You are What You Eat”
Like or not, It is what it is!

By DREAM TEAM Fitness & Nutrition Coach

Adele Fridman


You are what you eat!


This is one of the most widely known clichés, and probably the most accurate. Look at what you eat...then look at how you look and feel! You will see a correlation! Too much fat, sugar, or alcohol and you’ll feel overweight, tired, and clogged! On the other hand, eat whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits, and you’ll feel strong, healthy, and focused! The foods you eat affect how you act and feel both mentally and physically.

Why?


Because the chemicals in foods, literally, create different responses in your body.

That’s right!

Different foods, when eaten, REQUIRE that your body respond to them-a.k.a. CRAVINGS! Your food choices directly affect your body on a cellular level. Food affects how you look, feel, and think! Sugary and fried foods cause diabetes, blood pressure, depression and cardiovascular disease. They have little nutritional value; your body sees them as foreign. If it’s not “real food”, your body simply doesn’t know what to do with it and will store it as fat.


If you don’t believe that YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, you need to think about the following facts:

• Did you know that citrus fruits, like oranges and grapefruits, look just like the female mammary
glands and that they actually assist the health of the breasts and movement of the lymph?



• A tomato has four chambers and is the color red. But did you know that the heart is also red and
has four chambers. Research shows that tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food!


• A walnut looks like the brain; both have a left and right hemisphere, and upper and lower
cerebellums. Walnuts develop over three dozen neuron-transmitters in the brain.



• Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually help balance insulin levels--especially helpful for
those with diabetes.


• Isn’t it amazing that the foods our ancestors consumed are the same foods that actually help our
bodies function better?


Without even knowing why, our ancestors learned what to eat and what to avoid. Why have we stopped listening to our common-sense ancient wisdom?



Of course you can still have a treat, once in a while!! In fact, I have one “cheat” (or as I prefer to call it “treat meal”) about once a week – usually a dinner with family or friends, but the rest of the time I keep my diet clean so that I feel clean! I keep my diet pure so that I feel pure!! I keep my diet healthy so that I feel healthy!!!

Yes...WE ARE WHAT WE EAT! Food is a drug!

Maintaining a balanced diet will ensure that proper vitamins, minerals and nutrients are entering your body, REGENERATING your cells and helping you feel ALIVE, VIBRANT and ENERGIZED. A balanced diet, containing fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein, will help maintain your good health from the inside.

Remember, that fad diets simply DO NOT WORK! We are surrounded by healthy foods. It’s very simple!! Give your body what it needs to be healthy... and your body will take care of YOU!

What Happens to Your Body Within an Hour of Drinking Coke?

Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many ways; science can't even state all the consequences. Here's what happens in your body when you assault it with a Coke:

Within the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 % of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don't vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.

Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.

Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.

Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain - a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.

After 60 minutes, YOU CRASH!!

Classic Relaxation Method

This method of achieving total relaxation of mind and body has been used for many years with impressive results. Like the relaxation response, it may be used any time you feel a need to let go of tension and achieve a profound sense of serenity.


Lie flat on your back on a firm surface such as a carpeted floor or an exercise mat. Close your eyes. Place your arms straight along your body with hands in a half - open position. Keep your legs slightly apart with toes pointed outward.

Begin by concentrating on your toes and trying to "feel" them without moving them. Command them to relax. Next, do the same for your feet to the exclusion of other body parts. Relish the feeling of limpness. Next, the ankles. In this manner, you work all the way up: legs, knees, thighs, abdomen, buttocks, back, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, and finally the face, mouth, eyes, forehead. Every part, in succession, will feel limp and quite heavy. As you are enjoying this sensation of heaviness, try to clear your mind, reducing thoughts to an absolute minimum. Focus on something pleasant as you breathe slowly and deeply. After a few minutes, you will be totally and blissfully relaxed.

Relaxation Techniques To Help You De-Stress

The relaxation response:

Developed by Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist at Harvard University School of Medicine, this simple mental exercise will put you in a relaxed but highly energized state in a matter of minutes.

How to do it.

Sit quietly in a chair where you will not be disturbed. Close your eyes. "Warm up" by concentrating on releasing tension from all your muscles, beginning with the feet and moving up to the face. Feel yourself becoming loose and limp. Breath slowly and naturally. As you breath in through your nose, try to be aware of the air as it enters your body. As you breath out, say a word such as "peace" (this can be any word that you select) silently to yourself.

Technique: Breath in ... and breath out... "peace". Continue this for about ten minutes. Then, open your eyes slowly and remain still for another minute or so before getting up.

This very efficient technique can be incorporated into any phase of your daily routine. Many have used it while commuting by bus or train, and it is a perfect exercise to do right at your desk. You will feel remarkably renewed when you emerge from the relaxation state, ready to tackle just about anything that comes your way.

Self Massage

Self Massage: How To Do It

Massage is a natural complement to skin brushing. With this technique we further work on the areas of the body affected by cellulite to tone and smooth connective tissue. The simplest way to practice self massage is to include it with a bath or shower.

Use soapy water to facilitate the movements of deep stroking and kneading. Body lotion also makes it easier to massage, and you may want to repeat the motions after your bath or shower as you apply a moisturizer.

Place your leg on the side of the bathtub or on a stool to relax muscles. The motions for self massage are kneading and deep stroking. Always work upward, from knees to buttocks, covering the entire area once or twice. With the entire hand, lift and squeeze, just as if you were working with modelling clay or dough. For the thighs, you might also include a wringing motion in which you rest both hands around the area and twist back and forth in opposite directions. To concentrate on buttocks and upper thighs, you may use both hands, and on each side, working simultaneously in kneading motions. This entire procedure should take only a few minutes. Always finish your massage with deep upward stroking.

Massage should not be in anyway traumatic. Under no circumstances should there be pain or bruises. But don't be too gentle either a mere caress does not accomplish much. Pressure should be firm and purposeful. If you have varicose veins or broken capillaries, or if your circulation is especially poor, use a little extra caution.

Until cellulite problems are under control, you will want to use self massage techniques every day for a few minutes at a time. Later, you may wish to switch to a "maintenance" schedule of twice a week.

A few more suggestions for massaging the body:

There is no need to confine massage to the techniques described above. Water, and especially sea water with its long history of healing the body, is natures own instrument of massage. But you don't have to wait for your next visit to the seashore to indulge in the various forms of hydro massage.

Salts Bath:

Fill your tub with very warm to comfortably hot water to which two pounds of Epsom Salts have been added. Remain immersed for fifteen minutes as you massage your entire body beginning with the feet and working up. Dry off quickly and go directly to bed; keep warm as you will continue to perspire (perhaps with an extra blanket). This bath helps promote better circulation along with speedy elimination of wastes through the newly opened pores of the skin.

Dry Skin Brushing

Dry Skin Brushing: How To Do It

This is best accomplished with a natural bristle brush that has a long detachable handle. You will find a selection of these brushes at health food stores and many drugstores.

Begin by standing in a comfortable position. Place one foot on a higher surface, such as the edge of the bathtub or a bed. Start brushing the soles of the feet from toes to heel. Proceed to the top of the foot and move upward: calves, thighs, buttocks. Give extra attention to the skin between knees and waist, going over the cellulite areas several times, alternating circular motions with long sweeping motions. The direction of brushing should always be from the extremities toward the lymph node sites in the groin, abdomen, and armpits. Now do the upper body: palms of hands, backs of hands, and arms--sweeping toward the arm pits. Next, do your shoulders and back (you might need the long handle now), bringing the motions around the torso toward the abdomen. For the front of your torso, an especially sensitive area, gently move downward from chest to abdomen. Finish with gentle circular motions in the abdominal and groin area. Be sure to cover each part of the body a few times with long sweeping strokes and or circular motions.

Brushing should be firm and vigorous but not overly so. You may achieve a rosy glow, but do not brush until your skin is red or irritated. The entire procedure should take only three to five minutes.

Some dry skin brushing pointers are:

1) The best time to brush are morning and before bed. Some people like to follow brushing with a shower, bath, or rubdown with a damp sponge.

2) Depending on the sensitivity of your skin, you may want to start with a softer brush (but not too soft) and later on, after your skin is accustomed to brushing, use a firmer model.

3) You should have your very own brush, just as you have your own toothbrush, reserved for your personal use.

4) Every few weeks or so, you will want to clean your brush with mild soap and water. Just let it dry naturally in the sun or a warm room.

5) Avoid brushing areas of the skin that are irritated or bruised.

6) Do not brush damp or wet skin as this may cause stretching and sagging. Always use a dry brush on dry skin.