Category Archives: Nutrition

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.

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.

Neuro Science of Food Addiction

Addiction has two components, physical and mental. Sugar and flour are physically addictive at a chemical and cellular level, and as with any addictive substance, it must be eliminated. By definition, if an addict could moderate they would not be an addict – abstinence is a must. But even if you find a perfect diet, like the Skinny Coach Diet, that eliminates these triggers you still have a system of neural pathways that represent learned associations, habits and reactions to stress and life. This must be addressed. The neural pathways in your brain are developed based on what you have done in the past making the breaking of a habit difficult. What are required are the development of new neural pathways and a deterioration of the old pathways. Food addiction is real and it is as real as heroin or alcohol addiction. Food, namely sugar and flour, affects the brain and the pleasure centers of the brain in exactly the same way as drugs. Dogaminergic pathways – reward pathways – in the brain are responsible for motivating food consumption and also feelings of pleasure that you get when you eat. These pathways also activate other circuits throughout the body that regulate hunger, satiety and weight control.

In order to properly heal and be free long term you have to rewire those pathways. The problem, of course, is that those pathways represent how you think – you can’t think differently because your brain is wired to say things like “one bite won’t hurt” and if I eat that cookie I will feel better.

I work with my clients daily and people mistakenly believe that they need this because they need accountability. In fact, it is only through daily conversations in a multitude of varying situations is it possible to teach an addict how to think differently. My work is to literally rewire their brain, over time, so that they internalize a healthy eating lifestyle which leads to life as a person that is natural thin. If you were allergic to strawberries you simply would not eat. Your brain would not be activated when you saw strawberry shortcake, you would not have to talk yourself out of eating a strawberry pie, it would be a non-issue. This is true for foods like sugar and flour which are usually the food of choice for addicts – over time the old addictive part of the brain that was alive and firing at the sight of a donut or baked bread is dead and the part that accepts easily that you don’t eat those things because they make you fat, sick and tired is alive and active.

Other diets fail because just following the diet does not make a “lifestyle change.” You must change the way you think, and someone has to give you that language every single day until that happens. Skinny Coach works because it addresses the physical addiction with a healthy hormonally balancing food plan and because you work with me, the L.A. Skinny Coach, to reprogram your brain as a Skinny Girl.

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.

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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.

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

Why Low Carb does not work

Don’t Eat Low Fat

Low-fat diets have officially been dismissed by all research evidence. Healthy fats actually promote weight loss, and some fats are good for the heart; eliminating them from the diet can cause problems.

Low Carb Diets DO NOT WORK

Eating carbohydrates — especially highly processed ones like white bread and white rice — quickly boosts blood sugar, which triggers an outpouring of insulin from the pancreas. The surge of insulin can rapidly drop blood sugar, causing hunger. Low-carb proponents claim that people who eat a lot of carbohydrates take in extra calories and gain weight. Limiting carbs in favor of protein and fat is supposed to prevent the insulin surge and make you feel full longer.

To make up for the lack of carbohydrates in the diet, the body mobilizes its own carbohydrate stores from liver and muscle tissue. In the process, the body also mobilizes water, meaning you are losing “water weight.” The result is rapid weight loss, but after a few months, weight loss tends to slow and reverse.

The American Heart Association cautions people against following the Atkins diet because it is too high in saturated fat and protein, which can be hard on the heart, kidneys, and bones. The lack of carb-rich fruits and vegetables is also no good, because eating these foods tends to lower the risk of stroke, dementia, and certain cancers.

Skinny Coach Diet: Healthy fats, Whole Grain Carbs and lots of Fruit and Veggies

Good fats found in olive oil, coconut oil and meat and fish are good for your brain, hair, skin and will help you lose weight. The carbohydrates in the Skinny Coach Diet come from unrefined, fiber-rich sources like quinoa, rice and beans and it is also rich in fruits and vegetables.

If you are ready for a great, healthy diet to lose weight FAST – fill out theSkinny Coach Quiz.

Is Cereal making your kid stupid?

Sugar makes you stupid. Rats who eat an omega-3 deficient diet are slower at completing a maze and those who drank a fructose solution instead of water were the most stupid of all.

Strangely, omega-3s seem to have quite an impactful role in the metabolizing of sugar. The rats that had a diet without omega-3 had higher triglycerides, glucose and insulin levels and showed a decrease in synaptic activity, which is critical for learning and memory. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get omega-3s naturally and the American diet does not provide much. This is why The Skinny Coach Solution recommends omega-3 as part of the program. The research shows that omega 3’s protect our brains from the harmful effects of fructose.

No one will tell you not to eat sugar more quickly than the Skinny Coach but did you know that I also highly recommend omega-3? New research has shown that rats that have eaten a diet high in omega -3s were faster in solving a maze, in fact, without omega-3’s show a decrease in synaptic activity. Bottom line the mice were slower.

Need Energy?

I tell my Skinny Girls to drink green tea everyday. But any type of tea is great. Rhodiola Rosea is an herb that you can drink as a tea that has fabulous fat burning, energy boosting and brain enhancing power. Rhodiola contains an active compound called rosavin that has been proven to burn fat. It stimulates an enzyme called lipase which breaks down fat that is stored in belly tissue. Rhodiola also increases the sensitivity of serotonin and dopamine. These neurotransmitters  are known for increasing focus, memory, pleasure and improving mood. It has also been shown to help fight food cravings.

Nothing is going to be better for you than being in control over your behavior and getting sugar and flour out of your diet but supplementing with Rhodiola can give a healthy benefit to your new Skinny life.

If you want to be a Skinny Girl too – take the sugar addiction quiz and schedule a free session to see if you are a good fit.

Weight Loss Confidential: Not all calories are created equal

For every 100 calories of carbohydrate you consume your body expends 5 to 10 calories in digestion, for fat calories even less. However, for every 100 calories of protein you consume, your body needs 20 to 30 calories to digest it.

AND it’s even more complicated…. Just because you eat these calories does not insure that they are being digested.

Normally as the calories go through your tummy and reach your small intestine most of the nutrients are absorbed. Fat is digested fairly well. Protein and all animal sources are also fairly digestible. Plant sources are the least digestible. What does that mean? complex carbs like vegetables and whole grains block the absorption of calories, including other calories! In fact, a very high fiber diet, like the Skinny Coach diet, can block up to 20% of the calories you consume. A research article in the Journal of Nutrition found that a high fiber diet leaves up to twice as many calories undigested as a low fiber diet.

WHAT TO DO?
If you want to lose weight, this is the hot tip: eat protein at every meal and consume at least 40 grams of fiber a day.

It took years for me to figure out why my skinny girls who eat so much food – lose so much weight so quickly. We know the answer now. Donna lost 21 pounds her first month and is still on the Skinny Coach diet over a year later! Go Skinny Go.

photo: Martin Cathrae/Creative Commons via flickr

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.

Happy New Life

How many years have you wasted talking about, thinking about, planning about, starting diets and failing at losing weight. At which point will you say – I have a problem, I am an addict. I know that food addiction is a difficult subject but when you cannot control what you put in your mouth then you are … by definition, out of control – you are a food addict. More specifically addicted to sugar. The diagnostic manual for psychological disorders has diagnosed food addiction as a true addiction NOT a eating disorder. Why? Because sugar triggers the same neural transmitters as other drugs, like cocaine and heroin. It feel really good and comforting to eat sugar. It makes us feel comforted and it makes us feel good.

If you are at a place where you can’t do it on your own – a place where you have tried everything and nothing has worked then you might be ready to submit and let go of the sugar. Bottom line, we can’t all do everything on our own, sometimes we need help. I have spent my life committed to helping sugar addicts become Skinny Girls. Experience, training and commitment is what the Skinny Coach Solution offers you. I know this sounds like a sales pitch but it is NOT. This program is only for the woman who can see she is addicted to sugar, the woman that can’t stop on her own – even though you can do anything you set your mind to – this one thing you can’t get a handle on – the Skinny Coach Solution is designed to do just that – get you in control and offer you freedom.

I love – love – love my holiday Skinny Girls – the women committed enough to say YES! I want to be a Skinny Girl in December. Not January, with everyone else but in December a YES – I want to be a Skinny Girl. I am here for you. If you want to commit to yourself, I will commit to you. As always, every year, I offer a Skinny Girl Holiday special. If you are ready to talk, take the Sugar Addiction Quiz and set an appointment.

You will not have lose weight as your New Years Eve resolution every again. You will be in a sexy black dress drinking a glass of champagne next New Years Eve, you will never again feel out of control.