The Four Pillars of a Healthy Diet Series: part 1

According to Dr. Cate Shanahan, author of Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food, there are 4 pillars that unite all the health promoting, traditional diets of the world. From the Maasai and ancient Egyptian, to the Japanese and the French, the same Four Pillars form the foundation of all the healthiest diets. Using the latest research in physiology and genetics, Dr. Shanahan explains how these foods influence our genetic potential and outcome.

The field of epigenetics states that our genes are always being influenced and changing according to the things we add to our system (foods/drugs) and the chemicals we come in contact with that are absorbed through our skin. Hence, we are in charge of our genetic destiny, and whether we live our life in a strong healthy body, or a body afflicted by the numerous epidemic illnesses we see on the rise today. By choosing traditional foods from the 4 pillars that have been shown to protect against the expression of disease, we will "recover the power we have to control our own health." When you use the 4 pillar foods to replace common processed foods in our standard American diet and you will begin to reverse the inflammation that undermines optimal health.

What do all the healtiest diets have in common?
French Paradox, Mediterranean Diet, Okinawa Diet…which one to choose?
You don’t have to choose, you can enjoy them all!
All authentic cuisines the world over include foods that belong to these four health promoting categories:

• Meat on the Bone
• Fermented and sprouted foods
• Fresh, uncooked, raw ingredients
• Organ Meats

While most of us are aware of the importance of fresh foods, including foods from the three other pillars will give your body the nutrients needed to ignite it's healing potential.

Meat on the Bone: protects skin and joints by boosting collagen and elastin
Cooking grass-fed or pasture-raised meat on the bone does two great things:
1) It enables the bones nutrient density to infuse into the meat.
2) It extracts glycosaminoglycans from the marrow. This is especially true when making broth or soup stock with raw bones. Heat, water, and acid extracts the wealth of collagen inside the bone marrow. When making bone stock (by boiling bones in water with an acid source, for instance tomato sauce, lemon juice, or white/red wine) you fill the water with molecules called glycosaminoglycans. These molecules act as joint growth factors, keeping the collagen and elastin in your joints and skin healthy, and facilitating tissue repair. No need for synthetic supplements, this is a much more powerful way to protect your joints from arthritis and your skin from wrinkling!
Dr. Shanahan recommends eating meat on the bone twice a week.
You will find instructions on making bone broth on her website.
Stay tuned - next week we give the benefits of fermented and sprouted foods!

Cleansing your Habits for Health

In our 4Weeks2Fit Nutrition and Detox course, eight participants spent 4 weeks getting rid of some of the mental and physical baggage that was keeping them from their health and fitness goals. Many of them came to realizations that their "harmless habits", like a cup of coffee every day, were actually keeping them from feeling their best. Others began to connect their lack of energy to the gaps in their meals or timing of their food intake.

The biggest Ah-Ha, though, was the symbolism of our eating and exercise habits on a scale. Think of all the positive things you do resting on one side of a teeter-totter, and the things that you do to take away from the positive things being on the other side. The point is, to stay balanced. When you don't get enough sleep and you then drink a cup of coffee and have a bagel in a rush, you have now taken 3 things from the positive side and put them on the reverse. Your body is getting more drained of energy in the long-run because you have weighted the side that robs your body of health.

The time to treat yourself with a small coffee or a carbohydrate dense bagel would be when you have had plenty of sleep so your body is better able to flush the caffeine or high glucose intake through your system and use it. Most of the time, however, we add insult to injury by perpetuating the abusive cycle to our body by placing more and more actions on the side that keeps us from feeling great.

I get it. You need that coffee to function that morning, and it is true that in the short term your body may increase it's ability to cope with your lack of sleep. However, that next night, or as the weeks go on, you will become more and more dependent on more and more things to keep you "running". Why not take a step back and see what your body is really capable of on its own?

The participants of this detox lost an average of 5.7 pounds, 1.9% body fat, and 6.9 inches off their body. Not bad for a few weeks of eliminating the baggage in your healthy habits, huh?! Consider where you can clean up your health with a few things this week:
1) Reduce media and TV time
2) Go to bed 10 minutes earlier
3) Drink a glass of water every hour
4) Focus on eating whole foods from nature (veggies, fruits, proteins, and a few sprouted grains)

Let your body show you the miracle it truly is!

Getting your Protein and Veggies

I preach the benefits of getting lots of protein and veggies in my clients nutrition. The combination gives you metabolism boosting amino acids, fiber, and lots of vitamins/minerals to support great hormone balance.
Sometimes, though, even when you know what is good for you, it is hard to know where to start to keep choosing the things that are best for you... Here is a list of some great ways to get in more protein and veggies:

• Add chopped chicken or turkey breast or fish to salads, soups, or wraps.
• If you choose a grain stick with quinoa. It has 7-9 grams of protein per 5 ounce serving and is high in fiber (it is still a carbohydrate, however, so eat sparingly!)
• Add lentils/beans like baked or broiled chickpeas, kidney beans, or black beans to your soups, salads, or quinoa cold salad.
• Have almonds or chestnuts in small snack size bags on hand for emergencies. Nuts are not super high in protein, but these types are lower in fat than other nuts.
• Whey or vegan based protein shake mixed with a greens drink.
• If you are okay with dairy, consider low fat cottage cheese or greek yogurt both of which have around 15 grams of protein per serving.
• Pair your cut veggies with almond butter or hummus for a satisfying snack.
• Try adding chopped kale, ground flax or chia seeds to your smoothies.
• Put steamed cauliflower in a food processor and add a little olive oil and seasonings for a smooth taste like mashed potatoes!

Add your favorite option in the comments below!

Tracking Means Results

Have you ever felt like you were working very hard and producing very little results? We call this busywork or chasing our tail. It's almost comical how easy it can be to feel like we are accomplishing things in life when we fill our days with busywork, but how much have you give thought to whether or not these activities are producing any positive results? When it comes to injuries or weight loss, I often hear people say that it is simply a case of poor genetics that they struggle with frequent injuries or the roller coaster on the scale. While this is a part of all of our stories, and while it may effect some more than others, it is no reason to neglect one's health. I challenge you to take inventory on how you fill your days and if the time you put toward reaching your goals is actually getting you closer to meeting them. What excuses keep coming up? How are you committing to progress by checking in with your results?

No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. - Edmund Burke

There are many ways to gauge success when it comes to our health. I mentioned last week that one of the best ways to gauge health isn't the scale, body fat calipers, or pant size, rather, it is the consistency with which we move and exercise our bodies. One of the best methods to track your health is to use a Nutrition and Lifestyle Journal. The participants from the 2011 Resolution challenge are using their journals now and they are having phenomenal success at realizing where they could improve some habits. For those of you who always have your computer or smart phone at your side, there are some additional options to help you keep your stats handy.

Here are some suggestions for tracking your progress online:

FitDay: is a free online account to enter your daily foods and exercise. FitDay analyzes all your information and shows you daily calorie counts, macronutrient ratios, weight loss and goals, long-term diet analysis and more.

Online Fitness Log has nutrition and exercise tracking in addition to a metric system you can use for basic health information that you will likely record on a daily basis such as heart rate, blood pressure, hours of sleep, body weight, body fat percentage, and more.

iPhone Apps:

LoseIt: I have used this tracking tool for exercise and eating with great success. Their website claims that 96% of their users who stick with the product for a minimum of 4 weeks lose weight.

Livestrong Calorie Tracker: The Daily Plate at LIVESTRONG.COM helps you determine a daily calorie target based on your goal. Then you can calculate how many calories you can burn with listed activities.

Other Smart Phone Apps:

CardioTrainer: Tracks fitness only but has cool things like music integration and voice notifications for total calories burned, etc.

MyFitnessPal: Tracks mostly food but could also be used for some exercise tracking.

If you want to track your progress the old fashioned way (with pen and paper) and would like some extra helpful advice for what to eat, when to eat it, and how to exercise to lose fat and maintain healthy muscle, then purchasing a 30-day Nutrition and Lifestyle Journal

would be great way to get started! This compact journal will fit into even small purses and briefcases and walks you through the most important aspects of holistic health and lifestyle practices that will start increasing your energy, help you lose weight, and improve your consistency.

Boldly Defying Yourself

It is often in life that we are faced, or shall I say, confronted with our own weaknesses and shortcomings. It takes discipline to keep our strengths and passions at the forefront of our minds and to persistently pursue them. Weakness would suggest that we have areas of our lives that hold us back that we have to fight against in order to overcome ourselves. To be human is to have faults and idiosyncrasies that make us individuals and that bind us together all the same. As powerful as our weaknesses may seem to hold us back or keep us from acting on our most noble character, we consistently have the choice to embrace our capacity to thrive and succeed.

Albert Einstein once said "weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." As our attitude shifts, so can our character, or those attributes that distinguish us as individuals. In a single day, how can we gauge our attitude and therefore our character? What do people say about you if they are trying to describe your character? Usually it comes down to the simple things. How loyal we are to our commitments, whether we maintain an optimistic outlook on our circumstances, how we treat others, if we live with integrity, and more.

Are there areas in your life where your attitude is concealing a deeper more true character? If you could boldly defy your own weaknesses, laziness or pessimism, what would you pursue? These are the areas where we challenge our own attitude to believe something bigger and better can be made of our lives. It is in these beliefs that we choose to believe we are made of hope, success, beauty, ability, intelligence, and moxie to be the person we know we are at our core.

Defying yourself isn't about punishment or disbelief- it is exactly the opposite. Putting yourself to the challenge of defying yourself is about believing beyond any lies, fears, faults, or circumstance that may stand in your way of being boldly you! In January of 2011 Restoration Fitness is holding a Resolution Fitness Challenge. The challenge is meant to give you support and education that will allow you to find success in your health. I challenge you to join us!