Wellness: Keto is a strategy. There are other strategies too.

When my son’s high school principal contacted me and asked if I would be willing to speak to the staff on January 3, 2022 at their annual Professional Learning Community Day for forty-five minutes on: “promoting healthy lifestyle choices” I jumped at the opportunity. She added that she has been following my own keto journey on social media and wanted me to share with the staff how keto has helped me. I was impressed with her vision (a healthy team performs better than an unhealthy one) and I was determined to share in such a way as not to alienate. You see, the keto diet has come in for much maligning from mainstream media. They claim it is unhealthy, they claim it is unsustainable, they claim it fosters disordered eating. All I want is for people to live their best lives ever (as I am doing!) and I KNOW that health & wellness are tied to living a life in alignment & finding purpose. It’s way more than simply looking good and being a certain size.

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Food Cravings & Emotional Eating: Practical Approaches for WINNING: Part 2

In my last post “Are Cravings and a Snacking habit getting the better of you?” I explored why we crave the foods we do, why we snack and what giving in to said cravings and a snacking habit could be doing to your health and your livity. If we’re keeping it a buck fifty, the foods we crave all tend to be high-carb, highly processed foods: chips, cookies, ice-cream, bread. And we established that there are valid physiological and psychological reasons at play. You’re not weak neither are you greedy. These hyper-palatable carbohydrate rich foods trigger pathways in our brain that simply make us feel good and when we remain in constant search of that feel-good place we simply repeat the behaviour that led to it in the first place: dependency or addiction.

This dependency on high-carb, hyper-palatable foods for many, many of us negatively impacts our health (we gain weight or we have difficulty taking and keeping off weight), we get bloated and live with various gut-issues like acid reflux & general discomfort, and we are simply trapped in a vicious cycle of having to be constantly thinking of what next will we eat in order to avoid “hangry” states throughout our day. Sounds familiar? Ok. So what next? Do we simply cut out these carbs and flourish? Easier said than done, right? If there is an actual factual dependency on these foods at play, HOW do we break the dependency and how do we meet the need that gave rise to this dependency in the first place?

Continue reading Food Cravings & Emotional Eating: Practical Approaches for WINNING: Part 2

Are Cravings & A Snacking Habit Getting the better of You? Part 1

  • “I do well all day and then at night I go off the rails!”
  • “The children’s snacks are my weakness”
  • “I do well all week and then weekends I just can’t seem to stick to the plan.”
  • “I need a snack after dinner when we’re watching TV.”
  • “I get hungry mid-morning and need a snack.”
  • “At about 4pm I need a little pick-me-upper.”
  • “I say I’ll just eat 2 cookies and I end up eating the entire pack.”
  • “If it wasn’t for this sweet tooth I know I could lose some weight.”

Could any of the above statements been made by you? Are any of the above impacting your quality of life? Put differently, are you struggling to lose weight? Are cravings getting the better of you? If not, great! You don’t have to read any further unless you’re simply curious or unless you know someone who is struggling to lose weight and for whom cravings seem to always get the better of and you want to understand what’s going on better. But if you’re like very many of us, trying to lose weight, trying to unshackle yourself from the lure of cravings that you know are unhealthy, read on!

Continue reading Are Cravings & A Snacking Habit Getting the better of You? Part 1

What do the ones who win with Keto have in common? 8 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR WINNING WITH KETO

I’ve been on my own keto journey for almost 3 1/2 years now. Yes, I’ve lost weight (YAY!) and yes, my health and livity have improved significantly. I still do all the things I used to do when I was heavier (hike, road trips, cook, etc.) but the difference is that I move around with so much more ease, I enjoy food without guilt or any uncomfortable after effects, my moods are generally more stable and even, and I sleep way better. I’ve been privileged to work one on one with various people who feel that keto is the route to weight loss and wellness for them, guiding them as to what they could choose to eat in furtherance of their personal goals based on their proclivities and lifestyle, and serving as an accountability partner as they break old habits and form new ones. It never gets old seeing them come off high blood pressure and diabetes meds, hearing them report on being able to sleep comfortably again without acid reflux or sleep apnea. I never get tired of seeing their before and after pics, with them modelling new clothing with a broad smile on their faces. And I have been thinking: what do the ones who win with keto have in common? What are their critical success factors?

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A Tale of Two Keto Cheaters: Weight Loss Stories we can learn from

I am a keto & weight loss coach. It has been my absolute honour to work with people who have decided that a low-carb way of eating is their chosen route to weight-loss and wellness. Many of my clients have lost weight and come off meds for conditions like bursitis, diabetes type 2 and high blood pressure. As much as they say I’ve helped them, I’ve gotta say, they have taught me so much. We are all different, and as I’ve guided and advised them on their own journey, I have had to adopt an open mind and listening ear and heart, in order to make my advice and recommendations meaningful to their specific circumstances. Back in December I had 2 clients who had 2 different approaches to the matter of cheating while keto. What follows are their stories, their choices and the consequences. Read for yourself and extract any learnings applicable.

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Life in the Time of Covid, Jamaica Style. Update 3

Monday December 28. The beach, St. Mary, Jamaica. Ahhhhh. I’m off work, I have the 3 kids with me, H unfortunately had to go in to office. We’re the only ones on this tiny, secluded beach and we’re simply exhaling and enjoying some sun after a (glorious!) quiet Christmas weekend. It was a good weekend. We had some good (keto of course!) eatings including dessert with only my sister-in-law as a guest at our table. We watched tons of movies as a family, chatted and laughed. It was really lovely. Our first Pandemic Christmas. I thought I’d catch up with the kids to find out what they were thinking at this stage of the Pandemic. I first shared how they were processing things in this post in May and I got an update a few weeks later and shared it here. What follows is a snapshot of their own thoughts, 9 months into the pandemic, here in Jamaica.

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She Lost 78 Pounds and she’s 68! LaRonda’s story.

I’d like to introduce you to my friend, LaRonda Robinson. We met on Twitter a few years ago. LaRonda is a very interesting woman, and a single blog post will never cover her many facets. The purpose of this particular blog post is to share a part of her story that she’s graciously consented to share. I have been intrigued by this part of her story and have wanted to document it for some time now. So here we are! Let me present the executive summary, and then I invite you to dig in for the details. LaRonda is a 68 year old great grandma who has lost 74 lbs over the last two years. Yes, 78 pounds! What follows is HER story. Are there learnings we can take from LaRonda’s journey? See for yourself!

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3 Mindset Traps that are sabotaging your weight-loss journey

  • Me: “Oooh that breakfast looks lovely!”
  • Him: “It’s pretty good! I didn’t think I’d enjoy bacon & eggs without toast, yet here I am!”
  • Me: “That kale looks so fresh and green!”
  • Him: “It’s bitter, I’m not enjoying it, but I’m pressing through!”

I think my response stunned him… “Then why are you eating it if you don’t like it?” I sensed his surprise which quickly gave way to defensiveness when he replied: “Well it’s healthy, and I already bought it.”

I quickly reminded him that there are too many other “healthy” foods to allow yourself to suffer with your own food choices! So many of us trying to lose weight seem to feel the need to punish ourselves, to self-flagellate, as if we’re punishing ourselves for getting fat! Stop it.

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The Case for Constitutional Reform: thoughts from a 16 yo in Jamaica

Exactly one year ago, my then 16 year old son shared his thoughts with me on how our political system was (not) serving us. I was impressed that such matters were actually occupying his mind, and I encouraged him to write down his thoughts. He wrote this last year and sent to our two main newspapers, but they didn’t publish it. We’re 2 days away from our next general election and I thought it timely to share his words on this platform. Here are the thoughts on representation of the people from my son, Nicholas in his own words.

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Of death, Life, growing old and Family: Reflections on Aunt Phyll

Aunt Phyll passed away June 15 this year. She was living in a retirement home. She was to be 97 years in 2 months. Aunt Phyll didn’t have children of her own, and at the age of 97, she didn’t have peers in this life to gather and mourn her passing. She had relatives though, scattered across the world and a few right here in Jamaica. So at the behest of the family matriarch residing here in Jamaica, we gathered last week Saturday to celebrate and honour Aunt Phyll’s life. A grand total of four of us assembled, masks on, six feet apart to speak about Aunt Phyll and mark her passing with respect. And it got me thinking…

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