Re-starting Your Metabolism After a Water Fast
One week post-fast, I’m noticing how the fast affected my strength and endurance. I’m in the process of base-building again, both cardiovascular and muscular strength. A water fast of longer than 5 days has dramatic effects on metabolism. In that time tissue and liver stores of glycogen have been processed in the interest of maintaining…Read the Rest »
Food After Water Fasting
Water fasting is about re-calibrating all the body systems. After fasting the taste buds are re-tuned and hyper sensitive and the sense of smell is acute. The digestive system is inactive and the elimination systems as well. Metabolism is slowed . The first food I put in my mouth after a 10 day water fast…Read the Rest »
Am I Losing Muscle During a Water Fast?
I am on Day 8 of a water fast. My body weight is 106 pounds, about 10 pounds less than when I started. Weight loss during a water fast comes from water, carbohydrate, fat and possibly muscle. I want to know how much muscle loss happens and, ultimately, the best way to preserve it during…Read the Rest »
What happens during a water fast?
I am getting ready for something like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in the Reverse Universe for a few weeks and doing a supervised water fast. It is as much about resting from physical activity and normal daily stressors as it is about food. I learned about the science of water fasting from Dr. Rick Dina…Read the Rest »
Power to Change Habits
As a health coach, I work with people who want to change habits and make healthier choices. WHY IS IT SO HARD TO CHANGE HABITS? I started looking for answers and had the good fortune to find Charles Duhigg’s book The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life And Business. Here is…Read the Rest »
Stress Management Through Self Empowerment
Stress comes in two forms. Eu-stress is the happy kind that creates energy and focus. Dis-stress is the not-so-happy kind that comes from feeling out of control, that life has control of you. A vital key to managing distress is to change your thinking, even if you cannot change the environment that is causing your…Read the Rest »
The Pleasure Trap May Kill You
The Pleasure Trap refers to several inborn and genetic drivers that manipulate us and our behavior, in spite of the conscious awareness that it may not be the right direction or action for health and well being. In the book The Pleasure Trap the authors identify three things that drive human behavior. SEEKING PLEASURE AVOIDING PAIN…Read the Rest »
Salt, Sodium and Your Health
Though we use “salt” and “sodium” as if the two words were interchangeable, there is a difference. Table salt is actually sodium chloride or NaCl. Sodium is used to transmit nerve impulses and is found in every cell of your body. The balance between sodium and other ions regulates the pressure of cells and is…Read the Rest »
Good Digestion Trumps Good Nutrition
My Restore Your Health post on August 17th ended with the comment “Stress shuts down your digestion”. It bothers me when STRESS becomes the catch all for our physical and emotional illnesses. Nonetheless, the way our body manages stress is primal and does affect digestion. If you cannot digest what you eat you are starving…Read the Rest »
Restore Your Health
You Can Restore Your Health With Good Nutrition Did you know that 80% of your immune system is located in your gut? To be well and healthy you need to eat properly prepared, nutrient dense whole foods AND have efficient digestion. We do not eat what our bodies recognize as food. Processed food is not…Read the Rest »
Cleanse Your Body
What is cleansing? Cleansing is a practice used to promote health and healing by clearing toxins from the body. The concept of cleansing has a long history in natural medicine and has been practiced for thousands of years. What is common across all detoxification programs is that you will eat differently so that you can support…Read the Rest »
Lactate and Cyclists – Reduce Production or Increase Utilization?
How lactate really works When your body breaks down glucose for energy a by product of the process is lactate. During easy exercise efforts, your body recycles lactate back into energy. At some point in increasing intensity or training duration the recycling does not keep up with production. Hydrogen ions are the real culprit The…Read the Rest »
Making Plant Food Sing
Transforming healthy vegetables and fruits into delicious dishes is easy with the simple addition of a flavorful dressing. Make your own and enjoy preservative free, inexpensive and always fresh dressings. The culinary world names five flavors that speak to your palate and subsequently your brain translates the message as delicious or icky or somewhere in…Read the Rest »
Doctors Want Education On Integrative Medicine
Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine – Dr. Andrew Weil Seattle Washington I had the good fortune to attend the opening sessions of the Nutrition and Health Conference in Seattle today. Dr. Andrew Weil launched this nutrition education conference for medical doctors ten years ago when just 21 hours of medical education in nutrition was recommended…Read the Rest »
Protein Needs – The Reality Check or “Where Do Vegans Get Their Protein?
The question is a frequent one. The real questions about protein in the diet should be: How much protein should I eat? What kind of protein is optimal for human health? Who is the beneficiary of the research that supports a nutrition statistic? Who makes the…Read the Rest »