1. Choose the Transform Stage with Usana’s convenient Usana foods and continue losing 1 to 2 pounds per week with two shakes per day and one bar per day with low glycemic meals and snacks. Continue to supplement with Usana’s Essentials or Health Pack.
2. Choose the Maintenance Stage with one Usana shake per day, typically for breakfast ensuring a good low glycemic start to the day. Coninue to supplement with Usana’s Essentials or Health Pack.

Here are some ideas for Low Glycemic eating:

Breakfast:
• A USANA NUTRIMEAL™ shake
• 100% stone-ground whole-wheat toast topped with low-sugar, natural peanut butter and sliced banana
• Light yogurt mixed with fresh fruit and low-fat granola or bran buds
• Steel-cut or old-fashioned rolled oats cooked in fat-free milk mixed with dried apricots and nuts
• Low-glycemic cold cereal (look for whole grains, oats, and bran) with low-fat milk and fruit;
• hardboiled egg, fruit.
• Whole-wheat pita stuffed with scrambled egg; fruit
• Sourdough French toast topped with natural applesauce
• All-bran muffin with low-sugar fruit topping; fruit
• Buckwheat pancakes topped with fruit
• Multi-grain waffles topped with natural applesauce
• Pumpernickel toast topped with melted low-fat cheese; fruit
• Rye toast topped with light cream cheese, fruit
• Vegetable omelette; extra lean turkey bacon; whole-grain toast Low-fat cottage cheese with fresh fruit and almonds

Low-Glycemic Lunches:
A light afternoon meal will help you get through the day. If you order out, substitute vegetables or cottage cheese for high-glycemic sides such as chips or fries, choose whole-grain breads, and include some low-fat protein.
Here are some other ideas for lunch:
• Homemade or canned soups–vegetable, lentil, black bean, split pea, minestrone, or barley (feel free to add extra vegetables)
• Sandwiches made with lean meats on whole-grain wheat, rye, pumpernickel, or pita bread; fresh vegetables; fruit salad
• Veggie burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mustard on whole-wheat bun; cottage cheese
• Multi-grain pasta salad with vinaigrette dressing; assorted fresh vegetables and low-fat cheese
• Mixed green salad with grilled chicken and vinaigrette dressing;
• whole-wheat toast topped with natural peanut butter
• Vegetable quiche; sliced tomatoes; fruit
• Light yogurt with fruit; whole-grain muffin with melted low-fat cheese

Low-Glycemic Dinner:
Watch out for high-glycemic side dishes and large portion sizes that could sideline your weight loss efforts. Limit intake of high-glycemic starches–baked or instant mashed potatoes, fries, instant rice, boxed side dish or stuffing mixes, refined white breads Choose low-glycemic starches like pasta salad, whole-grain or sourdough breads, baked sweet potatoes, small new potatoes, corn, peas, or basmati rice Fill up on fresh, non-starchy vegetables and leafy green salads Include lean meats, such as chicken and fish, or substitute legumes for protein Try any of the breakfast or lunch suggestions for your evening meal Low-glycemic desserts You may not be able to have your cake and eat it too, but you can eat some tasty low-glycemic treats.

Desserts:
• Sugar-free jello or pudding layered with fruit
• Natural applesauce with light whipped topping
• A small piece of dark chocolate
• A few chocolate-covered strawberries
• A few chocolate-covered almonds or peanuts
• A couple oatmeal cookies with low-fat milk
• Poached fruit
• Baked apples with dried fruits and nuts

Low-glycemic snacks:
• A USANA NUTRITION BAR or FIBERGY BAR™
• small handful of mixed nuts or trail mix
• A small bowl of low-fat popcorn
• A few whole-wheat crackers topped with low-fat cheese
• Celery or a banana topped with natural peanut butter
• Some whole-wheat pita chips topped with hummus
• A handful of baked tortilla chips with fresh salsa
• String cheese and an apple
• Fresh or dried fruit A hardboiled egg
• Fresh cut vegetables
• An oat bran muffin
• A 100-percent-juice bar

The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You’ll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course. Many of us reading this blog today have set a health goal. It may be getting through the Five Day Reset as a way to embark on a healthier journey or perhaps your goal is more specific and you know exactly how much weight you would like to lose by a certain date. Whatever the case may be, it is important to be intentional in setting our goals to ensure we get to the finish line.

My Top Eight TIPs to Setting Goals and Staying on Track

1. Write down your goal(s). Studies show that those who write them down are more likely to acheive them.
2. Be specific with your goals and break them down on a daily/weekly, monthly basis depending on the types of goals.
3. Write a list of daily tasks necessary to get you to your goal and check them off when you have completed them.
4. Print out your goals and post them where you can look at them every day. The more they become part of you the more you will take the actions necessary to achieving your goals.
5. If you fall off the wagon or get side tracked don’t beat yourself up. Get back on track as soon as possible. This is NOT about being perfect.
6. Find an accountability partner who keep you honest  ! Share your goals with others. Go public with them.
7. Reward yourself when you acheive your goal. Decide now what that reward will be.
8. Expect positive results. Expect amazing success !

Your Health and Wellness Coach,

Sara

1. There is a beginning and an end to all diets.
2. Many programs don’t deal with behaviour modification. We are creatures of habit and most of us need accountability when applying new lifestyle habits
3. We need to approach our goal with all three of the following. Moderate exercise, food choices that don’t spike blood sugar and supplementation. Doing only one or two won’t help you achieve success. You must commit to all three for results.

So this boils down to one thing. Making a decision and a commitment on your part to see it through… Healthy For Life is not a diet but instead, it is an awesome vehicle to get you to a healthier you because it understands that as humans we all need to be held accountable to be successful. And we need to be taught how to modify our behaviours.

(www.releasingfat.com)

So where do you start?

Dr. Ray Strand who developed the Healthy for Life Program has partnered up with the # 1 rated Cellular nutrition company called Usana Health Sciences and recommends that all the participants of the Healthy for Life Program start by using Usana’s 5-Day RESET Kit, which provides 3 meals and 2 snacks daily along with Usana’s Health Pak. Usana Health Sciences has developed wonderful meal and snack replacements. They not only taste great, but they are also convenient, inexpensive, and best of all will not spike your blood sugar. Usana understands the science that is the basis of the Healthy for Life Program. They have combined those good carbohydrates that are absorbed slowly, those good fats, and good proteins in making their healthy, delicious meal and snack replacements. These are a great behavioural modification tool. They allow you a break from your normal eating pattern as you begin to establish a healthier diet. You quickly get out of any “glycemic stress” because you are not spiking your blood sugar and you get rid of those carbohydrate cravings because you are stimulating the release of those stress hormones. Your natural appetite slowly comes under control. It is a great start in establishing those new, healthier lifestyles. However, it is important to realize that it is just a start. Once you complete the 5-Day RESET Kit, you absolutely must move on immediately to Phase 1 of the Healthy for Life Program. Like Dr. Strand, I personally believe that if someone is not willing to continue on to Phase 1 of the Healthy for Life Program, it is not recommend that they do the 5-Day RESET.

Are You ready to make 2010 your year of change???   Put it out there right now. Do you want to be the billboard of health in six months?

What was different this time you asked? I was exposed to information that made total sense to me. It’s called the Healthy for Life Program by world renowned medical nutritional expert Dr. Ray Strand M.D. It’s all based on Insulin Resistance and how we spike our blood sugar several times per day over our lifetime due to the types of carbohydrates we eat and so we finally end up deaf to our own insulin. This wreaks havoc on our bodies, including gaining weight around the middle section. And this is the area where it seems impossible to lose. It’s like the fat cells hold on to fat like water holds on to a sponge. And it can lead to accelerated aging, degenerative disease, cardio vascular disease, Type II diabetes.

So this plan differs in many ways. It’s not about portion control and counting calories or eliminating entire food groups. It’s about learning how to eat the right carbohydrates in order to curb our carb addiction and REVERSE Insulin Resistance.  Once we do this; our bodies begin releasing fat without us even trying.

We as a society have fallen prey to the food industry’s response to the food guide pyramid set out by the USDA  in the 70’s that called for a high carb low fat diet. Today a good majority of what we eat is carbs….processed carbs found in cardboard boxes and plastic packaging all claiming low fat content. But not all carbs are created equal. We need to choose the carbs that will keep our blood sugar even throughout the day. I will explain the since behind what happens when we make the wrong food choice in a future e-mail.

Picture tells a thousand words.  Here I am photographed in November of 2008 and the after shot shows me in July of 2009.

Would you like to make 2010 your year of change? Would you like to find out how I did it and how you could do it too?  Check out my next blog…..

If only we could feel like we did 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago when squeezing into skinny jeans wasn’t a problem and caffeine was optional to get you through the day. Eating French Fries and hot fudge sundaes didn’t send you off on a guilt trip and you made sure you were in the shot when the camera clicked.

Most of us assume its all part of growing old, aging, having kids or that nail biting career, and inheriting more financial responsibilities. Along with gaining more material assets and wisdom we gain more pounds and inches. It’s just part of growing up. Not only do we spread our wings, we experience the middle aged spread.

What if, like Benjamin Button in the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, we could reverse the clock and experience youthfulness again.  Rather than settling for average health that might get us by if we eat the right things most of the time and pop a vitamin here and there, what if we chose Optimal health where we could feel and look our very best, every day for the rest of our lives?

I chose optimal health and it was the best decision I have ever made. I want to share my journey with you and hopefully inspire you to do the same. What If I told you that you could be the billboard of health in six months by developing healthy lifestyles that could add up to a more energetic, slimmer, and healthier version of YOU ?

I can now say I feel better than I did in my twenties. I have gone down three sizes, get through the day without a nap, my skin is glowing and I haven’t been sick in months. I have even taken up running with my first 5km run under my belt which I completed successfully just this past October.

If there is one thing you can walk away from after reading this, is that if I can do it, you can too! It’s not about being perfect and sacrificing the pleasures of life, but it’s about making that decision right now to make your health the biggest priority and feeling amazing when you get out of bed every morning.

Come along with me, as I share with you what I did and how I got started. You will be surprised at how easy it is. I am committed to helping you get started.

Stay tuned for my next blog as I reveal to you my before and after transformation.