The Way to Achieve Natural, Lasting Weight Loss and Better Health
When it comes to weight loss, there’s no lack of fad diets promising fast results! But such diets limit your nutritional intake, are usually unhealthy, and tend to fail in the long run. The key to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight isn’t about short-term dietary changes.
It is about becoming educated about different kinds of foods, your body, your mind, and how they all work together. When we choose our meals and snacks based on QUALITY ingredients, and our bodies becomes nourished and satisfied, we are no longer hungry beyond our body’s requirement for nutrients. When we understand what QUALITY foods are, and enjoy eating them, we no longer have to be concerned with QUANTITY- counting calories, carbs, and portions- as a way of “eating” healthy.
Education, Not Restriction
Education is crucial to adopting a healthy lifestyle. When we begin to really look at the foods we are eating, we can see that all foods aren’t “created” equally. That is, one class of foods, what we would define as “truly natural” or “whole” foods, were here before we any of us were here. These are foods, whether plant or animal, that existed alongside our ancestors, and our ability to digest and assimilate those foods is in our genes. The other class of foods are either entirely synthetic, such as aspartame and sucralose, or foods that have been created from natural foods, such as high fructose corn syrup. This class of foods is a relatively new experience to the human body. Many of the current diseases and illnesses that exist today are expressions of how the human body is trying to cope with an overload of new chemicals and synthetic foods that our bodies had never been designed to use, as well as signs of deprivation of nutrients that the body really does need.
Learn To Start the Day Right
A balanced breakfast jump starts your metabolism, especially if you take it within a couple of hours of waking up. After a long break the night before, start your day with a healthy, protein rich breakfast to keep you physically active for the whole day. It replenishes the blood sugar levels and curbs hunger, thereby reducing your chances of overeating throughout the day. Skipping breakfast will increase your hunger pangs and tempt you to eat anything you can find out of desperation rather than enjoyment!
Exercise – For Life!
Regular exercise is as necessary as breathing because you owe it your body to keep it healthy, physically and mentally. Exercise is a great stress buster, controls weight, improves your stamina and immunity, and reduces risk of life threatening diseases. And it feels great! So find an activity that you like, whether walking, biking, tai chi or yoga, and a spouse, child, or neighbor, and commit to a regular schedule of “me” time! Your body will thank you!
YES- Enjoy Your Meals!
Good food is one of life’s great pleasures. And for most of us, meals are at the heart of family life and celebrations. But wouldn't it be wonderful if you could make delicious, satisfying meals that also help protect you and your family from heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other chronic health problems?
When you learn how to identify and prepare quality foods, you aren’t limited to just counting calories, points, and pounds, but you learn how to buy and prepare healthy foods so that YOUR TASTE BUDS ARE SATISFIED and YOUR HEALTHY EATING GOALS ARE MET! Yes, it IS possible!
How You Cook Your Food Really DOES Matter!
One of the best tools that you can invest in is quality cookware. That is because quality cookware, instead of depleting the nutrients of your food, it helps to retain them. The best way that you can prepare your meals is with our 7-clad stainless steel waterless cookware. For generations, waterless cookware owners have been able to provide their families with healthy dishes that have retained the vitamins, minerals and natural flavors of the foods, eliminating the need for unhealthy oils and refined salt.
We believe that better health results from not only using waterless and greaseless cooking methods, but from preparing, cooking and enjoying high quality natural foods. On your path to a healthier lifestyle, we encourage purchasing the highest quality fresh and unprocessed foods available, and purchasing locally grown and organic when possible. Waterless cookware is unique in that allows you to get the most out of your high quality organic foods by cooking them in their own moisture, and by cooking at lower temperatures for shorter periods of time.
When you cook high quality foods in high quality cookware, you retain the highest levels of health promoting enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants of the food in the food. Unlike conventional cooking methods of steaming, boiling, and microwaving, nutrients and flavors are retained instead of drastically reduced. With waterless cooking, you can prepare high quality foods for you and your family that are bursting with the nutrients, textures, and flavors that nature intended!
Help on Finding Quality Foods
On the main page of this website we have provided a link to a page called “Organic & Local Sources.” The page contains links to three different sites that will help you shop for the healthiest foods and beverages available!
1. At Beyond Organic, you can order and have shipped to your door the highest quality green-finished beef products, artisanal raw cheeses, cultured dairy, healing cultured whey beverages, pure mountain spring water, all-natural body and skin care, and the highest quality probiotic dark chocolate available today!
2. At Organic.org, you can learn what "organic" really means, plan a budget for the healthiest foods possible, and find all the stores and Farmers' Markets in your city.
3. At Local Harvest, you can learn about the many benefits of locally grown foods, and enter your zip code to find stores, Farmers' Markets, farms, natural food restaurants, and events in your area. Throughout Cook For Life! and on those sites you will discover the numerous benefits of buying and eating organic, locally grown, and locally produced foods.
USDA Certified Organic
Due to the growing awareness of the health and environmental cost of conventionally grown foods, most grocery stores either have an organic section or carry organic produce next to non-organic foods. Make sure to look for the either green and white or black and white USDA Organic labels shown below to assure that what you are purchasing is certified organic.
Make sure that the meat and dairy products that you purchase are organic, grass-fed, or free-range as well. Many brands are now available at grocery stores, but you will likely have a wider selection at a whole foods market. Much has been written about the health benefits of grass-fed beef and hormone-free chicken, and visit our Published Articles page for more information on the benefits of whole foods in general, and organic foods in particular. Look for “wild caught” fish as opposed to “farm raised” when purchasing fish, as it is known that fish caught in their natural habitat have a much higher omega-3 (good fat) content. If you don’t plan on cooking it right away, look in the freezer section for wild caught salmon. It comes in individual portions that are perfect to have always have on hand in your freezer, and provides a delicious source of lean protein and good fat that your body needs.
You can find several brands and types of organic milk, whole or 2% milk is best, and if you can find one with added DHA (a good omega-3 fat) that’s a plus. Again, there is an enormous amount of research showing the adverse effects of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and antibiotics that is in all dairy that is not labeled ‘ORGANIC’. Compared to conventional milk, organic milk has been shown to have higher amounts of specific health-promoting nutrients, such as vitamin E, beta-carotene, omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Look for hormone-free organic yogurt that will provide your body with an excellent source of protein and calcium, as well as probiotics that support both your immune and digestive systems (see chart below for more brand information). You can find a variety of natural cheeses in the gourmet section of your grocery store, many of which will be labeled organic or are from Europe where hormones and antibiotics are not used. Goat cheese, or chevre, is an excellent option that both delicious and easy to digest, as is the traditional Greek feta cheese.
I also recommend buying and using organic eggs, and most grocery stores carry at least two or three brands. Organic eggs have been shown to contain a higher amount of omega-3 fatty acids, are free of antibiotic residues, and contain no arsenic, which is added to factory-farmed chicken-feed to prevent infections and spur growth. While it is true that organic eggs and factory-farmed eggs are on par with levels of protein and other vital nutrients, studies have found that organic eggs are far higher in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Recent findings from Penn State University revealed that organically raised chicken eggs had three times more of these healthy fats than their confined counterparts, along with 40 percent more vitamin A and twice as much vitamin E. When shopping for eggs, be aware however that “Free-roaming” and “cage-free” aren’t the same as “organic.” Unlike “USDA Organic,” “free-range” and “cage-free” are unsubstantiated claims that aren’t verified by independent third parties—any producer can slap those labels on a carton of eggs without any evidence that his or her chickens roam free or live outside cages. The best source, and best price, for the freshest organic eggs, however, is not your grocery store or your whole foods market, but from a local farmer that sells his eggs directly to the public at your local Farmers' Market. So when it comes to shopping for your family, be sure to read labels and don’t be afraid to ask the store manager to carry a certain brand if you don’t see it on the shelf.