Food for Thought: Which Snack Can Cut Your Cancer Risk?

You guessed it! It's broccoli! This crunchy green vegetable neutralizes toxins in your liver and helps keep you healthy! Check out this awesome Dr. Mercola article talking about 15 superfoods that boost your immune system, and which healthy foods pack the most nutritional punch for the least price!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/01/31/15-superfoods-for-under-20-stocking-your-pantry-on-the-cheap.aspx

Perfect Weight America: Component 7: Reduce Toxins for Your Perfect Weight

We've only got a few more days, and we'll be wrapping up our Perfect Weight America series! Today we'll be talking about component 7, a very important one in our journey of health:

Reduce Toxins For Your Perfect Weight

Toxins are everywhere in our environment. From the food we eat, to the skin care products we use, to the air we breathe, toxins are present, residing in our bodies and causing a whole host of problems. For more on this issue see my former blog post about your body's burden.

Here are some common hiding places for toxins that Jordan Rubin points out in Perfect Weight America on page 178:

• Conventionally raised meats, fruits and vegetables
• Plastics
• Household cleaners
• Toothpaste
• Skin care and body care products
• Indoor air quality

Here are some tips that he recommends for reducing your family's exposure to toxins:

• Drinking plenty of water- at least a half-ounce for each pound of body weight- will give the body the fluids it needs to pull those toxins out of the bloodstream.
• Install shower filters to remove chlorine and toxins from your water.
• Use glass or polycarbonate containers instead of plastic containers whenever possible.
• Improve indoor air quality by opening windows, strategically placing natural houseplants, or buying an air filtration system.
• Use natural cleaning products for your home.
• Try out organic cosmetics and personal care products, which are good for the body and for the environment.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Perfect Weight America: Component 6: Get FIT For Your Perfect Weight

We all know we should exercise, but "knowing" the good we ought to do, and actually doing it are two totally different things! Back in the days of farming and pre-industrialization, exercise wasn't something you needed to plan into your Palm Pilot, because your life centered around physical exertion.

Nowadays, we do need to schedule exercise into our hectic lives, because it is often the first thing to go when things get crazy! (In addition to healthy eating!)

But if you want to reach your perfect weight this year (don't give up on your resolutions yet) or simply extend your lifespan and stay healthy, with less colds & flu, then you'll want to plan on getting some good exercise in.

The good news is that it does not have to take long! In Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin advocates a specific type of fat-burning, strength enhancing exercise called Functional Interval Training.

Now, this is one chapter of the book (chapter 9) that you really need to read for yourself, as Rubin confronts some commonly held beliefs about what fitness is truly beneficial, and specifically, which kind causes you to lose weight.

On page 156 of Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin says:

"Engaging in intense workouts designed to deplete oxygen stores will cause the body to switch on the fat-burning cells. In other words, the standard "cardio" exercises- that is, walking on a treadmill like a mind-numbed robot for forty-five minutes- are somewhat helpful; however, intense oxygen-depriving anaerobic exercise does two important things to help you lose weight:

Anaerobic exercise increases the percentage of calories and fat burned as compared to the percentage of carbohydrates burned. Anaerobic exercise raises your metabolic rate, which helps you burn even more calories when you're at rest.

So what is the difference between anaerobic & aerobic exercise? Well, Rubin defines anaerobic exercise on page 158 by saying,

"Anaerobic exercise causes the body to make energy without oxygen because the demand for energy is so fast and huge that the body must create it from numerous body chemicals."

Here are some examples of aerobic exercise:

• Aerobic classes
• Bicycling
• Dancing
• Golfing
• Soccer
• Walking
• Basketball
• Volleyball
• Tennis

Here are some examples of fat-burning anaerobic exercise:

• Lifting weights
• Using strength-training machines such as Nautilus and Hoist
• Jumping rope or jumping on a rebounder
• Sprinting
• Working the body's core muscles through the use of functional exercises with rubber bands, stability balls, medicine balls, and kettleballs

For more on how to create the perfect fat-burning, FIT workout just for you, read the Perfect Weight America book!

Perfect Weight America: Component 5: Cleanse For Your Perfect Weight

Did you know that in your lifetime, sixty tons of food will pass through your gastrointestinal system?

Neither did I, but Jordan Rubin brings it up in Perfect Weight America on page 129, with a good point- all that food has to go somewhere! Not to be too graphic, but we all accumulate toxins and waste byproducts everyday in our bodies.

The amount we accumulate is largely related to our own choices, but no matter what, everyone needs a good cleanse on a regular basis.

That leads us to component number 5 of Perfect Weight America's program:

Cleanse For Your Perfect Weight

On page 131 of Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin says:

"Habitual intake of a diet high in refined and highly processed foods leads to accumulation of toxins, increased contact time, and damage to the lining of the gut due to constipation and higher pressures developing inside the bowel. In plain language, such foods gunk up the digestive tract like a mass of cookie dough in a garbage disposal.

(Do you still want your candy, white sugary treats and white flour confections after reading that sentence?!) :)

Enough already! That's what the body is saying after years, if not decades, of abuse. If the digestive system isn't given a chance to restore itself- through body therapies known as cleansing and fasting- then digestive-related disorders and diseases can and will occur, affecting the very core of how the body grows, repairs itself, gains energy, and reaches its perfect weight."

So how do you cleanse? One truly awesome tool for a great and very simple, non life altering cleanse is Garden of Life's Perfect Cleanse kit.

My husband and I have both used this kit and we love it. It is non disruptive to your daily life, (it doesn't require fasting, although it is beneficial if you decide to) only lasts 10 days, and doesn't give you a stomach ache!

Check it out at Garden of Life's website for more info! (And check out Perfect Weight America, the book, for much more info in chapter 8 about how to cleanse for your perfect weight!)

Food for Thought: Preventing Cancer

Hope you all had a great weekend! I saw this article today from Dr. Mercola discussing the tragic story of a woman who helped orphans find adopting families- until she was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer. As a single mom, it was now her job to find someone to raise her two daughters after her death.

This story is so tragic and poignant that I had to take a pause in our Perfect Weight America series to share it!

Everyone should read this and share it with loved ones- the advice that he gives at the end could save your life!

See the original article here:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/01/25/cancer-sucks--one-final-adoption.aspx

Friday's Food for Thought: Which Bottled Water is the Best or the Worst?

Did you know that not all bottled water is created equal? Don't waste your money buying bottled water that's not much better than tap water!

Check out this great listing by Dr. Mercola, who got it from The Environmental Working Group.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/01/21/best-and-worst-bottled-water-brands.aspx

Have a great weekend everyone!

Perfect Weight America: Component 4: Supplement For Your Perfect Weight

Well, we're halfway done! Today we'll discuss component 4 of the Perfect Weight America program:

Supplement For Your Perfect Weight

Personally, I believe supplements are extremely necessary in our nutrient- starved world, even if you are eating, like our family, 100% organic food. Food is simply not what it's supposed to be, or used to be, even when it is organic. See my post about what supplements I take, and why, for more info.

And even supplements are not all created equally.

Here's what Jordan Rubin has to say about supplements in Perfect Weight America, page 111:

"Have you checked the label of your multivitamin lately? If you see ingredients such as sucrose, cornstarch, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, or sodium metasilicate listed, your multivitamin is produced from isolated and synthetic materials.

When you look on the packaging and see the letters dl in front of an ingredient- like 'dl-alpha tocopheryl,' for example- your multivitamin is using a synthetic version of vitamin E. Again, not all vitamin E is created equal.

Synthetic or isolated multivitamins are never going to be as good or potent as the ones produced from natural sources; studies show that synthetically made vitamins are 50 percent less biologically active than vitamins made from natural sources.

So when you introduce nutritional supplements produced from whole foods and other natural sources into your body, you'll double the nutrients available to the body."

In Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin recommends taking three awesome Garden of Life supplements as part of the program:
The first is this awesome multivitamin from Garden of Life. I took this multivitamin from the time I started the Maker's Diet 5 years ago until they came out with their raw prenatal. Check out the description on their website for more info!

Secondly, he recommends taking a truly awesome fat-burning product, the revolutionary FucoThin. I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, and one lucky reader got a free bottle in our giveaway! Check out www.fucothin.com to find out how this awesome supplement can help you reach your weight loss goals in 2011.

And last, but certainly not least, the Vitamin -D and Omega-3 rich cod liver oil. (Don't worry, it comes in capsules too, if drinking it straight is not your style.)

Good for your heart, brain, eyes, immune system, and just about everything else, cod liver oil is a must to add to your supplement regiment! Check out Garden of Life's site for more info on this awesome product! (Even my three year old takes a spoonful every night!)
Well, next week we'll be on part 5 of the Perfect Weight America program, showing you how to Cleanse for your Perfect Weight!

Special Article: Can Cell Phones Cause Brain Tumors?

Today, I was planning on continuing part 4 of Perfect Weight America, but I got this article via email from Dr. Mercola this morning, and felt this information was really important to pass on.

Since we live in a wireless world and it seems everyone these days has a cell phone, this is a crucial article to read and pass on to family and friends, since it could save lives!

Check it out for yourself at his website:

http://emf.mercola.com/sites/emf/archive/2011/01/19/the-hard-core-science-of-how-cell-phones-and-other-emf-damages-you.aspx

Perfect Weight America: Component 3: Snack for Your Perfect Weight

(Photo courtesy of Lkmassey28)

Well, we're on to part 3 of 9! Today's component is one of my favorites, since I think it makes the program much more enjoyable. In Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin endorses, and even recommends, snacking! (On the proper foods, of course!)

Component 3 of Perfect Weight America: Snack For Your Perfect Weight

On page 97 of Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin has this to say about why you should snack on nutritious foods:

"Many people don't know what constitutes healthy snacking, nor are they aware that you often should eat something between meals. Reason: the body's metabolism resembles a furnace that must be stoked at regular intervals. That's why snacking is an important part of the Perfect Weight America program.

Personally, I'm pro snacking because I believe denying yourself food for long stretches sets you up for three things:

1) Misery
2) Depression
3) Failure

And on page 101, he gives some great examples of nutritious snacks to keep you full until mealtime:

"When it comes to whole foods, vegetables and vegetable dips make for fantastic snacks. For example, a guacamole dip can be made with fresh avocados, lemon, cilantro, and sea salt. Carrots and celery can be eaten raw or dipped in hummus.

Fresh fruit and dried fruit are also nutritious snacks. Take a handful of dried raisins, figs, dates, prunes, pineapple and papaya and combine them with some soaked nuts or seeds. Make sure there is no added sugar or sulfites. It's very easy to throw some dried fruit, nuts, and seeds into a bag and carry the mixture with you throughout the day for a quick snack.

Also keep in mind there are many healthy snack and dessert recipes using organic ingredients you can make on your own, like whole-grain blueberry muffins, banana bread, and coconut almond fudge. Popcorn is another snack that can be healthy if prepared right."

In our house, we love snacking on soaked and dried almonds with raw cheese, ants on a log with organic almond or peanut butter, bananas "fried" in coconut oil, apples with peanut butter, or homemade cookies with sprouted wheat or coconut flour.

We also love Garden of Life's organic whole food bars, which are jam packed with nutrients and are far superior to any other health food bar on the market. These make great on the go snacks!

Happy healthy snacking everyone!

Perfect Weight America: Component 2: Drink for Your Perfect Weight

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Today we'll be looking at the second component of the Perfect Weight America program:

Drink For Your Perfect Weight

Ok, I think we all know we "should" be drinking more water. But did you know that drinking enough water promotes weight loss? On page 89 of Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin has this to say about good ol' H20:

"Regular old water can play a significant role in losing weight because of the way it revs up your meatbolism and hydrates cells so that they can process carbohydrates and fats more efficiently. When your body's cells are well hydrated, you accelerate the liver's ability to convert stored fat into usable energy and help your kidneys flush out toxins.

If you substitute water for soft drinks- and ignore everything else written in Perfect Weight America- you'll still lose three pounds in short order, according to a study at Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland, California."

If you want to drink to your perfect weight, here are some great tips he goes on to offer:

(From page 96 of Perfect Weight America)

• Make your number one beverage purified, non-chlorinated water, consuming a half-ounce of water per pound of body weight, or around eight to twelve cups a day, especially if you live in warmer climates.
• If you drink natural sparkling water, don't choose brands with added carbonation, such as Perrier.
• Install carbon-based filters at the kitchen faucet and refrigerator, or purchase countertop water pitchers.
• Brew green tea, or consume pre-steeped liquid teas (preferably organic), which may be sweetened with a small amount of honey or stevia.
• Take a step on the wild side and try lacto-fermented beverages like kombucha.
• If you're a coffee drinker, switch over to certified organic coffee, which can be flavored with organic cream and a small amount of honey or stevia.
  

Friday's Food for Thought: Are Your Glowing Gadgets Disrupting Your Sleep?

Happy Friday everyone! We'll be back on track with our Perfect Weight America series next week, but I've been crazy busy and just have a minute to share an awesome Dr. Mercola article I read.

Few of us are aware how computer and cell phone usage can affect our night time sleep, which affects just about everything in our lives! Check out this article to find out more, because it could even prevent your chance of getting cancer!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/01/10/trouble-sleeping-caused-by-glowing-gadgets.aspx

Have a great weekend, and get some great sleep!

Perfect Weight America: Component 1: Eat for Your Perfect Weight

Now that we've outlined the 9 components of Perfect Weight America, let's dive right into each point briefly!

Key 1: Eat for Your Perfect Weight

In Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin says that the two fundamental principles for healthy eating are:

1. Eat what God created for food.
2. Eat foods in a form healthy for the body.

Here is some interesting info. He says that the basic components of a healthy diet are the right amounts of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and vitamins and minerals.

On page 52 of Perfect Weight America, here's how he elaborates on these components:

"Protein, which is found in fish, meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs and beans.

Fat, which is found in animal and dairy products as well as nuts and oils.

Carbohydrates, which are found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and other legumes.

Vitamins such as vitamins A,B,C,D,E, and K.

Mineral such as calcium, potassium, and iron.

Furthermore, here's his plan for how all these components come together when following Perfect Weight America: (taken from page 53)

1. Eat foods low in sugar and refined carbohydrates, which will lower your daily glycemic load.

2. Add more omega-3 fats from wild-caught fish, grass-fed beef and game, and wild plants.

3. Try to balance your consumption of protein, fat, and slowly absorbed carbohydrates during your main meals.

4. Consume an abundance of vitamins and minerals from foods and whole-food nutritional supplements.

5. Eat foods high in alkalizing minerals, such as vegetables, which will prevent your blood from becoming too acidic.

6. Lower your intake of sodium. (Refined salt.)

7. Consume a high amount of antioxidants from foods, snacks, and whole food nutritional supplements.

8. Eat foods with a high fiber content.

Tomorrow we will go over Key #2, Drink for Your Perfect Weight! Be sure to pick up a copy of the book, Perfect Weight America, so you can read these chapters for yourself!

Perfect Weight America: The 9 Components of this Awesome Program

Another thing I love about Perfect Weight America is that it focuses on our entire lives, not just on what foods should be eaten for weight loss. Today I'm going to list the 9 components of this awesome program, and then we'll talk briefly about them throughout the week!

(Check out the book to read all the details of the program!)

The campaign of the Perfect Weight America is broken into three parts: Change Your Diet, Change Your Life, and Change Your World.

There are 9 parts to this:

(It's not as complicated as it sounds!)

Change Your Diet:

1. Eat for Your Perfect Weight
2. Drink for Your Perfect Weight
3. Snack for Your Perfect Weight
4. Supplement for Your Perfect Weight

Change Your Life:

5.. Cleanse for Your Perfect Weight
6. Get FIT for Your Perfect Weight
7. Reduce Toxins for Your Perfect Weight
8. Think for Your Perfect Weight

Change Your World:

9. Take Weight off the World

This program is truly holistic, promoting health in every area of our lives. I love that! The rest of this week we'll discuss more about the various areas of the program, and how you can have your best health ever in 2011!

Congratulations to our FucoThin Winner!

Today, I am so excited to announce the winner of our FucoThin giveaway:

Our winner is contest entrant number 2, Karen Shore!

Congratulations Karen, you will be receiving a free bottle of FucoThin from Garden of Life, and will be well on your way to achieving your health goals for 2011!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest! We will be continuing our series on Perfect Weight America, with some other exciting giveaways coming up soon!

Karen, please email me at makersdietmom@gmail.com with your UPS shipping address to receive your prize. :)

Friday's Food for Thought: Did You Know?

In light of our current series on Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin's revolutionary weight loss/healthy lifestyle program, I thought the following facts might interest you:

(Taken from Perfect Weight America's website)

• The average American female is 24 pounds heavier today than the average American female of 1960.

• The average American male is 25 pounds heavier today than the average American male of 1960.

• According to researchers, 66% of US Adults are overweight today.

• Researchers predict 75% of US Adults will be overweight by 2015.

• Every day 11,000 diet books are sold on Amazon.com.

• Every day Americans spend $158 million on over the counter diet pills, weight loss programs and diet books, diet home food delivery, gastric bypass surgery, weight-loss spas, and various "ab sculptors" and "bun trainers."

• Globally, 600 million people are undernourished.

• Globally, there are over 1 billion individuals who are overweight (300 million being obese) - making this the first time in recorded history that there are more overweight people on earth than those who are undernourished.

Hope you enjoyed these facts, and that they inspire you to reach your weight loss/health goals in 2011! Don't forget there's still time to enter the FucoThin giveaway!

Make This Year Your Best! Announcing the FucoThin Giveaway!

Today, I am extremely excited to announce some exciting info that can seriously change your life in 2011!

First, I want to share with you the awesome results that participants in Perfect Weight America's Healthy Toledo pilot program achieved. I hope these encourage you that you can do it too!

Check out these awesome stats from Perfect Weight America's website:

"The results of Healthy Toledo—both measured and anecdotal—were quite significant. The 126 participants lost over 1,700 pounds, improved their blood pressure, and decreased their body fat and Body Mass Index in just eleven weeks. The average weight loss among the 126 participants was 13.5 pounds. In addition:

	The Top 3 Participants (ranked by weight loss) decreased their weight by an average of 43.7 pounds.
	The top half of participants (63 PARTICIPANTS) lost an average of 20 pounds.
	The 80 individuals whose Body Mass Index placed them in the "obese" or "overweight" body type category lost an average of 16.7 pounds.

Do you want to have results like these in this New Year?

Then I have a giveaway to help you do just that, sponsored by Garden of Life!

Garden of Life has a revolutionary product designed to help you achieve your weight loss goals- without stimulating your central nervous system and causing jitters and sleeplessness like many "diet pills" do.

FucoThin is a whole food supplement that increases your body's metabolic rate, which essentially stokes your internal fires and causes you to burn fat!

And the best part about FucoThin is that it's made from a potent compound found in seaweed, combined with pomegranate seed oil. It is actually high in antioxidants too!

I know someone who could not lose a stubborn 10 pounds after having a baby. She took FucoThin faithfully, and steadily dropped the weight. Sometimes our bodies just need a little extra boost!

FucoThin can do just that, and it's designed to work in conjunction with following the Perfect Weight America food and healthy lifestyle plan. (So make sure to pick up a copy of the book!)

To enter the contest for a FREE FucoThin bottle, just leave a comment with:

1) Your name

2) Your health goals for 2011

3) Which of Garden of Life's Weight Management supplements you think could help you achieve your health/ weight loss goals this year!

The contest will start today, and will end on Friday night at 12 a.m. CST. The winner will be announced on Monday's blog entry. (January 10th) Happy winning everyone!

Note: The lucky winner will have three days to contact me, or another winner will be chosen. Duplicate entries will be deleted.

Is Your Diet the Best You Can Do?

To many Americans, reaching our body's optimal weight can feel like a pipe dream. When every magazine cover touts a diet or a pill that says you can lose, "20 lbs in 6 days!" it's easy to feel hopeless, discouraged, and that all is lost.

That's another thing I really love about Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin's revolutionary weight loss/healthy lifestyle program. It works, but it doesn't claim that you'll lose insane amounts of weight in a ridiculously small amount of time. It works, but you don't starve yourself, or count calories obsessively all day long. Many diet programs hinge on that very principle alone, and my theory is that it's why the majority of dieters fail. (Or if they succeed, go on to develop eating disorders.)

Let's get over the fantasy that you can pop a magic pill, or lose weight without much effort.

On the flip side, let's get over the idea that we have to starve ourselves to look great. We just make ourselves miserable that way, and you can't be healthy when you're obsessing over every calorie.

Instead, let's embrace God's plan for health in our lives- to eat nutrient dense, calorie rich foods tailor made for our bodies, to exercise correctly, and to be free from torment and worry in our minds.

We shouldn't do a program like Perfect Weight America or the Maker's Diet so that we can be the best that Hollywood or Milan says we should be. (Talk about fantasy!) We should follow these programs so that we can be the best that WE can be.

That's all God asks of us. That's all anyone can ask of us.

Is your current diet the best you can do? Are you spending too much time and money on foods and habits that lead to disease and heartache? Or are you spending too much time obsessing over calories and a lower weight?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, then keep tuning in to this series! Tomorrow I'll be sharing some exciting testimonies from people who had great success with Perfect Weight America.

And stay posted- because along with Garden of Life, I want to see you reach your body's perfect weight this year, and be the best you can be! Tomorrow, I'll be announcing an exciting giveaway to help you do just that, hosted by Garden of Life!

May you become the best version of YOU in this New Year! See you tomorrow!

What Is YOUR Body's Perfect Weight?

Yesterday I told you about Jordan Rubin's awesome book, Perfect Weight America, and how I am so thrilled about it because I believe it can truly change many lives for the better! There is truly no better way to get in shape this New Year, and to stay healthy and in shape the rest of your life!

One of the things I love so much about the Perfect Weight America program is that it is tailor made for your body. The book takes into account your gender, height, build and body type, and even nutritional type (how your body processes certain foods, and which foods make your body gain weight or lose weight- everyone is different!) to determine YOUR optimal weight- not the optimal weight that the magazine at the grocery store says you should be.

To find your body's ideal weight, just go to Perfect Weight America's website. Scroll down until you see a button that says, "Signup Today." (Don't worry, it's totally, 100% free!)

Click on it, and it will ask you a series of questions. Answer these questions to find your body's optimal weight, and tune back in the rest of this week to find out how to get there!

Happy New Year! Are You At Your Perfect Weight?

With the New Year just behind us, we are all brimming with resolutions. For many, one at the top will be regaining control of our health, and for many that means losing weight.

It seems we Americans are always on a quest to lose weight. Part of this is good, because the Standard American Diet sets us up for unhealthy weight gain and tragic diseases, and part of it is bad because we look to Hollywood actors and supermodels for our standard of beauty.

Into this confusing quagmire of body image and health issues, entire Perfect Weight America, Jordan Rubin's awesome book that will set you straight once and for all regarding what you should be eating, and how to achieve and sustain YOUR body's perfect weight.

Not only will you reach your perfect weight, but you'll do it without starving yourself, without continuing on the American diet destined for illness and disease, and without serious confusion about which foods you should eat.

Sound too good to be true? It's not- because it's the Maker's Diet, tailor made for your body, for losing and maintaining a healthy weight. I just finished reading it recently, and I was so impressed that I had to tell you all about it, to help you finally achieve your body's perfect weight this New Year.

So join me over the next few days to find out how you can make 2011 a truly New Year-, and get healthy once and for all! (I'll also be announcing an exciting giveaway that will help you make this a reality- stay tuned!)