The Hangry Confession
For those who have known me for a while you know that I have an AWFUL, TERRIBLE side to me, which means you know the very minute my hunger turns into anger that I have become HANGRY. This word has gained popularity lately, but I'm pretty sure my friend Blake made it up when we were in high school and she would make me eat something when my blood sugar dropped (and my attitude worsened) Now why was I so notoriously hangry? I believe it was because I wasn't properly nourished. My good friend, Jess Hilton, is a healthy, natural foods, organic chef. Her food is amazing, and in the words of our friend Lauren "Jess' food is just sexy!" Yes, yes it is and you know what makes it extra sexy? It's SO GOOD for you and tastes amazing! This past weekend a couple girlfriends and I went to Goda Yoga in Culver City and met with Jess for a workshop to discuss healthy eating habits and choices. We discussed recipes, styles of eating, nutrition, how to read labels, eating for your body and many more subjects! Today I'm going to talk about Styles of Eating, I'll discuss my personal story and talk about how maybe you can start making better choices!
WARNING: Changing your lifestyle can be COMPLETELY overwhelming, but once you start making the little changes and learning more you may become addicted and your paycheck will stop going to restaurants and start going to Whole Foods (Whole check!), Farmers Markets and Natural Food Stores.
During our Saturday meeting Jess broke down the eating styles into 3 different categories: Mindful Eating, DIY Eat For Health, and Eat for Hunger. Eating for hunger is where you just eat whatever is placed in front of you with no thought process about it, DIY style is knowing something about nutrition and using the word "moderation" or "I cut back" or I added "coconut oil" to my diet because your friend said, or you watched an episode of Dr. Oz and are now an Md. This is where I used to be, I knew a good amount about food, I made some pretty (or what I thought were) healthy choices and sometimes VERY unhealthy choices. I think it's where a lot of us are and we aren't to be blamed for it entirely! The food companies spend SO MUCH money convincing you to buy their cheapened, processed, fake food that is making you sick and making you want more of it! Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who are 95 and smoked and drank and ate whatever and never had a weight problem or severe health problem, these are the exception, NOT the rule. There are 3 major points that we reached in our discussion that I feel is a good place for everyone to start!
1) Start by cutting back on the amount of times you make the "eh, it's not awful" "it's better than a Big Mac" kind of excuses. Instead of those kinds of meals and snacks start by getting a green juice or smoothie, and I'm not talking a Jamba Juice yogurt filled smoothie, or an orange juice. Go to that weird hippie/vegan/natural food store in your town and see if they have cold pressed organic juices and smoothies. The point is to cut the sugar addiction and start feeding your body some nutrients!!! If you're already there and comfortable making some small changes (roasted salted nuts to raw, for example!) GREAT! Move directly to step 2 (you may pass GO and collect $200).
2) You know that bright shiny colorful label the companies put on their food? Bright words with exclamation points, "It's a great source of fiber!" "Low in Fat" "Gluten free!" "ALL NATURAL" Yeah bullshit, all natural is the WORST thing you can see on a label (actually don't get me started on what Natural Flavors means in the ingredients list, gross). You know those things like Guar Bean Gum and Locust Bean Gum, and Lechitin, no, never heard of them? Yeah neither had I. Look at that label of packaged food you're eating, bet it's on there. Sure it's natural, but then it is processed and broken down and destroyed and used as a filler to preserve whatever packaged food has to be made in a plant, put on trucks, driven around the country, placed in a stockroom somewhere and then is found by you under the fluorescent lights of your grocery store..sounds YUMMY!! No. This has always been me, trusting a label, trusting the FDA was making sure all our Food and Drugs are safe (again don't get me started on the fucking joke that the FDA is, I've had enough political talk this week!) and purchasing what I considered healthy but normal healthy food. Well I am 33 with Stage IV breast cancer, I don't believe my food choices were 100% the cause of my cancer but I do think it played a significant part. Not to mention the extra 15 lbs that every woman in this country complains about carrying around, I worked out like a beast (ask my trainer he murdered me), and couldn't ever really change my body. After chemo I was the heaviest I've ever been in my life, since that day I have lost almost 25 lbs and guess what? About 18 of those lbs came off within 5 weeks of changing my lifestyle! But for me this isn't about weight loss, it's a great side effect but it's not my end goal, but it is a sign that my body is working properly. I have more energy than I've had in years, I don't walk around lethargic every day and sometimes I'll go past lunch time and forget because I have all the nutrients I need. I went from being hangry a lot and stressing about my food choices to not feeling so stressed out about it because I know I have all the tools I need to make the right choices.
3) 5 ingredients or less. So we discussed that label on front, now turn that thing over and look at the back. We have been conditioned to look right at the nutritional facts, I even bet in your head as you envisioned turning over whatever food package you had in your hands you looked straight to the nutritional label. I say fuck that thing! I mean not totally you can double check it, but look at the ingredients list first!!! About 5 ingredients should be your maximum, if it looks like some weird chemical name, it probably is. Look up your ingredients, see what they are. Research what you're putting into your body, eating the right things could prevent, slow, or cure what is ailing you. Organic fruit and vegetables are so important as well, yes you know it only has one ingredient, it's a carrot, but is it sprayed with tons of cancer causing chemicals from pesticides or dipped into a soy wax coating to make it look fresh because we don't like buying ugly vegetables? The fact is unless you know where it comes from it probably does. Farmer's markets or health stores are your best chance at making sure your putting the best possible thing in your body. Ask questions, don't be afraid, this is your health!!
Well I think I've rambled on enough today!! I have so much information I want to share but it's only one blog post! Go out and make healthy choices! I'll be here doing it with you, feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to help! And for more information on Jess or just to check out those sexy food photos follow her on Instagram @jesshiltoncooks and if you aren't following me you can find me @breastcancerchronicles
XOXO
Jenny
WARNING: Changing your lifestyle can be COMPLETELY overwhelming, but once you start making the little changes and learning more you may become addicted and your paycheck will stop going to restaurants and start going to Whole Foods (Whole check!), Farmers Markets and Natural Food Stores.
During our Saturday meeting Jess broke down the eating styles into 3 different categories: Mindful Eating, DIY Eat For Health, and Eat for Hunger. Eating for hunger is where you just eat whatever is placed in front of you with no thought process about it, DIY style is knowing something about nutrition and using the word "moderation" or "I cut back" or I added "coconut oil" to my diet because your friend said, or you watched an episode of Dr. Oz and are now an Md. This is where I used to be, I knew a good amount about food, I made some pretty (or what I thought were) healthy choices and sometimes VERY unhealthy choices. I think it's where a lot of us are and we aren't to be blamed for it entirely! The food companies spend SO MUCH money convincing you to buy their cheapened, processed, fake food that is making you sick and making you want more of it! Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who are 95 and smoked and drank and ate whatever and never had a weight problem or severe health problem, these are the exception, NOT the rule. There are 3 major points that we reached in our discussion that I feel is a good place for everyone to start!
1) Start by cutting back on the amount of times you make the "eh, it's not awful" "it's better than a Big Mac" kind of excuses. Instead of those kinds of meals and snacks start by getting a green juice or smoothie, and I'm not talking a Jamba Juice yogurt filled smoothie, or an orange juice. Go to that weird hippie/vegan/natural food store in your town and see if they have cold pressed organic juices and smoothies. The point is to cut the sugar addiction and start feeding your body some nutrients!!! If you're already there and comfortable making some small changes (roasted salted nuts to raw, for example!) GREAT! Move directly to step 2 (you may pass GO and collect $200).
2) You know that bright shiny colorful label the companies put on their food? Bright words with exclamation points, "It's a great source of fiber!" "Low in Fat" "Gluten free!" "ALL NATURAL" Yeah bullshit, all natural is the WORST thing you can see on a label (actually don't get me started on what Natural Flavors means in the ingredients list, gross). You know those things like Guar Bean Gum and Locust Bean Gum, and Lechitin, no, never heard of them? Yeah neither had I. Look at that label of packaged food you're eating, bet it's on there. Sure it's natural, but then it is processed and broken down and destroyed and used as a filler to preserve whatever packaged food has to be made in a plant, put on trucks, driven around the country, placed in a stockroom somewhere and then is found by you under the fluorescent lights of your grocery store..sounds YUMMY!! No. This has always been me, trusting a label, trusting the FDA was making sure all our Food and Drugs are safe (again don't get me started on the fucking joke that the FDA is, I've had enough political talk this week!) and purchasing what I considered healthy but normal healthy food. Well I am 33 with Stage IV breast cancer, I don't believe my food choices were 100% the cause of my cancer but I do think it played a significant part. Not to mention the extra 15 lbs that every woman in this country complains about carrying around, I worked out like a beast (ask my trainer he murdered me), and couldn't ever really change my body. After chemo I was the heaviest I've ever been in my life, since that day I have lost almost 25 lbs and guess what? About 18 of those lbs came off within 5 weeks of changing my lifestyle! But for me this isn't about weight loss, it's a great side effect but it's not my end goal, but it is a sign that my body is working properly. I have more energy than I've had in years, I don't walk around lethargic every day and sometimes I'll go past lunch time and forget because I have all the nutrients I need. I went from being hangry a lot and stressing about my food choices to not feeling so stressed out about it because I know I have all the tools I need to make the right choices.
3) 5 ingredients or less. So we discussed that label on front, now turn that thing over and look at the back. We have been conditioned to look right at the nutritional facts, I even bet in your head as you envisioned turning over whatever food package you had in your hands you looked straight to the nutritional label. I say fuck that thing! I mean not totally you can double check it, but look at the ingredients list first!!! About 5 ingredients should be your maximum, if it looks like some weird chemical name, it probably is. Look up your ingredients, see what they are. Research what you're putting into your body, eating the right things could prevent, slow, or cure what is ailing you. Organic fruit and vegetables are so important as well, yes you know it only has one ingredient, it's a carrot, but is it sprayed with tons of cancer causing chemicals from pesticides or dipped into a soy wax coating to make it look fresh because we don't like buying ugly vegetables? The fact is unless you know where it comes from it probably does. Farmer's markets or health stores are your best chance at making sure your putting the best possible thing in your body. Ask questions, don't be afraid, this is your health!!
Well I think I've rambled on enough today!! I have so much information I want to share but it's only one blog post! Go out and make healthy choices! I'll be here doing it with you, feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to help! And for more information on Jess or just to check out those sexy food photos follow her on Instagram @jesshiltoncooks and if you aren't following me you can find me @breastcancerchronicles
XOXO
Jenny
😘😘
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