Jessica Simpson’s Aphrodite Attitude

Jessica’s confidence and beauty shines through regardless of what the scale says, and THAT is an Aphrodite Attitude!

I remember back in 2004, I saw Maxim’s countdown of the “Maxim Hot 100” on VH1 and I loved that Jessica Simpson took the number one spot. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that makes me so drawn to her. Scratch that… I know EXACTLY why I love her so much, but I’ll let you see why:

She epitomizes the Essence of an Aphrodite Attitude, not because she’s blonde bombshell, but because she UNABASHEDLY LOVES who she is NOW!! She admits that’s she’s not always following her “diet” perfectly because she’s only human and she wants to enjoy her life.

An Aphrodite Attitude can and will have many faces; Jessica’s just so happens to be more focused on healthy eating habits and being happy and in love with herself, despite what a scale might say.

I want every woman to have the same confidence that Jessica has.

Aphrodite Attitude Redefined

Embracing your inner goddess means honestly contemplating whether all three parts of you (mind, body and spirit) are truly in harmony on a regular basis.

A few days ago I had a webinar from one of my business mentors playing while I was cooking my lunch and at the time I didn’t fully understand why. Then, just as I was starting to tune the audio out, she mentioned how she almost lost the rights to use one of her tag lines in a legal proceeding. The slogan she referred to reads as follows: “Remove your blocks so your business rocks!”

Unbeknownst to me, playing that webinar was the best thing I could have done for myself and for y’all. I’ve been pondering why the tag line resonated with me as much as it did, and I realized why: I’m ignoring a major block of my own!

While I absolutely LOVE helping y’all learn about the amazing healing properties of food, I understand now that that is not my only mission. To serve y’all to the best of my ability, I know that I have to stay true to myself and embrace EVERY aspect of a complete Aphrodite Attitude, especially the mental component! I could give you advice on infinite external tools you can use to improve your self-esteem, but if I continue to be negligent in acknowledging that we need to discuss the mental component as well, I am not fully honoring my mission.

From this point forward, I want to use this blog to help you embrace, develop and maintain your Aphrodite Attitude. In order to do that, you have to want to examine the following:

1. Your willingness to acknowledge that a HEALTHY state of mind allows you to admit you’re flawed (and that your flaws are just as beautiful as your strengths, just like Aphrodite),
2. Examples of strong, confident women who have the the courage to break down and eradicate the societal compulsion to force every aspect of your life into a perfect box, and
3. External tools that will reinforce our stronger senses of self-worth, including (but not limited to) balancing your psyche, proper nutrition (weight loss/gain is a bonus!!) & skin care/makeup.

Is Your Weight Loss Program Foundationally Sound?

I’ve been trying to find a way to verbalize how important your mindset is when you’re determined to be healthier, but Ellie said it better than I ever could!

Enjoy!

New Creations Ministries

It’s the end of January and once-determined dieters are falling by the wayside every day. Why? Discouragement, boredom, distractions . . . all influence decisions. The most important reason for failure however, is that their program wasn’t built on a firm foundation to begin with!

Until one asks “Why do I want to do this?” it’s like slathering paint over moldy dry wall. The underlying problem always returns. It’s important to unmask the emotional and psychological reasons why one uncontrollably eats in the first place. It’s painful facing up to the truth.  It is so much easier to procrastinate and hide from it than to rip away the revealing scars in our memory.

One of my patients had been horribly abused as a child and theorized that if she hid her body under layers of fat, no man would find her attractive. God lifted her out of her despair when she realized that she had value in His eyes…

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Disheartened? Disregard Your Scale!

I couldn’t agree more with Ellie’s sentiment. I threw away my scale 2 years ago and made my focus how I feel and it’s an incredible feeling to get that anxiety about the scale out of my life!

New Creations Ministries

Okay, you have been on your weight loss plan for five weeks now, how are you holding up? Still resolving to lose weight or are you a trifle discouraged?  Ready to give up? Then I’d recommend you throw away that scale.  A scale is not a great indicator as to how healthy one is and you have probably been checking it every day now, hopeful you have lost a pound or two.

Healthy living is the objective, not thinness. Weight means very little but bone structure means a lot. If you are large-boned, you will never comfortably be able to fit into a size 2.  If you are small boned, even a weight gain of 5 lbs. will make you look a little pudgy. Good news – God created each of us uniquely but wants all to be healthy.

In regards to  weight: a pint equals a pound. If you drink a couple of cups of water, coffee, tea or eat breakfast and then step…

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The Natural Cure for Diabetes

Y’all know I love to give you the scoop on the incredible foods nature has to offer us, and I’ll continue to do so, but I think I’ll start finding other sources of evidence besides articles on the web.

Over the weekend, I went to a screening of a documentary called “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days,” and to say was good is the understatement of the millennium! For the film, they found 5 subjects with Type 2 diabetes and 1 subject with Type 1.

All of the subjects met with a Dr. Cousens who introduced them to the raw food lifestyle and had them eat only raw for 30 days. As I’m sure you know, it wasn’t an easy thing to do because of all the sugar we Americans have in our diets: the average American consumes approximately 150 pounds of sugar per year!

One man’s story really made me want to break down in tears. Kirt was a 26-year-old African American man from Baltimore, Maryland. He shared a story about how one time he went to the emergency room and the doctors told him his blood sugar level was at 1200; the normal range for blood sugar is between 80-100!!

Kirt impressed me further when he adhered the most to the diet – he gave those 30 days 110% because he knew that that was what was required if he truly wanted to cure his diabetes.

On day one of the program, his blood sugar was about 346 and he was taking 4 to 6 insulin shots a day. By day 30, not only was he able to STOP his insulin, his blood sugar was down to 73! At the end of the movie, Kirt went to his doctor to get the results of some blood work and he was surprised to find that his doctor had reread his file and was going to rediagnose him as a type 1 diabetic and had plans to give him an insulin pump! I’m sure you all know that people with type 1 diabetes produce very little or no insulin – but after a strict 30-day diet of raw foods, his body was totally healed and started making its own insulin!

My moral of the story is, although many doctors mean well, they are definitely undereducated about the power of the food we have available to us. Granted, they take the Hippocratic Oath upon graduating from medical school, but the better musing from Hippocrates is “Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.”

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is an incredible spice that not only brings zesty flavor to your favorite foods, it’s also believed to be a powerful antidote against multiple ailments, including arthritis, diabetes, headaches/migraines, and LDL (bad cholesterol).

Western medicine has yet to commission detailed studies on how this ancient Chinese herb can improve your health, but there are fabulous resources, such as GreenMedInfo, that focus on alternative medicinal therapies like spices and herbs. GreenMedInfo does a fantastic job of differentiating between the two main variants of cinnamon, Cassia and Ceylon.

Most cinnamon available in the United States is Cassia (milled mainly in China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam); this is the weaker of the two but is still an awesome source of manganese. Manganese helps to build healthy bones and increase your carbohydrate and fat metabolisms. Cassia cinnamon should be avoided if you are taking blood thinners like Coumadin because it contains higher traces of coumarin, a natural blood thinner.

Ceylon comes from India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Brazil and the Caribbean. This variant is considered the “true cinnamon” because it is sweeter, lighter and more refined than cassia.

Long story short, both kinds of cinnamon will adequately flavor the dishes you use it on, but it’s important to heed the warning about cassia consumption.

Scintillating Scallops

When I was a kid, my mother would make flounder and white rice for me. Unfortunately, I was an extremely picky eater back then and I’d refuse to try other kinds of seafood.

Now that I’m older, my desire to experiment has grown exponentially and I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes: Seared Scallops with Herb-Butter Sauce. I’ve tweaked the recipe slightly; you can find the original recipe here.

 For the scallops, you’ll need:

• 1 lb of dry, large sea scallops

• 1 Tbsp Smart Balance with Omega-3

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or flaxseed oil

• Fresh ground black pepper

For the sauce, you’ll need:

• 3 Tbsps Smart Balance with Omega-3

• 1 medium shallot, diced

• ¼ cup of herbs (I like chives, rosemary and parsley)

• ¼ cup of your favorite liqueur (I like Kahlúa)

• ¼ cup lime zest

• Fresh ground black pepper

Quick tip: Chop your herbs and the shallot for the sauce before you start cooking the scallops.

Cooking directions (scallops):

1. Rinse scallops in cold water then pat dry with paper towels

2. Warm a nonstick skillet on medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes

3. Add oil and Smart Balance to the pan → to test if the mixture is hot enough, run your fingers under some cold water then splash it into the oil and Smart Balance. When it’s hot enough, the cold water will instantly boil off

4. Pat scallops dry once more before placing them in the pan (spread them around the pan for best cooking results)

5. Season each scallop with your choice of spices and place in the pan to sear

6. Let each scallop cook for 2 to 4 minutes until nicely browned (you’ll know it’s ready when it’s mostly firm to the touch)

7. Flip with tongs and repeat searing on the other side

8. Transfer the scallops to a warm plate (turn the burner down to medium and let the pan cool for about 45 seconds before starting the sauce

Cooking directions (herb-butter sauce):

1. Melt 1 Tbsp of Smart Balance in the pan

2. Add shallots to the pan and sautee for 1-2 minutes

3. Pour Kahlúa and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes or until it reduces by ½

4. Mix in herbs and lime zest and reduce heat to low

5. Add the other 2 Tbsps of Smart Balance to mixture and whisk briskly until it melts completely

6. Return scallops to the pan and roll them in sauce until warmed through

7. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Sleep and Weight Loss

We all know how important it is to get a good night’s sleep to let our bodies heal itself from the wear and tear from that day. What we eat impacts how well we sleep.

I’m sure there have been several studies on this, but I like to try things out for myself before I back anything… and those studies are TRUE!!

When I ate junk like soda, Kraft macaroni & cheese, hamburgers, hot dogs, candy, and the like regularly I always had problems falling asleep for more than an hour at a time. Now, that I use simple ingredients in my recipes, I sleep like a baby and I can count on falling asleep at a specific time every night!

I’ve done a little research and apparently all of the sugar and chemicals from the boxed crap we eat keeps us from falling into what science calls “Delta sleep.” WebMD defines “delta sleep” (link here) as a stage in the NREM (non-rapid eye movement) cycle where the body can repair/regenerate tissue, build bones/muscles and strengthen your immune system!

So the next time you feel a little sleepy, listen to your body and take a quick nap!

SlimVox

I don’t believe that diet pills should be the crux of anyone’s plan to change their eating habits, but they might be helpful if you need to lose weight but can’t work out.

A prime example is be when I was on bed rest for my back injury: I could barely move without excruciating pain, let alone exercise. Despite my limitations, I was determined to do SOMETHING to change my destructive eating habits, so I started doing research on what kinds off supplements were available to me. One day I came across SlimVox and I noticed I could pronounce the ingredients and that stoked my curiosity. The more research I did on SlimVox, the more it impressed me, so I ordered it to see how it could help me during my recovery.

Supplementing.com has a terrific in-depth YouTube review on the ingredients in SlimVox; the concept behind the development SlimVox and the fact that they used NO artificial ingredients were the main catalysts that helped me decide to give it a trial run.

SlimVox was developed by women for women because we fully understand how hard it can be for us to shed those unwanted pounds. Men say women don’t lose weight as fast as they do because we’re lazy (a MONUMENTAL cop-out, in my opinion!), but that is NOT the case. A woman’s body is genetically engineered (link) to store more fat than men just in case we get pregnant.

The women who developed SlimVox underscore this point and use all natural ingredients to help us shed those unwanted pounds, with proper diet and exercise!

My favorite ingredients in SlimVox are kelp, ginger and green tea. The fact SlimVox included kelp in the formulation intrigued me greatly. I had heard many times how marine plants like kelp and seaweed were helpful in absorbing toxins in the digestive tract and easing them out (after all, sushi rolls are usually wrapped in seaweed!). Since I had 25+ years of junk food in my system, I wanted something that could really kick-start the detoxification process.

Ginger is an incredible spice because it is an intestinal spasmolytic (something that is really good at soothing the intestinal tract and makes it easier for it to expel toxins from your system). This was important to me because during the first five months my recovery, I could not stand long enough to make a fiber-rich salad or heart-healthy bowl of granola.

Green tea sealed the deal for me because of the potent antioxidant properties that could help repair the damage from my injury (and it had just the right amount of caffeine that gave me a much-needed boost of energy while I took the time to recover from my injury).

Heart-Healthy Pancakes

I loved it when I would be in the kitchen with my Mom early on Sunday mornings to her make a big breakfast that could have two or three days-worth of leftovers. While I’m sure you can create pancake batter from scratch (which is something I think I might try someday 🙂 ), I like to use Log Cabin’s ready-to-mix dry batter. I prefer this brand because they use simple ingredients and never have more than 10 ingredients (including NO PRESERVATIVES!!) in their mixes.

As I mentioned in my post about French toast, we can use the carbohydrate content in our foods to our advantage given you want to educate yourself about the different kinds of carbohydrates and your willingness to experiment with them.

Here’s my basic pancake recipe I use regularly that is under 400 calories (which includes ¼ cup of syrup!) and keeps me full for about 3 hours.

Heart-Healthy Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Log Cabin pancake mix
• 1 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
• 1 tsp of cinnamon & 2 tsp of ginger
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Combine pancake mix, egg, oil, ginger and cinnamon in a bowl
2. Warm medium sized pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray (to prevent the pancakes from sticking, let the cooking spray warm up with the pan until it turns clear)
3. Spritz a small of water into the pan to make sure it’s evenly heated (the water droplets should boil instantly)
4. Pour pancake mix and cook on medium heat