The Amazing Coconut

On to the next healthy fat, coconut, in all of it's glorious forms, flour, oil, milk and cream.
It is hard not to know at least some about coconut, it is all over the place these days, the oil for it's fat lose abilities, skin conditions and so forth, the flour for everyone who is celiac or gluten free for whatever reason and the milk and cream in place of dairy.

Let's break it down:

• It is full of saturated fat, mainly in the form of MCT's, medium chain fatty acids. These provide energy to the body quickly and effectively. This energy is converted to ketons in the liver and ketons are a preferred energy source for the brain, heart and the body in general.. Provides fats for cell walls. Helps protect the heart from heart disease and arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, this is due, in part, to decreasing total cholesterol and blood pressure as well as other types of fat that are present. 
• Beneficial in Alzheimers, time will tell in prevention with more people eating it. In treating, there are already very promising signs of benefits. This is due to the keton production, which helps the brain to function optimally, this will also help with brain fog. Additionally, a high fat, very low carb diet, fat ketosis, is used to treat epilepsy, coconut in various forms are a very large portion of this diet.
• Due to the antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-parasitic properties of coconut oil, it strengthens the immune system and helps fight off viruses and bacteria. Due to these properties, it works wonders on the skin for things such as acne. It also helps rid the gut of bacterial, fungal and parasitic over growths, these over growths can lead to things such as candida (yeast) infection, SIBO, bacterial over growth and parasitic infections. Coconut oil will help the body fight these off.
• Coconut oil is great for the skin in general when taken internally as well as applied topically. The health of your skin begins in your gut, when it is healed, your skin will reflect this. It helps ward off signs of aging, keeping the skin moist and well hydrated. It helps with things such as eczema, psoriasis, and many other skin condition. It is a great massage oil, I will let you think further about that one. Helps protect against the sun, a mild sunscreen. 
• Heat stable fat for cooking at higher temperatures. Use coconut oil in place of vegetable oils and olive oil, vegetable oils should not ever be eaten and olive oil should be used as a cold oil, salad dressings and drizzling over food after cooking. I use coconut oil to cook many dishes. There are some however that we do not like the taste of the coconut oil in and those I use butter, bacon grease or fat from my bone broth instead. You will find the meals you like coconut oil with and those you do not.
• A very potent antioxidant. 
• Provides Vitamins E and K as well as iron
• Used in hair care products for deep conditioning and scalp issues. You can also make your own shampoo with coconut milk.
• Helps stave off hunger, helping with weight lose. Coconut also increases your metabolism, fat burning. Can help put you in fat ketosis, which is a powerful fat burning state. Coconut oil has been shown to decrease the dangerous abdominal fat.
• Coconut flour is high in  protein, healthy fats, and fiber.
• Coconut water is full of health benefits as well. This is a great recovery drink from a hard workout or a hangover, replenishing electrolytes in the body and fluids. Can aid in digestion.

This is a long, but a very short list of benefits to coconut. As a side note, do not be afraid of the saturated fat content of coconut. The lipid hypotheses has largely been discredited, to the point in some science circles to be a laughing stock. The fat in coconut will help ward off heart disease at many different levels. Have no fear and enjoy!

Ways of adding more coconut into your diet and life:

• Use as a cooking oil
• Bullet coffee, have you realized my love of this yet?!  
• Use on your skin daily
• In baking use the flour and oil in place grain flour and shortening
• Oil pull with coconut oil, on both your face and teeth
• Drink the milk and cream or use both in cooking and baking
• Can be used for making your own deodorant
• Eating it straight for increased energy, keton bodies and help grain cravings 
• Use it on dried chapped lips, for extra moisture try on top of honey
• Use as a carrier oil for essential oils 
• As a deep conditioner for hair, you can also make your own shampoo with coconut milk
• Help with acne and cold sores
• Give your significant other a relaxing massage.....
• Can be given to your pets, eaten or on skin aliments, mine two dogs LOVE coconut, helps sooth their itchy skin as well
• Make up remover 
• With some understanding of this amazing food, anywhere you can think of, use it

As you begin incorporating coconut oil into your eating, be sure to begin slowly. It is a fat and does have powerful antioxidant properties, so it will clean you out. Start slow and increase as you go.

Still saving the world one stick of butter at a time.

God bless,

Jenn

Healthy Fats, Butter

Some of the frequent questions I am asked are in regards to fats. Which ones do I eat? How much? Are they healthy? How do I add them in? Will they make me gain weight? What about cholesterol and saturated fat? Over the next several weeks, I will discus different fats, the ones to eat and the ones to avoid.

For this first week, we will begin with my favorite, butter. I am striving to save the world one stick of butter at a time. Some info regarding butter and it's health benefits:

• It is a great source of healthy fats the body needs to function properly and a source of fat soluble vitamins.
• It provides cholesterol that the body needs to produce hormones, create and maintain cell membranes, heal the body of daily wear and tear, provides energy, produces bile, which the body needs to digest fats and absorb fat soluble vitamins, is essentially to the developing baby's brain and nervous system
• It contains vitamin A, the true fat soluble vitamin the body needs to thrive and function optimally.
• It also provides vitamins E, K, K2 and D
• It is a great source of the minerals selenium and iodine 
• The saturated fat has anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties, provides energy, stability to the blood vessels 
• It provides conjugated linoleic acid, CLA, which provides protection against cancer, benefits the immune system, helps with weight lose, help build muscle, helps control diabetes, lowers cholesterol and triglycerides 

This is a very short list, but I hope you begin to understand the amazing benefits of this super food.

With all of the health benefits, here are ways to add in more butter into your daily life:

• Cook with butter. Put in what you need and then some more
• Add butter to your veggies after steaming them
• Bullet proof coffee 
• If you are a grain eater, lather that bread up with butter
• Add some to your soups when serving
• When eating eggs, add extra to them or cream, makes them light and fluffy when scrambled 
• My Hubby's newest one, melt chocolate and put butter in, then allow to cool in clumps, I have to admit I am jealous I did not come up with this one
• When making muffins, add in butter, this will make them moist, and why not melt some extra butter with cinnamon and honey to dip your muffin in
• Add to pancakes, waffles or warmed oats
• Anywhere you can think of, add in butter. 

The best butter to purchase is grass fed, organic, and/or local. The best of the three is grass fed. Go for grass fed as often as you can find it. This will provide the most nutrients.

The next question is: How much? Listen to your body. If you are like me, I did not eat butter growing up, thank you '90's and the hype about butter being so bad for you. When I added butter into my diet, I craved it, that was all I wanted, I could not get enough of it. If you do the same, no worries. After a time this will taper off and your body will settle into the right amount for you. Mine is several table spoons a day, yes daily. We go through about one pound a week, between my husband and I, I eat it with pure joy!

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God bless,
Jenn

28 Day New Year Kick Start

New Years is right around the corner, which means resolutions. One of the top resolutions is weight loss. Unfortunately, most do not make any head way or stick with it. You being a "healthy" diet and work out plan, and two weeks in, a month or two, and you are done. It was so restrictive you could not stick with it, diet once again did not work, you feel like crap and who cares, it is a silly resolution anyway that everyone makes and no one sticks too. Let's change that this year! If you are truly wanting to loss weight and find true health you need a plan, support and some self discipline. The plan and support I can help you with, the self discipline, I can guide you, but you have to be willing to put in the effort and try. With a group supporting you, it is always easier.

Enter my plan: 28 Day Sugar Detox

My goal for this detox is to help you over come your sugar cravings, start you on the road to weight loss and health. To find health and thrive, we need to eliminate as much sugar as possible. This is to help those who have tried restrictive diets and found they do not work, however want to kick the sugar habit and begin a healthier lifestyle.

I understand it is not easy to eliminate sugar, it is addictive and in everything. However, I do promise you can all but eliminate processed sugars from your life, with time. This is not going to happen over night or even in 26 days. But, we have to start. I tell my clients all the time, you have to begin. Progress forward is progress, no matter how small the steps.

With all that in mind, here are guide lines:
Begins January 4, 2016
Ends January 31, 2016

Foods to eliminate:

• Sugar laden foods, desserts, soda, processed foods, foods you know have added sugar, you will need to become a label reader
• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Agave, if you are wondering why agave because you thought it was good, read this.
• Man made sugars such as Aspartame, Sweet and Low, malts, any ingredient ending in "ose" sucrose, galactose, these are simple, processed sugars
• Fruit juices
• Alcohol 
• Syrups 
• No fruit for the first two weeks

Just because a label says "sugar free" does not mean it is. By law, manufactures only have to label sucrose, which is table sugar. It can have as much of any other type of sugar in as they wish and can still call it "sugar free". If it is sweet, it has sugar in it. Almost any food you purchase in a package is going to have added sugars of some type. A good rule of thumb for the challenge will be, do not eat anything out of a box or package. 

Foods that are accepted in small quantities:

• Dark chocolate, it has to be above 72% 
• Sprouted whole wheat, make sure there is no high fructose corn syrup, agave, or other processed sugars, some have honey or molasses in and that is OK  
• White rice
• Sweet potatoes and yams
• After the first two weeks, whole fruit, it has to be whole fruit, no juices
• Honey
• Molasses 

Some insensitive to give this challenge a try, besides weight loss and feeling better, for every day you complete the guide lines, your name will be entered into a drawing for one month of free health coaching with me! To participate, like my business Face Book page and watch for the daily posts, by liking or commenting on the post, you will be entered into the drawing. This is on your honor. It is free of charge and anyone can participate. The more friends and family you have join you, the better your support system is, which sets you all up for success. 

If you are someone who is just beginning your health journey and you read the guide lines and think, I cannot do all of this, you took away all the food I eat, I will skip it. Please do not. Pick whatever you can do and begin. Remember, you have to start somewhere. If you never begin, nothing will change. Have the support with this challenge to begin making a change. Maybe next year or the next challenge, you will be able to fully participate. 

See you on my Face Book page!

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.

God bless,

Jenn

Goals vs Dreams

My Kauai trip inspiring dreams

We live in a very goal oriented world today, you have to have goals, make goals, how to be successful with your goals, you will only be successful if you have goals, goal books, goal talks, goal this, goal that. I am not saying goals are bad or something we do not need, they can be a very good thing. Goals can keep us on task, moving forward, give direction, keep us motivated to push through the hard times. The down side of goals, to me, is there is no heart. A goal can be very cold. Anyone can give us a goal we need to finish, a task. A goal can be obtained, however you are not moved towards becoming a better person. It was only something to check off your to-do list.

A dream is who you are.
A dream is personal.
A dream is something you want to accomplish and complete.
A dream changes you.
A dream is inspirational.
A dream changes the world.
Dreams are fluid, they change as we grow.

What are the dreams for your life? Do you dream?

Just as with a goal that is large, most dreams are big life events and you need to chunk it down into bit size pieces so you can accomplish it. Once you have your dreams, what steps do you need to take to accomplish them? How do you make your dream a reality?

Do you and your spouse/significant other, have dreams? Do you spend time talking about your dreams? Do you support one another in your different dreams? Not all of our dreams are going to be the same, we are different people.

Do you dream in all areas of your life, personal, family, career, physically, nutrition and health, finances, traveling, education, this is just a small sample of ideas to dream in.

Do not be afraid to dream and be even less afraid to go after your dreams.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God bless,
Jenn

My 6 Step Holiday Parties Survival Guide

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is this week. Are you all ready? Have you decided if it is a cheat day for you? I know it is for me. I remember, Thanksgiving is one day, the one day I make homemade stuffing and eat pumpkin pie. It is yummy.

With Thanksgiving, comes the beginning of Christmas parties, some we enjoy and others we are forced into. But, either way, with these parties comes the dreaded thought of the holiday weight gain. Lets do something about that this year, enjoy this beautiful season without the dread. 

One of the first keys is to set yourself up for success. 

Here are six steps to take to help you be successful:

1. Decide before you go to your party if this is a meal you really want to cheat on. If you have several parties to attend, it is not realistic to indulge at each one them, if you do not want the weight gain. Decide before and honor your decision. 

2. Do not go hungry. Eat something nutrient dense and small before hand, my go to is bone broth. If you are not starving, you will not need to eat everything in front of you and with good food already in you, you will be less likely to want to cheat. If you are lucky enough to have a nice dinner for your party, then go hungry.

3. Take a healthy dish such as deviled eggs, meat balls, bacon wrapped sweet potatoes. Be sure to make extra so you have something healthy to eat at the potluck. Most will thank you!

4. Do a once over of the food table before getting in line to eat. This way you know what is there, not start and by the time you are at the end you have a mounded plate because you do not know something was there and you want some. Know before. Also, be at the end of the line. All the food looks the best at the beginning, before anyone has dug in. If you are at the end, it will not look as appetizing and a lot of it will be gone, the healthier stuff is what is at the end.  Good reason to not go hungry.

5. Have positive mantras you are going to say to yourself and others when the temptations and comments come, you know they will. Things like: I am eating for my health, not the instant pleasure. This cheat is not going to help with my long term goals. I have decided this is not my cheat meal and I will honor myself. 

6. Stay away from the food. If it is not in front of you, you will not eat it. Go to the party for what it really is, being with family and friends to enjoy this wonderful season. 

Do you have tips and tricks you use to stay healthy during the Christmas season? I would love to hear them and I am sure others would like more ideas.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God's bless,
Jenn