Lisa J Lafave

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Joshua Rosenthal

How Do You Climb Back On After Falling Of the Wagon?

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I had total knee replacement 9 weeks ago, and engaged in numerous indulgences during the last 10 weeks. I realized there was no way around staying on my restrictive diet while in the hospital, but had no intention in doing what I’ve done. It’s been an all out free fall. I have been eating whatever I want without a care in the world and have gained back a significant amount of the 30 pounds I had lost during the last 5 months.

So here I go again. I need to pick up the pieces and begin to eat with dignity once again. I guess I have been horribly disappointed being someone who can’t be on the detox diet owing to kidney stones. Did I mention I had three over the Christmas holiday? So I’ve come to grips with having to supplement fruits, vegetables, protein and fats with grains and legumes. In short, although I can and probably should be on a dairy free diet, Testing shows I have no gluten sensitivity and therefore likely do not need to follow a gluten free diet. Due to my history of kidney stones, I need to eat less animal protein and probably need to consume legumes and grains as an alternate source of a complete protein.

What I need to concentrate on is reducing empty calories and processed foods. The question is how can this be accomplished? I have to go back to Joshua Rosenthal’s concept of “crowding out.” It seems old favorites, like a small handful of nuts, baked beets or baked brussel sprouts with ghee or coconut oil, salads with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, get seemingly forgotten amidst lasagne, submarine sandwiches, BBQ wings, pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs, chips and dip, cakes, cookies, candy and ice cream. Crowding out with more fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains causes you to have less space for foods that are devoid of micro and macro nutrients.

Today I had a salad at lunch along with a fake pizza made with a pice of pita bread, pizza sauce, cheese and salami. The fake pizza was only moderately good. The salad was delicious! Maybe tomorrow I can skip the fake stuff and concentrate on a satisfying salad! I could easily compliment that with a lovely bowl of Madras lentils and end of feeling nourished and full. I think that’s a great plan for tomorrow!

So how about you? How has your eating regimen been going lately? Are you on track? Do you need to straighten up your house a bit? Where will you start? What can you add in that is nutritious and satisfying? Can you think of one meal that would fill that bill that could become a go to meal? How about a menu for a whole day that sticks to your pre-determined standards as to what qualifies as eating well in your eyes.

Did you know that most people stick to about 8 different dinners and then repeat those over and over again. If you could think of 8 lunches and 8 dinners that are healthy according to you and then rotate those you just might be in good stead. Some breakfast seems to be a bit more formulaic for most folks, but you don’t have to be limited. Seems eating well could just come down to developing some basic good habits and several good recipes and then sticking to those. Certainly feel free to being more diverse than these 16 meals. You know what they say. Variety is the spice of life. When it comes to getting all your nutrients a diverse palette is king, so let your creativity take you away. Rely on those 16 menus as old standbys, but feel free to switch it up and try to eat clean while you’re at it!

Why not interview 3 freinds and see what meals they rely on. This might give you a few new ideas. If you aren’t quite that social, check out some cook books or recipes online and see what appeals. Why not attempt to incorporate two new meals this week?

So simple actions like returning to eating old favorites from a clean eating phase of your life will help you to get back to basics and begin your new journey of eating in a manner you find acceptable! Clearing out your pantry of foods that don’t belong there to begin with, may be another activity that will help you get back on track. Doing a bit of research to develop some new menus that are approved by you might also prove helpful. Can you think of any other activities that might help you get back in your own good graces?

You might choose a few weekly activities to pair with your eating regimen that might support developing a healthier lifestyle. Maybe a walk in the woods, or a swim in the lake or a bike ride or perhaps a walk around the block with a friend or loved one. It might be a game of hoops, or a bit of yoga alone or in a group. Lots of people are wearing fitbits these days to track their daily steps. Whatever form of movement compels you the most is the one to go with!

I look forward to connecting with you again in the future!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC, BCC
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
The Wellness Coach form Building Better Bodies Rocks
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in My Little Brick in University Heights, Ohio

Leap Into Action!

A Curve Ball in the Form of Two Itsy Bitsy Kidney Stones!

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The jury is still out on how I shall proceed, but it is pretty certain that I developed two kidney stones (one confirmed on cat scan and the other unconfirmed, i.e. I didn’t even bother going to the ER) as a result of following Mark Hyman’s Detox Diet. Can you believe it? Everything was going so well. The weight was coming off, I was in the groove, and then Bham! Kidney stone one arrived, and I felt like someone suddenly kicked me in the back. Flank pain, they call it. If that wasn’t enough, kidney stone two arrived at 4:35 AM, one week later, and was impossible to ignore, or even simply treat at home.

While at the hospital, I learned that there are more kidney stones, laying in wait in my kidneys, that will come out, at an undetermined time, in the future, if no corrective action is taken. Never fear, I am following up with my stone doctor, Dr Arthur Porter, a urologist, for further evaluation and treatment.

Luckily, prior to leaving the hospital, a minute or two after being given a screen to catch the stone with, by a nurse, I caught the darn thing for further analysis! Sometimes they take a week to pass. It would have been a real pain in the neck to carry that screen around with me everywhere I went to try and catch that stone! Once it took me 6 weeks to pass one. The pain was so bad, all I did was crawl around the bed in a circle, like a monkey chasing its tail.

This all caused me to remember the protein sparing fast I’d been on some twenty years ago to lose weight, which caused a whole rash of kidney stones (13 confirmed, and likely another 13 unconfirmed). At one point, I had 25 stones counted on scan in my kidneys.

According to my endocrinologist, Dr Robert Zimmerman, a protein sparing fast and Dr Hyman’s Detox Diet have quite a few commonalities. He further confirmed that both can cause kidney stones, and therefore require supplementing several electrolytes, while on these regimens.

Now, I am concerned about just what about this diet, and my consumption, while on the diet, caused the kidney stones to form. What do I need to do differently to be sure that I don’t form anymore kidney stones? Did I overdo the protein? Am I eating too many nuts? Is it due to one or more of the supplements I am taking? Is there a supplement or two, or three that I am missing, and need to take?

I have an appointment scheduled with the nutritionist, and a doctor, at the Center for Functional Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in the next week. So what I need to do is figure out if there is a way that I can safely stay on the diet, or if some modifications must be made.

I actually asked not long ago, if I could resume eating rice and beans a few times a week, to reduce the amount of animal protein I was consuming. I safely added back in black beans and kidney beans. Unfortunately, I was told to hold off on adding the rice back into my diet. I wonder if rice and beans might be the ticket for me! However, I am willing to hear them out.

What I know for sure is that nothing in this Detox Diet is there by chance! Everything has been carefully thought out. There are reasons why certain foods are a no go and there are reasons why other foods are encouraged.

What I do know about myself, and my lab work is that I have no sensitivity to gluten, whatsoever. Consequently, I wonder if a little beans and rice might be okay, in my particular case.

However, it is all about the gut microbiome and what is healthy for the gut. This Detox Diet, at its essence, is about healing the gut microbiome. Thus, if rice is unhealthy, it’s just unhealthy for the gut microbiome. What do I know? I will have to rely on the experts!

When it’s all said and done, what I hope to do is go back on the diet to lose the next thirty pounds, and then revisit the question about whether or not I can safely stay on the diet.

I like the Detox Diet, because I can use it to drop weight, without being hungry. That right there is a big deal. In the past, in my case, dieting has always been about being fairly miserable, and sick with horrible migraines, while losing weight. Not so, with the Detox Diet. Until the kidney stones, I felt really well on the Detox Diet. The Detox Diet seemed to really agree with me. So I’ll fight a bit and try to work the kinks out for this diet.

Have any curve balls been thrown your way? What form have those curve balls taken? Have you come into any stumbling blocks on your diet? Has your body been knocking on your brain, and trying to get you to pay attention? Are there any modifications you need to make in your regimen? Is there any research, or investigative work, you need to do, to get some of your questions answered? What questions do you have? Be specific. Write those questions out, so you don’t forget what they are. Who could help answer your questions? Are you willing to take time out of your busy week to schedule an appointment with one or more of these people? How much are you willing to invest to get those questions answered?

Remember, Joshua Rosenthal, of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, preaches bio-individuality. He suggests, “One person’s food is another person’s poison.” No matter what regimen you are currently following, you will need to check in with your body regularly. You will need to be aware of how your body is responding to the regimen you are currently on, and then make adjustments accordingly, if you are having some difficulties.

Best of luck in tuning into the ongoing, and ever changing needs of your body! Never forget to be a scientist, about your own body’s response to the foods you are feeding it. Finally, if you have questions, either research the answers yourself, or find a specialist, who can help guide and direct you.

This is all about your quest for greater health, through the choices you make in nourishing yourself, with the food you choose to eat. You are worth the struggle, and you know it! Only beautiful things can arise, as a result of this journey! Are you ready to re-double your efforts?

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC, BCC
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
The Wellness Coach at Building Better Bodies Rocks
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in My a Little Brick in University Heights, Ohio

Leap Into Action!

Those Supplements!

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Dr Mark Hyman of The Center for Functional Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic recommends quite a few supplements for the Detox Diet. He may prescribe different supplements to different people, but I am sure a few of them are standard fare. Which are which are unknown to me.

The ones I take prescribed by Dr Hyman himself include: Ultra Flora Balance, which is kept in the fridge. You take 2 tabs twice daily of Ultra Flora Balance. One PureLean Pure Pack with a meal daily. Two large scoops of Mediclear Plus in cold water daily. Two packets of PGX in cold water daily. Two capsules 2 times daily of Meriva SR (curcumin phytosome). One tab 2 times daily of Alamax CR (controlled release alpha lipoic acid). One tab once daily of Vitamin D3 5000 iu. Two daily OmegaGenics EPA – DHA 720 with food. Two to four 2 times daily Magnesium (citrate) with food. Two capsules between meals of Quercetin (garlic) and two capsules two times daily between meals of NAC 600mg.

I point out this fairly exhaustive list by way to remind you that this is not simply an anti-inflammatory diet that encourages healthy food intake and crowds out artificial, chemicalized and processed foods found in the aisles of the grocery store.

Now I must admit it took me a few weeks to figure out how to take all of this stuff everyday! But after awhile you get used to the routine!

You might wonder where you can get all of these supplements. It’s actually easy. You can order it on line at ClevelandClinic.HealthyLivingShop.com or over the phone at 1-800-897-1722. Finally, if you want to email them you can at customerservice@healthylivingshop.com. Guess who owns the company. That’s right! Dr Mark Hyman! Here is a doctor who writes books, appears on TV, in the paper, and on the internet. He has his own newsletter and is willing to share his knowledge. Perhaps most importantly is his supplement distribution center. Although he is a busy man, he has clearly discovered how to get paid, while he is relaxing! I say good for him!

So are supplements for you? Seems to be working for me. But remember according to Joshua Rosenthal of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition one person’s food is another person’s poison. Please research what supplements might be best for you. You might look into this topic in one of Dr Hyman’s many publications. Better yet, hire a functional medicine doctor to look after your own individual needs. Then you would be sure you would be taking the right thing for your certain circumstances. Don’t forget, our needs change as we pass through various phases of our lives, so what might have made sense 5 to 10 years ago might not serve you best now. Is is always best to consult a doctor who knows about all of your medical needs and can look at the big picture before recommending the addition of any new supplements or medications.

Speaking of medications, Dr Hyman actually took me off several prescription medicines as he suggested a new eating program and simultaneously put me on the supplements mentioned above. In just one month, I have lost 20 pounds. All systems are go!

How about you? Have you chosen a new regimen? Crowding out processed foods which have few micronutrients and replacing them with whole foods is a great way to go. What is on the horizon for you concerning a new focus on your food intake or the prospect of coupling taking supplements as you change you eating style? Talk your ideas over with a trusted person in your life. You will need support from someone as you undergo your transformation!

Best of luck as you begin to build your better body today!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
The Wellness Coach at Building Better Bodies Rocks
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
written In My Little Brick in University Heights, Ohio

Leap Into Action!

Seventeen Pounds Down!

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I started the Mark Hyman detox diet on August 20, 2015. It’s 25 days later and I have already lost 17 pounds! That is huge!

You might ask what made me choose this diet. The answer is simple. I have multiple chronic pain issues and I just want to feel better! This diet is an anti inflammatory diet, which helps people, who suffer from any of a variety of auto-immune disorders.

I briefly made a go of this diet in the past and I know it works. You can drop weight quickly, without starving. The diet is restrictive, but that just might make things easier at the present time, when there is so much weight to be lost and work to be done. The upside of the restrictive diet is that it’s less confusing and actually easier to stay on the straight and narrow! There are just less choices. If you are interested to learn more about it, you can buy Mark Hyman’s book “The 10 Day Detox Diet” on Amazon. It even has an accompanying cookbook.

Okay, so I am just at the very beginning of building a better me, but the point is, I chose a plan of action and I am following it. Now I just need to execute the same thing over the course of many months, if not a year! Then there will be one beautiful me staring back at me in the mirror! And better yet, I should feel a whole heck of a lot better!

To aid my ability to stick with the plan, I have a variety of different people that I will interface with every step of the way. I have appointments with my functional medicine doctor, Mark Hyman, at the Cleveland Clinic every 4 months or so and appointments with my nutritionist, Tricia Howell, every 2 months or as needed and weekly half hour calls with my health coach, Anna Cortes. In addition, I have appointments with my endocrinologist every 3 – 4 months. By the way, I think the coaching with my health coach is an extremely important part of this whole picture.

The health coaching gives me a chance to check in with someone weekly and discuss any concerns or difficulties that I may have. It also helps me to focus in on the new goal for the next week. This helps me to tighten up my game plan and be more successful.

I strongly recommend that you hire a health coach to help you through your process too. Research shows coaches help you get to where you are going faster!

So what is your game plan? Do you have one? Would you like to do some research? There are about 100 different diets out there, according to Joshua Rosenthal, the Founder of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Likely, any one that you choose will improve the current state of your food intake. Simply avoiding processed food would do you a world of good.

Most Americans eat far too much sugar, fried foods, and protein – animal or plant varieties. Our food is filled with chemicals and man made stuff we simply don’t want to be consuming.

Trying a whole food approach, without any additives could be revolutionary for you! Eating foods that are produced locally and organic, without any GMOs is also a very popular route. But these approaches may not be for you! Everybody is different. You will have to choose what is right for you. I suspect you know right now a few of the things you should put in place immediately!

So are you up to the challenge? Do you too want to start building a better body? Do you want to incorporate a health coach, who you work with over the phone as part of your process? Choose three things you are willing to commit to today. Set a start date. Clean out your pantry and your fridge to get started and then make a go of it. Then we can slide down the scale together!

Ready, set, go!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
The Wellness Coach at Building Better Bodies Rocks
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
A Single Mom By Choice of Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in My Little Brick in University Hts, Ohio

Leap Into Action!

Crowding Out

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Crowding out is one of the themes that Joshua Rosenthal of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) discusses. Crowding out refers to the notion of eating so much healthy food that there simply is not enough room in your stomach to eat unhealthy foods. This actually really works.

Try to concentrate on having enough healthy foods each day so you don’t have room for unhealthy foods! When we eat at home we have much more control about what ingredients are actually in our food!

How would you go about crowding out? Start by bringing home only healthy foods and trying to limit the amount of times you eat out.

When you shop, try to purchase food from the perimeter of the grocery store, where more of the whole foods and less of the processed foods can be found. This will help.

Next, you actually have to prepare and eat the healthy foods! It simply doesn’t count to have kale and dandelion greens rotting in your fridge! You have to chew and ingest for the magic to take place! Take joy in the experimentation process here.

What does your intuition tell you is a good meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner today? Well now go to it and get busy and don’t forget to crowd out those unhealthy intruders!

Happy eating!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
The Wellness Coach from Building Better Bodies Rocks
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in My Little Brick in University Heights, Ohio

Primary Food

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Exactly what is primary food? Joshua Rosenthal of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition contends that primary food nourishment is just as important as the nourishment we get from the food on our plates. Primary food is the nourishment we receive from physical activity, relationships, our careers and spirituality. Joshua contends that when these areas are out of balance that people often seek to rectify the situation through eating excessive amounts of food or by consuming more toxic food.

By comparison secondary food is the food we put on our plates. Most of us thought that what was on our plates was the totality of our nutrition, but Joshua extends that beyond the plate to reach into every aspect of our lives!

Have you ever noticed that you may seek out certain foods to comfort you when things have not gone as planned at the office or with one of your close companions, be it a family member, spouse, officemate or friend? Try to keep each area of your life in balance and the choices you make regarding the food you opt to eat will likely be better and more nutritious for you in the long run.

Do you feel you need less to eat when you are having a really good time? If you feed yourself through literature, a great chat with a friend, exploration out in the world, art, a good walk in nature, or swimming 50 laps in the pool are you more able to make good choices in the kitchen and at the table? If you are not sure, try it out. You just might make a $50 million discovery!

Well if it’s not worth $50 million, it may invaluable for your health and wellness and the health and wellness of those around you. Remember this stuff is catching and if you find the road to health you make take others with you on your journey whether they like it not!

Go on! Be a scientist. Check out your own anecdotal data! Just try to disprove the null hypohothesis!

Leap Into Action and Build a Better Body Today!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
The Wellness Coach at Building Better Bodies Rocks
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written at The Beach at Lake Morey Resort Fairlee, Vt

What is Bio-individuality?

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So what is bio-individuality anyway? Bio-individuality is a concept developed by Joshua Rosenthal from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Bio-individuality suggests that “one person’s food is another person’s poison,” meaning that no one diet will work for everyone! Moreover, a diet that works at one age will not necessarily be appropriate or meet the demands of that very same person at another age. Likewise, what works in the summer may not work I the winter and vice versa! Consequently, at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition Coaches are taught all of the 100 diets of the day,yet not taught to hold one in higher esteem than another.

The Institute further contends that more than respecting a specific dietary theory, it is important to respect each client and what they know about their own situation. They know what is nourishing to them as well as what doesn’t sit well with them.

Joshua states that our bodies are great computers. Left to their own devices they will correct themselves. He notes are bodies are so precise, we never forget to breathe and our hearts never stop beating until we die. He observes, “giraffes never go see giraffe doctors, when they are ill.”

This begs the question, what are we doing when we go to doctors and take their potions? What is all this madness we have been sold? Fact, fiction or just a bill of goods? Maybe we should just nuourish our bodies with the best produce and whole foods available and let things take their course. Some even contend food is all the medicine you need. Where you believe it or not it is good food for thought.

What do you know about your own bio-individuality? What diets might work well for you and which ones are simply not for you.

Ask yourself if you are ready to make a dietary change in the coming week? If yes, while honoring your own bio-individuality, write out a list of three things you could concentrate on and alter in the coming week. Follow what you already know would be a productive dietary shift for you. Then place this list in a prominent place where you will see it regularly to remind yourself of your resolve to make these changes for the next week. At the end of the week, surmise whether you generally stuck to the proposed changes. If yes, ask yourself if you feel any different. If you do feel different, is this a positive change? Then decide if you would like to continue On this journey toward health. What do you have to lose?

Let’s get going! Leap into action!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
The Wellness Coach from Building Better Bodies Rocks
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in The Movie Theatre at Lake Morey Resort Fairlee, VT

Coaching to Augment my Detox from The Sad Diet

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Today I met none other than the fabulous Anna Cortes, a Wellness Coach with the International Coaching Federation! She works at the Center for Functional Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. She studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition with Joshua Rosenthal. Although she has been coaching for about four years and had her own business, she left it all to join the functional medicine movement! I love that! A woman with conviction and actions to follow up her passion!

Anna will be working with me on the phone! How convenient! This service is literally part of the package at the Center for Functional Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic! I am so delighted!

Although we met so she could help me order my supplements, we began our work right away when she asked me this powerful question, “What will be the most difficult part of this?” I mentioned moving the kids right along with me. I suggested that I didn’t know what to tell them and how to couch it. She reassured me by saying I didn’t need to say anything! I just need to model the appropriate behavior and they will consume the information as their brains are little recorders. That was very reassuring, but heck do I ever have my work cut out for me!

I am so glad to have Anna along for the ride. Our next call will be on Friday August 20th at 10:00 AM. I can use all the help I can get! Can wait to get started!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written In My Little Brick in University Heights, Ohio