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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You’d be amazed at what eating a coconut can do to help you lose weight.

Coconuts contain Medium Chain saturated Fatty Acids (MCFAs), which are digested and handled by the body differently than other fats.  MCFAs do not circulate in the bloodstream and are instead immediately converted into energy, meaning they are burned instead of being stored as body fat.

An additional benefit of MCFAs are that they speed up the body’s metabolism (up to a 50% boost!), allowing you to burn more calories, resist weight gain and even shed some unwanted pounds.

Lastly, MCFAs burn longer and more steadily than other foods so there are no spikes or slumps in the blood sugar levels, which helps fight off two driving factors behind weight gain: cravings and bingeing.

So if you’re looking for a smarter snack between meals, crack open a coconut.

- Debra Santelli

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Vitamin D is known as the “Sunshine Vitamin” because we’re able to manufacture it in our bodies after being exposed to sunshine. Ten to fifteen minutes of sunshine three times a week is enough to produce the body’s requirement of Vitamin D. As it is, the average American does not receive adequate daily doses of Vitamin D, and the cold, overcast, winter months often make this even harder.

There are many health benefits to Vitamin D. It promotes the body’s absorption of calcium, which is essential for the normal development and maintenance of healthy teeth and bones. Calcium is also important to nerve cells, including the brain. Vitamin D has both vitamin and hormone-like properties; it has documented involvement in osteoporosis and bone health, congestive heart failure, hypertension, several types of cancer, emotional wellbeing, autoimmune issues and Metabolic Syndrome. That’s a substantial list for a vitamin that’s received so little attention for decades. But now with so much information available, we can truly appreciate what Vitamin D has to offer.

Because of Vitamin D’s many beneficial health properties, it’s important to supplement our body’s natural production of the vitamin with a diet rich in Vitamin D.

Vitamin D can be found in the following foods:

• Dairy products including cheese, butter, cream, and fortified milk (preferably organic)
• Fish
• Oysters
• Fortified cereals

The best way to get the daily requirements of essential vitamins is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of whole organic foods, get outside in the sun as often as possible, and take hypo-allergenic supplements prescribed by a holistic practitioner.

To Your Health and Happiness.

- Debra Santelli

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