BWC - Healthy Eating

Eating Better Does NOT
Cost More!!

PLAN
1. Plan meals and snacks for the week according to an established budget.
2. Find quick and easy recipes online...here
3. Include meals that will “stretch” expensive food items (stews, casseroles, stir fried dishes...a stir fry pan cooks meat in 8 minutes and veggies in 3!)
4. Make a grocery list.
5. Check for sales and coupons in the local paper or online.
6. Ask about a loyalty card at your grocery store.

PURCHASE
1. Buy groceries when you are not hungry and when you are not too rushed.
2.Stick to the grocery list, stay on the outside of the store first and don't go down aisles that don’t contain items on your list.
3. Buy store brands if cheaper.
4. Find and compare unit prices listed on shelves to get the best price.
5. Purchase some items in bulk or as family packs which usually cost less.
6. Choose fresh fruits and vegetables in season; buy canned vegetables with less salt.
7. Pre-cut fruits and vegetables, individual cups of yogurt, and instant rice and hot cereal are convenient, but usually cost more than those that require a bit more prep time. (A pressure cooker is great for brown rice and beans!)

Coconut Oil and Low Carb Diet

For the past several years, a low carb diet has been touted as a healthy and possibly permanent way to lose weight and keep it off. Diets such as Atkins and The South Beach Diet have found their way into thousands of homes across the country. Low carb diets are basically simple to follow.

Cut out sugar, white flour, starchy vegetables, and some fruits.
Stick to leafy green vegetables, whole grain breads, pastas and cereals, chicken, fish, and lean meats.
Add exercise on a daily basis.
Watch your portions.

Many people find success on a low carb diet. In fact, once you change the way you eat, you'll discover that eating low carb foods will not only help you lose the weight but keep it off. However, there is a new ingredient that shows additional success-coconut oil.

Many people are surprised when they learn about the connection between coconut oil and low carb diet. For years, coconut oil has been integrative in speeding up the metabolic rate of people in other countries, such as the Yucatan, where coconut oil is a common addition in virtually every home. Studies have shown that coconut oil when consumed on a daily basis can speed up metabolism, and this may be one of the reasons people in this Mexican state exhibit less weight problems. In Asian countries, it has been noted that those who consume large amounts of coconut oil exhibit the lowest rate of heart disease. What has coconut oil been credited with?

Increased metabolism
Increased energy
Better sleep patterns
Weight loss
Improved sense of wellness
Enhanced thyroid function

How Coconut Oil Works

So, how can coconut oil and low carb diet work together? Simply choosing coconut oil rather than other vegetable oils can begin to make a difference in weight loss success. The difference between coconut oil and other vegetable oils is that coconut oil contains medium chain fatty acids as opposed to the long chain fatty acids. Instead of the fat circulating through the bloodstream, this fat heads straight to the liver, where it is burned up and becomes energy. Less fat is stored, and less fat is left to convert into extra calories. While coconut oil may be considered a vegetable fat, it is lower in calories than other vegetable oils. Coconut oil also enhances thyroid function by stimulating hormones, such as progesterone and dehydroepiandrosterone, which aid in weight management.

Additional Benefits

Not only does adding coconut oil to your diet possibly increase your metabolism and help you lose weight, but it also has added benefits.

Promotes heart health
Rids the body of yeasts and fungus
Exhibits antiviral effects
Nourishs skin

A Ketogenic Diet...the Short Version

A ketogenic diet is one that encourages your body to rely less on sugar-based fuels and rather to turn to fat and ketones (produced in the liver by metabolizing fat) for fuel. The benefits of a consistently ketogenic diet are primarily recognized in the sphere of neurological problems, where there has been evidence of benefit in treating obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. Some folks notice improved mood, sleep, mental focus, blood sugar regulation and reduction of general inflammation. Once you are adapted to a ketogenic diet, going in and out of ketosis intermittently is thought to yield some of the longevity, anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting benefits previously attributed to calorie restricted diets.

Staying in ketosis makes it easier for many people to maintain weight loss. For a good discussion of that process, as well as the research behind that observation, you can read this blog post from the "low carb dietitian" here.

A ketogenic diet is one that encourages the body to burn fat for fuel and in that process fat burned in the liver produces ketones and a state of ketosis. We naturally burned fat and produced ketones for fuel when we were breast-feeding infants, if we were so lucky to have wise mothers! Since then, most bodies have lost the knack for burning ketones, which is too bad because our sugar-craving brains would be content with a lot less sugar if our bodies remembered how to supply our brains with ketones. (Ketosis is not to be confused with diabetic keto-acidosis which is life-threatening and only a risk for people with type 1 diabetes.)

For energy, a body relies on dietary energy sources as well as stored energy. On a ketogenic diet, dietary carbohydrates are kept very low, protein is moderate and fat consumption is increased, gently encouraging our body to remember how to rely on fat as a primary fuel and to produce ketones from stored body fat. Even if you are very lean, you have lots more stored body fat, to use in ketone production, than you have stored carbohydrate fuels.

Yes, the ketogenic diet is a high fat diet, not the high protein diet which is often portrayed. Reminding your body to burn ketones requires a period of “keto-adaptation” in which severe carbohydrate restriction is paired with high fat consumption. Continued Article...

Eating Better Does NOT Cost More

PLAN
1. Plan meals and snacks for the week according to an established budget.
2. Find quick and easy recipes online.
3. Include meals that will “stretch” expensive food items (stews, casseroles, stir fried dishes...a stir fry pan cooks meat in 8 minutes and veggies in 3!)).
4. Make a grocery list.
5. Check for sales and coupons in the local paper or online.
6. Ask about a loyalty card at your grocery store.

PURCHASE
1. Buy groceries when you are not hungry and when you are not too rushed.
2.Stick to the grocery list and stay on the outside of the store first and don't go down aisles that don't contain items on your list.
3. Buy store brands if cheaper.
4. Find and compare unit prices listed on shelves to get the best price.
5. Purchase some items in bulk or as family packs which usually cost less.
6. Choose fresh fruits and vegetables in season; buy canned vegetables with less salt.
7. Pre-cut fruits and vegetables, individual cups of yogurt, and instant rice and hot cereal are convenient, but usually cost more than those that require a bit more prep time. (A pressure cooker is great for brown rice and beans!)
Good low cost items available all year include:
Protein — beans (garbanzo, black, cannellini)
Vegetables — carrots, greens, potatoes
Fruit — apples, bananas

PREPARE
1. Some meal items can be prepared in advance; pre-cook on days when you have time.
2. Double or triple up on recipes and freeze meal-sized containers of soups and casseroles or divide into individual portions.
3. Try a few meatless meals by substituting with beans and peas or try “no cook” meals like salads.
4. Incorporate leftovers into a subsequent meal.
5. Be creative with a fruit or vegetable and use it in different ways during the week.