Weekly Health Tip and Healthy Recipe

SANDY: Since I was 12 years old, I have struggled with emotional and binge eating and yo-yo dieting. My thoughts for as long as I can remember have entailed food in some way shape or form. If I wasn’t eating it, I was thinking about eating it or I was eating it and thinking about how I shouldn’t be eating it. Hating myself became a regular pastime due to my lack of will power and inability to end the “all or nothing” vicious cycle.

I thought I had tried everything, but at just less than 300 lbs., I reluctantly committed to try this program for 30 days. Within the first week I knew that something was different about this plan, and I knew it was something that I could do! My cravings and obsessive food thoughts just seemed to disappear! It was so freeing to not always be thinking about my next fix! I wasn’t hungry and I gained a ton of energy! I was actually losing fat and wearing sizes that I hadn’t seen for over 15 years, and it was a pretty painless way of getting there!

So here I am making progress on my journey, down 80 lbs. Am I happy I decided to give it a shot? HECK YES! It’s the BEST thing I have ever done for myself! I feel as though I have been catapulted from the deepest depths of depression and misery that the vicious cycle of obesity brings, into a glowing and vibrant place...and it just keeps getting better! The Habits Of Health System has shown me that by making small, simple changes, I can live a longer, healthier life!

Approved Lean & Green Recipe: Herbed Beef Tenderloin & Asparagus

Prep Time: 20 minutes + 30 minute prep time ~ Cook Time: 25 minutes ~ Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients:

11-14 Oz. raw beef tenderloin (should yield 2 5 oz servings, depending on desired doneness

2 1/2 lbs. of asparagus (37 medium 5 1/4-7" spears)

Marinade/rub:

2 tbsp. of fresh parsley

1 tsp. of olive oil

1 tsp. of fresh thyme, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp. of Dijon Mustard

1 tsp. of fresh rosemary, minced

1/4 tsp. of fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

Marinate/rub: Combine ingredients in a bowl, setting aside a small portion of mix to be used for asparagus. Rub beef with mixture, then wrap beef in plastic wrap, refrigerate, and allow to marinate for 30 minutes. While meat is marinating, preheat grill to medium heat and prepare asparagus by washing and trimming ends. Lay asparagus spears on aluminum foil (leaving excess foil at edges).  Sprinkle remaining marinade mix over asparagus spears. Add 1-2 tbsps. of water. Fold foil by tucking ends to creating a "tent." Place on grill, leaving ends folded.  Grill beef 15-25 minutes, or until desired temperature.Continue to cook asparagus until al dente (tender firm). Each serving counts as: 1 "Lean" Protein Serving ~ 3 Vegetable Servings ~ 3 Optional Condiment Servings  

In order to keep your body in the Fat Burning State, instead of the Fat Storage State, it is critical that you fuel your body every 2 to 3 hours throughout the day for LIFE. This is also the best way to stabilize the blood sugar which keeps diseases at bay and slows the aging process!  

Excerpt from Dr. A’s Habits of Health, by Dr. Wayne S. Andersen Problem Solving vs. Desired Outcome (chapter 3, page 21):

Let’s say you have two choices. You can:1. Think in terms of trying to fix your bad health (a problem orientation) or 2. Shift your focus to creating heath (an outcome orientation) Most diet books fail to understand the difference between a problem-oriented motivation and an outcome-oriented motivation. Gosh, is it really that hard?

The first has to do with trying to solve a problem, like being unhealthily overweight; the second has to do with creating a desired state, like being optimally healthy. In the first, you’re motivated to take action to get rid of a problem; in the second, you’re motivated to take action to bring what you truly want into being. Changing our emphasis from what we’re against to what we’re for has a dramatic impact. Are we merely against something, or do we want to create an important result? And let me be clear here, I’m not talking about “positive thinking,” but rather about the fundamental reason we act -- with no spin on it, positive or otherwise. 

Researchers regularly report the success of certain diets, all the while warning people that the subjects on these “successful” diets couldn’t sustain weight loss for more than two years on average. And they always blame the diet itself for this long-term failing, because they don’t know any better. The one factor that’s never named -- that’s almost universally ignored -- is that the dieter’s motivation is usually a problem-solving, conflict-driven reaction to emotional anxiety. You could try to adopt the healthiest diet that ever existed, but if your motivation is to fix a health problem you have or might have in the future, you’ll be back to your old tricks in two years, with your weight back on and in worse shape than ever.

No wonder so many people feel helpless after trying time and again to lose weight. They don’t know why they can’t pull it off. They’re sincere about wanting to lose weight. They know the stakes are high. As you’ll learn in Phase I, choosing the right way to eat is one of the most critical factors in creating health. But how do you go about making this new approach a true lifestyle change—one that lasts beyond the two-year life span of most diets? As vitally important as the right approach to eating may be, that alone isn’t going to do it. And that’s why reaching your healthy weight is only the beginning of our journey.

The motivation factor is what makes all the difference between yo-yoing -- losing weight only to gain it back -- and creating optimal heath by adopting heath habits you can live with.What does that mean for you? That if you’re adopting a new eating approach because you’re reacting to the conflict you’re feeling at the moment, you won’t be able to maintain your initial success. Or, in simple English: Friend, you’re going to fail miserably. Sorry, but that’s just how it is. Think back to the last time you tried unsuccessfully to lose weight. Remember how you reverted to your old eating habits once the pressure to change diminished? Notice how easy it was to sink into your old behaviors.

You know, it’s not unusual for someone who’s spent months losing weight to celebrate their accomplishment by chowing down at McDonald’s or Burger King. Welcome to human nature! Soon you’re back to where you were before, or worse. Study after study shows the negative impact of dieting once the diet’s over. As you yo-yo from one diet to the next, you put yourself at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, more weight gain, and myriad other problems. It’s not your fault. You simply didn’t know that your problem-solving motivation was your downfall all along.  

Your approved Lean & Green shopping chart links are included below: also available on Dr. Wayne Andersen's Habits of Health website.   

Seafood Choices ~ Meat and Poultry Choices ~ Meatless Options ~ Fat and Oil Choices Green Vegetables and Salad ~ Healthy Snacks and Condiments ~ Mixing Instructions · Product Menu   

Referrals are the best compliment I can ever receive from you. Thank you in advance!  

Grant Hughes-Certified Health Coach - 678-468-2523