Are you absorbing what you should from your healthy food choices?

It's easy to assume that if you eat a salad you are getting the wonderful, nutritious benefits that come along with all those veggies.  However, if you are topping your salad with a non-fat salad dressing, your body may not be able to absorb all the phytonutrients and vitamins it should be.  A little fat is needed to absorb all the good stuff from lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, etc.  I’m not saying you need to drench your salad in full-fat ranch to get the benefits, instead, choose a low fat dressing, make your own dressing with a little drizzle of olive oil and vinegar, or stick to your favorite fat-free dressing but add a few slices of avocado or a sprinkle of walnuts to ensure your body is able to absorb and use all the good stuff you are feeding it.

Here are a few other tips to making the most out of your healthy choices:

• Heat garlic to increase its potential to decrease the risk of cancer.
• Heating increases lycopene’s availability. Lycopene is an important antioxidant that helps prevent several forms of cancer. The richest source of lycopene is found in cooked tomatoes.
• Steam broccoli to increase its glucosinolates, which may help to prevent cancer.
• Cook carrots and zucchini to increase antioxidant availability.
• Canned meats and beans retain their nutrients, including thiamine, as well as freshly cooked meats and beans. (Just remember to rinse your canned beans to decrease the sodium!)
• Vitamin A and potassium are not lost during canning.(In fact in some foods, such as canned pumpkin, the vitamin A content actually is higher than it is in fresh pumpkin!)
• Canned fish has more calcium than fresh fish does. (Just be mindful of mercury levels in all fish)
• The fiber content in canned food is equivalent to that in fresh foods. (However, fresh or frozen foods will have less sodium and other preservatives than canned, while keeping the same fiber content)
• Cooking methods can change the antioxidant content and type in a food. For instance, cooking garlic in oil creates different antioxidants than the kind created by cooking the garlic in water. (My advice? Add garlic into your cooking in a variety of ways – sautéing, boiling, roasting… YUM!)
• Combining Vitamin C with iron will increase your body’s ability to absorb the iron (important for people who are anemic).  Try mixing in some mandarin oranges into your next spinach salad, or sliced red pepper into a stir fry with lean beef and edamame.

If your lifestyle doesn't control your body...

If your lifestyle doesn't control your body, eventually your body will control your lifestyle.

I heard this phrase a little while back and it has really resonated with me.  As I read it, it reminds me what my overall objective is, to be healthy, live with vitality and enjoy life.  It is so easy for us to get wrapped up in inches, pounds, body fat percentages, jean sizes, etc, but what is your underlying motivation to change these things? I have found more than once, that if your goal is completely aesthetics, then you will fail.

You can be a size 2 and look great in a bathing suit, but what good is that if your heart and lungs are failing due to poor nutrition and lack of exercise… what if you can’t even run into the waves without becoming winded and having to lie down?

I started my journey years ago with my main objective being to look good in smaller jeans.  Although this was a powerful ‘want’ in my mind, it wasn’t deep enough for me to really commit to, so I began the yo-yo journey that many people do. Sometimes I was up 10 pounds, and then I’d get mad at myself and starve until I took those 10 pounds off… only to put them back on in a couple weeks as soon as my willpower wore off.  Back then I was always asking myself, how many calories does this have in it? Can I afford it, or will it show up as back fat?  Boy, am I glad those days are over!

Now I look at food differently.  Instead of asking about how many calories and fat grams are in these potato chips, I ask myself if this food choice is contributing to my overall goal of better health.  I could choose to do the Hollywood Cookie Diet and eat cookies all day long and lose weight, but is that making me healthier? No. It limits my calories, but doesn’t provide my body with the nutrients, fiber, antioxidants and other important things that my body needs to live up to its health potential.

Now it is more important to me to eat healthfully and take care of my body so I can have many (many, many, many) years full of jumping into waves, dancing in the rain, swimming with my dog, laughing with my friends, walking with my husband, chasing my (future) kids, and enjoying life to the max. 

For me, it has taken the stress out of eating.  It doesn’t mean I never indulge in potato chips (I do, and they go great with my Grandma Betty’s famous cream cheese dip!), but the majority of the time, I base my food decisions on what will help me become healthier. And, you know what? I haven’t had a problem with my weight since I started living this way.

So, I’m curious… what do you look forward to being able to do for years to come because of the healthy choices you are making today?