Stress Center Peer Support

Thanks to the Week 5 program, within one day of reading the program, I was able to convince my superiors at work to adopt more nutritional choices as rewards for hard work.

Previously, our company chose to recognize accomplishments with what turned out to be several sugar-laden birthday cakes. Within 1 hour of proposing serving better foods, like dried and fresh fruits, nuts/seeds,low-fat granola and giving some of the facts in the program about caffeine and vitamins (with sources attributed of course), the idea was accepted, moved to approval, and implemented the following morning with attribution of the idea to me! It just goes to show how "hungry" we are for good healthy alternatives. I think this will go a long way in garnering the peer support to maintain the healthy diet.

I decided to "go clean" too. Today I'm going out to buy some diet 7-up and herbal tea. Yesterday, I resisted sugar, chocolate, and caffeine. I was a little sad because I missed those things but I'd rather feel better.

It will be interesting to see if your office feels a difference. Now see if they can cut coffee. Good luck with that one!

Debbie

If you really want to go completely clean, stay away from processed foods. I know it is almost impossible to do, but you can get close. It is hard, but your health will benefit.

No wheat/gluten, processed sugar, white flour, fried foods, red meat.

3 veggie juices before each meal. Finish before eating any salad or other food.

2 salads. One with lunch, the other with dinner.

Lunch and dinner- 6oz chicken, fish, turkey or lamb with one side veggie (and no corn is not a veggie it is considered a grain.)

Everything as organic as possible to avoid herbicides, pesticides, chemicals, antibiotics, hormones and the like.

Raw veggies are KEY! They hold many live enzymes that our bodies need. Our bodies are living cells and need live nourishment. When veggies are cooked, you lose or eliminate all nutrient content. With cooking meat, was told to cook on low temps and not to char as the black crispy stuff is carcinogenic.

Water is essential. Herbal tea is acceptable in moderation. Everything else is supposed to be bad for you. (I do have a decaf here and there)

No dairy! Dairy produces mucus and inflammation issues. BIG thing to take into consideration if one has asthma as my husband. (he has decreased his inhaler usage) Do we have an ice cream? Yeah, here and there as a treat.

You can follow several diets that are like this or similar..Dr. Schwarzbein, Dr. Mercola are 2 that come to mind. I know Mercolas plan is very strict. One of his nutritionist NEVER tried ice cream or drank any coffee ! But I am here to live and will treat myself moderately to an ice cream cup or cup of decaf. I (and hubby) over indulged at Christmas and we are paying for it now. So we are back on the wagon and will feel as good as I did before the holidays. We reach for Lara bars, walnuts or almonds for a snack. We even do stevia sweetener, organic strawberries, organic rice milk and ice to create a strawberry shake. It is a tasty treat when you crave a cold sweet treat.

Good luck!

THat's great! I have given up caffeine now for two weeks. The next thing is eating more healthy, cutting out fat and eating more protein. Does anyone have recipes for high-protein, low-fat eating?

Great post. I appreciate all the tips. We eat healthy at our house, but certainly haven't cut out dairy and red meat. It's eaten in moderation. We eat a lot of beans for protein--and for the ease on the pocketbook (there as so many out therej to choose from). We raise free range eggs which have lots of good stuff inside.

Kudos on the office suggestion. That's a big place where temptation lurks in every coke machine corner. I remember those sugary 1/3 inch think frosting cakes. They didn't even taste good, but were only eaten to be polite and because you were kinda hungry at 10 or 3:00 when the bdays were celebrated.

I wish you well with your healthy eating. Water, water water!