Michelle Ricker RDN

Author Archives: Michelle Ricker

1. The Big Secret

   January 11, 2008 12:46 pm Leave a Comment

   Shhh…don’t tell anyone…
   The secret is that you can eat ANYTHING you want! Yes, it is true. The secret to success is believing that you can achieve your goal and eat anything you want. Picture yourself looking the way you want to look. Picture yourself doing activities with your friends in the jeans you want to wear. See it , believe it and it will happen. So often we shower ourselves with negative thoughts (ie: I ‘can not have’ seconds, I am ‘not allowed’ to eat after 7:00pm, I ‘will not’ eat chocolate today, etc.). The more energy we expend depriving ourself, the more we want what is ‘not allowed’. Instead, we should give ourselves permission to enjoy life – you should allow yourself to enjoy what is you want knowing that the positive energy will come back to you as strength. Look at the way children react when you tell them ‘no’. They keep trying and trying until they get what they want. Most times, if you watch, once they get what they want, they get bored with it quickly and move on to something else. Keep the positive talk alive – ‘I can eat anything I want’! See it, believe it and make it happen.

2. Ugh…eat healthy?!

   July 12, 2006 1:30 pm 1 Comment

   Eating “healthy” just sounds so horrible (and boring) ….so, let’s call it Eating “yummy”….what do ya say?! Yummy foods are easy to find and don’t necessarily take a ton of preparation. It’s true. It’s best if you go to the grocery store at least once a week, but not a requirement. Breakfast: Always good to kick start the metabolism first thing in the morning. Yes, the body works that way. If you feed it after it’s 8-12 hours of starvation during sleeptime, it will respond with a boost in energy. The other key to breakfast is make sure you eat something that will carry you thru to your next meal. Yummy Ideas?? *Bowl of fresh fruit & one slice Peanutbutter toast *Oatmeal with berries (fresh or frozen) & scrambled egg whites *Kashi Go-Lean Crunch cereal and low-fat milk or soymilk (try it, you’ll like it!) *Whole grain bagel & smoked salmon & lowfat cream cheese Lunch: Keep it simple cause we are going to add a snack to your mid-day. You now don’t need to worry about your lunch having to keep you full until dinner time! Crazy concept, I know. Yummy ideas??

   • *Grilled fish with lots of veggies of choice
   • *Spinach salad with avocado, tomatoes & protein of choice (fish, chicken, egg, etc.)
   • *Sprouted grain bread & tuna salad & fruit
   • *Grilled chicken sandwich & side salad (dressing on the side please)

   Dinner: This one seems to be most difficult for people. Don’t worry, enjoy your family time and family favorites, just cut the portion size a bit and look at the sides you are eating. To make a change at this meal is simple if you start with the food basics – apply this at home as well as when dining out. Yummy ideas??

   • *4-6 oz lean Protein (Fish, Chicken or lean Beef) & all the veggies you want
   • *Smoked Salmon sandwich on Ezekiel Bun & sauteed Spinach
   • *Large Salad with low-fat dressing & 4 oz Protein & 1/4 Avocado

   Snacks: Mmmmm….snacks! Yup, it is now time to make snacking a priority. Yummy snacking is important for keeping your metabolism strong. Huge meals are a thing of the past. Being the efficient machine that we are, our body digests most food in about 3-4 hours. This means that once the food is digested, our metabolism slows down in preparation for our potential desert island excurtion. The body is always prepared for a food shortage, therefore it is critical that you let it know that it can BURN as much as it wants whenever it wants. Yummy Ideas:

   • *Banana & almond butter
   • *Handful of Almonds or Walnuts & piece of Fruit
   • *Hummus & carrots
   • *Cliff Bar
   • *6 whole wheat crackers & low-fat cheese

3. Eating 101

   May 4, 2006 4:30 pm Leave a Comment

   Funny thing is… we know the foods that are “good” for us and the foods that are “bad” for us. Funny, interesting…. we continue to eat what we want, when we want regardless of that knowledge. I refuse to believe that the answer is willpower or a magic pill. Society has given us the ability to have variety in our lives – let”s start using that to our benefit. Taking small steps is the key to success. As you well know, fad diets come and go, and so does the weight that you typically lose. So, taking small steps may seem anticlimactic, but it is a way the body can learn and see lasting results. Small steps means adjusting your current lifestyle in ways that will result in weight loss, muscle maintenance or growth and optimal health. These changes must able to fit into your lifestyle or you will not be able to maintain them. Change is good. Change could be as simple as:

   • *eating breakfast
   • *adding a snack in the afternoon so you are not ravenous at dinner
   • *incorporating omega-3 fatty acids into your daily meal plan
   • *cutting down to 1 soda a day *eating fish twice a week
   • *adding more friut and vegetables to your meals
   • *reading labels
   • *only having dessert 3 times a week instead of every night
   • *having a carbohydrate and a protein at every meal and snack
   • *using olive oil instead of butter
   • *eat grilled or roasted chicken instead of fried
   • *keep your Starbucks coffee drinks in check 🙂
   • *know your personal “triggers”

4. Carbs, Proteins, and Fats…Oh My!

   February 24, 2006 12:44 pm Leave a Comment

   Let’s just clear a few things up right now… *carbs are not bad *protein is not the answer *fats are not evil Now let”s continue. 🙂 This part is confusing, so it is extremely important to define some terms: Carbohydrates = all fruits, vegetables, bread, cereal, rice, pasta, whole grains, sugar, juice, crackers, potatoes, etc. These foods convert directly to glucose in the body and cause an increase in blood sugar (don”t panic, this is not a bad thing). Carbs are digested quickly in the body and therefore are crucial for muscle energy replacement. The carbs that are not typically talked about, ie: fruits, vegetables and whole grains, are the providers of fiber, antioxidants and tons of vitamins! For a goal of weight loss, carbs are key to keeping energy levels up. The big trick to balancing blood sugars and hunger is to have a combo Carb/Protein at every meal and snack!! Protein = fish, beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, soy, dairy Protein provides the framework for our muscles and is the biggest provider of B Vitamins, folic acid and iron. Why protein is not the answer, is because the body can only digest so much protein. The max amount for the average person is 1.0g/kg. (2.2lb/kg) This isn”t super important, but it is important to know that you can have too much protein. What?! Yes, it”s true. After the body uses all the protein it can to rebuild muscle fibers, it has to excrete it via the kidneys. This is sooo hard on the body. Protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates, therefore when the two are combined, they provide a nice combo for prolonging hunger! Nice, huh?!

5. The Body

   February 9, 2006 2:41 pm Leave a Comment

   It seems like an easy thing…. Eat food to get energy for survival. Well, the body is extremely efficient. Just eating food could mean many different things to our body and the way that it produces energy. Food (or calories) are used by the body very selectively. Our bodies know that the most important thing for it is to keep the organs working. This means that all food is first broken down to provide energy for our heart, brain, lungs, digestion and other organ functions. Then, once those functions are taken care of, the body will determine what to do with the leftover calories. Those calories will be sent through the online casino liver, then to the muscles to ensure we have enough stored energy to walk, talk, raise our arms, etc. Then after the muscle stores are full, the body will tuck away the extra calories for a rainy day (or in our fat cells for storage). Now, knowing how the body uses calories, we can begin to figure out how many calories and what type of calories (or what type of food) the body really needs. keep in mind: The body is an amazing machine and super efficient!