1. Keep Your Blood Sugar Balanced
   When you eat a carbohydrate-rich meal, it sends your blood sugar soaring. The body immediately releases a hormone (insulin) whose job it is to wrangle that sugar and get it out of the bloodstream and into the muscle cells. To put it simply, when you keep eating high carbohydrate foods your insulin levels don't go down and you store fat. High blood sugar also make you prone to diabetes, heart trouble and many other health problem.  I will go into more details about this in another newsletter.   
   For today I want you to know managing your blood sugar is one the most important principles in managing your health and weight.  
   The best way to manage you blood sugar is first go easy on the sugary foods.   Also each meal and snack should contain Protein, Fat and Fiber so the sugars are absorbed into your body slowly and steadily.  This will prevent your blood sugar from spiking and keep your insulin levels in the healthy rage preventing your from storing fat and allowing you to burn fat   
    
2. Never drink sugar beverages, not even  fruit juice. Liquid sugar calories are the most addictive "food" in our diet. Liquid calories drive up your appetite and your waist size more than anything else.  You literally pour on the pounds. What makes it worse is sweet drinks stimulate the same part of the brain as cocaine and  when they are loaded with caffeine it compounds their addictive properties.  
    
3. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate! Make water your drink of choice. Drink water like it is your job.  Our brain is 90% water your body 75% and even minor dehydration will result in a drop in energy and brain function.  Your metabolism slows down when you don't have enough water.  Your organs stop working when you don't have enough water.   
    
4. Eat 70% of your diet as vegetables.
   You want to have some type of vegetable at every meal, if possible including breakfast.  Vegetables especially green vegetables will fill your body with the nutrients you need for your organs to do their job efficiently.  Vegetables actually turn on your genes for good health.  
   I like smoothies for breakfast, salads for lunch and 2 types of vegetables for dinner.   I recommend making one roasted or grilled and one steamed or sautéed or have a salad and a cooked vegetable. You can find delicious vegetable recipes on my website.   
    
5. Don't Eat Dinner Late. Ideally you want to eat dinner by 7pm. If this is hard for your schedule, I understand, do your best to at least be done by 8pm.  Eating late prevents you from detoxing and rebuilding which is what your body needs to do when sleeping.  You will put on weight by eating late meals. Don't snack after dinner.  The only exception to this is if you wake up in the night from low blood sugar. If this is the case, I recommend a small protein snack such as a piece of chicken or turkey, some pumpkin seeds or some chia pudding before bed to keep your blood sugar stable through the night.  
    
6. Eat Healthy Fats. The way to program you genes to burn fat is by eating more omega-3 fats and less omega-6s.  The way to do this is to avoid most vegetable oils. Vegetable oils are oils extracted from seeds like the rapeseed (canola oil) soybean (soybean oil), corn, sunflower, safflower, etc. These oils were practically non-existent in our diets until the early 1900s when new chemical processes allowed them to be extracted. Unlike butter or coconut oil, these vegetable oils can't be extracted just by pressing or separating naturally. They must be chemically removed, deodorized and altered. These are some of the most chemically altered foods in our diets, yet they get promoted as healthy.
   
   There are so many wonderful and healthy fats that are beneficial to the body, so there is no reason to consume the unhealthy ones.  Fats that can be consumed freely for optimal health are coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, ghee and limited amounts of butter (unless you are sensitive to dairy).  You can also get good fats from avocados, wild cold water fish like wild salmon and sardines and in nuts, seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds.  For optimal health include a serving of healthy fats at every meal.   
    
7. Be sure you get enough sleep. Getting between 7-8 hours of sleep each night increases your metabolism and balances your hormones, especially insulin and cortisol. Not getting enough sleep creates major stress throughout your entire body.    
    
8. Leave out chemicals and processed foods.  Avoid all preservatives as these put stress on your liver.  When your liver is cleaning out chemicals it can't work on rebuilding and breaking down fats it will cause you to put on weight.  Read every label, if you can't pronounce it don't eat it.Avoid all artificial sweetener and colorings.  These have neurotoxins which affect your brain. They are found in sugar free anything.Buy organic free range chicken and meat.  The chemicals which are given to factory farmed animals get stored in your fat cells preventing you from losing weight.    
    
9. Eat Raw Fermented Vegetables.  Scientist are discovering raw fermented vegetables are the new star in a healthy diet.The reason is you need to have good intestinal flora to keep your digestion working properly. Raw fermented vegetables contain live natural probiotics which colonize your intestines with the good bacteria you need.   I love fermented vegetables because eating them builds up this intestinal flora to improve your digestion and keep your immune system strong. In order to be healthy you need to have a strong immune system. The immune system works directly with your gut. It has been shown that between 70% and 80% of the cells that make up your immune system are in your gut. Your gut is where everything gets into your body.  It is the doorway to your health. 
    
10. Manage Your Stress. Anything stressful, whether real or imagined can trigger hormones that activate cravings, shut down digestion and signal your organs to stop working on what they are doing. This causes you to gain weight.  Many of us live with constant stress because of our thoughts, worrying about what might happen. In this state our system is constantly flooded with a cortisol which is directly related to abdominal fat. Stress makes it very difficult to lose weight. Stress also decreases your nutrient absorption so even if you're eating well, you won't be able to absorb your food.  EFT is one of the best tools I know for managing stress.
     

I hope this helps you to achieve vibrant health and natural permanent weigh loss.   

I would love to help you with your cravings so you can stop struggling with your food, eat well and enjoy life.  

Send me an email at ingrid@eatwellenjoylife.com to set up your Tap Down Your Cravings Session this month at 50% off the regular price.  

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Love & Hugs