Healthy Habits that you Will Actually Look Forward to

Erica Mesirov Food Coach
 http://www.ericamesirov.com

The phrases “living healthy” or “healthy choices” often are associated with deprivation or denial.  We know that we should make choices in our lives that strengthen our bodies, improve our health and increase our potential for longevity.  Unfortunately, we often think of living healthy as giving up all the “fun stuff” to do things that are “good for us”.  Blah!

Yes, any healthy lifestyle includes moderation in certain aspects.  Having said that, there are plenty of health-supporting options that we could actually see ourselves looking forward to.  That’s right, there are downright awesome and fun filled things you could do every day that will improve detoxification, help you lose weight and even build a stronger brain.  Don’t believe me?  Well keep reading.

1. Get together with a friend or a loved one and give each other a massage.  Yes, massage is good for relaxation, but that isn’t the only health benefit!  Everyday we are exposed to viruses and toxins in the air, in our food, on the printers and copy machines at work and even in our carpets and mattresses at home.  To maintain good health, our bodies need to properly detoxify all these contaminants via our lymphatic system.  Our lymph system circulates through our body to pick off toxins to be disposed.  There isn’t a pump to keep the lymph system working like with the heart.  That is where massage can be oh so beneficial.  Massage can stimulate the lymph system and really rev it up and keep it moving.  What does this mean?  The toxins in your body will be quaking in their boots, keeping our bodies working and maintaining our health longer!

2. Take a warm bath with Epsom salts.  Ok, so most people know that Epsom salt baths are good to take after strenuous exercise.  Did you also know that an Epsom salt bath can help lull you to sleep?  The salts are made from magnesium, and magnesium is one of your body’s main tools to support relaxation throughout.  Feeling really wound up at the end of the day?  An Epsom salt bath might be just what your body needs to help you drift into a long, peaceful slumber.  Sleep isn’t just needed to make you feel good in the morning.  Sleep is the main opportunity that your body has to repair the damages of your day.  Improve your sleep quality and you won’t just need less caffeine.  You will also have a stronger body supporting vibrant health.  Just make sure the bath isn’t too hot or you might just wake yourself up more!

3. Eat healthy fat.  For years, fat got a really unfair bad rap.  Now Time magazine has come forward to announce to the world that it is time to start eating butter again.  Eating healthy fats is one of the tastiest, best things we can do to support our health.  Did you know that your brain is predominately made of fat?  Well, when you eat the wrong kinds of fats like from hydrogenated oil, you are building misshapen cells in your brain.  Ouch!  But if you don’t eat fat, your brain can’t carry out many of its functions. No wonder you feel so blah.   When you eat the good kind of fat, you keep your brain the brilliant powerhouse that it is.  So grab a handful of nuts, scoop on some avocado and pour a little coconut oil.  These foods taste great and including them in your diet is a wonderful, health-strengthening choice for your body and brain!

 

Erica Mesirov Food Coach

4. Paint a picture, play an instrument or go to a museum.   Keeping with the topic of the brain, studies have shown that participating in the arts can strengthen other pathways in your brain.  For instance, when kids participate in the arts, their math scores also tend to improve.  Not only that, but the arts can send “feel good” signals to your brain.  By relaxing the body, we reduce the amount of stress hormones present.  Stress hormones disrupt digestion, keep you up in the middle of the night and can throw off your hormones that control food intake.   Want to lose weight?  Incorporating any enjoyable, stress-relieving activity into your routine will help regulate all your hormones, including the ones you need to cooperate to lose weight!

5. Spend time outdoors.  This could mean riding your bike, playing a sport or walking along the beach.  The trick is timing.  One of the best times to go outside is in the morning, before the damaging rays of midday arrive.  First of all, bright light at the beginning of the day helps set our internal clock and regulates your sleep/wake cycle.  It tells our bodies that it is daytime, helps wake us up which will also help us fall asleep at a proper time at night.  Just leave the sunglasses at home because the sun must come through the eyes to reap the benefits.  Sun is also great for vitamin D.  We all know we need vitamin D for good health, yet we also know that if we spend too much time outdoors without sunscreen, we can help bring on skin cancer.  A morning walk is a great time to soak in the rays and give you the half-hour of sun exposure you need without the damaging rays!

My dog Sadie

6. Catch up on conversation with your pet.  Have you felt like you and your dog or cat just haven’t had a good chance to talk lately?  Studies show that spending time with a pet can actually boost your self esteem which is a huge plus for your health.  There is also some research that indicates spending time with a pet can actually protect you against heart disease.  Pet owners are shown to have lower cholesterol, lower triglycerides and are more likely to survive a heart attack if it does happen.  Not only that, but you can spill all your secrets to your pet, and it will still love you unconditionally. (Ok, I know your cat looks like she is judging you, but trust me…she secretly thinks you’re ay ok!)

See, being health conscious isn’t all drudgery.  Fancy that!  There are plenty of healthy habits that you will actually look forward to.  What are your favorite healthy habits?

The Lesson that Lena Dunham’s Naked Body Taught to Me.

So, I watched a marathon of Girls season three this weekend.  Previously I saw a bit of season two, but this was my first real encounter with this much-discussed show.  It was also my first encounter with the most talked about topic of the show: Lena Dunham’s liberal exposure of her naked, very normal, “non-Hollywood” physique.

I put the terms Lena Dunham’s nudity in quotation marks on Google and got 76,000 results.  And if you take out the quotations, boy are you left with a lot of people jabbering about her naked body.  I did find it interesting how she throws her character into toplessness at times when it isn’t needed for the events of the scene.  Yet I read somewhere that she does it because in life, people are just naked sometimes and she wants her show to be a slice of life.  Ok, I guess I buy that.

This got me thinking.  Maybe the general discomfort that many feel towards Lena Dunham’s “normal” body reflects a discomfort that we as a nation have towards our own “real” bodies.  I watched the Chilean film Gloria some months ago and it portrayed scenes of an older couple falling in love.   Their love story included scenes of them having sex and nudity.  I’ll be honest; I was a bit shocked to see a sex scene that included flabby skin and a little extra huffing and puffing.  That isn’t anything I’ve ever seen in a Hollywood film.  Don’t other countries say that Americans are uptight about nudity? 

In the United States a sex scene includes two ripped, glistening bodies contorted as the couple mutually climaxes to a screaming, exemplary orgasm.  In this country, when we see a naked body we see it airbrushed, in perfect lighting from the perfect angle and after the actor or actress has paid a personal trainer thousands of dollars to whip them into the shape they need to be in to go naked.  No, famous people don’t let the world see them in their “regular shape” (which quite frankly, for most of us would seem pretty awesome).  Our celebrities have to get themselves to a place of molded perfection.

The body is supposed to have curves, right?  I mean, even if a person is a healthy weight, isn’t there still some curve in the natural body?  Lena Dunham’s physique would have been considered ideal some generations ago.  Take a trip to your local museum and you are likely to find a painting of a beautiful voluptuous woman.  Throughout much of history, people would have judged her curves as a sign of fertility and wealth.

What percentage of us has difficulty looking at ourselves naked in the mirror?  Show of hands?  Do you see my hand in the air?  Because that isn’t my favorite pastime.  So maybe Lena Dunham’s body represents something much deeper in the general population.  Because, quite frankly, Lena Dunham looks much more like the rest of us than any glistening celebrity body shot from the perfect angle.  Maybe people have trouble looking at her, because people feel uncomfortable with themselves.

Lena Dunham’s naked body taught me that, as a country, we need to start to embrace the way we look naked.  I mean, the way we really look when we are naked.  If we can’t look at a reflection of a real body on television, how will we ever be able to make peace with ourselves?   As a food and weight loss coach, I haven’t forgotten the importance of being healthy.  And the healthy body for most people includes at least some curve.  Yet we can’t be healthy, no matter what size we are, if we can’t make peace with what we are at our core.

So I guess watching a marathon of Girls wasn’t such a mindless experience.  And I’m sure as long as there is lots of nudity in the show, people will keep talking.  Society’s view of the ideal body changes as generations change.  We can blame Hollywood, but at the end of the day, we are the ones buying the tickets.  As individuals, we get to decide for ourselves what is normal and what is beautiful. 

So what do you choose as your model of beauty?

You may learn more about Erica at http://www.ericamesirov.com

An Action Plan to Master your Market’s Produce Section

Erica Mesirov Food Coach  http://www.ericamesirov.com

So you arrive at your favorite grocery store.  You missed the festivities of your local farmer’s market so you are on the hunt for the freshest, best tasting, healthiest fruit and veggies.  Before you just randomly start picking out your produce – stop!  Do you have an action plan or a strategy?  Then do not pass go, do not collect $100 and do not fill your shopping cart just yet.  Did you know that there is a way to better your chances of choosing the most health promoting produce for your family?

Ok, I’m going to get the obvious out of the way first.  Yes, organic is healthier.  Why?  Because less pesticides and chemicals are used, you say? Well, that is part of the answer.  Think deeper, and when I say deeper, I mean deep into the plants’ roots.  Conventional farming strips minerals from the soils used to grow food.  When minerals are stripped, this is reflected in an absence or reduction of minerals in the foods the soil grows.  Organic farming methods replace the minerals lost in the soil, allowing the food to grow with more nutrients.  So when you eat organic, you are literally buffering your body’s nutrient reserve.

Can’t afford organic?  Unfortunately, organic can be more expensive which limits many people’s access to these nutrient rich foods.  Still, when you get to the market, peruse the organic sections for sales.  If it is on sale, grab it!  It is probably now very similar in price to conventionally grown fruits and veggies.  Also, while you may be drawn to shop at Whole Foods market for your organic produce, that might not be the best bang for the buck.  I find my local chain grocery store has more sales and in general, more affordable pricing on organic produce.  If possible, focus on purchasing organic the most pesticide laden foods like apple and celery.  Not sure how your favorite food ranks?  Here is a list of fruits and veggies in order of pesticide data findings for 2014:  http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php

Ok, now that we’ve passed the organic aisle, we can look at the rest.  Do you think if it isn’t organic, that it is all the same?  The answer is decidedly no.  If you look at the signs by the produce, they should list where the food was grown.  If the food was grown in a different country, it is wise to research their laws regarding pesticide and chemical use.  I often see signs for foods grown in a variety of countries.   Yet I go online and see documentation that suggests certain countries’ pesticide regulations tend to be lax.  I use this information to help determine my produce purchases. 

The best non-organic purchases are foods that are currently in-season, meaning they are grown now, and only need to travel a short distance to reach your market.  For me, that means I look for California local.  Now, I believe it is phenomenal to support your local economy, but that isn’t the main impetus for shopping local.  The real value in choosing produce from your local growers is those precious fruits and vegetables have only a short distance to travel to reach you.  What happens when you buy from across the country?  To accommodate the long travel time, items must be picked before they are ripe and then the ripening process must be chemically halted.  Otherwise, these foods would ripen and go bad before they ever get near your grocery shelves.  Then the produce must embark on a long journey to reach your grocery shelves. 

This journey involves being packed up and placed into hot (or cold in the winter) trucks to embark on the long journey towards your home.  The food is often stored in warehouses for long periods of time awaiting placement on store shelves.  Then, when the food is ready to be placed, it is chemically ripened and chemically altered to look fresh.  This chemical ripening means not only more chemicals in your body upon consumption.  It also means less nutrients for you.  This is because when a food is chemically ripened, it grows differently and loses much of its nutrient value.

So this brings us to the last part of the store to buy good quality fruits and vegetables.  Hint: you won’t find it near the fresh produce section.  A great place to buy good quality fruits and vegetables when you can’t find good quality fresh selections is the frozen food aisle.  “What?”, you gasp!  Isn’t fresh always the best option.  No, it isn’t!

If you can always buy fresh foods that are local and in season, then there is no advantage to buying frozen.  Since most of us eventually crave something that is out of season or isn’t grown locally, frozen is a good alternative.  Frozen foods are picked fresh and immediately frozen.  This means that they aren’t chemically altered for transport and they don’t need to be chemically ripened.  Purchasing frozen can also sometimes be a more affordable way to buy organic for those whose budgets preclude organic merchandise.  When food isn’t local and in-season, frozen is better.

One final thought for your fruit and vegetable picking.  Always choose items that are the brightest and richest in color.  Fruits and vegetables have things called phytonutrients which is part of their nutrient powerhouse.  The brighter the color, the more phytonutrients!  The more phytonutrients you consume, the better off your body will be. 

So there is your action plan for the produce department.  And if all this overwhelms you, still eat your fruits and veggies.  It is better to pick lesser quality fruit and vegetables than to not eat them at all!

The Beautiful Art of Doing NOTHING

Erica Mesirov Food Coach  http://www.ericameirov.com

I strive to do less.  Can this be me talking?  I never thought I would hear those words come from my lips.  I’m the epitome of the type A personality.   I have to be creating, achieving or embarking on something at any moment in time or I feel lazy and time negligent.  I am always striving towards something far in the future that I need to have, and only my hard work will bring it to me.

I have distant memories of sitting in my middle school classroom, drowning in a messy cry.  Tears have dribbled down onto my face, shirt, corduroy pants (why, I don’t know) and have even created a slipping hazard in the space around me.  Did someone die?  No, I was lucky never to experience a close death in childhood.  The tragedy was an item I was holding clenched in my grief stricken fist:  My final paper for French class with a C marked on top which would serve as my entire grade for the trimester.  C meant adequate (barely), which was an unspeakable atrocity in my universe.

So here I sit in life with my plate full and mountains of obligations before me.  I have dust on the floors, laundry to clean, dishes that have done there fare share of soaking and a dog with a leash in her mouth waiting to be walked.  I have a master’s degree thesis with notes scrawled in piles of notebooks that are pleading for organization.  I have social media for my business that needs updating.  I have a paid gym membership waiting to be used.

So with all these obligations before me, what am I asking myself to do?  The answer, for me, is difficult to say.  Yet here I say it: I strive to do absolutely nothing. 

I’m not doing this out of preference.  This has to do with some health challenges that have come up.  There was a series of deaths in my life in the last couple of years, along with a busy schedule, crazy partying neighbors and a little too much coffee, which created high levels of stress and shot my adrenals. Now my adrenals are sub-par during the day and fighting my ability to sleep at night.   I did the damage to myself.  Now I need to create healing and my body is screaming at me to rest.

So I sit here in uncharted territory.  I feel my body lie into the couch and I ponder what nothingness should feel like.  I start reading a book but quickly drift away by making a to-do list in my head.  No, that’s not it.  I pop in a yoga and meditation DVD, but start planning on how to excel on my thesis while losing this valuable time.  Ok, that didn’t work.

Then it hits me.  You don’t just achieve things by doing.  Sometimes you can gain the most just by being.  I’ve never given myself a chance to “just be” in my life.  Heck, I’m the person who went up to my kindergarten teacher to complain that there was too much coloring and not enough reading instruction.  What will I gain by taking time for myself to get healthy?  I don’t know yet.  I imagine I will learn things about myself I never knew.  At the very least, I will learn the art of doing nothing, which I currently score a C, at best, in my current ability. 

And what about my thesis?  Well, I may get a C on that too…or an A.  Who knows? Because I’m old enough to know a grade doesn’t define me, one achievement doesn’t encompass all of who I am and that you can control your effort but not the results. I’m also starting to become aware that there are surprises found in silence.  I’m going to have to let that be enough. 

So right now I am nothing more than enough.  Yes in this moment I’m just purely adequate and average.  And in about a minute I will be closing my computer to do nothing.  To tell you the truth, that feels pretty good.