10 Reasons NOT to eat bread, no matter what Oprah says...

The reason to eat or not eat bread is more than just a weight loss debate... here are 10 reasons (there are more) why you shouldn't eat bread, and only 1 of them has to do with gaining weight! 

1. Increases blood sugar levels: Wheat contains amylopectin A, a type of molecule that is more efficiently converted to blood sugar than just about any other carbohydrate. After the consumption of wheat your blood sugar levels increase and in a matter of 2-hours you’re bound to be foraging through the fridge once again in an effort to satisfy your appetite. Wheat consumption puts the body through a series of highs and lows, where the body becomes stuck in a vicious cycle of constant hunger.
2. Bread is addicting: Researchers from the National Institute of Health discovered that the gluten found in bread tickles the brains opiate receptors eliciting a sense of euphoria when consumed. Meaning quite simply, the more we eat it, the more we want it.
3. Difficult to digest: Bread almost always contains gluten, a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and other grains. Gluten is very difficult for the human body to digest and it requires a very strong acid in the stomach to process it. It can sometimes take as long as 4-weeks to digest a meal containing mostly wheat.
4. Nutritionally deficient: During the refining process, bread is stripped of its healthy elements including bran and germ. This means most of the vitamins and minerals are lost leaving you with nothing but a mucus forming, addictive slice of bread to butter your toast in the morning.
5. Bread Contains Other Harmful Substances: Most commercial types of bread contains sugars or high fructose corn syrup. Sugar causes many adverse effects and eating processed foods that contain it is likely to have detrimental effects on health.
6. Bread contains phytic acid: Phytic acid is a molecule that strongly binds essential minerals like calcium, iron and zinc, preventing them from being absorbed. Soaking grains before baking can degrade the phytic acid, which should improve the availability of minerals.
7. Mucus forming: Bread is part of the refined grain family joining other grains like barley, oats and rye all of which produce mucus in the body. Mucus is the body’s natural defense mechanism to protect our cells, tissues and organs from the harmful acid found within bread. While mucus forms as a means of protection it is not side-effect free. A build up of mucus often means the lungs and nasal passages become congested and digestion is hindered.
8. Breads (even gluten free) can cause weight gain – All breads that contain a grain are high glycemic, which means that it breaks down to sugar in the body and need to be burned off before you can use fat for fuel. The starches in bread get broken down quickly in the digestive tract and enter the bloodstream as glucose. This causes a rapid spike in blood sugar and insulin levels. Learn more about this is Six Week Slim Down.
9. Whole grain breads are not any healthier: Even whole grain bread usually isn’t made out of actual “whole” grains. They are grains that have been pulverized into very fine flour. Even though this process reserves the nutrients, it causes these products to be digested rapidly.
10. Bread can speed aging! Elevated blood sugars can also cause glycation at the cellular level when the blood sugars react with proteins in the body. This is one of the components of ageing.

To lurn more about eating healthy, visit www.mywelllnessexperience.org and take the online program Six Week Slim Down!
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Time to get kids to eat healthy!

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Yes, it's true.... kids can be really tough to get veggies into!
If you have had trouble getting your kids to eat veggies, your not alone! Kids usually have a taste for sweet things, which usually does NOT include veggies. I suggest letting kids pick out their own fruits. Most kids love this, and you can have a lot of fun turning them loose in the produce section, or even in an Asian market!
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Instead of FORCING your kids to eat foods they don't want, give them to opportunity to make choices (but make all the choices healthy).  This creates a more relaxed environment for both parents and kids, and allows parent to still get nutrition into the kids. Get a CLEAN EATING KIDS MEAL PLAN HERE!

Six Week Slim Down is healthy for both parents and kids, get started today!
For a clean eating meal plan and Nicole's FREE RECIPES VISIT www.healthywithnicole.com

Help Others Find Health

Take care of yourself, then those around you. Good advice from the airline flight attendant! This is true, however once we get ourselves situated it's time to start helping others. There so many people that need help I need directions to get there health on track. Just look around you and you will see thousands of people that are overweight, have illnesses that need your help. Sign up to be a Wellness Experience Afilliate, it's free. Share the program with others and earn money. Simple. 

Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/sharehealth

Home made protein bars!

Ok, this might just blow your mind. I know everyone loves protein bars, but finding one with out sugar and other bad things is tough. Check out my peanut putter chocolate chip protein bar recipe totally free of sugar, carbs and other needless junk in next weeks newsletter. Get it at www.healthywithnicole.com

5 Ways to Avoid Holiday Smack Down!

This the the month we get a holiday smack down! Unless you stick to your diet, reduce stress and get enough rest!

Here are my 5 tips for avoiding the Holiday Smack Down!

1. Reduce Sugar consumption- use natural sweeteners such as stevia or monk fruit powder.
2. Reduce alcohol intake - only drink clear alcoholic beverages and for every cocktail drink 1 8oz glass of water in between!
3. Get 20 minutes or more of cardio exercise daily, this helps increase endorphins and reduce the effects of stress on the body.
4. Get enough rest. Rest reverses the cortisol effect on the body which creates weight gain among other problems. Get to bed 1 hour earlier when things get hectic.  You can't get the sleep back later!
5. Turn off your phone for 10 minutes each day, mid day and close your eyes. Listen to your breath or far off sounds. Don's speak or think about your to-do list. This is the simplest for of meditation!


Watch the the Video here: https://youtu.be/g7lLrREN9Ms

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Why Calorie IN versus Calorie OUT is failing! Follow these 2 Tips for weight loss!

The word calorie is defined Calorie as:  the heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water from 0 to 1°C. In 1887 the word was used to describe food energy from a popular article published in Century magazine, at the time a mainstream publication.  This went on to be listed in the Farmers Bulletin 23 in 1894, which is where the idea of every food being attached to a measure called calories. To put this into perspective, during this time Heroic medicine was still a part of the health care system, which included bloodletting and numerous other now outlawed practices.

 

Today, it is required that every packaged food contains a label indicating the calories, fat, protein, sugar and other pieces of information about the food. While this is helpful to consumers to teach about food density, and give them an informed choice about food, its most valuable attribute is the ability for consumers to see the ingredients in the product.  Therein lies the most important factor for human health. Food quality, not quantity.

 

As we try to battle the obesity epidemic in the U.S. we continue to be defeated as the low fat, low-carb, calorie counting, and other useless strategies fail people.  It’s time to take a real look at food quality, and be more demanding with our government and manufacturers about what is in our food. Or better yet, bypass the manufacturers entirely and eliminate all processed foods from our diets completely.

 

But wait, how would we then know what is healthy and what is not if that whole food did not have a label on it????  It's really simple. We teach people the value of foods, not how to count calories.  For more on eating healthy Watch the Interview On Nutrition Here!

 

If calories were only thing that mattered to stay healthy we could be each given a budget of calories each day to maintain. If we go beyond the budget, we gain weight, and if we go below we loose weight. It is true that 3500 calories equals a pound, but then why are people not loosing fat on a 1200-calorie diet? We have to move more and eat less. However if you have even been on a calorie-restricted diet you know how hard it is to battle the appetite! Eating less is difficult when the foods you choose are of poor quality.

We must be able to eat more quantity, yet take in fewer calories if we want to feel full and loose weight.

 

Here are 2 very basic ways to focus on quality and stop counting calories and STILL loose weight.

1.     Every time you eat, at least ¾ of your plate should be low glycemic vegetables. This means non- starchy veggies. The rest of your plate should contain lean protein, and a bit of plant based fat (avocado, nuts, seeds, eggs)

2.     We eat when we are hungry, but never overfill ourselves. Stop eating when you feel satisfied, don't wait until your stuffed!

 

Get more help with weight loss and getting healthy visitwww.mywellnessexperience.org

 

Nicole Carter

The Wellness Experience

www.mywellnessexperience.org

949-395-8002