Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Hey, it's me your body, I need to tell you something

It starts as a whisper...


...but if you ignore the warning signs, it will quickly get louder!

 
The human body is very wise. It first speaks to you in whispers, which may seem like nagging or annoying symptoms. "Hey, something's not quite right in here (My farts smell!)." If you ignore these whispers, your body's communication will only get louder over time and that can look like debilitating symptoms or disease ("I haven't pooped in three days!"). 
 

Here's the low down

Your Nails: think vitamin and mineral deficiency

  

 
  • White spots: these can signify a zinc deficiency, which means an overall mineral deficiency in the body
  • Ridges: this can be due to age, or poor nutrition (see above photo on the right)
  • Yellowish nails: can be tied to a fungal infection
  • Pitted nails: little craters in your nails can be connected to eczema
  • Thin nails: if your nails are thin and peel, this is due to vitamin and mineral deficiency
  • Pale nails: can signify anemia 
  • Missing lunae: do you see the little white moons at the base of your nails? Most people at least have them on their thumbs, but they may missing on the rest of the fingers. This can be an indicator of low thyroid function.
     
  • ACTION STEPS: 
    • Test for fungal infections and vitamin and mineral deficiencies
    • Women: start supplementing with a high quality prenatal vitamin and mineral
    • Missing lunae in conjunction with thyroid symptoms: test thyroid function using a temperature test or blood work
       
Your Hair: think hormonal imbalance

  

 
  • Excessive hair loss or balding (women): hormonal imbalance and can also be a strong signal for iron deficiencies in pre-menopausal women 
  • Dandruff: this condition can be linked to a fungal infection in the body
  • Excess facial hair (women): too much sugar, caffeine, or stress can send the adrenals into overdrive and increase facial hair
     
  • ACTION STEPS:
    • Check the function of your thyroid and adrenal glands via temperature testing and blood work
    • Cut out sugar and caffeine
    • Manage stress
 
Your Skin: think gut issues
 
  
 
  • Bumps: bumps around the hair follicles in the skin may mean you need to increase your vitamin A and C, zinc, and essential fatty acids
  • Fluid retention: especially around the eyes or ankles can signify kidney damage or inadequate thiamine
  • Age spots: these are caused by free-radical damage to cells, resulting in accumulation of cellular waste. Avoid processed foods and increase your antioxidants (fruits and veggies!).
  • Rosacea (red cheeks): this can be from an allergic response, a vitamin B deficiency, or a sign of low hydrochloric acid in the stomach
     
  • ACTION STEPS: 
    • Start supplementing with a high-quality probiotic
    • Let us perform a stool analysis to check for parasites, bacteria and candida
    • Address possible food intolerances
 
Your Tongue
(need a visual? Google image search "candida tongue", 'nuff said)

 
  • Yellowish coating: indicates a tired, toxic liver
  • White coating: indicates bacteria, fungus or parasites in the gut
     
  • ACTION STEPS:
    • Don't just buy a tongue scraper! Your tongue and gut are connected too. Take a probiotic, drink more water, and look at your tongue every morning and address based on the chart above.
 
Your Eyes
 
  
 
  • Dry eyes: you're lacking sparkle if you need omega-3 oils, vitamin A, and zinc
  • Night blindness: difficulty seeing at night? This is associated with vitamin A deficiency
  • Puffy, dark, inflamed, or wrinkles under eye: these can all be allergic reactions, or an indicator of kidney problems
  • Sensitivity to bright lights: this is a signal of drained adrenals due to high stress on the body
  • Jittery eyes: thiamine deficiency (common in alcoholics)
     
  • ACTION STEPS: 
    • Supplement with high-quality products
    • Drink more water
    • Address possible food allergies
 
Want to know what's going on with your poop?!? Don't worry, we're going to dedicate a whole newsletter to it! Stay tuned to our social media for an "All About Poop" FAQ Thursday, coming to you manana :)
Calling all Wisdom Seekers!



We are asking you to take a few seconds to show some Nutritional Wisdom love :) Voting for Austin Fit Magazine's Best of 2014 is well underway and ends November 3rd - Click Here to vote for your favorite nutritionist! Just scroll through and enter "Nutritional Wisdom, www.nutritionalwisdom.com" for "Best Nutritionist/Dietician"

 



In Case You Missed It...

Click Here to find out how you can get protein at breakfast without eating eggs all the time! 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

It's late at night and you're fridge is callin'


We've all been there...
It's 10pm, you're getting ready for bed, and suddenly your tummy lets out a little rumble. You know that you are supposed to stop eating at least two hours before your head hits the pillow, but you wonder "Will I be able to fall asleep without a snack? If I DO decide that I need to eat something, what should I eat? WWCD (what would Carly do?!?)".

First, let's figure out if you're really hungry!
  • Take a few deep breaths
  • Have a cup of herbal tea
  • Get as far away from the kitchen as possible and busy yourself with a book or your favorite TV show (Shahs of Sunset anyone?)
  • Drink some water (but not too much or you'll be running to the bathroom all night!)
  • Take a bath
  • Call a friend
  • Write in your journal
  • Just get your mind off of food and your gurgling belly! Chances are you'll forget all about it and can get on with your bedtime routine

Okay, so what if these ideas just don't cut it? You're hungry (fo' real ya'll) and you need some late-night snack ideas PRONTO! We all want to reach for the sweets...chocolate, fruit, cereal, cookies and milk...but allowing ourselves to eat these foods before bed will have that jean button popping off in no time.

Our recommendation is to stay away from carbohydrates at night and eat small amounts of protein and/or fat.  WARNING, what tends to happen is that once we decide we are going to eat, it is ON! Remember, eating just a few bites will keep you from feeling hungry and have you sleeping like a baby. Save those calories for your breakfast meal (you can dream about it like I do!). 

Here are some of our favorite go-to's. We know these choices aren't going to knock your socks off with excitement, but if you're desire is to have ultimate health and vitality, then this is how you get to have your "cake" and eat it too (does that sting?!?).

Half of an avocado with a sprinkle of sea salt

A hard-boiled egg 

A few slices of turkey wrapped in lettuce w/ some mustard

Hot chocolate (my personal fave)

(heated almond milk with a small scoop of chocolate protein powder and a pinch of cinnamon)

A spoonful of almond butter
 
A handful of nuts
(check out our yummy recipe for 
roasted cashews)

Success Story

Hands off ladies, Bobby's taken!

Before



After (down 20 pounds of fat)
  

"A little over two years ago I was 245 pounds. I was miserable and wanted to start losing weight. I tried diet after diet and had some success but never really gained any insight on how to make healthy eating a lifestyle. Carly and the Nutritional Wisdom team have helped me a great deal. The principles that she taught me were unlike any other diet that I've tried before, but after a few months I began to notice the impact of how clean eating and NOT dieting made me feel better. Not only do I feel better physically, but I feel better mentally and spiritually.  Thanks to Carly and Nutritional Wisdom,  eating has become a way of life. I now weigh 173 pounds and continue to meet with Carly once a month. I cannot express how grateful I am that the Spirit of the Universe led me to Nutritional Wisdom."
In Case You Missed It...

Click Here to find out why Carly was soaring through the air in last week's FAQ Thursday! 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Wanna work out with me?

then get ready for an arse-kickin'!


My friends at Kor180 are offering you an amazing special!

One FREE month of unlimited Ryde classes
No need for padded shorts or clip-in shoes. Just show up with some sneaks and rock out. No excuses! I want to see all of you there :)

Here's how to sign up:


Visit Kor180.com
Click “My Account” 
Sign in or create a new account
Purchase the Ryde New Client First Month $49 here
Enter promo code “nutritionalwisdom” before checkout to bring the price to $0
(offer expires 12/31/14)

Kor180 offers 30 and 45-minute Ryde classes. This class will kick your butt, change your body and inspire your mind! View Kor180's Class schedule and reserve your spot now! 
Your body develops muscle memory when you engage in the same exercises over and over again. If you no longer feel sore after a workout, then you know it's time to try something new. 

Check out these guns, courtesy of Kor180
 

Success Stories:

Congrats Olivia and Genevieve, keep on rockin'!

 

 

In Case You Missed It...

CLICK HERE to watch last week's FAQ about coconut oil and all of its amazing health benefits! 


 

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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

I got 99 problems but Paleo ain't one...

Tired of everything Paleo?




We are too! Below we break down the difference between our program and the Paleo diet and help you figure out what works best for YOU!

Nutritional Wisdom vs. The Paleo Diet

There are many similarities, enough so that we get asked this all the time.  Whether it’s Paleo, South Beach, the Zone, or the "rub your belly pat your head" diet (I hear this diet is amazing), these are all DIETS.  Diets are plans you go ON…and OFF of.  So let’s clear the air and talk some good truths here.
 
First and foremost we don’t promote diets.  We provide lifestyles, BOOYAH (fist pump)! 
 
Mostly all sane diets (grapefruit diet EXCLUDED) are going to promote fresh fruits and veggies, clean proteins, nuts and seeds, and healthy oils as the base.  Some say no potatoes, yes potatoes, no red meat, yes red meat.  But the root of these diets is basically the same. Good ol’ fashioned clean eating with a focus on greens. Pssst...Any diet will fail you if you don’t learn the root of why when we "know better", we don’t DO better, but that’s a whole different newsletter.
 
The Paleo diet believes we should only eat what our Paleolithic ancestors consumed in a ratio of high protein, high fat, and VERY low carbohydrate.  I’ve done my research, most of it taken by Christina Warinner, an archeologist and scientist, who studies the nutrition of ancient people. The most interesting fact she brings up is that most of the foods we see in the Paleo cookbooks and on our plates are domesticated foods from farming methods.  There was no such thing as broccoli in the Paleolithic diet (it was a flower), carrots were bitter and spiky, and tomatoes were poisonous.  Lettuce was indigestible and there were no oils because it required even a rudimentary press that the Paleolithic people didn’t have. She proved that the Paleo diet was too varied to follow a set of rules and that it came down to eating a diet based on what was available, weather permitting.  She makes an important point that these people ate differently depending on the time of year, that most of the meat they ate was actually very lean, and that there were in fact beans in some regions of the world at that time.  So basically, the Paleo diet you hear about today is not the Paleolithic diet of our ancestors.  Are we arguing semantics on some level? Yes, but it's not appropriate to call unprocessed eating the “Paleo Diet”. Paleolithic people also ate insects, tree bark, and anything else they could get their hands on…why didn't these ingredients make it into the cookbooks?!? Stay tuned for our grasshopper tree bark smoothie recipe...


 
Now that we have the facts, I want to be clear that we aren’t anti-"Paleo".  Take away some of the extremes and Paleo is just logical healthy eating.  We usually use Paleo recipes because we are guaranteed that they are gluten-free, dairy-free, and low in sugar.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t add quinoa to a dish, or eat hummus for a snack…we have those recipes too. 
 
Nutritional Wisdom believes in biochemical individuality.  This means that different diets work for different people.  Depending on ancestry, lifestyle, stress level, digestive health etc… different ratios of carbohydrate, protein, and fat will be necessary for optimal fueling (although the promotion of fresh unprocessed food remain ubiquitous).  The Paleo diet believes in “one approach fits all”, and that’s just plain impossible.  
 
Lastly, too much of anything isn’t balanced.  We teach people how to intuitively eat so that their bodies, not a diet book, can guide them.
 
If I had to sum up healthy eating in three sentences, they would be: Eat vegetables, fruits, clean meats, nuts and seeds, beans, gluten-free grains, and water in the ratio that your body requires; Eat no more than what you can carry in your two hands at each sitting; If you can grow it or kill it, you can eat it. This is a great place to start.

 At Nutritional Wisdom we promote the “specific ratio of food that’s right for you with lots of veggies and all unprocessed, fresh ingredients” diet, with a cupcake thrown in here and there. We also practice a whole body approach, knowing nutrition is just one of six principles to overall health and vitality.  Every diet expert has study upon study “proving” that his or her theory is right. There is no right diet for everyone, but there is a right diet for YOU right now.  We are here to help you find that balance.  

Get vegucated!

Jicama
(pronounced hee-kah-mah)




Fun fact #1 – Jicama is also known as a "Mexican turnip" or "Mexican yam" and is composed of 86-90% water

Fun fact #2 – Raw jicama is very similar in taste to raw apples - light, sweet and crisp

Fun fact #3 – Jicama can weigh up to 50 pounds but is best harvested when under 5 pounds


Nutrition Info  Jicama is low in calories but high in several vital nutrients such as inulin (fiber), vitamin C, and potassium

Health Benefits  Jicama is said to promote heart health, protect against osteoporosis and promote "good" bacterial growth in the gut which maintains a healthy colon and balanced immunity

When and how to buy – Jicama is available year-round. Choose unblemished jicama with a fresh-looking sheen. Dull, older jicama will be dried out and full of tough fibers.

How to store – Keep in the vegetable drawer of the fridge for up to 2 weeks

How to prepare – Just before using jicama, peel off the skin and fibrous layer beneath. Fresh: grate, dice or julienne to add crunchy texture to salads and slaws; cut into slices or sticks for crudites. Cooked: steam, boil, bake, stir-fry, saute' or braise.Preserved: pickle sticks of jicama. Pairs well with chili, lime, avocado and mango.

Here are a few of our favorite recipes:


Tropical Tacos with Jicama Slaw



http://www.nutritionalwisdom.com/recipes/tropical-tacos-w-jicama-slaw/

Jicama Home Fries



http://www.nutritionalwisdom.com/recipes/jicama-home-fries/

In Case You Missed It...

CLICK HERE to watch last week's FAQ and learn how you
can enjoy alcohol while still losing weight!