Tag: healthy foods

Are You a Mosquito Magnet? The Surprising Secret to Stop Them from Biting You

Are you one of those people, who tend to attract mosquitos, who bite you often?
I urge you to read this post to discover how to eat to keep the mosquitoes away.
Mosquito-vector-graphicsFor years, every summer, mostly beginning on 4th of July weekend, I used to be a major magnet for mosquitoes.
Lately, come to think of it, those biting critters have been leaving me alone.
But it wasn’t until this morning, when I received a fascinating email from the empowering Dr. Sara Gottfried that I realized why those annoying mosquitoes have been letting me be in peace.
Dr. Gottfried, as you may already know is a wife, mother of two girls (ages 8 and 13), friend, scholar, seeker, yoga teacher, Harvard-trained MD with 20+ years of experience, and author of the amazing New York Times bestselling book,The Hormone Cure:The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep and Sex Drive; Lose Weight; Feel Focused, Vital, and Energized Naturally with the Gottfried Protocol.
Anyhow, Dr. Gottfried — who’s s enjoying the holiday week in in rural Idaho at a ranch with her family, doing horseback riding, river rafting, hiking, and fishing — is happy to find that she’s “rarely getting bitten by mosquitoes.”
Guess why both Dr. Gottfried and I are being left along by the mosquitoes?
As Dr. Gottfried points out, her friend Alan Christianson told her recently, mosquitoes pick their subjects based on several things, including the level of ketones in your blood and sweat.
In other words, if you’re eating lots of sweets or refined carbohydrates — or what I call quickie carbs — those mosquitoes will like us.
But, on the other hand, as Dr. Gottfried explains, when “you restrict carbohydrates past a certain threshold (usually 25 to 100 grams of carbs per day, but this varies person to person), you produce more ketones and your body odor smells less fruity.”
In other words, as Dr. Gottfried concludes: “Ketones repel mosquitoes”” Not only that, but they may be Nature’s best mosquito repellent.”
That led Dr. Gottfried to restrict her carbs to see if thatt kept the mosquitoes from swarming. Sure enough, it worked.
A hah!
Lately, I, too, have been restricting carbs — not to repel mosquitos, but to shed the remaining pounds I’d gained after my mother passed away. (More about that later.)
Now, we all have one more reason to stay away from those compelling carbs — the mosquitoes won’t like us!
Thanks to Dr. Sara Gottfried for the heads up on this fascinating simple mosquito repellant!
FYI, here are some other ideas to be unappealing to bugs.
You also can increase your garlic intake to keep the bugs at bay.
You can eat other foods, especially one of my favorites, apple cider vinegar, which also help you repel mosquitoes.
You can douse on — or burn a candle — of citronella, which also keeps the bugs away.
Join the conversation. What have you done to keep the bugs away? Talk to us. We’d love to hear your experiences.
Special thanks to Vector Graphics for this fabulous artwork. If I’m supposed to pay, please forgive me, but I didn’t see any requirements to do so. http://www.vectors4all.net/preview/mosquito-vector-graphics.jpg

Healthy Vending Machines on the Rise

Note from Connie: Today, the Sugar Shock Blog presents a guest post from fellow writer/health coach/IIN grad Suzanne Boothby about new vending machines that healthier foods than you usually find. Full Disclosure: Suzanne is a spokesperson for HUMAN Healthy Vending, the company about which she is writing. In this instance, HUMAN stands for Helping Unite Man and Nutrition.
Human_machine_jofemar Snacking Made Easy & Healthier
By Suzanne Boothby
There’s been a lot of buzz recently about school nutrition and, in particular, the problem with junk-filled vending machines in schools.
“Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years,” writes Dr. Oz Garcia in The Huffington Post. “Statistics show that nearly one in three American children are either overweight or obese.”
Dr. Garcia points out that while parents play the most important role in teaching children healthy habits, the U.S. school system plays a very central part in developing a child’s eating habits.
Another article on BusinessWeek, “School Vending Machines Undermine Student Nutrition,” referenced a report from the Journal of Adolescent Health, showing the negative impact vending machine foods had on the purchasing choices of students at about 150 different U.S. schools.
More than 80% of the schools studied carried vending machines offering foods with minimal nutritional value, including chips, soda and candy bars.
Enter Sean Kelly and Andy Mackensen, co-founders of HUMAN Healthy Vending machines, which offer healthier fare in the 30-billion vending machine industry.
HUMAN Healthy Vending Machines offer foods that cater to various dietary needs, including those that look for foods that are 100% organic, no-sugar-added, gluten-free, allergen-free, low-fat and carb.
Some of the vending machine’s bestselling snacks include PopChips!, TERRA Chips, Larabars, and BARE FRUIT snacks. Drinks include Fiji water, Poland Spring water, Perrier, Horizon Organic Milk and Vita Coco water.
The new digitally interactive, eco-friendly Healthy Vending machines have some unique features. They display all ingredients via LCD before you purchase it. What this means is that you can select a product from a touch screen keypad, and then before you make your purchase, the machine shows you the nutritional info on that same touch-screen. Therefore, you don’t have to lose change by buying snacks that don’t work for your particular diet.
In addition to providing healthier choices, HUMAN Healthy Vending machines include an eco-component with remote monitoring systems to ensure eco-friendly refilling. Plus, they contain LED lighting and energy-efficient refrigeration units to save power. In addition, the company donates 10% of proceeds to charitable causes that fight childhood obesity and malnutrition.
You can find these HUMAN Healthy Vending machines in schools, offices, hotels and hospitals, as well as health clubs, gyms and spas. In New York City, you can find these machines at the Aveda New York Institute, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and in the new offshoot of Equinox, Blink.
Suzanne Boothby is currently a spokesperson for HUMAN Healthy Vending, as wells as a Brooklyn-based wellness author and writing coach who dabbles in social media and marketing. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and The Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
Note from Connie: What a welcome development! These machines do seem to contain something for everyone. Please note, however, that while these snacks are far healthier than what you find in traditional vending machines, not all of these foods are healthy by everyone’s standards. So just follow your doctor’s guidelines and eat what works for you. By the way, I’m thrilled with the feature that you can save yourself time and money by being able to check out the ingredients first via LCD screen. What a unique, cutting-edge feature!