Nutritional Information 
All of my clients receive basic meal plans that we can then customize together. I also supply them with weekly meal trackers and shopping lists.
Start writing down everything you eat. Start today.
Healthy Eating Guidelines:
-Always eat breakfast . Eat within one hour of rising. So if you normally get up at 6a.m., you should have breakfast by 7 a.m., then have a snack around 10 a.m
-Enjoy three meals and two to three snacks daily. That means alternating
every 3 to 4hours (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner) to keep your energy levels stable and your metabolism running.
-Eat every 2-3 hours to keep blood sugar stable
-Talk to me about foods that lower blood pressure and foods that speed metabolism
-Avoid eating within two hours of bedtime. As our body prepares for sleep, our
metabolism naturally slows down, so it's best to have your meals and snacks when your
system is functioning on all cylinders.
-Try to have a little protein and a healthy carb at each meal and snack,
don't forget fruits and vegetables have carbohydrates too
-The most important thing is that you don't skip meals or snacks so that you keep your blood sugar balanced and your energy levels humming.
-Aim for 25 grams of fibre a day
-Cleanse the liver regularly
-Drink some water, then drink some more water.
-Avoid white flour, sugar, and processed foods
-Try rye, spelt or kamut breads and pastas instead of wheat
-Include healthy fats for the heart, skin and joints
The 9 Best Winter Foods
Best Winter Vegetable #1: Brussels Sprouts
Remove the outer layer of leaves, trim the stems, and toss with olive oil and sea salt. Place them on a baking sheet and roast at 425 degree-F until they're nicely browned.
Best Winter Vegetable #2: Leeks
Many restaurants offer potato-leek soup in the winter, but you can also finely slice leeks and add them to omelets, salads, and rice.
Best Winter Vegetable #3: Beets
Wrap one or two beets in foil and bake them in a 350 degree-F oven for an hour or until they're cooked through. Then cut them into cubes to toss into a salad of greens and crumbled goat cheese. Add a drizzle of walnut oil.
Best Winter Vegetable #4: Kale
To temper kale's bitter taste, gently sauté it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic, and pine nuts.
Best Winter Fruit #1: Pomegranate
Pomegranate seeds are high in polyphenols, plant chemicals that fight inflammation. Mix the seeds into oatmeal for more flavor and crunch.
Best Winter Fruit #2: Persimmon
The antioxidants in persimmons can help control diabetes and the cell damage it causes. Serve the fruit with prosciutto and fresh mozzarella.
Best Winter Fruit #3: Kiwifruit
One kiwi contains about 100 milligrams of immunity-boosting vitamin C. Add kiwi slices to a spinach salad.
Best Winter Fruit #4: Guava
One cup of raw guava contains more than 8,500 micrograms of the antioxidant lycopene, which may help prevent coronary artery disease. Pair it with blue cheese and figs for a snack.
Best Winter Fruit #5: Pomelo
Pomelos pack flavanones, a class of antioxidants that have been shown to help prevent the spread of cancerous cells. Include them in a topping for a dessert sorbet.
The Truth About Energy Bars
They May Not Have as much Protein as You Think:
Some meal-replacement bars may not have as much protein as you think. You won't find pig's feet or cattle hide listed in the fine print, but that's because they're hidden behind names like gelatin, hydrolyzed collagen, or hydrolyzed gelatin. Both collagen and gelatin lack an essential amino acid required to make them a complete protein. That means the quality of the protein is inferior to products that lack gelatin or collagen.
Look for a bar that lists whey or casein protein—or a blend of both—as the first or second ingredient. These milk proteins contain all the essential amino acids your muscles need. Baylor University researchers found that when men with at least 6 weeks of weight training experience were given a whey-casein mixture before their workouts, they built 50 percent more lean muscle mass over 10 weeks than men who took only whey.
Could it Damage Your Manhood?: (reprinted from Mens Health Magazine)
“All-natural protein” is often code for soy, which research shows may cause gynocomastia—the abnormal enlargement of the mammary glands in men. When you consume soy protein, you’re actually courting the Mr. Hyde side of two organic compounds: genistein and daidzein. Both act so similarly to estrogen that they’re known as phytoestrogens (plant produced estrogen). Eat enough of the stuff, and you open up the potential for hormonal havoc.
They are Often Glued Together with Sugar:
Many allegedly healthy bars contain high fructose corn syrup, which quickly raises blood sugar and cancels out any of the potential benefits you might otherwise get from healthy ingredients like oats. Take Health Valley Low Fat Chocolate Chip Granola Bars, for example. The main ingredient is brown rice syrup—a euphemism for sugar. You’re better off snacking on good old-fashioned cheese and crackers to swap out sugar and calories for protein and fiber.
If you’re tied to the convenience of a bar, look for labels with no more than five ingredients. “The longer the list and the more unpronounceable the words are, the farther it is from real food,” says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D, CNS Board Certified Nutrition Specialist.
They Don't Boost Energy:
Food companies out to make a buck capitalize on “energy’s” double meaning. Most consumers expect an “energy bar” to make them feel energetic or like they could hammer out an extra set of reps at the gym. But to nutritionists, “energy” simply means calories. “Boosting energy is a completely bogus claim,” Bowden says “It’s a weasel use of the word energy.” Unless you’re recovering from a grueling workout or running a marathon, opt for nutrient-packed snacks.
They are Loaded with Sugar Substitutes:
Reduced-sugar and sugar-free bars appeal to carb-conscious consumers because they have little impact on blood sugar—but not without a price. Sugar alcohols like malitol and sorbitol can cause uncomfortable side effects such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea when taken in large doses—like you might get in an energy bar. What’s more, “reduced sugar” does not necessarily mean reduced calorie—at least, not reduced enough to matter. Malitol, for example, has 75 percent the calories of sugar, and since it’s not as sweet as the real thing, more must be used to achieve the same taste.
Our Top Picks:
Larabar Cherry
190 calories
8 g fat (0.5 g saturated fat)
4 g protein
21 g sugars
4 g fiber
Made from exactly 3 ingredients: dates, almonds, and cherries. Larabar is the closest thing to real food in the bar section of the gocery store.
Atkins Advantage Peanut Butter Granola Bar
200 calories
7 g fat (1 g saturated fat)
17 g protein
1 g sugar
6 g fiber
Great postworkout meal.
Pass By These Bars:
PowerBar Energize Berry Blast Smoothie
210 calories
3.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated fat)
6 g protein
24 g sugars
<1 g fiber
Besides the fact that it doesn’t contain a single gram of fiber, this bar lists evaporated cane juice (aka sugar) as its first ingredient.
Quaker Oatmeal to Go Apples & Cinnamon
220 calories
4 g fat (1 g saturated fat)
4 g protein
22 g sugar
5 g fiber
High-fructose corn syrup and margarine pollute this package.
(Christmas may be over, but the following article applies to any time of year)
Party Treats + Alcohol = Extra Calories
and the Gift of a Spare Tire
For those of you wanting to drown your sorrows of a holiday season gone mad with copious amounts of spiked eggnog like actor Chevy Chase in the movie Christmas Vacation or bringing good cheers by combining large amounts of high-fat treats with high-caloric alcohol, the New Year may start with a rude awakening.
A study conducted at the Laval University in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, showed that combining high-fat foods such as glazed ham, stuffing and pecan pie with alcoholic drinks causes people to put away many more calories than eating fatty foods with nonalcoholic drinks, or eating low-fat foods with or without alcohol, according to an article that appeared in The New York Times.
“We found that the body does not seem to ‘notice’ the calories from alcohol and compensate by reducing other intake,” reported Dr. Angelo Tremblay, who led the study. “The result is higher caloric intake whether you are eating a high- or low-fat diet.”
Considering that a traditional Christmas dinner can easily add up to more than 1,500 calories—a plate filled with ham, cornbread with butter, a slice of cheesecake, mashed potatoes with gravy, salad with croutons and vinaigrette, and a glass of beer—consuming additional calories from alcohol is likely to put extra pounds on your frame.
This, of course, begs the question whether some alcoholic beverages are more forgiving— at least in terms of their caloric intake— than others.
The general answer: Hard liquor and cocktail drinks tend to have many more calories than a glass of beer or wine, but having one cocktail or multiple drinks can easily add up to a meal.
Eggnog
In the movie Christmas Vacation, Clark Griswold asks his cousin Eddie, who is unemployed and arrived uninvited with his entire family, if he can refill his eggnog. Considering that one cup of eggnog (250 ml) contains 160-290 calories and a shot of spirits adds about another 60 calories, it would serve Clark well to share his spiked eggnog and sorrow.
Wine
Red and white wine have about the same amount of calories, 121-125 calories per 5-ounce glass. Dessert wines tend to have more calories: A 3.5-ounce glass, has about 165 calories, according to Eat this, Not That book author David Zinczenko. Add sugar to sparkling wine before final bottling and you get the bubbly we all love during the Holiday season and a few extra calories, or about 163 in a 6.5-ounce flute.
Beer
Among popular non-light beers on the market, a 12-ounce bottle of Corona Extra (148 calories, 14 g of carbs and 4.6% alcohol by volume) is the “lightest” pick.
Ranking just below the Mexican brew, in terms of caloric intake, are three beers: Samual Adams Boston Lager (160 calories, 18 g of carbs and 4.8% alcohol content) and Bass Ale (160 calories, 13 g of carbs, 5.5% alcohol content) and George Killian’s Irish Red (163 calories, 14 g of carbs, 4.9% alcohol content).
Zinczenko’s “worst pick”: Sam Adams Cream Stout beer, which has 190 calories, 24 g of carbs and an alcohol volume of 4.9%.
Better for your waist line are the following two “light beers”: Beck’s Premier Light with 64 calories, 4 g of carbs and 3.8% volume of alcohol and Michelob ULTRA, which has 95 calories, 2.6 carbs and 4.1% volume of alcohol. Amstel Light, which packs 99 calories, 5.5 g of carbs and 3.5% volume of alcohol, is a true alternative to Amstel’s heavyweight Cream Stout.
Guiness Draught may be the surprising low-calorie standby: One bottle has 126 calories, 10 g of carbohydrates and 4% volume of alcohol.
Hard Liquor and Cocktails = Hard to Burn Calories
When it comes to hard liquor, a 1.5-ounce glass of 53-proof Kahlua has 170 calories, which is only 10 calories shy of a whole wheat Krispy Kreme doughnut.
A 1.5-ounce serving of 90-proof Gin has 110 calories, the caloric equivalent of a ½ cup of Zesty Lemon Sorbet from Haagen-Dazs.
A frozen margarita made with 2 ounces of tequila, 4.5 ounces of Jose Cuervo margarita mix, and salt will set you back about 246 calories, the equivalent of a 4-ounce serving of Baskin-Robbins Cherries Jubilee ice cream.
One Pina Colada, made with Malibu rum, pineapple juice and cream, packs about 312 calories, or 32 calories less than the Small Chocolate Sundae sold at the Dairy Queen.
The Mudslide, made with vodka, coffee liqueur, Irish cream and vanilla ice cream, is the bomb of all cocktails. It packs 820 calories in a 12-ounce serving, an entire restaurant meal.
For the same calories packed in a Mudslide cocktail you can eat 1 Arby’s Roast Beef and Swiss Market Fresh Sandwich (810 calories); 1 Denny’s Buttermilk Pancake Platter (890 calories); or 2 slices of Domino’s Classic Hand-tossed Pizza (510 calories) and a soda.
By comparison, a 2-ounce serving of Martini, made with Gin and dry Vermouth, has 119 calories; a 2.1-ounce serving of a Manhattan, made with Whiskey, Vermouth and Bitters, has 132 calories. This makes these two “Ms” the low-calorie cocktail drink alternative.
Recommendations for “better cocktail choices” are an 8-ounce Bloody Mary (140 calories; 8 g of carbs; 150 mg sodium) drink and a 6-ounce Screwdriver (130 calories; 13 g of carbs) drink.
A Happy Holiday
So whether you’re struggling with holiday angst or excessive holiday cheer, try going for a walk, a bike ride or any other type of physical activity that will lift your spirits.
Being physically active before or after a meal will not only help burn calories, but is also a great way to deal with holiday stress. Then get the family and friends together for a great comedy hour with the Griswold’s or the Grinch.
Don't forget to take a look atthe recipes I've collected.Check out my guide toDining Out.