January 19, 2015

Every time you eat or drink you are either feeding disease or fighting it!

Every message you ever learned around food impacts the way you feed your body. I don’t know about you, but the above message was not one that I learned as a child. The ones I can think of off the top of my head sound more like, “all things in moderation”, “eat your vegetables”, “it is impolite not to eat what you have been offered”, “food is warm and inviting”, “good food = family gatherings”, “food is comforting”, and “hanging out in the kitchen is enjoyable”. I know many people who learned that “food is a way to mask emotions”, “you must eat everything on your plate”, “there are starving kids in Africa”, and even “food is scarce, so eat as much as you can when offered, store it up for emergency”. I would be interested in hearing some of the messages you learned and how those messages impact your current relationship with food.

We have the power to rewrite those messages and I encourage you to explore the notion that food is medicine. It does not mean that food is no longer pleasurable, that you cannot enjoy cooking with your family, or that food cannot be a source of comfort and joy. It just rewrites the way you look at the ingredients you choose and the way you feed yourself. In this journey I have undertaken to become a nutrition and wellness resource for my clients, I have been blown away by the research that supports the idea that everything we eat either feeds disease (inflammation) or fights it. There is a famous quote by Hippocrates that states, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” I am not at all advising you to abandon your doctor visits, but I would encourage you to seek out doctors that have extensive training in nutrition and the impact diet has on health. Remember, we only know what we have been taught up until today, and that includes your doctor, and goes for every profession. Unless we stay open and curious to new ideas and research, we stagnate.

When I decided to lead another group on the Whole30 program a couple of weeks ago, my husband and two of my kids decided to join in the fun. 🙂 My other two kids decided to eliminate sugar for the 30 days instead of taking on the complete elimination. The last two weeks have made me really think about what deprivation means. The definition is “the lack or denial of something considered to be a necessity.” I started thinking about what is really a necessity when it comes to our diet and here is where you really have to question your current thinking about food. So is denying yourself daily ice-cream or a child a donut after a basketball game deprivation or is feeding yourself food that is void of nutrients over and over again deprivation? I would say the latter, and that is where we need to challenge our current way of thinking.

I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with Dr. Terry Wahls in New York a few months ago. Hearing her amazing story, asking her questions, and really digesting her research has been a big influence on the way I view diet and lifestyle. Here is a short interview with her that was published on MindBodyGreen.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14451/how-i-went-from-wheelchair-to-walking-by-changing-my-diet-dr-terry-wahls.html

Here is another article on the subject of food as medicine from Dr. Mark Hyman:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/food-as-medicine_b_3295819.html

There are many many more if you care to explore this notion even further and I am happy to share more if you are interested. For today, I encourage you to take a few minutes to think about those messages, how you currently view food and food choices, and challenge yourself to make one positive change this week that might boost your health (immunity) from the inside out.

We have a full week of classes this week! Yes, that does include MLK day. If you attend a small group class, please go to www.stellafit.com and “sign up” online. You will need to purchase a class card if you do not have one on file. If you currently have one on file, please go ahead and email me if you are coming to class. As your cards run out, you will need to start using MindBody to sign up for class. You can also use MindBody to check the schedule as it is posted online and will stay current.

If you are interested in signing up for Personal Training or Nutrition/Wellness Coaching, you will still need to email me to schedule a time before signing up online. Nutrition and Wellness Coaching are currently listed under Personal Training.

I look forward to seeing you this week!

Cheers!!

Stella