With the increased number of questions, emails and comments we’ve been getting here at the Diet Solution, I’ve decided to share a few valuable and f-r-e-e resources today that will be incredibly helpful to anyone suffering from any type of back pain.

I know it may be a little surprising to hear that a “Nutrition” website get questions about back pain, but so many people are not able to participate in any kind of an exercise program because they are limited by their back pain. This, of course, affects how easily and quickly they’re able to lose weight and they, then, come to us for some help.

This is also a topic that is quite near and dear to my heart because my husband, Stewart, has been battling back pain since his college years. Changing Stewart’s diet (as you are going to read below) has dramatically improved his back pain (not to mention his knee pain as well) and he would be the first to tell you that of all the things he has tried in the past, changing his eating habits has been the most effective and long lasting relief he’s ever gotten for his back and joints.

But before I share the exact lists of foods that will be the first step in you experiencing the same relief in your back pain, I want to give you the link to a f-r-e-e book that I think is one of the most important books I have ever read about living pain free.

The principles in this book are so simple and yet so critical to understand to make sure that you live your life without back pain, neck pain or any other type of physical pain.

The book is called “The 7 Day Back Pain Cure” and the author of the book Jesse Cannone, is actually giving it away right now for f-r-e-e for a limited time.

Check out what he’s doing and how you can get a copy by clicking on this link:

http://NoMoreBackPain.thedsp.info

And after you’ve grabbed your f-r-e-e book, be sure to read this important article by Steve Hefferon, from the Healthy Back Institute. I love how he gives a detailed chart on exactly which foods to eat and which foods to avoid to control inflammation. As a result, controlling inflammation will help to alleviate back pain. He also goes into some other great “lifestyle” tips that are absolutely necessary, not only for pain control, but healthy weight loss as well.

You can read the article here:

http://inflammationfoods.thedsp.info

Got that?

F-r-e-e Book on how to relieve Back Pain here:

http://NoMoreBackPain.thedsp.info

Awesome article on exactly which foods to eat and not eat to relieve back and joint pain here:

http://inflammationfoods.thedsp.info

I’m pretty used to people coming to my home and saying “Wow, this place is so super healthy. I can’t believe it,” but last week was the funniest.

As you may or may not know, it does take quite a few people to keep the Diet Solution Program running. Last week I had a bit of a “retreat” at my house where I invited 3 of our employees to come and work from my house and spend some time together.

I always try and be the “hostess with the mostess” and in my best Martha Stewart impression I asked “Can I get anyone anything? Some food or a drink?”

One of my employees replied, “Yes, I would love some juice please.”

As I did everything in my power to hold back the look of death, I said “We don’t have any juice. How about water or a tea?”

Without going through the entire conversation, this particular employee couldn’t believe there was no juice in the house. Moreover, she absolutely could not believe that my son does not drink juice and only drinks water (and yes, I did let her keep her job).

She has, of course, read and knows the DSP inside and out, but she admitted that she really didn’t believe that I completely lived my life that way until she saw it with her very own eyes.

But back to the juice…

Juice is one of those drinks that many people perceive as healthy, especially when it’s labeled natural or organic and it says it is made from all natural ingredients. Let me clear this up right now…Juice is NOT part of a healthy eating plan unless you are freshly squeezing it right in your kitchen with your own hands or through a juicer.

“But Isabel. My juice says its organic, natural, 100% juice with no sugar added. Is that ok?”

Well, I spent a significant amount of time reading the label of almost every single juice container, juice box, and juice product and they all came up the same…with tons of SUGAR. Read the label clearly and you will see that every gram of carbohydrate contained in the juice directly comes from sugar.

“But Isabel. All the carbs from fruit are from sugar too right?”

Yes, fruits are almost entirely sugar (coming from fructose), but a whole fruit also contains plenty of fiber and vitamins that are lost when you make a juice, bottle it and store it for any amount of time.

“But Isabel. My juice is fortified with calcium, Vit D and iron (or whatever they are fortifying juice with these days).”

When you “fortify” any food or drink with a vitamin and/or a mineral, your body is smart enough to know that this is not the real version of this particular nutrient. So much so, that it will choose not to use it. Yes, all of these fortified products are not giving you the vitamins and minerals you need. You must obtain these from natural sources like real fruits and vegetables (i.e. real food).

So if you’re a juice lover like many people are or have fallen for the “juice is healthy” trap, here are a few strategies to help you get your juice fix while simultaneously following a healthy eating plan.

1. Buy a quality juicer and make your own juice. There are so many different delicious and nutritious juices you can make in a juicer that will give you a super boost of vitamins/minerals and super nutrition. One of my favorite is carrot, apple and ginger. Be careful though! If you’re anything like me and sensitive to too much sugar at once, I would suggest having a serving of 4 oz or less or mixing your 4 oz with some water. I would also suggest juicing primarily vegetables and not as many fruits. This is a great way to get in some serious nutrition without having to eat vegetables all day long (a great option for children). I would also combine your fresh juice with a protein and healthy fat to keep your blood sugar balanced.

It is best to drink freshly made juice right away, as the longer it is stored, the more it will decline in nutrition. You can put your juice in a glass jar with an airtight lid and fill it to the very top. There should be a minimum amount of air in the jar as the oxygen in air (air is about 20 percent oxygen) will “oxidize” and damage the juice. Wrap the jar with aluminum foil to block out all light. Light damages the juice.

2. Make my favorite “tea juice“. If you haven’t seen this recipe in the Diet Solution Recipe Guide, here it is again:

5-6 bags caffeine-free herbal tea (e.g., peach, mint, chamomile, or fruit tea)

3 quarts boiling water

Stevia powder (or liquid) to taste

Pour water over tea bags in a large pot. Add stevia while tea is hot. (Adjust amount
according to the desired sweetness.)
Let the tea cool, remove tea bags, transfer tea to a serving pitcher or individual water bottles, and refrigerate.

3. Make your own DSP approved lemonade. My business partner loves this and drinks it almost daily (be careful if you’re sensitive to citrus or too much lemon.) Mix the juice from half a lemon, 5 drops of liquid stevia and 12oz of water in a large cup. Add more stevia or lemon based on your taste. This drink is a great alternative to people who need a bit more flavor than plain water all day.

So what did I end up serving my thirsty employee? Water! (And she bought juice when we went out to lunch). Oh well, I tried.

Just yesterday I did a great tele-call with my friend Craig Ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training. He is going to be sharing this call with his own readers and clients, but he asked me such an awesome question yesterday, I had to share the answer with you.

“Isabel, how can someone take any recipe out of a regular cookbook and make it Diet Solution friendly?”

I thought this was an awesome question because it is something I do on a regular basis and is how I am able to keep all of my meal plans new, interesting and most importantly….delicious!

Here are my step by step, do-it-yourself, DSP recipe creator rules (ok, that’s a mouthful but you know what I mean):

First, I search the internet or one of my many cookbooks for exactly what I want to make. We’re going to use shepherd’s pie as our example. When I Google shepherd’s pie, I click on the first link that comes up and here is what came up (I have inserted all of my substitutions in italics):

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe (taken from simplyrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef (I might use buffalo or even turkey for a little leaner option depending on your metabolic type)
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables – chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones) (I would use cauliflower instead or do ½ potato, ½ cauliflower)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef broth (use low sodium)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice (use unrefined sea salt)

Method

1. Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes). (Steam cauliflower so you can mash it or put it in the blender so they resemble mashed potatoes.)

2. While the potatoes are cooking (or cauliflower), melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3. Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4. Add ground beef (or buffalo or turkey) and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5. Mash potatoes (or put cauliflower in the blender until they resemble mash potatoes) in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6. Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes (or cauliflower) on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7. Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown. (Watch this carefully, as your cooking time will be less because you are using cauliflower)

Yummy! Is anyone ready for dinner?

Just as a side note, there is nothing wrong with having white potatoes if your metabolic type can handle it, but I find with sheperd’s pie you end up eating too much potato, well beyond what one serving should be and there are many people who cannot eat white potatoes because it effects their blood sugar too much (me being one of them).

The recipe above was an easy one (but I just love it and wanted to share it.)

Let me give you some possible substitutions to many other recipes.

1. When a recipe calls for vegetable oil such as canola oil, which we know we should be avoiding, replace it with coconut oil or butter. This can be done in 90% of most recipes. If you can’t use either of those, use olive oil and cook on low heat (below 350F). If the recipe is for a cake or other baked goods, you can use the same amount of unsweetened applesauce instead of the oil.

2. When a recipe calls for bread crumbs, I either make my own from sprouted grain bread or I purchase gluten free bread crumbs that are made from rice. You can make your own breadcrumbs by drying bread in the oven at 250F for 15 minutes and then putting it in your food processor or blender. Add Italian spices like oregano, parsley and basil to make Italian bread crumbs.

3. If a recipe calls for pasta, many times you can replace it with spaghetti squash.

4. If a recipe calls for sugar, you can use a Stevia blend instead. 1 cup of Stevia Blend (from http://www.stevivasweetener.com) is equal to 2 cups of sugar.

5. Replace all the ingredients listed with organic ingredients instead. Ok, ok, you don’t have to replace all of them, but I just had to throw that in there…hehe.
I highly recommend you give this a try yourself and look for one of your most favorite dishes and see what you can do to serve it “DSP Style”.

Happy Cooking!

With the popularity of our new Facebook Fan Page, I’ve been able to talk and interact with thousands of DSP followers…it’s been great!

But I seem to be seeing the same question come up over and over again…

“Isabel, I’m not losing weight as fast as I would like.  What should I do?”

Listen to my answer in this video (and I promise I don’t yell at anyone).

Not a fan yet? Come join us:

http://facebook.com/thedietsolution

You can also get the low down on Vince DelMonte’s new Maximize your Muscle program.

http://maxmuscle.thedsp.info