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happy eats healthy

being healthy is finally delicious!

 

Healthy Chicago Cooking Classes

sugar

Festive without the Guilt

Festive without the Guilt

Balancing nourishing food with sugar intake during the holiday season can be challenging and riddled with guilt. In this 30 minute virtual class, Soma Institute’s Health and Wellness lead instructor Monique Costello, will take us through an exploration of sugar cravings with interactive exercises to help you keep indulgences and guilt in perspective.

Monique is a Health Educator, Functional Medicine Coach, Wellness Chef and founder of Happy Eats Healthy.

Register now by RSVPing to ktafel@soma.edu to receive Monique’s Sensuous Snickers Bar recipe so you can follow along and explore the art of compassionate eating.

 

Sponsored by Soma Institute, home of the Health and Wellness Coaching Certification.

spring fling your body

7-day Spring Fling

Spring forward like a nutritional warrior with me.

Start your Spring Fling today. 
Register via payment here. 
(or reach out for other payment options.)

 

What is the 7-day Spring Fling?

The 7-day Spring Fling is seven days of nutrient dense foods to boost our immunity, release winter drag and combat sugar consumption.

Out of all the things we ingest, sugar is the one that can do the most damage. Aside from diabetes, heart issues, tooth decay, saggy skin and decreased brain function, energy and immunity, studies have even shown that cancer likes to feed off the sugar in our bodies.

What foods will I eat?

Glorious, nutritious, delicious Monique food! Seriously, we aren’t depriving ourselves here. It’s all about whole, natural food. Let’s eat! #beinghealthyisfinallydelicious

Is there a guide?

Absolutely. You’ll receive a guidebook, recipes and a base shopping list. Plus access to a private Facebook page (not required) with extra daily motivation. Monique will be with you every step of the way.

What happens when I stop eating sugar?

Removing any substance from your body could cause a few feelings in the first couple of days. We are all very individual, so it’s touch to calculate how you might feel. Think of it this way, headaches or a little crankiness could be signs that you were enjoy sugar too much and it’s great knowledge to build on.

Save your spot now.  Register via payment here. (or reach out for other payment options.)

The sooner you sign up, the sooner you start receiving tips to reduce sugar prior to start of the 7-day Spring Fling.

Do I have to give up coffee?

Not if you don’t want to. But if you decide to drink coffee, I’m going to share a few tricks to help slow the absorption of the caffeine.

Is this a detox?

No, certainly not in the traditional sense. Instead, we are focused on eating whole foods for one week. That’s it. Super simple.

 

Start your Spring Fling today!  Register via payment here. (or reach out for other payment options.)

Are you addicted to sugar?

What’s Sugar Got to Do With It?

Is sugar really bad? Is it the detrimental culprit of our weakened immune systems? Our tooth decay? Constipation and fatty liver? What about hormone imbalances, depression, anxiety, loss of sleep and weight gain?

It’s true. Besides the above challenges, sugar has also been linked to heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular illness, high blood pressure, cancer…honestly the list goes on. (need scientific proof, check out these articles on Geenmedinfo.com)

This can be a really confusing topic because there is sugar and then there is the actual effect of sugar on our bodies. Foods that spike our blood sugar are biologically addictive. Most of us are so addicted to sugar that we either don’t realize it or would blatantly deny it.

The more sugar we eat, the more we reduce our brain’s ability to produce oxytocin (the feel-good hormone that tells us when we are sated.) Much like other drugs, we need more of it to feel ‘normal’ again.

Sugar is hiding in pretty much all processed foods – like salad dressing, tomato sauce, pretzels, yogurt, wheat bread, BBA sauce, pizza, peanut butter, frozen entrees …. the list goes on. Think about it this way, the more processed and refined a food is, the more sugar it’s going to have in it, especially processed grain products. Even dairy foods comes with their own sugar- lactose.  Food manufacturers spend billions of dollars finding the exact point were they have added enough sugar (balanced with salt and fat) that it will make you crave more but just shy of the point of satifsying you. They affectionately call it the ‘Bliss Point’. And they have 61 names/versions of sugar they use – which helps to hide sugar form your plain view. So when you look at the ingredients, sugar probably just listed as ‘sugar’.

But isn’t sugar natural? Sure, and in its natural form(s) it’s considered a nutrient-dense food, meaning you get nutrients from the food not just empty calories. But white refined and fake sugars don’t offer any nutrients. The body actually interpret these as foreign so it fights it, causing inflammation. Inflammation is at the heart of every chronic disease. Besides that, the sugar wreck havoc on our microbiome and they feed into our cravings.

Natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, agave and fruit are a better choice because they are nutrient-dense, but remember that sugar is still sugar and sweet is still sweet. So even these choices still have an impact on our sugar load and our cravings. And the truth is that we are just having too much of it and in the wrong seasons.

Doesn’t seem fair, right? What are we supposed to do? First, set reasonable goals. It’s not realistic to tell you just stop eating all sugar today.

My recommendation is to take baby steps toward limiting your sugar intake and start balancing your blood sugar.

  • Start by replacing all refined sugar (white, brown, powder) with naturals choices.
  • Once the more natural versions are in place, slowly begin reducing your consumption.
  • Balance your blood sugar:
    • Eat three meals a day, no snacks
    • Include a protein, fat and carb at every meal
  • Eat seasonally and buy locally. The season for eating high-sugar fruits and veggies is late summer when they are all ripe.
    • Shop at the farmers market where the only produce being sold are the ones in season in your area.

Start somewhere, anywhere, is the right step to take. Just start small and over time the changes will really add up! If you need a little help getting started, give me a call and lets talk how I can best support you.

Let’s talk more about sugar together:

Join me in Chicago @ Moksha Yoga on Saturday, Sept 29 for my Kick the Sugar Habit Master Class.

~or~

Join my (virtual) 14-Day Holiday Eating Pre-set, kickin on in Novemember 2018. 

 

Master Class: Kick the Sugar Habit!

Are you constantly craving sweets? Perhaps it’s because refined sugar is 8x’s more addictive than cocaine – 8x! Sugar causes weakened immune system, tooth decay, constipation, fatty liver, hormone imbalances, depression, anxiety, loss of sleep and weight gain… basically it upsets your whole body chemistry. And eating even a small amount creates a desire for more!

Learn how to stop the sugar cycle with Health Strategist Monique Costello.
In this workshop we will…

*Learn about the perils of sugar
*Understand the risks of artificial sweeteners
*Calculate your individual sugar consumption
*Find out about natural sugar replacements
*Learn how to gain control by stabilizing your blood sugar

Kick the Sugar Habit!
Saturday Sep 29
11am-12:30pm

regular: $20
member: $16

REGISTER HERE 

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