But when it comes to your health nothing goes better than good nutrition and fitness. While there may be other factors that contribute to your health, having good relationships and managing stress to name a couple, nutrition and fitness are at the foundation of great health and disease prevention.

At Forever Young Nutrition, we have helped thousands of people reach their health, weight loss and nutrition goals with some proven strategies that we’ve been teaching and using ourselves for over almost two decades now.

Our passion and commitment is educating and showing people how to improve the quality of their lives by incorporating a proper nutrition program for their specific body type with a fitness program that incorporates a strength training component. And finally we teach you the importance of supplementation on a daily basis as well.

Let’s look a little further into all three components: Nutrition, fitness and supplementation.

If you take a quick look at the groceries you buy, for the most part you eat the same 15 to 20 foods every week.

It is important to know exactly what foods you should be eating, in the proper combination, for your unique body type. Because did you Know that 70% of your weight loss comes from eating the right foods for your body in the right combination?

When it comes to fitness, there is one area that most people leave out when they engage in an exercise program, and that is strength training.

Strength Training is an essential component in any kind of fitness program and must be included as part of your overall Lifestyle Program. It is the key factor in attaining great health, maintaining ideal body weight and aging gracefully.

Increasing metabolism, reducing body fat and increasing bone density are just some of the benefits you will receive by incorporating strength training into your fitness regimen.

And finally, with the busy lifestyles we live, it can be very difficult to receive all the nutrients we need from our meals and snacks, as we quite often just ‘grab something quick and convenient’. Personalized supplementation that compliments the foods you eat will help you meet your daily nutritional needs.

These supplements will help boost your metabolism, help build a strong immune system, help maintain good digestion and just help you maintain overall good health.

At Forever Young Nutrition we are your partner in health, nutrition and fitness. We believe people need the right information and knowledge to make the proper decisions in life.

With the proper information and the right guidance you will be empowered to take action in all the areas of your health: nutrition, fitness and supplementation.

So don’t wait, take action now. Your mind, body and spirit will thank you later!

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When you look into the mirror, you’re judging yourself against your past, which will predict how you feel about Yourself today. This in turn will determine your Self Worth, Self Esteem and Self Confidence.

Inevitably one of two things is happening. You’re losing weight, which makes you feel awesome with an extra jump in your step. This unbelievable level of success will shine through as self confidence and an unbounded level of energy.

On the other hand if you’re gaining weight, your energy level drops and you begin to have this gnawing feeling of low self worth. You become especially sensitive to how you look and feel in your clothes, and although you may not want to admit it, it bothers you to think what other people might be saying about you and your added weight.

Like most dieters we seem to need something to trigger us to get us going on the road to finally losing those excess pounds once and for all. Do we really need to hit rock bottom?

What will make you start losing that unwanted 20, 40, 60, 80 or maybe even 100 pounds?

•    Not be able to take part in your favorite activity or hobby

•    Not having the energy or mobility to play with your little son or daughter

•    Not being able to share the quality of life you want with your partner

•    Gaining perspective by seeing a loved one fall to ill health

Don’t wait for something to happen to take action now!

The million dollar question is where you can go to find the right information and the resources to help you along in your journey. It can be confusing out there to say the least.

Well let us provide you with a few tidbits of sound nutritional guidelines to point you in the right direction.

We’ll keep it simple with a few basic rules:

•    Eat four small meals per day. Each meal should include 4 to 5 ounces of protein, one cup of vegetables, preferable green leafy vegetables and one half cup of grains (Brown rice, brown rice pasta and quinoa, etc.)

•    Eat a healthy breakfast  every morning with protein and carbohydrates

•    Eat every four hours

•    As much as you can eliminate all processed and refined foods out of your diet

•    Reduce or eliminate all dairy and red meat from your diet

Remember that sugar is your number one enemy. Increased insulin levels in the body will lead to stored body fat. These increased insulin levels will cause your blood sugar levels to drop, leading to constant hunger, cravings and fatigue.

The foods you should not eat that will cause a severe spike in your blood sugar levels are refined and processed foods such as white bread, white pasta, sweets, pastries, pop, fruit juices and the list goes on and on. A continual consumption of these types of foods is a perfect ingredient for not only gaining weight (body fat) but puts you at an increased risk for diabetes.

Make it a conscious effort every day to reduce the amount of processed and refined foods in your diet. By just focusing on this one change to your nutritional program, you will see dramatic changes to how you look and feel.

We also suggest if you can, to add some resistance or strength training exercises to your weekly routine, three to four times per week. The benefits to your overall health, weight loss and self esteem are too long to list here. Let’s just say it will exponentially increase the results you’re after in all areas.

If you are looking for a more individualized nutritional program we can have one designed just for you. We are all so unique in many ways, and this especially holds true by what we eat. Without even realizing it did you know that you eat the same 15 to 20 foods every week?

We can show you exactly what foods you should be eating, in the proper combination, for your unique body type. This little known fact is so important and is the key to permanent weight loss. Because did you know that 70% of your weight loss comes from eating the right foods for your body type in the right combination?

Let us know when you’re ready and we’ll get you going on your uniquely designed nutritional program. In the meantime keep those sugars away and slowly start to watch that waistline disappear!

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“We are what we eat”

Some people incorrectly think that they’re making the right health choices just because a magazine or their friends recommended something. Is it actually healthy to trust such unconfirmed information? Let’s take a look. I think you’ll be very surprised.

Let’s take an avocado for example. It’s very healthy for you if you have a slice with a meal because it has good fats that will break down bad fats. Some people read this and they forget that eating more than a slice isn’t actually good for you. If you eat an entire medium-sized avocado, you’re eating 4 grams of protein, 15 grams of carbohydrates, and 31 grams of fat.

Now what do these numbers mean? Let’s take a closer look at how this one avocado would affect your overall recommended daily calorie intake. There are four calories in each gram of protein, four calories in each gram of carbohydrate, and nine calories in each gram of fat. You’ll notice that there are over twice as many calories from fat than there are from proteins and carbohydrates. This cannot be a good thing.

If we add all the calories up from just one avocado, you get a total of 346 calories! Remember that even good fats get stored if you don’t use them up. Knowing your recommended daily calorie intake can be helpful benefit in this situation.

Given that the average calories for females are 1400 per day, one medium-sized avocado would be a quarter of your recommended daily calorie intake. Now you see how things can get complicated and misleading? So we need a better understanding of how much protein, carbohydrates and fat we actually eat in order to have more control of our daily calorie intake. This will give us better knowledge on how to make better food choices so we all can achieve the optimal desired weight that we all dream about achieving. One must definitely know their recommended daily calorie intake then.

How does one calculate his or her recommended daily calorie intake? First we have to calculate a person’s resting metabolic rate. Calculating this takes into account one’s age, weight, and height. The resting metabolic rate is the amount of energy in calories you burn daily just by living. You find your recommended daily calorie intake by taking your resting metabolic rate and factoring in digestion and your other daily activities.

There is some state-of-the-art equipment available that can calculate your calorie requirements. If you do not have access to this equipment however, there are a number of formulas that you can use to calculate your recommended daily calorie intake.

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Most of us don’t want to resort to fat burning pills or crash diets to try to get the look and feel we’re after. The fact is we are bombarded with pictures and stories of famous stars shedding that unwanted twenty pounds seemingly overnight, so we ask ourselves why can’t we have that quick fix to a flat stomach as well?

The reality is that crash diets and diet pills in the long run do not work and they are a serious compromise to our health. So what happens? All the weight (plus more) comes back on and we resort to wearing bigger and looser fitting clothes, just so we don’t draw too much attention to ourselves.

We cannot truly enjoy the great summer months, so we have to look forward to the cooler days again, where we put on more layers to cover up the embarrassment we feel about ourselves.

There is a solution to all of this and it’s time tested and proven. Proper nutrition for your body type, moderate exercise and the proper abdominal exercises will get you the look and feel you’re after.

And what is that look? Is it the six-pack abs look that we are after or are we simply looking for a nice flat stomach, where we feel confident in our body and happy about ourselves and our life? I think for most of us out there a toned flat stomach is what we are after.

A strong abdominal or core is also very important for our overall health. Our core or abdomen has an important job of keeping our body in the proper position, maintaining our balance when moving from place to place, and helps in achieving a strong yet relaxed posture.

Yet with our sedentary lifestyle and with the increased demands on ourselves in the workplace and at home, we find it very difficult to keep the weight off and to attain that flat stomach we all dream about.

However with a little bit of discipline and applied know how, your goals are certainly within your grasp.

There are numerous abdominal exercises that will help you achieve the flat stomach look you are after. To get that look and feel you have to target your complete abs, which includes your upper abs, lower abs, and your oblique muscles. They are all very important in their own way to target and they all work together to achieve the results you are after.

To target a flat stomach there are two key components:

To achieve a flat stomach you start with and target the core or lower abdominal, that is from the naval or belly button to the pubic bone. A few exercises to look at would be the half curl, oblique curl, the plank and the single straight leg stretch. You may know these exercises by some different names.

When performing these exercises you need to have your pubic bone in neutral tilt throughout every exercise. When exhaling you need to try to draw your naval as close as you can to your spine. This is especially helpful for women who have just had a baby and their lower stomach has been stretched during the pregnancy. This will be amazing in helping to tighten your pelvic girdle and lower stomach.

The other ingredient to achieving the look you want is a nutrition or weight management program designed specifically for you. It is important to know how many proteins, carbohydrates and fats your body needs to build lean toned muscles and to lose that unwanted body fat. Therefore you need to know exactly what foods you should be eating, in the proper combination, for your unique body type. Because did you know that 70% of your weight loss comes from eating the right foods for your body in the right combination?

So the proper exercises combined with the proper nutrition for your body, will help you show off those sleek, toned flat abdominal that you’ve been hiding for so long.

Don’t be surprised if you drop two dress sizes, you have more stamina and you feel fresh and motivated when you wake up in the morning. Overall you will feel much fitter, less sluggish, and generally you will have a much happier disposition.

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Everyone has a different body type, DNA structure and personality. These are your unique characteristics. Because of this uniqueness you need a program that is designed specifically for you as well. Our Natural Weight Loss program is designed to do just that.

We also do not overlook the importance of attitude and the establishment of good habits moving forward. It’s great to have the tools but if you don’t establish the consistent habits of implementing those tools, your success and results will be limited. We provide you with the mind training strategies and techniques to make proper nutrition and exercise a Natural Part of your life.

Your ultimate goal is a Healthy Lifestyle, to have the energy, the strength and the endurance to live life fully in all aspects. It sounds a bit overdone but it truly is about looking good and feeling good so that you can truly enjoy living every moment in your life with greater passion.

That ultimately is our goal: to truly improve the quality of your life. With our Natural Weight Loss Program and with all of the resources available to you at Forever Young Nutrition, we would like to be your partner on this journey together.

You’ll also learn a lot, grow a lot and we’ll have a whole bunch of fun along the way!

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Do you notice any changes in your eating or drinking? Is your thirst unquenchable or do you feel the need to urinate more often? Do you eat and eat without satisfaction? If you notice a sudden and strong change in your diet, check in with your doctor.

Have you suddenly lost weight? This may not be cause for celebration—it could be an early sign of diabetes. Unexpected weight loss without any effort on your side is not something to consider a gift; it’s more likely a sign of something you should ask your doctor about.

Perhaps you also feel unconditional fatigue. Does no amount of sleep do the trick for you? Perhaps your body is struggling to break down sugar without enough insulin.

A very unpleasant early sign of diabetes: yeast infections. Yeast feeds off sugar, and without enough insulin to break down sugar, you may have high sugar levels. Or perhaps your vision is blurry. These are all possible early signs of diabetes. If you experience any of them, please see your doctor. But do not fret: many people live happily with diabetes and with the right diet and habits, you could too.

Most importantly, any of these signs on its own isn’t a diabetes sentence; it’s likely you just need to sleep more, or drink more water, and that nothing’s wrong. Visit your doctor, continue to eat well and exercise, and your body will do the rest.

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You probably guessed it, but fruits and vegetables help fight high cholesterol. Make an avocado salad with leafy green vegetables and sprinkle it with almonds. Garlic, onions and chili peppers fight high cholesterol and are easy to add to any meal. Avoid bad fats often found in junk food, desserts and processed salad dressings. Instead, opt for the good fats found in olive oil (which makes just about any salad taste good!).

Perhaps you want to add a healthy source of protein to your salad. Opt for poultry and fish over beef most of the time, and dabble with some soy products. When grocery shopping, look for labels that say “lean” or “select” rather than “prime.” Some people find that a vegetarian diet is what they require in order to lower cholesterol, but it’s not necessary if that’s not your way of life.

When snacking, opt for nuts with berries instead of buying snacks stocked with bad fats. Start your day off with whole grains found in cereal or oatmeal. All theses foods help fight high cholesterol.

Exercise can help too; a good workout raises your body’s level of HDL, the good cholesterol. Check with your doctor to make sure your exercise routine is good for you.  And you may wish to quit smoking. A healthy diet and exercise are your key to fighting high cholesterol.

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Make sure you’re getting what meat offers you somewhere else. Typically, this means protein, iron and vitamin B12. Protein is essential for maintaining a lean body, strong muscles and—if you want—losing weight. Protein, along with carbohydrates and good fats, is a building block to survival. Good sources of plant-based protein include legumes, nuts, seeds and dairy products (like eggs). Keep in mind, however, that unlike animal sources of protein, plant-based sources contain an incomplete source of protein. Often, you need to combine beans with a grain product in order to render them complete. Some delicious options include beans with pasta, beans and rice, or legumes with nuts and seeds. Yogurt, milk and cheese are complete sources of protein.

But don’t forget about iron, especially if you’re a woman who is still menstruating and losing blood every month. Legumes, tofu, fortified cereals and some vegetables offer strong sources of iron. The trickier part is vitamin B12, which nature only produces in animals. This means you’ve got to be eating dairy products and if you’re not, be sure to find a good supplement. These are important parts of a healthy vegetarian diet.

Vegetarians need to love vegetables too. Another drastic change going vegetarian can bring is the vegetable intake. The typical carnivorous diet is seriously lacking in vegetables, which are so important to our health. How many times have you heard that broccoli or carrots or sweet potatoes will increase your chance of preventing disease? Slowly ease yourself into the vegetable world with fun recipes and be sure to slowly integrate a variety of them too to ensure a healthy vegetarian diet.

Going vegetarian certainly isn’t easy, but everyone can do it and it’s worth it for the health benefits. You reduce your carbon footprint, live in harmony with nature, prevent illnesses and are more likely to stock up on the vegetables and legumes your body needs to be healthy.

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If you’re going to adopt a vegetarian diet—whether it’s to improve your health, lose weight, avoid animal killing or reduce your carbon footprint—you’ve got to have an open mind. Vegetarians need to broaden their horizons, which is one reason they tend to eat better and live longer. You’ll have to embrace the world of legumes, including beans, lentils, chick peas and soy products. News flash: everyone should be consuming these on a weekly basis! The typical carnivore, though, does not. Embrace legumes by making black bean tacos with guacamole and salsa, or whipping up beans with your favourite pasta and tomato sauce, or making a simple chick pea salad.

You’ll also have to watch out for protein, iron and vitamin B12, which we’ll talk about next week. Vegetarians also have to eat vegetables, which is something we should all do but unfortunately don’t always. Vegetables are praised on a daily basis for their health benefits and vegetarians in particular benefit from them.

But sometimes a vegetarian diet just isn’t the best idea for someone. Perhaps you’re vacationing in a country seriously lacking in vegetarian meals, or you have anemia and desperately need iron, or you’re experiencing a difficult pregnancy and feel meat is the only way. Unless you check with your doctor first, you should be able to adopt a vegetarian diet without trouble. In fact, vegetarians often experience a healthier lifestyle. If you experience any health concerns or feel ill when you adopt a vegetarian diet, be sure to talk to your doctor about taking a blood test or see a nutritionist to ensure you’re eating well. Vegetarianism isn’t easy at first, but as with all things, practice makes perfect—and healthy.

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Children are typically known for playing, having an abundance of energy and enjoying games. Take advantage of that. Spend more time exercising with your kids (both parties can benefit!). Children like to see and feel when they play; they should enjoy having you in front of them rather than a computer or television screen. Take a walk together after dinner to help digest and get some fresh air. During the day, go to the park together and bring a soccer ball to kick around, or play tag in the playground. Wintertime calls for rolling in the snow and summer begs for swimming in the pool. If you’re at home exercising, invite your child to join in.

Of course, you can’t always be available to ensure your child is playing outdoors. Teach your children some fun kids’ games and schedule play dates in the neighbourhood so they have someone to play with. For those lonely days, double up by giving your child an allowance for chores, and assign chores that involve some sort of physical activity, such as raking leaves (turn it into a game!), sweeping, or carrying his or her laundry down the stairs. The important thing is to never lose the element of fun!

And it doesn’t always have to be you. When you schedule play dates with other parents, be sure to ask your child or other parents what sorts of activities the kids are playing. It’s important that your child finds him or herself encouraged everywhere to be active. The benefits of physical activity for children are too important not to!

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