Have you ever asked yourself if the benefits of organic food is worth the cost? Are you trying to eat healthy and wonder if going organic may be your next step?
Many people believe that it is enough to stop eating processed foods, focusing instead on eating meat, vegetables, and fruit. But is that really enough? What happens in our bodies when we are exposed to the toxins in conventional food sources.
Let’s take a look into this issue so that you can decide if the cost is worth the benefit!
A New Perspective
A few years ago, I was at a nutrition seminar when I had a “lightbulb” moment. The doctor speaking was explaining that toxins are stored in fat cells. Since the body is designed to protect itself, it creates a buffer from these toxins in the form of more fat!
People usually think that you put on fat when you consume too many calories. In reality, fat accumulates when our hormones and blood sugar are out of balance. What we eat impacts our hormones, and our bodies intentionally contribute to hormonal changes in order to try to protect us.
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Are you struggling to find quick snacks when you are on the go? Do you find yourself grabbing fast food or other processed snacks because they are easily available. Eating clean can take a little extra planning, but if we really want to take care of our bodies it is worth the effort.
Even when we try, it can be hard to find a great snack that is healthy and can be eaten on the go. That's why I am excited to share with you Paleo Valley Beef Sticks. They are a great clean protein made from grass fed cows. Their are five different varieties for you to choose from.
I want you to find good clean snacks so much that I bought a bunch to have in the office. Just ask me for one when you come in for your next appointment, and I will let you have one. Once you try them, you can decide for yourself if they are something that would keep you full and eating clean.
If you decide to order some, use this link and we will both get a coupon for $20 off!
Dr. Jamie
P.S. I would love to hear about your favorite snacks!
Growing up, we often get the message that it’s not okay to experience “negative” emotions. Sometimes the message is harsh and clear through words like “don’t cry like a baby” or “grow up”. But sometimes it is more subtle. Well-meaning people say things like “Don’t cry honey, you’re okay”. While other times they simply distract children from their difficult emotions.
All these methods, whether well-intentioned or not, can lead to us avoiding negative emotions. But these emotions don’t simply go away when we ignore them. It is important to learn how to embrace and work through difficult emotions in a healthy way.
Let’s look at what that means so that we can live an authentic full life.
Importance of Embracing Difficult Emotions
According to researcher and author Brene Brown, “We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.”
In other words, if we want to feel love, joy, peace, and fulfilment, we must also have the capacity to feel loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and emptiness. We cannot fully feel the “positive” emotions without making room for the “difficult” ones.
Messages Our Emotions Give Us
All our emotions are valuable and provide insightful information if we learn to listen to them. If we pay attention to how we feel when we are with different people in our lives, we can learn a lot about those relationships.
For example, if we feel great love towards someone, we can recognize that the relationship is important to us. But difficult emotions can indicate that as well. Let’s imagine that you are hurt because a friend didn’t follow through on a promise. This difficult emotion may show you that you generally trust and value this friendship, so when they let you down it is especially painful.
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If you are trying to eat a healthy diet, you are probably aware that too much sugar spikes your blood glucose levels. This gives you a short boost of energy followed by a blood sugar crash that leaves you craving more sugary foods.
It can be very hard to eat healthy once you find yourself in this cycle. To help stabilize your blood sugar you may have tried to eat foods that have a low glycemic index. This makes sense because foods with a low glycemic index do not raise your blood sugar level as much as those with a higher rating.
But the glycemic index is not the best way to determine which foods are good for your body because it doesn’t give us a complete picture. Let’s take a look at a measure that is even more helpful for stabilizing your blood sugar and balancing your hormones than the glycemic index.
Insulin Index
Many people are familiar with the glycemic index, but very few have heard of the insulin index. While foods on the glycemic index have been categorized based on how fast they raise blood sugar, foods on the insulin index are categorized based on what these foods do to insulin levels.
Looking at insulin levels in the body is extremely important and can give us a fuller picture of what is going on within the body - but first we must understand what insulin is and how it works.
Insulin’s Role in the Body
Insulin is a fat-storage hormone that pushes sugar into the cells of the body to be used for energy. When we have excess insulin in our system for too long, we can become insulin resistant.
Insulin resistance causes us to need more insulin to handle the sugar in our blood. Unfortunately, the high levels of insulin cause your cells to be more resistant to insulin creating a vicious cycle.
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We all know that we should eat our vegetables, but sometimes we get into a rut and it becomes boring. Changing up your routine can help you achieve this nutrition goal, so having new ideas for a simple and delicious salad can be helpful.
This salad calls for fresh shredded beets. Many people think they don't like beets because they have only had cooked or canned beets, but fresh beets are completely different. And since beets are loaded with nutrient - Vitamin C, magnesium, folate, calcium, and a fair bit of iron - they might be worth trying again!
Sweet Beet Salad with Blueberry Dressing
Salad ingredients:
3 c. mixed salad
1/2 c. shredded beets
1 T. dried cranberries
2 T. chopped pecans
Dressing ingredients:
1/2 c. olive oil
4 T. blueberry balsamic (or any other sweet balsamic)
Directions: Layer the ingredients in the salad. Mix the dressing ingredients in together and pour the desired amount over the salad.
Do you have a favorite salad recipe? Have you made homemade dressing before? I'd love to hear about your experience and get some new ideas.
Dr. Jamie
