10 super foods for radiant skin, overall health and weight loss

Back by popular demand! …. My super foods list!

So many people have asked me over the years –  what do i eat? What is my diet?  My answer is always the same: I never diet. I eat the same natural, whole foods everyday. Long before the popularity of kale and the accessibility of pinterest boards, I have been eating the same delicious foods everyday- I have always refered to my list as my “Super foods”.

For those of you not interested in hearing about the easiest, fastest and best way to get into amazing shape, both internally and externally, please ignore this post and move along with your day.

For the other 99% of the world, you’re welcome!

There are so many opinions of what to eat for optimal health. I keep my shopping list simple and inexpensive. I eat as much as I want of these same super foods every day and feel energy, have great skin, maintain a healthy weight and always feel satisfied.

What are super foods?

Super foods are easy to find, natural, fresh, whole foods (ie; not processed or packaged) that not only taste delicious, but also help prevent chronic diseases, reduce risk of cancer, and improve your overall health and weight loss goals. There are plenty of high end, expensive foods out there that are all the rage right now, but you don’t need to break your budget to find these inexpensive powerhouses of nutrients:

Eat these 10 foods everyday  in any combination: 

1. Berries. Any kind.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just take a pill to lose weight, prevent disease and help keep your brain sharp? Actually, there is something  better than a prescription, and you can find it in your local grocery store or farmers market. Berries not only taste delicious and are easy to eat alone or blend into a smoothie, but they also have high levels of phytochemicals that help protect cells from damage. They are low in sugar and are a great way to curb your sweet tooth!

2. Avocado –Don’t be afraid of healthy fat! Fat is your friend and sugar is the enemy!  I repeat:Fat is your friend and sugar is the enemy! These healthy fats that go well with other vegetables are actually a fruit and are packed with 20 essential nutrients including potassium, fiber and folic acid. They are a good source of Vitamins B, K, C and E, and help enable the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients such as beta-carotene and lutein, which offer outstanding health benefits when absorbed into your cells.

3. Eggs. Just one egg is loaded with vitamins and essential nutrients such as, riboflavin, which helps your body break down food into energy. Eggs also contain a good amount of Vitamin A, retinol, that is great for your eyesight, as well as Vitamin E that fights cellular and tissue damage and prevents cancer. Eggs can be eaten in a variety of ways and help in weight loss by keeping you fuller longer. Contrary to popular belief, although eggs contain “dietary cholesterol”,  eating eggs does not increase your “blood cholesterol” and are a low calorie, inexpensive protein source.

4. Nuts. My favorite on-the-go snack or just a great add on to my salads! These heart healthy fats  contain omega- 3 fatty acid and Alpha-linoleic which are proven to reduce LDL (the bad) cholesterol and maintain HDL (the good) cholesterol. Besides, they are easy to take on the go, very satisfying to chew and keep you full for hours in between meals. I prefer to add them to my salad for an extra crunch! P.S.- make sure they are raw and unsalted!

5. Sweet potatoes. (Or spelled Potatos if Youre George W bush )These orange complex carbohydrates are packed with alpha and beta-carotene,  which the body converts  into Vitamin A and assists in keeping bones, immune system and eyes healthy. They also contain phytochemicals which act as antioxidants to defend against disease producing free radicals. Just one potato contains Vitamins A, C, B and potassium lutein and manganese; all make this sweet treat one of the healthiest vegetables to eat.

6. Broccoli and Kale. These tiny green tree look alkies are loaded with vitamins C, A and K that help with bone health and fight cancer. They also stimulate the body’s detoxifying enzymes. Cook them up in a skillet with red peppers and mushrooms and a splash of olive oil for a delicious (and easy!) stir-fry. My kids love to add a little sea salt and make them extra crisp.

7. Spinach. Although easily stuck in your teeth, this vegetable is packed with fiber, iron, calcium, potassium, manganese and water soluble Vitamin A, C, K and vitamin B, which helps form new healthy cells. I eat so much of this superfood I don’t even care that it takes 3 pieces of dental floss to get the part that is stuck in between my teeth.

8. Greek Yogurt.  I have been eating greek yogurt since before it became cool to eat greek yogurt…my best (not so kept secret!!) The creamy thick texture of this supper food makes it one of the most  delicious desserts that can actually add on years to your life. Yogurt has “good bacteria” that aids in gut health and helps prevent digestive issues. This inexpensive snack is also rich in calcium, zinc, vitamin B12 and protein. I love to add cinnamon, stevia, and 100% rolled oats and berries to my yogurt in the morning for a fast on the go breakfast! Greek yogurt is also a fantastic base for smoothies.

9. Tomatoes. These juicy red fruits are loaded with lycopene, an antioxidant that can prevent cancer and protect your skin. They contain fiber, potassium and vitamin C and help protect against the harmful UV rays. But don’t get cocky- still slather on the sunblock!

10. Oats. These whole grains that are loaded with fiber can replace any recipe that asks for all purpose flour and are great for baking or just adding to some of the above super foods such as Greek yogurt and berries for a delicious and easy morning meal. I also love to mix oats with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and liquid egg whites prepared as a pancake in a skillet – delicious!! ENJOY! See my Recipe section for other ideas. http://www.jordanabalsam.com

• Note: I used to have salmon on my list of super foods but I have since removed it and I’ll tell you why: Wild salmon is so expensive ($30+/lb. and the way I used to eat it would cost over $400 a week – seemed wasteful. ) Farmed salmon, while more affordable, is absolutely horrible for you because of all the antibiotics and hormones they pump into them so it deflects from any of the health benefits of eating fish. Stick to the above list and you will look and feel amazing!

Lesson Learned:

Keep your meal planning simple and inexpensive: stick to the same above list of super foods and you will have a complete nutritionally balanced diet that will keep you full, give you radiant skin, shiny hair, prevent disease and keep you slim!!

Which Pro are you?….

proactive |prōˈaktiv|

The act or action of creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened

procrastinate |prəˈkrastəˌnāt; prō-|

to delay or postpone action; put off doing something

Proactive and Procrastinate….two very similar sounding words yet could not be any more different in meaning.

What causes one person to procrastinate and another person to be proactive? Is it a personality trait we are born with? Does it develop over time? Is it something we learn in our upbringing? Perhaps the same person procrastinates doing one thing and is proactive in all other aspects of their life.

For example getting in a daily workout ….. if I didn’t need to get up early anyway, I would most likely be that person who procrastinates exercising. (one of the reasons I rarely show up at the gym on weekends). But since I have to get up to take kids to school and get ready for work anyway, I typically get my workouts in early in the day. That is not to say that those who prefer to work out late at night are procrastinating – perhaps they are being proactive by getting all other things done during the day and hold the best for last when they have more time.

Either way, it is all how you identify to it. For instance, if you dread exercising and associate it with the feeling of pain or agony, then you will most likely procrastinate and push it off altogether. BUT if you associate exercising with the feeling of pleasure and the natural “high” you get from releasing all those endorphins, then it doesn’t matter what time of the day you actually do it- you’ll just be more likely to be proactive about it.

Growing up, one of my favorite throw pillows on my friend’s grandma’s couch read:

“Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels”

….such an old hackneyed phrase and yet oh, so true.

But that pillow begs the question- does feeling thin a better sensation than eating something that tastes delicious?

For that matter, what makes us associate pleasure to anything?

Most often it is the feeling we get subsequent to completing it.

I actually enjoy exercising. I love to lift weights. I love to bike. I love to row. I love to swim. I love it all (except running, I hate running). BUT I only love it AFTER I have done it! That feeling I get when my face is beet red and my eye makeup is smeared like Tammy Faye Baker and my hair looks like RoseanaDanaDana- it’s just the best feeling to be done!

Aspiring Olympic athletes spend an average of eight hours a day, seven days a week training their bodies. I doubt any Olympian is excited to wake up at 4:00am to begin the grueling 5 hour morning workout only to return to train again later in the day for another 5 hours. But the response  a well trained athlete’s body has AFTER a grueling workout is what they associate working out to….that feeling of PLEASURE derives from the change they see in their bodies.

Ok, that was a lay up that I could not resist  but you know how inspired I am by him so chill.

Lesson Learned:

Regardless of how much you DREAD putting on your LULU’s and recoil from the thought of yet another round of ‘Uptown Funk” in spin class……allow yourself to just go with it because no matter how you associate the BEFORE period of exercise to PAIN you will guaranteed to associate EUPHORIC PLEASURE to the AFTER burn.

Teach your children not the other way around….

I met a woman at the gym the other day who told me that for 30 years she would work out 8 hours a day – yes that’s technically a 40 hour work week – and did not eat at all.

.

Now, at age 66, although she still works out every day, she is finally at a healthy point in life. (Although she has no eyebrows, terrible skin, and a thinning hairline, but mentally she is balanced.)

I asked her what changed? How did she realize that working out in such and extreme manner – so excessively and obsessively was not going to get her the results she was trying to achieve?

Her answer was simple: “My son saved me.”

She went on to tell me that throughout her entire adolescence and young adulthood she would obsessively strive to attain the perfect body.

As a young child her father would tell her that her eyes should not dictate what her stomach needs. That most people eat with their eyes – meaning they fill their plates with food that appeals to them visually but in reality it’s their stomach that they should listen to and ignore the visual stimulation of delectable looking food. She, unfortunately, took this sentiment to the extreme and made a decision early on not to eat at all.

It reminded me of my own childhood when my father would say: “ Your eyes are bigger than your stomach” every time one of us would take more on our plate than we could finish eating.

I was lucky enough to learn that I did not have to “finish everything on my plate” the way they used to tell kids back in the good old days of the 1970’s. (Which was a huge relief given that my mother wasn’t exactly a good cook ….stay tuned for that blog titled:”why I’m a picky eater”)

But this woman’s’ experience growing up with the pressure to stay thin and keep her stomach concave molded her into the unhealthy mother she inevitably became.

It wasn’t until her son was old enough to realize that his mother needed help that he was able to intervene and offer the help and the encouragement to slow down, to eat, to nurture her.

In essence, their roles were reversed. The son took care of the mother.

Now, at 66, she is finally healthy and happy and leads a balanced life.

Lesson Learned:

The way we are raised, the influence our parents have on us make such an enormous impact on who we become as adults. Take control of how you teach your own children. You have the power to influence.