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The Grain Challenge–The Purpose
Monday, February 20, 2012, The Grain Challenge begins!
What is THE GRAIN CHALLENGE, you ask?
This is the first step {concerning eating habits} that I have all my clients do when starting their new HEALTHY eating lifestyle!
This phase only lasts about 3 weeks, but it will bring about noticeable results.
THE PURPOSE of The Grain Challenge…
Without getting into to tons of foundational information in this post, THE PURPOSE is really about getting your body to a ‘CLEAN SLATE’ state .
All too often people will start a new eating program or a new diet or even a vitamin or supplement program – but their foundation isn’t stable and this new avenue they try to go down ends up not working. If you have eaten unhealthy for years and years, you can’t just start taking tons of vitamins and supplements to be ‘healthier’. Most likely your body won’t be able to pull the nutrients and benefits from the vitamins because your body is unable to assimilate them due to the toxic state of your body. You need a firm foundation to build good health upon. People don’t last with new ways of eating if they don’t get the results they want fast enough, they don’t feel any difference, it’s too much work and not convenient, etc. BUT if you start a new eating lifestyle with a clean slate – things will be different. With the eating program I have laid out for my clients – it makes a huge difference to start with a ‘clean slate’.
You feel different. You loose weight. Your energy levels increase. Your sleep is more productive. You have visible signs that the changes you are making are working! They are making a positive difference in your life. The results of the changes you make become such a motivator in your life – it encourages you to keep going! There’s no quitting or no going back!
A CLEAN SLATE!
That is the main purpose of THE GRAIN CHALLENGE. This step will prepare you to begin a better eating lifestyle!
Eliminating all grains from your diet will first and foremost jump start weight loss. Why? Most people eat more grains in a day then they should in a week. We live in a grain-centered society. Pretty much everything contains grains. Cereal, cookies, chips, pastries, breads, crackers, pasta, rice, tortillas, breakfast bars, granola bars, hamburger buns – everything. Think of what you eat in the course of a day and you probably have a grain dominated diet. On top of that, it’s probably mostly, if not all, refined, highly processed and now GMO grains. Carbs that come from grains are used as energy immediately and when you’re eating grains constantly throughout the day – you never give your body a chance to tap into your fat stores to burn energy. This means losing weight will be hard if not impossible if a person continues to eat a refined and processed grain dominate diet.
When you eliminate grains for these 3 weeks you will begin to tap into your fat stores so your body has energy – therefore weight loss will occur. Don’t worry about lacking carbs while you’re grain free – you will get your carbs from eating veggies! During this phase, in order to get optimal results, you’ll be needing to eat a healthy diet of fresh, living and whole foods. This will be discussed in the next post THE GRAIN CHALLENGE – THE FOODS YOU’LL EAT.
It may sound too hard to actually do – but IT IS doable! Once you see weight coming off – it won’t be so hard to make it through. This is the motivation and encouragement we talked about earlier.
During this phase you’ll get to enjoy regular portions of eggs, poultry, beans, fish, mushrooms and shellfish as healthy protein sources. These will help balance your insulin and optimize glucagon – which is the cool hormone that helps melt away fat! Now, that’s a hormone you want on your side!
On average, if you remain grain-free for 3 weeks and you aren’t consuming foods such as soda, fast food, lunch meats (highly processed), highly refined sugar treats – etc., you will see an average of 10-14 pounds being lost. Read that sentence again. Please note that you cannot remain on a highly processed, sugary food, sugary beverage diet and expect to get maximum results. Keep that in mind when you are doing this and you are monitoring weight loss.
I don’t recommend people completely eliminate grain from their diet permanently, unless it is absolutely necessary for their health! Grains have been consumed for thousands and thousands of years by humans and there is no reason to write them off if your body has no issue with them. What I will educate you on during the 3 week grain-free phase is the importance of how to prepare your grains properly so your body can better assimilate them when you eat them. Why is this necessary? Grains are known to have anti-nutrients – most commonly phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. This means that they block our body from absorbing minerals that are found in those grains. Not good, since we need those minerals in our body. When you prepare your grains properly (soaking, sprouting, dehydrating, etc.) your body won’t have to work so hard to digest them. You may even physically notice that your body doesn’t feel so ‘blah’ when you eat grains prepared this way.
So…that is the purpose behind this grain challenge and I will be doing it right along with you! I’ve done it before – about 2 years ago and I thought it was great! It was a little hard at first because I enjoy baking. So, that meant no breads, no healthy cookies or brownies (made with flours), no wheat farina for breakfast, no sourdough bread and butter at dinner! Not an easy transition for me, but I challenges don’t frighten me, so I just kept on going! I lost weight and felt a whole lot better in the evenings. It didn’t feel like there was a heavy brick in my stomach at night after eating. Then when my grain-free period was over and I could introduce grains back in, I noticed I didn’t crave them like I did before and when I did eat them, I couldn’t eat as much! That’s awesome!
Here is a great article from the Food Renegade – it’s an interview with Ann Marie Michaels and she shares her thoughts on grains, going grain-free and preparing grains properly!
In the next post we will discuss THE GRAIN CHALLENGE – THE FOODS YOU’LL EAT!
Enjoy your Monday! Only ONE week until THE GRAIN CHALLENGE STARTS!
[...] the next 3 weeks as we reboot our systems and get back to a strong foundation for a healthy life! – The Grain Challenge – The Purpose – The Grain Challenge – The Foods You’ll Eat – The Grain Challenge – Reminders and Meal Ideas [...]
[...] the next 3 weeks as we reboot our systems and get back to a strong foundation for a healthy life! – The Grain Challenge – The Purpose – The Grain Challenge – The Foods You’ll Eat – The Grain Challenge – Reminders and Meal Ideas [...]
[...] (typeof(addthis_share) == "undefined"){ addthis_share = [];}Now that The Grain Challenge is almost over, it will be time to introduce grains back into our daily eating. This process [...]
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