Jan Hempstead's blog

Although everyone starts out motivated and with the best of intentions, most people rarely make it past the first month. What happens? For anyone that has ever been on a diet, you know that overly restrictive and very low-calorie diets are not sustainable. To truly lose weight and maintain the weight loss, a slow, consistent change in your eating pattern will bring about the results you seek.

We know that fueling our body with the most nourishing food will keep our energy high, our weight at the optimal level, our sleep invigorating, and immune system fighting. So why do we eat so many processed foods with minimal nutritional value and empty calories? Some of the reasons are related to our hectic, stressed lifestyles and the availability of processed and fast foods.

The statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association are concerning, even if you do not have a history of diabetes in your family: 25.8 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes, 7 million are undiagnosed, 79 million are pre-diabetic and 1 out of every 400 children has diabetes!

It’s 5 o’clock; you just walked through the door after a non-stop day at work to find backpacks and shoes strewn all over the living room. The kids have been watching TV instead of finishing their homework and everyone is hungry. What are you having for dinner? Do you know what you’re making and have all the ingredients on-hand, or is it another night of processed food out of boxes or take-out?

 Jeanine made a delicious dinner for her family with strips of chicken, zucchini, peppers, onions, mushrooms, eggplant and tomatoes over whole wheat pasta. She even added some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Everyone loved it and she ate slowly, enjoying each bite. She left the table feeling comfortably full and totally satisfied. Jeanine decided this healthy eating thing was a cinch.

Jennifer* came into my office and tearfully announced that she has tried every diet, spending a lot of money on special food plans and meal replacements, only to gain it all back, plus some extra after she stopped the programs. She was only 32 years old and did not want to be overweight her entire life. Shopping for clothes was a nightmare but thank goodness for on-line ordering, where her friends couldn’t see that she needed plus size clothes.
 

People often complain that they crave sugar or sugar-laden foods. You know the kind of sweets I’m talking about… the big, fat chewy cookies from the bakery that wipe out your calorie intake for the day, or the chocolate covered, cream-filled greasy donut from the “coffee shop” that goes perfectly with the flavored iced coffee, which, by the way, is a sugar jack pot all by itself. They describe it as if they have no control over their eating when it comes to consuming sweets. Even people who typically eat a healthy diet will go out of their way to buy that candy bar or gooey Danish, especially in the afternoon, when energy plummets.

It’s late evening, the kids are in bed and you are unwinding after a long, stressful day at work. You’re flipping through the channels on TV and find a show that captures your attention for an hour, but every commercial seems geared towards food. Even though you just ate 2 hours ago, the clips of pizzas with multiple toppings and cheese-filled crusts or the batter-fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy are tempting you.

Every afternoon it happens, that sluggish brain fog that decreases your productivity and creativity. Where does your energy go? There is a natural rhythm in our bodies that causes a temperature drop and release of melatonin, similar to what happens before bed, but on a smaller scale. Not having a healthy breakfast and lunch can also add to the afternoon crash, making you more tired.

Besides having some lean protein with every meal, the following 5 foods can help maintain your energy level or bump it up:

“Too complicated” was the complaint about the food pyramid. In an attempt to bring better nutrition to a nation of increasingly overweight and obese people, including our children, the USDA adopted the plate method. I say adopted because it’s very similar to The Idaho Plate Method that was created in 1993 for diabetes education, which was adapted from the Swedish Plate Model. The Idaho Plate Model allowed diabetics to select healthy meals with acceptable food proportions.