Build Your Child’s Strength With Struggle

There once was a young girl who lived on a beautiful farm with her family and everyday she attended to her farm duties, one which included watching over the chicken coop. One of her favorite parts about taking care of the chickens was to tend to the new baby chicks that hatch.

One day, she noticed that there were several new baby chicks that hatched that were huddled under their mother hen, but there was still one egg that hadn’t hatched yet! To her excitement, the unhatched chick started to poke and struggle its way out of its shell.  Reactively, the little girl chose to help by gently peeling the shell away and freeing the chick.

Just as the young girl freed the baby chick though, it gasped, fell over and stopped breathing. The girl knew something was wrong so she ran to her mother to tell her what happened. The mother could have scolded the girl for what she did, but instead she chose to teach her an important lesson with caring words. “The baby chick must struggle to free itself from its shell in order to survive sweetheart. If it doesn’t experience that important event then it will never become strong enough to survive”.

This story is meant to illustrate that just like baby chicks, all of us must struggle sometimes so we can build the strength to not only survive, but to thrive. Especially our kids.  All to often I see kids that are constantly being bailed out of their struggles by their parents because they can’t stand seeing them suffer.  Our initial reaction when a child comes down with a fever is to reach for the fever suppressant. What we have forgotten is how important it is for that child to suffer through a fever in order for their immune system to fully develop and build a robust immunity to future viral infections.  When a child gets an ear infection- most of the time without even knowing the problem is even bacterial- we are quick to deliver antibiotics to destroy germs and bacteria. To the child’s disservice, the often bouts of antibiotics destroy healthy gut bacteria too that aid in digestion, vitamin and mineral absorption, immune function, nutrition, and many other beneficial functions. I see mothers that give in to their screaming child that o-so wants that sugar coated sugar flavored sugar water. Then, we wonder why our kids are the SICKEST kids who have EVER walked the planet?

Struggle is a critical experience for everyone, and sometimes it’s for our own good to suffer through the experience because almost always we come out on the other side even stronger than before.  So please, comfort your kids, but let them know that it is ok to let their body handle a cold or a fever. Or that it’s ok to be sad every once in a while, or that hard work is a virtue, and failure is only feedback.  Because if we miss the incredibly valuable lesson of struggle, we fail to grow and succeed.

Your health coach,

Dr. Ryan

The Paleolithic Diet Explained

Health Rules: Dr. Ryan’s Think Rules to Live By

1. To see it, you must first believe it

2. Before you can love others, you must love yourself first

3. Being nice to everyone is the coolest thing you could ever do

4. Get uncomfortable at least once per day. Growth only happens outside of your comfort zone

5. Fuel your passions, and if you can link your passion to your paycheck you will never work another day in your life

6. SMILE! Even ugly people are better looking when they smile

7. Ghandi said it best: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”

8. Lead by example, or as my favorite author Robin Sharma says:”Lead without a title”

9. The world is a direct reflection of yourself.  If you are a kind person, you probably live in a world full of kind people.  If you are a mean person, you probably live in a horrible world full of mean cruel people

10. The only meaning that something has is the meaning that you give to it

11. Your attitude determines your altitude

12. You become the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with

13. Practice daily self-renewal activities like morning rituals, journal, visualization, meditation, exercise, electronic fasting, and goal setting

14. Ask yourself not what can I get, ask yourself who may I help.

15. Small daily improvements over time create stunning results

16. Brilliant things happen when you go the extra mile and do the right thing

17. If you’re not failing regularly, you’re definitely not making much progress

18. Words can inspire, and words can destroy. Choose yours well

19. The way you do anything in life defines the way you’ll do everything. Every act matters

20. Keep promises and be impeccable with your word.

Your health Coach,

Dr. Ryan

Health Rules: Dr. Ryan’s Movement Rules to Live By

1. There will never be a drug or surgery that will ever fix problems due to lack of movement/exercise

2. If you’re not moving, you’re dying (If you don’t use it you lose it)

3. Don’t ever stop running, it’s the most natural thing you could ever do besides fart

4. If someone tells you never to squat below 90 degrees, ask them to lay on the floor and get up without bending their knee below 90 degrees.  Then point and laugh at them

5. Exercise like Tarzan: Run, jump, climb, throw, lift, sprint, and yell a bunch while you do it

6. Have fun, and do what moves you

7. Earn your rest days

8. Turning up the heat and laying on the floor is not exercising

9. Walk…..a lot!

10. Lift something heavy at least once per week. Strong people are harder to kill, and are generally more useful

11. Kids and adults that exercise are more intelligent, happier, and are far less likely to have chronic disease later in life

12. Get a coach. Everyone needs accountability, guidance, and someone to help them set goals

13. Every so often, turn it up a notch and give it all you got. Intensity is where the good stuff comes from

14. Try new exercises and sports regularly

15. Train movements not muscles. If you were going to move a couch you wouldn’t hamstring curl or calf raise the couch, you would use a functional movement like dead-lift and carrying

16. Exercise is not a treatment for weight-loss or for getting a great beach body (although a great bonus)….exercise is required for optimal physical and mental well-being. We are wired-up for movement and our genes expect daily exercise in order to stay healthy and functional

17.  Just do it. The best time to start exercising was 10 years ago….the second best time is NOW! Get moving and quit living on someday island!

18. Sitting to your spine is like sugar to your teeth

19. Good posture is a habit just like brushing your teeth and it will make a HUGE impact on your confidence, vitality, and energy

20. You MUST have healthy spinal motion to have great health so just like everyone needs a great dentist, everyone needs a good chiropractor on their health team

Next week, Dr. Ryan’s Think Rules to live by!

Health Rules: Dr. Ryan’s Food Rules to Live By

1. Eat things that grow from the earth, or have a face and a mother

2. If you found yourself saying “don’t feed that to the dog! It’ll make him sick!” You probably shouldn’t be eating it either

3. If your grandmother wouldn’t recognize it, don’t put it in your mouth

4. Rethink your choice if you are eating something only because it acts as a shuttle for condiments

5. Bacon is good for you (on occasion)

6. Choose foods with no food labels most of the time (see rule #1)

7. Soy is not a health food

8. Support local farmers

9. Eat egg yolks, that’s where all the nutrition is!

10. Eat your food at the table

11. Never buy food from the same place you fill your gas tank

12. Never count calories, what really counts is food quality

13. Every meal ask yourself: “Where are the veggies? Where is the fat? Where is the protein?”

14. Eat when you’re hungry, not when you’re bored

15. If you’re thirsty, drink water

16. When making change, always start by adding something healthy rather than removing something unhealthy

17. Milk is for babies

18. Treat yourself once in a while and when you do, enjoy it

19. Never under any circumstance eat anything blue (except fresh blueberries)

20. If it doesn’t spoil in a day or two, then it’s not food

Next week, Dr. Ryan’s Exercise rules to live by.

Spring Cleaning: Heal Your Guts!

Did you know that cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, auto-immune disease, and virtually all chronic disease share one MAJOR thing in common? They all have chronic inflammation at their foundation.

Inflammation in your body is actually an immune system response to a threat or insult from your environment.  It is a part of your body’s super-intelligent reaction to stress that is life-saving in small doses, but when it becomes chronic…. all hell breaks loose.

This was best described by a fellow Canadian endocrinologist named Hans Seyle with his hypothesis called the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS).  Seyle talked about GAS by describing the body’s reaction to stress in 3 phases:

Alarm is the first stage. When a threat or stressor is identified or realized, the body’s stress response is a state of alarm. During this stage adrenaline will be produced in order to bring about the fight-or-flight response. There is also some activation of the HPA axis, producing cortisol.

Resistance is the second stage. If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress. Although the body begins to try to adapt to the strains or demands of the environment, the body cannot keep this up indefinitely, so its resources are gradually depleted.

Exhaustion is the third and final stage in the GAS model. At this point, all of the body’s resources are eventually depleted and the body is unable to maintain normal function. The initial autonomic nervous system symptoms may reappear (sweating, raised heart rate etc.). If stage three is extended, long term damage may result as the body, and the immune system is exhausted and function is impaired resulting in decompensation.

Little do most folks know, the most common source of stress that leads to systemic inflammation and general adaptation syndrome is insult to your gut tissue.  The most surprising element is that you may not even be aware that you are continually stressing out your gut since gut inflammation can be symptomless.

When your digestive system is compromised, gut tissue becomes damaged and this alters digestion of food, absorption of nutrients, triggers a stress response in your body, and can alter the balance of your normal bacterial flora.  When this happens your gut tissue becomes more permeable or “leaky” and this allows normally harmless bacterial by-products and larger undigested food-particles to enter your body’s blood-stream and then your body has no choice but to mount an immune attack against these foreign invaders. You can see how this can might lead to auto-immune issues, chronic inflammatory disease, and can even contribute to depression and anxiety.  Your gut tissue happens to have a part of your nervous system that is called your enteric nervous system that has more nerve endings than your spinal cord, and produces 95% of your body’s serotonin! Ever heard of Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors?  They are commonly referred to as antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, or Paxil.  Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is made in the brain and mostly in the gut that modulates mood, appetite, and sleep! This gives a ‘gut feeling’ more meaning than you thought.

Common Gut Insults:

• Foods that have high lectin content like Grain and Legumes (Bread, pasta cereals, and beans, peanuts, soy)
• Dairy products
• High glycemic foods or sugar containing foods
• NSAID use (aspirin, motrin, ibuprofen)
• Antibiotic use
• Alcohol
• Mental Stress
• Spinal and postural stress (Subluxation)

Weight-Loss Series Part 4- Could This Be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss?

In the last of the 4 part weight loss series comes a very important discussion about common pitfalls that are sure to thwart weight loss efforts.  Now that you’ve created a compelling reason to make a change and get healthier, you’ve cleaned your cupboards out and thrown out all your dead food in exchange for real live whole foods, and you’re moving your body regularly and breaking a serious sweat once in a while, there might be a couple more tweaks we must make so all your hard work will pay off in spades.

1. SLEEP.

A lack of restful sleep is a major sabotage for a ton of folks who are trying to lose weight.  If you aren’t getting at least 7+ hours of uninterrupted sleep every night then the chances are that you are chronically sleep deprived.  The major problem is that studies such as this one show that even 1-2 nights of 5-6 hours of sleep can leave even a healthy individual functioning as a type 2 diabetic! Sleep deprivation leads to insulin resistance and poor sugar clearance that leads directly to weight gain, as well as lowered testosterone (not to mention a ton of other stuff like impaired learning, low energy, lowered immunity, etc). This will kill anyone’s efforts to lose fat, gain muscle, and perform at your best no matter how you eat move and think.  When researchers put test subjects in environments without clocks or windows and ask them to sleep any time they feel tired, 95 percent sleep between seven and eight hours out of every 24. Another 2.5 percent sleep more than eight hours. That means just 2.5 percent of us require less than 7 hours of sleep a night to feel fully rested. That’s 1 out of every 40 people.

Here’s a few tips for a more restful and better night’s sleep:

• Get to bed on time! This means no later than 10:30 pm.  Your best hours of sleep come before the stroke of midnight since you will get more quality non-REM sleep so your mind and body can recalibrate and recover.
• Wind down an hour before bed and practice e-fasting.  This means no T.V, internet, or cell phone for at least an hour before you shut it down for the night.  Electronics can disrupt body rhythms and suppress the release of the hormone melatonin, which promotes sleep.
• Make sure that your room is pitch black when you go to bed.  This is important because whether you know it or not our body is very sensitive to light. We are chronically exposed to light toxicity from being indoors all the time and that can screw up your natural sleep/wake cycle.  It’s a good idea to turn the lights down at night, and when it’s time for bed make sure that there is no light pollution in your room. This includes your cell phone, alarm clock and street-lights. Do yourself a favor and take the TV out of the bedroom, and get yourself some black-out shades. You will instantly have a more restful sleep.

2.    Toxic Chemicals.

Toxic synthetic chemicals are highly fat soluble therefore when the body is exposed to these substances it then gets busy creating fat tissue as a storehouse for those toxins that cannot be processed and eliminated from the body.  This nasty toxic load that is stuffed in our fat tissue screws up our metabolic hormones that regulate our appetite, body temperature, and our ability to burn adipose tissue for fuel.  The following list represents sources that contain the most concentrated amounts of chemical calories:

• Prescription and OTC medication
• Heavy metals (polluted farmed fish, water, some vaccines, dental amalgam)
• Chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides
• Growth hormones, antibiotics and steroids in industrialized meat, dairy products & poultry
• Food additives, preservatives and coloring agents
• Environmental pollution
• Chemical leaching into foods from packaging materials
• Artificial sweeteners

By simply eliminating packaged foods, this will prevent you from eating chemicals from packaging, preservatives, and most additives.  Artificial sweeteners happen to be some of the most destructive agents to your body, especially in an individual trying to lose unwanted fat.  Dr. Kratka has a great summary of toxic foods in his top 10 never eat foods.

Check out monteray bay’s pocket guide to find out how to safely choose seafood to avoid excessive amounts of heavy metal consumption.

Other recommendations:

• wash your produce, and choose organic whenever possible especially with fruits and veggies that you eat the skin
• choose organic, free range, hormone free, pastured/grass-fed, wild beef, fish, eggs, poultry, turkey, and pork.
• choose skin care products that are paraben free, and organic.  The rule of thumb is that if you wouldn’t put it in your mouth then don’t EVER put it on your skin/hair/body!
• Use glass containers instead of plastic containers for your food

Lastly, talk to your medical doctor who consults you about the medication that you are on about the possibility of getting off of them.  If they do not want to help you get off your meds, then find another doctor who will. 95% of medications that are prescribed today are due to poor lifestyle and are recommended to be taken for LIFE! It is NOT NORMAL to be on a daily medication.  Ask yourself or your medical doctor if the pills that you take are treating your symptoms or are they correcting your problem? There has NEVER been a pill that has been invented that will ever make you healthy, nor will any ever correct your problems that are due to poor eating, lack of exercise, or toxic thoughts.  Drugs sabotage health!

3.    Liquid Food.

Part of the healing process that follows weight loss is returning the normal digestive processes to your body.  The digestive process starts even when you think about food. Enzymes begin to be secreted, hormones are made, motility in your gut fires up etc.  It is a very important process for absorption and break-down of your food.  Some steps are eliminated however when you eat things like shakes or smoothies.  The worst part of it is though that liquid food will spike your blood sugar and insulin more readily than solid food because it is easy to cram a ton of calories in a glass.  In someone who is metabolically normal this is not much of an issue, but this is to be avoided at all cost in someone who is trying to lose weight.  Ditch the shakes,  they are a processed food anyways and sub in some real food.

4.    Starving Yourself

Conventional wisdom says to lose weight ”eat less and exercise more”.  So millions of people are starving themselves and running themselves into the ground…..and guess what? They are only getting fatter.  What? How could this be?  Well, our body is perfectly designed to adapt to a calorie deficit or famine. We have protective mechanisms like fat storage to ensure survival when food is scarce.  However, we have no genetic defense against over-eating or calorie excess. Our body stores excess sugar and calories into our fat tissue for a later time, but since we have figured out how to abuse our body’s brilliant design to store energy by exhausting our insulin and hunger hormones, things get screwed up. Once the metabolic damage is done, it becomes difficult to burn fat and thus the crazy eight of up and down weight fluctuations.  The worst part of this is when you do starve yourself and do tons of cardio exercise the weight that comes off is largely muscle rather than fat.  This is a totally unsustainable lifestyle that is sure to lead to mad frustration and yo-yo results. Watch this video to help understand what happens:

Gary Taubes, the author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, showed us that you don’t get fat from eating too much, you eat too much because you’re getting fat.  The only way to break-free of this unhealthy process is to follow the food and exercise recommendations from part 1 and part 2 of this series. This is your path to salvation, sustainable weight-loss, optimal health, and how you can take your life back and start to live the life you are supposed to live.

5.   Goal Setting

In most cases it typically take a while for extra weight to add up and start accumulating in your body.  So, naturally it should take some time to start to come off of your body.  Getting healthier, losing weight, or doing anything sustainably takes time, effort, and above all persistent consistency.  Health and wellness is a meritocracy, and something that takes time and effort.  In other words, just like financial investments, health investments are compounding and ever little bit counts.  It is necessary to set goals for your progress otherwise if you said “I want to lose weight” then even losing 1 lb means that you’ve achieved your goal.  Set SMART goals, and don’t just measure your progress by what the scale says. In fact, throw the damn scale out the window.  The goal is to gain health, not just lose weight.  Set goals that are positive, affirmative and focused on addition such as “I exercise 3 times per week” or “I eat a vegetable at lunch and dinner 3 days per week”.  I love to make rewards for myself too when I’ve achieved a wonderful goal. Choose rewards that are exciting to you and not designed to derail your progress like a Dairy Queen binge! It’s OK to screw up once in a while though, don’t be so hard on yourself if you didn’t achieve all your goals this week.  Get back on track the next week, and set yourself up for success! If you want to eat more veggies then cut up some fresh veggies and put them in the fridge so you’ll be inclined to grab those for a snack. Or put your walking shoes by the front door so you can’t pass them by without reminding yourself to take your 30 minute walk. Lastly, have an accountability partner that knows about your goals and will help you stay on track.  We are so much more likely to follow through with a behavior if we know that there is someone who is counting on you to do it!

Watch this amazing story to help give you some inspiration to go get some! I can’t help but tear up every time I watch it.

There you have it, the ultimate 4 part recipe for success to get healthier and gain some lightness this spring.  I am more than happy to answer any questions for anyone who is having trouble or has specific issues that they need help with. Post your questions in the comment section of any of the 4 parts of the weight loss series and I will do my best to help you.

Your health coach,

Dr. Ryan Hewitt

Weight-Loss Series Part 3- What About Exercise?

In Part 1 of this series we talked about how sustainable weight loss is kind of a paradox since the truth is that losing weight is really all about gaining health. In this post we will discuss how exercise is a very important part of gaining health and returning balance back to your body.  80% of the battle for optimal body composition is won in the kitchen rather than the gym, but don’t let that fool you when it comes to the importance of exercise.  Our body’s genetic design is wired up with a specific expectation for regular daily movement.  If we neglect that need, then imbalances are sure to occur. The problem with the lack of exercise though is that symptoms are latent rather than acute. For example if you have a lack of an essential vitamin like vitamin C, then acute symptoms of scurvy will show up within months. A lack of exercise though might take years to take its toll, and since it is understood that exercise is critical for the health of every cell and tissue in your body there is no telling just how detrimental a lack of exercise can be.  One symptom for certain though is the gradual exchange of muscle mass for fat tissue. Not only is excess fat unattractive, but it has horrible repercussions over time like metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, thyroid exhaustion, reproductive dysfunction, cancer, among many.

Ok, so I should just hit the treadmill right?

The tendency for most exercisers that want to lose a few pounds or get leaner is to gravitate towards doing tons of “cardio” exercise like running, cycling, or anything that gets their heart rate up for a long period of time. The thought process is usually that the more I do, and the longer I run, the more fat I will burn.  These types of folks usually abide by the dogma of “eat less and workout more”.  Do NOT follow this all to often mistake.  While it is great to do some cardio-type of exercise once in a while, it is rarely productive to keep your heart at an elevated rate for long periods of time.  It actually becomes counter-productive at a certain point and your body starts to release stress hormones like cortisol that promote fat-storage and metabolic dysfunction.  Have you ever seen a long distance runner or cyclists body type? They are usually very thin, and tend to carry an unusual pouch of body fat around their abdomen.  The reason being that they usually are forced to eat tremendous amounts of sugar to fuel their long exercise bouts and the prolonged stress they endure forces their body to store fat and elevate stress hormone. This is not a good exercise strategy for someone who wants to have optimal health, longevity, and especially lose weight.

Here’s what to do:

1. Move your body EVERYDAY. When I say move your body, I mean move around more than you sit on your keester. Walk, take the stairs, stretch, do some yoga, garden, play with your kids, etc.  Our ancestors, who were the most physically fit and healthy people who ever walked the earth did a ton of moving around at a slow pace.  Movement will keep your joints healthy, help you burn fat, keep you mentally sharp, and help you feel great.  This doesn’t require breaking a sweat, this just requires moving around at a moderate pace often during the day.  The rule of thumb for desk dwellers is that for every 30 minutes of sitting you should be moving and stretching your body for at least 5 minutes.
2. Every once in a while, kick it up a notch! 1-2 times per week pick an activity like walking, biking, jumping jacks, whatever, and do some higher intensity sprints. What I mean by this is to pick a certain time or distance interval and pick up the pace to where you are working vigorously to darn near an all-out effort during that time.  These intervals do not have to be very long, they can be 10-30 seconds so long as you are working as hard as you can during that time. Pick a rest period in between your intervals from anywhere between 30-90 seconds to let your heart rate recover.  I suggest shooting for anywhere from 5-10 different sprint intervals depending on the amount of time that you choose to sprint.  A great way to perform these sprint intervals is to do what are called Tabata sprints.  This sprinting protocol calls for 20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times.  This gives you a total time of only 4 minutes of work, but I promise that you will be exhausted by the end of this workout. Say good-bye to long useless 2 hour cardio sessions!  You can pick any activity with this protocol, just remember that the 20 seconds of work means that you are working as hard as you can! It will be uncomfortable, but only for a very short period of time. This is where the good stuff comes from, and where you will get huge results when it comes to weight-loss and health benefits.
3. Resistance training (2-3 times per week for 20-60 min).  If you are missing this critical component in your training then you are missing out on one of the most important pieces of weight loss and optimal health.  Consider that the gradual loss of muscle and bone tissue from the lack of resistance activity is what puts people in nursing homes.  Building and maintaining muscle is not only critical for staying functional for life but is necessary for sustainable weight loss.  Now this does not mean that you have to get a gym pass and start pumping iron with all the muscle heads, resistance training can be body weight exercises like squats, sit-ups, push-ups, dips, or even taking a hike with a loaded up backpack. The best way to begin a resistance training program though, especially when using weights, is to hire a coach (read 7 reasons everyone needs a coach).  This will allow you to safely and effectively build a repertoire of exercises that you can do on a regular basis. Remember, muscle tissue burns calories even while you’re resting. It is necessary for a balanced metabolism and weight loss, and it looks a heck of a lot more attractive under your skin!
4. Vitamin F- Fun! At least once per week find an activity that you love to do that gets your sweat on.  Shoot some hoops, run a 5 K, have a dance party, whatever it is that you love to do! When it feels more like play than work time usually flies.  Besides, when something is fun its much easier to stick to the program.

In summary, here’s what to do: Move your body everyday, kick it up a notch for short intervals 1-2 times per week, do some resistance activity 2-3 times per week, and play once per week.  In total, this program would take you less than 2-3 hours per week of sweat equity. Doesn’t that sound a heck of a lot better than dragging yourself to the gym for an hour or two to run on a hamster wheel?   When it comes to weight loss and exercise, less can definitely be more. Start with a commitment to making movement a priority in your life.  And yes, you do have time.  Make time now to move your body, or plan to make time later to take care of symptoms from a lack of exercise.

Part 4 will talk about the other lesser known factors that could be sabotaging your weight loss goals.

You can do it! Now get moving!

Your health coach,

Dr. Ryan Hewitt

Weight Loss Series Part 2: What the Hell am I Supposed to EAT??

The trouble with most diet advice out there for people trying to lose weight (or get healthier) is that most people who are giving them advice don’t have a hot clue about nutrition….. or health for that matter. Uneducated editors from popular magazines or celebrity talking heads grab conventional wisdom or junk science and spin it into a product or a book that they want you to buy for $ 29.99. It’s time to get real with the facts, make it plain and simple for you without all the baloney to cut through. Here we go….

TOP 5 THINGS THAT YOU MUST STOP CONSUMING

1. Artificial Food. AKA Food products. AKA Packaged Foods. AKA dead food. AKA Shit.  This is all the nutrient deprived, vitamin-free, franken-food that never goes bad because it’s so preserved that it could survive nuclear warfare. If it comes in a bag, box, carton, and has an ingredient list of over 5 items then throw it away. Your body has absolutely no idea what to do with these foods.  Our genes have no idea what to do with doritos, pepsi, power bars, hamburger helper or slim-fast. These food products are full of DNA damaging trans-fats, preservatives, chemicals, and sugar.  Stop confusing your body with packaged man-made foods because these foods of convenience will not only lead to weight gain, but cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and a whole laundry list of chronic preventable disease. Use the rule that if you’re great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize it, don’t eat it. If it didn’t grow from the ground or have a mother, don’t eat it. Ever.
2. Grains.  This goes for all bread, cereal, pasta, cake, muffins, and cookies (YES WHOLE GRAIN TOO). Our ancestors who were responsible for shaping our genetic nutritional needs never had processed grain in their diet.  Human consumption of grain has only been around for about 10,000 years which is only a sliver of time compared to the amount of time the human species has been around. The point being that we have not evolved to digest grain well and the result to our health has been disastrous.  Processed grain is full of gut irritants called lectins and phytates that cause inflammation and poor digestion (Know anyone with IBS, Crohn’s, or Ulcerative Colitis?). It is also made up of nothing but processed carbohydrate and is relatively devoid of nutrients.  Think about it, you’ve probably never eaten a plate of plain boiled pasta, or a plain piece of toast right?….Grains are usually just there to shuttle some sort of unhealthy condiment into your head.  No, contrary to what the food pyramid told you, grain is not healthy. Cereal grains are acidic foods that are hugely responsible for chronic disease and obesity. Cut them out and you will immediately start to feel and look better.
3. Dairy. Again, contrary to what the all-mighty food pyramid told you dairy is not a healthy food choice. I don’t necessarily have a problem with the occasional raw yogurt, organic grass-fed butter or unpasteurized goat milk, but that’s not 99.9% of the dairy that is consumed in the general public.  Industrial dairy that you find on the shelf in the grocery store is FULL of insulin-spiking sugars that promote weight gain, and they are laden with nasty endocrine disrupting hormones and foreign protein.  We are the only species of mammal that drink the milk from another mammal, and we happen to be the sickest for a reason.  Cow’s milk is great for a developing calf, but for you, not so much.
4. Booze. The occasional (I’m talking once or two per month) glass of wine or snort of whisky isn’t going to kill you. If you are drinking alcohol on a regular basis though this is one of the major reasons so many people have a hard time dropping weight due to the excessive empty calorie consumption.  Not only does alcohol put the brakes on fat burning, it’s also one of the most effective ways to slash your testosterone levels. Just a single bout of heavy drinking raises levels of the muscle-wasting hormone cortisol and increases the breakdown of testosterone for up to 24 hours. Alcohol consumption can also lead to deficiencies in B vitamin, magnesium and zinc.
5. Added Sugar and Sweeteners. AKA Excess processed carbohydrate and toxic chemicals. These baddies will thwart weight loss efforts worse than anything else you can eat.  Added sugar (syrups, sugar cane, fructose, agave, dextrose, any -ose for that matter) is immediately stored as fat thanks to the insulin spike they create, and also prevent your body from burning fat by screwing up your hormones.  Artificial sweeteners are often sold as a guilt-free alternative to sugar, but alas it is proven that it is in fact too good to be true. Your body registers that you ate calories when you taste something sweet, but by the time it gets to your gut and your body figures out that you didn’t eat real food it tells you to eat MORE! Not to mention how it screws up hormones like leptin that help tell your brain when your stomach is full and you should stop eating. Artificial sweetener consumption actually leads to weight gain, not weight loss. Please don’t ever eat artificial sweeteners and keep the added sugar to a minimum!



TOP 5 THINGS YOU MUST START CONSUMING

1. Drink Water. This behavior more than any other could be the best thing you could ever do to improve your health and weight loss.  Choose water instead of that sugary or caffeinated beverage and you will start to lose weight within a week. You will cut down on unnecessary calories, reduce your inflammation, have healthier skin and joints, and have better digestion. This is a total win behavior. You can do it! The rule of thumb is to drink water when you’re thirsty. Some specific recommendations of how much water you should drink, watch this short video:
2. Vegetables. Everyone knows that if you want to eat a healthy diet then you need to have more vegetables, but do you really own this well proven fact? If you don’t have some vegetable matter in almost all your meals then it’s time to add some life to your diet. Use as many colors as possible, and the more variety the better. Vegetables are not only low calorie, but high in nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, and water. They are alkaline foods, meaning they prevent acidity in your body.  This behavior is a must for anyone who wants to enjoy an ideal weight and optimal health. Read the following article that will help you implement more vegetables in your diet.
3. Protein. The importance of protein for weight loss and health is paramount. Protein is essential at EVERY MEAL.  A hunk of animal protein at every meal ranging from 2 to 6 oz (about the size of what you can fit in your palm) will not only help you build muscle but also keep you full longer, help release hormones that burn fat, keep your immune system strong, and lean you out fast. The quality of the protein is also of prime importance. In my definitive guide of what the heck am I supposed to eat you will find that your meats should come from grass-fed sources (animals fed their natural diet and not wheat and corn!), free-range organic chicken and turkey, wild-caught fish, and organic eggs. This ensures high nutrient dense food in its natural state that will make you healthier and trimmer in no time! Do not rely on non-animal proteins such as soy, beans, and nuts since they are not dense protein sources. These sources do not have the same hormone effect in the body and are difficult for your body to get a complete amino-acid profile that it needs for optimal health. Soy in general is nasty and should be avoided at all cost. Most of it is genetically modified and full of chemicals that will make you sick and gain weight.
4. Fat. Don’t believe the bogus conventional wisdom that fat is to be avoided. Eating fat for the most part is a good thing. Fat won’t make you fat. In fact, it will help you lost fat. The human species has perfectly evolved to burn fat as a primary fuel source, and it has only been recently that most Americans have lowered their fat consumption and now are consuming most of their energy from carbohydrate rich crap like high-fructose corn syrup sodas, sugary snacks, grains, and low-fat dairy products. The result…we are now the sickest species on planet earth.  There is a lot to learn about fat, but what you need to know is that a vital behavior to weight loss is eating some fat at every meal.  Just like protein and carbohydrates though, not all fat is created equal.

Great sources of fat are:

• Avocado and avocado oil
• Olive and virgin olive oil
• Coconut products (oil very stable for cooking)
• Fish oil (1-2 tablespoons of cold pressed pure fish oil)
• Nuts and seeds (up to 1 handful per day)

Fats to Avoid:

• All trans fats, hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated (Usually in fast-food and packaged food)
• Excess fat from meat that is industrialized (Not organic, grass-fed, free range, wild)
• Plant oils such as vegetable, corn, safflower, soy, canola (Excess consumption of polyunsaturated oils has been shown to contribute to a large number of disease conditions including increased cancer and heart disease; immune system dysfunction; damage to the liver, reproductive organs and lungs; digestive disorders; depressed learning ability; impaired growth; and weight gain)
• Peanuts (not really nuts, they are legumes)

5.   Choose Real Whole Food.  Eat food that spoils, stuff that comes from the ground or a tree, from animals who grazed freely, and has been around for thousands of years.  Basically this means that you are choosing foods like veggies, meat, healthy fats, some nuts and seeds, and fruit and starchy veggies once in a while.  Favor veggies over fruit most of the time but a piece of fruit per day is fine. Every so often throw a starchy vegetable in there too like sweet potato or squash with your dinner to spice it up.  Fruit and starchy veggies are higher in natural sugars so it is important to not overdo it, but they are healthy choices nonetheless. Get creative and prep your meals in bulk and ahead of time. This will save you the headache of trying to figure out what to eat on the go and at the end of a long day.

There you have it, follow this advice and I guarantee that you will see results within weeks. If you feel kind of crappy at first when you switch to this diet style, don’t fret. Imagine what people feel like when they are giving up cigarettes or cocaine. There might be some withdrawal symptoms like headaches, fatigue, nausea, or sugar cravings. Stay the course, it is totally expected and a good thing. This is your body going through a metabolic reset and a type of detox. Your taste-buds will need to rid themselves of the chemical hijacking that fake food gives them and start to appreciate fresh whole food again. Your gut will finally have a chance to heal and absorb your food properly again. It will be a phenomenal feeling, you just have to press through those first couple weeks. You are worth it, and you can do it! Diet is 80% of the battle with health and weight loss. Next up, we will talk about the other 20%- Exercise!

Your health coach,

Dr. Ryan Hewitt

Weight Loss Series Part 1: FAD Diets Suck

First question to ask yourself is can fad diets help you lose weight? Answer: Yes they can.

Second question: Can fad diets help you keep the weight off? Answer: Not so much. Statistics show that 95% of dieters fail to keep the weight off that they lose and a lot of times even gain more on the rebound. Talk about crappy odds!  The dieting industry rakes in over 60 Billion $$ per year because they know that dieters will yo-yo from one diet to the next looking for the answer. So it’s not your fault that what you’ve tried didn’t work, it was most likely a diet that was designed to fail in the first place.

Why? Very simply because fad diets don’t teach you how to get healthy. You see, sustainable weight loss is kind of a curve ball because all you are really doing is training yourself to get healthier.  Rather than teach you how to get healthy, fad diets try to sell you some magic foods or supplements that are supposed to melt the fat away. This does you a huge disservice though because without learning to change your lifestyle and the behaviors that put the pounds on in the first place there can never be lasting change. Makes sense right?

So what should you do? First of all, there are some belief systems that need to change.

Belief #1- I’m doomed to my genetic fate of being overweight. Please, please do not subscribe to this thought process. I say with absolute certainty that all of our genes want us to be healthy and successful, and being overweight has nothing to do with either. All of the research says that your body composition is almost solely a result of the foods you choose, the daily activities that you do, and the emotional/mental health you decide to have.  Very little has to do with genetic tendencies. Bad health doesn’t run in families, but bad habits do such as poor food choices, lack of activity, or stress. So the good news is you have control!

Belief #2- If I want to get healthier then I have to give up all the things that I love and do all this stuff that I don’t like. Here’s a great exercise: Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle and on one side write all the things that you stand to gain by continuing this behavior or belief, and on the other side write down what you stand to lose by continuing this belief or behavior.  Once you are done, make another list of what you stand to gain and what you stand to lose by no longer continuing this behavior or belief .  Look at both lists and decide whether the positives of changing or the negatives of not changing are compelling enough for you to make the change happen. For example, every time you smoke to justify the destructive habit you tell yourself that you deserve it since you work so hard, it helps calm your nerves, it helps you feel better, and it tastes good with a cup of coffee. However, now you see that if you don’t stop smoking you will eventually have a heart attack, or cancer, suffer a stroke, become a burden to your family, increase the likely hood that you will leave your kids without a parent, not be able to run around the yard with your grand kids, or end up breathing though a whole in your neck for the rest of your life.  So now every time you choose not to smoke, you reward yourself with breaths of fresh clean air that help repair your lungs every day, you improve your healing, you get to spend more quality years with your family, and you smell better to those around you. This works for any behavior that you want to change, whether it’s eating broccoli, or walking a mile per day. If the benefits aren’t exciting to you or the consequences are not compelling enough then behavior modifications can never last.

Belief #3-  I feel fine so losing weight must not really be that important anyways. Watch out, this is a dangerous belief. How many times have you heard the story of someone feeling fine one day and then dropping dead of a heart attack or stroke the next? You cannot feel a clogged artery until it becomes more than 90% blocked! You can’t feel a cavity until it rots it way to the nerve root, you can’t feel cancer growing in your body, and you can’t feel the damage that is done by being overweight until it’s too late.  How you feel is not only inaccurate, it’s a very scary way to decide how healthy you are.  Being overweight is a symptom of being unhealthy. Don’t wait until the symptoms get worse before doing something about it.

How do I start? The most effective way to begin making lasting change is to always begin with addition.  By adding good things in your lifestyle you can start making change immediately and you don’t need to worry about withdrawal or the sense of deprivation by trying to change everything all at once. Just start with small steps. It likely took some time for the weight to get on, so it might take some time to come off. Start with something simple and start today. It can be as simple as drinking 2 more cups of water per day. Or adding 1 fresh vegetable to one of your meals. Or walking to the end of the block and back every morning. The main thing is to stop thinking about it and to just do it. Just do it. Now. No more excuses. Just do it. You can do it.

Part 2 will help get you started in the right direction with your food choices, but for now start with making up your mind to change NOW and JUST DO IT.

Let’s gain some health!

Your health coach,

Dr. Ryan Hewitt