The holiday season is in full swing, and that means that the average American will gain approximately 1.3 pounds before the calendar flips to 2017 - pounds that generally remain with us throughout the new year. To avoid "being average" this holiday season but still enjoy all of the festivities that this time of year brings, I have 3 simple steps you can follow for the entire month of December to avoid holiday weight gain without sacrificing fun with family and friends.

Step #1 - Establish your Daily Bare Minimums and stick to them every day in December, no matter what. Most diets fail because they are too restrictive to follow long term, and certainly the holiday season is not the time to try to enforce overly stringent diet and fitness rules. Daily Bare Minimums (DBMs) are simple, healthy habits that you do on a daily basis, regardless of how hectic and chaotic your life is. It is critical that your DBMs are easy enough that you are 90+% certain that you will  be able to successfully complete them every single day. They should focus on areas of your life that need improvement so that they help you progress on your health and fitness journey. I recommend choosing three DBMs and no more - one that focuses on nutrition, one that focuses on fitness/movement, and one that focuses on lifestyle. My December DBMs, for example, include eating produce (a fruit or veg) at every meal or snack, engaging in purposeful movement for at least 20 minutes every day, and limiting my daily to-do lists to only 3 items. Once you check the box on your DBMs, regardless of what happens the rest of the day, consider that day a resounding success!

Step #2 - Create a rule around alcohol consumption. One of the biggest culprits of holiday weight gain is alcohol, not only because alcoholic drinks can be calorie bombs in themselves (one cup of spiked eggnog can add up to more than 400 calories, which is a quarter of the daily calorie allotment for the "average" woman), but also because drinking can lower your inhibitions and cause you to munch (and munch, and munch) on lots of high-calorie foods (and consume greasy and fattening breakfasts the next day to "cure" your hangover). This holiday season, I recommend creating a "rule" for yourself when it comes to alcohol consumption. That does not have to mean avoiding alcohol completely (although it could), but it may mean limiting yourself to 1-2 drinks per day (which is what is recommended from a health perspective, by the way). Or drinking a glass of water after each drink before having another. Or only drinking at parties and never at home. Or having no more than 7 drinks each week. Pick your poison and follow your self-designed rule for the entire month, and you will save yourself hundreds - if not thousands - of calories, and probably a hangover or two (which makes sticking with your fitness DBM much easier, too!). 

Step #3 - Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. As a new mom to an infant and a puppy who is trying to start up a blog, training for her kettlebell instructor certification, and keeping a household in (somewhat) working order, I can fully relate with those of you who find getting the recommended 7-8+ hours of sleep every night a challenge. With the stress and chaos of the holiday season, however, there is likely no other habit that will benefit your health more than getting your zzz's. The studies are clear - the more sleep-deprived you are, the more weight you are likely to gain, not only because sleep deprivation causes your body to release cortisol and hold onto fat, but also because getting insufficient sleep causes you to eat more (some 300 calories more a day - which adds up to a 2 1/2-pound weight gain during the month of December!) because it increases your hunger hormone (ghrelin) and decreases your satiety hormone (leptin). It is also unlikely that you will be as physically active during the day if you did not get enough sleep at night, so if there is one thing you can do this month to help stave off the holiday weight gain, it is to ensure you get at least 7 hours of sleep every single night. No matter what. 

There you have it. 3 simple steps to avoid being average this December. Here's wishing you an amazing (and weight gain-free) holiday season!

Until next time, be happy and healthy,
Kathleen

​Hello, friends, and welcome to the inaugural bells & peppers Q&A post – you asked, and I deliver! But first, the recovering attorney in me feels compelled to include the following disclaimer: I am not a doctor, a nurse or a health professional. As a certified nutritionist, I am not licensed to TREAT illness through nutrition or other lifestyle changes, and it is important that you seek the advice and recommendations of your medical professional, particularly when dealing with a medical diagnosis such as high cholesterol.
 
OK. Attorney hat is now removed. 

​Several of you asked me this week to address the issue of high-cholesterol, and this is not a surprise, since 1 in 3 Northern Americans suffer from this problem. Cholesterol is a sterol (fancy that – chole“sterol”…), which is a molecule found in animals that is essential to the production of certain hormones, including the all important vitamin D (Did you know vitamin D is a hormone and not a vitamin? Now store that in your memory bank for your next game of Trivial Pursuit.). Cholesterol is also a component of all of our cell membranes. Our bodies produce cholesterol – our livers to be more exact – to the tune of 1-2 grams per day. You also get cholesterol from foods, more specifically, from animal-derived foods like meat and dairy (plants do not have cholesterol). Strangely, your body produces more cholesterol when you eat certain foods with more cholesterol, such as saturated and trans fats, providing a double whammy. 

​There are 2 types of cholesterol – HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and LDL (low-density lipoprotein), although technically, HDL and LDL are not really forms of cholesterol but rather lipoproteins (as their names suggest) that carry cholesterol throughout your body (another Trivial Pursuit factoid). HDL is often referred to as “good” cholesterol and LDL as “bad” (or “lousy”) cholesterol, basically because HDL transports extra cholesterol to your liver for disposal, and LDL transports cholesterol and fat from your liver to the rest of your body. LDL is also the main ingredient in blood vessel plaque, which can build up and cause blockages that lead to cardiovascular disease (CVD). So when assessing your cholesterol levels, you want your LDL levels to be a good bit lower than your HDL – having a high HDL level is actually a good thing. 

Historically, individuals with total cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL were considered to have “high” cholesterol, although new research suggests that 150 mg/dl might be a better cut-off. There has been a significant amount of controversy recently over the impact of cholesterol on health and whether it really is as problematic as we were once led to believe, since there are some cultures in the world where cholesterol levels are generally “high” but whose populations do not suffer the same cardiovascular issues we have in this country (and nearly half of all heart attacks occur in people with “normal” cholesterol levels). In fact, researchers are now even questioning whether the egg, which has been maligned for years as a major culprit in the high cholesterol epidemic, actually is a problem at all when it comes to your cholesterol levels. 

​I have done a good bit of research on the issue of high cholesterol and its relationship to heart disease because my family history includes individuals who have suffered from both, including my dad, who passed away of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2013. What the most updated studies suggest is that our emphasis on cholesterol numbers does not provide a holistic picture of our health or propensity for cardiovascular disease. The research suggests instead that the combination of your cholesterol levels and the level of internal inflammation in your body, measured by the level of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) in your blood, a substance released by cells during the inflammation process, is more telling in terms of your risks of heart disease. 

​Basically, atherosclerosis, or the hardening and narrowing of arteries that is responsible for heart disease, is an inflammatory disease, and as the walls of your arteries become more damaged due to inflammation, it becomes easier for LDL particles to “stick” to the walls, build-up and cause blockages (my apologies to the heart doctors out there for this simplistic explanation). Ultimately, if you have high cholesterol or are concerned about heart disease, ask your doctor to test your CRP level. A level under 1 mg/L is considered “low” and over 3.0 mg/L is “high,” while levels between 1.0 and 3.0 mg/L are considered “average.” 

​One interesting side note is that they are finding that plaque build-up in the brain might be responsible for Alzheimer’s Disease (and my dad suffered from a blocked artery, a heart attack and later Alzheimer’s – a coincidence?), which may explain why renowned American neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta has declared that when it comes to lifestyle habits “what is good for your heart is good for your brain.” 

​Now, what you really want to know is what to do about high cholesterol. Again, your first step should be to visit your doctor, get your cholesterol and CRP levels tested and discuss a comprehensive treatment protocol with him/her. Depending on the results of the tests and your risk factors, that protocol might include taking statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs that are among the most widely used medications in this country. With about 28% of Americans over 40 taking a cholesterol-lowering drug and more than 90% of these individuals on statins, it is clear that statins are big business.

​While statins play an important role in treating some patients with high cholesterol, like all medications, they can cause undesirable side effects, such as memory loss, type 2 diabetes, diarrhea, headaches, nausea or vomiting, dizziness, etc., and the reality is that most cases of high cholesterol (not all, but most) can be managed through nutrition and lifestyle changes alone with only positive side effects. In fact, the research shows that by making certain dietary changes, in particular eating a more plant-based diet, you can lower cholesterol as much – if not more – as you can by taking statins.

Now let’s get to the “meat” (pun intended) of this post – what dietary and lifestyle changes do I recommend for someone suffering from high cholesterol (and remember, this is not a “treatment” for high cholesterol, it is merely my suggestions for leading a healthier lifestyle). It turns out, the same habits that have been shown to lead to overall good health, vitality and longevity are those that seem to play an important role in naturally reducing high cholesterol levels.

As I discussed in a previous post, one of my absolute favorite books on health is The Blue Zones, by New York Times best-selling author Dan Buettner. This book discusses the research conducted by National Geographic on five of the healthiest and longest-living populations in the world, analyzing the commonalities in their diets and lifestyles, as well as other scientific findings, to create a “prescription” for lasting change that may add years (healthy years) to your life. As I re-studied the list of recommendations from The Blue Zones, I was struck by the fact that they are almost identical to the recommendations provided in recent studies on how to lower your cholesterol and your risk of heart disease. These recommendations include:

1. Eat more plants (remember, plant foods do not contain cholesterol), limit your intake of meat and dairy, and eliminate your intake of trans fats. Try to work your way up to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day (start with just adding 1 serving more each day than you currently eat and gradually work your way up to a total of 10).
2. Fill up on whole grains and legumes/beans and reduce your intake of highly processed and refined grains and sugar (the soluble fiber in these foods binds to cholesterol and helps transport it out of the body). Add at least 1 cup of whole grains to your diet each day, for example oatmeal at breakfast, and at least 1/2 to 1 cup of legumes/beans per day.
3. Eat a handful of nuts/seeds daily (studies show that eating 2 oz. of nuts every day can lower your LDL by 5%). An easy way to add nuts to your diet is to eat a handful as an energizing mid-morning and/or late afternoon snack.
4. If you choose to drink alcohol, drink it in moderation – 1-2 servings at most per day. Also, limit (or reduce or eliminate) your intake of caffeine, which has been shown to increase cholesterol levels as much as 10%.
5. Take an Omega-3 supplement daily (or, if you eat fish, incorporate fatty fish such as salmon 3 times per week). If you struggle to take supplements every day, start by taking an Omega-3 just one day this week and build up day-by-day until it is a daily habit.
6. Make purposeful movement a part of your everyday life. If exercise is not currently part of your daily routine, start by just adding a 10-minute walk to your schedule each day, or reach out to me for easy ways to add more movement into your everyday life to get leaner, stronger and healthier.

To learn more about foods that can help lower cholesterol, check out this article from a little university called Harvard.

​For more tips on simple steps you can take each day to live a healthier and happier life, please contact me at kathleen(at)bellsandpeppers.com. Or post questions on this topic or others in the Comment section below. As always, I look forward to your questions, ideas, recommendations and requests for future Q&A topics. And stay tuned for next week, when I will give you some of my favorite, healthy and super tasty recipes that fit today’s recommendations!

​Until next time, be happy and healthy,
Kathleen

​Hello, friends! Over the years, I have developed a true love of cooking. I generally find my time in the kitchen therapeutic, and it serves as both a creative outlet and a means of providing the gift of health to my family (and myself!). I fully subscribe to the theory that the less time we spend in our kitchens, the more time we spend in doctors’ offices. Renowned food writer Michael Pollan wrote an entire book centered around the hypothesis that the increase in the obesity epidemic and obesity-related health problems in the U.S. and other parts of the world (such as Type II Diabetes, or “diabesity”), is directly linked to the decline in the amount of time we spend in our own kitchens (versus at restaurants or drive-through windows). The book, aptly named Cooked, provides a strong case for the proposition that if we only did one thing differently, i.e., cooked more of our own meals, we would be significantly more healthy. After all, do you have a bottle of high-fructose corn syrup or a can of trans fat in your pantry? 

Prior to having a baby, on most weeknights – and for several hours on Sundays – you would likely find me in my kitchen, sipping a glass of wine while I put together relatively elaborate plant-based meals for The Man and me. In fact, last summer, I embarked upon a 100 Healthy Days Challenge, in which I made 103 different healthy (and often complex) meals (and finished 100 different workouts) in 100 days, chronicling my experience on Facebook.
 
This spring, as I entered the third trimester of pregnancy, I followed the advice of my friend and amazing vegan chef and cookbook author Tess Challis, purchased a box freezer for the garage and made double of every meal I cooked, freezing half to eat after baby arrived. I called this endeavor Operation Freeze Food Before Baby (Operation FFBB), and for the first 6 weeks or so of Beautiful Baby A’s (BBA) life, my freezer meals played a key role in providing The Man and me with nutrition, since almost all of our time was spent tending to our newborn (or trying to catch a few minutes of sleep). 
​

As my freezer meals began to dwindle, I was faced with the dilemma of wanting to cook healthy meals at home for the two of us, but struggling to find blocks of time away from baby to do so. I certainly did not have the time to make the types of elegant meals I was putting together pre-baby. “Hacks” are defined as “clever solutions to tricky problems,” and my current tricky problem – and likely many of yours as well – has been finding the time to prepare homemade, healthy meals.
 
Trying to figure out a solution to this problem, I remembered a simple meal formula I first encountered in the book No Meat Athlete, in which the author Matt Frazier wrote about creating simple meals out of “a grain, a green and a bean.” 

​Elaborating on this concept a bit, I decided to experiment with different variations of “Meal Bowls,” using my own (somewhat less poetic) formula:
 
Starch + Produce + Protein + Sauce & Seasoning (or SPPS for short)
 
For the base of my bowls, I choose a Starch – think brown rice, polenta, potatoes (roasted, mashed, sweet, baked), oatmeal, couscous, quinoa, etc. These are generally easy to make (throw in a pot with water or in the oven and let the appliance do all of the work), and you can easily make several varieties in bulk (e.g., during one of BBA’s naps), and use them to mix-and-match meals during the week.
 
I then select one or more fruit or veggies to layer on top (the “Produce”). Fruit just requires a little chopping. Vegetables are often kept raw (or lightly steamed) – particularly since it is summer and there are so many glorious veggies in season (and record high temperatures make using heat in the kitchen less appealing). To make this step even easier, I have been purchasing pre-chopped and pre-washed veggies at Trader Joe’s, such as shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, brussels sprouts, etc. If you wanted to roast or steam some of your veg, you can also do so in bulk on a day when you have a little more time.

​Next, I add a plant-based Protein. Some favorites are Simple Baked Tofu from my absolute favorite cookbook in my extensive collection - Tess Challis’ Food Love - (the tofu is as easy to make as the name suggests); canned beans (while I aspire to be the type of person who cooks only with dried beans, in reality I am the less-than-perfect type of person who enjoys the convenience of BPA-free canned beans); steamed tempeh; nut butters (great with oatmeal and fruit for Breakfast Bowls); veggie burgers, veggie meat(less)balls; and lentils (Trader Joe’s has pre-steamed brown lentils in the refrigerated section). Again, nothing complicated here that can’t be thrown together in a matter of minutes. If you eat animal products, in addition to a few meatless options, you might want to choose 1 or 2 versatile animal Proteins (such as chicken or ground beef) to cook in bulk once a week and use in various dishes.

​Finally, you have the Sauces and Seasonings (S&S). I have been experimenting with different themes of Meal Bowls – Mexican, Italian, Thai, Indian, Burger Madness, etc. – and the theme has dictated the S&S. Pre-made marinara, salsa, guacamole, hummus, BBQ sauce, etc., are all great options on busy days, providing flavor and pizazz to your Meal Bowl. On days I have a little more time, I’ll consider making some homemade sauces and freezing them in advance. Fortunately, I still had a wonderful Thai green chile sauce and some homemade marinara left in the freezer from Operation FFBB, which came in handy this week with several of my creations.

​The result is a quick and easy meal that is as healthy as it is tasty, allowing me to deconstruct some of my favorite meals and get them on the table in a matter of minutes. So far, I have mostly created my own bowl concoctions (although I also made the yummy Mexican Polenta Bowl from Food Love), but I also purchased a new cookbook called Vegan Bowl Attack! that I look forward to using to make additional bowl concoctions when my ideas run dry. These Meal Bowls have become my favorite nutrition hack as I try to navigate life with baby and perhaps Meal Bowls will become a favorite of yours as well. Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts - or share your own creative Meal Bowl ideas!
 
Until next time, be happy and healthy,
Kathleen

Hello, friends! Welcome to my new blog “bells & peppers”. Many of you know that this is not my first foray into the world of blogging, and I had a short but relatively successful run on my blog “Life and Other Minor Complications.” This is, however, my first experience blogging on my own web site – a site I eventually hope to expand to include health and wellness coaching, fitness programming, etc. For my first blog entry, however, on my brand spankin’ new (and still work-in-progress) web site, I thought it would be prudent for me to explain the why behind this site and the title “bells & peppers.”
 
Now for a little context setting…I have been engaged to my amazing fiancé (affectionately referred to as “The Man” to protect the identity of the innocent) since October 2013, after a romantic proposal at the finish line of the Cleveland Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon. The following month, I paid a visit to my gynecologist for my annual exam, and after hearing about my engagement and in light of my impending 40th birthday that same month, she encouraged us not to wait to try to have children if we were considering it. I took her advice to heart, and The Man and I spent the next 2 years trying to have a baby, with no success. Having decided against pursuing fertility treatments, we were monumentally disheartened last summer when tests revealed that my egg supply was almost dried up, and my doctor told us that without fertility, we had basically no chance of having a baby (and even with fertility, chances would be slim).
 
After hearing this news, I allowed myself an appropriate amount of time to pout, and then I decided to take action rather than take the news lying down. As a lifelong athlete, Precision Nutrition Level 2 certified nutritionist, certified Turbulence Trainer and certified Food for Life cooking instructor, I turned to what I have always felt are the keys to all things health and wellness – daily movement and healthy eating – and I decided to challenge myself to 100 days of completing 100 different workouts and making 100 different healthy meals, not so creatively calling my experiment the 100 Healthy Days Challenge.