Now why would I want you to know where not to find the truth? Because they have the most money, clout, and governmental support with total disregard that their information is not saving anyone.

According to the CDC diabetes now affects 1 in 10 Americans. If you figure in those who are in a pre-diabetic state and those who have yet to be diagnosed, it’s closer to 1 in 4. (Thanks Dr. Mercola for that stat.)

The 3 mainstream “disease prevention” groups with very loud voices on the subject, The American Dietetics Association, The American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association have for 50 years been promoting a high complex carb/low fat (and super low saturated fat) diet. Clearly this is not working as the rates of this lifestyle disease continue to climb. In that same 50 years diabetes has risen 700%! Again from the CDC, if we continue at this rate, by 2050 1 in 4 of us will be diabetic.

Most people consider diabetes a sugar disease when, according to many leading docs, it’s really a disease of insulin and leptin resistance. Dr. Mercola, on his blog dated November 12, 2010, reported, “Type 2 diabetes is a disease caused by insulin resistance and faulty leptin signaling, both of which are regulated through your diet. Every diabetic needs to understand that the number one way to avoid and control this disease is to severely restrict or eliminate sugars (particularly fructose) and starchy carbs like breads and cereals – more or less the complete opposite of conventional recommendations.”

Most of what you hear about insulin’s role in response to blood sugar surges is that it is released to lower blood sugar circulating in the blood. Ever wonder how it does that? It’s main role is energy storage. Insulin grabs the excess circulating blood sugar, stores some of it as glycogen in the muscles and the majority gets stored as fat for later use when energy is needed.

Again from Dr. Mercola, “Insulin lowers your blood sugar as a side effect of directing the extra energy into storage.” Ever wonder why people gain weight who are taking insulin? Now you have a better idea.

That the major organizations most of America looks to for sound information that can save their lives are actually in the business of selling drugs and keeping people in the medical complex is beyond criminal. I’m all for pharmaceuticals when necessary such as with a raging infection or pain relief after surgery or with a bone break. That drugs are handed out as the panacea for everything and coupled with information that is clearly behind the times in terms of what science knows now vs 50 years ago needs to be outed to prevent more people from getting even sicker.

Look there are countless books on the market from respectable docs on how to reverse diabetes and all of the complications without meds and for life. Look up Dr. Julian Whitaker’s Reversing Diabetes, check out Dr. Mercola’s 8000 or so posts on the subject. Google it. Then, if you reading this are suffering from diabetes or have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, grab your sneakers, trainers, Keds, or other active footware and get moving.

Exercise is the single most important place to start for managing blood and insulin levels. It’s easy, free, and can be done anywhere if you power walk.

Thanksgiving is coming and exercise is critical to staying healthy and out of my weight loss bootcamps! Though I’d love to have you if you need help getting that weight thing handled.

Salad for breakfast?! Why not? Maybe a better question is, “why would you even want to consider having something other than the traditional cereal/fruit/yogurt/toast/coffee type starter to your day?”

For one, many of the breakfast foods we’ve come to rely on because they are fast and well, “breakfast foods,” are nothing but sugar bombs that cause blood sugar to soar, insulin to flood in, and fat burning to stop. Cereals, toast, muffins, scones, flavored yogurts, (they are full of added sugar) and the like are contributing to the midlife nation’s expanded and expanding waist line as well as setting more and more women up for diabetes and syndrome X. Some of those listed can be tweaked just a bit to remain in your morning routine but others just plain have to go if you want to manage your energy and your metabolism.

What must go? Bagels-yes even whole grain ones, have a half and make sure you’ve got some protein with it like peanut or almond butter, cheese, sliced turkey or chicken, plain yogurt. Same goes for whole grain bread.

Scones, muffins of all kinds and that includes the low fat, banana blueberry, carrot, walnut etc. Low fat is guaranteed to be high in sugar and no matter the ingredients, unless it’s a mini muffin it’s a sugar bomb.

Cereals of all kinds are loaded with sugar, even the “healthy” ones. We were not designed to eat processed grains but cereals are a staple of the diet and promoted by many health agencies as the perfect way to start your day. I beg to differ. Even the one cereal most of my clients who eat cereal say they bought because it was the best choice–lots of fiber and no sugar–guess again. Kellogg’s All Bran Original lists these ingredients along with the banner on the front announcing the 10 grams of fiber in every serving: Wheat bran, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, malt flavoring. The rest of the ingredients are preservatives and vitamins. (The vitamins would not have had to be added back in if this were a true whole grain cereal.) Add a small banana (1 cup sliced)  to the suggested half a cup serving and your sugar grams go from 6 grams for the cereal to 24 grams total with the banana. Pour on some low fat milk–good because of the protein content which helps balance out the rest–your “healthy” breakfast is now providing you with a total of 60 grams of carbs and 24 grams of sugar! That’s assuming you only eat one half cup. Most people don’t measure their cereal, they put in a bowl what looks like “enough.”

If you can switch your fruit to blueberries or strawberries, your cereal to oatmeal–not the instant kind–or unsweetened muesli you’ll be cutting back on the potential for low energy, mood swings, weight gain, and disease by lowering the sugar hit by half.

Salad may be a bit of a stretch. I didn’t wake up this morning and say, “wow, let me have a salad for breakfast.” Since I had to create the salad for this month’s newsletter though, once it was done and I was hungry, it became the perfect fit. It was loaded with antioxidants, fiber, protein, and some fat in the dressing. Since I made the dressing I know it had no added sugar. The best part? It was delicious and filling.

I’ll be posting other breakfasts ideas to take you beyond the cereal bowl. For now, read some labels, ditch the white starchy old stand bys and treat yourself to something delicious like an egg or two or a fresh berry and yogurt smoothie. We midlife babes have got lessen out sugar load. It’s not only aging us and keeping us puffy, it’s adding to the wrinkle thing. I’m not sure which is more motivating. What say you? Leave a comment and let me know what your breakfasts consist of.

If you’ve looked at the home page for this site you’ll see that it says right up front “Deprivation is not on the menu.” I am not a fan of over zealous calorie or enjoyment restriction. It usually doesn’t last and can be counterproductive. Cutting calories sharply–unless you are really packing them in by the thousands–can result in slowing down your metabolism. Not a good idea is it? And at midlife we’ve got enough stress without taking away all of our pleasures.

As a chef, and someone who has been at this weight loss/healthy weight maintenance game for some time now I’ve got some tips that are guaranteed to help you enjoy what you eat and bring awareness to what you are eating so you can make the best choices.

Tip #1–Do you eat cheese? I love cheese but I also know that ounce for ounce cheese is a calorie dense food. That means there are lots of calories in a small sized chunk. It’s funny, we’ve all cut back on meat but meat, ounce for ounce, is lower in saturated fat than whole milk cheese is and has other nutrients your body can use for fat burning and overall nutrition. That said I still include cheese in my diet. I eat both full and low fat. For snacks I buy low fat cheese sticks so that someone else controls the portion. Add a big stick of crunchy celery and you have a filling and texturally satisfying snack.

Tip #2–Buy the Best and Use Less. This has long been one of my mottos. High quality foods taste better, period. Cheap olive oil has half the flavor that a more expensive extra virgin one does. Plastic cheese does not have the satiety factor that fresh crafted does. And chocolate? Well you may enjoy a Hershey kiss for the flavor memory but have you had a dark Dove Bite? OMG, melt in your mouth heaven.

And with these products, a little goes a long way. You don’t have to break the bank to enjoy the best.

Tip #3 –Make sure you include The Yumm Factor in your day. No this is not a treat though it could be. It’s using real products like maple syrup, real butter, (margarines will kill you anyway so it’s time to dump that junk), fresh ginger, garlic you chop vs the stuff that comes in a jar and could be 6 months old, fresh herbs vs dried. I’m all for convenience but I also love food and eat for the flavors and textures, the smells and the colors. Fake processed foods will never provide the same gustatory experience as the real deal will. When you have less food each day, don’t you want it to be as amazingly delicious as it can be? Then use the real thing. When you enjoy your food you are more likely to feel satisfied with less.

Tip #4 — Spend your calories on things you love rather than mindlessly eating anything. Recently I was visiting someone who is a big dessert lover. I could be too but I know me and I would much rather eat savoury foods. When dessert time rolled around and she offered to split one with me I declined. Why? Cause dessert doesn’t matter to me. I’m usually plenty full from my meal and don’t need anything more. The bigger reason is, if I eat something I could enjoy but don’t love then I’m squeezing out room for the things I do love, like a glass of wine with my meal or some cheese and fruit vs cake or sweets. If you do love dessert than go for it and skip the bread basket or the appetizer. Eating what you love vs everything that shows up in front of you adds up to more enjoyment, less extra pounds.

Tip #5 — Keep healthy choices in the fridge, pantry, and all of the food storage cabinets. This may seem obvious but from speaking with my coaching clients, it’s not happening. The other day I was slightly hungry mid-afternoon. I went to our snack cabinet thinking I’d have some whole grain crackers. Not a bad choice but not the best thing as it would have been all carbs. I wasn’t hungry enough to have added any form of protein. (And if you know any of my weight loss secrets you’ll know we need to eat protein throughout the day and especially with carbs)

What I found right next to the crackers was a container of walnuts I’d roasted slightly. Voila! A handful of monounsaturated fat, (which helps with weight loss) and nutrients up the wazoo. Walnuts are brain food as well. I felt satisfied, my snack was well rounded–fat, protein and fiber–and I was in for about the same amount of calories as the crackers.

Other things to keep on hand? Cut up veggies, hummus, almond butter, apples–always have apples–cheese sticks, hard boiled eggs, the list goes on and on. This is the kind of thing we go through in detail by the way in my Weight Loss Express.

Food = pleasure to many of us and it should be any different just because we are shedding some pounds. It’s always the little things that make the most difference, like the 5 tips above. Do you have other ideas? Why not share them in the comments section below?

The other night I was preparing dinner at a client’s home and needed a little mayonnaise to make a sauce for shrimp cakes. Ordinarily I’d have made the sauce in my fully stocked kitchen and brought it with me but I had only decided to make this yummy coconut lime mayo on my way to the client’s home. Not a problem since most people keep some form of Mayo in their fridge.

What I found was Hellmann’s Light Mayo–formerly Reduced Fat mayo so the label tells me. Now if you know me at all you know that I don’t use low fat products as a rule. It’s a taste, texture and real food vs filler ingredients based decision.

Since I have this bias about the ingredients in low fat foods–one of the ingredients I find all too often is sugar–I took a look at the label. I wasn’t prepared for what I found at all.

Here is the list as it appears: WATER, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SOYBEAN OIL, VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, EGG WHITES, SALT, SUGAR, XANTHAN GUM, LEMON AND LIME PEEL FIBERS, COLORS ADDED, LACTIC ACID, (SODIUM BENZOATE, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA) USED TO PROTECT QUALITY, PHOSPHORIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVORS.

Sugar appears 3 times–modified corn starch turns into sugar, then there is the HFCS, and finally plain old sugar. Soybean oil is one of the dastardly vegetable oils that has been shown to contribute to heart disease and diabetes.

Let’s take a look at Hellmann’s real mayo: WATER, WHOLE EGGS AND EGG YOLKS, VINEGAR, SALT, SUGAR, LEMON JUICE, NATURAL FLAVORS, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (USED TO PROTECT QUALITY). Where’s the sugar? It’s there but it’s the 6th ingredient. Yes, you get more calories in the real deal but you also get real eggs, and egg yolks–the cholesterol in the eggs by the way helps raise good cholesterol and power the metabolism among other good things.

In the Light Mayo you also get 2X the sodium and a gram of carbs per tablespoon vs 0 carbs in the Real mayo. Are the extra calories worth it? Absolutely! One of my mottos is “Buy the best and use less.” You can’t beat the flavor of real anything over the reduced fat, overly manipulated versions. And why add extra sugar to your diet? Sugar is a killer and it’s one of the catalysts of aging and wrinkling. Save your sugar fix for something really delicious like dark chocolate, a glass of wine or beer, or a cookie now and again.

Suspend your belief that adding some real foods with more fat into your diet will make you fat. I can prove to you that it will do the opposite. Want to learn more? Drop me an email and let’s have a conversation.

How many of you have ever said, “I know what to do to lose weight, I just can’t seem to do it?”

How frustrating it is to know the information but not know how to make it your new habit. So what’s the answer to “How do we get motivated?” In a word, practice.

What’s one thing we all know about losing weight? Let’s take cutting back on starchy carbs. How do you practice that? You could eliminate one carb serving per day. Have your sandwich on one slice of bread vs two, skip the rice at dinner and add in more vegetables, switch out the banana in your cereal for berries. Better yet with that last breakfast, skip the cereal entirely and replace it with eggs or sliced chicken or turkey.

You might ask, what good is one small change? It’s as good as it gets when you are stopping yourself with the reasoning, “I know what to do but not how to do it.” Not to mention that one thing will lead to another, and in this case, to lower blood sugar which in turn leads to less insulin resistance and less fat storage.

And, you will be practicing. Practice begets mastery and mastery is what we are all striving for in this lifestyle habits game. We want mastery in making health and weight loss promoting choices and in managing our energy.

Recently I attended a two-day event to learn to make my communications and presentations more “Brain sticky” as Lizabeth Phelps, the creator of the program calls it. I want to be a more powerful experience maker for my audience both live and on the phone during my Weight Loss Express. Saying I know I can do what she says and actually having to practice her techniques are vastly different. Rearranging my information using her template–which is based on the latest in brain science as it relates to learning–took lots of thinking and un-thinking. It felt awkward in my head. Standing in front of a small audience to practice delivering it unravelled all of the confusion and helped me see how best to do certain steps. In my head it was a challenge, with practice, it became not only easier but comfortable and preferable to what I had been doing.

How does this apply to your wanting to lose weight or change some not great lifestyle habits? If all you do is think about what you know to do, but don’t practice it in your day to day, it will always feel impossible or difficult. I heard this expression years ago and it is powerful: “Leaders take action because there is information in it.” You are the leader in your life and by doing, practicing, you’ll get information and even inspiration to move you forward.

What can you put into practice today? It only needs to be one thing. You’ve got the knowledge now get some practice and you’ll be celebrating results in no time!

And let me say it wasn’t pretty. If you don’t know me I’m a person who eats a healthy amount of whole grain cards of all varieties. I don’t generally count most breads in that category but do love good, artisinal, crusty, any flavor bread when it comes my way on the odd occasion like a great restaurant meal or when traveling.

Somehow though, due to a busy week or so, I found myself doing the not very well planned grab-and-go kinds of foods. I usually have sliced whole wheat bread in the house for the man but really have no interest in it. (His version of what’s healthy and mine are pretty different. He tolerates–doesn’t like– squishy wheat bread, I like mine with lots of bits, texture and fiber.)

One day I found myself hungry in the morning and running to get out of the house for an appt. I had no boiled eggs, no fruit to have with yogurt, no time to make a shake. I’m not a lunatic tho and the importance of eating something vs eating what I’d really like to eat is clearly in favor of eating. So I grabbed a slice of squishy bread and slapped a piece of turkey and some mustard on it and off I went. It was really yummy and I felt good eating it.

Later in the day I had to grab something at a convenience store and all there was to choose from were wraps or sandwiches. I ate mostly the innards of a wrap but did include some of the flattened out dough for ease of eating in the car. And one carb/sugar rush leads to wanting another so I found I wanted a sweet midday. This is something that happens really infrequently. Suddenly it was happening like clock work, every day.

And so it went for what seems like days. This was leading up to my half marathon so I was doing long power walks in preparation. I must have been in need of something with the certain kind of fuel that carbs provide cause I was craving them. Instead of opening up a can of beans or remembering to buy quinoa or brown rice I went for what was easy.

Then after the race I had to have pretzels. Lots of them. I gave in to my midlife mindless cravings.

By Tuesday I was feeling the effects of all of this carb/sugar binging. I was feeling low and cranky and totally out of sorts. Though I can’t give you scientific proof that I was feeling this way because of all the sugar and processed carbs I’d reintroduced, my gut say that’s what it was.

Not to mention my belly was puffy. No likey the puffy belly thing.

So I dragged my ass to the gym yesterday. I ate clean yesterday and when I felt like my sweet midday treat I had some beautiful strawberries with a few roasted walnuts. I had lots of arugula with some grilled chicken last night and today I’m feeling a hundred times better. I’m back to feeling motivated and my mood is great–the usual for me.

Moods go up and down, eating healthy foods is about an 80% of the time thing for me. But 8 days of just eating any white flour, processed food that came my way took a toll on me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

PS. The one thing I know is scientifically provable is that eating more carbs produces cravings for more. I used to be a carb addict just like so many of you. The less I ate the less I wanted them. Once I started tho I wanted more. Again, I’m not against healthy carbohydrates. The culprit in this instance is processed white flour and sugary things.

I’m a big believer in fast food. I’ll bet you even know I’m not talking Mikey D’s or that crowd. No, I’m referring to food that ends up in a bowl or on a plate for my meals as quickly as possible. That’s why I make soup–at least in winter–and freeze it in quart sized batches. I also like soup because it’s a filling, satisfying meal and if you are on a weight loss mission, it’s proven to be a great choice.

There is nothing fancy about these soups, usually it’s a basic chicken with some veggies, brown rice or barley, and the occasional carrot ginger or minestrone. When it comes time to eat it, though I’m happy it’s there, looking down at it in the pan I’m left wanting. If it’s chicken soup, the veggies are carrots, celery and onions, maybe a mushroom. Plenty of good stuff but the texture is soft and the colors have blanded out. (Yes I made that word up)

Then there is the constant awareness I have about how many servings of vegetables we are supposed to get to stay healthy. Missing an opportunity to include extra veggies means I’ll be short at days end and I’m doing my best to feed the old engine what it needs.

Soup is an excellent place to add some veggies. By doing so the nutrition increases, as do the fiber, texture and satiety. You’ll feel a lot more satisfied after a huge bowl of vegetable rich chicken soup than you will after a measly bowl with a few stock vegetables in there.

I’m also a big fan of spicy food. If you can tolerate it I’d suggest keeping your fave hot sauce on hand. Not only does it power up the metabolism–ok a little but it all adds up–it’s said that hot peppers are good for our hearts and reducing inflammation.

In order to get those veggies into the soup they’ve got to be in the house. I keep a bag of spinach, a head of broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms–all sorts–on hand at all times so there’s no excuse.

The soup below has a few florets of broccoli, a couple extra mushrooms, spinach and a healthy dose of Siraccha. (A thai hot sauce that I love) You can use frozen veggies if you like, they’ve got all the nutrition you’d get in fresh. (Unless you are picking things from a garden out back)

I’ll post more ways to include more vegetables in your day. Meanwhile, next time you have soup, look around for something to toss in there to pump up the volume. Your lean mean  midlife machine will thank you for it.

If calories in and calories out counted and countered with exercise were all it took to maintain the weight you want to be, this weight loss thing would be a whole lot easier. And more people would be successful.

The body responds to everything we take in–see my post on Everything is Food. This includes information, food types, how much food, stressors, quality of sleep. Perhaps most important, is what we tell ourselves is possible. That’s right, your story is a key factor in your weight loss–and any other–success. Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of, The Biology of Belief, is a cell biologist turned quantum physics expert. His research at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, between 1987 and 1992, revealed that the environment, operating though the cell membrane, controlled the behavior and physiology of the cell, turning genes on and off.

If genes can be turned on and off vs being “set” when we come in to the world, then wouldn’t it be important to know how to affect the on/off switch? Dr. Lipton, along with others involved in the science and study of epi-genetics, have determined that what we think, feel, and surround ourselves with, along with our lifestyle habits, exerts control of that on/off switch.

In other words, your story will determine your weight loss success. If you believe that women get fat at midlife, you are open to going there. If you grew up “knowing” that all the women in  your family gain weight after menopause, guess what’s likely to happen? You are going to gain weight.

I’m not saying we can alter all of the genetic expression we come with. Blue eyes are not likely to turn brown by your thinking. (Though they might if you use that eye lash extender product) And if you are 5’6″ tall, you are likely to remain so. But if you have always felt that the size of your jeans is determined by your genes–think again.

My spring Midlife Women’s Weight Loss Express begins on April 7th at 4 pm. That’s just two days from now but there are still a few spots open. On week one of our 6 week workshop we review your story to see if it’s holding you back. If so, there is an exercise–which you will do at your convenience after class but before session 2–that will help you write a new one. Week one is also when we uncover “The Saboteur.” This is the part of your personality that will screw up your efforts every time if you don’t get to know her.

For all the information about this information packed 6 week tele class why not take a look at the info page.

One bonus which is not mentioned there is a 30 minute strategy session with me. You’ll take my Midlife Lifestyle Assessment which gives me an idea of how you do food, sleep, exercise and more. Then we get together so you can ask questions and I can make recommendations. This is a $125 bonus and if you’ve been frustrated before about weight loss and can’t figure out what you are doing wrong, you’ll want to take advantage of this.

Let me know if you have questions, gregory@midlifewithavengeance.com and I hope to “see” you in the class.

Remember, calories in, calories out is not a reliable theory and your mind plays as big a part in your achieving your weight loss goals as do your food habits.

If you are scratching your head right now, I can explain.

The foods we eat daily serve our bodies of don’t. We make choices based on a million things such as thoughts, memories, the advice of gurus, friends, doctors, the marketing experts. No matter the choice–and this is not a post about good and not so good ones–these bits of protein, carbs, fat etc have an impact on our system. They create hormonal reactions in all of the systems of our bodies. Sometimes you are aware of what food does to you and sometimes, especially if you are eating what suits your particular system, you won’t notice anything at all.

Does this mean nothing is happening? NO. It means you didn’t do anything your body wanted to let you know about. Everything is status quo.

Let’s look beyond comestible food stuffs to all the other energetic sources of influence in our lives. People? Energetic influences no? Ever had someone walk into a room and suck all the air out with their negative demeanor? That person’s influence is much like the pizza you wolfed down for lunch except you didn’t have a choice about being where you were when the person walked in. The negative energy you feel sends signals into your system to alert stress hormones that something might be wrong.

Fearful about the possibility of getting diabetes or heart disease? Feed and condition your mind with information on what it takes to prevent them. The fear is unnecessary and produces stress hormones, in other words it has an energetic effect on your body. When you soothe your fearful mind you are calming the effects of stress. The food which is the information is like eating a big plate of vegetables.

I believe that this is how we will fix the health care crisis. My good friend Linda Welch got all fired up the other day about this. What we put in our mouths is where healing and disease prevention starts but without considering all of the other influences on our physical and emotional selves, we are only looking at half of the picture.

Look around you to your environment at home and at work. Does it support you or make you feel heavy and out of sorts? Is there something you can do to improve it? If every day you look at clutter in your cubicle or home office area then berate yourself for it and for not getting around to organizing to get rid of it, you are feeding yourself poison. Either learn to love your mess and piles so you won’t beat up on yourself, or take it on.

Your health, happiness, freedom, and power lie in your choices. From where I sit, Everything is Food, so choose wisely.