Natural Weight Loss Coach

Lean and mean weight loss

262,085 miles since Dec 31st, 1989.

Pictured here is one of the best material investments I’ve ever made since migrating to the US.

I bought this car brand new on New Year’s eve and she’ll probably run until 350,000+ miles, without any major work.

Aging gracefully

But what has this car got to do with health?!?!?

I’m getting there in a minute, so please bear with me.

I don’t get 35 miles per gallon mileage anymore, but she’s still at a respectable 26-30 mpg. Still pretty green, relatively.

Here are the top 3 biggest expenses I’ve incurred to date:

• clutch replacement – $897.73 May 2008
• strut replacement – $690.47 Apr 2002
• distributor replacement – $527.77 Jun 2006 (this was my fault because I made some simple, but stupid modifications)

Notice that the major components: the engine, the transmission, the frame, the body are all original and intact. Heck, even the paint is original.

Normal maintenance:

• timing belt – $550.06 May 2006 (3 yrs premature – long story)
• timing belt – $353.56 Mar 2003
• timing belt – $365.40 Jun 1997
• oil change – guestimated at $1,050 over the 19-yr period (as prescribed, every 7500 miles)

All throughout its life of 19+ years, only once did this car ever stop on the road, and I had to call a tow truck to help me out. (That was a result of my stupid modifications!)

One more thing: this car is NOT pampered. It doesn’t sit idle in the garage with a warm blanket, but it does stay inside the garage every night.

So again, what has this got to do with health?

Here’s my point. If you take care of your car, the car will take care of you.

Take Care of Your Body and
It Will Take Care of You

Take care of your body TODAY and everyday thereafter, and it will take care of you for a long and healthy life.

In reality, your entire body is in constant repair and maintenance. Almost every living cell dies and gets replaced by a new cell – CONSTANTLY.

As you age, however, the cell duplication process becomes less and less efficient. It slowly deteriorates over time – normally. But it could accelerate depending on your lifetyle.

It’s just like making a photocopy of a picture. A copy of the original is fine. But a copy of the copy is not quite as good. What if you make 50 subsequent copies of the picture? What do you think will the last picture look like?

Get the picture? (No pun intended.)

Copying from a copy leads to poor quality

When a living cell duplicates itself, do you think it needs raw materials or ingredients to do that?

You betcha. Specifically, your living cells need MICRO nutrients (minerals, enzymes, vitamins, biotics, etc.), which in turn, come from MACRO nutrients (carbs, proteins and fats) that you eat.

This is the reason why I don’t believe in counting calories. Quality food will keep your metabolism going, while bad calories will CHOKE your metabolism.

So if you feed your cells on empty calories, the cells do not reproduce properly. If your organ cells fail, then eventually the organ itself fails.

Let’s take the pancreas. When its cells start to age prematurely, then it will slow down in producing insulin. And of course, lack of insulin (which is different from insulin resistance), can potentially lead to weight gain.

I’m not a body builder, and I don’t really have any aspirations to be one. I’m just a regular guy who’s discovered REALIZED some common sense approach to maintaining a lean (not mean) body.

As I grow old into my sunset years, I’d like to be strong, healthy and ACTIVE up to at least 100 years.

Please, no chronic disease that would cripple me for 10, 20 or even 30+ years. No organ transplants or heart bypass operations either.

I don’t wanna be moving around with a cane, let alone in a wheelchair or cart, with an oxygen tank strapped behind me. It’s not the way to enjoy the time with my grandkids.

Preferably,  I’d just stop breathing in my sleep one day. (After I’ve had my last words with my family & close friends.)

Here’s one of my simple rules – don’t mess around with the manufacturer (unlike the “simple” modification I did with my car).

When it comes to my health, NATURE is the manufacturer. I try my darn hardest not to mess with it.

As much as I practically can, I let natural foods maintain my health – avoiding, as much as possible, man-made medication including processed foods and pre-packaged “weight loss” meals.

Are you investing on wellness and prevention, instead of spending for repair and intervention?

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While I was working on my computer today, cleaning up my Twitter account, my stomach started to nudge me.

It was beckoning … asking me for some food. It wasn’t quite hungry yet, but just beginning to get there.

I looked at my clock…10:15am. It’s only midmorning, and still have a few hours before lunch.

Now if I wanted to lose weight – this would be an agonizing couple of hours before lunch, wouldn’t it?

But before I grabbed something to snack on, I decided to take my blood sugar.

Alas, it was at 74 mg/dl. That explains the grumblings from my stomach. It’s not too bad, but it’s certainly an indication that’s it going south.

That number tells me that I’m in the hunger zone – my body has a legitimate need for food.

Doughnut? Bagel? Coffee w/ sugar? Nah…that would just overshoot my blood sugar into the fat zone.

Instead, I grab some mixed nuts and a stick of pepperjack cheese. And of course, water as always.

Mixed nuts are close to perfect as a healthy snack

It’s easy to fight hunger by eating smart with nuts.

It has lots of fiber, proteins and healthy fats. I buy the unsalted variety in bulk from my local grocery, and mix it with tamari cashews to add some ZING in the flavor.

In less than 15 minutes, my hunger magically went away.

Do I count the calories? Nope. I don’t really care.

Fiber calories don’t count – they don’t get metabolized.  The fats actually send a signal to my brain that I’m full – that will stop the cravings. And of course, proteins help repair my muscles – which in turn revs up my metabolism.

Two hours later, I took my blood sugar again –> 84 mg/dl. I’m way, way below the fat zone.

Probably too low, but guess what? I’m not hungry anymore, and if my body needs sugar energy – it will retrieve it from my body fat!

“But coach, I can’t have nuts!?”, you tell me. “I want some sugar. I want some chocolate.”

Here’s what I did –> M&Ms,  the peanut variety (almonds are better),  NOT the regular ones.

However, I do have to tell you that these M&Ms are only temporary. You should try to limit your consumption to a serving or two, at the most.

I’ve used this M&Ms technique personally to wean myself off from my mild sugar addiction. Here’s the key -> if you eat your sugars in combination with a healthy protein or fat, it stabilizes your metabolism.

Smart eating for weight loss - carob energee chunks

Slowly over time, I switched to carob energee chunks. Also purchased from the bulk foods section of the local grocery.

At first, it may taste weird – you have to allow your tongue to get used to it – that’s why you’ll need the M&M nuts.

If you just try this simple technique, you will see yourself not suffering from hunger pains, and yet losing all that body fat.

WHAT SAY YOU?

Have a wonderful day,

Health Coach Harry

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This a followup post to 2 previous discussions I’ve had regarding counting calories as a MISLEADING technique for weight loss.

If you haven’t read those, I suggest that’s where you start –> Danger of counting calories.

For many, many, many years I thought that I was eating healthy since I would have oatmeal for breakfast every day. I love oatmeal.

However, there were days when I would eat something else – like eggs, or bacon or perhaps some boxed cereals.

There was one thing that I noticed. On those days I had oatmeal, my stomach would grumble in 2 hours or less. Otherwise, I would last for 3-4 hours easily.

That was strange and intriguing to me.

So after several years, dozens of books, hundreds of hours of reading, dozens of doctor consultations, and innumerous blood testing, I learned the difference between fast-burning vs. slow-burning carbs.

Fact Or Fiction?
Food Companies Protect Our Health

Last week, while I was cleaning our pantry, I found some leftover famous brand oatmeal (classic variety.) It was labeled as:

• “100% whole grain”,
• “100% natural”,
• “helps manage blood pressure”,
• “helps lowers cholesterol”
• “helps promote healthy arteries”
• 150 calories per 1/2 cup serving

I now know that this was no good. I have long switched to steel cut oats, which has made a HUGE difference in managing my weight.

Instead of throwing it away, I decided to do a measureable experiment.

You see, instead of calories (a guesstimate at best), I measure blood sugar levels – something more accurate with today’s technology.

Why? Read on.

Myth: Fat Makes You Fat

Fat DOES NOT make you fat. There are other health problems associated with fat intake, but it is NOT the primary reason why we are embarassed with wearing our summer swimsuit.

Excessive blood sugar gets converted into BODY FAT. Yes, the kind that would bulge your belly, and prevent you from wearing your sexy jeans.

Excessive blood sugar also leads to other diseases, like diabetes – which is what prompted me to learn about all these things to begin with.

Anyway, my experiment involves my breakfast as follows:

• 1/4 cup of quinoa
• 1/4 cup of  the “famous brand oatmeal”
• cooked on a stove top, not microwaved
• sweetened with kefir and 10 whole dried blueberries

I took my blood sugar reading before breakfast = 94 mg/dl. Normal.

Then I took my blood sugar reading after 2 hours = 151 mg/dl. Normal. The threshold for diabetics is 160 mg/dl according to WHO guidelines.

Note: Imagine if I prepared a 1/2 cup oatmeal, no quinoa, using the microwaved instant variety and sweetened with sugar. I’m sure it would take me over the threshhold.  That’s what I was doing before I knew any better! As I look back, this was probably a significant contributing factor to my pre-diabetic condition today.

The following day, I prepared exactly the same breakfast, with the exception of the oatmal.

I substituted the “famous brand” with steel cut oats (non-branded from the bulk food section of the grocery).  Everything else was the same.

By coincidence, my blood sugar was also 94 mg/dl before breakfast.

After 2 hours, here’s the magic number = 121 mg/dl.

Wow! Famous brand oats is 151,  while organic non-branded is 121.

30 mg/dl is a SIGNIFICANT difference between the 2 varieties of oatmeal.

Fact: Not All Calories Are Equal

75 calories of the “famous brand oatmeal” DOES NOT equal the 75 calories of quality organic oats.

As my personal experiment indicated, the branded variety had a higher glycemic index than the other. High index means “fast burning”, while low glycemic index means “slow burning”.

The lower the index, the better for weight management.

My other conclusion is this: I tend to avoid processed foods from BIG name corporate giants, and instead I go for organic varieties, whenever I can.

Processing strips the food of micronutrients. Chemical preservatives are added to increase grocery shelf life.

In other words, good calories have been deleted, and replaced by toxic calories. (This is a good subject for another post in the future.)

As you can tell, this is by no means a “scientific” experiment; but this is science GOOD ENOUGH for me!

While the threshhold guidelines are 110mg/dl for fasting and 160 mg/dl after eating, I believe that every person has their own individual threshhold.

So is 151 good for me? I don’t know. Maybe my personal threshhold is 150? or 135?

The point is, anything in excess of that threshold will get converted to fat for some people. In my case, it equates to a higher level of triglycerides.

Even though I’m not overweight, these excessive triglycerides could be contributing to my high blood pressure challenges (again, that’s another story for a whole series of posts).

Do Yourself A Favor: Prove It To SELF

If you are still frustrated and struggling with your weight, I encourage you to invest in a glucometer. You can probably get one between $10-$50 at Walmart.

Here’s a tip: if you’re going to shop by price, compare the costs of the testing strips, not the meter itself. I fell into the trap of a zero cost meter that required expensive strips.

Ask your doctor how to use it. (Although the instruction manual is easier than your VCR or TIVO.)

DO NOT necessarily rely on the “normal” results from your last blood test. You need to understand the cause and effect of your daily eating habits. Like I said, your threshold could be different from the accepted norm.

Years ago, I assumed that the “famous brand”, inexpensive oatmeal was good for me. Today I pay the price – with my health, as well as my wallet.

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