by Kami | Jun 24, 2013 | Health Myths, Healthy Eating Tips, Kitchen Essentials for Getting Healthy
Okay, be honest with me. Do you wash your fruits and vegetables? I’ve discovered everyone interprets the meaning of ‘washing’ a little different. Do you think blowing off any visible dirt or rubbing it on your shirt is a valid cleansing method? Or do you briefly run it under water or give it a ‘spit shine’ and think it will do the trick? I’m here to tell ya… If you don’t wash them, THEY’RE DISGUSTINGLY DIRTY! They have wax, pesticides, soil, and other things such as bacteria that can lead to food-borne illnesses. Trust me. It’s worth the few extra seconds to clean your veggies. These grapes have NOT been washed. Do you notice the wax, dirt, and film on their surface? These grapes have now been washed and rinsed with WATER ONLY. They don’t look much different than the previous picture, right? These grapes have been WASHED with Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash and rinsed. Look at their clean and smooth surface! Not only can you see a distinct difference, you can feel and taste the difference. You’ll never look back. Promise. Fit: Fruit and Vegetable Wash has become a kitchen essential here at No Diets Allowed. Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash is a 100% natural produce wash. I’ve tried NUMEROUS different produce washes and methods, but I keep coming back to Fit. Tips and Suggestions for washing fruits and vegetables 1) Fit has 12 oz spray bottles and 32 oz large refill bottles (picture above). The spray bottle is reusable, of course. I always mix 1/2 water with 1/2 washing solution in the spray bottle. It’s just as effective and allows the solution to last longer. 2)...
by Kami | Jun 17, 2013 | Choose Healthy Living, Excuses and Myths, Health Myths, How to Get Healthy
My name is Kami, and I’m an addict. It’s been less than 24 hours since I last consumed my drug of choice. Even though ‘once an addict always an addict’, I’m now able to control how much I consume and when. Now, I can look at it straight in the eyes and flat out refuse it. Okay, it doesn’t have eyes, but go with me… My drug of choice? Sugar. “Really, Kami? Sugar?!?! (Insert eye roll) Addicts are people who are dependent on substances like cocaine, heroine, cigarettes, alcohol, and even pornography NOT sugar!” Oh, my dear friends. Unfortunately, you most likely are addicted to sugar and artificial sweeteners too. There are reasons those Diet Cokes, cookies, and the candy jar at work (shout out to my husband) cause us to keep coming back for more. Not convinced? Here are some signs you may be an addict: 1) Increased Tolerance: Do you drink more soda and eat more sweets than you use to? Do you need to add more sugar or just have ‘one more’ cookie to satisfy your sweet tooth? 2) Withdrawal: Have you ever completely given up sugar? Was it difficult? How did you feel? 3) Over Use: Do you eat more cake and cookies at a party than you originally planned? Are you unable to resist eating something sweet? 4) Loss of Control: Are you able to control how much sugar you intake? Or do you ‘need’ a Diet Coke to get going in the mornings or to eat a candy bar when you feel stressed? 5) Exceptional Effort to Obtain: Have you ever gone...
by Kami | Jun 10, 2013 | Excuses and Myths, Health Myths, Healthy Grocery List & Menu
Let the myth busting begin! Here’s the proof that an UNHEALTHY lifestyle is far more expensive than a healthy lifestyle. THE COSTS OF UNHEALTHY LIVING 1) An average american spends $3 per day on junk food like candy and chips. That amounts to $1,095 annually PER PERSON. 2) The average household spends $50 a week on fast food. That amounts to $2,619 annually. 3) The average household spends $975 annually on television alone. 4) The average household spends about $5000 annually on video/computer games, internet, cell phones, movies, and television. 5) The average energy drink user spends $2-$3 daily. That amounts to $913 annually PER PERSON. 6) The average household spends $850 annually on soft drinks. 7) The average American household spends $60 a week on frozen, processed foods. 8) The average American worker spends $1,092 annually on coffee. 9) A person who smokes one pack a day spends $4000 a year on cigarettes. 10) An average couple spends $582 annually on alcoholic beverages. 11) Medical costs from all the unhealthy living: Basic Doctors visit: $130 per visit Average cost of Root Canal: $1,200 Treatment for Type II Diabetes: $3,600 per year Average American overall health care costs: $6,280 per year WAYS TO SAVE MONEY WHILE MAKING HEALTHY CHOICES! 1) Drink only water. Drinking water not only saves your wallet , but it’s an essential and necessary step when getting healthy. 2) Cancel cable. We spend WAY too much time watching TV. Remove the temptation and just cancel it! There are cheaper options which decrease...
by Kami | Jun 5, 2013 | Choose Healthy Living, Excuses and Myths, Health Myths, How to Get Healthy
Jillian Michaels has been a fitness expert and wellness coach for over 20 years. Her tough, take-no-nonsense demeanor on The Biggest Loser has contributed to her becoming one of the leading health and wellness experts in the country. She doesn’t accept excuses for poor health choices. She sets high expectations. She demands change. AND she gets results. I’m a fan. Here are 10 of my favorite Jillian quotes. 1) It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that’s where transformation happens. That’s how change occurs. 2) Reclaim power over your own life. Take an honest look at your current situation and own it. Acknowledge the choices you’ve made that haven’t served you and start making different choices that do. 3) As you envision the changes in your future, you have to let go of the mistakes in your past. Learn from them, and then let them go! 4) Transformation isn’t a future event. It’s a present day activity. 5) Feel the fear, then do it anyway! 6) Unless you puke, faint, or die, KEEP GOING! 7) Your LEGS are not giving out. Your HEAD is giving out. KEEP GOING! 8) Why choose to FAIL when SUCCESS is an option?!?! 9) Every accomplishment starts with the decision to TRY! 10) In this moment, you can make a different choice. It’s the small choices and the small successes that build up over time to help cultivate a healthy self-image and self esteem. Jillian has several at-home workout options. My husband and I are on...
by Kami | May 28, 2013 | Excuses and Myths, Health Myths, Healthy Eating Tips, Healthy Substitutes, Unhealthy Foods
Got Milk? Almost every celebrity, athlete, politician, musician, and public figure has displayed the ‘white mustache’. After all, drinking milk only makes you healthy and strong, right? 10 reasons why you’ve been deceived! 1) Most milk goes through some type of processing or alteration such as homogenization or pasteurization. These processes compromise the milk’s quality and interfere with calcium absorption. 2) When homogenized, milk becomes very powerful and efficient at bypassing normal digestive processes and delivering steroid and protein hormones to the human body (both your hormones and the cow’s natural hormones and the ones they may have been injected with to produce more milk). Check out this link to learn more! 3) Humans are the only species to frequently continue drinking milk after infancy. 4) 60% of adults can’t digest milk. The enzyme lactase which breaks down the main sugar in milk, lactose, usually stops being produced between the ages of two and five. This leaves the undigested sugars to ferment in the colon creating very unpleasant symptoms such as gas, cramping, bloating, nausea, constipation and/or diarrhea. 5) Countries with the highest milk consumption are the countries with the highest levels of osteoporosis. 6) There are plenty of plant-based foods—including green leafy vegetables (like broccoli, kale and collards) and beans—that are excellent sources of calcium which the body is much better equipped to absorb. 7) Chronic constipation in children is related to milk consumption. 8) The most popular form of calcium found in milk, calcium carbonate, which is not even absorbed well. Calcium citrate is the best absorbed supplemental form of calcium. 9) I lived in Hong Kong for 3...
by Kami | May 22, 2013 | Excuses and Myths, Health Myths, The forbidden word 'diet'
It’s time to get healthy! Wait… I already know what you’re going to say. You don’t have time, right?!?! Please hold the applause until the end of this post then feel free to give a standing ovation. Okay, I can get pretty passionate sometimes, so consider yourself warned. When I hear someone say they don’t have time when it comes to something health related, I pretty much have the same reaction as when I hear the word… oh, am I really going to type it…‘diet’ (grimace, gag, dry heave). If you have time to watch The Bachelor (enter your favorite guilty pleasure show here), play video/computer games, check Facebook or Pinterest or Twitter, take a nap, or even read this post, YOU HAVE TIME TO GET HEALTHY! Do you drink during the day? Then choose to drink water instead of that Coke you just picked up! Do you eat during the day? Then choose to eat an apple or protein bar instead of those highly processed, sugar filled snacks you just bought out of the vending machine! Do you have 30 minutes while the kids are napping or having quiet time? Then choose to use that time to do a Jillian Michaels circuit training workout! Are you going to bed way too late? Then choose to turn the lights out earlier in order to give yourself a quality 7+ hours of sleep! Do you need to go to the third or fifth or twentieth floor to get to your office? Then choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator! Healthy living doesn’t take...