Obesity a Key Link to Soaring Health Tab as Costs Double

By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — As Congress searches for ways to control health care costs, a new report provides a sizable target: obesity.

Americans who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight cost the country an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double the amount a decade ago, according to a study by government scientists and the non-profit research group RTI International.

Obesity now accounts for 9.1% of all medical spending, up from 6.5% in 1998. Overall, an obese patient has $4,871 in medical bills a year compared with $3,442 for a patient at a healthy weight.

“Obesity is the single biggest reason for the increase in health care costs,” says Eric Finkelstein, a health economist with RTI and lead researcher on the new study. “If you really want to rein in health care dollars, you have to get people dieting, exercising and living a healthier lifestyle. Otherwise somebody is going to be paying for treating these weight-related illnesses.”

The study was presented Monday at Weight of the Nation, a meeting sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to discuss ways to reduce obesity and inactivity.

House and Senate bills to overhaul the nation’s health system both include money for community programs to prevent obesity.

Obesity increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, several types of cancer and other diseases.

About 34% of adults — more than 72 million — in the USA were obese in 2006, up from 23% in 1994, according to government data. Two-thirds of people in this country are overweight or obese.

“The average American is 23 pounds overweight,” CDC Director Thomas Frieden said, “and collectively, we are 4.6 billion pounds overweight.”

Former president Bill Clinton told meeting participants that changes must be made in “what goes on at home, in the neighborhood, in the schools and in the community” to confront the obesity problem. “We are trying to turn the Titanic around before it hits the iceberg.”

For the study, Finkelstein and other obesity experts analyzed medical expenditure data, including direct medical costs related to extra weight, such as prescription medications, visits to doctors’ offices and other outpatient and inpatient (hospital) services — but not indirect costs such as time off work.

Among findings:

•Taxpayers picked up about half the $147 billion tab in 2008 through Medicare and Medicaid.

•Obese patients on Medicare spent about $600 a year more in prescription medications than patients at a healthy weight.

“Obesity is not a problem that is going to respond to a silver bullet or single solution,” says William Dietz, director of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. “Comprehensive policy and environmental changes are needed.”

The study is published online in Health Affairs.

*** SHERI’S TAKE:

This is important information.  Obesity has more than doubled since 1980.  I’d like to point out that the weight range that this article is referring to as ‘obesity’ is 30 or more lbs overweight.  I’m glad to see that, as in our minds we tend to limit ‘obesity’ to in excess of 100 lbs overweight – but it doesn’t take much extra weight on a body to signal distress.  I like to see the media attention on overweight in terms of HEALTH care – overweight and physical distress go hand in hand.

FDA TAKES ENFORCEMENT ACTION ON PROTEIN MANUFACTURERS

READ THIS LINK NOW (click here)http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm171458.htm

This is a very important injunction against the company that manufacturers American Whey.  In the last year, we’ve had complaints of people having various allergen problems with a variety of whey protein powders – and in the American Whey line this was quite pronounced.  This product also slipped ACE-K into the product without labeling and there was a large confusion when they DID start to label.  PLEASE READ THIS LINK IMMEDIATELY AND BE INFORMED.

If you can name protein products that you had allergen reactions to, PLEASE comment to this article here so others will know.

I know – you’re going to ask me what to do about protein powder.  The bottom line is that ALL REFINED AND PROCESSED FOODS ARE SUSPECT and that if you want safety in the processed food you will have to go to a higher dollar smaller company that you can trust.  They do exist.  There are many sources for pure whey, there are many sources for high quality whey – and when we buy the cheap brands – we’re going to get a cheap product.  OUR ENTIRE FOOD CHAIN WORKS THIS WAY – and it’s the primary reason I personally do not buy food from Costco and other warehouse distributors.  Many of the products sold in those chains are different from the same products sold in smaller markets.  We found this specifically 3 years ago with lettuces – the lettuces (Earthbound Farms) had added sodium (as a preservative) to the product sold in Costco that wasn’t present in the same supermarket product.

The harsh reality is – you get what you pay for.  Here is the way I put it into my head:

CHEAP FOOD = HIGH MEDICAL BILLS           EXPENSIVE FOOD = LOW MEDICAL BILLS

I do not skimp on my food.  I buy organic, I buy local, and I buy grass fed meat, local eggs, local chickens – wherever possible. We choose where we spend our money and for me, high quality food comes first and has since I watched my grandmother go through cancer of the colon over 30 years ago.  We have an extremely corrupt food chain these days -   HOW DO YOU THINK WE GOT TO THE STATE OF DISEASE THAT THIS COUNTRY IS IN???

This is a critical heads – up.  I encourage you to read this link immediately, comment if you have feedback, AND RESEARCH TO STAY INFORMED!!  Getting mad will do you good – and may just get some more folks healthy in the process.

with special thanks to the sleuthing skill of Carla Woods.

“This is Good”

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, “This is good!”
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!”
To which the king replied – “No, this is not good!” and proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.
As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.
As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.
“You were right,” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened.” And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”
“No,” his friend replied, “This is good!”
“What do you mean, ‘This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”
“If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you, and not here with you right now.”
In a very unusual way, the message here unfolds into exposing the following principle about life.
“Absolutely everything happens for a purpose; and out of what seems like adversity at the time; always comes good”.
I’m sure that if any of us care to reflect back on the tragedy’s, the heartaches, the ‘bad times’ in our lives, that we discover that we have really grown or developed during that period of time:even though the reflection may still cause us discomfort in some way.
It is in this way that we slowly gather experience and wisdom, and even though we may think or feel that it is unfair, that’s the way it is.
“This is good”. Many of our life’s experiences have saved us from some form of cannibals; it’s just that we often don’t know that they have at the time.
So, for a simple example to help with awareness: next time you may begin to feel you are being ‘wronged’ by being stuck in a traffic jam, think about the cannibals that could be lurking down the road a bit,but will be gone by the time you get there.
Now that’s a bit different, but worth trying: “this is good” – despite the circumstances.

with thanks to Tracey Gridley for sending this to me!

Sheri’s Rants #20: Perspective

It’s hot where I live.  The sun heats up about 9 or 10 am and carries on through the day – culminating in an over-abundance of heat  right about midday.  It’s good to get out early if I want to move around outside.

I’ve shared with you (Rant #19) a recent injury with my ribs – and I’m recovering very nicely, thank you.  Healing quickly – as we tend to do when we’re healthy.  So this morning I was ready to go for a slow careful walk with the dogs – and we headed out right before 7 am.

I was careful about picking my way a long an easy, wide dirt lane above the Valley floor – nothing technical about it.  Just had to be careful with the ‘ol ribs and watch any jostling.  Which made for an interesting gait.  I gave the few other walkers, runners and dogs a wide berth for safety.  I wore my Vibram Five Fingers.   Odd looking shoes; they look like gloves for the feet.  I’ve worn them for a few years and many of my clients wear them – they make a distinct difference with foot musculature and how the core is used.

It took me maybe 30 minutes to get about 1/4 mile.  I’m telling you, I’m in early recovery.  This is some gingerly walking.  I had time to smile and exchange a couple words with the ‘more fit’ folks cruising past me at more serious speeds.  I had time to smell the morning air, appreciate the sunny glow on the tops of the orange orchards below me and revel in the breathtaking view of the Valley.  I was really enjoying being outside and feeling grateful to be moving at all.   A couple weeks of downtime has been fairly heady stuff.

A spry gentleman cruised passed me with a disapproving look.  I didn’t take it personally.  He came back down the other way to pass me again – and in a thick British accent said “You are very brave to be out here walking in THOSE shoes.”  I laughed.  He kept going.

A half hour later or so I’d gratefully made it back to my car, and was loading up my dogs when this gentleman approached me again.  He must have waited, in order to advise me:  “Look” he said “you’d probably be able to walk at a regular pace if you wore real shoes.”

“Oh,” I replied in my friendliest top-of-the-morning voice “I’ve been wearing these for years.”

“Well they not serving you, and if you get some real runners you’ll be able to walk normally.”  He seemed concerned and agitated.

“Oh no!  I’m not walking this way because of my SHOES…” and before I could explain my oddly slow gait he sharply retorted that “Some people will go through ANYTHING to be right” and stomped off.

I agreed.

Power of Six Workout 2: Chest and Quads

The next promised installment on the Power of Six workouts.

What is the Power of Six?  Here’s a recap on the theory:  the first couple sets of an exercise are bringing blood to the muscles that you want to train.  So for an intermediate to advanced lifter, you want to think in terms of getting your body’s energy focused on the area you want to train.  Once you have the attention of those muscles, then you are actually TRAINING those muscles.  For a beginner, it’s more important to spread out the training to the entire body and this level of detail is not so important, unless you are entirely into the Joy of Muscular Recovery (i.e. soreness).

CHEST & QUADS:

Set 1: do these 2 exercises back to back 6 times, with 60 sec between each superset

PUSHUPS – 15 reps or to failure.  You can do these off the side of a bench if you can only do a couple on the floor…

FRONT SQUATS - 20 reps.  Feet and knees together, arms crossed with hands on opposite shoulders.  Sit back into the squat like you’re going to sit in a chair, rather than coming forward onto your toes.  Stay back on all four corners of your feet.

Set 2: do these back to back 6 times, up to 1.5 minutes between each superset

INCLINE FLYES – 15 reps, medium dumbbells.  Keep your bench about 30 degrees (or less) incline.  Any higher and you’re working your shoulders, not your pecs!

ONE-LEGGED STEP UPS – 15 each leg.  Use a tall bench (challenge yourself).  At the bottom, one foot is on the bench and the other on the floor.  Be CLOSE to the bench so that you can isolate the quad.  Put as much work into the foot on the bench to lift you as possible (rather than pushing off with the foot on the floor!)  Rise up on the elevated leg, lifting the knee of the non-working leg at the top and slowly lowering back to start.  Use perfect posture and go slow.

Sheri’s Rants #19: Gratitude. (‘It’s just a flesh wound!’)

This is an auspicious time to be putting out a newsletter on ‘gratitude’. Why? I’ll tell you:
I just moved into my new home in Ojai, California. I had plans to hit the ground running and get ready to turn around and head back up to Montana in August for the birth of a grand-baby. Barely unpacked, I have several lists of things that MUST get done – from address changes to banking to a new drivers license and including some shopping. I’m training for a 1/2 marathon in San Francisco at the end of July. I’m rotating my nutrition to tighten up before a photo shoot. I have piles of time-sensitive work to do with GT, not to mention miles of beach I had every intention of becoming intimate with. I have tomatoes to plant on my patio, boxes to break down, and company coming.
Amid all the ‘I need to’s, I managed to take a nasty little fall on a perfectly sedate evening dog walk and injured my ribs.   If I might publicly let out a tad of a whimper, it hurts.  It hurts to even breathe. Sneezing and laughing?   Pure hell.  I shuffle like someone who lost their walker… Waaaaaaahhhhhhh…..
For a couple of days I wrestled with the usual denial, irritation and ambitious drive that I am familiar with. Then the doc had a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with me and apparently, the problem with broken ribs like this is that I could jostle/bump/twist just the right way and oh, say, puncture a lung and other sordid little details resulting in demise at worse. That did manage to get my attention, thank you Dr Hawthorne.
So much for my carefully compiled lists, the 1/2 marathon, the photo shoot, the beach running, the legalities, the pile of boxes, tomatoes and prepping for company…

Because I respond well to threats of increased pain, I am moving very very slowly and carefully and resisting the puny urge to whinge and whine and depress myself based on the irrational fear that breaking my ribs will render me old and fat (I broke them walking…how geriatric is that?)  I got my happy face on and have found a way to  giggle which does not render me in tears of pain.  Which brings me to The Gratitude List.
I AM GRATEFUL FOR:

Shirley, Gayle, Sheri

*the decision NOT to hula hoop at the Pimp & Ho Pool Party before I knew I’d broken bones (yeow!); *being here in gorgeous jasmine-and-orange-scented CA where food grows abundantly; *that I quickly learned to control sneezing;  *the grace to keep smiling at Senator Boxer’s party while admonishing Gayle to not make me laugh not one more time; *my business mgr, Dave, who keeps the engine running smoothly while speaking to me in soothing tones; *Jamie, for suggesting in just the right way that I get medical help; *Samantha, for reminding me I can still do yoga, just not physically…; *my dogs, for having the willingness to trade a car ride for a walk; *my friend that insisted I stay at her amazing home where I can stand in the pool instead of icing my torso; *an incredible health food deli with take-out; *work that I can do from bed; *my new running shoes with the sparkly laces patiently waiting; *the miles of beach that I know will still be there and finally, to all of you for giving me a reason to keep having fun, no matter what!

(the pics are all from the Pimp & Ho Party – !)

Charlene & Graham

Graham, Charlene, Sheri, David

Redefining Terms for a New Way – Courtney Townley

“Wellness” is a word that has become inescapable in the past few years in the American media culture.  Our gyms now promote “fitness and wellness programs”.  Supplements are often labeled as “wellness formulas” and medical professionals now refer to their own industry as “the health and wellness industry”.    So, what does the word “wellness” mean and does it differ from the word “health”?
There is no denying that we are living in fast and uncertain times.   Technology is providing us with gobs of information at an ever-accelerating rate, disease is rampant, schedules are jam packed, and our children are being diagnosed with conditions like obesity and depression in record numbers.  BUT…it seems that at the most challenging times, the human spirit often finds a way to rally and persevere in the name of hope.  We know we can do better than we have been and so enters the widespread use of the word wellness, “the condition of good physical AND mental health especially when maintained by proper diet and exercise”, as defined by American Heritage Dictionary.   “Health”, interestingly, is defined as “the overall condition of an organism at any given time”.
In a steady bout of trial and errors, professionals in the medical and fitness industries have come to the realization that health is not the result of just one facet of our lives.   What we eat, how we exercise, who we associate with, what we believe, how much time we dedicate to our family and friends, how many hours we sleep at night, how many times we laugh in a day, and how much gratitude we have are all contributing factors to our overall health.   Health is now perceived as the result of living a BALANCED life.    For years, however, we associated the word health with doctors, medical institutions, pharmaceutical drugs, and invasive procedures.  We have ultimately, in the past, associated the word with putting the responsibility for our “overall condition” in someone else’s hands.   Wellness, it seems, has emerged in our effort to reclaim our responsibility for our health.  Not just in how we regain it, but in how we maintain it and even how we define it!

Courtney Townley

Genesis Transformation is a lifestyle transformation program that promotes balance.  In the age of quick fix diets, Genesis takes consumers down the “road less traveled” and teaches the ready student how to reclaim their health by taking responsibility for finding balance in their life!   Fat loss is the result of health which is the result of a balanced life.  Yes, eating clean healthy foods is important, and exercise equally so, but if eating right and exercising are the only positive focal points in a stress ridden, sleep deprived life… wellness or health (whichever term works best for you) cannot be achieved which means fat loss will not be a bi-product of your efforts!
Health and wellness are one in the same by definitions.  For some, the word wellness offers a little more optimism…a different way from the past.   Regardless of the word you use or associate with, BALANCE is the key to living the fullest life and Genesis Transformation can help show you the way.

On Bliss.

As a young woman in my early 30’s I had the pleasure of being under the competent wings of Fran and Sue; both women in their late 50’s.  Fran was my boss, and Sue an experienced co-worker in the non-profit addictions facility where we worked.

These two women turned my world upside down as they introduced me to concepts and ways of thinking that were entirely foreign to me.  I am to this day deeply grateful for the mentorship.  One concept I found particularly boggling was the new (at that time) thinking that the path to success was by ‘following your bliss’.

Follow my bliss?  I was an over-tired single mother of 3 youngsters working full time, attending college and struggling to keep up with bills.  Bliss?  What was ‘bliss’?  I could not imagine bliss.  I was so confused by this concept that it pissed me off.  Sure, these educated successful women in their 50’s with no kids at home and big smiles on their faces with all the time in the world to do all this self-introspection, sitting around doing yoga, laughing at themselves together, guzzling coffee and chatting all the time – whatever.  Of course they had time for ‘bliss’.

Sheri Lynn

Eventually I hit a ceiling in my counseling career, and decided to attend college full time in Fairbanks, AK.  I worked on applying the ‘bliss’ concept – but I really didn’t know what to do with myself.  So I looked at challenging my fears.  My biggest fear was math.  I hated math with a vengeance – so much so that it was suspect.  I decided to go into Engineering to both address my unreasonable fear of math and be in a career that I knew would be lucrative enough to support my family.  Long story short; I took 5 years of math – from beginning algebra to differential equations – and rocked it.  My entire focus for 5 years – despite all the coursework I excelled at – was getting through the math.  When I ‘got it’ – when I understood the language that is math – I was exhilarated as it opened new levels of communication along with channels of thinking that had never occurred to me.  My entire education in Minerals Engineering was all about conquering and excelling at the math.  (If you are math phobic, you will not comprehend this.  I get that!)

Where was the bliss?  I still struggled with that.   Somewhere in there, I had figured out that when I wasn’t happy doing what I was doing to get better at it; in a smoky bar open until 5am and populated with a rough crowd, I poured perfect cocktails…an on spot 2-ounce pour without measuring.  I applied this to all of my subsequent endeavors.  It wasn’t bliss but it got me satisfaction.

Life works in crazily mysterious ways. Here is what happened.  I was a bartender, and then a counselor (not all that different, trust me – sans the perfect pour) – and then a mining engineer, followed by a civil engineer, when someone close to me pointed out that what appeared to make me happiest was the time I spent as a gym rat coaching other people.

Yes, that is what made me happiest.  I’d been doing it for years – all the way back to when I was hanging out with Sue and Fran lamenting on my lack of bliss – the steady joy in my life was my fitness and bringing that to other people.  I was already even certified as a personal trainer and a weight management consultant.  My hobby.

I was so happy in fitness-land that I could not imagine that ever being ‘a career’ because that is what I did ‘for fun’.  Stay with me here.  I could not identify this as my bliss because I was so deeply protective of my ‘fun time’ that I didn’t want it to feel like a ‘job’. In other words, all the years I spent looking elsewhere and it was right there, in the thing that inspired me to get up at 3am for the prior 10 years.  Whoa.  My bliss was in the thing contained in the piles of books and magazines by my bed.  It was in how I ate and what pre-occupied my conversations.

Being a quick study, I quit my civil engineering job and spent a couple months gathering more knowledge when I got scared financially.  I went back into engineering again in a slightly different role for a brief amount of time before I took a deep breath and dove fulltime into my fitness career, renting my own studio.  Within just a few months I was busier than I ever imagined and I have never looked back.

Today, I am in my bliss. I love my work so much that all the countless hours I spend ‘working’ do not feel like work.  My life’s work provides others the ways and means to support themselves in fitness.  I happily take on new projects, I trust the trajectory of my business, and meetings feel like play time.  I’ve worn out the keyboard on my computer (literally), I travel constantly; I mentor, coach, punch my engineering calculator (kept that) and play in new gyms all the time.

My night-table reading now consists of business books as I segue into a new position of running a much larger enterprise than I had imagined.  I am swimming in new waters now.  As I look back, the bartending, counseling and public speaking provided me with people skills that are the cornerstone of what I do.  That engineering degree freed me from a fear of math that could have stifled my ability to do business at this level, and taught my logical brain how to think analytically in a productive manner.  I can see, now, that everything I have done in the past brought me here.  To following my bliss, full time. I got what I asked for.

You know where it all started?   With the early desire to go from a frumpy over-tired woman plagued with a ‘bad knee’, weekly migraines and a butt-load of excuses to a vibrant healthy person.  This entire world I live in began with that burning desire to be able to live in the world without pain.  I met Fran and Sue just a couple months into that quest.

The wonder of it all astounds me.

Mary Anne in Gratitude

There was a time when I couldn’t figure out how I was going to fit Genesis into my lifestyle, but when I changed the scenario and fit my lifestyle into Genesis amazing things started to happen.

Mary Anne

In acknowledging the “amazing things”, I discovered that being grateful for where I started and how I got there would be part of the process. Rather than fighting with the past and the old knowledge of what I thought would make me feel good, loose weight and become more healthy, I embraced it and said “Goodbye, Thank You, you have served your purpose” …. the high protein, the sugarless, the famous names with the meetings, consultations and pre-packaged food, the liquid, the soup, the plums, the injections….Thank you to you all. If I hadn’t gone through the yo-yo, liquid and sensible diets, I wouldn’t have been ready for Genesis. The many pounds I put on in the process of trying to “diet” only serve me now as evidence of what is the wrong way to feed my body. I am so thankful that I learned these lessons so well that I am now in a place to be so accepting of what is the perfect fuel for the body.

I am grateful that my sister in law and wonderful friend, Jodee , persisted until I would give this a chance, skeptical as I was. For my coach, Jamie, the gratitude is boundless. She stuck with me through months of resistance and could have called it quits. I am thankful that she didn’t give up on me and for the lesson of patience. Samantha’s spirit has touched a place I thought untouchable and a new flower of living blossomed inside me because of her yoga and her teachings. Genesis is easy because founder Sheri Lynn has done the research and all you have to do is open your mind and listen. She says it all and she says it in a way that makes sense. She is the walking example of what she teaches so eloquently. Her speeches, writings, quotes, personal lifestyle, character, humor, physical appearance, friendships and effortless authenticity are so inspirational that I can’t help but be grateful.

Each morning I wake up happier and grateful for that. Post menopausal ups and downs have been tempered so by the right food and exercise for where I am at any given time that I am grateful for being the age I am for the first time. I have recently been informed by testing that my personal trainer does with an on line service that I have dropped my physical age by 14 years.

Our daughter has a two story house and I recently realized that I don’t get out of breath no matter how many times I go up and down her stairs even if I am packing our 28 month old grandson. I can also run and play with him and get up and down off the floor and spin and roll and do whatever he thinks up. Do you think I am grateful for that?

For the first time in my life, I have purged the closet and the clothes that were too big have left the house. Previously, I would have saved them for the possible time when I might need them. My mind is changed. Months have gone by and my habits changed slowly, but my mind changed too. I don’t see myself physically looking like my old self ever. However this happened, I am grateful. I didn’t even have to make any effort that I was aware of to get this benefit!

Okay, enough you say, but even being grateful makes me feel better. So far I am grateful for too much fat, a stubborn streak, getting older. I embrace these things and now by doing so I am reversing them all.

My only hope from Genesis to begin with was to feel better. Thanks to Genesis, I felt better at the outset. All of the other benefits weren’t promised, but somehow every part of my life is just getting better and better. I keep discovering new things to be grateful for and I think it is because I am expecting them and looking for them. Is it never-ending? I am grateful for that and it shows on my face. Smiling, even-tempered, patient, energetic …. And I even appreciate how available water is everywhere, the people who serve food to me in a restaurant the way I request it, the personal trainer who is helping to resculpt my body and listens to what I eat each day in amazement, and sleep, glorious sleep. The less I resist change, the rest of my universe follows suit. It is fascinating and I love it.

How fascinating it is to discover losing the unnecessary part of the body is something to be grateful for too.  I am no longer concerned so much about pounds as overall fitness.  So far I do not mourn the loss of five and one half inches, two pants sizes and three and one half percent body fat. In the gains department, I have gained 4 inches in flexibility.

Each day is better than the last —- how good is that!?!

Eat This! Summer Travel Foods

One little hurdle to overcome in GT is an unfortunate one – the reality that healthy food can be hard to find when traveling! Standing in a convenience store in the middle of AZ recently I was dazzled by the array of ‘protein bars’ before me, right next to the candy bars.  In the name of research, I read label after label – becoming more and more disgusted with what was passing for ‘nutritional meal bars’.  MOST were loaded with undesirable ingredients like refined/processed flours, a variety of sugars, inferior protein sources, sodium, etc.  There are very few exceptions – in fact that particular day I did not find a single edible option.  The easiest way to deal with this little hurdle is to pack your own food – to plan ahead and fill a cooler with happy healthy options that will allow you to travel feeling your best!  Here’s some of our favorite travel food ideas:

Almond Patties these are savory & scrumptious – you’ll need a dehydrator – or a VERY low oven

2 cups almonds
½ cup tahini
1-cup carrots, shredded
¼ cup parsley
3 scallions, minced
1 clove garlic
Braggs to taste
Process almonds with tahini in a food processor. Blend into a paste, adding Braggs, garlic, parsley and a bit of water. Mix with scallions and carrots, form into patties and dehydrate. Keep in dehydrator 12 – 24 hours depending on how crispy you like them.

Nut Muffins easy to pack for road trips..

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
½ cup agave syrup
2 ½ cup walnuts
Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Grind nuts in food processor. After grinding nuts, leave in food processor. Add other ingredients. Add applesauce depending on the consistency of the batter. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake 15-20 minutes.

Nut Protein Balls Great for backpacking, camping or other outdoor fun!!
2 tbsp – AGAVE NECTAR, RAW, MADHAVA
0.75 cup – ALMOND BUTTER UNSALTED MARANATHA
0.5 cup – ALMONDS, RAW
1 tbsp – BUTTER, ORGANIC APPLE, EDEN
0.25 cup – COCONUT MEAT, SHREDDED, DRIED, UNSWEETENED
0.25 cup – ORGANIC FLAX SEEDS, ARROWHEAD MILLS
3 SCOOP – PROTEIN POWDER, WHEY, DOUBLE CHOCOLATE, AMERICAN
0.5 cup – SUNFLOWER SEEDS, RAW, UNSALTED
0.5 cup – WALNUTS, RAW

Soak nuts and seeds, except flax overnight. Rinse and process in food
processor. Add ground flax, almond butter, protein powder, apple butter, and
coconut. Mix well. Roll into balls and serve. They can also be dehydrated
and frozen. One serving is one ball.

Tuna Patties excellent protein on-the-go
60 gram – CELERY
2 each – EGG WHITES, LRG, EACH
1 tbsp – FLAXSEED, GROUND, cup
50 gram – ONIONS, RAW, CHOPPED
6 ounce – TUNA, ALBACORE NO SALT ADDED, NATURAL SEA

Mix it all, form into patties and saute in skillet until browned on both sides.

Flax – Zucchini Bread grain free bread!  one of our favorites.  double it and freeze some! makes great toast or an open-faced sandwich…

5 each – EGG, WHOLE, RAW, one
0.5 cup – FLAXSEED, GROUND, cup
0.5 cup – NUTS, WALNUTS, RAW
0.75 cup – ZUCCHINI, INCLUDES SKIN, RAW, CHOPPED

Grate the zucchini, peeled if you like. Grind the walnuts and mix with the
ground flaxseed. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 13×10 baking sheet by lining
it with parchment paper and then lightly oiling with olive oil. Separate the
eggs. In one bowl, beat the egg yolks and stir in the zucchini. In another
bowl, beat the egg whites with 1/4 tsp cream of tartar until just stiff.
Stir the flax and walnuts together and stir into the egg yolk mixture, and
working quickly, fold in the egg whites until incorporated. Pour immediately
into prepared pan, spreading to the edges, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until
browned. Cut into 8 slices.

Curried Chicken Salad goes well with the grain free bread, or on salad, or as is  – pack in cooler for travel.
8 oz chicken breast or thighs
4 tbsp veganaise
1 medium red onion
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp curry powder
1 apple
1⁄2 cup celery, chopped
Chop chicken into cubes, put all ingredients into a bowl mix and chill.

Oatmeal Protein Bars a standard with GT clients for busy days
3⁄4 cup almond butter or peanut butter
1 cup almond milk
1 cup applesauce, unsweetened
2 egg whites
3 cups oats, rolled
4 scoops chocolate protein powder
3 tsp baking powder
Combine all ingredients and put in a greased 9 x 11 pan (or two 8×8 pans)  and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Really watch the time and don’t overbake as they will get dry. If doing in two smaller pans they only need about 25 minutes in the oven. IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU ARE USING REGULAR BAKING POWDER HALVE THE AMOUNT!!  Once cool: cut, wrap & store in fridge.