Benefits of eating well

WHOLE BODY-AND-MIND BENEFITS OF EATING WELL✨

🔬Dr. Erin Barrett, a scientist at Shaklee, put together this list of just SOME of the ways food has a direct impact on you:

  • Mental health: Specific nutrients, such as antioxidants in fruits and veggies and omega-3 fatty acids in fish, support your mental well-being.
  • Energy levels: Your body breaks down foods for fuel. Balanced meals and healthy snacks help you have steady energy.
  • Brain function: Certain foods, especially those rich in antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, and other nutrients, support cognitive function.
  • Digestion: Fiber-rich foods (e.g., fruits, veggies, whole grains) aid digestion and help prevent GI issues like constipation. Probiotics found in yogurt and fermented foods promote a healthy gut.
  • Weight: A balanced diet helps support a healthy weight (which also supports your overall health).
  • Immune function: A well-balanced diet helps provide multiple nutrients that are essential to your body’s ability to fight off invaders.
  • Heart health: A diet rich in fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean proteins, and omega-3 fatty acids supports heart health. A high intake of saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium can contribute to heart disease.
  • Bone strength: Calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium are essential. A diet lacking these nutrients can increase the risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures.
  • Skin: Nutrients like vitamins A, C, E, biotin, and zinc contribute to glowing skin. Antioxidants from fruits and veggies also support your skin health.

Whew! Few things affect your whole being as much as food does.

Ask for our recipe book for healthy recipes!  We are here to help.

Coaching people to a better life.

Hydration tips

When my mother was living with my niece, she was taken to the hospital twice.  The problem:  Dehydration.  She wasn’t getting proper hydration. Mother has some memory issues and does not like to drink water. She was not well supervised and was left to sit on the sofa all day in front of the television.  She was given a bottle of water but seldom finished it by the end of the day.

When I ask my clients how much water they drink a day, the answer is most often, “A lot. I get enough water.”  After they spend a day or two measuring the water they actually drink, a majority of them are shocked at how little they really are taking in.

I am currently in a group that is working on getting enough water and developing habits to make sure that we reach our water intake goals each day.  You might be surprised at how easy it can be, once you know and practice the steps.

Here are a few things to help you get there:

  • Plan for at least 64 ounces of water per day. ( the pervasive rule of thumb is divide your body weight by half and go for that many ounces.)
  • Drink water first thing in the morning, before any other beverage.
  • Drink 4 to 8 ounces of water before breakfast.
  • Drink 4 to 8 ounces of water before snacks.
  • Drink 4 to 8 ounces of water before dinner.

As you can see, it is a simple process. It only takes the effort to make it a habit. And habits develop at different rates for different people.

You might be thinking, wow 64+ oz is a lot of water, how am I going to drink that much? Well, we’ve got lots of tips!✨

 

First, let’s talk about how much water your body actually needs.🤔 While the EXACT amount you need depends on your activity level, health conditions, height and weight, gender, and even fiber and caffeine intake, there are some general guidelines. According to the Institute of Medicine‘s recommendations:

  • Men should drink 13 cups (about 3 liters) of water each day.
  • Women should drink 9 cups (just over 2 liters) of water each day. Pregnant women should drink 10 cups of water daily, and breastfeeding women should drink 12 cups.
  • Kids and teens should drink 6 to 8 cups of water a day.

💧 HOW HYDRATED ARE YOU?

A practical way to track your hydration level is to note the color of your urine right after you get up in the morning. Straw or lemonade-colored urine is a sign of proper hydration. Dark-colored urine—closer to the color of apple juice—indicates dehydration.  Let’s see how getting more water might change the color of your pee. Don’t be shy––we’re all in this together!

One thing that helps me drink more water is having a nice water bottle that shows how much water I need to be drinking. It is also a good way to keep measurement of your intake.

If you don’t measure, you don’t really know. After a while, you will have a feel for how your hydration level is.

 

Drink water and find new ways to do it consistently

 

Being consistent is key in all aspects of life.

What you do every now and then doesn’t count.  What matters is what you do every day. It’s about being consistent.

What aspect of this do you think this is true of for you?

One guy is consistent at walking every morning, sometimes at 5 a.m. He’s being consistent.

Another guy shows up at our networking meeting every week with printed rosters for everyone. He’s being consistent.

Someone else is at church every Sunday. That’s being consistent.

The compound effect

There is a book called The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy. (find it on Amazon)  It discusses the importance of how being consistent with a habit can have huge impact on our lives.  And these can be good or bad.  It seems that repeated actions will seem to have little if any effect for a period of time. Then suddenly there is a big, exponential growth noticed.

As I said, this habit can be good or bad.  How does one become obese? There’s no sudden need to eat a whole pie after dinner each night.  It starts slowly and then suddenly they are buying double XL T shirts.  Their overeating became a habit and the weight mushroomed into an unhealthy state.

I do pride myself in being consistent.

  • If you sit near me here at the Tuesday morning networking meetings, you will see that I am consistent at taking my daily strip of vitamins.
  • You will find me at the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:15 a.m.
  • I drink a glass of water first thing every morning.
  • I floss my teeth every day.  I am being consistent.

Why is this important?

Health habits are very important to maintaining our lifestyle.  As time progresses, we are no longer able to stand without a groan, sprint across the street or keep up with a friend on a walk.  Vacations become more sedentary as one cannot walk or climb as much as when they were younger.

I encourage my massage clients and my customers to look at what their health habits have become and those they may want to incorporate into their routines.

Exercise.

While we are very consistent with our breathing, we are not always in control of how we breathe. It is usually pretty shallow.   How do we develop a habit of breathing deeper, longer breaths?

We can take that power and control back. Here is an exercise to help improve your breathing that can add stamina to your day, help you relax more and improve your sleep.

Sit comfortably with your hands in your lap.  Take note of your breathing. Are you breathing into your throat?  Your chest?  Your lower abdomen?

Use a balloon to be consistent in improving your breathingTo help you be more conscious of the depth of your breathing, get an ordinary balloon.

Blow into the balloon and quietly let the air out of the balloon. Where did your effort to blow up the balloon come from?

Blow into the balloon again and make an effort to use your lower abdomen to push the air into the balloon.  Empty as much air as you can into the balloon.  Release the air from the balloon.

Repeat this procedure a few more times.  Slow down if you get light headed. This may be something you need to work up to.

Using your powers of consistency, do this on a daily basis.  You will notice an easier process of breathing.  Be aware if you have increased stamina.  What is happening with your sleep after being consistent with this for a period of time?

Moving forward

Think about your health habits.  Commit to one new habit that you will take on for the next 30 days. I feel certain that the compound effect will happen for you.

high food costs

Dollar signs in an orange circle.  Depicting the rising high food costsWe have all experienced the sharp increase in the high food costs these last three years. But in the past few decades the nutritional value of our food has decreased dramatically. Even when we select good foods we have to make very careful choices and pay more high food costs for a cleaner option. It does cost more to go organic. It does cost more to go non-GMO in our food choices. And it ishigh food costs can be mitigated with this clean food product that builds health  
more expensive to select meat products that do not contain growth hormones.

There is one food that can check all the boxes for eating clean and optimal nutrition. That food gives 20 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber, 24 vitamins and minerals, Omega 3 fatty acids, ancient grains that provide prebiotics and it’s non-GMO. It also contains healthy digestive enzymes and it’s powered by leucine.

As a side note:

  • Prebiotics provide food for the healthy bacteria in your digestive tract.
  • Enzymes help with the overall digestion process.
  • Leucine is an amino acid that helps to preserve lean muscle mass.
  • The protein also contains all 9 essential amino acids, those your body cannot produce.

That is a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to selecting food. It’s difficult to get a food this clean and this nutritious in one serving.  So why wouldn’t you make this a selection for part of your daily food intake?

Green is cheaper

Does it make sense that going green is cheaper? When you think about using eco-safe products what comes to mind first?  You are not alone if you thing that using more earth-friendly products is more expensive than conventional cleaning products.

There is a way to see that green is cheaper.  Think about the cleaning products you buy at the store. They are usually Red Aztec Lilly. Beauty from nature that is treated well. Green is cheaperpackaged in a plastic bottle.  They are formulated to use as is, meaning you don’t have to add water because it is already diluted with water from the manufacturer.  Once you have used the product you will toss the bottle into a recycling bin (hopefully) or into the trash (sadly).  What you have just paid for is water from the factory that was shipped at great expense.  You have just paid for and disposed of another plastic container that has to be delt with either by disposal or recycling.

When you purchase Mrs. Mey..’s or 7th Gen******* products  you are getting biodegradable and non-toxic products.  You are also getting water and a new plastic bottle each time.  That is not maximizing your efforts to going green.  It is also not helping you have a smaller carbon footprint.

Consider using a concentrated cleaning product that is biodegradable and has no scent or harmful chemicals; one that is sustainably sourced.  There is only one bottle that would be used for up to 2 years in a normal Green is cheaper when you use Shaklee Productshousehold.  You have about 3 spray bottles that you use over and over during these 2 years.  How many bottles have you saved the landfill or recycling center from having to deal with? Quite a few I would guess.   You are also paying only one shipping fee instead of going to the store over and over and hoping you remember to buy the products.

Make life easy. Make going green cheaper.  Use biodegradable, non-toxic cleaners for your home.  Its better for you, your pets, your home and your earth.