| FOOD RENAISSANCE MAGAZINE |
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| Mary Jo Sarro, M.Ed. |
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| A Health Epidemic: What is Going On? |
A HEALTH EPIDEMIC: What is Going On?
by Mary Jo & Chris Sarro
There is an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, malnutrition and other health challenges, despite television shows, government focus, diet pills, dietary supplements, liquid diets, fat burning products, exercise equipment, weight loss surgeries, weight loss programs, healthy food products, healthy recipes, healthy menus and health campaigns. Something is not adding up, even as weight gain continues to rise.
There is an information and misinformation overload throughout the world. Too much information can be as useless as no information at all. People have been crying out for practical information as a usable guide for their food choices. Much of the good information that exists is not being translated into positive action.
Millions of people struggle with food. They deprive themselves and still gain weight. People suffer in silence. We believe that people are fabulous at every age, size, shape and weight. Many are looking for a responsible way to enjoy food and are sincere in their efforts to make progress in this area of concern.
See if you have heard any of the following challenges expressed below:
“Why does it seem like I am eating less and gaining more?”
“I have given up some of my favorite foods and don’t have desserts or snacks and still gain weight.”
“I have been on every kind of yo-yo diet and within a certain number of months, it seems like I just gain back what I have lost.”
“I feel like I am hungry and still putting on pounds. I have lost 20, 30 and 50 pounds at different times in my life, only to put them back on. Nothing seems sustainable!”
“I feel miserable, grouchy, grumpy and hungry all the time, without anything to show for it.”
“It’s not critical to me that I lose any weight, I just don’t want to gain any weight.”
“I don’t think I’m overweight but am I healthy? I don’t seem to have enough energy throughout the day.”
“I am afraid to be around food.”
“Don’t tell me comfort food. Comfort for awhile and then the food is all over my body.”
“I have tried eating fewer meals to cut down on my calories but by the time I eat, I’m so starved that I shovel in the food and have no idea how much food I’ve eaten.”
“I’m too busy with responsibilities with work and family to do what I think is right for myself.”
“How much exercise can I do? I’m in the gym for hours and my ankles and knees are aching and I still gain weight.”
“I’m eating the food that was prepared for me and delivered to my home but I just don’t understand why it’s not working.”
“I gave up years ago, it seemed like a hopeless cause.”
“I’ve cooked all my life and many of my recipes require that I add sodium. Even with the new types of salt, the sodium can still be pretty high. I feel guilty about this but it’s the only way I know how to cook. How can I learn to create my own healthy, low sodium recipes?”
“I feel OK about my weight but would like to hear more about healthy cooking ideas and recipes and how to cook with spices and herbs.”
These kinds of questions and concerns that people have expressed are reflected in millions of people’s lives and helped to inspire us to share our experiences with others.
Here is a fundamental question that we have answered for ourselves:
“Is it OK to enjoy food? YES!”
Before we embarked on our culinary journey, we noted many of the problems and weaknesses of past approaches to food. Out of an information overload of contradictory ideas, we charted our own course in life.
Some of the greatest confusion comes from misunderstanding or misdirection. People may be aware of concerns about high calories, high fat, high sugar, high sodium and other concerns. It is important to read the nutritional labels and to be careful. Sometimes, food may be listed as reduced in one area of concern and remain high in one or more of the others. It may be listed as low in calories and be high in sodium or listed as low in sodium and be high in sugar, calories and fat. Confusion in this area has undermined millions of people for years.
We try not to be blindsided and verify the contents on the labels, before making food choices for the family, even when food is advertised as “healthy.” Although we eat a variety of meat, fish, poultry, starch, vegetables, fruit, grains, and other foods, we try to find the lowest in all categories of sodium, sugar, calories, fat and any other concerns.
We carefully choose those foods from typical supermarkets and grocery stores and create a way of preparing an unlimited variety of delicious and nutritious meals with spices and herbs every day.
It is just a wonderful and responsible way to prepare and eat the foods that our family has always enjoyed. Everyone has an opportunity to develop a responsible way to enjoy food for better health that fits within a busy lifestyle.
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| "Sharing in the Renaissance in 2012 |
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| Mary Jo & Chris Sarro in "The Italian Office" - The Kitchen |
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| Seeing a Doctor and Planning Your Food |
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| Mary Jo and Chris Sarro |
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| Sodium in Food |
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SEEING A DOCTOR AND PLANNING YOUR FOOD
by Mary Jo and Chris Sarro
"Think about your body . . . Get to know your food.”
A HEALTH PHYSICAL FIRST
Part of a healthy lifestyle should include building a relationship with your doctor and having a physical, including blood work. While you are with your doctor, you can discuss nutritional and exercise information. A lifestyle or routine may be modified, depending on discussions with doctors about any food restrictions or personal health and nutritional requirements. Food restrictions must be addressed and food selection should be made accordingly.
KNOWING YOUR NUMBERS
Some of the numbers we consider are the following:
Cholesterol
Blood Pressure
Sugar
Weight
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Calorie Count for Weight Loss or Healthy Maintenance
Different people vary in the amount of structure they use to organize themselves. One important question to ask, “What am I currently eating and how is the food affecting my body?” Having an understanding of the food you are eating and how it affects your body helps you to make choices and adjustments to your routine, based upon the real life experiences and challenges during the course of each day. That is the daily flexibility that can be built into your approach that reinforces its sustainability over the long term.
People may not be aware that they have a personal approach to food. Everyone has an approach to food, whether by choice or by default. A sensible approach to food inspires confidence in daily choices.
DIABETES, HEART DISEASE, HYPERTENSION, CANCER AND OTHER CONCERNS
Many times, doctors will have specific instructions or restrictions for their patients. Once a person knows what foods are permitted to included in a daily menu, it is possible to plan to prepare those foods in a delicious and nutritious way. It may be easier to follow the doctor’s instructions, if those foods are delicious and nutritious. Making delicious vegetables an enjoyable part of your day can help you to meet your nutritional requirements.
GLUTEN INTOLERANCE, DAIRY FREE AND MORE
Some people have an intolerance or allergy to certain types of foods. In the past, this made it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This situation has improved. The good news is that the increase in demand for these products has resulted in an increase in availability at more local food stores.
FOOD ALLERGIES
Allergies are serious to those who suffer from them. Consulting a doctor and reading labels becomes a must when making food choices. It is important for each person to understand individual concerns to make responsible food choices.
With a careful approach, a world of enjoyable food becomes available that can produce a synergy to provide the nutrition that is best suited to each person.
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| Mary Jo & Chris Sarro |
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| Healthy Appetizers |
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| Food Renaissance for Better Health |
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| "Ask Mary Jo Sarro" |
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Sharing in the Food Renaissance for Better Health
with
"Sarro's Synergy of Food"
A Message from the President of FoodRenaissance.com, Mary Jo Sarro, M.Ed.
We have enjoyed the blessings of an amazing culinary journey that has transformed our bodies and created a personal renaissance in our life. For many people, diets and some "healthy" recipes have never led to a sustainable healthy lifestyle. We have lived this food for an extended period of time and each day is another step in striving toward better health. Our Seven Secrets create the Synergy of Food. Anyone can learn, enjoy and share with family and friends.
We try not to struggle with food. We enjoy food. We believe that we achieved weight loss because we did not focus on weight loss. Each day simply begins and ends with the enjoyment of delicious and nutritious food. It is part of a simple and sustainable routine. We choose our positive life choices.
A renaissance is a rebirth, a renewal, a revival. Our comprehensive approach to food inspired us to develop our own individualized routine and healthy lifestyle. Working inside and outside of the home can be challenging. Everyone has been struggling to get the energy necessary to meet the demanding family and work schedules of each day. We get the energy we need from delicious and nutritious food, that is prepared fast and can go with us anywhere and is suited to our individual choices. Even when we prepare the same food for the family at home, it is plated differently by each person. This Food Renaissance can become your journey to experience a personal renaissance in your life.
Reawaken each day with a healthy culinary experience by releasing all of the flavors that you enjoy with the synergy of your food. Learn to shop, prepare, cook, select and order delicious and nutritious food, with our techniques and our unique approach to using spices and herbs. Our sustainability is enhanced by the simplicity of our approach in the real world and the synergy of the combinations of food, which can be found in ordinary supermarkets. That is how "The Shrinking Sarros" have become "The Supermarket Sarros."
At home, at the workplace, on the go, at a restaurant, educating yourself about what is in your food and how it affects your body will empower you to take the simple and important actions to take charge of your food selections, wherever you choose to enjoy your food. It is important to educate your body and your mind with wonderful food. It is the easy, consistent daily action and nourishment that energizes Sarro's Synergy of Food. Simple actions have a positive cumulative effect.
We are lifetime learners. Find the approach that works best for you, by learning how to help your body, while you enjoy your food. Whatever you are currently doing can be enhanced by the information we are sharing with everyone. Nourish your life, by nourishing your body and let your body do its good work. Don't just serve your food. Let your food serve you. We hope that our experience can save you precious time and money as your create the healthy lifestyle that helps to fulfill your dreams. Become your own "Synergista" and share in a synergy of delicious and nutritious food to promote better health.
I hope you enjoy our book, "Food Renaissance: Our New World of Food" and our informative videos from Mary Jo Sarro TV about "Enjoying Food for Better Health." Talk to your doctor, your family, your friends, your co-workers and your companies and organizations about sharing this information to help improve and inspire every "body" of every age, shape, weight and size. Working together, we can become more productive and foster a better quality of life for everyone. Let's bring everyone to the table together in friendship.
Good health is not just about striving to be thin. It is about a fresh look at nutrition and learning about how to select, prepare, cook and enjoy delicious and nutritious food, each day, in an effective way that fits within demanding lifestyles. Fast, fresh and delicious food and reasonable nutrition breaks for power snacks can make everyone more productive and healthier, wherever they work and serve. People can gather in friendship to improve everyone's health and well being and really enjoy delicious and nutritious food.
Our reasonable approach has allowed us to experience every type of food throughout the year. We eat more times with less calories and greater energy. That energy can foster a natural increase in productive activity and reasonable exercise to help to reduce stress and provide a healthy balance to your life. Whatever the challenges we may face in the future, it can be done!
The Synergy is what Energizes the Sustainability. That concept can transform your life!
Working together, we all can inspire and enjoy a Food Renaissance for Better Health! If you would like to know how you, your family, your company or your organization can get started, today, contact me and "Ask Mary Jo" at maryjosarro@threancommunications.com
Join us and become a "Synergista" in the campaign for better health for all. In these challenging times, our synergy together could help the Food Renaissance release the creative energy to empower everyone to have the opportunity to experience a healthy lifestyle and share in an economic and health renaissance everywhere. That is so necessary to our world. This is our passion and our dream. We will be inspiring events to share what we have learned and what we have experienced with everyone. Everyone is needed. Everyone can help.
"What Two Can Do, Many More Can Do!"
We hope you enjoy a Happy and Healthy Life.
"To Your Health!"
Mary Jo Sarro, M.Ed.
FoodRenaissance.com
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Our book is about Enjoying Food for Better Health. We lightened up in more ways than one. We hope that our story will inspire a Food Renaissance for Better Health for everyone. Our friends and family have been sending our books to others via Amazon.com to wish for them to experience a personal renaissance in life.
We have simplified our approach to give life to practical information. It can empower you to inspire yourself and to energize your life. Share with others. What two can do, many more can do. You can make a difference.
Our Best,
Mary Jo & Chris
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| Our New World of Food |
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