Sleep difficulties can take several different forms. Let’s look at one. If you have trouble falling asleep at night, one easy solution is to eat a small portion of carbohydrate, preferably starch, about an hour or so before bed. Starch examples include quinoa, potato, rice, sweet potato, pumpkin, oats, even pasta. What Starches Do ————————————————————————————- Note from John: Last Thursday a participant asked me; “John, where do you find all
Making Caffeine Work For Us
Caffeine is a drug that can be used in appropriate ways, so it has definite value. This post covers a few uses of caffeine.
How Sugar Changed My Elevator Pitch
Do you have an elevator pitch? Mine has changed several times – all necessary. But this post is actually about the emotions that sugar generates. I began with a standard 30-second elevator pitch. Remember that version? It was the original length years ago, but now almost nobody will listen that long. I shortened mine to 15 seconds. Yet people went glassy-eyed when I said “psychoactive nutrition,” even though I immediately
Resisting Weight Loss
Participant resistance was such a big part of running a weight-loss program, I didn’t even realize it was a thing to write about (if that makes any sense). It just went with the territory. “Resist” has many synonyms: oppose, battle, combat, duel, fight back, put up a fight, defy, struggle against, stonewall. Why would someone join a weight-loss program – and pay lots of money – only to do these?
The Natural Eating Cycle – and How Sugar Can Disrupt It
The Natural Eating Cycle is simple and straightforward: We feel hungry. We eat in response. The hunger stops. We stop eating and lose interest in food. We could visualize those 4 steps as a circle because they form a continual, ongoing process. Eating that natural way is primal and elemental. Babies are expert at it, although it obviously takes a parent or caretaker to feed them. The last step is
Protein Powder: What’s the Use Of It?
Frequently, I recommend protein powder to supplement dietary protein, but my clients aren’t always sure exactly what to do once they have it. That’s the topic of this post. Why Protein Is Important Protein has numerous functions in the body, starting with the obvious one that it can be converted to glucose for energy. Because I’ve covered protein in previous posts, I’ll keep this part brief. Protein is used to
B Complex Can Trample Sugar Cravings: So Why Does It Sometimes Not Work?
Liquid B complex is the only Nutrition Magic I know. It can stop a sugar craving within a few minutes. But every so often, people will tell me they tried it and it didn’t work. How could that be? Careful questioning revealed a few common reasons that prevent B complex from working effectively. Here’s what I’ve discovered. Not Using Liquid B Complex The liquid formulation seems to speed up the
Healthy Candy: Looking For a Sugar Loophole (In All the Wrong Places)
Several months ago, an author known for being a strong proponent of healthful eating wrote an article about a new line of “good” candy bars. You know: organic ingredients, no preservatives, that sort of thing. The author took an if-you-can’t-beat-em-join-em approach. Candy isn’t going to go away, so let’s make better candy. Who makes these healthy candy bars? A company aptly named UnReal. Their idea was to duplicate the top-selling
The Benefits Of Rotten Food (And I Don’t Mean Sugar!)
My college roommate used to turn down yogurt, saying, “I never eat rotten food.” Now, there may be reasons not to eat yogurt, but the fact that it’s rotten isn’t one of them. Maybe a better term for “rotten” is fermented. Fermentation is highly beneficial for the digestive system, and we’ll get to that. Meanwhile, how do we know if we should eat rotten foods? Problems with bloating, gas, acid
No Room For Willpower in Sugar Addiction
As a nutritionist who coaches many clients with sugar addiction, I find myself talking about willpower frequently and thinking about it a lot. I used to take a hard line against willpower – or rather, against people’s view of it. On behalf of my clients, I resented those who smirked when the clients reacted to sugary temptations with vulnerability and conflict. “You don’t have to eat it,” they would smirk.
Sugar Craving “Cures” That Just Don’t Work
Sugar is big nutrition news these days, and sugar addiction is getting the attention it deserved a long time ago when only a few nuts (like yours truly) were talking about it. I searched recently for the mainstream “wisdom” on getting rid of sugar cravings. The suggestions I found display a poor understanding by the various authors of what makes us crave sugar. Below are some of those suggestions, and
