Lisa Schmidt

Our Relationship to Food

April 5, 2014 By Lisa Schmidt

The wonderful thing about food is you get three votes a day. Every one of them has the potential to change the world.

~Michael Pollan~

How have you noticed the central role food plays in your life? From the time we are born we are developing deep associations between food and our emotions. As infants, our cries are answered with mother’s milk, and Nature’s design, which combines the experience of receiving physical food with emotional connection and safety, is complete. Finding ways to nurture healthy emotional connections while feeding our bodies is the ultimate nourishment. We spend our lives linking food to our emotional needs in ways that attempt to recreate that early experience. Culturally, food plays a central role in life’s rituals. We celebrate occasions like weddings, holidays, graduations, and promotions, and food becomes a significant focus and strongly linked to emotions. Expressions like “drowning our sorrows”, “power lunches”, “chicken soup for the soul”, and even “swallow your pride” demonstrate how we use food to express, suppress, and manage love and many other emotions.

Your Mindful Minute

December 11, 2013 By Lisa Schmidt

Food * Mood * Mindfulness — Yoga, especially the looking within that yoga promotes, helps regulate the body and improve mood and physical functioning

As Lisa Schmidt Counseling and the Mindful Nutritionist settle in for the holiday season, I use this time of year to turn inwards, reflecting on both my accomplishments of the past year and my hopes for the future. I am grateful to be part of your lives, and for the privilege to spread the message about mindful eating, mindful living and learning how to be home in your own body. I practice mindful awareness and mindful movement to stay grounded during this busy time of the year, where everything around us tries to pull us “outwards” as December brings us to the shortest day of the year, drawing us organically “inwards.” Use this awareness of opposition to serve as a timeless lesson urging us towards our center – grounded and steady as the bustle and commercialism of the holiday season pulls us outwards, and the colder, darker weather moves us inwards. You’ll find your own personal practices of mindful awareness will help you navigate the abundance, energetics, and stimulation of December.

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Obsessed with losing weight? READ THIS, please.

October 31, 2013 By Lisa Schmidt

Eat as if your life depends on it - because it does — Eat as if your life depends on it – because it does!

At any given time, almost 50 percent of Americans are on a diet. Over two thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. We know the data – as a nation, we are alarmed when we watch the news. We are a nation of watchers – sedentary, we overeat as we watch television and continue our preoccupation with calories. Even McDonald’s has gotten into the nations’ obsession, and are now posting calories. As we continue to hope for weight loss, we grab at all kinds of promises, even those proven to be untrue when it comes to food.

Yesterday at a business meeting I heard a few women discussing just how great it was to have gone on a raw vegan smoothie “cleanse”. It wasn’t just the quick weight loss, mind you, but “I just love the way it makes me feel!” They held up the remains of their green drinks, which looked a bit grungy, and toasted each other for their brilliance. Later in the same meeting I observed them eating from the snack bowl a few highly processed, sugar laden “snack” bars marketed as “90 calorie or less” Smart Choices.

Are Omega-3s Good or Bad?

September 13, 2012 By Lisa Schmidt

Whole Foods, Mostly Plants — Eat a wide variety of whole foods, mostly plants, to protect and promote health

Who said this? “Based on the available data, even though there may be no clear cardiovascular benefit from prescribing omega-3 supplements, aside from helping to reduce triglyceride cholesterol levels, I still say it’s very important for my patients to have a plant-based diet with omega-3 rich fatty fish as part of a heart-healthy Mediterranean-like dietary strategy which holds benefits probably above and beyond individual omega-3 pill supplements.”

David Friedman, MD, chief of heart failure services at North Shore-Long Island Jewish’s Plainview Hospital in New York

In conversations with family and friends, we discuss conflicting information published regularly about nutrition and diet. Some family members think that it is difficult, if not impossible, to figure out what to eat. One day, information claims Omega 3s are essential – and consumers are encouraged to buy Fish Oil and other dietary supplements. Other times, like yesterday’s news about the lack of scientific evidence for Omega 3s in supplement form, some feel compelled to flush supplements down the drain.

Have IBS? Eat for Digestive Health

September 8, 2012 By Lisa Schmidt

IBS affects 1 in 7 Americans — IBS affects as many as 50 million Americans – a very common disorder

Between 10 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population is affected by irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), yet the cause of the common digestive disorder is unknown. Lifestyle-related stressors, poor diet and overeating often exacerbate symptoms, but the opposite also is true: Adopting a whole foods-based, happy belly diet filled with foods that promote digestive comfort is a delicious prescription for digestive ease.

IBS is considered a “functional disorder,” because it refers to a set of symptoms rather than a specific disease. It often causes significant discomfort, though it is not considered a serious health threat. IBS is not related to inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Typical symptoms include abdominal bloating and soreness, gas and alternating diarrhea and constipation.

Health and Weight

September 2, 2012 By Lisa Schmidt

Thirty seven percent of Americans are overweight — Losing weight must be approached multi-dimensionally

A recent visit to Canada inspired a visit to the website of Dr. Arya M. Sharma, MD/PhD, FRCPC, Canada’s leading expert on the medical condition of obesity. This prominent physician is Professor of Medicine & Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He is also the Clinical Co-Chair of the Alberta Health Services Obesity Program.

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Lisa Schmidt

The wonderful thing about food is you get three votes a day. Every one of them has the potential to change the world.

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