Food & Nutrition Recommendations in Ottawa ON

Nutrition Therapy in Ottawa ON

Food is essential for our bodies to develop, replace and repair cells and tissues; produce energy to keep warm, move and work; carry out chemical processes such as the digestion of food; and protect against, resist and fight infection and recover from sickness.

The most important decision you make today could be your choices of what to eat. Nutrition Therapy in Ottawa ON is about healing the body and living longer through dietary decisions and lifestyle changes.

Food is made up of nutrients. Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals are needed only in small amounts. Macronutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and fat are needed in larger amounts. The body cannot function properly if one or more nutrients are missing. A healthy and balanced diet provides foods in the right amounts and combinations that are safe and free from disease and harmful substances.

Prevention is better than cure. The earlier a person starts to eat a healthy and balanced diet, the more he or she will stay healthy. Once weight has been lost it may be difficult to regain it because of tiredness and lack of appetite.

Weight loss and nutrition are such difficult topics to sum up on a web page or two, but we are going to try. So, please know that we are choosing some of the information we feel will help most people start their permanent weight loss journey or better nutrition.

Benefits from Nutritional Recommendations help people who:

• Need or Want to lose weight safely and healthy
• Have degenerative diseases and auto-immune disorders
• Have food and environmental allergies
• Have skin conditions or digestive issues
• Have family history of Alzheimer's, heart disease and heart problems, smoking, diabetes and cancers
• Want to eat better and live longer

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Better Eating Habits

Here are some basic general good eating habits:

• Eat in a calm and relaxed atmosphere and do not rush your meal
• Avoid intense interactions at meal time, including television and reading
• Chewing food thoroughly is important
• Eat slowly, so your body has time to know what you've eaten already
• Don’t eat meals late at night (night is for rest, not digest)
• Avoid over-consumption of food (binging) and excessive fasting (starving)
• There is no "food" in a package of cookies or chips.

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Nutrition for Weight Loss

Losing weight is not just about “calories in and calories out,” no matter what your personal trainer or MD or friend tells you. Knowing the calories of your food may be helpful to some, but not to others. And 100 calories of a candy bar does not equal 100 calories of broccoli. We might know this, but we need to know this -- and get this concept, because it goes against the paradigm we have been spoon fed (pun intended) our whole lives.

Secondly, weight loss has nothing to do with willpower and discipline. Anyone telling you that you need to control your cravings, have more willpower around junk food or have the discipline to follow a food-restricting program for weeks is setting you up for a yo-yo diet program and/or failure. Dr. Jeffrey M. Friedman, the “father of fat,” discoverer of the hormone leptin, and obesity expert has said, "We have to stop blaming fat people," and, “Obesity cannot be ascribed to a breakdown in willpower.”

Thirdly, stop blaming yourself. Often, we are the ones beating us up for being fat, overweight or too lazy or too undiciplined, etc. This is the next lesson in permanent weight loss: your beliefs and thoughts determine your outcome. Being obese has far more to do with many factors besides whether you drank a diet pop or should have eaten gluten or should have, could have, would have.... Stop the negative self-talk. If you were your own coach with that inner monologue, you'd quit the team too.

Permanent weight loss is about uncovering the specific patterns, problems, and factors you have as an individual. Once you know your barriers to weight loss, we help you overcome them and help you follow a simple program for permanent results.

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Our Weight Loss & Nutrition Programs

These programs are not a diet or an exercise program. In fact, we strongly suggest that anyone wanting to lose weight never go on another diet. Studies show that dieting leads to weight gain. Caloric restriction to lose 10 pounds always leads to gaining back 12-15 pounds, if the only change made was to restrict calories.

In addition, many people exercise regularly and do not lose the weight. They may increase muscle mass, strengthen their hearts and cardiovascular systems, but don't lose the fat. While exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, exercise alone does not enable an overweight or obese person to lose weight permanently.

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About or Weight Loss Programs: 6-week, 12-weeks, or 18-weeks.

On our program, you will not be told what to eat or how to exercise or be put on dangerous diet pills. You won't be sold food or personal training or exercise equipment.

Our unique program instead focuses on several overlooked causes that lead to both weight gain and the inability to lose weight. Once you know why you're not losing weight, we can help address how to lose the weight permanently for you as an individual and introduce small changes on a weekly basis that maintain the weight loss in a safe and healthy manner.

If you've tried to lose weight and been unsuccessful, our program may help you find the solution to permanent weight loss.

The six-week program includes an initial assessment to determine your individual obstacles to weight loss, plus monitoring weekly with body measurements, body fat percentage and a weigh in, as well as one-on-one sessions to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

You are also welcome to bring a friend/guest with you to the initial session.

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Did you know?

Sleep Affects Ability to Lose Weight

Studies have shown that if you get less than 4 hrs of sleep each night, long term, you have a 70% greater chance of being obese. If you're just getting only 6 hrs of sleep a night, even so-called "normal" sleep pattern leads to slower metabolism, high calorie food cravings and fat deposits around the midsection.

Sleep deprivation puts your body in a chronic state of stress. Stress elevates cortisol levels and stimulates insulin secretion, which activates your FAT programs and puts your body in fat storage mode.

Too much Sugar!

On average, according to Statistics Canada, in 2004, Canadians consumed 110 grams of sugar a day. This is the equivalent of 26 teaspoons of sugar per day. This amounted to 21.4% of their total daily calorie intake.

That means, 1 in 5 calories consumed in Canada is sugar!

Many Canadians are consuming too many calories but not enough nutrients. This leads to many imbalances in the body including:

• Feeling hungry because your body is in need of real nourishment
• Craving foods that may have trace amounts of vitamins, like sugary orange juice when low in vitamin C
• Craving foods that mimic "nutrient dense" foods including processed foods with MSG (Approximately 80% of all processed foods contain MSG - but it can be disguised under many names)
• Packing on pounds because the body has excess sugar and calories but not the nutrition it needs.

So, literally, people can be both obese and starving for the nutrition their body needs.

Your body wants to conserve energy and pack on fat for a future winter famine that is never coming. It's natural for your body to try to store extra. You need to unlock the fat-burning program in your body.

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Need more information?

Many symptoms can be helped with preventative care like acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, physio and laser therapy. We strongly recommend anyone experiencing the symptoms discussed on this page, see one of our health professionals soon.