Stress Eating

Do you often have to have office lunch meetings? Do you notice you get indigestion or diarrhea after a stressful eating situation? While under stress, your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure rises, and blood is forced away from your digestive system, and moved to your legs, arms and head for quick thinking. There can be as much as 4 times less blood flow to your digestive system, which means your body cannot burn those calories as effectively and causes a sluggish metabolism.

In that state, proper digestion entirely shuts down. The issue with eating while your body is under stress is that you could be eating the most nutritious food in the world, however you won’t be able to properly digest and absorb those nutrients because there is a decreased enzymatic output in your intestines which can be as much as 20,000-fold.

During stressful situations, triglycerides and cholesterol also increase, while your healthy gut bacteria decrease. So you’re more susceptible to indigestion, acid reflux, or heartburn.

It is also to note that when your body is under the stress, cortisol, as well as insulin levels rise. Weight loss and health are all about hormone manipulation. When cortisol is consistently raised , you often have difficulty losing weight or building muscle.

If cortisol is frequently elevated, belly fat is a common external sign. What is scary about the belly fat is that this is known as visceral fat (the fat that collects around your internal organs and midsection), and we now know that this is a main contributing influence to increasing diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

My suggestion: keep the meetings at work and enjoy a little peaceful break for lunch. Also, try not to eat while stressed after an argument; instead try yoga for exercise, the blood flow is going to your extremities anyway!

To read more tips and tricks to keep your body healthy, check out my book Keto-Adapted.

Click HERE to get a limited edition of the Hard Cover.

Click HERE to get a soft cover.

Thank you all for your love and support!

 Eggs En Cocotte 

Once in a “blue moon,” Craig and I try to have a date day where we start off with a brunch. I do want to mention that our “dates” are usually business meetings too. It is a rare opportunity for us to discuss work without our boys interrupting us, but we do keep the business talk “light” and very positive when we are eating.

I certainly found a gem of a restaurant in St. Paul Minnesota. It is one of those french restaurants where I wouldn’t want to bring my energetic boys. The ambiance, the food, the service, the french music…. Ah, It’s nice to be waited on once in awhile and have someone clean up the kitchen after the cooking.

At this brunch I ordered something I’ve never heard of: Eggs En Cocotte. Some people mentioned that they are also called “Shirred Eggs” but doesn’t Eggs En Cocotte sound so much tastier!?

They typically serve this dish with plenty of buttered toast but I planned ahead and brought my Protein Bread which was perfect for dipping into the yolk and the creamy goodness.

Testimony of the Day

“Hi Maria! My husband and I (and our 3 boys mostly) have been eating sugar free and gluten free since July 29. My husband landed in the hospital thinking he was having a heart attack and it was just a severe acid reflux attack. The doctor pretty much told him that he would be on Prilosec for the rest of his life. That could NOT be right! I came home and researched and changed his diet. Anytime he has had wheat, he has a flare up. So now we are gluten free. I have always cooked from scratch and used organic ingredients as much as possible but had some trouble dropping weight since my 3rd boy was born 8 years ago. I have tried and been very diligent.

Since eating this way, My hubby has been off the Prilosec and has dropped 38 pounds. I have dropped 24 pounds and gone from a tight 16 to an 8. I still have some more to lose but the benefits beyond weight loss are amazing.

My 16 year old son had severe acne and now he only gets the occasional blemish. My chunky 12 year old son is in a smaller size pants than last year! No longer a “husky”! My 8 year old is a different kid. We had never done HFCS or food dyes or processed foods but, cutting out even “natural” sugar has been amazing for his behavior. -Kristi”

If you want to get started on your “after” photo, click HERE.

 

“Hi Maria! Stairs were an issue and no longer are. I sleep through night regularly now and my energy level is through the roof. You could say the kids also had this same benefit!” –Joey

Need to regulate your cycle? A great email today!

“I hope you and your family are doing well. I have been following the lifestyle change since the 2nd, but started the accelerated plan on the 5th, so I am on day 8 of the accelerated plan (had to pick up some ingredients). I started to take some of the supplements on the 4th and within 3 days I started my cycle, after not having it for 3 months and trying to get it with birth control for 1 month (which failed). So thank you for those recommendations! It is somewhat annoying to know that so many doctors have insisted for the last 5 years that I need to be on birth control if I do not get a cycle. So, I have been on and off it all this time, when really a few simple supplements would have done the trick.

Because of that discovery, I decided to go off of the Victoza (it wasn’t working anyway), since I have no real medical need for it, so that when I do go back to the doctors that any success I have due to the lifestyle change cannot be accredited to this medication. It did initially help, but has not been “working” for a few months.  I can just see myself having success and going to the doctors and them saying, “Wow this Victoza really did the trick with a little help of a diet change!” and I don’t want them to have that satisfaction, when really a holistic approach is what did the trick. And maybe if they are open-minded enough, they will suggest something similar to the Maria way to their other PCOS and diabetic patients.  I would hate for others to be put on a medication due to a false success story.

Also, my mom has decided to take this journey and is following the plan with me! It is nice to have a cooking companion in this adventure! She started the day I started the accelerated plan.”