…these guys took on the challenge, and wow, that must have been intense!

As you probably know, based on the premise of this blog, my biggest find over the last 10 years in my quest to eat & live healthy was primarily eating single ingredient foods (i.e. fruits, and vegetables, true fruit juices – thank you SunHarvest!, and sticking with grains, nuts, and so forth).

I do a fairly good job of sticking to that routine, but I’m realistic when it comes to eating out, or at parties.

It’s my goal to eat ‘real food’ at least 80% of the time…

With that in mind, I’m not 100% sure I could stick to a 28 day Real Food Challenge, could you?

Be sure to read the entire CNN article for more information.

…to feel the best I can.

I’ve realized over the last few years, that there are multiple things to consider — such as:

• Assuring I get enough sleep.
• Assuring I eat the ‘good for you foods’.
• Assuring I continually have balance (work, and play!)

Recently, I’ve discovered three web sites that have really helped me gain a higher level of understanding of taking my quest to the next level.

I’m going to share them with you, here’s 3 Sure Fire Ways to Feel Better:

1. www.Lef.org – LifeExtension – specifically visit the Health Concerns section, they have top-notch health information.
2. www.VRP.com – Vitamin Research Articles – be sure to visit the Research Center, they’re passionate about nutritional science.
3. www.SparkPeople.com – This is still one of my favorites, because not only does it have great resources, it has a great community you can get involved in as well.

Do you have any other web sites that you reference for hints, tips or techniques on feeling the best you can?  Please share them below!

Thanks so much,

Charly

…and your family?

Who isn’t, right?

Kristin Doyle, an RN, has created a wonderful book called the “Therapeutic Chef” that provides recipes to prevent cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

This book will, quite literally, transform your life.

It is packed full of information on what foods are helpful for preventing illness and disease.

There are over 300 recipes that range from super simple to more complex.  While you’re cooking you’ll get to learn about the medicinal value of the ingredients used, and that, my friends, is invaluable.

There is:

• a pantry list,
• an equipment list,
• a glossary of Powerfoods,
• a section on Herbal Remedies for First Aid, and
• a list of Gluten-Free Recipes.

Every recipe was created to help prevent cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

There is an explanation of what foods are the very best for helping to fight those conditions and what foods you’ll want to avoid.

I think the biggest bonus is that you’ll learn why eating this way is also beneficial for our planet!

Take a look, it’s on Amazon.com, and it’s called the Therapeutic Chef!

Enjoy,

Charly

…it’s been clear that with most of my findings, it happens to others as well!

With that in mind, here’s five foods that will help you sleep:

1. Turkey – it has very high levels of tryptophan, which is a known sleep inducer.  Also, seafood, chicken and soybeans will do the trick too.
2. Yogurt – it is also high in tryptophan.
3. Almonds, and other nuts – they’re also loaded with tryptophan, and the calming magnesium.
4. Beans and soy are high in magnesium & tryptophan.
5. Spinach – loaded with B vitamins, and magnesium.

You’ve probably experienced that sleepy sensation after Thanksgiving Dinner, you’re totally on to something!

Do you have any foods that make you tired?   Let me know by commenting below, I’ll give them a try!

Thanks so much,

Charly

it’s been loud and clear…

I’ve proven it to myself, as have millions of others:

Regular physical activity gives you energy, levels your body out, and most importantly, cuts the risk of heart attack and stroke!

Here’s 5 Ways to take care of your heart (and live longer!) through exercise:

1. Document your exercise goals – in writing!  Look at them daily, try for 30 to 60 minutes three days a week of biking, brisk walking, or running.
2. Use visualization – keep an ideal image of yourself in mind, and readily accessible.  I found my f#$(*1@ inspiration, and it’s really helped me!
3. Make exercise a priority – many times, this is easier said than done.  The big thing that’s changed in my mindset is the fact then I don’t think about doing it, I just DO it.
4. Take action and start moving – keep in mind, a body at rest, tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
5. Buy a pedometer – “you can’t change what don’t measure” and this plays a key role in elping you understand how much you walk per day, aim for 10,000 steps a day.

Another approach that’s worked very well for me is disguising my exercise – for example, I’ll:

• walk to the bookstore (about a mile away),
• ride my bike to work (about 3.5 miles away),
• walk to a restaurant (about a mile away), and
• take the stairs.

If you’d like to learn more, here are some great books I’ve found.

Take care, and I hope this helps you!

Charly

Like me, you probably need a reminder every once in a while about what NOT to eat.

ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com is the perfect place for that reminder!

Primarily showing:

• highly processed foods,
• hefty quantities (definitely an American thing!),
• loads of cheeses,
• tons of potatoes,
• lots of refined sugars, and
• tons of white bread…

‘This is why you’re fat’ seems to sum up one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last 10 years – eating these types of things continuously really did make me fat.

If you’re interested in learning more about what to eat, and what not to eat (and most importantly, WHY), be sure to check out these books:

• Eat This Not That
• Eat This Not That for Kids!
• Eat This Not That – Supermarket Survival Guide

I’ve read each of these, and find them very informative for letting you know why certain foods may seem better for helping you maintain or lose weight, but in reality, aren’t!

Here’s to living healthy, having energy, and getting most out of each day!

Charly

Only eat the foods that have an ingredient list you completely understand!

It gets really easy really quickly, when you realize you know what’s in the following foods:

• bananas,
• lettuce,
• green & red peppers,
• carrots,
• celery,
• blueberries,
• strawberries
• apples,
• oranges,
• pears,
• plums,
• apricots, and
• onions.

To name a few…

What gets more interesting is going on a search to find foods, such as crackers, snack bars, and so forth that have an ingredient list you can understand.

If you do this exercise for one day, I think you’ll start to see the world a little differently.

Let me know how it goes for you, okay?

Here’s to eatin’ simple, healthy foods that are just downright good for you!

That’s what I used to say…

Now, I know there’s a world of difference!

White bread is usually made from white flour, which quickly turns into (refined) sugar in the body.  Refined sugar fuels cancer growth and triggers inflammation.

100% Whole Wheat bread (especially 100% Whole Grain bread), on the other hand, is filled with phytochemicals and antioxidants — and packed, naturally, with B & E vitamins, along with magnesium, iron and fiber.

It’s really important when you pick a wheat bread that it says “100% Whole Wheat” or “100% Whole Grain”, watch out for phrases like:

• multi-grain,
• seven grain,
• bran, and
• stone ground.

Even if a bread is brown, it doesn’t mean it’s 100% Whole.

Here’s to eating what’s what best for you, and your body!

My old lifestyle consisted of a lunch like this:

and it was very common to find me passed out, napping, about 45 minutes after lunch.

I was riding a constant roller coaster throughout the day, and after I discovered it, I’d know:

• I was most productive from 10a to lunch,
• After lunch (while I was on a sugar high), I felt like I had attention deficit disorder – I just couldn’t concentrate on any task,
• I’d crash about 1pm, and come back to life about 2:30pm or 3pm,
• I was fairly productive from 3pm to dinner,
• After dinner, the whole thing started again, UNTIL…
• It was about 10pm, and I was a Coke or two into the evening – I was very productive from 11pm to usually about 1 or 2 in the morning.

I imagine I was riding on sugar high throughout the night…

Once I read a blog post titled “What Happens To Your Body Within an Hour of Drinking Coke“, I felt incredibly enlightened, and knew it was time.

It was that very evening, at my dad’s house in Atlanta Georgia, that I sipped my very last Coke, dug in and made my commitment.

It was time.

I decided to make fruits & vegetables my mainstay, and minimize everything else.   Notice, I didn’t say “stop eating everything else”.  My primary focus was (and is) the simple, colorful, healthy foods that humans haven’t monkey’d around with (well, too much, anyway!)

My biggest find?

I saw my energy level stay up, all throughout the day.   Amazing!

I was so programmed to shutting down around 2pm that it took a while to unlearn that unproductive time & behavior at that point in the day.

If you’re looking to bump your energy levels, you should at least test a new lifestyle in which you minimize the bad foods, and maximize the good ones.

Try it for a few days, see how you do – eat fruits & vegetables to see your energy go up!

“I’m going to try to stick to foods we (humans) haven’t screwed with”

Fortunately for me, I already really liked most of those types of foods, such as:

• Carrots,
• Blueberries,
• Strawberries,
• Whole Grain Breads,
• Nuts, and
• Edamame.

As any who knows me really well will tell you — I forced myself to like raw tomatoes — simply for their beneficial value (lycopene among others).  Now I love them!

Just recently I’ve been reading articles & web sites about the anti-cancer, or cancer killing superfoods, and they basically take these forms:

• Vegetables,
• Omega-3 acids,
• Citrus Fruit,
• Dark Chocolate,
• Vitamin D,
• Green Tea,
• Mushrooms,
• Herbs & Spices,
• Berries, and
• Soy.

Their benefits to our bodies are amazing, for example:

Broccoli & Cauliflower contain molecules that can help stop cancer causing cells develop into malignant tumors.

Brightly colored fruit and vegetables, such as carrots, yams and apricots, contain Vitamin A and Lycopene which can inhibit growth of several cancer types, a process initiated by the immune system as a response to an injury or an infection.  This reduces cancel cell growth in tumors of the lung, breast, kidney and colon.

Citrus fruits such as grapefruits, oranges and tangerines have been shown to penetrate brain cancer cells & lower their potential for invading nearby tissues.

Dark chocolate (who would have thought!) contains a cocktail of anti-oxidants that inhibit growth of cancer cells and limit blood vessel formation around tumors.  Go for 70% or higher cocoa & 20g a day!

Carnosol, found in Rosemary, is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

The antioxidant, ellagic acid, found in strawberries, blueberries and raspberries stimulates the elimination of cancerous substances — they also reduce the development of new blood vessels that supply tumors.

Soy, found in edamame & soy milk, reduces the effect of testosterone & estrogen in stimulating cancer cells.

Amazing stuff in simple, healthy foods, isn’t there?

I continually feel as though the more we screw with food, the more damage we do to ourselves.

A few examples are:

• Apples,
• Strawberries,
• Oranges,
• Kiwis,
• Bananas,
• Pineapple, and even, yes,
• Blueberries.

As I’ve become a major fan of eating simple, healthy foods – which has been one of the biggest reasons I’ve lost so much weight – I’ve found that I absolutely LOVE blueberries!

Here’s 5 Reasons Blueberries Kick Ass:

1. They taste great!
2. They improve memory, coordination and balance.
3. They are great source of Vitamin C and Vitamin E.
4. They help reduce cell damage (reducing your chances of getting cancer).
5. They help maintain good vision & prevent mood swings!

As many know, they also make for a GREAT pie!

I’ve also noticed that one way to tell if a simple, natural, food tastes good is to see if we’ve created an artificial flavored version of it!

I do, and I have — and the benefit to me has not only been feeling better, but losing a ton of weight in the process!

Here are 7 Ways to Track What You Eat:

1. TheDailyPlate.com: With a database of nearly 500,000 foods – it will not only help you track what you eat, but calculate calorie, protein and carbohydrate intake as well.  It even suggests healthy alternative foods based on your nutrition goals.  It’s free!
2. MyFitnessPal.com: A completely free service that has a user-generated food library to calculate nutritional information of food.  Also has forms, and allows users to blog about their experiences.
3. MyFoodDiary.com: It provides the services the others do, but it focuses on the long-term.  It allows you to track short and long term impacts of your eating habits.  It’s $9/month.
4. TweetWhatYouEat.com: Using the power of Twitter with a twist — you answer the question “What did you have to eat today?”  It uses free Twitter updates to track what you’ve eaten, how many calories it had, and how much you weigh.
5. MyPyramidTracker.gov: This free government sponsored food tracker offers basic calculation of nutrition based on a food diary.
6. FitDay.com: A free diet & weight loss journal online!
7. SparkPeople.com: I definitely saved the best for last. One of the best online communities wrapped around tracking what you eat, living healthy, and enjoying life.  I highly recommend it!  I like it because it takes your activity level into consideration as well.

I hope you enjoy these sites as I much as I have.   If you want to track what you eat the old fashioned way — feel free to use my:

Daily Food Log Template (PDF)

Here’s to enjoying our grandkids kids!  Cheers!

…is the most inspirational to me for:

• visualizing how I want to look (skip the tats ),
• making a change that lasts a lifetime,
• exercising, and
• losing weight.

Phil Anselmo (the lead singer of Pantera, which is arguably the heaviest metal band on the planet) has been very instrumental in helping me “do” rather than “think of doing” (there’s a huge difference).

The most inspirational Pantera song, that my mind has tied to that photo of Phil, and that has generated huge success for me over the years is:

A New Level (listen to a sample, if you dare )

from the CD that is what I consider to be Pantera’s best work:

Vulgar Display of Power.

The lyrics that ring through my head are:

“New life in place of old life – unscarred by trials”

They totally inspire me — and it’s these lyrics that deliver for me on the follow up:

“Forget the past, present tense works and lasts”

If you listen to the entire song — the lyrics play a key role, but for me, it’s the intensity and delivery that really send it home.

I use Pantera’s music in other ways for inspiration as well:

• listening to it while biking for an INTENSE workout,
• listening to it before having a meeting that I know is going to be unpleasant, and,
• being thankful my friends are alive and well (re: Hollow).

I’ve discovered that passion plays a huge role with success for me (which might be why I was selected to be in Success Magazine talking about passion!)

Aside from Guns N Roses, and Sebastian Bach, Pantera is the most passionate band I know of, and that really fires me up.

Who would have thought Pantera could be so inspiring, right?

SO, what’s your inspiration, and what does it do for you?

When you’re ready to start living your new lifestyle, you need to pick a start date.

Personally, I hate start dates because…

…they create a sense of scarcity around what I’m eating & drinking before I start, making me want to shovel more in, and drink as much soda as possible before starting.

So I skipped the Start Date, and just started living it!

It’s interesting, because this is the very article that kicked it off –

What Happens To Your Body Within An Hour of Drinking A Coke

It not only made me never want to drink Coke (or any other soda) again, but it was that moment I said “NOW is the time!” and committed.

(I haven’t touched soda since!)

If you’re not ready to commit, ‘testing’ the lifestyle worked beautifully for me.

Here’s a few suggestions for setting your Start Date:

• REMOVE all temptations (yes, give away, throw out soda, candy, snacks, etc),
• Assure you’re fridge is stocked with the good stuff!
• Reduce, or stop, going out to eat (at least for a while, until you get used to your new lifestyle).
• Follow the other 9 steps I’ve documented.

Good luck, and if you need to talk to someone who will support you, contact me!

I think that’s the biggest compliment I’ve been hearing in the last few months – and that makes me very happy.

You can see the difference when you compare the photo above, taken on a recent trip to DisneyWorld, to this one.

It’s refreshing to hear those comments, however, it was much more amazing to me to see these results –

Click to enlarge

That’s 15 POUNDS in one month!  No special pills, no diets, just eating differently.

Amazing (to me anyway) was the fact that I did NO exercise, purposely, during the first few months of my new lifestyle — just to see how much weight would naturally fall off.

I figured I’d restart my exercise routine to help me through any stopping points along the way.

I still can’t believe I did it – I found a way to really live and lose weight.  It’s amazingly inspiring, even now!

Not only did I lose a big chunk of weight, but I could tell there were other changes as well:

• I felt much more alert,
• I was able to focus more clearly, and for longer periods of time,
• At about 218 pounds, I didn’t have to do the fat man roll in bed.

Thinking about it, I think these changes were probably more from eating healthy, than from weighing less, as so much of the food I’m eating now is food for the brain, and fuel for muscles.

However, it’s pretty clear — eating more healthful foods definitely plays a big role in losing weight!

Feel like you’re ready to experience a new you?  Get started NOW!

“You can’t change what you don’t measure”

as a matter of fact, I’ve made some big life changes using it.  (I saved 50% on my car & boat insurance because of it.)

The most helpful change I’ve made, that has played a key role in helping me create & maintain my new lifestyle is…

…keeping track of what I eat in a daily food log.

The snapshot above is a typical day in loss mode for me.

When I stopped losing weight in loss mode, it helped me realize I was eating too few calories per day (1400!) and my body went into starvation mode.

Once I got back in the 1700 to 2000 calories per day range, I started losing weight again.  Whew!

Download my Daily Food Log Template (PDF)

Aside from my simple spreadsheet – here’s a few solutions for daily food logs:

• Prevention.com’s Health Tracker (click Foods Eaten)
• MyNetDiary (FREE iPhone Application)
• DietController (for the Mac)

DietOrganizer has versions for practically every mainstream device and computer out there –

• DietOrganizer (for the Windows Mobile)
• DietOrganizer (for the Palm)
• DietOrganizer (for the Blackberry)

…eating half of what you normally do!

It’s as easy as it sounds!

If you try it, and have the determination to make it work — it’s quite possibly the easiest way to lose weight.

Here’s how you do it:

You take whatever is on your plate (see above), half it (see below), and only eat one side!  (Save the rest for tomorrow!)

Not only do you:

• effectively reduce your caloric intake by half (remember 500 calories a day equals a pound a week),
• enjoy whatever you want to eat, without having to cut foods out of your life,
• stop chowing down & start to learn to enjoy each bite,

BUT you save money and lose weight at the same time!

It’s a total win-win situation, and I know of a few people who’ve done only that to get to their target weight.

So here’s a comfort challenge for you — try eating half for the next 3 days, and see how you feel.

Be sure to monitor your success by getting a scale and using it daily!

…issue at some point in their life, changed their lifestyle and lost a lot of weight is that they’re food vigilant.

USAToday just posted this article reviewing exactly what I’ve noticed:

• Those people are more physically active, knowing the importance of exercise.
• They do higher intensity work-outs about an hour a week.
• Are restrained eaters who watch calorie intake.

I’m definitely much more aware of my calorie intake now-a-days, and have a fairly intense exercise routine as well.

How many people do you know like that?

As you test some new approaches to living, don’t be surprised to find out family & friends aren’t so supportive.

They may not say it, but their actions will definitely show it.

In general, people don’t like change, and on occasion, they’re known to do things to try and stop it. (Try not to get upset about it – it’s human nature.)

A few years back, I caught an episode of Dr. Phil where a 700+ pound gal cried for her life, and begged Dr. Phil to help her.

She:

• couldn’t walk,
• couldn’t drive,
• couldn’t fit out the door anymore,
• could hardly go the bathroom herself, and,
• was a living time bomb – her poor heart was ready to give up!

After listening to her beg, Dr. Phil asked:

“Who brings you the very food you eat to stay at the weight you are?”

She quickly answered:

“Oh, my best friend, and my boyfriend!”

I think you get the point –

It’s important to realize that the lifestyle you choose will either need to be supported by those around you, or need to be accomplished by you, on our own.

I suggest not saying too much when you try some new approaches to your life, and see the reaction you get.  It’ll become pretty apparent what you’re up against (if anything at all?!)

I can tell you from personal experience over the last few years, after realizing I couldn’t work with those around me, I tried to go it alone — and it didn’t work.

The temptation was way too great and I slipped back into my old lifestyle.

Today, my wife & I support each other wholeheartedly, we’re both committed to living a healthy, supportive lifestyle.

I truly believe it’s the only way you can achieve long term success.

…I knew I couldn’t continue on the path I was on (look at my extra chin in that photo!) so the thought came to me:

“I HAVE to do something – I’ll just try a new approach to my life, even for a day or two, to see if it feels right!”

And it was that breakthrough — that idea I didn’t have to completely commit, but I could try it and see if it worked for a trial time — that lead to my success in the big picture.

Initially, I decided to develop some ‘test lifestyles’, and try them for a few days.  At first, I’d try them for a day, and then two.

Once I started getting serious, I was able to go 4 weeks at a time — and finally found the lifestyle that I could really see living, here it is, in a nutshell:

• I weigh myself daily.
• I eat the simple, healthy foods with one or two ingredients, first.
• I treat the foods that aren’t so good for me as ‘desserts’.
• My home has healthy “go to snacks” readily available.
• My home doesn’t have the foods that aren’t good for me available.
• I have a great support system of family & friends.
• I enjoy all of the foods I’ve always liked, just in moderation.
• I exercise at least once every three days — 5 mile, moderate pace, bike ride, and 30 minute endurance-based workout.

It’s amazing how long it took me to get here, but I’m extremely happy I made it!

Think about how you can trial some changes, and carve out a day or two to give them a spin.