Are You Eating the Right Breakfast?

 I don’t know if the old saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is true. It may not be the most important meal. But it certainly is an important one. Starting off with the right breakfast raises your blood sugar gradually and keeps you full for hours. It’s like armor protecting you from the tempting, junky foods that surround us all day.


The great news is that there isn't just one perfect breakfast. Many foods can make up the “right” breakfast. Here are the 4 important characteristics of the “right” breakfast (and some food ideas):

1. Produce: I highly doubt that you’re surprised that I ‘m recommending that you include fruit or vegetables in your breakfast. That’s likely why you get your Green Earth Organic boxes! Most of us could use to eat more and so why not get a serving or two in at the start of the day? Eat a piece of fruit, top your oatmeal with berries, add some spinach in your omelet, or warm up last night’s stir-fry leftovers.

2. Protein: Here’s something that toast or cereal eaters often miss. Including protein will help your blood sugars be stable for longer, which means no mid-morning crashes and cravings for donuts. Sprinkle hemp hearts or chia seeds on your cereal, spread nut butter on your toast, or enjoy a couple of eggs.

3. Real whole grains. This one is optional. You may just want to include protein and produce and you’ll be doing great. Others (me included) do better with some real whole grains at breakfast. What do I mean by “real” whole grains? I mean minimally processed grains. Something that you really have to chew. There’s a lot of highly processed breakfast foods that claim to be whole grain and/or high fibre. I recommend avoiding anything that’s super light-weight, like a lot of breads and puffed cereals. They digest really fast and your blood sugar starts to drop quickly. Instead look for something that needs a lot of chewing, like steel-cut oats and is heavy to hold, like many sprouted grain breads.


4. Sugar: Again no surprises here (except where it can be hidden). Have as little added sugar as you can (ideally none). Watch out for it in “healthy” cereals, take-out smoothies made with fruit drink concentrates, and in “fruit”-on-the-bottom yogurt.

The Goods on Garlic and Carrots!

Garlic

Ever heard the saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away?" The same goes for garlic! One clove of raw garlic contains more than 100 sulphuric compounds - enough to eliminate bacteria and infection. Garlic also provides protection against heart disease by helping to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. It is an excellent source of Vitamins B6 and C, as well as the trace minerals manganese and selenium.

Carrots

This powerful antioxidant is packed with Vitamin A and beta-carotene which help produce healthy hair, skin and nails. Carrots are also known to help minimize the appearance of wrinkles, acne and other skin blemishes. They are also helpful to eat to promote good vision, especially night vision, as well as protecting against macular degeneration and cataracts.

Dr. Ashely Gordon is a Squamish-based Naturopathic Physician and owner of Garibaldi Health Clinic, an integrative health care facility offering safe and effective care including Naturopathic Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Massage, Midwifery and Physical Therapy. Dr. Gordon’s treatments focus on the whole person, from the physical and mental to the emotional and spiritual realms. To learn more about what Naturopathic Medicine can do for you, or to make an appointment, visit www.garibaldihealthclinic.com or call 604 898 1999.

The Goods on Bananas!

Bananas are a great source of Potassium, Magnesium, Dietary Fiber, and Vitamin C that can help improve your mood, lower your blood pressure, aid digestion as well as keep you alert and energized. Bananas also help alleviate the unpleasant symptoms of nausea often associated with morning sickness. 
 
Bananas make a healthy non-dairy alternative to ice cream! To make your own, cut 4-5 ripe bananas into bite size pieces and freeze for 4-6 hours. When frozen, pulse with a food processor until creamy and enjoy.
 

Dr. Ashely Gordon is a Squamish-based Naturopathic Physician and owner of Garibaldi Health Clinic, an integrative health care facility offering safe and effective care including Naturopathic Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Massage, Midwifery and Physical Therapy. Dr. Gordon’s treatments focus on the whole person, from the physical and mental to the emotional and spiritual realms. To learn more about what Naturopathic Medicine can do for you, or to make an appointment, visit www.garibaldihealthclinic.com or call 604 898 1999.

An Often Overlooked Step for Weight Loss

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to do nutrition mini-consultations with a number of women. All of these women had several things in common. They were:

• Intelligent
• Successful in high-demand, fast-paced careers
• Busy. Very, very busy.
• Unhappy with their weight.
• They also had something else in common. Something that is often overlooked when trying to lose weight – building up their self-care toolkit.

I brought up self-care toolkits for two reasons:

1)Alternatives to Emotional Eating: We eat for more reasons than just fuel for our bodies. Eating can soothe our emotional needs. Think of the terms “treats” or “comfort food”. Enjoying such foods can be a way of taking care of ourselves. The problem comes when it’s the only tool in your toolkit. Or when you over-use this tool.

2)The Stress-Weight Connection: Mainstream medicine is coming to understand what many traditional wellness systems have known for a long time. Our mental/emotional/spiritual health and physical health are connected. Specifically related to weight, we’re learning how chronic stress creates a cascade of hormones that cause weight gain – particularly belly weight.

It’s this second point that I brought up with the women last week. And, I particularly want to share with you. So many of us function so well in our high-stress lives, and that high level of stress is so constant, that we don’t even see the stress anymore. We’ve become stress-blind. But our bodies haven’t.

The way to counter frequent emotional eating and chronic stress is to have a wide variety of tools in your self-care toolkit. And, to use them daily.

What do I mean by a “self-care toolkit”? I mean ways to take care of your mental, emotional, and spiritual health. The fantastic news is that there are an unlimited number of tools out here. You just need to find out which ones work for you. And use them! Examples include:
Meditation
Prayer
Exercise
Listening to or playing music (including singing)
Art
Knitting
Cooking
Journaling
Gratitude practice
Acupuncture
Massage
Chatting with supportive friends
Sleep
Counselling/ Therapy
The list goes on and on.

It may seem counterintuitive that taking up art therapy (or substitute another option) is a way to lose weight. But now you know why it’s important. Now you know why I recommended daily use of self-care tools / expanding the tools in the self-care toolkits to each of the women whom I met last week. And, now you know why I recommend it for you too!  

For ideas of how to change what you’re eating, check out my free resource: How to Eat Healthy to Boost Your Energy: 10 Steps that Even Healthy Eaters Miss at www.KristenYarker.com/womens-nutrition (Guys: head over to www.KristenYarker.com/mens-nutrition)

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Is Your Workplace Working For or Against Your Eating Habits?

While I do believe in individual responsibility, we’re influenced by our surroundings. Most of us spend a lot of our time at work. If you want to eat healthy, it’s worth taking a look at whether your workplace is stacking the odds for or against you. And then doing something to change it.

Because let’s face it, when we’re constantly in meetings with junky food, and everyone eats fast-food at their desks for lunch, it’s really difficult to eat well. You and your salad in a jar stick out like a sore thumb.

I’ve influenced change in a number workplaces. I’ve learned how to make change without everyone hating you for being “the food police”. The best way that I’ve learned is to simply bring healthy, delicious food. As Ghandi so famously said: “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

What you want to stay away from is offering unsolicited feedback on what others are eating. Or, to ban unhealthy foods. My experience has been that people see this as an attack and they just dig in deeper into their unhealthy ways.

Here are some simple ways to change your work environment:
Bring healthy food to meetings and potlucks. My go-to foods are fresh fruit, raw veggies (what did you receive in your box this week that you could bring?), and raw nuts (if it’s not a nut-free workplace).

Have a bowl of fresh fruit on your desk instead of candies.

Start a b.y.o. lunch group. Gather in the lunchroom/ a meeting room to eat your lunches together. This will remove the temptation to mindlessly eat at your desk. And, it motivates you to pack a lunch (instead of hitting the fast-food joint).

Start a lunchtime walking group. Okay, this isn’t going to affect your eating habits. But getting some fresh air and movement in is healthy too.

If ordering food for long meetings, order a variety of herbal (non-caffeinated) teas. Place pitchers of water on the table, maybe even add some fruit or cucumber for flavor and visual interest.

I admit, when giant refined-flour muffins and those poor-quality squares are the office norm, I’ve been nervous to bring my healthy alternatives. But it never fails that people dig in to what I bring. And, almost always someone catches me later on and thanks me for bringing healthy alternatives.

People want to eat healthy. They just don’t want to do extra work, eat anything that tastes awful, or be scolded for their current eating habits.

Make a little effort and you can change your work environment to support your (and your co-workers) healthy eating habits.

** I’m proud to be a registered dietitian. March is #NutritionMonth – when dietitians across North America share our love of healthy eating! This article is inspired by the Dietitians of Canada's Nutrition Month Campaign Materials. Find more information about Nutrition Month at www.nutritionmonth2015.ca. **

For ideas of how to change what you’re eating, check out my free resource: How to Eat Healthy to Boost Your Energy: 10 Steps that Even Healthy Eaters Miss at www.KristenYarker.com/womens-nutrition (Guys: head over to www.KristenYarker.com/mens-nutrition)

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Preventing Commuter Cravings

Did you know that at the end of a busy work day, people’s food choices tend to be more impulsive, falling for unhealthy choices at vending machines and coffee shops during the commute home.

What’s your best way to prevent falling for these traps? As the Boy Scouts apparently say: “Always be prepared!”

Here’s the steps to being prepared:

Step #1: Don’t Go Too Long Between Meals and Snacks

When our blood sugar drops, we’re driven by our bodies towards high fat, high sugar, and high salt foods. Did you skip lunch and now you find yourself in the fast food restaurant on the way home from work? It’s because of a biological drive – not a lack of willpower. Don’t try to work against Mother Nature; you won’t succeed. Instead, eat when you’re just starting to get hungry. For most people this is approximately every 4 hours. Now this doesn’t mean all-day grazing. Plan and eat a healthy afternoon snack to prevent the lure of the vending machine.

Step #2: Pack Healthy Choices

As I mentioned in Step #1, eat a healthy afternoon snack when you’re just starting to get hungry. This means that you need to pack a healthy snack ahead of time. I pack something daily. And, I keep some healthy options on hand. That way on days that either I forgot to pack a snack (hey, no-one’s perfect) or days when I’m not in the mood for what I packed, I have a back-up healthy snack at the office. These can also be kept in the car for all you road-warriors. I was married to one for years so I know you too J

Some healthy snack ideas include:

·      Nuts and seeds (as long as your workplace isn't nut-free).
·      Dried fruit.
·      Fresh fruit. Apples keep well.
·      Energy bars. Look for ones with recognizable food ingredients.
·      Whole grain flatbread, such as Ryvita.
·      Unsweetened fruit purees. Applesauce and other fruit mixtures come in sealed plastic cups. I also know many adults who use the squeezie packs of organic baby fruit & veggie purees (you can even find ones with awesome whole grains like quinoa).
·      Individual tetra packs of milk or plant-based milk alternatives.

Step #3: Fill Your Water Bottle

Often it’s thirst, not hunger, that sends us into the coffee shop or to the vending machine. Even if you only buy a water (and not a drink containing sugar, artificial sweeteners, or caffeine), just going to the vending machine/coffee shop means that you’ll be facing tempting treats. Instead, fill a reusable water bottle before you head out the door. Voila – temptation avoided!

** I’m proud to be a registered dietitian. March is #NutritionMonth – when dietitians across North America share our love of healthy eating! This article is inspired by the Dietitians of Canada's Nutrition Month Campaign Materials. Find more information about Nutrition Month at www.nutritionmonth2015.ca. **

For ideas of how to change what you’re eating, check out my free resource: How to Eat Healthy to Boost Your Energy: 10 Steps that Even Healthy Eaters Miss at www.KristenYarker.com/womens-nutrition (Guys: head over to www.KristenYarker.com/mens-nutrition)

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Rushed Mornings? Overnight Oatmeal to the Rescue!

I’m sure that it’s not news to you that it’s important to eat breakfast. Everyone knows that – right? So why do almost 40% of Canadians regularly skip breakfast?

Time crunch. Rushed mornings.

What if I told you that you could eat a delicious breakfast made of real foods, without having to do a single thing in the morning?

Would that help you eat breakfast?

The solution: overnight oatmeal.

It’s so easy that you won’t believe it. I certainly was thinking “Where have you been all my life?” when I tried them for the first time this Fall. I’ve been eating them almost every morning since, mixing and matching the toppings! In fact, I’m writing this at 10pm and there are oats in my fridge, ready for tomorrow morning.

Here’s how to make your own overnight oats:

Oats:

• Combine equal parts rolled or steel cut oats with yogurt and milk (or plant-based milk alternative) in a bowl or the container that you’ll take this in to go (I carry mine with me in a mason jar). A generous adult serving is 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup yogurt, 1/3 cup milk. For kids, start with 1/4 cup of each ingredient and adjust from there depending on your child’s appetite.

Protein:

• Choose a protein that you like. Examples include hemp hearts (my personal favourite), chia seeds, chopped or sliced nuts, nut butter, pumpkin seeds. Add it to the oat mixture.

Fruit:
Choose a fruit that you like. What came in your Box this week? Examples include: chopped apples or applesauce, fresh or frozen berries, mango, melon, pomegranate, pumpkin puree, or dried fruits like raisins or chopped apricots. Add fruit to the oat mixture.

Refrigerate:
As the name of this dish suggests, prepare everything the night before. Place it in the fridge. The next morning, give it a stir and enjoy!

** I’m proud to be a registered dietitian. March is #NutritionMonth – when dietitians across North America share our love of healthy eating! This article is inspired by the Dietitians of Canada's Nutrition Month Campaign Materials. Find more information about Nutrition Month at www.nutritionmonth2015.ca. **

For ideas of how to change what you’re eating, check out my free resource: How to Eat Healthy to Boost Your Energy: 10 Steps that Even Healthy Eaters Miss at www.KristenYarker.com/womens-nutrition (Guys: head over to www.KristenYarker.com/mens-nutrition) 

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www.Facebook.com/KristenYarkerNutrition

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