It's Here!! Our NEW Emotional Well-being eBook! Get Your FREE Copy Now!

As many of us know because of our own life journey, emotional well being and physical health go hand-in-hand. This is why we have created a special new ebook with Connie Stapleton, Ph.D. entitled Emotional Barriers to Sustained Weight Loss Success: Facing Our Fears, Mindset, and Addictions. This ebook highlights the importance of addressing our mental health and emotions related to food. This is especially pertinent as we enter into the fall season and with the holidays quickly approaching. The key to our sustained success in living a healthy lifestyle is addressing our emotional well-being.

Inside this much-need ebook you'll find:

• Ideas and resources to help you on your emotional well-being journey 
• Steps to help you live life as your healthiest self
• How to achieve a positive mindset
• Tools to support you in a right-sized eating environment 

We are honored to be partnering with Connie Stapleton, Ph.D. who is a well-known and well-regarded psychologist who specializes in helping people live life fully, free from the mental and emotional shackles of constant thoughts (and guilt) related to food and weight. Join us for a lively conversation about the launch of our new ebook and the topics of our emotional well-being and living a healthy lifestyle. We will be live on Facebook tonight this Tuesday, October 8, 2019. You can follow us on Facebook here, so you don't miss out on this exciting collaboration!

Livliga was created to support people in their journey to live and sustain a healthier lifestyle. This ebook is intended to reinforce the importance of tending to our mental and emotional health. As is the case with all our ebooks, this one is free and downloadable. May it help inspire and motivate you to take the next steps.

To Your Healthiest You! Live Vibrant!

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Guest Blog: Living With Diabetes--It's all about Portion Control

Anna Norton, MS, has been living with type 1 diabetes since August 1993

As part of our month-long partnership with DiabetesSisters during National Diabetes Month, Livliga will be posting guest blogs from members of the DiabetesSisters' community. As you can see from this first blog, portion control is a key aspect of managing and living with diabetes. Livliga is all about portion control. That is why we want to share these important stories. Here is Anna's:

I’ve lived with diabetes for over 22 years, diagnosed at a time and place where my education was limited. Most of what I learned in the early years of managing diabetes came from books and magazine articles. It was until 2000, when I went on an insulin pump, when I learned to count carbohydrates as part of my diabetes treatment plan. 

Part of counting carbohydrates includes managing portions to know exactly how much I am consuming so I can appropriately dose my medication. Over the years, I have learned many way to facilitate this, including all the hand trick – a fist is roughly one cup, the palm of my hand is a serving size of protein, my fingertip is a teaspoon, my thumb is a tablespoon. I’ve also discovered 100-calorie packs of my favorite snacks foods, and most recently purchased mixed nuts that come this way, allowing me to consume them without eating too many (I love almonds, cashews, and walnuts – but the fat content is exorbitant!). I also purchase individual portions of rice and chocolate puddings (my favorite snacks), apple slices and carrots, and cut up other fruits, such as grapes, to equal a serving size for easy access in the refrigerator.

Finally, when I treat hypoglycemia, which happens a few times a month, I employ my portion control skills to consume roughly 15-20 grams of carbohydrates. I keep snack-sized baggies in a basket in the pantry, filled with crackers, jellybeans, granola bars, cereal, and other candies.

Like all aspects of living with diabetes, portion sizes have become second nature to me. I keep an assortment of measuring cups and spoons within easy access in my kitchen, I use visual cues to help me when dining out, and I try to stay on top of what the food industry is marketing to help me along.

About the Guest Blogger

Anna Norton, MS, has been living with type 1 diabetes since August 1993. Recently appointed CEO of DiabetesSisters, she is dedicated to improving the lives of women living with diabetes through peer support and education. Anna graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida and Master of Science in Education at Florida International University. She has worked for large university systems and metropolitan health care systems since 1999, with a focus on major gift fundraising, annual gifts, event planning and community relations. She currently resides in the Chicago-area with her family.

About DiabetesSisters

DiabetesSisters is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the health and quality of women with diabetes, and to advocate on their behalf. Founded in 2008, the organization offers a safe environment for women living with diabetes through online (www.diabetessisters.org) and in-person programs such as forums, blogs, webinars, National Conferences, Leadership Institutes, and monthly peer support group meetings throughout the United States.

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November is National Diabetes Awareness Month—Take Time to Know the Facts

There is a reason why a month has been dedicated to raising our awareness about diabetes. It is a killer disease. According to the World Health Organization over 1.1 million people die from the disease each year. In reality many more die from diabetes but it is recorded as kidney failure or heart disease.  Deaths from diabetes are projected to rise more than 50% in the next 10 years and, not too surprisingly, to 80% in middle to upper income countries.

Diabetes has now been labeled an emerging global epidemic, which can be traced back to the rapid increase in obesity. According to the American Recall Center, diabetes affects over 25 million people in the United States, or 8.3% of the entire population. Within those 25 million people, over 8 million are undiagnosed, or do not know they are living with diabetes.

What are the symptoms of diabetes? According to the American Diabetes Association common symptoms of diabetes are:

• Urinating often
• Feeling very thirsty
• Feeling very hungry – even though you are eating
• Extreme fatigue
• Blurry vision
• Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal
• Weight loss – even though you are eating more (type 1)
• Tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands/feet (type 2)

The positive news is for most people diabetes can be prevented. For those living with diabetes the disease can be managed effectively by taking steps to live a healthy lifestyle. Just like with obesity it is all about diet and exercise. Research shows we can dramatically reduce the risk of developing the disease and its complications if we engage in moderate physical activity for 30 minutes each day and eat a healthy diet. For inspiration please check out my blog for healthy recipes, gadgets and tools and lifestyle examples.

Here is a list of specific diabetes information resources:

American Diabetes Association (http://www.diabetes.org)

Diabetes Public Health Resource (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/consumer/index.htm)

Diabetes Awareness (http://www.cdc.gov/features/livingwithdiabetes)

Diabetes in Older People: A Disease You Can Manage (http://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/diabetes-older-people)

Minority Women’s Health: Diabetes (http://www.womenshealth.gov/minority-health/latinas/diabetes.html)

I Have Diabetes (http://ndep.nih.gov/i-have-diabetes/index.aspx)

What African Americans with Diabetes or High Blood Pressure Need to Know [PDF– 2 MB] (http://nkdep.nih.gov/resources/african-american-kidney-disease-508.pdf) 

Please spread the word and help raise the awareness about diabetes. It can be as easy as sharing this blog. 

We all need to be more aware. Let’s Live Vibrant Together! 

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Reflections on the YouTube Video: Rewind the Future—Stop the Cycle

Rewind the Future--Stop the Cycle

There has been much conversation in recent days about a YouTube video that has resurfaced: Rewind the Future—Stop the Cycle. It is pretty graphic. It shows all the ways we over feed ourselves with super-sized portions of food that is less than healthy for us. The video starts with a morbidly obese man on a gurney in the ER (we presume he is suffering from a heart attack). The video shows images of all the overeating and all the unhealthy choices that led up to the ER scene.

There is an obesity epidemic. Frightening statistics are thrown at us every day: 73 % of Americans are either over weight or obese; childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years; and, it is now estimated that 1 out of every 3 people will have diabetes by 2050. These are the facts. It is easy for us to see with our own eyes when we look around us.

What has gotten people riled is that the video shows scenes with a mother over time encouraging unhealthy eating, starting with her feeding her baby French fries to keep him quiet. What mother hasn’t made choices like that? We are hardly perfect and we have a super-sized food culture that actually sets us up for failure. Moms are not the root of the problem but we can be a significant part of the solution.

No mom wakes up everyday and says “how can I kill my kid with food today?” In fact, this is the furthest from our mind. Our dream is to have our children grow up healthy and happy. The reality is we have not understood the consequences of the food we have served our children. It is all too easy to make unhealthy food choices because of the fast food world we live in. Portions are huge. Readily accessible, affordable food is packed full of calories and harmful ingredients we don’t need. And if that wasn’t bad enough, our culture and family traditions have us thinking it is a good idea to over feed our kids because food is the manifestation of our love.

Because we love our children, we have to lead the fight to change ourselves and our culture when it comes to our food habits. We have to because our current ways are killing us and our kids. It starts with us. Parents have an incredible influence on our kids. By learning about healthier foods and healthier lifestyle habits we can begin to make the change and bring everyone along with us.

There are more and more resources available to learn what is healthy and ways to make it easier to implement those changes in our households. There are programs to take advantage of through our employers and through our health insurance that are free. To find out the basics about healthy eating you can go to myplate.gov. There are many websites that offer healthy recipes like myrecipe.com and cookinglight.com. Then there are great resources for revving up your physical activity and exercise like myfitnesspal.com or you can just search on YouTube for great exercise videos—all for free. For kid specific information checkout kids eat right.

For fun tools to engage your kids think about books you can read together like Sammie and Sax in the Land of Quinoa: the Search for a Balanced Meal or give them their own right-sized dishware to support healthy eating. There are even healthy and kid-friendly recipes you can find and have your children participate in the preparation of the meal. Research shows the best way to get kids to try new foods and healthy foods is to have them help prepare them.

Rewind the Future—Stop the Cycle may be an exaggeration and unfair assessment of a mother’s role in her child’s obesity but it is most certainly a wake up call for all of us. We do have the ability to make a healthier world for our children and it starts in our own kitchen. Let’s stand up to the challenge.

#obesity

#prevention

#rewindthefuture

#momsuniteforhealth

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#TooFatToRun?...Its Time to Join the Movement!

#TooFatToRun?...Its Time to Join the Movement!

There is a new heroine in the world: Julie Creffield. She is singularly responsible for creating the #TooFatToRun? movement. It is all because she started to participate in organized runs but soon found that people had expectations about who should run. It seems that if you are overweight you don’t fit the profile. It is amazing to me that people who are working hard to be healthy are experiencing prejudice and negative behavior from others. I know it is true, I have experienced it myself.

There is a distinct line between encouraging awareness and action in others to embrace and live a healthier life and the very uncool, even harmful behavior exhibited by thoughtless people who verbally abuse or not so subtlety shun people who are over weight. With the growing movement for all of us to live healthier lives it is exciting to see so many people engaging in improving and fostering their own good health. The challenge is that there are small-minded people out there who think that because of the push towards health they have the right to publically harass, humiliate or ridicule individuals who are overweight or obese. This is very uncool and unacceptable. In my opinion we should push back hard on this behavior and role model healthy, positive and encouraging behavior.

This is exactly what Julie Creffield (a.k.a. @FattyMustRun) is doing. Julie is my new idol. She is doing something she enjoys and persevering while bringing attention to the underlying prejudice that exists out in the world towards fat people who participate in organized activities and sports. And the even better news is she is getting others involved. I would even bet there are those “taking up the sword” and getting active just so they can be part of the movement.

Julie has galvanized people to get up and run. By positive example people all over the world are showing us there is no such thing as #TooFatToRun?...No way! The movement and its followers have adopted a positive attitude and are leading by example. These are the people I want my children to look up to, cheer on, and run beside. I can’t wait to order my Too Fat To Run? t-shirt, wear it with pride, and help call attention to an unhealthy prejudice that needs to be excised so we can all get on with embracing a healthier lifestyle. Let’s all—Live Vibrant!

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Shocking Trend of Inactivity Adds to Rise in Obesity

Shocking Trend of Inactivity Adds to Rise in Obesity (photo by LivligaHome)

It should not be a surprise to any of us that lack of exercise contributes to our weight gain, our growing health issues and the increase in the obesity epidemic. What is shocking is the soaring escalation in our inactivity in a little over a decade. Here is a summary of the recent research out of Stanford Medical School:

Overeating may not be the chief cause of America’s obesity epidemic. New research from Stanford Medical School indicates the real culprit is too little exercise—indeed, too little physical activity of any kind. From 1994 to 2010, the percentage of adult women who did no physical activity in their spare time climbed from 19 percent to nearly 52 percent, while the number of sedentary men increased from 11 percent to almost 44 percent. “We suspected there was a trend in that direction, but not to that magnitude,” Stanford’s Uri Ladabaum tells the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, over that same period, the average body mass index for women went up by 0.37 percent per year. But in the study’s key finding, researchers saw no evidence of an increase in overall calorie consumption. The study drew on self-reported data collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A separate review of 20 long-term studies showed that obesity can shorten life expectancy by 6 ½ to 14 years compared with people of normal weight. Those who are extremely obese also have an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, among other illnesses.

Published in The Week, July 25, 2014.

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The Real Secret to a Long Life

The Real Secret to a Long Life

 This blog is all about the journey of living life to the fullest. I write about the foods, exercises and quality of life insights I have found and have used. We are all working so hard to stay healthy, lose weight and enjoy the process of living life. We want solutions and new ideas to help us keep going and improve our lives. A new study has come out that may provide us with the best solution to living a long and healthy life. It is actually very simple. We need to live a life of purpose.

Having a sense of purpose has been shown to add years to people's lives —and the benefit can be realized throughout adulthood. According to an article in The Week, that’s the conclusion of a long-term study that tracked the physical and mental health of more than 6,100 Americans aged 20 to 75. Previous research has shown purposefulness to be one of the strongest predictors of longevity, but this is the first time its impact on mortality has been isolated from other influences. 

Below is more information about the study as quoted from The Week:
 
At the beginning of the study, participants’ sense of purpose was assessed according to their response to statements such as “Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.” They also answered questions about their emotional state and the quality of their relationships. Over the 14-year study period, 569 participants (roughly 9 percent of the group) died, and those subjects had all scored lower than their counterparts when it came to purposefulness. The findings held even after controlling for factors such as positive outlook, suggesting that purpose itself drives longevity. “Finding a direction for life, and setting overarching goals for what you want to achieve,” Carleton University psychology professor Patrick Hill tells BBC​.com, “can help you actually live longer, regardless of when you find your purpose".

The question now for all of us is--"Do we know what our purpose is?" and "Can we articulate it in the form of everyday action?" From what I have learned our purpose can be whatever is meaningful to us and does not need to be complicated or earth shattering. It does need to be something motivating and manageable. What passion can get you out of bed each morning?

For me my purpose is in living a healthier life and helping my family and others do the same. What is yours?

 

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Willpower as a Limited Resource; Habits Come to the Rescue

Willpower wears out during the course of the day making it impossible to resist the cookies sitting out on the counter tempting us (photo by LivligaHome).

There is recent research that has identified willpower as a limited resource. By our own personal experience I think we know this to be true. Why is it, for instance, it is always at the end of the day when we are tired, having fought off food urges all day, that we finally give in to drinking that glass of wine we didn’t want to drink or eat that sweet we swore we weren’t going to touch? Our willpower fails us because it is exhausted after a hard day too. Click here to read the entire article...

Re-posted from Sheila's Blog on TheEpochTimes.com.

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Changing Habits Over Time

Changing Habits Over TIme--Working Out at the YMCA (photo by LivligaHome)

Every once and a while I like stopping and reflecting on all the healthy changes I have made in my life. It makes me feel proud that I have been able to make the changes I have. It also reminds me that I can change and keep morphing to ensure I am living a healthier lifestyle. The one thing we do know in our lives is that the one true constant is change, the key is making it a positive one that enhances our lives.

Some changes are small and pretty easy to embrace. I eat off of smaller plates (Livliga ones, of course!). I exercise at the gym 6 days a week for about an hour. I don't drink wine any more during the week when I am home (this one was a little harder to stick to initially!). I eat more vegetables at each meal. I eat way less protein, although I make sure I eat protein at each meal. And I plan my snacks for each day, as one of many examples of my personal changes for a healthier lifestyle. Many of these changes took time to make into a habit. I used to work out only 3 days a week at the gym and for only 45 minutes, for instance. Definitely a good start but it wasn't enough to help me maintain my weight. Already having a habit of going to the gym certainly helped me evolve my routine into more days and more time. My point? You have to start somewhere with a new healthy habit and you have to do it regularly as part of your daily routine. Change is not a one time thing. It is about a way of life.

Maintaining a change isn't always easy. Sometimes you just aren't in the mood or you are tired or you are bored with the "same-old-same-old".  That is when I have learned to change it up a bit. It is not about not doing something that is an important healthy part of our lives. It is about making it doable, fun and so automatic you don't have to talk yourself into it each time you do it. With my work outs I do different routines each day. I also change up what I listen to. Right now I get started running on the treadmill with Pharrell Williams "Happy". It is impossible for me not to smile, put more movement in my run and feel great while I am doing it. Check it out for yourself!

Another part of adopting permanent change is being honest with ourselves. I used to buy things in multiples, talking myself into the idea that we could "save some for later". Now I have faced the truth and no longer do this unless it is something I can freeze. A good example of this is grilling steaks. Our family loves to eat steak. It is a treat for us. We were brought up in the Midwest in cattle country. To tell you the whole truth, I used to be fed steak at every meal. Ever heard of a "minute steak" for breakfast? Fortunately, over the years, my intake of meat has lessened with each meal. We still love our steaks, though. But this habit has also morphed to the better. It wasn't too long ago that I would buy a steak for each person in the family, telling everyone they could eat what they wanted and we would save the rest for later, for another meal. The problem with that is that, as we know, if it is sitting  in front of you you are just as likely to go ahead and eat the whole thing rather than save anything for later. None of us needs to eat that amount of meat at any one meal. Steaks pretty much come in 8-10 ounce servings. Since my husband and I are currently "empty-nesters", I now buy just one steak and split it between the two of us. This way we have just what we need, feel perfectly satisfied and can savor our steak guilt-free. If there is a super deal at the grocery store on steaks in bulk I do buy them but I re-package them at home so I can pull them out of the freezer one steak at a time. It has been very helpful to us to do this. I have now done it enough times that it is easy to do and not a struggle.

So today I am celebrating my ability to change, to create new healthy habits and my ability to keep changing for the better as I am committed to living a healthier life.  Please join me in the celebration of all of us embracing positive change!

Changing Habits Over Time--it is a possible! (photo by LivligaHome)

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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Need Your Feedback- What Are Your Game Changing Habits?

Healthy Habit- pre-planning snacks with right-sized Livliga dishware of course! (photo by LivligaHome)

Hello there readers! I am putting together a blog on the Top Ten Best Healthy Habits that people have adopted to live a healthier lifestyle. I would really love to hear from you! It can be anything from an exercise routine that has worked for you to beginning to cook more at home to changing the way you cook to pre-planning your meals....or something no one else has thought of!

For me, planning my daily snacks for the week has been a hugely positive game changer. Let me hear from you what has been a great game changer. I would love to include it in my blog and share your insight with others! Thanks in advance for participating and sharing.

I am hope to get some great feedback within the next 2 weeks while still keep the conversation open as long as people have game changing habits to share.

Live Vibrant!

Sheila

PS. Please respond to this blog or on other social media by using #LiveVibrant so we can track your responses. Thanks!

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Asking the Right Questions about Your Relationship with Food

Asking the Right Questions about Your Relationship with Food

To keep on track it is so important to keep asking ourselves questions and to keep checking in with ourselves about how we are doing. I call it the "pinch test". It is hard to always be present in our lives, especially when we eat. But if we are not present then it is easy to play games with ourselves about what we are eating and how much we are eating. Not being present also takes away from the enjoyment of our food and the ultimate satisfaction we get from good food and a good meal. If we can't get to satisfaction then we will never be able to succeed in living a healthier lifestyle.

Marc David, Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, recently posted an article that suggests some questions we should ask ourselves regarding us and our relationship with food. I found them very helpful. As he says, "Asking the right questions inevitably points us in a right direction." Here is what he wrote:

Here’s a suggestion: if you care about health, if you care about nutrition, if you care about good eating, then it’s a good idea to keep asking good questions.

Asking the right questions inevitably points us in a smart direction.

The greatest advances in science, technology, philosophy, art, and culture have so often come because somebody somewhere was asking the right questions.

Questions can be quite powerful.

 Who am I?
 What’s my purpose in this world?
 How can I reach my highest potential?
 How can I contribute?
 How can I find true love?
 What do I need to be happy?

Such questions activate the mind and guide the soul. They’re like fine tuned honing devices that help us access a greater wisdom.

So in the interest of having a healthier body, a well functioning metabolism, and a nourishing relationship with food – here are 5 powerful and important questions to ask yourself about you and food.

1.    Do I eat in the ideal state of digestion, assimilation, & calorie burning?
This is a foundational question that I consider one of the top two questions that anyone could possibly ask in the realm of eating and nutrition. That’s because we could be eating the healthiest food in the universe, but if we’re not eating under the ideal state of digestion, assimilation, and calorie burning – which happens to be the physiologic relaxation response – then we’re in no way getting the full nutritional value of our meal.  If we eat under stress, we’re excreting nutrients, digestion is impaired, hormones such as insulin and cortisol are secreted which can stimulate weight gain and de-regulate appetite, the function of healthy gut bacteria is impaired, and the list goes on and on. We are physiologically designed, by the brilliance of evolution and a higher wisdom – to be optimal processors of nutrition when we’re in the state of parasympathetic nervous system dominance – a fancy term for relaxation. Ask yourself this powerful question at every meal, and commit to techniques such as deep breathing, slowing down, taking time with food, and calming your mind – and you’ll officially be a nutritional superstar.

2.    Am I nutritionally flexible?
Being nutritionally flexible means that we’re willing to explore when it comes to food and diet. We live in a time when the nutritional landscape is changing rapidly. We re exposed to stressors, toxins in the environment, poor quality food, and all kinds of assaults on our immune system. It’s a good time to be flexible and experiment. Are you willing to try different supplements? If you’ve been a heavy meat eater for all your life, are you willing to go vegetarian for a while? If you’ve been vegetarian for a long time, and your health is suffering, have you considered eating high quality animal foods? Are you open to cleansing?  Would you consider going gluten-free for a few months? Switching to organic foods? Buying locally produced foods? Have you tried including more healthy fats in your diet? Do you try new foods? Nutritional flexibility gives us the greatest chance for long-term health and long-term survival. Plus it can be a lot of fun.

3.    Am I in my body?
This might be the hardest question to wrap yourself around. A lot of people eat well, exercise, and do good things for their body. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are “in” the body. Another way to say this is that there are a lot of us walking around a bit “checked out” from the body. Such people are disembodied. This is a subtle distinction, but it has profound effects. When we’re checked out of the body, we’re not fully present, we’re not fully sensitive to body wisdom and body feedback, and the mind is always wandering somewhere else and not paying any attention to the thing that the body is doing in the moment. When you exercise, are you focused on your body or are you in your head? When you eat, do you focus at all on the food, or are you living inside your mind that’s chattering away? When you’re touching your loved one, or hugging your kids, are you really feeling them and truly embracing them? Fully embodying your life is a powerful practice and a metabolic game changer. Simply asking yourself, “am I in my body?” throughout the day helps us to embody. And the more we embody, the more metabolically powerful we become.

4.    Do I put love into the equation?
Good for you if you focus on good nutrition, good for you if you read up about health and healing, and congratulations for learning as much information as you can about food and eating. What I often see happen with people who have a solid interest in nutrition is they forget vitamin L – love. Love is the missing ingredient in a majority of weight loss diets and nutritional approaches, it’s a missing ingredient in the food industry, and it’s often absent in the offices of practitioners who help us with food and body. No matter what you eat, what kind of nutritional philosophy you adhere to, or what foods you think are the right ones for everyone to eat – if there’s no love in the equation, then our nutritional strategies are deficient. This is a great homework assignment for you: get creative about all the ways you can add more love into your relationship with food.

5.    How do I nourish the world?
Nutrition, food, and health are no longer a mere personal affair. How our food is grown, produced, marketed, and consumed impacts all of us. There are a lot of people out there who don’t have enough. There’s a lot of people out there who are lacking in education and understanding of good health. There’s far too much social and nutritional injustice in the world. So, how do you nourish the world? How do you give back to others? How do you share your good bounty? What goes around comes around. Nourish yourself, and nourish the world, and the best of who we are is automatically born.
 
See more at: http://psychologyofeating.com/5-important-questions-food/

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Dreaming of Spring– Home Grown Goodness in My Living Room

This time of year, especially this year with all the snowstorms across the country, we start dreaming of spring and growing plants and flowers in our gardens. Those gardens can be in the backyard, on a balcony or even in your living room. There are so many great reasons to grow food you can harvest. First off, it is fun and something visually beautiful to look at. Perhaps more importantly, if you grow something you can eat, it can taste better and be healthier for you. There are honestly many good reasons to want to grow something to eat.

The challenge with gardening is it does take some planning, some tending and when the food is ripe there is a window of when you need to harvest the food. The key is to not bite off more than you can chew. If you haven’t ever grown anything to harvest, start small. Containers can be a good way to grow a couple of vegetables. The most common “get started” plant to grow is tomato. There are all kinds of varieties, colors and sizes so you can pick what catches your fancy and works best where you live. Containers are also great for herbs. Most herbs are very easy to grow and like being crowded in containers. There is nothing better than fresh herbs in a recipe, adding flavor and health with out calories and salt. My favorite herbs are mint, basil, tarragon, thyme, dill and rosemary.

Something else to consider are fruit trees. We have had Calamondin orange trees, the same ones, for over 15 years. They live outside where they bloom and pollinate during the warmer months and then before the first freeze in the fall we move them inside to our living room. They have been incredibly low maintenance. We feed them organic, fruit tree specific, fertilizer a couple of times a year. We trim them back significantly after we harvest the fruit. And we make sure they get enough sun and water. Every once in a while they get bugs but if you catch it quickly enough there are easy ways to get them under control. Ladybugs, we have found, are particularly helpful.

What we love about the fruit trees is that the fruit matures during the winter months. Our harvest for our Calamondin oranges is in February. As it is a winter month and we are more in doors anyway, it is a fun time to harvest and can our bounty. It is an enjoyable activity over a weekend when we do other home bound activities as the fruit boils into marmalade. Once canned the marmalade can be used in so many ways beyond the usual jam and toast. It can add flavor to cooked vegetables, as a glaze for fish, as a topping for thumbprint cookies or on top of warmed brie for an appetizer. A spoonful in plain Greek yogurt is heavenly for a snack. Go to my blog for how to make homemade marmalade and for recipes that use marmalade. We also think our marmalade makes for a great gift that is unique and packed full of health.

So spring is in the air at our home as we imagine replanting our herb garden, deciding on this year’s variety of tomatoes and seeing our orange trees outdoors again in full bloom. It makes me feel healthier just thinking about it.

Re-posted from Sheila’s Blog on The Epoch Times.

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Starving Your Fears Is The Key To Change

I find I get motivation and inspiration wherever I roam on the internet. Recently I read a very truthful post from Kurt Smith that I wanted to share with you. Made me think about how I use food and make the same excuses. Fear can suffocate our motivation and dreams. Let's make this the year to feed our souls and starve our fears! Are you with me!?!

Feed Your Souls and Starve Your Fears

It’s that time of year when many of us are thinking about making changes. But it’s easy to feed our fears and convince ourselves that things can’t change.
 
You may have thought of resolving to stop smoking or start exercising or spend more time with your family. But then that little voice inside your head reminded you that you’ve tried that before and failed – so why will this time be any different? And having fed your fears, you chose to do nothing instead.

Dale Carnegie gave some great advice when he said, “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

Do you want to know how to starve your fears? Take Carnegie’s advice, and “go out and get busy.” Take small steps toward change, and your fears will wither away.

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Great Healthy Living Quote # 77--Today is the Right Day

Today is the Day!

#HappyMonday!

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Being Thankful for a Healthier Lifestyle

Being Thankful for a Healthier Lifestyle

I have been considered overweight most of my life. My mom put me on a diet in the 2^nd grade! I have 3 children and a husband who have also faced their own weight issues. Our weight struggles challenged me to learn how to cook more healthfully.  One outgrowth of my journey to better health was starting a blog. Being thankful for a healthier lifestyle has been years in the making.

My career choices further educated me about the obesity epidemic. In fact, I have come to understand that we are feeding our kids to death because we love them so much! We live in a super-sized world so that what we feed our kids is 2 or 3 times more than they need or that their bodies can handle. We are also feeding them the wrong types of food that are highly processed and packed with calories. As the Executive Director of the American Heart Association in Denver I had the opportunity to work with many talented and experienced doctors. One of these doctors, who is a pediatric cardiologist, told me at one point that he is now seeing children in his clinic who are 13 or 14 and yet have hearts that look like those of a 40 or 41 year old! Even the Center for Disease Control (CDC) came out with a statement a few years ago saying that we are now living in a generation where the parents are going to out live their children because of obesity!

This newfound knowledge motivated me to find some solutions. I wanted to figure out how to “right-size” my world and the food I served at meals.  No longer could I ignore my weight problem. I now understood it was a problem affecting my family, and really our whole nation. I got galvanized around the reality that in the USA we are killing our kids with food…literally. The good news is that this trend is reversible. We can save our kids and ourselves. We can live healthier lives and eat delicious, satisfying food. To achieve this we do need to create new, healthier habits and retrain our eyes to right-sized eating.

In order to make better choices and help guide our families in healthier eating I did some sleuthing and read a lot of research. Here is some of what I found out:

• 73% of Americans are overweight and/or obese;
• Mom’s make 85% of the decisions regarding food and the household;
• Dinner plates have grown 51% over the past century;
• Colors and sizes of plates can influence how much you eat at a meal;
• There is big confusion about the difference between a portion and a serving;
• A Portion can be made up of a number of servings…like at McDonald’s;
• Most of us do not eat a balanced meal;
• All of us are genetically engineered to eat everything that is put on our plate;
• Diets don’t work because we see them as having a beginning and an end;
• Effective changes have to be permanent, embracing new habits for a healthier lifestyle;
• Integrating new habits that engage the entire family increases their success;
• Then make it a community endeavor so that a healthier lifestyle looks “normal” and manageable doing it all together.

This information got me thinking- how could I create a right-sized eating environment in our home? My first thought was to right-size our dishware. Even with smaller dishware, how do you know what the right serving amounts are for  the types of food you are serving at a meal? More research was needed. It seemed to me what I wanted to do was to figure out what right-sized dishware should be and then create a design on or in each piece of a place setting to show me how much I should put on my plate…like a “cue”. This took me to the ‘paint your own pottery’ store.  Before I realized it, I had painted a set of dishware- dinner plate, salad/luncheon plate, bowl and mug that would become the springboard for my new company- VisualQs. Good news is that I have hired talented artists for the dishware (Livliga) and serving spoons (LivSpoons) since research also proves that eating in an attractive environment with beautifully designed dinnerware makes for a better eating experience where you are more likely to eat slowly and consume less food.

Through the use of my prototypes, my family and I have all lost weight. I have lost over 50 pounds in the past year and kept it off. The dishware makes mealtime positively easy. For instance, I love using the bowls for cereal and soup and healthy snacks like berries because I know exactly what I am serving up. My children really like them too. It is like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together for them. I no longer have to worry if they are over serving themselves since the dishware is now right-sized and has portion specific indicators. Since we are all using the dishware there is now a sense of family solidarity. We are all learning what right-sized eating is all about... together. Perhaps one of the most important things is that as parents we are modeling healthier eating for our kids. We can’t expect our kids to be healthy if we aren’t. I now realize this. As parents we are creating an environment that says, “we care about a healthy lifestyle in this household” and “we are making it enjoyable and inclusive” to be mindful about what we eat as part of a lifestyle…not a diet. This is relevant for everyone. Learning good habits when you are young helps you avoid becoming overweight later on in life. If you or members of the family are already challenged with being overweight, establishing practical and consistent healthy habits will improve everyone’s health and can be life saving.  Good habits are good for everyone.

It is fun, it is easy and it is about a lifestyle. A simple solution for healthy eating…one person, one meal and one day at a time.  I am hardly perfect, but I know I have improved a really important part of my life and my family’s life. Food is no longer controlling me, I am controlling it one right-sized serving at a time. And I am thankful and appreciative that I am part of a community struggling with the very same reality. I hope my journey, what I have learned, and what I have developed with my new company, VisualQs, and what I have shared on my blog, will help others on their journey to a healthier lifestyle. Think of all the healthful benefits we can look forward to together like living longer, sleeping better, avoiding diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, etc…. If you haven’t already, please come join the journey and be thankful for a healthier lifestyle.

Re-posted from Sheila's Blog on TheEpochTimes.com.

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Food Challenges Are Not About Food

As we recover from the Halloween Bingeing I thought this insight from Mark David would help clear the sugar fog from our brains today. Read on:

Time to Cozy Up with our Weight and Food Concerns (photo by LivligaHome)

Food Challenges Are Not About Food - As odd as it may sound, a majority of our food challenges are not merely about food. Yes, it’s a great idea to eat healthy food. Yes, certain foods can be rather addictive. And yes, there are so many different kinds of junk foods out there that have the power to hook us, but, I believe that at its core, our challenges with food go deeper, are way more interesting, and more telling than we might ever imagine. In other words, overeating doesn’t mean we have a mere willpower issue with food and we need to learn to control our appetite. Binge eating does not mean that we’re complete and total losers who have absolutely no control because we’re fundamentally damaged. Excess weight does not mean that we’re undeniably lazy when it comes to food. And our inability to change our body to the hot and sexy creature that we want it to be isn’t because we simply need to get better at diet and exercise. Our challenges with food, body and weight are here for a beautiful reason. They have a purpose. They have a message. It’s time to listen to our eating concerns and cozy up with them like never before.

See more at: http://psychologyofeating.com/hope-eating-challenge/#sthash.P9BOBI4N.dpuf

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There is no “Singing the Blues” with Blueberries

Blueberries keep us the healthiest (LivligaHome)

A recent Harvard University study highlighted why we will never need to “sing the blues” if we eat blueberries. Blueberries have come out the clear winner in decreasing our chances of developing everything from heart disease, various cancers and diabetes.

I have been singing the praises of berries for a long time. They are a great way to add color to your plate. They are also very easy to prepare since there is no peeling or chopping required. Berries have the added benefit of being lower in sugar than other fruits and therefore per cup have fewer calories. The best is they provide a great pop-in-your-mouth snack for those of us who have to satisfy our oral fixations. Popping one blueberry in your mouth at a time takes more time and can help get over the hump of afternoon cravings. How great it is to know berries are also super healthy for us.

Doctors and Dietitians have been promoting the goodness of berries, all kinds of berries, in recent years for the antioxidants they contain and their anti-inflammatory benefits. Now this Harvard study shows that not all berries are made a like. In fact, the research showed that strawberries, as well as apricots, plums, peaches and oranges had no beneficial effect in reducing the likelihood of developing diabetes. The study tracked more than 185,000 people over 12 years.

Blueberries, grapes, apples and grapefruit, however, were shown to ward off the disease. In fact, blueberries were found to have the greatest effect on decreasing the risk of becoming diabetic. Researchers found that by eating at least 5 servings a week decreased a person’s chances of ever getting the disease by a whopping 26 percent. Eating only one to five servings a month was also found to be beneficial for avoiding diabetes, but to a lesser degree.

So the message here is we should be singing the praises of blueberries and making sure they are on the top of our grocery list each week. We will never need to sing the blues if we have a pint of them handy in our refrigerator.  Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!



Re-posted from Sheila's Blog on TheEpochTimes.com

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Falling in Love with Corey Louchiey and James Thornton

Corey Louchiey and James Thornton presenting at Teaming Up to Tackle Obesity @livligahome

I went to a remarkable convention recently and fell in love with Corey Louchiey and James Thornton . The Obesity Action Coalition put it on. It turns out there is a surge of organizations providing help out there for people looking for support and resources related to weight management. I have to admit I had no idea there were so many organizations supporting people battling obesity. The conference is titled “Your Weight Matters.” I attended their second conference. Click here to read the entire article...



Re-posted from Sheila's Blog on TheEpochTimes.com

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Scarfing Food is not Good for Our Health

Scarfing Food is not Good for Our Health @livligahome

When I sit down to eat a meal I tend to dive in and scarf the food on my plate. You would think I hadn’t eaten in weeks or that I was in a contest to see who can finish their meal first. It is a mindless habit. It was how I was brought up. Our dinner table was lively and animated. Meals were not lingered over, there was a TV show to watch, a baseball game to play or a friend to meet. Turns out this is pretty common for most of us. We are culturally conditioned to eat fast. Regrettably, it is not so good for our health.

Marc David in his book, The Slow Down Diet, describes the effect our mindless scarfing has on our bodies. It is probably obvious to us all that when we eat quickly we probably eat more than we need because we have the time to plow it in and yet our bodies haven’t had the time to feel full. As Marc David explains our fast eating confuses our metabolism and causes more of our food to go to fat rather than converting it to instant energy. We eat too many calories when we eat quickly and more of those calories automatically go to fat. No wonder we keep gaining weight, we are playing Double Jeopardy with our bodies at every meal.

It is amazing to think that just by taking a couple of extra minutes over a meal we can improve our health dramatically, even lose weight. Research shows that by taking time over a meal we will enjoy the food and moment more and we end up eating less. Slowing down increases the possibility of feeling satisfied at the end of our meal.

Don’t we all have a love/hate relationship with skinny people? Truth be told, we envy them. At a meal I watch them to see what they do that is different than what I do. On average I do think they take more time when they eat. One of my sons, a tall lean fellow, has the amazing habit of sitting in front of his plate of food and not even touching it for a couple of minutes at the beginning of a meal. He just talks to us. It seems so civilized. For me to do this it will take a very conscious act. I want to try it, though. It is good for my health. Looks like a key step in a healthier lifestyle is taking time over a meal and not scarfing what is on our plate.

Re-posted from Sheila's Blog on TheEpochTimes.com

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Birthing Babies into a Life of Obesity

Another study pointing us to a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the epidemic of obesity in our children:
 
Babies delivered by caesarean section appear to be twice as likely to become obese as those born naturally. Researchers at Harvard Medical School followed the pregnancies of more than 1,000 Boston women and found that nearly 16 percent of children delivered surgically were obese by age 3, compared with fewer than 8 percent of those born through vaginal delivery. That could mean caesareans are a significant factor in the obesity epidemic, study author Susanna Huh tells WebMD.com, since “one in three children in the U.S. is now delivered by caesarean section.’’ Researchers theorize that the cause could be a caesarean baby’s lack of exposure to its mother’s intestinal microbes. Just as we each have a blood type, we each harbor a specific set of gut bacteria. Babies often pick up their mothers’ microbes during their trip through the birth canal. Those born surgically are more likely to host a preponderance of gut flora called Firmicutes, which often predominate in obese adults. Though the current study doesn’t prove that surgical births cause obesity, Huh says, it does suggest “yet another reason to avoid caesarean sections that aren’t medically necessary.” 

Found in The Week, June 6, 2012

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