Sylvia Egel Wants You to Learn to Understand Your Food
It is not only important how one loses weight … the most important part is to find a way to keep it off. How can you accomplish this? By changing your lifestyle … which is easier said than done, right?!
We think that the best way to make the right choices and change our (maybe not so healthy) lifestyle is to know why we should eat these healthy foods and what foods actually are the culprits. Therefore, education for our clients, in the form of 3 trainings, has become a big part of the metabolic balance® support system. These trainings do not substitute for the individual support through our metabolic balance® coaches, but rather provide a more fundamental understanding of the relationship between food, nutrients and our well-being.
During the metabolic balance® program a new lifestyle has to take over and successful changes need to be implemented. In the first training for the metabolic balance® Phases 1&2 we communicate the scientific foundation of our nutrition program and also help our participants to get familiar with the reasons for the strategies of our program. The deeper understanding of the linkage between food and health will help our participants to succeed and to make plan adherence easier.
When our clients are close to their program goal - either a target weight or a health objective - they are able to introduce new food items and are allowed more leeway. Sometimes this makes it harder to comply and to survive in the food jungle. Our Phase 3 Training focuses on general knowledge of the different food groups and helps to raise an awareness of possible issues. Challenges are discussed - like the integration of physical activities, athleticism or holidays, business trips, parties or vacations.
Once the goal is reached, the most important phase of the metabolic balance® program starts - Maintenance. In the Phase 4 Training we instruct our participants how to transcend the fine line between diet and way of life. This final training closes the circle between he knowledge acquired during the client trainings and the coaching sessions.
(Sylvia Egel is the Director of Coaching and Education for metabolic balance USA. You can read more posts from Sylvia here and here.)
Look up the PLU Code and Learn More About Your Produce
See those numbers on your produce? They are there to make life easier for the retailer but they also may give you more information about the food you are eating. Here is a site where you can look up the PLU code on your food and find out whether it really is organic, genetically modified etc. Please note that the codes are not mandatory so your food may not be in the system but if it is, you will have access to the information.
Dr. Funfack’s Food Pyramid - This is How You Should Eat!
UN Says We Should Eat Insects
How much effort do you think it would take to add insects to your diet? The UN thinks you should be trying. Read about about it here.
[photo used with cc permission from Agostino Martinelli]
metabolic balance Monday Recipe- Egg with White and Green Asparagus Nest
Ingredients
1 portion of vegetables (white and green asparagus, leeks and carrots)
1 portion eggs
1 portion vegetable broth
olive oil
herbs
Instructions
Peel white asparagus and cook in boiling water. (White asparagus takes longer to cook than green so cook them separately. You need to make sure that the white asparagus is cook enough so that it will bend and not be woody.)
Cook green asparagus but remove before soft (you need to be able to slice them without them falling apart)
Set the asparagus aside to cool. Once cool, slice the asparagus into strips. (lengthwise)
Boil the egg. (Three minutes and the egg will still be soft inside. If you don’t like soft eggs boil the egg for longer.)
Clean and wash the leek. Cook the leek and carrot in the vegetable broth until soft. Drain the broth. Add herbs to the leek and carrots and then puree.
Take the asparagus strips and sauté with a bit of oil and season to taste.
Place the puree in a puddle on a plate. Take the sautéed asparagus and place them on the puree to form a ring. Keep building alternating the color of asparagus until you have created a nest for the asparagus.
Place your peeled egg in the middle of the nest and serve.
NOTE: If you are in the strict phase, omit the oil and sauté your asparagus in a bit of the vegetable broth used to cook the leek. (that step really is to just warm the asparagus. If you time it right, and you have hands that can handle it, you can just slice the asparagus and make the nest while the asparagus is warm.
Christoph Egel’s Friday Blog: Food in Chain Restaurants - A Nutritional Disaster
It seems that eating in chain restaurants is still an unhealthy option!
Several recently published studies highlight how bad many of the menu choices in chain restaurants really are:
According to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, the nutritional quality of fast food produced by the eight most common fast food chains in the United States barely improved over the last 14 years.
According to University of Toronto researchers, who analyzed the nutritional information of food ordered at 19 sit-down restaurant chains, the average meal contained 56 percent of the recommended daily 2,000-calorie intake for a healthy adult.
According to researchers from Tufts University, who tested 157 meals from 33 individual or small-chain restaurants near Boston, the average meal contains two to three times the calories a person needs at a single sitting, and more than half what is needed for an entire day.
Results like this do not support the the health claims made by the fast food chains - market research for 2010-2011 showed an increase in the use of the word “healthy” by 86 percent and of the term “low-fat” by 33 percent. Maybe this is one reason why “more than one quarter of American adults consume fast food two or more times per week.” … “Fast food accounts for 15 percent of Americans’ daily energy intake. Specifically, 37.4 percent of sales of meals and snacks away from home are at limited-service eating places such as fast-food restaurants.”
Obviously, fast-food restaurants still deserve their bad reputation for the high nutritional quality of their meals. But, as the Tuft study demonstrates, simply sticking to smaller chains and independent restaurants won’t guarantee healthier choices. It is particularly frustrating that these smaller chains will be exempt from a new regulation, which requires chains with 20 or more locations to post calorie content for all of their menu items.
One has to wonder, who is to blame for this lack of progress. Given the dire predictions surrounding the obesity epidemic, we would expect to see tangible improvements in the nutritional quality of chain restaurant meals. It seems that the restaurant chains respond to regulatory pressure by offereing some healthy menu choices while the American consumer continues to order the unhealthy meals. Restaurants will unltimately sell what the consumer buys - as long as we super-size burgers, fries, shakes, and soft drinks, the situation will not improve!
So, next time you eat out, conciously select healthy food!
New Year’s Resolution: Lose 23.6 lbs in 9 Weeks
A double digit number of metabolic balance clients joined the 2013 metabolic balance New Year’s Challenge and we reported on the progress of several participants here on our blog.
Over the last weeks we collected the data through our network of coaches and, while a few laggart results are still trickeling in, the final picture has emerged … and even we were surpised about the outcome!
Participants came from all over the United States and represented many levels of weight loss needs and metabolic challenges. While this program ran from January 1st through March 31st (12 weeks), some participants started the 2013 metabolic balance® New Year’s Challenge as early as January 4th while one participant joined as late as late as March 3rd.
Here is a quick summary of weight loss results our Challange participants achieved:
Average duration participated was 9 weeks
Average weight loss achieved was 23.7 lbs
Average weight loss per week was 2.6 lbs, with a range of 1.1 lbs/week to 4.1 lbs/week
While these successes are certainly not statistically significant, they very much mirror the results from the independent Metabolic Balance Study published by the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism in 2010, where researchers concluded that “program adherence turned out to be the most important factor for success”. In other words, the more motivated participants were to effectively change bad eating habits, the more weight was lost! And what better motivator than a serious New Year’s Resolution!
The theme of the 2013 metabolic balance® New Year’s Challenge was Give Back by Losing. Along with a personal reward of $2 for each pound lost by our participants, metabolic balance® commited to match the rewarded amount with a donation to Action for Healthy Kids. Action for Healthy Kids is a public-private partnership of organizations representing education, health, fitness, and nutriton. metabolic balance® is pleased to support a shared vision of a world, where all children develop the lifelong habits necessary to promote health and learning.
Congratulations to our Challenge participants! Now that they have lost all this weight, their new challenge is to keep going and to ultimately maintain the achieved weight loss. We are confident that – with the assistance of their metabolic balance® coach – they will succeed on this journey!
Dr. Funfack Talks About Dr. Budwig’s Cancer Fighting Drink Recipe
In Germany, Dr. Funfack has a monthly webinar where he answers questions about metabolic balance and eating what makes sense. In a recent webinar, Dr. Funfack was asked about the Budwig drink. Dr. Funfack’s answer to the question is summarized below. (If you are unfamiliar with The Budwig recipe/drink, It is a recipe/drink created by Dr. Budwig, a famous German biochemist who focused her research on fighting cancer.)
Q: What does Dr. Funfack think about Budwig Cocktail/drink?
A: The answer is that Dr. Funfack thinks highly of the Budwig cocktail/drink.
The Budwig drink has very good anti inflammatory properties due it its high omega 3 content and can be easily used while on the metabolic balance plan (after the strict phase).
The ingredients for a budwig cocktail are as follows:
1tbsp flaxseed oil
2tbsp quark (milk curd)
50ml fruit juice for example Aronia Juice.
People worry about having this drink during a meal because of the mixing of proteins but Dr. Funfack says not to worry. The amount of protein in Budwig drink is so low that it does not lead to acidosis.
NOTE: Please do not use the Budwig recipe during the strict phase and do not use it as a replacement for your breakfast. Do not double the amount and try to use it as breakfast. That doesn’t work. Instead, drink it with your breakfast sort of like medicine. You can have it with each meal or have it occasionally.
Dr. Funfack also says that you will have the best results if you use Budwig recipe as mentioned and in the exact amounts listed above.
metabolic balance Monday Recipe - Grilled Portabello Mushrooms
Ingredients:
portabello mushrooms (protein portion)
1-2 TBSP olive oil*
2 TBSP chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, miced
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
Instructions:
Clean portobello mushrooms with a dry kitchen paper towel and remove stems, reserve for other use.
Place caps on a plate with the gills up. In a small bowl, combine the oil, onion, garlic and vinegar. Pour mixture evenly over the mushroom caps and let stand for 1 hour.
Grill over hot grill for 10 minutes. Serve immediately. (Yields 3 servings)
* Substitute vegetable broth for oil during the Strict Phase (w/o oil) of your personalized metabolic balance® plan, or do not use this recipe.
Source: metabolic-balance.com
Christoph Egel’s Friday Blog: AN INVESTMENT IN NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE …
… PAYS THE BEST INTEREST! This free interpretation of Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote certainly reflects an important tenant in the American fight against obesity.
It is hard to understand, then, that according to the Public News Service Nutrition Education is on the Chopping Block. Their article reported earlier this week that committees of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives are considering the elimination of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) education programs.
A brand new infographic from the George Washington University titled The Cost of Obesity shows how much poor nutrition costs the American people – in human terms and in financial terms. The authors referenced a report, which concludes:
Reducing obesity by just 5% could save more than $29 billion in health care savings in 5 years and could pay down nearly 13% of the federal deficit over the next 20 years.
Cutting nutrition education is obviously a very shortsighted course of action! Regardless of what the federal government decides, there are many organizations determined to improve the nutrition knowledge of the American public – metabolic balance among them!
We at metabolic balance, as reported here earlier this week, are stepping up our educational efforts – for our coaches, for our clients and for people interested in the metabolic balance method. Ultimately, though, nutrition knowledge is only one piece of the puzzle; to use another quote, this time from a famous Gerrman:
Knowing is not enough, we must apply … willing is not enough, we must do!
metabolic balance’s New Certification Concept
Late in April metabolic balance® piloted a new certification concept at the the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC), which will make it easier for YOU to become certified as a metabolic balance® coach. This new approach combines an online certification course, which is offered through our metabolic balance eTraining Institute covering the scientific basics and medical fundamentals with a live seminar, where we teach nutrition basics and program execution. The 3rd pillar in our Education Framework are continuous education events, which we provide via webinars.
Using this new certification concept metabolic balance® will offer more frequent certification opportunities in more convenient locations across the country. The majority of the learning can be done online in the comfort of your own home and at your own pace. The live certification event with our Director of Coaching & Education is a power day … but it last only one day compared to the 3 days in the past. This can be fit better in a busy life and practice.
Our pilot event at KUMC was intentionally kept small to best prove the concept and optimize the lessons learned. Ultimately, this new concept will enable us to certify coaches more often - a faster and more practicable approach, with the same high quality education and outcome.
Earlier this year we increased the frequency of continuous education offerings to our coaches. In two webinars each month we cover topics ranging from detailed Nutrition Information, Eating Habits, Lifestyle Changes to Effective Sales & Marketing and Social Media. In total, we offer 15 different webinars to keep our coaches educated and informed.
Click here to learn more about becoming and being a metabolic balance® coach - our next certification events will be:
June 22 in Philadelphia, PA
August 24 in San Francisco, CA
October 18 in Houston, TX
Sylvia Egel, Director of Coaching and Education for metabolic balance USA, recently went to the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) to work on a new certification concept. We will be sharing more information with you tomorrow about Sylvia’s work and trip to KUMC.
metabolic balance Useful Links - Online Nutritional Education
Are you a fan of online education? If you are an independent online learner and you would like to take some college level nutrition courses, here are a few links you may enjoy visiting.
Coursera.Org - Food & Nutrition
Education Portal - List of free nutrition related courses
