Category Archives: Food

Refined Foods are Making You Stupid, Sick and Sleepy

Afternoon slump? Spacing out? Have another cold? It’s the refined foods you are eating. It is not the stress, old age or even lack of sleep. Nothing has a bigger effect on your mood, memory and health than the food you put in your body. The brain and body is a biological engine and it runs on food.

The ups and downs of your blood sugar cause the ups and downs in your mood (mood SWINGS.) A meal high in sugar or refined foods raises the hormone insulin which raises blood glucose which gives you a shot of energy – but your energy drops just as quickly as it soars — leaving you feeling irritable, tired and lethargic. Worse yet, our bodies grow a tolerance toward the insulin spike, requiring more of those foods and a need to eat them more often in order to get the same energy boost – this leads women to eat more often to get the same high, which causes your body to store fat.

If you can’t seem to remember simple things like you used to or if you have difficulty concentrating or are feeling spacey lately, it is likely the result of your intake of refined foods. This happens because the brain depends on blood sugar for ALL of its energy and the longer that glucose stays in the bloodstream the less fuel the brain has to store memories. This effect gets worse with age and is not reversible.

Your immune system is also compromised by the spike in insulin caused by sugar intake. Some research suggests that the immune system can be compromised by up to 75% when you eat a moderate amount of sugar. Research demonstrates strong links between refined foods and asthma, heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and, of course, diabetes. This is due, in part, to the decreased ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria when you eat sugar. The effect is immediate and last for up to 5 hours.

You should not be eating sugar or refined foods and neither should your children. Scientist are just now discovering just how detrimental these foods are to the human body because the damage has taken years to demonstrate. Refined foods became wildly popular in the 80’s with the widespread use of high fructose corn syrup and in the 80’s obesity rates were less than 10% – they are now over 60%. Cancer rate, obesity rate, Alzheimer, diabetes – they have all dramatically increased and the reason can be attributed almost entirely to diet.

If you are ready and wanting to lose weight and keep it off – join me.

Call me or email me today.

I would really appreciate your comments below. Ask me any diet related question or let me know what you would like to know more about.

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If you read this article and could forward it to a friend you could really help them out.
Most importantly, if you are struggling and need help all you have to do is email me at tiffany@skinnycoach.com and I’ll set up a complementary session with you to pinpoint your triggers and help you with ways to deal with them. You don’t have to struggle with your weight and health. I can help you.

Get Skinny!
Take the Skinny Coach quiz and the
Skinny Coach will call you with the results.

Please add me to your Facebook friends and I will send you the list of the 100 names of sugar and 1 tip to lose that belly fat. www.facebook.com/skinnycoach.

Resistant Starch – Who Knew?

Resistant starches are a weight loss TRICK that really works. These starches contribute in many ways to weight loss and over all digestive health. What are they? Beans, peas, lentils, potatoes, yams, nuts and seeds, unripe bananas and whole grains such as barley and brown rice are all resistant starches and will help you lose weight.

Starch consists of molecules of glucose linked to each other forming amylose and amylopectin. Amylopectin molecules have a branched shape and fit together loosely, which makes them easier to digest. Amylose molecules fit together tightly and form granules that are much harder to digest. Most plant food is made up of 20-25% amylose, but resistant starches contain much more amylose (60-80%) than amylopectin, so they are resistant to digestion.

Normally your body digests starches in your stomach and small intestine, turning them to glucose (blood sugar) to fuel your body and store the excess as fat. When you eat resistant starches, however, they digest differently, passing through the stomach and small intestine and settling in the large intestine. There they ferment, helping in several different ways.

One: They create beneficial short chain fatty acids including butyrate that help promote weight loss by increasing the amount of stored and just consumed fat your body burns and reducing blood sugar and insulin levels.

Two: They protect the lining of your colon by decreasing ph, which boosts calcium absorption and blocks absorption of cancer causing substances.

Three: They help the growth of healthy bacteria (probiotics) which gives your immune system a boost.

Four: They prompt your body to produce more of the hormones that signal satiety and fullness, so you feel full sooner and eat less!

How do you benefit the most from eating these foods? Cooking these starches breaks them down somewhat (gelatinization), making them easier to digest; cooling them thoroughly before you eat them gives the starch a chance to harden into a crystallized form (retrogradation) that is harder for the body to digest. So eat these foods cooked then cooled!

I would really appreciate your comments below. Ask me any diet related question or let me know what you would like to know more about.

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If you read this article and could forward it to a friend you could really help them out.
Most importantly, if you are struggling and need help all you have to do is email me at tiffany@skinnycoach.com and I’ll set up a complementary session with you to pinpoint your triggers and help you with ways to deal with them. You don’t have to struggle with your weight and health. I can help you.

Get Skinny!
Take the Skinny Coach quiz and the
Skinny Coach will call you with the results.

Please add me to your Facebook friends and I will send you the list of the 100 names of sugar and 1 tip to lose that belly fat. www.facebook.com/skinnycoach.

My success from Dr. Shane

205.4 lbs was my beginning weight on day 1. My chest/back, waist, & tummy is where I carried most of this extra fat. On the 36th day, my weight was 193.5 (11.9 lb loss). The loss in inches was more dramatic with a total loss of 16 inches. I knew carrying lots of extra fat in this torso area was unhealthy and that needed to change.

Being self-conscious about my appearance was a regular thing for me, especially going around without a shirt in public & even at home. I have noticed in the past week that it has been much easier to walk around without a shirt. It doesn’t seem to bother me. I definitely notice changes in my appearance as I look in the mirror as I walk to the showers at my gym. That feels great!

At first, it was a bit frightening thinking about eating out, vacations, traveling, & parties in regards to eating well on this plan. By asking my Skinny Coach lots of questions & having suitable food backups, the tension around them is minimal. I will admit that it is a lot more work to maintain the plan in midst of restaurants, parties, & theme parks, but I know the payoff is huge and I feel more confident being able to stick to the plan now. This payoff will not only affect me, but my wife, my kids, my friends, & my patients. That is a big part of what keeps me going.

I am excited to see how the next month unfolds & what it will be like for me when I reach my goal. Hopeful & confident that I will reach my goal sooner than I think.

Thanks,
Shane (Chiropractor)

Take advantage of an hour with Dr. Wright, the Skinny Coach, talking about YOUR weight story and underlying psychological issues. Schedule your appointment here!

Schedule a complementary Get Skinny Strategy Session:
http://skinnycoach.com/schedule

The Big 3 – Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and Atkins

If you’re like most people, you have tried more diets than you can count. Additionally, you have likely tried them and failed- whether you lost weight immediately or not- you weigh the same now, or more than you did before the diet. Why can’t you keep the weight off?

Weight Watchers: It’s all about moderation! That’s rubbish! If you could moderate, you would. If you could moderate you would be just like all of the millions of thin people in the world. You’re not confused. You know when you eat a cheeseburger, fries and a coke that you are contributing to your fat self. Counting calories will work in the short term- but once you get bored putting your calories in your phone all day, every day, you’ll go back to eating how you did before. There is no change here.

Jenny Craig: This one is obvious. They provide you with the frozen premade food (ick) and they charge you a ton of money for it. This is obviously not a sustainable method to lose weight. You can’t realistically spend hundreds of dollars on premade food for the rest of your life. You also can’t assume you’ll always be eating alone or at home- you have to have a life. So this diet will only work as long as you get their meals- and then you’ll gain the weight back as soon as you start eating your own food. You haven’t learned any skills, you haven’t discovered any new ways of eating.

Atkins: The principles of Atkins are not all bad. The idea of cutting out bad carbohydrates is great. If you’re eating dirty carbs, you’re really eating sugar and that ultimately will make you fat. But good grains, like brown rice, quinoa, or millet will give you necessary fiber and energy that will help you lose weight and maintain your health. Giving up all carbs, and eating fat with wild abandon will make you fat. Physically you may see results immediately, but ultimately, this is not sustainable method because this is not how our bodies are made to work.

If you’re interested in a diet that will work. Where you learn the skills to make your own food, and have a healthy life. To never count calories again, and not give up half the food pyramid, click here to take the Skinny quiz and find out the right way for you to lose weight.

Are you tired of the word “lifestyle change?”

“It’s not about starting another diet, it’s about making a lifestyle change!” Lifestyle is the buzz word right now as people are becoming painfully aware that diets have a dark and dirty under belly. Unfortunately, while we may hear it every day it doesn’t change the fact that when you wake up tomorrow, and start eating 1200 calories a day and exercising like Peyton Manning you feel like you’re on a DIET.

Allow me to clarify what the difference between another diet and having a true and meaningful lifestyle change. Your body has been on one diet or another since you were born. Whether it was the ‘junk food diet’, the ‘I’m in college and eat Top Ramen diet’, or the ‘I’m pregnant, step away slowly diet’; either way it’s a diet. It’s a conscious decision to eat a certain way every day- that literally is all a diet is. Think for a moment the first time you tried something; for instance, your favorite ice cream- once you started eating that ice cream, once you realized you liked it and it made you feel good, you started eating that food repeatedly. Therefore, making that ice cream a part of your diet. Once the ice cream became a regular part of your diet, it became a lifestyle change in which you now eat ice cream almost every day. You can see through this chain of thinking – a diet decision became a lifestyle change before your very eyes.

Of course, that leads to the next thought- which is how can I make healthy food that will make me thin, healthy and happy a lifestyle change. There is good news and bad news. Our brain is very clear about what it desires, if you consume something that rewards your pleasure center you will crave that thing… Potentially a lot. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can train your brain that healthy food, while it may not light up your pleasure center right away, still makes you feel good and right. If you eat good wholesome food every day, and you never get stomach aches or bloats from rich food, or indigestion from fatty or greasy food, and you feel light and energetic, your brain will get that message. That means that you are always speaking with your brain, you are constantly trying to communicate. If you tell your brain and body that the best you can do is light up that reward center- it will take what it can get. But if you tell your brain that these certain foods can make you clearer, give you less headaches, and allow you to be at your best- your brain will hear you!

So the truth of the matter is that everyone starts a ‘diet.’ You can’t escape it, if you are eating in a way that is making your fat and sick today, you will have to start a diet if you want to be thin, and healthy- there’s no trick. But once you start that diet, once you (and your brain) really believe that this diet food is rewarding and making you feel good- you will start to crave good food!! Believe me, today I crave yummy creamy yogurt with cooked apples and cinnamon- and my brain believes me!

If you’re ready to start the diet, that will lead to the lifestyle; that will make you thin, healthy and incredibly happy take my SKINNY COACH QUIZ today!

Do you need a Mentor?

When people want to learn something they go to school to be taught by a teacher who is trained extensively on that which they wish to learn. When it is time to learn to drive you are instructed by your parents (people who have often been driving for decades.) When you want to learn a sport you are guided and trained by your couch. But, when a person wants to lose weight, suddenly it’s time to ‘pull up your boot straps’ and do it on your own. Why is that?

Weight loss, potentially one of the most difficult struggles that a person will ever encounter, is a job that people believe one should be able to accomplish on their own. It is unrealistic to think that this is something you can handle. If you are overweight it is because you never learned the proper skills to healthy eating, and/ or you do not have control over what you are eating. There are very specific foods and activities that will allow you to control your food intake more effectively. To learn what foods you can eat without binging, and to acquire the skills you’ll need to practice to get skinny and stay skinny you need to be TAUGHT! We aren’t born with this knowledge or these skills, and you do not have to feel bad or guilty for needing help. You need someone to rewire your brain, you currently have the brain of a fat person, you need a Skinny brain to be skinny.

Hiring Dr. Wright, the Skinny Coach, to help you with your weight loss will give you the support and education you need to succeed at your weight loss goals. In your skinny journey, you will have questions, you will make goals and commitments, and you will feel discouraged; it is during all of these times that having the Skinny Coach there anytime day or night, to help guide you through, that will ensure your success. You need help to rewire your brain and train you to think like a skinny person, you need to be trained to have correct eating habits, and you need to be taught the right foods for your body. Find out if you’re a sugar addict by taking this quiz or talk to Tiffany Wright, Skinny Coach, and see how she can coach you to success.

Is this real?

Food addiction is real. It has been recognized by scientists across the globe and it must be taken seriously. When you eat highly palatable foods like sugar and flour our taste buds send messages to our brain and release dopamine. However, in as little as THREE weeks of overeating the dopamine receptors started to get compromised. This leads the overeater needing more and more to get the same feeling – what is this called? Tolerance. Additionally, because the dopamine receptors have been compromised if you are not feeding yourself more and more then you feel bad because you are not getting normal amounts of these feel good hormones. What is this called? Withdrawal. Tolerance and withdrawal are the hallmarks of addiction with all addictive substances – cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes and SUGAR.

Willpower and moderation are not relevant options with addiction. The sugar and flour must be removed. Your brain must be clean from the substance and your body must detox. This is a biochemical reaction and willpower is ineffective in the face of a bio chemical reaction that happens every day of every week of every year. This is why a smoker can’t just decide to smoke less. The logically part of their brain, their executive function, does not have control anymore – the addictive reward system has control. No addictive treatment advocates moderation. No one ever says, just have one line of coke a day or one drink a day. The body and brain can be healed but FIRST you must detox from the substance through complete abstinence and SECOND, you must engage in evidenced based treatment that includes cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral modification therapy, talk therapy and group therapy. The Skinny Coach Solution offers all of this and that is why it works. That is why it will work for you. Please take a chance and schedule an appointment to talk.

I would really appreciate your comments below. Ask me any diet related question or let me know what you would like to know more about.

If you read this article and could forward it to a friend you could really help them out.
Most importantly, if you are struggling and need help all you have to do is email me at tiffany@skinnycoach.com and I’ll set up a complementary session with you to pinpoint your triggers and help you with ways to deal with them. You don’t have to struggle with your weight and health. I can help you.

Get Skinny!
Take the Skinny Coach quiz and the
Skinny Coach will call you with the results.

Please add me to your Facebook friends and I will send you the list of the 100 names of sugar and 1 tip to lose that belly fat. www.facebook.com/skinnycoach.

White Tea Zaps Fat!

I have been a strong advocate of white tea for years. White tea is the immature bud of green tea and is less processed, has less caffeine and has more antioxidants than green tea. It is also noticeably sweeter and lighter tasting than green tea. Now researchers in Germany, led by Marc Winnefeld, have found that white tea also has anti-obesity effects. That’s right, white tea has two major fat-busting components. First white tea reduces the formation of new fat cells, AND it also stimulates the breakdown of fat in already existing cells. The explanation is complicated, but the conclusion is spectacular. Finally here’s something we can ingest that actually will make us skinny! Drink at least 3 cups a day, 8-10 is even better and watch the fat cells disappear.

I would really appreciate your comments below. Ask me any diet related question or let me know what you would like to know more about.

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If you read this article and could forward it to a friend you could really help them out.
Most importantly, if you are struggling and need help all you have to do is email me at tiffany@skinnycoach.com and I’ll set up a complementary session with you to pinpoint your triggers and help you with ways to deal with them. You don’t have to struggle with your weight and health. I can help you.

Get Skinny!
Take the Skinny Coach quiz and the
Skinny Coach will call you with the results.

Please add me to your Facebook friends and I will send you the list of the 100 names of sugar and 1 tip to lose that belly fat. www.facebook.com/skinnycoach.

Fat, Forgetful, Fatigued – FED UP?

Nothing has more of an impact on your health, mood and brain function than what you put in your mouth. But what is the major culprit for your depression, memory lapses, exhausted afternoons and inability to lose weight? Sugar, of course, and refined foods.

Let me explain why.

Refined foods cause a increase in blood-glucose levels. In response, the body releases insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin signals the body to allow blood sugar to get into our cells and use it as fuel. If you eat refined foods, the body overreacts and produces too much insulin (remember we have not evolved to handle or eat refined foods, thus the health and condition of our bodies.) The overproduction of insulin drives our blood sugar too low and that causes memory problems, makes you feel like you are dragging and can cause headaches. Of course your body reacts to the low blood sugar and tries to correct by releasing hormones. These hormones raise your blood sugar but also signals your body to STORE FAT — ESPECIALLY AROUND THE BELLY. For another wonderful ironic twist of fate, it signals you to eat more because even though you just pigged out at lunch, your blood sugar is so low that your body thinks you need more food, so you become very hungry with a cravings for more refined foods. Have you noticed a difference between a nice omelette for breakfast vs. a donut? Or even NO breakfast vs. a bagel? With the donut and bagel you are hungry in two hours. But it gets even more ironic! A diet that causes your blood sugar to spike slows your metabolism down significantly. The effect works out to a difference of about 80 calories a day or 8 pounds a year.

Now you see why you can’t seem to lose that last 10, 20 or 100 pounds! Stay tuned to find out about the effects of refined foods on your memory, immune system and moods.

And in the meantime, don’t gain another pound. Call or email me to Get Skinny!

I would really appreciate your comments below. Ask me any diet related question or let me know what you would like to know more about.

comment-arrow-right

If you read this article and could forward it to a friend you could really help them out.
Most importantly, if you are struggling and need help all you have to do is email me at tiffany@skinnycoach.com and I’ll set up a complementary session with you to pinpoint your triggers and help you with ways to deal with them. You don’t have to struggle with your weight and health. I can help you.

Get Skinny!
Take the Skinny Coach quiz and the
Skinny Coach will call you with the results.

Please add me to your Facebook friends and I will send you the list of the 100 names of sugar and 1 tip to lose that belly fat. www.facebook.com/skinnycoach.

Skinny saves (you money!)

I help women lose weight and take control of what they put in their mouths. After a potential client has poured her heart out to me, cried, laughed and told me that she is ready to get skinny and that Skinny Coach is perfect for her, sometimes the next thing she says is “I can’t afford it.” Money is on everyone’s mind these days. Nevermind that McDonald’s stock went up 10% this quarter (they are “lovin’ it!”)

Economic hard times push people to eat cheaper food and what could be cheaper than the fast food dollar menus. Hard times also produce stress and stress leads people to self-medicate. The drugs of choice for many, when self-medicating, are sugar, fat and refined foods. But make no mistake about it, your health is your most important asset and being overweight taxes your health and life in so many ways; naming ALL of the costs of being overweight would make this a novel – not a blog entry. But some of the costliest, and most obvious side effects of being overweight include: overweight people are more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke.

Being overweight not only burdens your health, it is a burden on your purse. What are some of the costs of being fat? Well, aside from the fact that eating more costs more, there are many other costs associated with being fat. If you are overweight you are less likely to get hired and once hired you will get paid less. In fact, fat people tend to make less money and accumulate less wealth in their shorter lifetimes than their skinny counterparts. It chips away at your earning power and efficiency – and happiness. There’s some research that suggests that overweight people are even less likely to be married and stay married.

I found this at:
http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2007/04/lose_weight_and.html
Here’s how they add up the savings:

* Latte factor: $783
* Life insurance: $275
* Health insurance: $680
* Health-care costs: $151
* Employer incentives: $600

If you took these savings each year and invested them at 8%, in 20 years, you’d have almost $114,000. Do it for 30 years and it’s $282,000. 40 years gets you $645,000. This makes getting skinny pocket change. Can you really afford not to take care of your health and body? I say start saving money… it is your body and you deserve skinny.

I would really appreciate your comments below. Ask me any diet related question or let me know what you would like to know more about.

comment-arrow-right

If you read this article and could forward it to a friend you could really help them out.
Most importantly, if you are struggling and need help all you have to do is email me at tiffany@skinnycoach.com and I’ll set up a complementary session with you to pinpoint your triggers and help you with ways to deal with them. You don’t have to struggle with your weight and health. I can help you.

Get Skinny!
Take the Skinny Coach quiz and the
Skinny Coach will call you with the results.

Please add me to your Facebook friends and I will send you the list of the 100 names of sugar and 1 tip to lose that belly fat. www.facebook.com/skinnycoach.

3 best Skinny Girl recipes!

Chicken “Enchiladas”

3 oz. chicken breast, butterflied and sliced into 2 thin slices (you can ask your butcher to do this)
1/4 C. cottage cheese
1/2 C. each: whole Ortega chilies and spinach
Pinch each: garlic powder, salt and cumin
1/2 – 1 C. red or green enchilada sauce (Las Palmas or other sugar-free brand)
1 green onion, sliced thin
Non-stick cooking spray
1/2 C. Spanish rice
1/2 C. beans
1 C. salad

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Strain cottage cheese through a paper towel or coffee filter. Lay chicken slices out flat and pat dry. Mix cottage cheese with seasonings and spoon equal amounts onto each piece of chicken in a line. Cover cheese with chilies and spinach, and then roll chicken up. Place seam side down in a baking dish coated with spray and pour enchilada sauce over the top. Garnish with green onion and bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve with beans, rice and salad.

Skinny Snack

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup banana
1/2 cup peaches
Cinnamon

Warm up banana and peaches in microwave. Add warmed up fruit to your yogurt. Top with cinnamon.

Great evening snack!

Cauliflower and Red Clam Sauce

2 x 10 oz. can minced clams, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 x 14.5 oz. can whole tomatoes
1 x 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 x 6 oz. can tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1/2 T. fennel
1/4 T. cayenne
Broth/stock for cooking
A batch of mashed cauliflower

Saute the garlic and onions in a little broth until translucent. Mix the tomatoes, onion mixture, sauce, paste and spices in a blender and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the clams, stir and simmer for about 5 to 6 minutes. Serve over mashed cauliflower.

For more great tasty recipes-check out
www.SkinnyCoach.com/cookbook

Food Crisis – What to do when the cravings hit

The easiest part of any diet is the starting. The planning the food, the coaching, the gearing up; these are the moments that are fun and exciting. But, what about when you’ve been on the diet one or two days and you are hungry (or at least you think you are) and you’re ready to eat something BAD!

Imagine for a moment you’ve been on a healthy eating plan, like the Skinny Coach diet, and you’re feeling great, but you have just had a fight with your husband and suddenly, as if from nowhere you hear a small voice calling to you… “Eat me!!!” It’s the ice cream!!!! What do you do next?

  • Call your Skinny Coach
  • First off, what is the darn ice cream doing in the house still? And your husband or children want it is not a good reason! If you’re going to start a diet- REMOVE your temptations.
  • Remind yourself how happy you are that you’re finally doing something about your weight.
  • Refer to the journal in which you wrote all of the reasons you want to be thin.
  • Read, exercise, take a bath- divert your attention to something that will make you feel good, and that you can’t eat while doing
  • Eat your next meal of snack that is on your plan
  • Plan your meals for tomorrow
  • BEST PLAN OF ALL: CALL YOUR SKINNY COACH IMMEDIATELY!
  • The Skinny Coach plan is based on a foundation that you are likely addicted to sugar and that you have tried doing diets on your own. That in the moment, if you were strong enough to resist you probably wouldn’t be fat, and that you may need someone to help walk you away from the edge. Tiffany Wright PhD, has been successfully coaching people through cravings since she lost 100 lbs. When you join the Skinny Coach Diet you will have access to Tiffany and her coaching anytime day or night- this is where the Doctor and her plan really shine.

    To get your first complimentary consultation click here to setup a time to speak with the Skinny Coach.