Dawna Stone

You Can Have A Better Life

Improve Your Health

6 Foods To Keep In Your House To Help You Lose Weight

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As a health coach and cookbook author, I provide weight loss and healthy eating tips every day. When someone is struggling to lose weight, it’s very common for me to suggest removing his or her “trigger” foods from the house.

For me, that’s anything that contains chocolate — chocolate chip cookies, ice cream bars, etc. I believe in the saying “out of sight, out of mind” when it comes to junk food.

What people often forget is that “out of sight, out of mind” can also work against us. If your healthiest food is hidden in the back of the pantry or refrigerator, or isn't even in your house, you’re less likely to eat it.

Having healthy options in your refrigerator or pantry and having them readily available can help you make better choices.

Join me for a quick and simple 5-Day Detox

Losing weight isn’t always easy, but keeping your pantry and refrigerator stocked with these six foods can help:

1. Leafy greens

Leafy greens like spinach, kale, Swiss chard, and collards provide an abundance of vitamins and minerals including vitamins A, C, K, and B6. They're also rich in foliate, potassium, and calcium. A salad loaded with leafy greens and other fresh vegetables is a great way to fill up without a lot of calories.

Keep it interesting and find other healthy ways to incorporate leafy greens into your diet like juicing, adding them to soups and omelets, or topping a healthy flatbread. Try making your own kale chips for a savory and healthy snack.

2. Nuts

People often steer clear of nuts when they’re trying to lose weight due to their high-calorie and -fat count. However, adding a small amount of nuts to my diet actually keeps me satisfied longer and allows me to eat less overall.

Enjoy a small handful every day for a dose of healthy fat. Try adding walnuts to a healthy cookie recipe, use almond meal in your muffin or bread recipes, or sprinkle pistachios over your afternoon salad.

3. Seeds

Seeds such as pumpkin, flax, sunflower, chia, and sesame are not only rich in fiber, protein, and healthy fat, but they also provide a satisfying crunch to salads, cereal, oatmeal, and yogurt.

Join me for a quick and simple 5-Day Detox 

4. Fresh fruit

Fresh fruit is a healthy and natural way to curb your sweet tooth. I love kiwi, watermelon, and just about any type of berry: strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

Try adding berries to your morning oatmeal or using them in baked goods. Does that midafternoon lull have you searching for a candy bar or cookie?

Have one piece of fruit or a half-cup of berries instead — it’s sure to keep you satisfied.

5. Dried fruit

Dried fruit, although high in sugar, can find its way into a healthy diet. In fact, I’ve found that it can help when trying to lose weight, as it can be a great alternative to other sugary treats.

A small handful of dried cherries or a sprinkle of plump raisins on your salad or mixed into some plain yogurt can help keep you from feeling deprived when on a weight-loss diet.

6. Eggs

With their abundance of high-quality protein, eggs can keep you full longer, helping you reduce your overall food intake. Although an omelet or scramble is a great way to start the morning, eggs can also be added to lunch or dinner.

Try adding a hard-boiled egg to a salad, or make healthy cookies with egg whites, banana, and oat flour as your base.

Want to jump start your healthy eating? Join me for a quick and simple 5-Day Detox 

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A Happy Mom is A Healthy Mom

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7 tips to stay healthy (and happy) when you’re trying to manage it all.

If you’re a mom, your world most likely revolves around your children. And although being a mom brings incredible joy, it also brings sleep deprivation, stress and a constant stream of worry. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t worry about my kids!

As the mom of an eight-year-old and a Nine-year-old, I sometimes feel overwhelmed. My kids are the most important things in my life, but I sometimes get so caught up in trying to be the best mom possible that I forget to take care of myself in the process. That self-neglect can make me feel worn out, stressed and unhealthy.

BONUS: 7 Secrets to Your Best Life!
Click Here.

It took me years to realize that ignoring my needs wasn’t actually helping me take care of my kids’ needs. In fact, the less I focused on my needs, the less vibrant and healthy I felt and the more difficult it became to deliver on my kids wants and needs. When I did finally take the time to take care of myself, I not only had more energy, which translated into better interaction with my kids, but I felt so much happier. A healthy mom is a happy mom and a happy mom is a better mom!

So how do you stay healthy—and happy—when you’re struggling to manage it all and be the best mom possible? Following these 7 simple tips can help:

Find some “me” time

You deserve a break. Carve out some alone time, walk around your local farmer’s market, cuddle up somewhere quiet and read a book or your favorite magazine. Give yourself a facial or simply take a long hot bath. Focusing on just you—even if only for a short period of time—can really help you stay calm during an otherwise hectic life.

Exercise

Don’t let your workout get pushed off. Schedule your exercise just like you would an important work meeting or a parent teacher conference. Also, schedule your exercise first thing in the morning. It’s been shown that people who exercise in the morning are more likely to stick to a regular routine.

Have a night out

Whether it’s a date with your husband (or significant other) or a girls’ get-together, make reconnecting with loved ones and friends a priority. A night out without kids can really be a relationship booster. In fact, a study released by the National Marriage Project reported the couples who spent time together at least once a week were three times more likely to report being “very happy” in their marriages. And women who participate in a weekly or monthly girls’ night out often say that the time with their girlfriends makes them a better wife, mom and person.

BONUS: 7 Secrets to Your Best Life!
Click Here.

Get enough sleep

Getting adequate sleep it not only important to your health, but it has also been shown to boost your mood, improve creativity, reduce stress and make it easier to lose weight. If you have to get up early for work or to get the kids off to school, try going to bed just 30 minutes earlier—that 30 minutes could make a huge difference in your day and your happiness!

One-on-One time 


Children want to feel special. If you have more than one child, try to set aside to spend one-on-one time with each of them. Not only will your child love the attention and cherish the time you spend with them, but it will also give you tremendous joy. Whether you have one child or 5, make sure you have special “mommy and me” time with your kids.

Eat Right


Providing your body and mind with the nourishment it needs can increase your energy, improve your mood, help you sleep better and reduce stress and anxiety. Steer clear from highly processed foods and excess sugar and focus on a diet that is fresh and wholesome. Increase your consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains and, if possible, eat organic.

Be Positive 


Sadly, we are often the ones who sabotage our own happiness without even realizing it. Negativity can bleed into many other aspects of our life, preventing us from reaching our full potential and hindering our overall happiness. Change your thinking from negative to positive and you can change your life!

P.S. My new book You Can Have A Better Life: 21 Secrets to Getting the Life You Desire—Full of Significance, Joy and Purpose is now available! See it HERE.

How I Lost 40 Pounds By Eating Clean

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As originally published on mindbodygreen:

Best-selling author and weight loss expert, Dawna Stone, has inspired thousands of readers over the years. If you're looking for a quick and simple plan, check out Dawna's 5-Day-Detox or if you're looking for a more detailed action plan, check out her course A 14-Day Clean Eating Program: How To Kick Start Weight Loss In Two Weeks. Read on and find out how Dawna lost 40 pounds and kept it off. 

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In my 20s, I was fat, exhausted and desperate to lose weight. Even though I was 40 pounds overweight, I was much more concerned with fitting into the clothes in my closet than I was about my health.

I had gone from being an extremely fit teenager to being a somewhat fit college student to a 40-pound overweight working woman. I still remember turning down company get-togethers and blind dates because I was so uncomfortable with the way I looked. Desperate to lose weight, I tried just about every diet available.

Unfortunately, none of them satisfied my craving for good food. On each weight loss attempt, I'd lose a few pounds only to give up and gain all the weight back and then some.

It wasn't until I realized that fad diets weren't a viable solution for me that I started to work on a solution. After years of failed attempts to lose weight, I finally found a way to drop all 40 pounds and keep it off for good — in fact, I've been at or near my goal weight for nearly 20 years!

The solution wasn't about depriving myself of treats or starving myself. The solution was simple: Clean Eating.

I started by eliminating excess sugar, processed foods and artificial sweeteners. I also quit eating anything with chemicals or preservatives.

When I finally found a way of eating that had me dropping the pounds quickly and allowed me to eat good food (like fish tacos with mango-avocado salsa, kale and maple-roasted sweet potato salad, 3-bean chili and even gluten-free, dairy-free triple chocolate brownies), I knew I'd found my weight loss silver bullet.

I know what it feels like to be overweight and unhappy but I also know what if feels like to finally fit into a smaller size pair of pants and smile when you step on the scale. I wish everyone who is struggling with their weight and feeling hopeless, like I felt, could know what it feels like to finally lose all the excess weight.

I know what it's like to lie in bed and cry, thinking you'll never lose weight. I know what it's like to turn down invitations because you have no clothes that fit. But I also know how great it feels when the weight starts melting off.

If you've just about given up on ever reaching your goal weight, if your tired of depriving yourself of good food and if you're tired of seeing the number on the scale creep up rather than down, clean eating may be just what you need to jump start your weight loss and once and for all reach your goal weight.

Now that I'm in my late 40's, I believe the most important benefit of being a healthy weight and eating a clean diet is countering disease and keeping your body working well and healthy. But I can't lie: I also love the feeling of fitting into my skinny jeans!

Whether you pick up a copy of the, The Healthy You Diet, (and/or join me for my video course The 14-Day Clean Eating Program) or embark on my quick and simple 5-Day-Detox, I hope you'll give clean eating a try.

You have nothing to lose but your excess weight!

Photo Credit: Sheri Kendrick

What I Tell My Clients To Eat In A Typical Day To Lose Weight

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As originally published on mindbodygreen.

As a certified health coach and author of an award-winning weight loss book and cookbook, I always get asked for quick tips on how to lose weight. Check out the short video below (in the previous post) for my ideal day of eating for weight loss.

If you want even more info about the relationship between food and weight loss, check out my course A 14-Day Clean Eating Program: How To Kick Start Weight Loss In Two Weeks.

5 Foods to Rev Your Metabolism

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Simply put, metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. When comparing people with the same activity level, diet and weight, those with a fast metabolism may lose more weight than a person with a slow metabolism.

Metabolism can be influenced by age, gender, heredity, and weight. Although many of those influencers may be out of our control, we can also stimulate our metabolism by what we eat. Here are 5 foods (with tasty recipes) that can help rev your metabolism: 

Chili peppers

Chili Peppers contain capsaicin, a compound that gives peppers their heat. Your taste buds aren’t the only thing experiencing the heat; Peppers push your body to use energy several hours after eating and can burn up to 100 extra calories a day. Although the more heat the better, don’t ignore mild peppers – they also contain compounds that help burn calories by sending fat-burning signals to the brain. My Black Bean Tostadas recipe has the perfect amount of spice to speed up your metabolism.

Garlic

For a simple metabolic boost, add crushed fresh garlic to your meals. Garlic raises your body temperature, naturally burning more calories. Additionally, it has the ability to break down fat and increase your metabolism. This Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry is a great example of how to easily add garlic to your meals.

Avocado

Avocados are the definition of “healthy fats.” Packed full of essential amino acids, monounsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, avocados help keep inflammation down and metabolism up. Incorporate avocado into your diet by trying one (or more) of these recipes.

Beans

Foods high in resistant starch and fiber, like beans, require more energy to break them down. The more energy required during digestion, the more calories burned. This Three Bean Salad is the perfect meal to get your metabolism kicking into high gear.

Salmon

Foods boasting Omega 3 fatty acids, like salmon, help build muscle, burn calories, and process your food effectively. Try eating salmon, or other fatty fish, once or twice a week. Try this incredible Salmon and Citrus Salad to get you started.

 

Don’t forget the drinks! In addition to foods we eat, the drinks we drink can help fuel metabolism.

Water

There are plenty of reasons to stay hydrated, and your metabolism is one of them. Drinking water is an easy (and free) way to keep your metabolism in gear. Always have water available throughout the day. If you find it difficult to keep the water flowing, try drinking with a straw – I find that my water intake doubles when I have easy access.

Coffee

Caffeine is a stimulant to the central nervous system and can boost metabolism by 5 to 8%. 1 cup of coffee a day can be just what you need to awaken your metabolism – but leave out all the sugar and creamers as those can add unnecessary (and unwanted) fat and calories.

Green tea

Green tea boasts caffeine and antioxidants, both of which help stimulate the nervous system and burn fat.

Anti-Inflammatory Foods Worth Eating

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Anti-Inflammatory Foods Photo_Kale

Inflammation is the body’s response to harmful stimulus and occurs naturally in the body. We rely on this protective response from the immune system to eliminate injury to our cells and initiate repair. But when this function is out of balance, it can cause harm to our bodies. Over activity of the immune system, or chronic inflammation, can lead to a number of diseases and symptoms such as Rheumatoid arthritis/joint pain, fatigue, and damage to the blood vessels.

To help curb chronic inflammation and keep our bodies in balance, it is best to avoid inflammatory foods (those high in sugar and saturated fats) and consume more anti-inflammatory foods (those rich in omega-3s and antioxidants). By eating more anti-inflammatory foods, you may find it easier to lose weight, slow down aging, and prevent disease. Check out the list below for anti-inflammatory foods worth eating:

Colorful Fruits & Vegetables:

(i.e. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beets; blueberries, strawberries, red grapes, oranges, cherries)

Next time you’re in the produce section, pick up colorful fruits and veggies that catch your eye. These foods are jam-packed with flavonoids and carotenoids (the substances that give them their color), which are excellent antioxidants. These antioxidant-rich roods can help fight off and repair damage caused by inflammation.

Dark Leafy Greens:

(i.e. Spinach, kale, swiss chard, collard greens)

Dark greens are thought to have more vitamins and minerals than greens of a lighter color. High concentrations of vitamin E, calcium and iron help protect the body and fight disease.

Whole Grains

(i.e. brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oats)

According to Dr. Weil, “whole grains digest slowly, reducing frequency of spikes in blood sugar that promote inflammation.” Naturally low in fat and rich in fiber, whole grains are important for a healthy diet.

Beans and Legumes

(i.e. chickpeas, lentils, black beans)

Low on the glycemic index, beans are full of folic acid, magnesium, potassium, and fiber, and high in protein and iron. Incorporate different types of beans into your diet to help keep inflammation at bay.

Fatty Fish

(i.e. wild-caught salmon)

Fatty fish provide a wealth of omega-3 fatty acids (a powerful anti-inflammatory). To optimize the benefits, eat fish twice a week and prepare it in a healthy manner (baked or boiled versus fried).

Nuts

(i.e. almonds, walnuts)

Healthy fats, such as nuts, help repair damage caused by inflammation. Nuts offer a beneficial dose of fiber, calcium, vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants.