Who can you trust? Girlfriends, right?

Well, meet our girlfriend J.J. Virgin. She’s an expert nutritionist, author, TV guru (nutritional expert on Dr. Phil!) and more. Actually, she’s so experienced that I should just link you to her site – she’s pretty impressive!

And, thankfully for us, she’s a great girlfriend to Girlfriendology. She spoke with us on a recent Girlfriendology podcast. Now she’s allowed us to share her summer nutrition update – complete with helpful info and a yummy recipe!

So, from J.J.:

Happy August! When you live in Palm Desert that is code word for GET OUT OF TOWN!  This month I have the good fortune to escape to White Fish, Montana to visit one of my BFFs, Caprita Archer,  and celebrate her big Five O. Better her than me is what I say to that! I am noticing that we are looking better than ever (especially her, she looks like Sophia Loren’s better looking younger sister and she is a sweetheart to boot!) thanks to eating well, sleeping lots, managing stress, taking personalized supplements per our biochemistry and Jammin (or it could be that my eyesight is going but I refuse to entertain that notion, option 1 is way better!) Since I changing things up this month, I wanted to share one of the weapons in my arsenal with you, caloric variability.

Get out of THAT rut!

Okay, I know, we are all creatures of habit.  I certainly have looked at enough diet and lifestyle logs over the past decade to see that in action.  Obviously if your “rut” includes lounging on the couch, watching television, eating chips and drinking soda then you truly need to break out and NOW! What you may not realize is that your healthy “rut” could be stagnating your fat loss attempts too!

Break out of the Healthy “rut”?

You heard me right! No, I don’t mean go grab the twinkies, deep fry ‘em (have you heard of this, I am NOT making it up!) and chow down, I mean change things up!!! Rut = boredom = stagnation = NO RESULTS or worse yet, a weakening or total loss of resolve.

Employ Caloric Variability (CV)

Yep, I made up another term and now I want to use it to your advantage. What I mean by caloric variability is shifting the amount of total calories you consume and burn. Most of us fall into a routine with our diet and our exercise and initially that is good, actually fantastic! This means you have replaced your old bad habits with new health supporting ones which is critical for your long term success-if you want to be a healthy lean person, you have to think, live and act like one.

But over time, your body gets used to your routine and you will start to see your results slow down or even grind to a screeching halt! If you aren’t weight loss resistant* then most likely your body has adapted to where you are at and in order to continue to get results you need to change things up.

Eat! Using CV

An easy way to change things up with your diet is to replace 1-2 meals with a shake a couple of times a week. This allows you to change up your calories and drop your overall caloric load down without negatively impacting your stress hormones. I generally recommend the use of one meal replacement shake each day, but at least once a week I have a two shake day. On that day I also limit my other food intake to non starchy veggies, clean lean protein and healthy fats. You may be tempted to cut out food entirely and live on shakes, but forget it! You need your fresh non starchy veggies(remember to eat from the rainbow) and your clean lean protein and you need to CHEW!  For the inside skinny on the shake I start my day off email info@jjvirgin.com and say SEND ME THAT SHAKE! and I will share my favorite shake with you or CLICK HERE

Sweat! Using CV

Your body becomes fitter by adapting to the exercise load. The trick is to no your body know what to expect next!  Change things up on a regular basis. If you are used to jammin’ on your Xiser, switch to thea bike or run the stadium stairs at the local high school. If you have been doing 3 sets of 8-12 reps, do a week of  2 sets, 20-30 reps per exercise. Double up on your Jammin bursts or take a spin class for variety. Best of all…do a  “two-fer”  like the pros do: workout in the morning and again in the late afternoon. And the next day-you’ve earned a day off and a massage! J

CV Helps You Blast through Plateaus

Plateaus are merely your body’s way of telling you something’s gotta change. It may be that you have an area of weight loss resistance that you need to address OR you may just need to shake up your program by employing the caloric variability weapon.

*Weight loss resistance is the inability to burn off 1-3 pounds of body fat weekly despite balanced eating, exercise and core nutrient supplementation. Gut bacterial overgrowth, food sensitivities, chronic stress, chronic sleep deprivation, sex hormone imbalance, leptin & insulin resistance, thyroid fatigue and toxicity can all cause weight loss resistance and should be addressed by a health care professional trained in Overcoming Weight Loss Resistance.

Cook!

If you are a fan of Dr. Phil, then you will definitely remember Monika Barkley from the first Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge. She was the first person to lose the weight and keep it off and then had a head to toe makeover on Extreme Makeover. The best news of all is that today Monika looks and feels better than ever and is studying to become a nutritionist too! I asked her to share one of her latest creations. BTW, if you want to see Monika now, and believe me you will be blown away by this picture and the story behind it, but I have to let her tell it, go to www.monikabarkley.com. Be sure you are sitting down before you open the page!

Red Pepper Cappelini with Shrimp

¼ tsp cracked Red Pepper

6 cloves minced Garlic

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

24 medium Shrimp, peeled

4 medium Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced

4 tsp Capers

4 Tbsp chopped Basil

4 Tbsp chopped Parsley

¾ Cup White Wine

¾ tsp Sea Salt

1 cup cooked Whole Wheat Cappelini

½ cup freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 medium diced Vidalia Onion

6 large Mushrooms, thinly sliced

Gently sauté the pepper and garlic in the olive oil in a non stick skillet until the garlic begins to color. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute. Add Tomatoes, Onion, Mushrooms, Capers, Basil, Parsley, Wine, Sea Salt and cooked Pasta; cook quickly to reduce the liquids.

To serve:  Toss the Pasta with the cheese and divide onto four plates.

* To peel a tomato, cut an “x” in the bottom with a sharp knife. Plunge the tomato into boiling water for 30 seconds. Cool. Peel. Squeeze out the seeds, then dice.

Supplement!

It may be sunny but I am still finding that a good 75% of my clients need Vitamin D, otherwise known as the sunshine vitamin as your body makes it through some help from the sun. Since the majority of my private clients live in Southern California, Dallas and Southern Florida it seems a bit crazy that they would be vitamin D deficient. I have them all get their levels tested(ask your doctor for serum 25- hydroxyvitamin D to check your Vitamin D3 levels) and I am finding most of them around the 30 ng level.  The optimal level to strive for is 60 ng. We have a lot of deficiencies due to the prodigious use of sunscreen and the general avoidance of the sun. I don’t know about you but you would never catch me sunbathing. Vitamin D is really a SUPER vitamin as it is a prohormone and has many important benefits in the body including better bone health, reduced risk of certain cancers, better gastrointestinal health, improvements in MS, improvements in diabetes and insulin resistance and reduced cardiovascular risk. I think that checking Vitamin D levels should be standard operating procedure at your annual physical but that is probably years away from happening so be sure to make a point of asking your doctor to check and then supplement accordingly if you find that you are deficient.  A daily dose of 20 minutes in the sun without sunscreen (I bare my arms and legs but keep my face covered) will help raise your levels as well.

Oh and a fun shameless plug…I just had dinner with my girlfriend Carol Shaw, founder of Lorac Cosmetics, the Red Carpet Specialist, and makeup artist to the stars (what a great friend to have!) and she brought me her new sunscreen facial product protecTINT oil free tinted moisturizer that I now can’t live without. I have been remiss about wearing sunscreen on my face as they make me look white and pasty and then to top it off, break me out.  Not this one, it is oil free and tinted so you can toss your foundation (who wants to wear that in the summer anyway) and has 30 SPF. Stock up!  Her website is www.loraccosmetics.com and her line is available at Sephora, my idea of candy store for women!

Natural Remedies for Sunburn

And since I am recommending a little bit of sunshine every day, I thought I better include some help in case you get carried away by my buddy, fellow nutrition expert Jonny Bowden PhD, CNS (author of “The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth”).

Recently there’s been a long-overdue backlash in the “natural medicine” community against the increasingly strident warnings of the conventional medical establishment that we should stay out of the sun at all times. We’ve become a nation of sun phobics who slather up with 75 SPF just to go to the grocery store. Meanwhile, it’s probably no coincidence that a double digit percentage of the population has far less than optimal vitamin D levels.

Along with other experts like Al Sears, MD (“Your Best Health Under the Sun”) and Michael Hollick, MD (“The UV Advantage”) I’ve long advocated sensible sun- at least 10 minutes unprotected a few times a week for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to increase our supply of that all important hormone-like vitamin, Vitamin D.

But it’s summer, and let’s face it. We often get amnesia when it comes to understanding the meaning of the word “moderation”. It’s all too easy to forget all the recommendations when sun gets mixed with beer, sand and volleyball and the result ain’t pretty.

What to do, what to do?

If you’ve wound up with an unwanted sunburn (is there any other kind?) there are a few natural things you can do for both damage control and pain relief.

Aloe Vera Gel: Topically, aloe vera is a great anti-inflammatory. It’s soothing and has long been used for wound healing. You can find it almost everywhere- look for pure, and preferably fresh- aloe vera gel. (You can also use the fresh plant itself- just cut off a spear and squeeze the juice out!)

Tea Bags: Brew some green or black tea and then let the tea bags cool. Place the cool bags on sunburned eyes (remember to close them first!). Very soothing and healing.

Topical Vinegar: My friend, Naturopath Cathy Wong, ND suggests this one. Though there’s no science behind it, many people swear by the white vinegar’s soothing effect when applied to the skin as a compress. Cathy suggests soaking clean towels in half water and half vinegar, wring them out and applying on the affected areas. Remember to avoid broken skin and eyes.

Internally, it’s just as important to fight sun damage and inflammation with natural anti-inflammatories. First and foremost on the list: fish oil. It’s one of the most anti-inflammatory substances on the planet and can help “heal” from the inside out. I personally like Barlean’s Organic Oils’ high potency EPA-DHA formula, which is pharmaceutical grade fish oil in a very meaningful dose at a reasonable price and is available everywhere.

Since the sunburn is nothing if not oxidative damage on steroids, antioxidants make a lot of sense. The heavyweights: Vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, zinc and vitamin A. You can find many high grade antioxidant formulas on the market, and taking a little extra during sunburn time couldn’t hurt.

Finally, stay hydrated. The king of the “natural cures” is water. When you’re sunburned, you need it more than ever. Stay hydrated- that’s good advice not just for the beach, but for life!

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS is a board certified nutritionist and a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and natural health. He’s the author of five books including “The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth”. For a free newsletter, visit him at www.jonnybowden.com

For more info on JJ Virgin, check out The Art of Losing It CLICK HERE

THANKS J.J. for your girlfriend advice and sharing on nutrition and summer health!!

For more summer girlfriend advice, check out these Girlfriendology Blogs:

• Summer Girlfriend Gifts that Beat the Heat
• Summertime Girlfriend Birthday Gift Ideas
• Girlfriend Advice for Girlfriend Getaways
  

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Tags: bffs, caloric variability, Dr. Phil, extreme makeover, four seasons, j.j. virgin, lorac cosmetics, monika barkley, nutrition, Palm Dessert, summer health advice, The Art of Losing It, ultimate weight loss challenge

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND, Girlfriend Advice and Reviews, Health and Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.