Listen in as I chat with my good friend Lori Harder in her living room. We talk candidly about creating meaningful, lasting and deep friendships and about her New Book…A Tribe Called Bliss
Lori's book teaches you how to break through superficial friendships, create real connections and reach your highest potential.
This book is a GREAT READ and you can get your hands on it here –> A Tribe Called Bliss
Yours in health and happiness,
Danette
P.S. Please share this with all your friends and I would love to hear from you in the comments below.
Special thanks to @loriharder @alexipanos @christinehassler @ajeetmusic
Yours in health and happiness,
Danette
P.S. Please share this video with anyone you know who could use some powerful inspiration today! I love to hear from you so leave your comments below. Are you called to RISE with us?
Are you trying to lose weight? Do you have a certain number of pounds in mind?
It’s good to have a goal. It’s also important to recognize small victories along the way. You might think you need to lose a lot of weight or reach your ideal weight to reap the health rewards but that's not true.
Did you know that losing just 5% of your body weight has a huge impact on your health?
Yep, that's right. If you weigh 200 pounds and lose only 10 you have improved your health significantly.
A study out of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine showed that a 5% weight loss can make a very big difference and give you major health benefits.
Though there’s no doubt that “an additional 10 to 15% weight loss continues to cause even more improvements,” the researchers found many benefits come from even small weight loss steps.
Losing weight can be hard and it takes time. Between now and your final goal, make sure that you recognize the good you’re doing along the way.
5 Major Health Benefits of Losing just 5% of Your Body Weight
1. Boosts Your Heart Health
One of the biggest enemies of a healthy heart is the fatty plaque we all know as cholesterol. It builds up inside of your arteries and puts you at risk.
Studies have shown that losing any amount of weight (and keeping it off) helps cut total cholesterol scores.
Recognize the weight that you’ve lost. Even if it’s just a few pounds it goes a long way towards making you feel good about yourself.
A 5% weight loss will make you feel better inside and out. It makes it much more likely that you’ll keep moving and stick to your weight loss plan.
The secret to success? Give yourself credit for what you’ve accomplished and celebrate every milestone!
3. Better Sleep
A study out of the University of Pennsylvania showed that people who dropped just 5% of their body weight got an average of 21.6 more minutes of sleep.
If that doesn’t sound like much, think again. Twenty minutes is a lot, especially if you have insomnia.
Getting enough sleep has big health benefits. It improves mood, clears thinking, gives you more willpower and stops the urge to eat fatty foods.
4. Less Pain and Cellular Damage
A 5% drop in weight may seem small, but it goes a long way in fighting inflammation.
Inflammation boosts your risk of injury and weakens your immune system. By losing just 5% of your body weight you protect your cells and your long-term health.
5. Lightens the Load on Your Joints
Drop 5% of your body weight and you’re taking a load off of the joints that are most at risk for degeneration.
Your knees, hips and back carry the load of your whole body.
Cutting down on the weight that they carry, even by a little, will keep them working and healthy much longer and reduce your risk of arthritis pain.
Starting to feel better that you've “only” lost 7 of those 40 pounds you set as a goal?
You have nothing to do but celebrate and use that as momentum to release the next 7! Your body is responding and you can totally do this!
P.S. Please share this with your friends and I welcome your comments below. Did you realize losing only a small amount of weight had such a big impact on your health?
RS helps slow the release of food through the gut, which slows the rate at which sugar raises in your blood.
It prevents sugar spike and sugar crash and is better for insulin sensitivity. It's easy to see why it's so popular for people who are watching their sugar intake and aiming to lose weight.
3. Gluten-free substitute
Green bananas are packed with nutrients. They're a good source of fiber, vitamin A, B6, C, and potassium.
The flour makes a great grain substitute in baking and gluten-free recipes.
Green banana with the skin (unpeeled) supplies more minerals, fiber, and antioxidants.
Unpeeled green banana flours have about 21.91g/100g of fiber and 68.02g/100g of Resistant Starch.
4. Boosts weight loss
When compared to wheat flours, green banana flour is low in calories and high in fiber.
Its high fiber content keeps the blood sugar levels stable and curbs your appetite.
5. Therapeutic value
Studies show that nutrients in green banana flour can help prevent inflammation too.
Its high mineral, fiber, and antioxidant content act to protect gut flora.
Preliminary studies also show that flavonoids in green banana flour have cholesterol-lowering effects.
Promising studies on its heart-protecting and cholesterol-lowering effects are underway too.
How to use Green Banana Flour
Green banana flour has a bland flavor, so it is easy to incorporate in most recipes. You can use it to thicken soups, stews, and in baking.
You can also enjoy it in smoothies, homemade granolas bars, and cereals.
Where can you buy it?
Green banana flour is available online and in natural health food stores. Amazon has many green banana flour suppliers.
This powerhouse of a flour is a great way to nurture your gut health. Here is a quick recipe for you so you can try the awesomeness of green banana flour for yourself!
Healthy Brownies
¾ cup 100% maple syrup
¾ cup coconut oil
2 organic eggs
1 cup banana flour
¾ cup raw cacao powder
Combine the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls, whisk the eggs well.
Mix the ingredients together and pour the mixture into a baking pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, bake for 20- 30 minutes.
Allow the brownies to cool and slice. Enjoy!
Want more info. on healthy substitutes for white flour? Here's a great article my friend and colleague wrote that outlines several more options.
Yours in health and happiness,
Danette
P.S. Please share the joy of green banana flour with your friends who love to bake and I invite you to comment below. Have you used green banana flour before?
Have you ever heard of the “Blue Zones”? They’re the 5 places on earth that have the highest number of people who live to be 100 or over.
To count as a Blue Zone, the population needs to not only live a long life, they also have to be healthy while they outlive us all.
We all try to do the right thing and live a healthy lifestyle, but the people in the Blue Zones are doing it a lot better.
It’s more than just what they eat. Scientists say people living in these areas do a lot of small things that add up to a big difference.
? Get plenty of exercise
? Take time to relax and enjoy life
? They have strong social circles that also live and eat healthily
? There's a strong sense of community
? Have a commitment to family
All of these are important, but the food that they eat is the key.
All 3 have things in common when it comes to diet:
1. They eat their smallest meal of the day late in the afternoon or early evening. 2. They eat mostly plants, and especially beans, and very little meat. 3. They stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full.
Let’s look at the 5 top cities in each of the Blue Zones to see what they are eating.
Top 5 Blue Zone Cities & What They Eat
1. Okinawa, Japan
This area has the highest ratio of people who live to be 100 in the world!
People have a rule about eating something from the land and something from the sea every day. Top foods are bitter melon, garlic, brown rice, green tea, shitake mushrooms and seaweed.
This area is known as “The Island Where People Forget to Die.”
Their top foods are feta cheese, lemons, herbs, goat’s milk, honey and lots of beans. They also eat wild greens and very little meat.
3. Loma Linda, California
Most people are surprised to hear that the United States has a Blue Zone city, but it does.
There's a Seventh-day Adventist community that stays away from smoking and follows a “biblical diet.” This means lots of grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables, and no refined sugar.
Studies have found that those among the group who have one serving of fish a day live longer than the ones who are vegans.
4. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
Costa Rica holds a special place in my heart and I can personally vouch for how easy it is to get fresh, healing foods in this tropical paradise.
This area relies on three staple foods for their diet: beans, corn and squash.
Along with that, they eat lots of papayas, yams, bananas and a fruit called a peach palm that's high in vitamins A and C.
5. Sardinia, Italy
Another Mediterranean Blue Zone, Sardinia has the highest ratio of 100+-year-old men to women.
The people say that they live longer because they drink wine and make love, and that may be true.
As to their diet, they eat lots of goat’s milk and sheep’s cheese, as well as flatbread and barley. They also eat lots of beans, including fava beans and chickpeas.
Yours in health and happiness,
Danette
P.S. Help your friends live longer by sharing this article with them and I welcome your comments below. Have you visited any of these Blue Zone cities and noticed how healthy and happy their people are?
Though there’s no doubt that “an additional 10 to 15% weight loss continues to cause even more improvements,” the researchers found many benefits come from even small weight loss steps.
Drop 5% of your body weight and you’re taking a load off of the joints that are most at risk for degeneration.
You guessed it…green banana flour comes from unripe bananas (the Brazilian variety).
Studies show that nutrients in green banana flour can help prevent inflammation too.
? Get plenty of exercise
