The Joy of Giving

The Joy of Giving
"A gift is your way of expressing how you feel about another person."
~ Oprah

The Glycemic Index and Weight Loss

Dear Friends and Valued Customers,

The glycemic index (GI) measures how quickly certain foods release carbohydrates into the body, which then raises blood glucose levels. High GI foods cause blood sugar levels to rise more rapidly, whereas a low GI rating that takes longer to digest and release sugar into the bloodstream produces a “full” sensation.

According to the Glycemic Index website, “Eating a lot of high GI foods can be detrimental to your health because it pushes your body to extremes. This is especially true if you are overweight and sedentary. Switching to eating mainly low GI carbs that slowly trickle glucose into your blood stream keeps your energy levels balanced and means you will feel fuller for longer between meals.”

This all leads up to a study that was reported recently in Nutrition Journal. Researchers found that a supplement derived from a white kidney bean extract can help reduce the glycemic index of some foods. Find out more about this fascinating study in my first report below.

Vitamin D is in the news again, as it often is. Now scientists believe that maintaining low levels of the “sunshine vitamin” may increase the risk of dying from all causes by 150%. This is just another instance of “bad news” for the body caused by low vitamin D levels. See my second report for more information.

My last report looks at green tea and the support it provides for healthy bones. Researchers in Hong Kong made the discovery and reported it in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Read about it below.

As always, I wish you the very best of health.

Lee Swanson

Be Grateful for Your Friends

I only really understand myself, what I'm really thinking and feelings, when I've talked it over with my circle of female friends. When days go by without that connection, I feel like a radio playing in an empty room.
~ Anna Quindlen

Open Your Eyes And See the Miracles

“If I know nothing else for sure, I know that the big miracles we're waiting on are happening right in front of us, at every moment, with every breath. Open your eyes and heart and you'll begin to see them.”
~ Oprah

Our Thoughts Make Our Life

"Our life is what our thoughts make it. A man/woman will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him. "
~James Allen

Devote Yourself to Kindness

"When we are devoted to the development of kindness it becomes a movement of the heart so deep and subtle it is like a movement of the sea close to the ocean floor, all but hidden, yet affecting absolutely everything that happens above. That's the force of kindness."

~ Sharon Salzberg

Real Weight Loss

Well, my husband has done it! He has lost 15 lbs. in
about one month's time. Was it easy? No, but he had
an incentive. His blood sugar tested high enough for
the doctor to put him on Diabetes medicine. O.K. HERE
IT IS! THIS IS THE MAGIC FORMULA THAT WORKED FOR HIM:

PROTIEN - LOTS OF MEAT AND NUTS AND CHEESE
VEGETABLES - ANY NON-STARCHY VEGIES (NO POTATOES!)
WATER - NO JUICES OR SODAS (HE OCCASIONALLY HAS A
DIET SODA-YUCK!)

I know it sounds drastic AND HARD, but after you lose
the weight, you can slowly start bringing back some
fruit and starchy vegetables into your diet. You have
to stay away from anything made with gluten or flour
though. Otherwise, you'll just gain the weight back.
One other thing: my hubby now drinks Decaf coffee
with Cremora and Splenda. That is his desset. I think
I can do this IF I can have my coffee.
Wish me luck and let me know if any of you out there
has any success stories.
All the best,
Sherrie <3

A Touch, A Smile, A Kind Word

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
~ Leo Buscaglia

Who You Are IS What You Do

"Every decision you make-every decision-is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about who you are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do."
~Neale Donald Walsch
from "Conversations With God"

Worry Cuts A Channel

"Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained."
~ Arthur Somers Roche

Being Grateful

"The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get."
~ Oprah

With Laughter, You Can Survive Anything

"Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it."

~ Bill Cosby

Coach Sherrie says: I am finally trying to bring more humor into my own life. I spent much of my life taking myself so seriously that I had no idea how to just "BE" and "Enjoy the Moment." Life is so much better since I am learning this simple pleasure.