Hey everyone, Happy new month, Happy April! . Can you believe that it is already a new month. This year so far is going by so fast. Sometimes just as time goes by fast , we also feel the need to go just as fast as time is going in our daily lives. When we have a goal in mind that we want to accomplish we want to keep going and going. I wrote this blog post to remind you that I see all your hard work but it is also OK to give yourself a break because you deserve it.
When I started this blog and my Instagram page back in 2016/2017 I wouldn’t say I was super consistent but I did post from time to time to make sure I was engaging with my audience and keeping up with giving them the latest tips to help with acid reflux . At one point there were moments when I would not post for a month or two and my Instagram page continued to grow which I was so shocked to see.
After taking a break from my blog for almost a year and a half after I had my son, I decided at the end of 2020 that I was ready to make a comeback and start working hard again and I did just that. I managed between three platforms Instagram, YouTube, and WordPress. I would stay up all night to get my videos done, blog posts done, and content creation done sometimes until 4 am! . Between the months of December and February I was on a high working non stop until finally in March I crashed and burned and needed a break. It is important that we learn to give ourselves the break we deserve and give ourselves self care. After having my son I never really thought much about self care but now a year and a half later having an active 1 year old, trying to get work done, focus on my marriage, and get through this pandemic I realize how important it is to give ourselves that mental break.
I hope this blog helped just a little to realize it’s ok to relax, regroup, recharge, and reset.
Now I know you guys have been waiting on this one and I’m a little late but I’m back! So lets talk about the GOOD FATS and the BAD FATS. Just as with carbohydrates there are healthy fats and not so healthy fats because what it can do to the body.
Let’s start with a little science:
Fat Molecules which are called “triglycerides are made up of chains and bonds
These chains and bonds can be single or double
These chains and bonds can have carbon atoms or hydrogen atoms
These chains and bonds will determine what type of fat you are dealing with
The GOOD:
When you hear about good fats you will usually hear “unsaturated”
Unsaturated fats have subcategories called “Mono-unsaturated” and “Poly-unsaturated
Mono-unsaturated fats is a fat molecule that has a single double bound and one of those bonds is an unsaturated carbon bond
Mono-unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and solid when cold
Mono-unsaturated fats help to reduce bad cholesterol in the body which is called LDL and HDL is the healthy cholesterol
Mono-unsaturated fats helps to maintain the cells in the body by giving it nutrients such as vitamin E
Same thing goes for Poly-unsaturated fats with the exception that it has more than one unsaturated carbon bond
Poly-unsaturated fats work in the same ways as mono-unsaturated fats helping the body to regulate cholesterol levels
Examples of Mono-unsaturated and Poly- unsaturated Oils:
olive oil
canola oil
peanut oil
safflower oil
sesame oil
soybean oil
corn oil
sunflower oil
The BAD FATS
When we talk about bad fats there are two categories they fall into those categories are Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated fats
We also we hear CIS and TRANS fat
Hydrogenated fats are processed poly unsaturated fats that have hydrogen added to them
Partially hydrogenated fats are also processed artificially as well
CIS fats are fats that have a double bond with carbons on the same side
Trans fats are fats that have a double bond as well but hydrogen and carbon are on opposite sides of the bond and this is what makes it bad
Trans fats are the worse fats for your health. They don’t go rancid, they are more stable during deep frying and can change the texture of your food
How do you know if a food has Trans fat in it? good question you will know that it does if the label of any food states that it is partially hydrogenated because that is how trans fats are made
What foods can you find Trans Fat in ? Basically in any foods that may be fried like fried chicken, fried fish, fried doughnuts and other foods that are not fried like pizza, hamburgers, cookies, pastries etc..
Now as we are getting towards the end of the month into a new month the last thing that I would like to talk about in terms of dieting is portion sizing. Since January we have been talking about sugars, carbs , dieting and now portion sizing. The first question is how many of you actually take the time to do this? Portion sizing can seem a bit tedious to many people but it is actually is very important especially if you are trying to watch your weight or want to lose weight. As many of you know if you know if we do not do this the result will be overeating and weight gain.
For me I’ve been putting this into practice now more then ever because over the past two years I have gained a good amount of weight. The first tip that I would give when it comes to portion sizing is that in order to know what your portion size is you have to know what the serving size is. Well where do you find the serving size? I’m glad you asked! The serving size is found at the very top of a nutrition facts label. Your serving size tells you how much calories you will get out of one serving. Once you have figured out your serving size then you can portion size. Not everything comes with a nutrition facts label so you are going to have to do some extra research and there are a lot of apps that can track calories for you if your are unable to figure out the calorie and serving size. The next tip I would give is use your measuring tools to help you portion your food. For myself I used dry measuring cups to measure out most of my food. For example if the cereal box says 1 cup is the serving size I use my dry measuring cup to scoop it out not so bad!.
Now figuring out the portion sizes for other things such as meat and fish can be pretty tricky those things are usually measured by the ounce so I found some guides that use your hands to portion out your food. I will put that picture guide down below. Overall, portion sizing is really not that scary and easy to do so don’t run away from it be smart and portion!
I do not own this photo. This photo was found using a google search for free images
As I mentioned in my last blog post I would still be on the topic of diets. This week I am going to be taking about vegan diets and vegetarian diets.What both diets have in common is that they do not consume any animals products. Did you know that there are 5 types of vegan diets and 5 types of vegetarian diets but a vegan diet or “veganism” is also a vegetarian diet. So lets jump straight to it.
5 Types of Vegan Diets ( Remember Vegan diets to not use any animal products)
Junk- Food Vegans – Now I found this to very interesting because you wouldn’t think that someone that is vegan would eat “junk” food but there are a lot of vegan products that can still be considered unhealthy depending on what you choose such as vegan ice cream, vegan, fries, chips, frozen dinners
Raw-Food Vegans – These vegans only eat foods that are raw or cooked below 118 degrees F, some of those raw foods include: raw nuts and seeds, raw nut butters, raw nut milks, seaweed, and sauerkraut. Methods of cooking for those that are raw food vegans include juicing, blending, soaking, and sprouting they chose these methods of cooking because the foods lose less nutrients when cooked at a lower temperature.
Dietary Vegans- Dietary Vegans follow a plant based diet but other products such as for food, hair, or skin
Whole Food Vegans – These vegans eat whole foods such as nuts, fruits, vegetables , and legumes
Low Fat Raw Food Vegans- These vegans limit high fat as coconuts, nuts, and avocados and mostly eat fruits. They are referred to as fruitarians.
The next thing I am going to talk about are Vegetarian diets. There are 5 Vegetarian diets:
Vegan – I started off with vegan since we just reviewed vegan diets. As we know Vegans do not eat any animal or dairy products
Lacto-vegetarian – These vegetarians do not eat eggs, poultry, fish, or meat but they do eat dairy products such as yogurt, milk, cheese, and butter
Ovo-vegetarian – These vegetarians exclude all animal products but they do eat eggs
Lacto-ovo vegetarians – These vegetarians do not eat meat but they do eat eggs and milk
Pescatarians – Pescatarians do not eat meat, eggs , poultry, or dairy but they do eat fish
That is the overview of Vegan and Vegetarian diets, they both have many similarities but slight differences in what can actually be consumed. Do you currently follow any of these diets or lifestyles? Leave a comment down below let me know!
So it’s a New Year and right about now everyone is getting started on new diets (including me). Diets can be good but diets are also temporary most people will start a diet and fall off (which has also happened to me several times). So for me instead of using the word diet I like to use the word Lifestyle because you should want to your healthy eating habits to be a lifestyle with a room for certain foods in moderation or sometimes foods.
But being that it is a New Year this blog post is going to be about all about diets and some of the common diets that we hear about today. Now, there are a lot of diets out there but in this blog post I am only going to be talking about 5 diets which are:
The Vegan Diet
The Mediterranean Diet
The Paleo Diet
The DASH Diet
The Atkins Diet
The Vegan Diet is currently a favorite of mines because being someone that deals with acid reflux I realized following a vegan diet works better for it. Even though I am not fully vegan I buy a lot of vegan products whether its food and even for my body. So what exactly is Vegan? One a vegan diet it excludes anything that comes from animals. So almond milk, cashew milk, almond yogurt, non-dairy yogurt, tofu, fruits, and vegetables plus legumes all fall into the vegan category.
The Mediterranean Diet
Coronary Heart Disease has been a problem in America for many years. This type of diet is centered around just that. This diet was created to resemble the types of diets eaten in Greece and Italy or countries along the Mediterranean Sea. The way they would eat in these countries produced lower numbers in heart disease then here in the US. This diet is mostly a plant based diet eating lots of fruits and vegetables and healthy fats such as avocados and olive oils. You also focus on eating whole grains and limiting eating red meats and dairy but you can still eat meat and dairy just not in large amounts.
The Paleo Diet
The Paleo Diet was basically created to mimic the type of diets that hunters and gatherers/ early humans would eat. In this diet you would be eating lean meats such as , fish,fruits,veggies, seeds, and nuts. You can also have dairy products, legumes, and grains but have these in very limited amounts. This type of diet helps with weight loss and to maintain weight and is good for obesity, heart disease, and diabetes prevention.
The DASH Diet
Now I’m sure you guys have all probably heard of this diet. The DASH diet was created for people with hypertension. DASH means dietary approaches to stop hypertension. The main goal is to reduce the amount of sodium in your diet and eat more fruits and vegetables and grains. You can also still have dairy, meat, and fish.
The Atkins Diet
Last but not least is the Atkins Diet. When reviewing this at first I was a little confused. To start this diet is a low carb diet. This is the type of diet you go on when you want to lose weight and limit those carbs. This diet can also improve blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels. So while your reducing your carbs you are increasing your protein intake and that is what keeps you full and eating less. The confusing part for me was the 4 phases. So you have to make sure you keep up with the phases so that you are following this diet correctly.
Phase 1- This is called the induction. In this phase you must reduce your carb intake to less than 20 grams per day for two weeks.
Phase 2- This phase is called balancing. Find your balance thats the goal. You will slowly add nuts and low carb veggies such as zucchini’s, broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers.
Phase 3 – This phase is called fine tuning. In this phase you will begin adding back carbs until your weight loss slows down. Very Tricky!
Phase 4 – This phase is called maintenance. In this phase you eat as many carbs (healthy) carbs as possible without gaining weight.
Examples of some foods to avoid on this diet:
Sodas
Ice Cream
Fruit Juice
Rice
Barely
Canola Oil
Soybean Oil
Diet foods/Low fat foods
** When writing this blog a lot of it comes from prior knowledge of nutrition combined with viable resources for this blog post the source I used was www.healthline.com please visit healthline for more information on these diets**
NutriFoody Wholly Holism 