Category: Diet

Why We’re So Passionate About Food!

In recent years, our team has learned so much professionally and personally about the importance of food. Learning through mistakes, illness and success, we have become very passionate about sharing a message of truth. What’s tough, is sometimes a message of truth may seem a little overboard or outside of the norm.

I remember the first time I met a gentleman Paul Chek at an ECA Fitness conference in Miami. He is the creator of the CHEK Institute and by far one of the best health practitioners in the WORLD! In 2005, I attended a brief nutrition lecture with him and was totally blown away! I knew everything he said was the absolute truth, but it seemed so out of my reach that I was unable to wrap my head around the changes he was recommending. Information such as switching my meat to organic, throwing out my microwave and going back to eating REAL food! I valued what he said, but it seemed as if I would have to move to a remote island somewhere to make the changes truly come to life. An island where there was no temptation, no kids screaming for what they want and free food from the land.

I was already eating “HEALTHY” based on what mainstream society was telling me, but I realized I was still having issues such as gas, constipation, fatigue, depression and cellulite. As I moved forward with clients and coaching them with lifestyle changes, I started to see many trends with health symptoms relating directly to how someone was eating. I started to see those who ate too little had hypothyroid, heart palpitations and extremely low pulse rates, others who followed popular weight loss programs for several years had Fibromyalgia, depression and symptoms of MS and those who cut out whole food groups experienced digestive disorders, skin issues and diseases such as Hashimoto’s Disease.

Prior to receiving extensive training and experience in this area, I used to just focus on Calories, Fat, Protein, Carbs and Fiber. I thought if I hit my calorie goal, I was healthy! NOT! That was the furthest from the truth. I found that this method of achieving weight loss was very generic and actually created sick, skinny and fat bodies, not healthy, vibrant bodies!

Food, or the replacement of food, has the most POWER when it comes to how you look, think, act, feel and age! When we train clients we are very passionate about sharing this truth with them, because we know what they do when they leave our facility is more critical than what they do when they are with us. If we train someone at a high intensity, but they go home and either skip meals, eat microwaved meals or often drink protein shakes, we know (based on trends & education) most will be creating a chronic illness for themselves. Training programs which advise you to eat very strict amounts of calories, omitting whole food groups such as fat, meat or carbs, will eventually (or immediately) lead to serious issues. When someone hires us, they typically have a goal of weight loss, pain relief, more energy and a tight body! We know if they crash diet or eat all “fake” food, they may achieve these goals very short-term, but not long after, the injuries will increase, healing time will take much longer and/or chronic diseases such as autoimmune dysfunction or Cancer will arise. There is just no way around it!

Metabolism is all chemical reactions happening in a living organism to maintain life. Calories are units of energy required to help the chemical reactions take place. Whole food calories are the only ones which have true nutrients to spark these reactions in a way which creates life versus stress in the body.

Our goal is to help people achieve the goals they truly want:

Energy, Health, Tight Bodies, Strength, Better Skin, LIFE

Weight loss does not guarantee any of these things which is why we never advise crap food, surgeries or crap meal replacements as a way to achieve the body you want.

If you are experiencing gas, bloating, anxiety, mood swings, depression, autoimmune dysfunction, poor healing, infertility, impotency, loss of libido, symptoms of MS, Melasma, muscle wasting, increased injuries- YOU ARE NOT DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!

A health plan should make you feel healthier!

It took me some time to realize Paul Chek was definitely not crazy or going overboard when he shared his passion for better health. What he was doing was trying to save lives and prevent unnecessary health problems being created by common “health” practices. He was the expert and had already been there, done that. I chose to learn by his mistakes and start applying versus fighting the advice. Our entire staff has worked over the past few years to make small changes and it is amazing to see how far we have come mentally, physically and emotionally. It’s always a work in progress, but I am here to tell you THAT YOU CAN DO IT! You can have what you want to have without deprivation, sickness, high food bills and strict diets.

If you need help taking your health to the next level, please email me at kimgarcia@gimefitness.com .

If you want to get started on your own, your best investment right now would be our new Tour of the Store GIME Guide!

This is quick fix allows for you to make easy changes TOMORROW!

Save Your Time, Money and Health! Know that your diagnosis does not have to be permanent! More than 2/3rd’s of our current health problems can be completely managed/eliminated through small, simple changes! We hope you will understand our passion and we hope to add more Quality of Life to your years!

*Photo from http://www.paulshealthblog.com/2010/07/you-are-what-you-eat.html

February 7, 2012
How the Successful Lose Weight and Keep it Off

Working with so many people to help them lose weight, having many successes and having many who give up, I ask myself, how is it that I made the commitment to make better choices? How is that many people I helped 10 or more years ago to lose weight, have kept it off? Because truly that’s the real answer. Anyone and any diet can help someone lose weight, but which methods and behaviors actually keep it off? And for that matter, which methods and behaviors actually make you healthier during the process? For today, we will discuss how to be successful at weight loss for life, but it’s a whole other story as to whether your weight loss is healthy or not.

In recent years, weight loss has become very complicated, gimmicky and obsessive. We seem to be drawn to these characteristics, but of course we’re being marketed daily to think we should eat less, move more and if we screw up, we might as well give up. This is why 95% of dieters fail and most attempt at least 8 times before they actually succeed. If you want to break this statistic, read on. If you want to stay on the hamster wheel, close now.

GET OFF THE WHEEL!!! YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL FOR LIFE!

I believe it’s time to make a change and I believe I am tired of seeing people get caught up in the whirlwind of the dieting industry. Each person deserves to feel their best and it’s time I share the simple, yet priceless secrets with you.

1. Successful people make small changes over time.

No one can be perfect in a week. We do not become a perfect student, a perfect parent or a perfect spouse over night (if ever). So how do we think we could live completely “good” when it comes to diet and exercise? It’s just not possible to turn your world upside down and keep it that way just because the diet book or the trainer told you to. It’s also not smart to just change everything in your body over night. Going from no exercise and no awareness of diet, to daily cardio sessions and food restriction makes your body feel like it’s under attack. Many foods we are addicted to can also cause horrible feelings or severe cravings as we try to wean off of them. It’s important that we make small changes each day, each week to move us toward our goals of living healthier. I personally started drinking water versus soda or tea. Then I started to exercise. Next I started to make sure my snacks offered nutrition versus just something to put into my mouth. Small adjustments lead to long-term success.

2.Successful people do not feel guilty.

This is kind of misleading. In the beginning when I started seeing great success with my small changes, I did start to enjoy the results of my choices and started to become obsessed. If I missed a workout, I would feel severely guilty and then over do it the next day or not eat to make up for it. I thought that was the best way to balance it out. That method soon created many health problems for me and I realized I was doing something wrong. I also realized I was putting too much pressure on myself and not allowing myself to be HUMAN. As you begin your health journey, you are going to eat a cookie again, you are going to miss a workout and you are going to fluctuate in weight. It’s just a given. What you can do to save yourself much mental anguish, is to eliminate the guilt. Feeling guilty is poison and it adds no value to your program. The more we obsess over the mistake, the more we tend to make poor choices for our body. We tend to either over eat, under eat, over exercise or GIVE UP. If you make a mistake at work, do you just quit? If you make a mistake as a parent, do you give your kids up for adoption? No, we apologize for the mistake and we generally work to do better the next time. If you can carry this behavior over into your health journey, you will never GIVE UP again. You may have a stall, but when you over eat one day, you can get up, apologize to yourself and determine how to prevent the same mistake in the future. Or you can say, I only over eat one or two days per year, no big deal and let it go. Learning to work around your mistakes and how to prevent them, will lead to long-term success.

3. Successful people commit for life.

Do you know how long ago it was that I switched to water from soda and tea? 17 years ago! I didn’t just say let me drink this water to get the weight off and then I will give it all up to go back to my old habits. Once I learned how important water was and how many empty calories were in many drinks we choose to consume, I used my logic and said it’s just not worth it to me. I was not so logical when it came to exercise though. I started exercising about 16 years ago and became really fit the first year. Of course I was 19 or so and it was not too hard to shape up. Once I got in shape, I said ok, I am fit now. I should be able to maintain this. Then I stopped exercising all together. About a year went by and I had not gained any weight. Yet, while riding as a passenger in the car one day, I propped my leg up by the window, looked down and saw someone elses leg. I thought is that my 20 year old leg covered in cellulite? But how? I have not gained any weight according to the scale. This is when I realized the scale does not always tell the truth. It may tell me good or not so good numbers, but they truly do not matter if my health is failing or my body fat is rising! This is when I realized, just like the water, exercise was going to be a part of my life in some fashion if I wanted to maintain a healthy looking body and not just a number on the scale. If you want to be successful with weight loss for life, you have to realize there are no time frames. Think about what you want to feel like five years from now, not just five weeks from now and start to make small changes you will commit to for life.

The successful weight loss people you see at work, at the gym, throughout life are the ones incorporating these behaviors. Most are not genetically fit. They have just committed to apply logic to their daily choices and find ways to deal with their emotions. They have made the commitment to value their body and how it feels, just as some have made the commitment to not pay attention to their body. Our daily choices and perseverance is what equates to our short and long-term results. I hope these priceless secrets to success can help you improve your results today and on going! The power is within you to be successful. You may need guidance and support, but there are no magic pills, no magic surgeries and no magic diets, just simple secrets of success.

December 17, 2011
Remember 1440 in 2012!

Do you know what the number 1440 represents? I didn’t realize the importance of that number until I attended a recent youth summit held last year for the Hernando Youth Initiative. Florida child advocate Jack Levine, reminded us that there are 1440 minutes in every day. With those 1440 minutes, we each have the choice as to how we use them. He suggested that we take at least 20 minutes of alone time for ourselves and dedicate at least 20 additional minutes toward meaningful conversation with someone else in our life. Forty minutes dedicated daily to important priorities leaving us with 1400 additional minutes to spend on everything and everyone else.

This message came at just the right time for me. I had many recent life changes which led me to be very focused on my business, my clients, family and friends. All of this focus was for a great cause, but in the midst of supporting everyone else, I was starting to neglect myself. I realized how quickly days can fly by without us realizing we have not made a nice meal for ourselves or even taken time to relax our minds. The days of ordering out, skipping exercise and working 15 hours straight, were starting to take a toll on my mindset and my body. As a wellness coach I realized that although my intentions were good and I knew what to do, I was not applying my own knowledge during my hectic days. These daily choices were starting to add up.

It is important in 2012 that we realize our daily choices add up either positively or negatively having a cumulative effect on our mind, body and soul. Much of our quality of life and longevity is decided upon our daily lifestyle choices. Science suggests only 1/3 of our outcomes are based upon genetics. This is great news for us if we decide to invest at least 20 minutes into ourselves each day. Doing so may drastically slow the aging process and improve the way we feel.

Think about it, wherever you spend the most productive time, you tend to get the best result.

If you spend a few hours cleaning your house each week, it generally looks well kept. If you take time to water your plants, prune them and give them proper care, they tend to live longer. We have to remember our bodies are the same way, yet our bodies are much more valuable than the car, house or plants.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal post, 6 out of 7 full time employees are struggling with weight issues and/or chronic health conditions. Our children are on medication for diabetes, blood pressure and depression. Although these statistics are becoming common, they are not normal. The human body was not created to fall apart. With a little upkeep, it can be rather resilient. Taking a few minutes to pack a healthy snack to go, grabbing a bottle of water or stretching before you wind down at night, can lead to a healthier you. Small choices can add up to big rewards.

As we enter into 2012, think about your 1440 minutes and how you want to use them daily. Only you can make the choice as to how you want to spend your time. For your health and our future, it is my hope that you will dedicate at least 20 minutes daily to invest life’s best gift….YOU!

December 17, 2011
ValueSelf

Have you complimented yourself today? Have you taken time to take care you? I hope so.

Do you know that you are the most important piece of the puzzle?

Without you, there is no job, there is no family and there is no driving to get where you need to be.

Many of us are so busy worrying about where we need to be, who we need to take care of or our deadline at work, that we forget the most important piece- SELF! As we hurry through our lives, many times we forget how valuable our mind and body is. Without the abilities we have been blessed with, we would be unable to do so many things for everything and everyone else, but many times we forget this.

We spend more time ignoring our body or cutting ourselves down. We mentally call ourselves ugly, wrinkled, fat, lazy, stupid, incapable…. but all is not true. We are the furthest from any of these things, yet we somehow find ways to abuse ourselves mentally and physically while taking time to make everyone else happy.

You have been uniquely and beautifully made with the ability to have feelings, make your own decisions, create change and to climb mountains. Incidences in your life may have caused you to forget these things, but they’re true. No matter what your formal education, your current fitness state or your current social status, you have the ability to achieve what you want. Sometimes it may be tough to figure out how to get started or how to overcome your current obstacles, but what’s important is to know YOU CAN DO IT!

Many times if we feel behind or lost, we give up versus looking for ways to take small steps in the direction we want to head. Know that with small steps and belief in yourself you can achieve more. You can feel better, think better and move better.

The biggest mistake many of us make is comparing ourselves to others or focusing too much on where we wish we were at versus the little steps we need to take to get to there. For example, if you have 100lbs to lose, you can’t focus on the 100lbs or your goal weight without getting frustrated and wanting to give up. 100lbs seems like such a LONG way away! Instead, you have to focus on the behaviors needed to achieve the 100 pound weight loss. Think about it, if you want to graduate high school or college, you can’t just think about the degree, you have to attend courses, study, take tests and put in the time. This is the same when trying to lose weight. You must think of the steps needed to achieve 100 pound weight loss degree. Study, put in the time and make the extra effort to ValueSelf. It takes 13 years to graduate high school and many of us achieve this. If you dedicate just one to two years to taking care of you, you can lose that 100 pounds focusing on five pounds at a time and the habits needed to achieve that loss.

This is the same with trying to achieve a business goal. You cannot just focus on where you want to be and get stressed that you are not there yet. You have to think about what you may have to do to get you there and most of all you have to know that you CAN do it. Many of us get side tracked when working towards our goals or hung up on some of the judgment and pressures of society.

Now is your time to know that YOU can do what you want to do and YOU can achieve your goals beginning TODAY!

Do not wait until 2012! Start investing in yourself today, mentally, physically and emotionally.

If you take time to fuel your body, compliment your mind and to rest your soul, you will start to function better for yourself and everyone around you. You will be able to think clearly about how you want to feel, think, act and look and you will take the steps to seek solutions to your obstacles.

Never say “I Can’t” again! Replace that statement with the words, “I have not learned how to yet.” Because you my friend are just as valuable as the next and you have ALL the capabilities to fully live your life if you are willing to take the steps to get there.

The most important thing is to enjoy the journey. You are only guaranteed this present moment. So no matter where you want to be or where you are headed, do not rush it and do not get stressed about not being there yet. Do what you can do and be thankful for what you DO have. Enjoy the ups and the downs. Every time there is a down, know there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you continue to persevere.

Above all, don’t keep putting yourself last. You were put on this Earth as a gift and you deserve to be treated like a special gift. You should be the first to value that gift. The more you ValueSelf, the more others will value you. Not only will they value you, but they will be thankful for the whole person you are giving to them. A mom, a husband, a wife, a dad, a child who values their self, can give true energy and love to those around them.

Remember, although you have lots to get done and lots to accomplish, you cannot give what you don’t have. Learn to have compassion, love, energy and time for self and you will be able to authentically give all of those things to everyone else in your life.

November 13, 2011

Eat Simple, Be Healthy, Save Money

In my previous blog, I mentioned eating for fuel and rethinking what you can cook quickly and conveniently.
Below is a typical grocery list we use at our home to make food with less additives, less unhealthy fat and more nutrients. Most meals and snacks on this list can be prepared in as little as 2 minutes, but no longer than 30 minutes. When we’re really on our “A” game we follow this type of eating style at work and at home. Our kids eat pretty close to this, but sometimes during lunch time, we just pack 4-6 snack items such as grapes, apples, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, cookies and juice. They love having all the items in their box and the lunch is packed with much more nutrition than a lunchable or sandwich with chips.

The average lunch for two people at a local restaurant will cost approximately $17. Here you can feed almost your entire family for the entire day at the same cost. Now these foods may not look normal to your family and that’s ok. We never used to eat this whole and/or nutritious ourselves. The average family/person, eats the same 16 meals each week. Once you get in your groove, your healthy 16 meals per week will become a natural habit/lifestyle for you. We slowly tweaked each meal at a time, starting first with our snacks, then with breakfast and so forth. Take a look at your current diet and see which area is easiest for you to tweak first. The main goal is to make room for a few treats, make food that is enjoyable and always think “How can I make this meal slightly healthier for me?”. You will see as you make these small changes, you will not only eliminate high priced packaged snack foods, but you will also develop cravings for the new, healthier snacks.

Try this list today! Get creative adding natural herbs, spices and veggies to your meals.

Food	Average Cost
2lbs Murray’s Chicken Breast	9.00
2lbs Organic Beef	16.00
4 Tilapia Fillets	16.00
2lb sirloin beef roast	10.00
Rotisserie Chicken	6.00
Bag of organic Baked potatoes	3.99
4 Sweet Potatoes	3.00
Head of Lettuce	1.30
Cucumbers	1.00
Radishes (1 bunch)	1.00
Bag of peppers	3.00
broccoli	1.50
2 bags Frozen Organic Veggies	3.00
Can of Butter Beans	1.00
1 bag of white/ brown rice	6.00
Bag of organic apples	5.00
6 bananas	2.00
Natural Peanut Butter	2.00
Organic Veggie Soup 2 cans	3.00
1lb grapes	1.99
Raw cashews	4.00
1 package cheese sticks	3.00
Natural Rice Cakes	2.00
Newman’s cookies	3.00
Quaker Oatmeal	2.00
Dozen Eggs	3.50
Chicken/turkey sausage	3.00
100% juice	2.00
Case of Bottled Water	3.99
Total cost	$123.00

* Prices may vary based on sales, produce stands and bulk purchasing. The amazing thing is you will see your grocery bill stay the same or decrease as you diminish costly packaged foods. The average family of four could live off of these items for the entire week at an estimated $17 per day.

Here is what a week could look like with these foods:

Meal Time	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Breakfast	2 eggs with roasted potatoes and turkey sausage	Oatmeal with an apple	Rice cake with peanut butter and banana on top	Oatmeal with scrambled eggs	2 eggs with roasted potatoes and turkey sausage	Hard boiled egg and a banana	Veggie omelet
Snack	Grapes with cheese stick	Rice cake with peanut butter	Apple with cashews	banana	Grapes with cheese stick	Cashews and apple	Rice cake with peanut butter
Lunch	Salad with 3 ozs grilled chicken	Rotisserie chicken w ½ cup butter beans	Sirloin tips with rice and green beans	Leftovers from previous night	Rotisserie chicken with veggies	Lunch out	Organic Veggie Soup
Snack	apple	Cheese stick	Hard boiled egg	Small salad	banana	Roasted sweet potatoes	Grapes and cheese stick
Dinner	Ground beef mixed with rice and stir fry veggies (add low sodium soy or teriyaki)	Tilapia with baked potato and broccoli	Chicken Kabobs with potato and peppers	Lean Burgers with sweet potato fries	BBQ Chicken breast cut into small pieces with rice and green beans	Sirloin tips cut from roast with baked potatoes and veggies	Dinner out
Snack	2 cookies	grapes	banana	Cheese stick	2 cookies	Cup 100% juice	2 cookies

*serving size varies based on age, weight and sex

Making healthy choices daily, will save you money now and in the future. Not only will you enjoy your food, but you will also enjoy how your clothes fit each day, how you look in pictures and what your health numbers look like at your physical. That’s much more gratifying than eating whatever you want, when you want.
At least I think so. Have a healthy week!

www.donteatcrapday.com

October 3, 2011

Saving Money and Saving Your Health

How many times have we heard it is too expensive to eat healthy? Or it’s too much work to cook a good meal. In some cases this may be true, but in most cases, this train of thought has been programmed into our head through commercials, news reports and mass marketing campaigns.

Selling on us on convenience, buy one get one free and extra large has been the theme for the past 30 years. In no way has this been cheaper or more convenient. It has just built the perception of being “easier”.

When you or your family is suffering through self esteem issues, diabetes II, asthma, heart disease or joint pain, the cheap cost of buy one get one free and extreme couponing is really not too convenient nor affordable. If anything… it is a huge waste of time and quality of life.

I personally struggled with the thought of buying organic foods, visiting the farmer’s market and having to cook dinner after working a 14 hour day. Then some amazing resources were sent my way to change my perception. Movies such as FOOD INC., The Killer at Large and books such as The End of Overeating, Food Rules and the World’s Healthiest Foods changed my perception on how easier eating healthier could be.

If you fear buying different foods, giving up foods you love or having to cook dinner every night, I’m here to tell you that YOU CAN DO IT! One small step at a time you can work towards a healthier you and a healthier family, easily and afford ably without feeling deprived.
Not only can you extend your quality of life, you will save THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.

Now everyone has their version of what eating healthy consists of, but as I offer you tips on how to make this change, I am going to keep it pretty basic. I am going to stick with foods that look like real food and have been made from nature, not by man.

TOP THREE HEALTH & MONEY SAVING TIPS

1. Quit Buying Frilly Drinks-
What do you give your pets to drink? Your birds, plants and grass? All living creatures need WATER to live. The birds, plants, animals and trees are not depressed because they can’t drink Snapple, SOBE, Mountain Dew or Venti Coffee. Those born in other countries are starving for clean water and we toss it away because it is boring. Liven up your water! Add a splash of 100% cranberry grape juice, oranges, lemons or limes. Add some ice. DRINK WATER! YOUR BODY WILL THANK YOU FOR IT and so will your wallet.

2. Eat Food for Energy-
Your body needs food for energy to live. It was never designed to eat fake nutrition bars, protein powders and eat only one meal per day. The more natural the food is, the better your metabolism works and it’s a lot cheaper than $40 tubs of supplements and $2-$3 chemical bars. We were never designed to over stuff ourselves, nor to starve ourselves. We were built to eat REAL FOOD FOR FUEL. Try eating grapes, organic apples, hard boiled eggs, lean meat for your snacks and/or meals. Keep the processed stuff to less than 3 servings per day.

3. Reprogram Your Thinking-
When you need something quick, don’t think you must go to the drive thru or you must stop at a convenient store. Pull up to your local grocery store and pick up a rotisserie chicken, a can of beans and a can of green beans, walk out and put it on the table. This is quicker and cheaper than waiting in the drive thru line. Pop in the store and pick up a fruit cup and a bag of cheese sticks for a quick snack to hold you over. Eating healthier can be quick as long as you are willing to think differently. If your kids are hungry in the store, don’t take them to get the free cookie that really isn’t free, pick up a fresh fruit cup or an organic box of cereal and let them munch on it in the store. Think how can I make each meal or snack slightly healthier.

These small changes will help change your life. Refuse to let the food industry control your choices. Make the choice to be EMPOWERED, HEALTHY and IN CONTROL of your choices. Don’t be sold!

Watch for my upcoming grocery list for healthy foods at the same price you are paying now. For more health tips on how to make this your lifestyle, register for www.hernandohealthexperience.com .

If you are maintaining your home, your car, your pets, it’s definitely time to maintain YOU.

October 3, 2011