Not only is quinoa high in protein, but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Great news for vegetarians! And quinoa is especially high in the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair. The grain is also a great source of manganese, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorous. Quinoa may be especially valuable for persons with migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis.

Quinoa’s survival through the millennia may be attributed to the resinous, bitter coating that protects its seeds from birds and insects, called saponin. Most quinoa sold in this country has already been cleansed of its saponin, but quinoa should be rinsed thoroughly before cooking to remove any powdery residue. Place the grain in a fine strainer and hold it under cold running water until the water runs clear; drain well. To increase the digestibility of quinoa, soak for several hours before cooking.

Click here for Suzanne’s favorite Quinoa recipe: http://www.reallifefood.com/mediterraneanquinoa.html

Real Life Food Quick Tip
Little known fact: the longer you chew whole grains, the sweeter they become. It’s nature’s little reward for taking time to chew!

Suzanne Monroe is Food Coach and owner of Real Life Food. Suzanne helps busy people figure out what to eat and how to have more energy through her nutrition coaching programs. For more information on Suzanne’s programs, workshops, and recipes, or for a free food coaching session, visit www.reallifefood.com.

Have you ever thought about why this happens? Think of your mind like a magnet. Whatever thoughts come into your mind circulate around and around and cause you to feel and act a certain way. When you focus on not eating something, you place a lot of attention on what you are not supposed to be doing. Whether it’s a positive or a negative thought, either way you are focused on it. Your thought “I will not eat cookies” rings in your brain as “cookies, cookies, cookies”. So how can you possibly stop eating cookies when all you are thinking about is not eating cookies?

There is a better way to eating healthy and it’s not about depriving yourself or denying yourself of your favorite foods. When you deprive yourself, you wind up feeling dissatisfied which can lead to more cravings, overeating, and feelings of guilt. Let’s throw guilt out the window! It’s not fun and you don’t need it in your life.

Instead of focusing on what you can’t eat, flip it around and focus on what you can eat. There are many methods I use for helping people to eliminate their cravings, and this method is called “Crowding Out”. By adding in all of the delicious, nourishing food that you can have – the food that you enjoy and that is healthy for you – suddenly the food that makes you sick seems to disappear. Your body will recognize this change and say “THANK YOU!” Keep adding in nutrient-dense foods, and watch your cravings for processed, sugary foods diminish. And you won’t even have to arm wrestle with yourself in the kitchen!

Try this exercise: List all of your favorite foods that are full of nutrients. (a.k.a. “healthy and tasty”). Next, decide on different meals to add these foods in during the week. Then make a commitment to focus on these nutrient-dense foods for one month. Make sure you are adding them in each day. Post your goal on your refrigerator. If you are have a craving for something “unhealthy”, examine your list and decide if something on the list will do instead. If not, sit down and enjoy your treat without guilt.

Here are a few examples of Nutrient-Dense Foods that will leave you feeling satisfied:

Beans – Garbanzo, Pinto, Kidney, Lima, Cannellini and many more. Beans are loaded with fiber and will add a sensation of feeling full.

Vegetables – The more green vegetables you eat, the more you will want to keep them in your daily diet. They are loaded with minerals and nutrients.

Berries – Loaded with antioxidants, berries of all kinds have cancer-preventing power. They are also a great fruit choice for weight-management.

Wild Alaskan Salmon – Full of Omega 3 Fatty Acids, a serving of salmon will leave you feeling satisfied.

Nuts – Walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, and other nuts are a healthy source of fat. They make a great snack or just top them on your salad.

Suzanne Monroe, HHC is a Food Coach and owner of Intelligent Health Group, LLC. Suzanne helps busy people figure out what to eat through her nutrition coaching programs. For more information on Suzanne’s programs, workshops, and recipes, or if you would like to sign up for a free newsletter, visit www.intelligenthealthgroup.com.

Energy can be purchased at the grocery store, if we know what we are looking for. Without a doubt, we are searching for it in many of our purchases. Americans spend millions of dollars each year on energy drinks and energy bars. While these quick fixes give us a temporary lift, lasting energy comes from only real nourishment. 

What is real nourishment? Real nourishment comes from foods and activities that feed our body and soul in a way that create more energy. Many foods do the opposite. Sugar and caffeine, the two most common culprits, decrease our energy. We use them as a quick “pick me up,” although they may give an initial burst of energy, they are nothing more than “fake fuel”. The sugar and caffeine send us soaring for a little while, but as these temporary fixes are processed in the body, the effect will soon send us crashing. Ouch! It doesn’t feel too good down there, so we reach for more sugar and caffeine to temporarily solve the dilemma. 

This constant up and down is an energy roller coaster. I rode that roller coaster until I decided it was time to get off. If you want to jump off the ride and experience sustained energy, the following tips will get you started. 

Choose water instead of ‘energy’ drinks, caffeine and sugar-filled juices. Your body is made of water and needs to be replenished. When you do not consume enough water, you become dehydrated, which decreases your energy as your body tries to cope. Drink two full glasses first thing in the morning to jumpstart your energy. 

Incorporate whole grains instead of processed, refined grains. Processed grains are in many of the foods on our grocery store shelves, like baked goods, cookies, crackers, quick cooking rice, white pasta, and many breakfast cereals. When a grain is processed, it is stripped of the wonderful minerals and nutrients that provide lasting energy. For breakfast, replace your cereal with whole rolled oatmeal topped with dried fruit and nuts. 

Think green! Green vegetables are the number one food missing in most American diets. Somehow, we thought that eating French fries counted as our vegetable for the day. Green vegetables cleanse the body of toxins and impurities, giving it more energy. Experiment with some new green vegetables like kale, Swiss chard, collard greens and bok choy. These amazing dark, leafy greens are filled with the vitamins and minerals our bodies crave. 

Suzanne Monroe is a Food Coach and certified holistic health counselor.  Her company, Real Life Food, helps busy women finally answer the question, What do I eat?  For a free report on Eating for Energy, visit www.reallifefood.com.

Do you know anyone who is not busy these days?  It’s literally impossible to find someone who says they have extra time on their hands anymore.  While your life might be in high-gear, don’t let your food keep up the same pace.  Many people try to eat healthy at home, but when they’re on the road, any thoughts about making a healthy choice are thrown out the passenger seat window.  Avoid these common pitfalls when you’re living and dining on-the-go: 

Mistake #1 – Failing to Plan

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not planning ahead. You know the old adage “failing to plan is planning to fail.”  When it comes to eating on-the-go, the same rule applies. Knowing what you are going to eat at least 24 hours in advance will keep you from entering an “emergency hunger” state.  You’ve been there before: you’ve gone hours without eating and suddenly you need food fast – so you reach for fast food. When an “emergency hunger” state hits, most anything goes, and food becomes an object of your obsession.  In these moments, you are more likely to choose the quickest option to cure your starvation, which can equal highly processed food full of unwanted ingredients.

Make time to plan ahead each week.  I like to dedicate 30 minutes on a Saturday afternoon to planning what I will eat during the week ahead.  I may plan in certain days for eating out and others for eating in, but I always know where my next meals are coming from.

Mistake #2 – Calorie counting 

Most of us think calorie counting is the best way to limit our food intake. Don’t get me wrong, reading labels is a good idea, but solely choosing a snack based on its calorie content is an outdated method of eating.  Calorie counting leads us to choose low-fat products full of sugar or worse yet, artificial sweeteners.  Keep in mind, the longer the label, the worse it usually is.

Instead of nutritional number crunching, focus on eating for energy.  Ask yourself, will this satisfy me for more than an hour?  How much energy will I get from this snack or meal?  Clearly a handful of almonds will give you more energy than a bag of fat free pretzels. 

Mistake #3 – Confusing a snack as a meal

Eating on-the-go may mean eating smaller meals, more frequently.  It’s important to differentiate between a snack and a meal substitute.  A snack is usually one item, something that will tide you over in between meals.  A meal substitute is more like a mini meal.  It is larger than a snack and may substitute as a meal on-the-go until you arrive at your next destination.  Eating many snacks may not satisfy you, as you can easily skip some important nutrients.  Mini meals can provide energy and satiate you, but should be chosen wisely.  You want to make sure you are getting essential energy boosters like protein, healthy fats, and whole grains. These are the foods that will make your mini meal go much farther than your taste buds.  Try these mini meals for long-lasting energy: a fruit smoothie made with nut butter and yogurt, healthy food bars without added sugar, a hardboiled egg, veggie sticks with hummus, whole grain crackers with cheese, or yogurt with granola and nuts.  

Mistake #4 – Leaving Veggies Out

We’re supposed to get in nine servings of fruits and veggies per day.  Most Americans are hovering at about 2.5.  Fruits and vegetables are antioxidant powerhouses, so make sure to include them as often as possible.  Eating fruits and vegetables on-the-go are actually the fastest of fast foods.   There’s not much to crunching into an apple, peeling an orange or even tossing a salad with your favorite dressing.  There’s no cooking involved, yet on-the-goers tend to skimp on the fruits and veggies.  Bring some veggie sticks along for the ride or find stores that carry grab ’n go salads.  

Learning the tricks of the trade of eating on-the-go is essential for staying healthy. With a little planning and prep, you’ll be eating healthy in no time.

Suzanne Monroe is a Food Coach and certified holistic health counselor.  Her company, Real Life Food, helps busy women finally answer the question, What do I eat?  For a free report on Eating for Energy, visit www.reallifefood.com.

Getting to the bottom of emotional eating will help you make healthier choices. Look at four ways we use food to handle emotions:

Stress eating: When you’re having a bad day (emotional stressor), you eat and eat till you end “food coma” numbing your body in order to block out the unpleasant emotion.         

Boredom Eating: You’re waiting for an appointment or a phone call or simply procrastinating, and suddenly you’re nibbling everything in sight. In this case, the emotion of boredom is relieved by this “nervous” eating.

Unconscious eating: You may find that you’ve finished off that entire carton of ice cream and you don’t remember how it happened. You are blocking some unpleasant feelings—and at the same time detaching yourself from your own actions.

Fear Eating: When you don’t want to face something in your life, distracting yourself with food helps you avoid coping with the uncomfortable situation.

It’s important to remember that your cravings are a window to your emotions. Emotional eating is really not about the food, its about what’s behind your cravings. The question then becomes: “What is my food covering up exactly?” If you eat emotionally, whether it is stress eating, boredom eating, unconscious eating or fear eating, you are shutting down your present awareness, your consciousness, in order to escape a current state of anxiety. While this may work for awhile, it only pushes your emotions down deeper and creates more stress and anxiety in the body. Addressing your emotions is the first key to putting an end to emotional eating. Consider that you have the following choices:

• You can go on ignoring your emotions and letting them live deep within you This will keep you in the vicious circle of emotional eating. Your relationships with food will serve only as a tool to hide your emotions rather than as something that nourishes you and provides you energy.

• You can acknowledge your emotions by allowing them to come to the surface. It may be difficult and painful, but the process of addressing your emotions will allow you to heal from the stress, fear or anxiety.

Emotional eating, and the cravings that lead to it, are not about food at all. They are attempts to avoid dealing with unpleasant emotions. And we all know, although it’s easy to forget, that the relief only works for a short time. Getting a handle on those unpleasant emotions is the key to putting an end to emotional eating. Here are some quick tips to help break the emotional eating cycle:

When that craving hits, take a minute to find out where it comes from. Will eating right now really solve the underlying issue?

Take 5 deep breaths before eating. Relaxing will help you to see more clearly what you are doing.
Chew. This slows you down and gives you time to realize what you are doing.
Create a list of comfort activities. It may be taking a walk, calling a friend, punching a pillow or sitting in silence. Comfort activities are much more likely to fill your body’s need than “comfort foods.”
Plan ahead. Know what triggers your stress and have your pantry stocked with healthy food like whole grains, vegetables and fruits.

By making these smarter choices your food will nourish you and give you energy, not add to your problems.

Suzanne Monroe, HHC, is a Food Coach and owner of Real Life Food. Suzanne helps busy people figure out what to eat and how to have more energy through her nutrition coaching programs. For more information on Suzanne’s programs, workshops, and recipes, or for a free food coaching session, visit www.reallifefood.com.