How to Safely Gain Weight

Do you know anyone who wants to gain weight?  (Lol yes those people do exist).

Before you close this article because you don't think it applies to you, stop, because it does.

One of the most important things you can do to take control of your diet and your weight to get the long-term health results you want, is to have a complete and whole understanding of nutrition and what causes weight loss and weight gain.  The more you understand and learn about the big picture no matter what weight you're trying to move towards, the easier it will be for you to achieve your health goals.  

So listen up because today I give you 3 things you need to do to gain weight (or not do if you want to lose weight).

How to (Safely) Gain Weight

1.  The first thing you need to know before you start the weight gain venture is… do you really need to gain weight!?

In the land of the USA where 69% of Americans are overweight and 35% are obese (1) skinny people look abnormal!  Lean people now look like misfits compared to 30 to 50 years ago. 

This promotes comments such as "that boy needs some meat on his bones" when ideally, being as lean as possible without being underweight is optimal -- the best weight to be at.   

Before you start implementing my below weight-gaining tips, make sure you really need to gain weight.  How do you do this?

Check your BMI here.  If you're at a normal weight, great!  Know you're where you're supposed to be.  If not...

2.  Eat more food

I've noticed this frequently, especially with hard-working men.  When they're highly focused and working they just don't eat!  If you want to gain weight you have to eat food and you're going to have to eat more of it.

If you traditionally eat a meat and cheese sandwich for lunch and are now substituting that for an avocado veggie sandwich, you're going to be eating less calories for the same quantity of food.  

So, you're going to have to either eat 2 sandwiches and or eat it with a baked sweet potato or a box of black bean soup.  Additionally, you should eat snacks or mini-meals between your meals.

Starting to eat more food and interrupting your work to eat it, is nothing but a big ol' HABIT.  You need to start doing it everyday and after a 1-3 months, this habit will stick and will become second nature.  Set an alarm on your watch for the same break and lunch times each day.  When it goes off, eat! (no matte what!)

3.  Eat more high calorie dense foods

Calorie density is a measurement of the amount of calories per volume of any given food.  This means some foods will have more calories even though they're in a small amount of food and these are great for someone trying to gain weight.

Why?  Because they're an easy way for you to get more calories in your diet without having to eat food that will contribute to you getting chronic disease (or erectile dysfunction) later in life (skinny people die of heart attacks too).

Healthy, calorie-dense foods include...

- Processed 100% whole grains such as whole-grain breads, crackers, pitas, tortillas, english muffins etc (I love Ezekiel whole-grain flour products)

- Juice and drinks.  Calories consumed in liquid form don't prevent people from eating less in food form.  Great news for weight-gaining wanna-bees.  Choose 100% fruit juice or add plant-milk to your oatmeal or smoothies instead of water.

- Dried fruit.  Because the water has been removed from the fruit, dried fruit isn't as filling as fresh fruit.  You can easily eat 2 TB of raisins and still be hungry versus the same amount of calories in grapes.  Add dried fruit to your meals or eat as snacks.

- High-fat plant foods such as olives, nuts, seeds, coconut, avocado and whole soy products can be added more generously to your meals to increase the caloric-density of your food.  Add an extra TB of ground flax seed to your oatmeal (along with dried fruit and plant-milk) and you'll easily add more calories to this important meal.

Take Control Now

What's the greatest insight you gained from this article?

Share your comments by clicking 'comment' below.

References

1.  CDC, Overweight and Obesity FastStats. Accessed online Oct. 2014 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm

How to Stop Eating Junk Regularly

I have a confession to make… I've been eating foods regularly that I tell you not to eat!  Like cake, (4 times in one week, ahh!).

My guidelines for treats are to eat them on special occasions only (chocolate on Valentines day, cake on grandma's 80th birthday etc.) and to eat them outside of the house to avoid over-eating which will impede on your health and weight-loss goals.  

Why did I not follow my own recommendations?

Like you, I have A LOT going on.  Working full-time on an organic veggie farm, building my business, keeping up with relationships, moving and the list goes on (sound familiar?).

At work, the organic veggie farm, there tends to be a lot of 'junk' food in the break room… donuts, cake, ice-cream bars etc. on an almost daily basis.  Which normally, I honestly do fine around.  I don't care that it's there and don't care about eating it.  I'm not even a big cake person and after eating so well for so many years, not being addicting to fat, sugar and salt, treats rarely tempt me.

However, towards the end of the summer when I was exhausted, physically worked and with everything else going on in life, I walked into the break room and you-betcha, there was cake.  And you know what, I ate some!  

Within that week, after that first initial sugar blast, I ended up eating a chocolate muffin, a donut and another piece of cake all within 5 days.

 

How to Stop Eating Junk Regularly

How did I stop this pattern of destructive behavior?  

1.  First off, I made up my mind that I just needed to stop because I couldn't let myself go down the junk-food path again.

2.  More importantly, I sanitized my environment or removed myself from unhealthy eating environments to not tempt myself and decrease my chances of eating treats.

This means that at work, I just stopped going in the break room for lunch.  I can't remove other people's food and treats, so I removed myself from them instead (I ate lunch under a tree and enjoyed the beautiful view).

3.  You should never keep treats in your home as well.  This way, if you have a rough day and are hungry and tempted you can't eat ice-cream because it's not there!  

When you try and use will-power to eat healthy, it's only a matter of time until you give-in to foods you shouldn't eat.  That's why it's so important to set-up your environment so it works for you, not against you.

If your husband still eats junk food and you're trying to stop, ask him to move all of the food you don't want to eat into a separate cabinet or to a place in the house where you don't have to see it and know where it is.  Out of sight, out of mind.

4.  Lastly, if you do end up eating some junk don't beat yourself up about it!  Just brush it off and try again.  

5.  If you eat a healthy, plant-based diet 90% of the time and end up eating some cake like I did, it's not that big of a deal (especially because I don't have any diseases).  I eat so well the rest of the time that a piece of cake (or 4) isn't going to do much damage.  

However, if you're eating cake and donuts weekly, meat, cheese, oil and refined flour products daily, you're going to be in trouble and it's highly likely you're going to gain weight or are setting yourself up for diabetes, cancer or heart disease later in life and I don't want to see that happen to you or your family!  

If you're interested in adopting a health-promoting and permanent weight-loss diet learn what to eat here and here.

Take Control Now

How have you stopped eating junk in the past?  What's your biggest insight from this article to share with others?

Answer in the comments section below.

One Way to Get Your Kids Eating More Veggies - the Rainbow

The plant kingdom is abundant in beautiful colors -- a range of purples and blues, shades of greens, yellow, orange, white, brown and red.  Not only do these colors create beautiful works of art, but the colors themselves have health promoting properties as well.  

For example, orange fruits and veggies such as yams, oranges, pumpkins and mangoes are full of beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant and immune system strengthener.  

Dark leafy green veggies such as kale and collard greens are high in folate which is essential for cell building and genetic material.

Red plants contain lycopene, a cancer fighter; purple and blue plants have anthocyanins which destroy free radicals and white foods such as garlic and onions contain allyl sulfides which fight caner cells too.

Plus… all of these foods are naturally low in calories, fat, contain zero cholesterol and all of them contain fiber!  Whole plant foods are essential for your health and weight loss goals!

Remembering to 'eat the rainbow' is a simple way for you and your children to learn about and eat more of these whole, plant foods.  

I've taught almost more than 2,500 children from K-12th grade about the importance of eating the different colors and students had a lot of fun doing so.

If your child is pre-K to 1st grade, you can have them gather different fruits and vegetables into their respective color groups.  You can do this at home, at the grocery store, at the farmer's market, in the garden or while unpacking groceries.  

For older students, I've used bingo boards with different colored columns.  Each block within a color column has a fruit of veggies picture on it.  As the bingo caller, you call out a color column and a random fact about a particular fruit or veggie in that column.  The students raise their hand to guess which plant they think it is.

These games are even better if you get to eat a rainbow meal as well such as fruit salad or a veggie wrap with hummus or avocado after the game.  

Take Control Now

Are you eating the rainbow everyday?  Are your grandkids?  What's one way you can incorporate more colors into your daily diet?

Answer in the comments section below.

Why Superfoods Suck

I still remember browsing for spices in the grocery store 2 years ago when I overheard a concerned and overweight couple (mid 50s).  They were searching for turmeric.  I over heard them say "we hear it's really good for you" to the market employee as they painfully walked down the aisle.  

Studies have been done on turmeric and its effect on diabetes.  I assumed the couple was struggling with their health and were hoping turmeric was going to help them feel better. Unfortunately, the advertising of superfoods such as turmeric, Maca Powder and goji berries etc. can be quite misleading and here's why...

If you're unhealthy or overweight and all you do is add a superfood to your regular diet, it's highly unlikely that any physical positive change are going to come from that, especially if you're eating the standard American diet (SAD!).  What is for certain however, is that if your whole diet shifts away from one that is mostly made of processed, refined foods and animal foods (like most Americans eat), to a diet comprised of at least 90% whole, plant foods, you're health is going to improve significantly and quickly.

For example, if all you do is add a tsp of turmeric to your diet or a tbsp of maca powder, that's not going to cut it compared to eating fruit and oatmeal every morning, veggie pasta with bread and a salad for lunch and a rice and bean burrito with salsa and guacamole for dinner.  And for dessert?  Yes of course, banana ice-cream! 

You could lose 1-3 pounds per week and reduce or eliminate cholesterol medication, blood pressure medication, insulin and other medications within one month by switching the totality of your diet to a whole foods, plant-based diet without superfoods!  

I'm not trying to say these individual superfoods aren't high in nutrition and aren't very healthy… they are!  And if you're eating them, don't stop!  It's not the superfoods themselves that I don't like, but the concept of superfoods is what sucks, or rather, what's misleading.  

Many people believe these superfoods will save them.  Superfoods are another 'magic bullet', reductionist, solution to a wholistic (yes, purposely spelled with a 'w') problem - the entire American diet. 

Take Control Now

What did you learn from this episode?  Have you ever been sucked into the 'superfood' trap?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.  Thanks for watching (or reading!).  See you next Tuesday!

5 Ways to Save Grocery Money on a Vegan Diet

People claim eating a healthy, plant-based diet is more expensive and thus a reason you might shy away from it.  Or maybe you use this as an excuse?  

Well no longer can you use money as an excuse for not eating a healthy, whole foods, plant-based diet. Why not?  Because here's 5 ways you'll actually save money on your groceries by not just eating healthier, but by losing 1-3 pounds a week AND reducing medications! (1,2,3).  Permanent weight-loss and medication reduction are highly likely when you fully adhere to a whole foods, plant-based diet for the long-term.

5 Ways to Save Grocery Money on a Vegan Diet

1. Buy beans, rice, pasta and potatoes as your staples.

Why?  Because they're cheaper per pound, they're more filling so you eat less calories throughout the day AND they're healthier for you than animal and refined foods!  

For example, Julieanna Hever, MS aka the Plant-Based Dietician, shared the below graphic with plant and animal food price differences on her blog describing additional ways to save money on a plant-based diet.  

                                                                 Graphic from www.plantbaseddietician.com

2. Don't buy organic.

Don't get me wrong, I love organic foods.  I work full-time on Spring Hill Organic vegetable farm in Albany, Oregon and I love eating our organic produce daily.  I'm thankful I don't work with pesticides or insecticides and that my surrounding ecosystem on the farm isn't threatened either.

However, severe heart disease and type II diabetes have been reversed on a whole food, plant-based diet without the food being organic or GMO free.  The Environmental Working Group (EWG) also states "the health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh risks of pesticide exposure" (4).

You can opt to buy the dirtiest produce as organic and the least sprayed produce as inorganic as a way to save money on fruits and veggies.  Check out the cleanest and dirtiest fruits and veggies on the EWG's dirty dozen list here.

3. Don't buy refined junk food.

It's not just animal foods that are more expensive, refined junk food is too!  

Take Kettle Potato chips for example.  Around $2.72 per 5 oz. bag, these chips cost you about $8.16 per pound!  That's more expensive than most organic veggies!  Plus potato chips are dreadful for you.  Don't eat them.  Eat a baked potato with salsa instead!

Use my suggested staple foods in #1 (pasta, beans, rice, potatoes) as snacks instead of refined junk foods and not only will you save money, you'll save 100s of calories as well!  My favorite snacks are baked sweet potatoes or yams which run about $1.49 per pound.

4.  Don't buy oil.

This includes extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil.  Not only is oil weight-promoting (it's 120 calories per tablespoon, the most calorie dense food on the planet and 100% fat) but severe heart disease was reversed without oil in the diet (1,2).  

Learn '5 Reasons Why Oil isn't a Health Food' and 'How to Sauté without Oil' on these episodes of Take Control Tuesdays. 

5. Save money on medication and health care.

When you adopt and adhere to a whole foods, plant-based diet, it's likely you'll prevent going on medication, eliminate the amount of meds you're on or, get off of them completely!  What a huge money saver that is!

You're likely to relieve yourself from colds, acne, low energy, arthritis, cancer, type II diabetes, erectile dysfunction and the list goes on! (5).  Now this, will save you money!

Take Control Now

What's the greatest insight you learned from today's episode?  What's a different way you save money on groceries by eating healthier?

Answer in the comments section below.

References

1. Ornish, D et al. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA. 1998 Dec 16;280(23):2001-7.
2. Esselstyn CB Jr., Updating a 12-year experience with arrest and reversal therapy for coronary heart disease (an overdue requiem for palliative cardiology). Am J Cardiol. 1999 Aug 1;84(3):339-41, A8.

3. Decreases in dietary glycemic index are related to weight loss among individuals following therapeutic diets for type 2 diabetes, J Nutr. 2011 Aug;141(8):1469-74. 

4. The Environmental Working Group, Shopper's Guide to Pesticide Produce. Accessed online September 2014.

5. Campbell, TC. 'Whole. Rethinking the Science of Nutrition' 2013. Ben Bella Books, Dallas, Texas.