The Transition Change Your Diet, Change Your Life
AUTHOR:
Chris Haywood
Chris Haywood began his own weight loss story seven years ago when he lost 50 pounds. Soon after, Chris decided to make fitness a profession as a personal trainer. After six years in the training industry, Chris noticed where the results came from. Clients who focus on there diet maintain their weight, and see superior results. In 2012, Chris Haywood started Injoy to help people create healthy meals in their home. The purpose of Injoy is to equip our customers to be self reliant in their pursuit of health. Chris Haywood is a self proclaimed healthy chef, raw food enthusiast, and certified strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
PART ONE:
The Need for a Plant Based Diet
Topics covered: We Need A Change: The Nutritional State of America What Is a Plant-based Diet? What Are the Benefits of a Plant-based Diet?
We Need a Change If you eat the Standard American Diet, also known as S.A.D, you are almost guaranteed to be sick, overweight, and unhappy. We now have a food system geared towards producing large quantities of low quality food. The increase in processed food is linked to many changes in American society like technology advancements, changes in the family unit, workforce., and government subsidies. The benefit of our food system is it allows people to divert our energy to other factors in our life like social mobility and family. Another benefit is we also rarely, if ever have to worry about going hungry because we can now. The downside of our food system is people no longer eat real food. Instead, we consume food-like products that are foreign to the body like Twinkies and corn dogs (what are those anyway?). This change in our eating dynamic has caused a tremendous strain in the fabric of American society. We traded nutritious, local food for quick, processed food. We traded the trust between local farmer with trust the in American agriculture conglomerate who is only motivated by profit. What we need is a regression towards the natural eating patterns of human beings. This has become increasingly difficult in the midst of readily available fast food, manufactured food additives, and food marketing campaigns that prey on the weak and uninformed. The first step towards the transition towards is having the ability to discern what is good from what is bad for you. Reading this eBook is a great start.
When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use When diet is right, medicine is of no need” Ayurvetic Proverb Don’t Be Scared, It’s Just Plants It is important to determine what foods help the body live longer, stay strong and remain free of sickness. The foods we consume should be identical to our physical make up. The human body make up is built of living, organic building blocks known as cells, but when we digest inorganic unnatural foods, we set the stage for dis-ease. A large portion of top killers in America, heart disease, cancer and lunge disease and kidney disease can be linked to poor diet and lifestyle choices. Heat Machine vs. Chemical Machine The normal diet of man is fruits , vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Although there will be variety based on geography, the premise is the same. The highly processed diet consisting of large amount of meat, dairy and fast food is unnatural to the body. We need to consume food comparable to our body chemistry which means colorful, living, and preferably organic. Contrary to popular belief, our bodies do not operate exclusively from energy in food known as calories. Many people think if they count calories, grams of fat, carbohydrate and protein, health is just a step away. If this were true, we could eat 1500 calories of potato chips and still look healthy. But our bodies are not HEAT MACHINES that simply burn the calories we eat. Our bodies are CHEMICAL MACHINES which means health is not just determined by the amount of food you consume, it also depends on the nutrients inside foods consumed. Characteristics of Healthy Food 1. Fresh and Whole: A food that remains in its original state prior to eating. Since these foods are fresh they can go bad. When a food spoils, the enzymes inside the food begin breaking down and changing compounds in the food. 2. Nutrient density: Loaded with vitamins and minerals that facilitate thousands of bodily functions every minute of the day. These foods provide lots of nutrients, and a low amount of calories. 3. RAW: Try you best to eat your fruits and vegetables raw because temperatures over 118 degrees destroys a lot of the vitamins and minerals inside the food. Aim to eat 50-80% of your food in a raw state. For more information on coming back to a natural way of eating, watch this short video on Injoymint.com.
THE TRANSITION: SWITCHING TO A PLANT BASED DIETS Nutritional Therapist Denise Mortimore, M.D claims that most states of illhealth stem from one or a combination of these 4 factors:
1. Poor digestion because stomach acid insufficiency and/or poor digestive enzyme effects 2. Food intolerance and allergy because of frequent consumption of irritating foods 3. Nutrient deficiency because of sub optimum in take and/or poor absorption 4. Toxic overload because of an inability to eliminate and excrete various substances All these are related to food and lifestyle choices! This means you have controlling the wheel that takes you towards health or sickness.
“He that takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skills of the physician.� -Chinese proverbs
PART TWO:
MAKING THE SWITCH The problem people face when trying to regain health is they start a diet they cannot sustain long term. Hence, they eventually rebound back to their original state. Instead of doing a crash diet that will last only months, weeks or even days, why don’t we learn to make the healthiest way of eating a part of our normal routine? You may want to consider kick starting your healthy transition with a detox or cleanse. I have an easy one for you to try here.
A body that holds a lot of adipose tissue (fat) is actually starving. How can this be? Well, we have already stated health is determined by lifestyle choices and the nutrient content inside the food. When we make poor eating choices, our body becomes acidic and toxic. As a protective measure, if your liver and other excretion organs cannot remove all the toxins, the body will create fat tissue in order to get the harmful substances away from vital organs (isn’t that cool? Thanks body). If the main causes of disease are deficiency and toxic overload, then it will imperative that you not only DECREASE the bad, but INCREASE the good.
The Overhaul Below are some beginning steps that anyone in any living arrangement can do. Reading and researching are important, but application and consistency will be what make these changes long term. Step one: Remove empty drinking calories. Carbonated drinks, sugary juices and sports drinks offer no nutrition and can easily be eliminated. Get these items out the house NOW! Action steps: Remove all drinks from home. Replace with spring water. If you are getting burnt out of water, try this lemonade recipe. Step two: Eliminate dairy. Cheese, milk and milk products need to be removed as soon as possible. Many people see results just by removing these items. Action steps: Adjust recipes to include more toppings to counter loss of cheese. If you cannot find cheese free option, omit recipe for the time being. Refer to chart in the next page for dairy replacements. Step three: Eliminate junk and fast foods. We eat these because we do not have prepared meals. Start eating your meals at home. Prepare your meals from scratch. Junk foods are synonymous with trans fats which are arguably the worst.
The Overhaul Step Four: Focus on increasing fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. I have some great recipes for you to try here • Action steps: Consider juicing to increase fruit and vegetable intake. Try leaving fruit in a bowl that is clearly visible. All snacks should be produce, and all salads should aim to have 3-5 vegetables in them. Step Five: The timing of your food is important. Follow the natural eating pattern guide to sync the right food at the right time. • Action steps: Start getting in tune with your body. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are 80% full. Separate drinking and eating completely.
TRANSITION: SWITCHING TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Food Substitute List As you continue educating yourself about health, your diet will become more advanced. Until then, focus on making the small, sustainable changes that require little work. Below is a list of food substitutions you should make. Instead of eating
Switch it with
Butter
Organic Coconut oil
Milk
Almond milk
White rice
Brown rice, quinoa, millet
Potato chips
Granola or nuts
Eggs
Egg substitute or egg whites
Ranch and cream dressings
Vinaigrettes
Fried foods
Oven baked foods
White table salt
Himalayan Pink sea salt
Coffee
Green Tea with lemon
Iceberg lettuce
Spinach, Arugula or Kale
Seasoning salts
Basil, Rosemary, Thyme
White sugar
Stevia or Agave nectar
Bread
Ezekiel bread
Peanut Butter
Raw almond butter
Pork, Beef and Chicken
Freshly caught wild fish
Soda
Caffeinated Tea
Mayonnaise
Avocado or hummus
Ground beef
Ground Turkey or Tofu
Sugary Cereals
Fresh fruit and Nuts over almond milk
White sugar (baking)
Apple sauce
Canned or frozen produce
Fresh produce
PART THREE: FAQ
The whole notion of starting a diet perpetuates the idea that the act of eating healthy foods is TEMPORARY. We must switch our concept of what this transition is. As we stated before, we want to make this “diet� a lifelong habit. Americans have no problem losing weight or starting a lifestyle change. The overall majority of us fail to keep the results we seek. In this section, we will discuss how you can make your short term goals last a lifetime.
THE TRANSITION: CHANGE YOUR DIET, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS I’m worried I will not be able to afford healthy food. Cooking at home will always save money compared to buying fast food where you pay for convenience. The key is to balance out the increase cost of fruits and vegetables with the decrease of processed meats, boxed cereals and junk food items. This decrease will counterbalance the increase cost of more fruits and vegetables especially if you buy in season.
How important is eating healthy compared to exercise? Eating healthy constitutes 80% of success in weight management. While exercise give the body opportunities to expend stored energy and remove wastes, it cannot compensate for a poor diet. Your body needs micronutrients found in vitamins and minerals and they can only be found in living, fresh produce. If you align your diet with the natural chemistry of the body, your weight will maintain itself relatively easily. You may want to diversify your exercise routine to keep you from getting bored.
“We can either pay the grocery store or gym now, or pay the doctor later. But rest assured, you WILL pay somebody. Might as well have some control on who you pay”
THE TRANSITION: CHANGE YOUR DIET, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
How often should I eat per day? We all have different schedules that require different energy demands. With that being said, it is difficult to set a eating schedule that fits everyone. I advise people to listen to their body. If you are hungry, eat. If you are not hungry, don’t. We find that there is not correlation between eating frequent small meals and larger meals 2-3 times per day. Instead of focusing on how many times you eat, focus on eating quality foods every time you eat. Try to align your eating with the natural eating patters of the body. For a great resource on this, click here
Don’t I simply cut my calories? Counting calories can help people eat proper portions and help prevent from overeating, but this is not a long term solution. Do you plan on counting calories for the rest of your life? I didn’t think so. Many believe all calories are created equal, but this is simply not true. If it were, we could lose more weight eating half a cheeseburger instead of a big green salad with nuts, tomatoes and avocado. When you restrict, the body will go in to fat storage mode. Again, focus on getting an abundance of nutrient rich calories.
THE TRANSITION:
Conclusion We must get back to the basics of a natural, plant based diet. Our motivation to make this change is evident when we think about our careers and our family. There is no aspect of your life that cannot be magnified by being in a healthy body and state of mind. Therefore, we must take the necessary steps to make health a life long goal.
Remember…. • • •
The right information corrects the wrong behavior. Stay on the informed path so you can make the right decisions. There is no substitute for food preparation. Instead of complaining about the little time you HAVE, find out what time restraints you can limit or eliminate. Growth and happiness often occur just outside the comfort zone. Do not be afraid to try the action items and recipes listed in this document. For more information or to contact Chris Haywood, please visit www.injoymint.com