

Except for the few organic farmers who are using the food chain successfully (such as spraying a blend of garlic, onion and red pepper, water with a touch of vegan, non-chemical, non the degreasing, mild dish liquid).

The best way to get our food is to grow our own. Not practical for most of us, and this leaves us with having to dispose of the solids from our juicing. I have happily just connected with a local organic farmer who is willing to take my food waste since I am not a composter. WHOO-HOO! This succeeds in satisfying the responsibility we all have to diminish valuable waste. I am by no means taking a large step toward helping the planet in this regard, but I have taken 1 step.

Call your local farmer to do the same, or see if your community has a compost drop off.

When I lived in Greenwich Village in the 70s, (yes, that’s right, the 1970s) the owners of a demolished building across the street who knew they were not going to build for 5 years, gave our community the rights to grow veggies and flowers on the land. This created happy socialization and good solid productivity as well as beauty on a construction site.

There are also window box gardens, for those with no land or outside water supply.

NATURAL

People often misunderstand the word “natural.” Anything that is processed minimally and does not contain a substance that does not occur organically (this is the scientific reference to organic meaning the way it grew) in the food is natural. That means pig’s feet are natural, fish broth is natural,  apple sauce that does not have other ingredients that must be identified is natural.

The word “natural” is not regulated, other than when it refers to meat or fowl. The word “natural” doesn’t identify much. Often, it confuses the public rather than providing any information about healthy food.

VEGAN

A much misunderstood word, vegan refers to a type of eating that does not include using animal products. That means no honey, no eggs, no dairy, no milk ingredients, anywhere, including in cake or bread or broth, no fish, no poultry, no meat. It does not mean organic. And, as we have mentioned, the word natural is non-specific.

ORGANIC, NATURAL, VEGAN SUMMARY

The words are not the same. It’s important to remember that, even though the advertisers and media groups prefer that we would not.
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Now back to our original issue: is it better to have juice at home or at the store?

JUICING OUT CONS

1) Whole Foods, for 1, talks about all the organic fruits and veggies they supply. Their produce changes from day to day, based upon availability and growing season, and it’s easy to confuse the physical locations of organic and non-organic food (termed “conventional food” so that the negative connotation from the word “non” is avoided). Their juice bar, as of the writing of this article, does not label whether their juice is or is not organic, so that the less informed customers will assume the juice is organic.

This is not transparent, which goes against the philosophy of an ideal food provider that values food education. All other stores do similar things; I just happened to ask Whole Foods, which is why I am mentioning it by name. So, there is no education happening when purchasing juice at the local health food store, if there is not full disclosure.

2) The next thing about having juice out is that it costs more than it would if we made it at home.

3) We don’t know how fresh the ingredients are that are being used in store-bought juice. Did you know that fruits and veggies only retain their nutrients for a set amount of days? And when some stores, usually supermarkets, get their produce truck; the produce is usually many days or even weeks old?
How many times have you asked the produce manager in a supermarket how old a particular vegetable was? Do you recognize the answer,

“Just got the truck this morning, and I just put ’em out.”

The irrelevance to an appropriate answer might shock us.

JUICING OUT PROS

1) A benefit of having juice out is that no juicer is needed.

2) When we juice out, we save on our water and electricity bills: electric to run the juicer, water to wash the juicing ingredients at the beginning and the juicer, itself, at the end.

3)  Another benefit of juicing out is that we don’t have to have the ingredients in our refrigerator.

4) Finally, having someone serve us means no work for us, and yes pampering for us. Both great. Unless we think of juicing as a fun, joyous activity, which it can be. I just juiced some red cabbage. The color that came out of the juicer made me massively happy instantly. The color seemed so alive that it was much worth any “work” I had to do.

JUICING AT HOME CONS

1) We have to plan ahead and buy the juice that we want without purchasing too much that some will spoil before we use it or too little that we’ll have to go out to get more in order to finish our juicing process.

2) We have to buy a juicer. This is costly.

3) We have to wash the juicer ourselves and compost or dispose of the fruit or vegetable remains. This means work.
Although I’ve always cleaned the juicer immediately after using it, I’ve heard that it can be very uncooperative if any length of time passes between use and cleaning.

JUICING AT HOME PROS

1) We know whether we have purchased organic produce because we inquire when we buy, and we use grocers we can trust. Hopefully, the suppliers of these grocers we trust follow organic protocol in their farming.

2) We know how old the produce is since we can see the new sitting next to the old in most markets.

3) We can have juice when we want, in the combination we want, more economical than juicing out.

4) We take responsibility for our own health by juicing at home. Plus, juicing is more likely to become a frequent habit when we are hands on and do it ourselves.

5) We can socialize with our family or relax in our own environment as we drink.

CONCLUSION

As I see it, it’s better to juice at home because we are taking a good part of the responsibility for our own bodies. Getting juice for regular juicing outside the home leaves too much to chance. It certainly makes sense to get fresh juice out of the home some of the time, especially when traveling. But, remember to ask whether the juiceria supplies organic produce and know that when the answer is that it is organic, there are many variations on what constitutes “organic.”

ACTION STEPS

1) Invest in a juicer, even a basic one.

2) Decide on a particular juice that makes your mouth water, and experiment with combinations, like PEPPER–TOMATO.

3) Go shopping for juice ingredients after you have had a meal, so that, when you shop, you are not hungry. That way, you will have a less emotional time choosing which fruits and vegetables to get for juice.

4) Check out the website whatsonmyfood.org. When we click on a food, it tells us the average amount of pesticide that is in it. It’s scary, but it’s telling. And we should be aware of what pesticides we are ingesting.

5) Find your favorite food, and leave a comment at the bottom of this link’s page to let us know how many pesticides are in it and whether you are surprised or not.

FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She feels fortunate for her life. She says,

“Those of us who know how beneficial juicing is are fortunate. To receive the maximum reward for our efforts, it’s always a good idea to get the most out of the least work so that we will have energy left for other productive action.

“Many of us know we can get juice at the health food store. Now that we are more informed about what could go into our juice, we can be more investigative about what we are actually drinking. This process improves the service the retailer is giving because their image is at stake. They want it known that they are informative to their customers. They also want it known when their juice is organic.

“Happy juicing and using this knowledge for your health.”

WATER FOR WEIGHT LOSS, EMOTIONAL EATING TURNED TO HEALTHY HYDRATION (REJOICE IF YOU HAVE AN ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLY) (ISSUE 61)

By Diane Gold

Everyone knows that water is great for weight loss. And this would be helpful because there is so much emotional eating going on. Why? It helps hydrate our skin, our membranes, our very cells so that we can get the food (oxygen) to the blood effectively and the nutrients we ingest to absorb into our intestines. And it curbs food cravings.

Did you know that a huge amount of our world population does not have enough water or has to walk to get it? According to Kathleen Parker’s article, quoting Charles Fishman’s The Big Thirst (on my pending reading list), we, Westerners, use 18.5 gallons a day flushing our toilets while there is only 1/100th of 2.5 percent fresh water on the planet or, if the oceans were broken down into mass, 2.5% of the Earth’s mass. Not a lot.

So, the first thing to do is to hail the Universe if you have enough water to drink and to consider being frugal with it so that we can make money with it and fund sending workers to third-world countries to create water infrastructures so that everyone can live more easily with water.

Next thing we need to do is to consider this simple concept: drinking 2 cups of water before every meal has been clinically proven to reduce calorie intake by 75-90 calories per meal and to increase actual weight loss by 33 or so %, according to Brenda Davy’s study in the clinical trial reported to the 240th Meeting of the American Chemical Society (August, 2010) by Davy of Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.

PRELUDE TO HABIT

Let’s look at what happens when we start to feel the twinges of hunger. These urges might be immediately after eating, 10 minutes after eating, an hour after, 3 hours apart or more. The amount of time between cravings is a non-judgmental number. The craving begins as an itch, which shows up when it shows up. If we don’t judge ourselves, we won’t be judged! Its intensity determines the level of self-control we need to master it.

Of course, different proteins (histamines and newly found proteins) cause the nerve fibers that control itching (apparently, there are itch grids on our skin where these fibers connect) to be stimulated. But, I was speaking about itching as an analogous to cravings. As we sometimes, automatically scratch, often times, we automatically eat to satisfy our hunger.

ACTION STEPS: THE ANSWER

As soon as we feel that twinge of hunger, we have to continue to notice it exists so that there are fewer and fewer times we are already eating food before we realize we have had a craving.

Once we start to notice the urge, it will be easier and easier to pick it out of our urge line-up. We won’t push it away, thinking it will go away as we quietly walk to the kitchen. We will acknowledge and embrace it.

1) And go get water, 16 oz. worth.

2) Drink it (2 cups of 8 oz. each) at a gentle speed. If we slow the process down, we can maximize the effect the drinking process will have on our appetite.

3) Taste the water as it is going down. Since water has no taste, we will have to be mindful of its subtle flavor, created by the minerals that accompany the water, itself.

4) Take a moment to realize that we can single-handedly change our actions to our food craving, by ourselves, with the power of our minds. The sensation that goes with food can be directed. How is different for everyone, but we can alter our actions. By the act of noticing, drinking and tasting!

5) Take a moment to jump up and down with happiness that we can be instrumental in changing our hormones so that they work for our health, not to put us in a position of weakness.

EPILOGUE AND FUTURE CRAVINGS

After we begin, it will be get much easier for us to recognize and acknowledge it when we have a food urge. Whereas before, we might have felt we had to sneak to eat, we will no longer have to sneak, since our first line of food defense can be healthy, wonderful water. Whereas before, we might have felt guilty for eating mindlessly, we can feel pride because we are eating as part of a technique.

We can take a giant step toward hydrating our body, being the master of our urges and setting our bodies up to lose weight, in the process.

CONCLUSION

The act of making change takes time and effort. That includes water for weight loss. The biggest effort is in training the mind (changing a habit) that when we have a food craving, we need to embrace it. We need to drink 16 oz. of water, slowly. This is great in theory, but…

What if we consistently find ourselves eating before we remember to drink?

We will work to remember the next time and be twice as grateful for the opportunity.

What happens if it’s not possible for us to drink 2 cups of water at one time right from the start?
We can drink what we can drink. The more we drink, the more we will be able to drink more. The more food cravings turn away from emotional eating and towards drinking water before eating, the happier and more self-confidence we will be. The more weight loss becomes our personal reality, the more we will become iron-clad believers.

What if we don’t have a supply of water to our home?

We can walk to get it and get happy exercise along the way.

For those of us in the United States and some other countries, we can be extra thankful that we do have water readily available. 2/3 of world families do not (National Geographic Society Geography Awareness Week, 2010). They have to walk to get their water; they have to transport it on shoulders, backs or holding buckets.

No need to feel bad that we have it; let’s use the water that is right in front of us: for weight loss, for hydration, for detoxification, for balance. And let’s be thankful for every sip.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She feels fortunate for having grown up with an adequate water supply. She says,

“Feeling a food craving is something we’ve felt from childhood, since we have to eat to sustain. Emotional eating shows up after that. What’s new for us now is that we have the ability to change what we do with those cravings.

“We can tell ourselves to take an action. We can adjust the command we give ourselves. Even if it is as small as immediately taking a sip or two glasses of water. Any 1 step is monumental toward changing a habit. When we take a first step, as when we are babies, it is foreign, scary, difficult. Step 2, as Jaren, 1 of the big connections in my life used to say, may be scarier because we know what lies ahead.

“Step 3 and beyond are more and more familiar and possible to achieve with less difficulty. We are swaying our emotional eating into healthy drinking, 1 step at a time. This is how we change an ineffective habit to 1 that is beneficial to us.

“We have learned determination in life and in satisfying our food cravings. We are able since we have made to here. Now, we have to begin.”
____

Dedicated to the memory of Gertrude Gold, whose birthday would have been January 16. Once retired from entrepreneurship, she supported theater, music and arts, many international causes, worked at Planned Parenthood, typed Braille books for the Library of Congress. Mostly she was the great family giver who taught me always to stand up for myself and forgive. Miss you, Ma.

PLANT-BASED NUTRITION AND 3 WEIGHT LOSS FACTORS THAT COME ALONG, TOO (ISSUE 59)

By Diane Gold

There is much evidence that plant-based nutrition helps rid us of a variety of modern-day ailments. However, major “Western” food manufacturers downplay it. After all, what would happen to their food consumption if even 50% of the people who now eat meat/fish/fowl/dairy/eggs changed their ways?. What would manufacturers do if people in the United States stopped eating processed foods?

There are 3 factors that can make us healthy and affect our weight loss plan. They are relevant to every kind of food and every type of food plan. They are important.

MUCUS

We might think about mucus as toxins that we release when we are sick. But mucus is a substance produced to protect our membranes and is always present. Its overproduction is our body’s getting clogged from a variety of things: smoke, food, bacteria and dust.

Animal and dairy products are known to form excess mucus in our bodies because of their composition and the way it is absorbed into our body. Part of it, generally, is not useful to the body and turns into substance that turns into mucus.

Vegetables and fruits do not form mucus, except for sulphured fruits and gassed bananas. (Did you know that when bananas are brought to market, they are usually gas-ripened? That means they are picked green and gassed so that, by the time they come to market, they are yellow). This is why so many physicians realize the merits of the plant based diet and weight loss. These foods do not add excess bulk that makes the body work hard to digest it.

Additives, in general, cause excess mucus as a type of inflammation. This includes pesticides, which are prevalent in all fruits and veggies not so listed or home-grown. Although mucus is needed as a normal body secretion, too much mucus is not always visible and is often detected when we are already suffering from its effect.

Mucus forming foods are plaque forming foods. Over-production of plaque in our vessels causes clogging in the lungs and the intestines.

[True story:
One of the MDs in my health care world had a medical problem. What did he do to help himself? He went on a raw vegan diet and got rid of his medical issue.]

ACTION STEP

When choosing a food, think about how it would seem to digest in the body. If it is heavy and thick, chances are it is mucus forming. If it is light and it sways (I was thinking of lettuce in the breeze), it probably provides the roughage that the digestive system needs to smoothly process foods. Consider eating non-mucus forming foods exclusively.

FIBER

Dietary fiber is that indigestible part of plant foods, including whole grains, seeds, nuts, fruits and veggies. So, when eating meat/fish/fowl/dairy/eggs, there is no fiber.

There are 2 main components in fiber: soluble fiber ferments into helpful colon gases. Insoluble fiber keeps our elimination of food waste regular. They both have to do with digestive absorption and gastrointestinal activity.

ACTION STEP

Keeping the body fresh with fiber is usually healthy for most people diets. When we eat non-plant-based foods, we often stop up our plumbing with non-fibrous foods. When we eat plant-based nutrition, our bodies eliminate food easily and frequently. This is partially due to the high fiber content in the food. This helps with weight loss. Consider fiber when choosing food.

ACIDIC AND ALKALINE FOODS

Foods are labeled acid or alkaline for the effect they have on the body after ingestion. That’s why lemons and limes are considered alkaline-forming, since their properties result in the body’s becoming alkaline.

Acid-forming foods are: soda/energy drinks/coffee/alcohol, animal foods, soda, fried foods.

Alkaline foods are veggies, fruits, almonds, seeds, some whole grains and tofu.

Too acidic a body means the body has to work overtime to correct its pH level which should be around 7.5,  just like a swimming pool. This means the breathing rate would have to increase to remove carbonic acid which would exhale as CO2; kidneys would have to increase the acid in the urine and minerals would be leached out of the body, using up Calcium, Magnesium, Iodine, Vitamin K and Sodium to balance the pH.

How many times do we hear about Acid Reflux and all the drug products we can take to control it? Increasing the body’s alkalinity intake should be looked at first.

Let’s look at soda, including diet-soda. The highest source of calories of any food in the United States is soda. It is an acid-forming food along with diet soda, which has no calories but is in the same acid category. Both regular and diet soda contain phosphoric acid, all the way over on the acid side of acid-forming foods.

To balance the pH, the body is forced to leach calcium, which hurts bones, but it also leaches iodine which is necessary for proper function of the thyroid gland. When the thyroid gland does not work properly, the body’s metabolism fails and often slows down. When the metabolism is slow, the body can be sluggish, leading to weight gain from lack of movement. This is the main reason that soda, even diet soda with its “0 calories,” causes weight gain.

Did you know that saliva is alkaline and that if you chew more, you enable the digestive process? Many monks profess that we chew our food 50 times before swallowing. This will predigest the food and liquify it. It will provide a time for us to appreciate the food without rushing. Now, I know it will certainly combine well with alkaline saliva for body health.

Acidosis

When the body is too acidic and cannot correct itself by leaching minerals, urine acid, it produces fat as a buffer for the acid. This fat can deposit itself in many places to protect the body for the effects of its acidity. This can make the weight increase.

ACTION STEP

Feel good, feel balanced. Consider eating plant-based nutrition for a proper pH level. Keep the body in the best position for losing weight, and learn which foods are alkaline and eat them.

CONCLUSION

The very nature of plant-based nutrition gives the natural weight loss property to these foods themselves. They are physically lighter. They have a high content of water which makes them easier to digest. This, in turn requires less stomach acid to break them down for absorption into the intestines and they provide bioflavonoids, of which there are over 800, for medicinal uses.

There is also the ethical factor. This means that, by eating a plant-based diet, we can feel more responsible for caring for the lives of animals. This has to feel good, on behalf of these animals, even for a short while.

The more we study, the more data we compile. We will do more reporting on this topic since it seems to be the more healthy way to eat, to save manufacturing resources as well as the temples which are our bodies and minds.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She believes in the benefits of plant-based nutrition. She says,

“The body always feels better after eating greens, juicing veggies, ingesting plants. When I finish drinking fresh wheatgrass juice, I feel as strong as a truck. That must mean something biologically about the power of plants in the human body.

“There are 2 other important factors that go along with my relationship with plants. 1 is a personal philosophy to limit the amount of animal lives I use for my benefit. The other is that the processing of animals for food costs a great deal more than using non-processed (preferably non-pesticide sprayed) fruits and vegetables. So, the choice for plant-based nutrition helps the planet, the animals and the human body.”

CROSSROADS: SUCCESSFULLY CHOOSING THE WAY WE MAKE DECISIONS (ISSUE 58)

By Diane Gold

Congratulations. The crossroads ahead is a grand opportunity.

The definition for crossroads is intersection, focal point, turning point. This means a crossroads is a time in life that is perpendicular to, yet entwined with, whatever is happening in life. It also means we are giving razor sharp attention to an issue. And, finally, it means we are going to evaluate the best direction we can take to efficiently support the most positive development of our lives.

When we decide we are going to change our weight to help ourselves, we are at a crossroads. This also holds true when we take time to decide to buy solar cars, LED lights, compost our food waste, forgive someone, go back to school, have a baby, or join a peace process. We will furnish this article with weight loss in mind, although our world, our humanity, currently, is at a major crossroads of what makes sense to sustain the human race well.

The weight loss goal is huge because it relates to almost every aspect of our everyday lives. Often times, we have to change many behaviors of our eating process in order to change 1: the way we move, the way we rest and the restaurant or food preparation routines we have grown to love.

Fortunately and happily for us, we get to develop new and wonderful ways of acting in all these areas. Imagine finding the most delectable food at our new favorite restaurant or cooking healthier, lighter, more satisfying foods for ourselves and any others who are in our lives. And what about the prospect of developing new friends who also eat well and care for their bodies. This is a real treat.

Remember the story about the man in the flood who didn’t take a ride in his neighbor’s car because he said he was waiting for god to save him? And when the water rose and he fled to his second floor, he still wouldn’t take an escape ride from a fire truck because god was going to save him? And after the water rose and he fled to his roof, he still wouldn’t take a ride when a helicopter threw down a ladder because he was waiting for god to save him? And, when he reached heaven and asked god why he hadn’t saved him, and god said,

“I sent you a car, a fire truck and a helicopter; and wasn’t that enough?”

It’s a story about crossroads and opportunity. We have many throughout our time. Whether we see the right cues determines our outcome. Some people go with the flow automatically. Others fight the inevitable or refuse to be flexible.

I know it always takes me a few minutes to process the possibility of change, a few minutes to get used to the idea and another several minutes to accept the change. This usually takes a good 30 minutes. It’s very comforting to watch myself through this process. I usually laugh at myself during it, as I am so predictable to myself. Luckily for me, because of my mother’s bright attitude and the practicality for which my martial arts work has prepared me, I always, and I mean always, end up looking for the good in the crossroads.

Certainly, it’s not always fun to shake ourselves up and make life changing decisions that will take us down new paths and throw us into a new direction that we might not have orchestrated entirely or at all. But, to see it as an opportunity, opens up great promise.

THE CHOICES

So what are the choices we have before us?

1) We can rebel and stomp our feet at our new situation. If we turn music on and stomp to it, we can turn our reaction into a totally therapeutic action. Verbalizing to the music helps us to accept the change, too, as is done in improv or rap.

2) We can resent our situation and turn our grudge inward. Obviously, this weighs us down and needs a replacement strategy.

3) We can remain calm, ask for help if we need it and look at the pros of our new situation. Of course, it’s always good to be balanced and positive. Not always easy and not always sensible. It always pays to stay aware and focused.
___

Whichever direction we choose at our crossroads; the happier, healthier, more fulfilled we become, the better life we are creating for ourselves. So, we can agree that to give ourselves extra weight of any kind changes balance, confidence and peace of mind. That’s why no matter which crossroads are in front of us, the same action process applies.

ACTION STEPS

Pick 1)(a) or 1)(b) to start.

1)(a) Pick a crossroads in front of you that has to do with replacing bad fat 1 time a week with good fat 1 time a week OR

1)(b) Pick a crossroads in front of you that has to do with moving to a town where you have to change schools or jobs and don’t know anyone.

2) Prepare to make a list of the pros and cons that come along with 1 of these crossroads. They will both affect the appetite. Also, feel free to substitute the crossroads.

3) Write 5 pros and 5 cons for the scenario you choose. Here’s an example of 1)(a), such as

PRO: “I want to lose weight and changing bad fat to good fat 1 time a week will start to cleanse my body.”

CON: “I won’t be able to use my beloved fat to calm down on the day I don’t use the bad fat. Can I handle it? Yes.”

4) Prioritize the pros and cons, eliminating the bottom 2.

5) Finally, pick the biggest pro and the biggest con and proceed in a way that will improve you.

6) To top it off, write a few sentences on how you will maximize the pro, including 3 action steps you would like to make happen. Send it to us, either just to declare it or if you would like to share it. If you are stuck at any point, let us know so we can help you.

CONCLUSION

Life is full of crossroads. They always show up, in our personal lives and in our lives as global citizens. Every time we make a life decision, we are at a crossroads. Every time we vote, we are at a crossroads. We can look at our choices as necessary steps leading us forward. We can also savor the opportunities they bring and use the pro and con method to ensure that we come to the most efficient understanding of our crossroads as they arrive.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She likes to feel strong and very much enjoys using many body parts at the same time. She says,

“When we engage in an exercise that seems to use 1 part of the body alone, we are really accessing so many other body parts and body systems that we have an opportunity to rejuvenate ourselves each time. When we do 1 simple exercise correctly, it starts a chain reaction that manifests in other parts of our mind and body than the 1 whose name is in the title slot. It’s good to focus the attention on 1 body part with the understanding that each exercise affects many.”

DANCING FOR WEIGHT LOSS: A FUN WAY TO FIRM IT, MOVE IT, REMOVE IT (ISSUE 54)

By Diane Gold

Dancing, by its very nature, can get us moving. As a musician and tribal music lover, I know how it feels to be consumed by the music. It can easily get us in a state of heightened energy. It has to be just right, though.

How many times have you listened to a song that gets you moving and foot tappingly grooving only to share it with a friend who is falling asleep to the very same song.

All we have to do is look at drivers in cars who are happily singing to music or runners and walkers with music players happily gyrating to their workout. When we survey what they are listening to, all the music is diverse. Some of us like any kind of music. Others of us are pretty picky. We have to listen to specific music at a specific time or enjoy our silence. I am in this last category. My strong attitude about what I listen to may come from having studied all genres of music to get my music education degree. Or I like what I like when I like it.

The music we listen to has to feel right at the time. Otherwise, as my music therapy training tells me, the music can be counterproductive. So, let me start off by saying

MAKE SURE YOU LIKE THE MUSIC!

It will affect you on many levels. When I listen to tribal dance music, I get calm and inspired. It’s the only music I can listen to when I need to concentrate. Many people I know would never listen to it. Different strokes for different folks.

So, how can we embrace dance in our weight loss regime? Happily, dancing is free. It is there for us just for the doing. It lives in our bodies.

EXCUSES

Here are the excuses we might use for not dancing.
1) Many of us are shy. We don’t even want to see ourselves.

2) We would never dance in public.

3) We don’t know what to listen to.

4) We have no time. See action step 1 below.

5) We don’t feel comfy in our bodies, so we don’t like to dance.

REPLIES TO EXCUSES

1) Combatting shyness: We can dance in the dark where no one can see us and we can’t even see ourselves. It’s very freeing.

2) Combatting being in public and dancing: Well, here’s the big news. We don’t have to leave our houses to dance. And we might want to dance outside the home after a while.

3) What to listen to: Pick something. The joy is the next day, we can make a new selection.

Most of us have access to a TV, interconnected phone or computer. Music is just a click away. We can flip a channel or go to www.live365.com and choose the genre of our choice. We can also go to www.pandora.com and make our own listening station based on 1 song or artist that we like. The free Pandora software will find other songs like our 1st song. Both Live365 and Pandora are free. Or you can pay a little and get rid of ads. Ask me for help if you don’t know what to do with them.

4) Making time: It’s important to make time for moving the body by dancing, especially if we are working on weight loss. Once we start with Action Step 1, it will be easier to become consistent.

5) Combatting not liking to move: With dancing, we are moving the body. This means burning calories, firming the body and building strength and energy. These are all good reasons to make a go of dancing.

ACTION STEPS

So here are the action steps for this week.

Hopefully, 1 of them will appeal to you.

All you need is 1.

1)
MUSIC PLAYER IN THE BATHROOM

Decide you will take some type of music player into the bathroom first thing in the morning. Just to get the day started off right.

It’s a great time to dance. It will immediately take a little of your hunger away, and it will make the body feel great. It will be your kind of music, so you will like it and respond to it. As I see it, anything is danceable, from Bach to Bartok to Country to Tribal. But starting is the big thing. The next big thing is continuing. Those are the biggies with everything. Begin and continue!

Because you are beautiful, fantastic, worth it and in need of shaking yourself out. Making this dancing on a daily basis will take 3 minutes or less.

1 minute is enough if that’s all you have the time for.  And listening to music close up, that is, in headphones, makes you feel as if you are in a music world of your own. And, guess what? You are. The trick is to make it consistent.

2)
TELE-DANCING

Tele-dancing is just what it sounds like: going to the phone and getting on a conference line and dancing. Beginning on Thursday, December 6, 2012 and Tuesday, December 11, 2012; tele-dancing begins at 7:00 pm Eastern time, Thursdays and 6:00 pm Eastern time on Tuesdays.

It’s a 5-minute program that will get you moving to the music and taking the opportunity to free yourself through dance. 5 minutes. You owe it to yourself. No one will be watching. No one will be judging your moves. This is for you. Try it, you’ll like it. Think about how exercise will decrease your ghrelin hormone to lower your food cravings.

Call-In Details: HERE.

3)
TRANCE TAI CHI

Trance Tai Chi is a method of moving the body to a progression of relaxed music>mellow music>excited tribal dance music>then mellow music again>then ending with relaxed music. It includes short instructions where we suggest tai chi-like movements. The instruction allows people to have a basis from which to move and leads up to free form dancing. The purpose is personal freedom.

I do sessions by appointment through trancetaichi.com. But you can find dance similar to this at yoga schools across the United States. They call it trance dance, ecstatic dance and breath dance.

4)
5RHYTHMS

5Rhythms is a dance method where there is specialized instruction to notice your body parts. No actual specific way of moving is recommended. The instruction suggests ways of becoming aware of the body. After an awareness warm-up, the facilitator coaches the group into a series of rhythms which the founder delineates through which meditation can be achieved. It’s very free form dance with a direction: yours.

Look up a 5Rhythms teacher in your area. We don’t have one in South Florida, except occasionally when a super-charged session occurs. Amazing stuff.

CONCLUSION

I remember lunch time when I was in 5th and 6th grades in New York. We had a record player outside in the school yard. Every day, I would bring my 45 RPM records to class so that we could dance. True, there were so many people singing rhythm and blues and rock and roll, so it was much easier to keep track of the latest and greatest records, as opposed to present day when there are hundreds of new artists coming out every minute because of the ease of technology. It’s great to have such technological access!

Dancing is great. It can jump start the day or be a superb ending to it. Incorporate it into the day to feel free, and to reduce extra weight.

5)

ACTION STEP 5

If you have a particular type of dance that you like and you want to go out of your house to do it, check out www.meetup.com for a local group. Type the kind of dancing you are curious about, and see how close one is.
__

Dancing for weight loss is not a novel idea. It remains a good one, though. 1 minute a day makes a difference. It will start you in a direction of being consistent and caring for self. Enjoy the experience, whichever one you pick.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She creates simple strategies that cost little time and little money that lead to a personal shift that secures an objective. She says,

“Moving the body is a metamorphosis. When we dance, we can easily shake out stress at the same time as we are speeding our metabolism and making ourselves healthy. There are many ways to dance, in public or private.

1 minute’s worth will do the trick, every day. And the best time to start is now.”

DECLARATION OF TOLERANCE FOR SCHOOL AGERS: KINDNESS IS COOL (ISSUE 53)

By Diane Gold

No curriculum in tolerance exists in regular public schools.

“Why not?” we might ask.

It would prepare us for living in our world and creating harmony along the way.

If, as kids, we had tolerance class to learn such a set of rules along with math and language skills,

OH, THE DIFFERENCES WE WILL SEE!

It’s common knowledge that kids are cruel, pull the cat’s tail, become insensitive when their friends make social blunders and gang up on kids because they possess physical and mental attributes that would not qualify them for a typical beauty or intelligence contest.

Yes, they’re young. Yes, their freedom to express naturally is important and the line between mocking and self-expression is subjective. And, yes, children need to build up strength should intolerance be directed at them.

Also true is that children are impressionable. They are impressed (a mental embossing occurs) by popularity and strive for it. I heard a TV teen say that the purpose of high school was to become popular.

Wouldn’t it be fair to say that we all crave popularity of some type, whether it’s to be thought of as the most just, the most intelligent, the most creative, the most macho, the most humble?

 We follow others, as kids and adults. We call this social proof. If no one goes to help the person who fell down and everyone walks by with no regard; we are less likely to rush to help the afflicted person.

If 3 people are already helping, we are more likely to offer a hand.

Not that we are all sheep, but, without specific intervention training, most people do not take the initiative to run to get involved in serving another if no one else does.

TOLERANCE IN SCHOOL

So what does this have to do with tolerance?

Kids form belief systems and opinions at home, in school and with peer groups. It is a given that we are influenced on a grand scale by our parents, our caretakers. Prejudice in the home rubs off. But many kids have their first encounter with intolerance, either as target or aggressor, in school.

If Jayne makes fun of Julie at school and school mates follow this behavior, this intolerance festers and grows. Its presence caters to fortify the belief that it is good. How cool it is to be part of the group. It’s a good feeling. But, aren’t their lines, even for kids? We don’t have court in school, but we are responsible for teaching what’s right.

Everyone has to deal with being the target of someone. And, yes, as mentioned, we must develop personal self-esteem to balance out external negativity. But, school is a place of learning. And the job of each teacher – and that truly means any adult – is to instill good values, individually and as a community of teachers.

For this reason, I created a simple document to which all school-age children should be exposed and on which all school-age children should have training. If we don’t address tolerance at an early age, role play about it and make it a life-long study even if we discuss it once a week for 15 minutes, we are leaving out a core value that needs attention.

Imagine if we had the tolerance in childhood we would want others to have. And we lived this for our entire childhood.

OH, THE DIFFERENT WAYS WE’LL ACT!

ACTION STEP

Employ the kids declaration of tolerance at your earliest convenience. No, wait. Do it now, without waiting.  Bring it to your school. Share it through your social networks. Bring it with you to the parent-teacher meetings. Go over it at home at every opportunity. Role play it. Learn it. Be it. Write another declaration to add below.

Here it is:

1)
I will imagine I am in a wheel chair. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

This means I will not abandon a person because of this situation; I will not single out the other person and laugh at someone else’s tragedy; I will show respect for the other person. I will be a compassion leader.

2)
I will imagine I am 2X as big as I am now in body weight without getting taller, and I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

3)
I will imagine that my hair has fallen out, and I feel sad. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

4)
I will imagine I just tripped on my shoe lace and scraped my knee and my elbow. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

5)
I will imagine I have lost my pet and I am crying at school. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation, When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

6)
I will imagine I have a mark on my face that makes me look different from others. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

7)
I will imagine I don’t remember any of the lessons the other students remember at school. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

8)
I will imagine my family makes me dress different from everyone else. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

9)
I will imagine someone has just teased me, and my feelings are hurt. I will think about how that feels. I will treat others the way I would want them to treat me in that situation. When others laugh at someone else in this situation, I will recognize this as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool.

10)
I will imagine someone has just teased my friend. I will think about how my friend feels. I will treat my friend the way I would want her to treat me in that situation. I will recognize the teasing as bad behavior and not follow it. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and teach that kindness is cool. I will support my friend with kindness, not aggression toward others.

11)
I will imagine that my community has been fighting with another community for a long time. I will think about how many bad feelings there are because of the old fight. I will treat the outside community the way I would want it to treat my community: with respect, with harmony and with tolerance. I will recognize that, as a young person, I can stop the fight. I will not follow my community history in fighting. I will lend a helping hand, show an understanding heart and help educate both communities. I will support my community with kindness and make friends with the other community.

CONCLUSION

The longer we study a subject, the more proficient we get at it. If we study tolerance from an early time, we will become familiar with how it goes. We will learn about being kind, being fair, being able to pass on these concepts.

Implement the Declaration Of Tolerance For School Agers, and be instrumental in taking a step toward the reality of creating world harmony.

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She passes on ways to create human harmony, which may not be coincidentally related to her love of music. She says,

“The best time to talk about peace and tolerance is when we are young. That’s why it’s so important to include a human relations curriculum (also called a peaceful solutions program) that extends past the study of our ancestors and their geographic regions. True, it’s nice to know how we got here, but it’s just as important to build tolerance and conflict resolution skills in the present. This will maximize the positive effect on global harmony.”

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