Sugar's the Next Thing on My Hit-List!

Stay Tuned for the blog post...Billie

Oh That Poor Lonely Salt Shaker...over there...

Canadians eat a daily mean of 3,400 millligrams of salt, more than twice the 1,500 mg required by those aged nine to 50. Yet, along with causing heart disease, a high-salt diet contributes to stroke and kidney disease. 

If Canadians were to consume just the amount of salt needed, more than 23,000 heart attacks a day would be prevented, at a health system savings of $1.4 billion.

If you're waiting for the Food Industry to lower the total salt in their offerings, you will be waiting a long time. As with almost everything else to do with your diet (and your life), you are responsible for making the decision about how much salt to use in your food.

For years now, I've been talking about "The Yumminess Factor", which is the internal rating system by which most of us choose our foods. Yes I made this up, but it makes so much sense to me. If you need an example, I have many! 

Take the lowly hot dog...everyone knows by now that hot dogs are made from the lowest quality meats and meat by-products. But does that stop people from eating hot dogs? Not At All! The smell of an outdoor hot dog stand can be enjoyed for miles. The taste of a hot dog, complete with ketchup, mustard, relish, onions, sauerkraut, etc. is ingrained in most people's brains, from their childhood! Whether or not the hot dog offers any nutrition is irrelevant when most people are choosing to eat a hot dog (ie. see the long line of folks at lunchtime, in front of a Japa Dog stand!)...

A few years ago, I was helping to organize an annual public outdoor summer event. I wanted to offer a selection of healthy foods; salads, sandwiches, fruit and veggie trays, etc. Well, when people started to get wind of the fact that there weren't going to be any hotdogs, OMG, what an uproar! "What's a summer picnic without hot dogs", they bemoaned!

The average wiener contains about 320mg of salt. One cup of plain cooked chicken contains about 105mg, plus one teaspoon of salad dressing contains about 135mg. And it's not rocket science to compare the two types of meat for quality and nutrition.

So, if nutrition is on your mind, salt intake should be right behind it. Almost all processed foods are already heavily laden with salt...whatever you do, don't add salt! Leave the salt shaker on the table, looking lonely!

Measuring Your Fitness Output...

I am a total fresh-air lover; nothing makes me feel better than getting outside in the morning, before the traffic gets too heavy, and taking a good walk or run...rain or shine!

However, the drawback to jogging and walking, as well as to rebounding, kangoo jumping, skipping rope, and other forms of free-cardio, is that it's difficult to measure your fitness output.

My new favorite piece of gym equipment is the Precor CrossRamp. This is an elliptical machine, without the arm guides. I've always considered the arm guides a waste of time. First of all, being quite short, I never quite fit the machine properly. And I've noticed that using the arm guides reduces my calories burned per minute. And, since our biggest muscles are our legs, we burn more calories by focusing on increasing our leg work.

Hence my excitement about the CrossRamp. If you have one at your local gym, I highly recommend that you acquaint yourself with this great machine. In only 28 minutes, I burn just over 350 calories. That's only 8 songs on the i-Pod and I'm outta there.

So what about the fresh air? I still do an outdoor workout every other day, and I alternate days in the gym on the CrossRamp (and whatever else I like to do in the gym!).

Keeping in mind that my knee isn't ready for running yet, my outdoor workout includes:

• A 10-minute Power Walk
• High Knee Raises
• Squats (wide and narrow)
• Lunges (walking and stationary)
• Calf Raises
• Bus Bench Leg Lifts

I have no idea how many calories I burn on those days but I enjoy myself immensely, I love the fresh air and fresh dew on the grass, and the chirping of the birds! And that counts for a whole lot!

Don't Wait...Watch It Now!

Thanks to the internet brilliance of my son (I'm sure he'd be more humble about it than that!), I bring you a link that allows you to watch Food Inc. immediately, right on your computer.

Chances are that you, like the rest of us, are embroiled in a deep conversation, either with your family or yourself, about eating better, living healthy longer, and helping preserve Planet Earth. This film will give you many reasons to do just that...

I highly recommend watching (or reading) Food Inc. and, if you'd like a copy to show to friends and family on a larger screen, click through to Amazon.com here and grab your own copy now...

Meanwhile, here's the link: http://videogarden.webs.com

To your health and longevity! Billie

My Favorite "Lifelines" for Health & Wellness

People often tell me that either they want to lose weight or they want to feel better. That's why I share the resources that I do in this blog. I don't believe there's a holy grail system that works for everyone. ButI do believe that everyone can find a system that works for them.

Many companies are trying to save money on the health care expenses of their employees. Case in point, Whole Foods recently created a program for their employees to lose weight. Unfortunately, this did make some employees, who were not in great shape, pretty nervous about their jobs...read on...

http://lifestyle.ca.msn.com/real-life/work/hearst-article.aspx?cp-documentid=24116527

One of my favorite "lifelines" for heath and wellness is the ladies fitness franchise, Curves. I was the Manager at the West Vancouver location a few years ago. In the Lower Mainland, they are everywhere, making them the preferred choice for many ladies who aren't that comfortable stepping into the big-name gyms.

What do I like about Curves?

• They have a simple system, that is easy to learn and follow.
• You show up at your convenience, and your workout starts when you get there.
• 30 minutes plus a stretch - quick in and out.
• You work at your own pace, but you're encouraged to work harder as you get stronger.
• They play all different music styles throughout your workout.
• The gyms are small, and the staff are quite supportive.
• The same cost as the other gyms, which is a steal if you go three times per week.
• Many locations offer discounts and free trial promotions.

So do yourself a favor, and check out your local Curves location. And remember, the key to success at anything in life is FOCUS. Create a 90-day plan for yourself and stick with it.

If you'd like personal support from me, send me your comments or questions.

Beware: The High Fat Salad!

Many people believe that the lowly salad is the ideal diet food. In fact, many people believe that any salad is a healthy salad. As your local contrarian, and person who believes in telling the nutritional truth, here is the skinny on the high fat salad!

3 1/2 cups of lettuce contains about 15 calories. Now this is a lot of lettuce; in fact, it's quite a bowlful! Add some shredded carrot and red cabbage, some sliced green onion, a few cubes of orange and red bell pepper, and some cucumber slices, and you have a full meal.

What's missing here? Oh yes, the salad dressing. Have you ever measured a tablespoon of dressing? Probably not. Have you ever measured how much salad dressing you actually use? Probably not!

In my hand, I'm holding a bottle of Kraft Rancher's Choice Salad Dressing. A look at the label reveals that 1 tablespoon of dressing has 80 calories. Now go measure 1 tbsp of dressing...not much in there, huh?

Most people use salad dressing by the "pour method"...I would wager a bet that most people, for a 3 1/2 cup salad would use almost 1/4 cup of dressing (if you're not sure, go get a measuring cup and see for yourself)...

1/4 c = 4 tbsp. = 4 X 80 = 320 calories in your dressing

Now your 15+ calorie salad, is a 335 calorie salad.

Let's dig a little deeper...back to our salad dressing. Within each of those 80 calories, 72 of them are from fat, a whopping 90%. We multiply that by 4 tbsp = 288 total fat calories, and your meal calculates out at about 85% fat.

And did you now want to add some croutons (high fat)? Let's not go there...

I can hear you jumping up and down and yelling..."Who eats salad without salad dressing? Well, my friend, if you want to enjoy all the benefits of your salad, without all the health-destroying fat calories, never mind the highly processed mystery ingredients in a commercially prepared salad dressing, you might just want to start experimenting!

You might be surprised to discover how delicious real vegetables actually are! Go give it a try!

Creatures of Habit That We Are...

Most of us were raised with sandwiches and crackers...just about everything we had for lunches and snacks required one or the other.

Can you remember having peanut putter and jam in the house but no bread? Ham or bologna, and cheese? Mayo, mustard, and left-over chicken?...but no bread or crackers to put them on? Aaarrrggghh!!

Switching over to a High Raw diet requires quite a change of habits...and thinking!

So I headed out to find something I could put "stuff" on that was raw, ie. unbaked. No, I'm not ready to invest the time, energy, or funds into a dehydrator. Surely someone who finds this whole process a little simpler than I do has thought of this, and prepared something for me to buy, ready-made!

Rescue!!! So far, I have found three local retailers that make and sell "raw crackers" and I bet there's more!

Organic Lives (1829 Quebec @ West 2nd Ave) has 2 varieties:
* Vegetable Crackers made with mostly raw, organic: carrots, onions, cabbage, celery, flax seed, basil, oregano, dill, sea salt
* Sesame Onion Gaufrettes (French delicacy) made with mostly raw, organic: sprouted sesame seeds, oranges, red onions, dates, lemon juice, sea salt

Gorilla Food (436 Richards) - haven't tried them yet but will!

Eternal Abundance (1025 Commercial Dr) - haven't tried them yet but will!

And let's not forget the lowly Lettuce Wrap, first made popular by Milestones, which can hold all manner of yummy things, if you find yourself getting tired of eating your stir-fry, salad, or veggies on a plate!

I buy mine at Superstore and haven't found an organic source yet.

Today's lunch:
Organic Lives Veggie Crackers, smothered with mashed avocado, decorated with a tomato slice, and powdered with a little Spike!

Go Raw! (or keep trying...)