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I’m seeing more and more people of varying age groups from 12 right the way up to 70 who struggle with their body image or weight spend hours worrying about their food choices and beating themselves up over what they ate, or didn’t eat at their previous meal.
The truth is, for most of us, it’s actually not about the food at all. The foods we’re consuming come in second compared to the way we actually feel about ourselves. Now don’t misunderstand me, of course what you eat matters. Eating healthy meals loaded with fruits and veggies are very important …but to truly get to the root of your relationship with food, you can’t just look at what you’re eating; you’ve got to look at why you’re eating and how you’re treating yourself and your body. What we create outside of us is a reflection of our internal state. It’s not all so dreary as it may first seem. What may immediately come to mind is that you’re saying “ It’s your fault you feel *^%$#$” . The thing is it can be wonderfully empowering. Creating the life that you want or the body and health that you yearn for is all about taking Self-Responsibility and investing the time and effort to achieve your health goals. If you get to work on your inner stuff, getting rid of the 99% useless excuses, then all the external stuff will naturally start to sort itself out. Take a moment and ask yourself these questions: Did you reach for junk food, a sugar hit or a caffeine fix this past week? Are you turning to processed, fast or ready to eat ‘foods’ because you’re ‘too busy’? Did you skip a meal or ‘forget to eat’? Do you tend to snack a lot or crave dessert after every meal? Do you use food as a reward mechanism? When you ate dinner last night, were you watching TV, sitting on Facebook or surfing the net? Now ask yourself — what’s really going on here? Open up and be brutally honest with yourself. This isn’t the time to play games and sugar coat what’s really going on. The first things to notice are any emotions or feelings coming up to the surface. Are you judging yourself, or scolding yourself, are you telling yourself you have failed? Are feelings of anger and guilt surfacing? Your internal dialogue can get really nasty! It’s time to give yourself a break… take a minute or two and take three deep breaths and let it all go. Consciously choose to turn that internal nasty talk to positive empowering talk. A strong, worthy impression of yourself goes hand in hand with a strong, worthy mind and body. Your health and wellness depends upon your self-perception. Right now, in this moment you can heal your relationship with food. You don’t have to carry on eating to numb emotions and block out sadness, anger and frustration. It’s as easy as getting rid of fearful based thinking and substituting it with love based thoughts. If you are eating out of fear, it’s time to stop. And if you’ve quit junk food out of fear, please stop. Quit junk food because you love yourself and your body unconditionally, not because you are scared it will give you health problems. Eat to nourish that beautiful body of yours, to keep it healthy and strong. Our bodies put up with a lot of rubbish; it’s time to give them back some love. When you are not at war with food or make it all about losing weight, then you come to peace with food and start loving yourself and it all starts to shift in a positive way. You start making deliberate and conscious choices from a place of love instead of fear.
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Eggs can become a confusing subject. Should we eat them ? Some studies have shown that there is no evidence of any association between egg consumption (up to two a day) and the risk of coronary heart disease or stroke in healthy men or women. Then there are other studies which claim that eating even an egg a week increases your chances of having a heart attack.
I think that it all boils down to the quality of eggs that we eat and of course in moderation, about 4 a week. So here goes... what really matters when it comes to buying healthy, nutritious eggs ? They do say that first came the grass, then the chicken and then the egg. When it comes to eggs, it turns out that the grass holds significant importance as it has more to do with both the health of the chicken which lays the eggs and the nutrients we receive from those eggs. In order to help you make more informed choices when it comes to buying eggs, here’s some information that explains the differences between "organic," "free-range," or "cage-free," and "pastured eggs" in hopes of clearing up any confusion you might have when looking at labels. In Cyprus we don’t get “pastured eggs” unless you have access to someone who lives in a village and has hen’s running around their plot of land or you have your own hens. CONVENTIONAL EGGS Conventionally produced eggs are usually from hens in cages or in large houses. The caged layer houses are highly mechanized, and the eggs gently roll out of the cages and are carried by conveyor belts to a central area where they are washed, graded, candled and packaged. Many people are concerned about the crowding of the hens in this type system as well as waste management. FREE-RANGE OR CAGE-FREE EGGS Hens that are considered "free-range" are generally raised in a permanent shelter where they sleep at night and lay their eggs, but are allowed to freely go in and out at will. USDA definitions allow 'free range' hens to be raised in large houses, with access to a small (20x20) concrete outdoor area. These free-range hens do not have access to grass and only a few actually use this outdoor area due to their social restrictions. ORGANIC EGGS Organic eggs are from hens fed a diet of organic grains. However, they may or may not be cage-free or pastured, so read labels carefully. PASTURED EGGS Pastured eggs are those eggs from hens raised out on green pasture. Eggs from pastured hens have been shown to be two to 10 times more nutritious than the eggs from caged layers. In a study published by Mother Earth News in November 2007 that showed that pastured eggs contain the following when compared to conventional eggs: • 1/3 less cholesterol • 1/4 less saturated fat • 2/3 more vitamin A • 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids • 3 times more vitamin E • 7 times more beta carotene |
AuthorBarbara is a qualified nutritionist offering Health, Nutrition & Lifestyle Counseling. She gives Healthy weight loss advice and promotes the Mediterranean diet. She is the author of the Med Life Diet - creating healthy lifestyle habits and attitudes for life ! Archives
August 2024
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