Tag: Food

The Ultimate Act of Self-love

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Photo of me taken by me on Valentine’s Day

An ode to Women’s History Month, I want to talk about the ultimate act of self-love. So many things fall under this one term like self-care, self-awareness, loving yourself, mental health, and physical health which is why I labeled ultimate because you have to love yourself as a whole and not in parts. You can’t just love one part of yourself and not the other you have to love it all.

Now I know that that is easier said than done loving all of yourself. For me, for the past year, I’ve struggled with a lot of insecurities about my weight. I’ve watched my body change over the past three years gaining more and more weight. My stomach is bigger, my arms are bigger, and my face is bigger. I can definitely say that I was not loving myself at all more like letting myself go. I have struggled with weight loss even when I would exercise and eat clean the weight would not shift or go down. But then I started to look at other women who are my size and they are owning it. They are in love with their bodies and making it work for them. For me, it was more of an acceptance being this new weight and new weight but I realized I too have to own it and make it work for me. I started to no longer think about trying to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothing and started to focus on what would work for my current body weight. I am starting to get into a mindset of loving myself no matter the size because I am still me. My weight doesn’t define me or change the person that I am. Now being on a holistic journey with nutrition and lifestyle I am learning a lot about taking care of myself from the inside out. I am learning to love myself and accept myself as a whole and this applies to any aspect of life. It’s not just about weight, it is about giving the love you know you need and not allowing anyone to take that away from you or affect that. When we love ourselves and put ourselves first we don’t have to rely on others to make us feel like we are loved because guess what we already love ourselves first.

Now I am going to share with you all a mantra from the book: Deeply Holistic By Pip Walter

This is called Loving Yourself:

Sit or stand in a relaxed way in front of a mirror. Begin with your eyes closed, and take several slow relaxed breaths breathing in fresh energy and out old energy. When you feel ready and relaxed open up your eyes and look in the mirror.

Say this to yourself while looking into your own eyes out loud: (Your name) I like you and I always will. I love you and I always will. You are beautiful just as you are. Repeat this at least three times.

How did that make you feel? Try doing this daily at least for a month. Come back and leave any comments on how did this make you feel.

Food Guilt During The Holidays

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Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Can you believe that today is the last of October? That means that Thanksgiving is only three weeks away and right around the corner from Thanksgiving are all the wonderful holidays celebrated around the world such as Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanza. By the way in Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated in October!

During this of the year, many of us may experience something I would call food guilt. Meaning you feel guilty for eating badly during the holidays. But bad is something you should not feel during these special days especially when these holidays are meant to be a time of coming together and a time of joy. With that joy comes delicious foods and a variety of foods! Some of us may cook traditional foods during Thanksgiving such as turkey, stuffing, ham, sweet potato casserole, and some people put their own spins on Thanksgiving cooking creating dishes that they like and enjoy. For me, I love doing a mix of traditional and non-traditional foods during Thanksgiving.

Now when it comes to food let me tell you I used to be scared to consume so many calories during these holidays and be overly full to the point that I couldn’t buckle my pants. I used the think that during Thanksgiving you have to eat a lot of food but actually, you don’t. There is no rule that says you have to eat 3 plates of food during the holidays. The best way to approach eating during the holidays without feeling any guilt about it is to start with one plate of food and go in with the mindset of portion controlling how much food you take, then after that, if you feel like you still have some room for more then take another plate but do not overeat and most importantly allow your body some time to digest your first plate.

You should be able to enjoy what you eat during the holidays without feeling restricted. Eating is all about balance, find your balance and enjoy food!

Written By: Vanessa J.

Let’s Recap!

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Nutrition Recap For February and March

So for the month of February and March on this blog and on Youtube my focus  was on Heart Health and Women’s Health. The month of February in the US is Heart Health Month and the month of March is Women’s History Month . I will leave the links below to the Youtube videos I did for February and March.

Now that we are in April, I just wanted to give a recap of some of the diseases and disorders that I discussed and nutrition recommendations for those diseases and disorders. ( Disclaimer I work in the field of Nursing and Nutrition but I am not a Medical Doctor. When making any major changes to your diet or health please consult with your primary care doctor or a Registered Dietitian).

  1. Multiple Sclerosis 
  • Disease of the central nervous system 
  • Central nervous system includes the brain and spinal or cord
  • Attacks the nerves or nerve cells 
  • Myelin sheath deteriorates
  • Myelin sheath helps nerve signals travel and covers the nerve cell
  • Sensory Motor and Cognitive Problems
  • Cause is unknown 
  • Linked to genetic and environmental factors
  • Genetic being a female and Certain Genes
  • Environmental factors infections and Vitamin D deficiency 
  • Four types of MS
  • vision problems
  • tingling and numbness
  • pains and spasms
  • weakness or fatigue
  • balance problems or dizziness
  • bladder issues
  • sexual dysfunction
  • cognitive problems

Nutrition for MS – There is some evidence that a diet low in saturated fats and supplemented by Omega-3 (from fatty fishes, cod-liver oil, or flaxseed oil) and Omega-6 (fatty acids from sunflower or safflower seed oil and possibly evening primrose oil) may have some benefit for people with MS.

Vitamin D is a hormone and has many functions in the body:

promotes the absorption of calcium, necessary for bone health

supports immune response to infections

helps to limit inflammation and regulate the immune system

Food sources of Vitamin D include oily fish (such as salmon or tuna), beef liver, egg yolks, pork, fortified foods such as milk and juices

Biotin is considered a form of vitamin B, and is a component of enzymes in the body that help break down certain substances. It also activates certain enzymes that help the body produce myelin – the substance wrapped around many nerves in the central nervous system. Biotin, also known as vitamin H, is usually obtained from food.

2. Cardiovascular Disease 

  • Can include any condition that affects the heart , blood vessels, hypertension , atherosclerosis, arteriolosclerosis , high blood pressure, blood clots
  • Heart diseases that affect women more than men include
  • Coronary microvascular disease (MVD) – a problem that affects the heart’s tiny arteries
  • Broken heart syndrome – extreme emotional stress leading to severe but often short-term heart muscle failure
  • Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
  • Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
  • Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
  • Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness

Nutrition for Cardiovascular Disease – Avoid junk foods, processed foods, fast foods. Stay away from saturated and trans fats. Eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean meats, fish such as salmon. Low Sodium Diet, Low Fat Diet/ Protein plus Fiber 

3. Lupus

  • Autoimmune Disease 
  • Inflammation and swelling takes place anywhere in the body and can attack any organ or organ system
  • Lupus affects everyone different some people might have mild symptoms and some people might have severe symptom
  • People will have flare ups and then go into remission 
  • Symptoms:
  • fatigue
  • fever frequent fevers
  • hair loss and hair thinning
  • rash butterfly shaped rash on cheek bones
  • pulmonary problems lungs can become inflamed and swollen 
  • kidney problems Inflammation of kidneys
  • swollen joints
  • gastrointestinal problems
  • thyroid problems
  • dry mouth and eyes

Nutrition for Lupus- Eat a well balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and omega 3s Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, and Sardine, Citrus fruits Vitamin C.

Avoid processed foods, junk foods, any foods that cause Inflammation in the body dairy is known to cause Inflammation in the body

Check out my YouTube Nutrition Coaching Videos:

Fat’s Overview – Let’s Talk About Fats

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Fats Overview – Let’s Talk About Fats

So what’s the deal with fats? Are fats really bad for you? The simple answer is yes and no. Just like how earlier in another blog post I talked about Carbohydrates the good and bad ones ( complex and simple) fats also had good and bad ones. Fats are considered one of our Macronutrients (Carbohydrates, Fats, and Proteins). You get nine kcals from fats per gram while with carbohydrates and proteins you only get 4 kcals per gram for each. So I know when we here the word fat when it comes to food we get scared but there is no reason to be its all about putting the right fats into your body.

So for the whole month of February we will be talking about fats. This first blog post is just an overview for what is to come in the next few weeks.

We are going to be talking about:

  • What are fats?
  • Why are fats good for us?
  • The good fats and the bad
  • Different fat categories such as saturated and unsaturated 
  • Cis and Trans Fats
  • Essential Fatty Acids
  • Where do fats go when it gets absorbed in the body?
Check out my Youtube Video on Fats

Portion Sizing Is it really necessary?

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Photo by Any Lane on Pexels.com

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
Check out my Youtube video on portioning