I have another great article from the food wizard herself, Lori Kennedy, CEO of WOW! Weight Loss Inc. Lori is a fat loss expert and has been working in the nutrition and weight loss industry since 2007.

It’s always great to have her around at our fitness conferences…you can tell when your meal choice isn’t a good one because she politely smiles and provides you with an alternative suggestion. She just can’t help herself.

The one thing Lori and I were discussing when I last saw her in March was the fear of food people have. She got so fired up about it that she sent this to me to post on the blog. She teaches her WOW! Practitioners how to help their clients overcome their fear of food, especially carbs.

See if anything Lori writes about resonates with you or your clients. Feel free to leave a comment below letting me know how you help your clients to make better food choices.

Take it away Lori…

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Hi again, Lori Kennedy here. Today we are going to be discussing a huge problem that I believe is one of the hidden reasons behind the overweight/obesity epidemic.

Fear of Food.

Research shows us that fear of eating and food confusion is at an all time high. It’s like common sense went out the window when it comes to making quality food choices at the grocery store.

Personally, I don’t get what all the confusion and fear is about, but it seems to be a powerful problem affecting the majority of the North American population.

Think of all of the processed foods being marketed as healthy.

Here’s just a short list off the top of my head…

• Cherry 7UP Antioxidant
• Mr. Christie’s Snak Paks FruitKrisps “made with real fruit”
• Chapman’s Electrolyte Replacement Popsicle
• Special K Morning Shake Strawberry Flavor
• Skinny Cow Mini Fudge Bar for 45 calories
• Fiber 1 Bars

It’s no wonder that people aren’t sure what to eat anymore. If you can get your daily dose of fruit and veggies from Mr. Christie’s Snak Pak then why bother with the annoying job of preparing, cooking and eating real food?

During the WOW! Certification course we spend a lot of time coaching fitness and nutrition professionals to handle the many food objections we get from clients, on top of teaching tactics to help clients get over their fear of eating good quality whole foods.

You know what I’m talking about… The comments about how their breakfast cereal is healthy because it’s made from whole grains, or the fat free fruit flavored yoghurt is a good choice because it has probiotics in it, or how their ice cream sandwich is a good choice for their 9pm snack because it’s only 80 calories.

Right?

I have a little story to illustrate what I mean. As you can imagine grocery shopping is one of my most favorite things to do. While I was waiting at the check out line I couldn’t help but notice that the person in the very front of the line had filled the ENTIRE conveyor belt with “Atkins food products.”

Notice how I didn’t say Atkins food…because these prepackaged, processed items are not food. They are food-like products!

The lady was discussing with the cashier and the person in front of me (who had about 6 containers of Mr. Noodle soups, 1 bag of Wonder Bread and 2 large bottles of ginger ale, ahem) about how these foods were helping her to lose weight when nothing else worked.

They were talking about carbs like the loaf of Wonder Bread was about to jump off the conveyor belt, pull out a gun and shoot them all in the head. Fruit seemed to be okay but never at night.

Confusion. Fear of food.

With all of the free information available, the conflicting dietary reports and the thousands of quick-fix, weight loss scams it’s no wonder people are confused and afraid to eat. We have a responsibility as health and wellness professionals to fix this problem.

Print the following out and give this 1-day meal plan to your clients. Show them what a day of eating real, good quality food looks like. Add more food if your clients are male.

1 Day Meal Plan (1438 Calories + 67 grams of fiber)

FYI if you wanted to add a glass of wine to dinner…go ahead, just dump the hamburger bun.

Breakfast: 298 calories + 12.5g fiber

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk – 40 calories 3g fat, 2g carb 1g fiber, 1g protein
• 1 cup frozen mixed berries – 70 calories, 0.5g fat, 17g carb, 5g fiber, 1g protein
• 1 scoop BioTrust protein powder – 120 calories, 2g fat, 3g carb, 1g fiber, 23g protein
• 1 tbsp chia seeds – 68 calories, 4.5g fat, 6g carb, 5.5g fiber, 2g protein

Morning Snack: 105 calories + 9.5g fiber

• ½ cup plain yoghurt – 65 calories, 10g carb, 7.5g protein
• 1/3 cup bran buds – 40 calories, 0g fat, 16.5g carb, 9.5g fiber, 1g protein

Lunch: 389 calories + 17g fiber

• 1 La Tortilla Factory Wrap – 100 calories, 1.5g fat, 24g carb, 8g fiber, 5g protein
• 2 tbsp of avocado (use as a spread) – 60 calories, 5g fat, 3g carb, 2g fiber, 1g protein
• 3oz of chicken breast cooked, cut into slices – 90 calories, 0.5g fat, 0g carb, 20g protein
• Alfalfa sprouts – 7 calories 0g fat, 0g carb, 1g protein
• Tomato (3 slices) – 12 calories, 0g fat, 3g carb, 1g fiber, 0g protein
• Cucumber (1/2 cup sliced) – 8 calories, 0g fat, 2g carb, 0g protein
• 1 cup of homemade pea soup – 112 calories, 3g fat, 12g carb, 4g fiber, 9g protein

Afternoon snack: 125 calories + 8g fiber

• 2 Ryvita crackers – 60 calories, 0g fat, 17g carb, 4g fiber, 2g protein
• 2 tbsp of low fat hummus – 35 calories, 0.5g fat, 5g carb, 1g fiber, 2g protein
• 1 cup raw vegetables – approx 30 calories and 3g fiber

Dinner: 385 calories + 8g fiber

• 4oz extra lean turkey burger – 130 calories, 1.5g fat, 0g carb, 27g protein
• 1 small whole grain bun (Weight Watchers) (topped with mustard and veggies) – 110 calories, 1g fat, 21g carb, 4g fiber, 5g protein
• Small salad with 1 tbsp of low fat ranch dressing – 40 calories for the salad, 2g fiber + 45 calories, 3.5g fat, 4g carb, 0g protein
• ½ cup of baked sweet potato – 60 calories, 0g fat, 13g carb, 2g fiber, 1g protein

After dinner snack: 127 calories + 4g fiber

• 1 small apple – 77 calories, 0g fat, 20g carb, 4g fiber, 0.5g protein
• 1 ½ tsp of almond butter – 50 calories, 4.5g fat, 1.5g carb, 1.5g protein

There you go.

I hope this was helpful.

If you are interested in implementing a whole foods nutrition program into your fitness business register for the next WOW! Certification HERE

Bye for now.

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