The Choice

The Choice

Oh the stories that abound about how hard it is to eat healthy...

When we healthy eaters hear them; in one way we are bewildered by how easy it actually is to eat healthy and at the same time, we have to remember that the person who is struggling is under the influence of hidden forces that we too suffered from at one point and are now free of. If we forget that, we lose sight of why people need help with changing the way they eat so they too will find eating healthy as easy as it can be.

Really, it is not hard to eat healthy, and once you understand how, it can be as predictably pleasurable, enjoyable and convenient as the way you are currently eating right now. Whole foods from nature were the original fast foods any way and before we had all this unnatural foods, we were all eating healthier.

Grown from nutrient rich soils (and yes our soil is still nutrient rich) nutrient rich foods are healthy, and great tasting because they are naturally nutrient rich. No chemist on the planet can duplicate the flavor of an orange, especially organic!

So why is it so hard to eat healthy and change your eating habits? Well, there isn't just one answer. It's because most people's heads are filled with false information that confuse us as to what's really healthy and why, but also for a series of other reasons that many are not aware of because the conversation around food, is usually about the food itself, and not all the other factors that are essential in making a change or what we call the 'nutrition transition."

It's called the Nutrition Transition.

Failure to understand how to make a transition and interpret the process when it comes to nutrition will ensure you get tripped up and diet trapped by forces that are vested in your current eating habits from Dr's to Pharma to food addicted friends, to convenience stores and media ad dollars and junk food companies to politicians who are bought and paid for by the meat, dairy and cola lobbyists.

As if that weren't enough...

Here are 10 reasons why changing the way you eat and eating healthy can be so hard. 

1. The Dietary Pleasure Trap. When you strip nutrients out of a whole foods and abnormally concentrate the pleasure stimulating chemicals, you hijack your taste buds, stimulate dopamine in the brain and get a super normal hit of pleasure. This is addiction and food is no exception.

2. If you don't have at least a basic nutritional education, you will be prey for anyone who thinks they do, but really doesn't. 80% of what you need to know and learn is what you don't need to do anymore, not what you need to do.Plus, that education had better be in high nutrient density nutrition, not the nutrient-poor nutritional practices we learn, that are influenced by economics and politics, supplement or product sales alone, or weight loss-only diet or tradition, or some ulterior motive that maintains the status quo. Even convenience and great taste (both of which are also leading drivers for eating nutrient rich foods) are used to guide nutritional guidelines and practices for many people who are lead astray. See the Vicious Cycle of Eating Nutrient Poor at the bottom of this page. 

3. The time it takes to get this information and understanding if they are fortunate to be getting advice from the right people.

4. Making a nutrition transition from predominantly nutrient poor, high addictive, highly stimulating foods to predominantly nutrient rich, non-addictive not-as-stimulating foods may not be exciting at first; you might actually feel uncomfortable as your body goes through a process of detoxification from the unhealthy foods and diets you've been eating for a long period of time.

5. Your digestive track may need to adjust, as it may be used to low fiber, nutrient poor foods. Load it up with high fiber nutrient rich foods and you'll start experiencing a level of function you are not used to.

6. Holidays, eating rituals, and habits (routines) also begin to change and that requires social adjustment.

7. Shopping, preparing, organizing and eating out change

8. Pressures from family members who are not yet on board.

9. A poorly planned transition strategy, with unrealistic expectations, focused on weight loss only, and not on the 7 healthy success results in their order of importance - detoxification, health improvement, increased energy, natural weight loss, lifestyle-induced disease reversal, slower aging and a younger look, and a longer life.

10. Other hidden lifestyle challenges that hold you back such as low energy, overwhelm, lack of inspiration... and ultimately EGO.

So, as you can see there is more to changing the way you eat than meets the eye that can explain why it's so hard to eat healthy. Resolve these issues thoroughly and evolve with new thoughts and lifestyle skills and you will achieve your goals with amazing quality of life.

Begin making the Switch to Nutrient Rich healthy eating, today.

The post Why it's So Hard to Eat Healthy appeared first on Nutrient Rich.

It was great to hear John Robbins talk about one of the most powerful nutrition facts of his seminal book Diet for a New America, the book that actually launched the food revolution over 20 years ago, that is this... if "American's", just Americans, ate 10% less animal products, the biggest consumers of grains in the world (live stock) no one in the world would go hungry. Nearly 60,000 people a day die of starvation in the world, so I think we can both eat less meat, and redirect those grain resources to the people who need it.

Don't you?

In the last interview with John and Ocean Robbins... John Robbins laid out the 10 questions he asks that keep him aligned right with the foods he eats.

These are the 10 food questions you too could be asking...

1. Will eating this food propel me towards an inspiring future or keep me stuck in the past?
2. Is this food consistent with my ethics or will was it produced in a way that create harm to the earth and cause unnecessary harm to other sentient beings?
3. Will eating this food bring me long term fulfillment or only short term gratification?
4. I am maintaining my own integrity and well-being or just trying to please others?
5. Am I feeding my strength or indulging my weakness?
6. Will eating this way enable me to align with my spiritual path or is it a distraction from living a conscious life?
7. Will this food add to my life force or will it decrease my vitality?
8. Does this choice empower me or not?
9. Is this an act of self-love or an act of self-sabotage?
10. Am I coming from faith in self and in life or am I coming from fear?

These questions are powerful, and guess what, they will all naturally steer you towards a More Plant Based Nutrient Rich, healthy eating style and the superfoods that deliver all the results!

The post The 10 Food Questions You Could Be Asking appeared first on Nutrient Rich.

Time to bust this weight loss-only myth once and for all!

The Truth: You CAN eat carbs — the "good" ones! Yes, you read that right. You CAN eat carbs and still lose weight! I know that a lot of trendy diets (like Atkins and Paleo) have popped up over the years based on the principle that a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet is the key to weight loss. It's not.

I’m here to tell you that is mostly false and very unhealthy: You don’t have to banish carbs to lose weight. Even though you may want to limit starches, you don't have to succumb to a nutrient poor diet of animal protein and limited fruits, because you are afraid of gaining weight.

In fact, eating "nutrient rich" fruits as part of a superfood, high-nutrient density, or nutritarian eating style will even aid in your weight-loss efforts as your nutrient needs get met, you don't overwhelm your body with what does not promote health, and you naturally eat less. Think about it — fruits and vegetables have carbohydrates and they are the two best food groups out there. The key is choosing the right carbs to consume. Here are a few other reasons why carbs are NOT the enemy.

Healthy carbs help you feel full. But muffins, cupcakes, french fries, white bread, white rice…? These are the evil carbs. These refined and processed carbohydrates have very little nutritional value and can definitely make you gain weight — which is why it’s about time you replaced them with a healthy version or just eliminated them altogether. Carbohydrates that are 100 percent whole grain and fiber rich help you feel full because they get absorbed slowly into your system and keep your blood sugar balanced, and come packaged with thousands of nutrients.

Other healthy carbs that fit the bill? Look to non starchy vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains like quinoa (which is technically a seed), oats, wild rice...

Our bodies need carbs for fuel. Limiting carbs will never work long-term because our bodies crave and need them for obvious reasons. Depriving yourself of a major food group like beans for example, is not a manageable weight-loss plan because, like the elimination or limiting of fruits, the replacements wreak havoc on your metabolism.

One study found that women who severely restricted their carbohydrates for three days ended up binging on carbs the fourth day — eating 44 percent more calories from carbohydrate foods than they had before they restricted their carb intake. You should have real food carbs, health promoting protein, and essential fat in the the quantities they are available in whole natural foods.

Carbohydrate also help fight disease. People who eat three servings of whole grains a day are 30 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes. And that's just whole grains. The right mix of healthy "Nutrient Rich" carbs (because you are not just getting carbs when you eat nutrient rich foods) is the best way to control your blood sugar and avoid diabetes. Carbohydrate rich foods are also the vehicle for many of nature’s disease fighters, like phytochemicals.

Without real food carbohydrates, we’d be sitting ducks for cancer, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, chronic inflammation, and digestive problems.

The Bottom Line: Remember, while you should ditch white flour and white rice from your diet and cut back on refined carbohydrates, it is a mistake to eliminate all carbs. Healthy carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains are an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. Enjoy!

The post MYTH: Carbs Are the Enemy appeared first on Nutrient Rich.

A quick story...
It's one I tell after every Thanksgiving because ever since it happened, it just feels relevant as people digest all the food they just ate.

About 7 years ago, a Ph.D education-level client of mine was very upset about how we had eaten recently and consulted me for advice. At the time, he had just eaten a Kit-Kat chocolate bar and proceeded to escalate the event into a very big story. He was driving himself a little crazy over it and in turn, anyone listening.

So I said, "Howard, all you did was eat a Kit-Kat." That's all that happened. "True or not?"

He said "true."

"So why all these other stories?," I asked.

It was a revelation to him at the time, that his ego was fully invested with all the stories generated from his past, which was full of similar experiences. So when he ate the Kit-Kat, it unleashed a tirade of 'stuff.

Is it any wonder why people are doom ed to repeat the past? In this case, if it wasn't enough that "what" he was eating was reinforcing food addiction making him virtually powerless around Kit-Kat's; his eating patterns were also reinforced by an over-personalized ego-orientation, which is like living in your past and that's why the past was repeating itself for Howard.

As a lifestyle coach and trainer, which includes but is not limited to a focus on eating nutrient-rich, I worked with him on no longer identifying with his story, and getting free of all that.

Which brings up the moral of this story...

If you really want to change your lifestyle, including how you eat, at some point you have to begin identifying with who you really are, and that is not ANYTHING that has happened in the past.

No aspect of your history is doomed to repeat itself unless you think that's who you are. And if so, of course it will repeat. You've got to get free of all that in addition to learning how to eat "nutrient rich."

So anytime you eat a 'Kit-Kat' so-to-speak, psychologically, you can stay well and acknowledge the fact that all you did was eat a Kit-Kat, nothing more. You won't have to beat yourself up psychologically anymore, the way some people do, on anything from eating thew wrong thing to eating too much, even on Thanksgiving.

You also won't have to worry about not paying attention to the times when you do, (thinking that unless you beat yourself up, you'll do it again) because once you make the Switch to Nutrient Rich eating, your body will prevent you from doing so, so easily. It will let you know in no uncertain terms that it does not want what it doesn't need and that's the reason why healthy eaters are so "disciplined." It just doesn't feel good.

When that happens, and all the while you are feeling psychologically well, even in the face of a behavior that may not have been in your best interest; you will know you've made real progress.

Bottom line, if you are responding from the wrong part of your self, you will have difficulty with food behaviors. When you respond from the part of yourself that is authentic, and free of ego participation, you will respond accordingly.

You'll get over stuff even with a little bit of healthy shame, real quick and continue moving forward making improvements in how you eat, think and live.

The post All You Did Was Eat a Kit-Kat - A Story appeared first on Nutrient Rich.

Hi Friends,

I can't tell you how many times I have been criticized for promoting "90% or More," as the percentage of plant-based, nutrient-rich, whole foods you'll want to be eating, if you're going to have the level of health everyone is talking about, but so few actually experience.

Everyone seems to agree that we need to be eating "more plant-based nutrient-rich" foods, but when they discover they need to be eating up to 90% or more of these health-promoting foods, even most fitness and health professionals are like, "What? That much?"

Of course, the worry is that they won't enjoy eating "healthy" as much as they are enjoying eating "relatively healthy" or "healthier" than most people, (so they think), which underscores a point--if you don't understand what it means to eat nutrient rich, you may think you are eating healthy--when you're not!

And, many diet professionals are just as food-addicted as the clients they serve; it's often the blind leading the blind, no matter how well-intentioned. And, we wonder why people stay stuck in a vicious cycle of eating nutrient poor, unable to get to those healthy success results they've been promised.

They are either learning what is still a nutrient-poor way to eat, or just not taking it far enough even if they are eating a plant-based diet!

Look, I don't make rules when it comes to health, I just unearth them, and then call it the way it is. The rules are based on years and years of reviewing the evidence, with the help of the leading high nutrient density nutritional researchers, reflecting on decades of personal and client experiences to further reveal the patterns, trusting common sense, and the reality that the longest-lived populations all consume less than 10% of those foods considered to be nutrient poor, if they eat them at all.

Eating "Healthy," by it's very definition,  means eating "nutrient-rich," so why the lobby to tone it down-- especially, when you can be eating nutrient rich in as many great-tasting ways as you may be eating in nutrient-poor unhealthy ways? Does My permission, or someone Else's permission, and weaker definition for what is healthy make a difference?

As it is, every step, every percentage of movement toward a nutrient-rich healthy eating style is applauded, but does that mean we should set the bar low? No, not at all. After all, we each need something to strive for--don't we?

Are you fighting to maintain the status quo? If so, you might want to examine why--because it's an irrational, and addictive story playing in your head. We all have some irrational thinking in us, and that's OK, as long as we are not doubling down on it with more irrationality. What's your intention?

The reasons why you want to be eating nutrient rich are not so much about just eating "healthy" itself. Really, we shouldn't even have to talk about eating "healthy." That's a given. What's not a given is your capacity to function and perform well, which is what we all depend on every day.

When you tune in to that, you will naturally gravitate toward eating in a whole-food, plant-based, nutrient-rich way that you also enjoy, so that you can function and perform at the level you want.

The trap is the confusion over what is making us feel good in the short term, and giving us the perception of enhanced function and performance, when it's not.

You want to be eating in a way that improves the way you feel because genuinely improved health results in better personal performance.

How do you know you are eating nutrient rich?
You are eating healthy when:

1. You know what true hunger is and enjoy "getting hungry--actually earning it.
2. You don't have cravings--only desires to eat less often.
3. You can go 4-6 hours with no headache or symptoms.
4. You don't feel deprived at all, not one bit.
5. You see food "primarily" as fuel, and nourishment--as a means to a greater end, not as an end itself.
6. You don't have weight loss goals, but rather have daily objectives to eat in a way that keeps your body clean, fueled right, healthy, and functioning and performing at a high level. When you do that, as part of a whole lifestyle, which  supports you, you will live at or near your ideal weight, all the time.
7. You are confident about how you eat, and know beyond the shadow of doubt that you have comprehensive micro-nutrient adequacy. If you aren't yet eating plant-based, nutrient rich, or you have been doing so for a long time, and now want to optimize the way you eat for nutrient density, food volume, variety and great taste, so that you don't consume more calories than you need, click here to learn about the Nutrient Rich® Superfood Nutrition System.
8. You are not taking in calories, in any significant amounts, that contain what you don't need.
9. You are eating food in as close to its natural and original state, as possible.
10. You are enjoying the way you eat!

The post The 10 Ways to Know You Are Eating Nutrient Rich [Audio Blog for Subscribers] appeared first on Nutrient Rich.

That means, make the Switch to 90% or More Plant-Based Nutrient Rich eating, the cornerstone of a healthy eating style, in which you ideally want ninety percent of the foods you eat to come from leafy greens, colored vegetables, fruits, beans, raw nuts and seeds, and whole grains, and ten percent or less of the foods you eat to come from animal products and refined foods.

So, if you were to eat 2000 calories each day, 200 calories or less could come from beef, chicken, fish, dairy, eggs, bread, pasta, flour, sugar, oils and salt. \Why? Because they are nutrient-poor, and in some cases, nutrient-barren foodstuffs (foods so devoid of micro-nutrients that not only is what you are eating loaded with calories, but the calories (macronutrients) you are eating, are not ideal for the human system or packaged with the (micro-nutrients) that enable the body to function right).

This is the predicament most people find themselves in. They are eating diets where up to 90% or more of the calories they consume are coming from nutrient-poor foods, and they wonder why they are having such difficulty with weight issues and health complications.

Their bodies are overwhelmed with calories, in the case of the Standard American Diet eater, or deprived of calories, in the case of the weight loss-only dieter, or confused, with one foot closer to the promised land of healthy eating, but irritated because of all the added salt, oil and sugar they are consuming, as half-baked "healthier" eaters.

In all three cases, their bodies are dysfunctional to the extent that they are unable to effectively run their cellular machinery, which is needed to keep the body detoxified and functioning right with everything from true hunger signals and senses they can trust, to a clear understanding of what's really going on when thyey get sick (most, not all of the time).

Their immune function is low because of such low levels of phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and fiber (which give rise to probiotic bacterial growth) making them even more susceptible to viral infections, bacterial infections, flus, etc.

Are you getting the picture?

So, when I'm talking about optimizing the way you eat, its doesn't mean eating less, or playing around with protein, fat and carbs, or simply eating "healthier" versions of the foods you are currently eating, like eating less egg yolks, or taking the skin off your chicken. Rather, it means making a "Switch" from eating predominantly nutrient- poor foods, to eating to predominantly nutrient-rich foods. And, since virtually all nutrients originally come from plants, making them the most nutrient-rich, health- promoting and protective foods there are, it naturally makes sense that you would be eating More Plant-Based Nutrient Rich.

But, notice that I am not referring tho this as organic, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, non-GMO, low glycemic, low cal, low carb, low fat or any other type of diet regimen. The reason is simple--a nutrient-rich diet can be all of the above or not, depending on how you design your eating style.

These other eating styles are simply other ways you can optimize the way you eat nutrient rich. Eating More Plant-Based Nutrient Rich, makes every one of them possible,and some more likely, than others, depending upon your preferences. You can take eating nutrient rich as far as you want to take it.

So, the concept is simple. When you make the Switch to nutrient-rich healthy eating, you are  optimizing the way you eat for all the the Success Results you are always hearing me talking about, but so few every really experience -- a detoxified body, natural weight loss, dramatically improved health and personal performance, reversal of lifestyle-induced diseases, slower aging,  a younger look and a longer life.

To get those results you want to take these 5 steps.

1. Make a wholehearted decision to Switch to nutrient-rich healthy eating.
2. Begin by eating More Plant-Based Nutrient Rich foods,
3. Break free of the vicious cycle of eating nutrient poor,
4. Optimize your diet for nutrients, density, volume, variety, and great taste, free of addictive substances, so you can eat the right amount of calories for you with the help of The Nutrient Rich Healthy Eating Plan and Support.
5. Develop a healthy lifestyle to support your success.

Healthy eating, like successful living, is the foundation on which you can better achieve and enjoy what you want. Any eating style that is not healthy, or tricks or manipulates calories to lose weight only, or emphasizes growth and muscular development, in ways that compromise health, is not only difficult to maintain, it doesn't end well.

Is the path you are on going to take you where you want to go? It will--if it's a nutrient rich path.

The post Optimize The Way You Eat by Taking These 5 Steps appeared first on Nutrient Rich.