Last month I explained the importance of eating breakfast. But knowing that something is important doesn’t always translate to being motivated to do it. For many of us, the thought of eating in the morning is more than we can “stomach.” To kick-start a healthy eating program, here are some tips on increasing our desire for breakfast:

1. Get enough sleep: Sleep deprivation can make us feel nauseated and bloated.
2. Plan for variety: Map out a variety of choices for breakfast so you won’t feel rushed and anxious.
3. Control portions to suit work activity: Heavier work = a larger breakfast Light and sedentary work = a smaller, balanced breakfast. Plus, eat smaller meals more often.
4. Work out before breakfast. Exercise stimulates the appetite. Eating after a workout helps to replenish energy and energy reserves. It also keeps metabolism stronger for a longer period of time after exercise.

To Your Health and Happiness.

Debra

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We’re often told by nutrition professionals about the importance of eating breakfast every day. Yet, despite this advice, breakfast is still the least commonly eaten meal of the day, which many of us try to justify by saying we either don’t feel hungry first thing in the morning or simply don’t have enough time to eat it. Whatever our excuse, if you desire to be healthy, you can’t ignore this advice any longer. Here is one reason why:

In many ways, modern living goes against our natural biorhythms. Our bodies were designed to wake up at sunrise and to go to bed at sunset. Unfortunately, this is not the lifestyle most of us lead. We tend to burn the midnight oil on a daily basis, necessitating that we set an alarm clock to wake us up, regardless of whether we were able to sleep well or enough the night before. Without sufficient rest, many of us depend on caffeine to jolt us awake.  While this liquid stimulation may provide us with a quick dose of adrenaline, it also uses up our reserves of blood sugar that we need for energy. As a result of this, within an hour, we are craving sugary foods to keep us alert. This vicious cycle may continue for the rest of the day as we crave more stimulants and sugar to keep us going. Eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast takes us out of this cycle. Your energy will be more stable throughout the day and your cravings will be minimal.

Stay tuned for more breakfast tips including…

- How to feel like eating in the morning
- Tips on eating a good breakfast
- Quick & easy breakfast options

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In roughly a decade of commercial distribution, Splenda® has taken the artificial sweetener industry by storm. Between 2000 and 2006, the percentage of U.S. households using Splenda® products jumped from 3 to 20 percent. It is presently the nation’s number one selling artificial sweetener. With the FDA having approved Splenda and the knowledge that it even starts off as real sugar, you might think there is nothing wrong with this rapid growth, but you’d be wrong. Here are some facts you need to know before you dump another one of those little yellow packets into your coffee.

The FDA only looked at 2 tests before approving Splenda®

As of 2005, only six human trials had been conducted on sucralose (Splenda®).  Of these six trials, only two were completed and published before the FDA approved sucralose for human consumption. To date, no studies have been done on children or pregnant women.

Most of the tests were performed on animals

McNeil Nutritionals stresses that over 100 studies have been conducted on Splenda. However, what the company neglects to mention is that most of the studies were performed on animals.

Sugar doesn’t think it’s just like sugar

The competition among sweeteners is anything but sweet. The sugar industry is currently suing McNeil Nutritionals for implying that Splenda® is a natural form of sugar with no calories.

No long-term testing

There have been no long-term human toxicity studies published until after the FDA approved sucralose for human consumption. The longest trial at the time Splenda® was approved lasted only four days and looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay.

Sure it starts off as sugar, but…

There is no question that sucralose starts off as a sugar molecule, it is what goes on in the factory after that is concerning. Sucralose is cooked up using a five step patented process that includes adding chlorine (yup, the stuff in your pool). This process alters the sugar  molucule so much that it is turned into a fructo-galactose molecule, a type of molecule that does not occur in nature. As a result, your body doesn’t have the ability to properly digest or metabolize it, which allows McNeil Nutritionals to make the claim that Splenda® has zero calories.

The bottom line is that Splenda® has not been tested sufficiently and is anything but sugar.  In fact, it  bears more chemical similarity to DDT than it does to sugar.  Yes, that DDT. The synthetic pesticide that is suspected to cause cancer. So next time you decide your coffe is a bit too bitter, you might want to think twice before you sweeten it up with Splenda®.

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You workout 5-7 days a week.  Your diet is clean and near perfect and your drink plenty or water.  Yet, despite this immaculate routine,  you just can’t seem to take off those pesky few pounds that stand between you and your goal weight.  The answer might be to switch it up.

When you do the same thing every day, your body learns to adapt to the routine and eventually learns to do it all more efficiently.  Meaning, you do and eat the same  thing, but lose less weight as a result.  To counter this effect, all you need to do is mix up your routine.  If your cardio consists of treadmill running, try a trail run or hitting the hills outside.  If you typically lift with dumbbells and machines, head to bands and cables to do the same workouts.  For your diet, try switching up the types of healthy foods you consume.  Trade in your apple for a plum, or your carrot for some celery.

Remember, no”body” likes change… as soon as you introduce a postive change that weight will come off.

- Christina Malizia

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