LEGALLY HEALTHY Health & Lifestyle Strategies For Attorneys In The Case Of Their Lives

 Water, water everywhere.

Sometimes, actually often, my water glass seems like it’s mocking me.  It sits on my desk or on the kitchen counter just waiting for me to fill it and then empty it, only to start the process all over again a short while later.  Truthfully, it’s more like a few hours later for me.  When I pass by the glass without picking it up, I feel a tiny twinge of guilt.  Same goes for when I trade the room temperature contents for a fresh pour.

I know that I’m supposed to be drinking more water throughout the day than feels natural to me.  I also know that I’m supposed to drink before I feel thirsty.  I’ve been told many times that feeling thirsty means that I am already dehydrated.  Yeah.  I get it.  Still, I seem to border on dehydrated most of the time.

I mean, how many times can I really refill that thing and drink the water, glassful after glassful?  Hour after hour.  Day in and day out.  For the rest of my time on this planet.  Drink more water.

Do you have a similar relationship with the clear stuff? 

If you’re like me, you add lemon slices, cucumber slices or maybe mint to your glass to change the flavor once in a while.  Heck, we’ve even told you to do that in another post –  http://www.legallyhealthy.com/liquidated-damages/.  But there’s another way to get your water.  Eat it.

Yes, I said eat your water.

Fruits and vegetables are made up mostly of water, so they’re an excellent way to stay hydrated without always downing glass after glass from the cooler, bottle or tap.  There are so many to choose from, you’ll never get bored.  Maybe that’s why Mother Nature grows different foods each season.  As a bonus, you’re getting vitamins along with hydration.  When you’re feeling thirsty, chew up!

Foods that have a lot of water in them tend to look and to be larger, so when you eat them, you feel like you’re eating more food.  This creates a feeling of satiety, and it also keeps your mouth busy.  When there is water in your food, the foods stay longer in your belly, so you feel fuller longer.  You don’t get the same effect from drinking a glass of water with the foods that you eat.  For example, when you add water to vegetables to make a soup, you feel more full after eating the soup than if you had eaten the vegetables and drank a glass of water. When water is bound to food, absorption of the water from your stomach into your body is slowed, and you stay full.

If you’re wondering which fruits and vegetables contain the most water, here’s a short list of some great options.  Cucumbers, lettuce, watermelon, grapefruit, tomatoes, pineapple, strawberries, peaches, celery, cantaloupe and broccoli are all high in water content.  But, don’t stop there. Eat a wide variety of fruits and veggies so you benefit from all of the other good-for-you nutrients that these foods provide.  The more you eat, the less often you have to pick up the glass.

Go on.  Eat your water!

What are your favorite ways to hydrate in the heat?  Leave a Comment below.

You want to make healthy choices.  You don’t always have time to cook.  So, when possible, you choose the low fat or fat free varieties of your favorite packaged foods.  Less fat must be healthier, right?

That’s not necessarily true.  Often low fat or no fat is code for high salt or high sugar.  The simple truth is that fat makes food taste good.  When the fat is left out of processed foods, the taste takes a nosedive.  To make the foods taste good again, the manufacturers add sugar and salt.  If you’re thinking that fat is the enemy, think again. 

Fat is not the enemy.  In fact, your body uses fat to provide energy, cushion your organs and absorb necessary vitamins from the foods you eat.

The problem begins with processed foods that claim to be healthier for you because they have less fat than their full fat counterparts.  Have you inspected the package labels on some of these foods?  Often, the low fat varieties have more calories and sodium than their full fat versions because the fats are replaced with sugars and salt.  Another issue with eating low fat foods is that you tend to eat more of them since they seem to be healthier.

That feels like a nasty trick.  Could you really be eating more calories in these foods that are specifically labeled to seem like healthy choices?

While we’re talking about sugar, when fats are replaced with sugar or artificial sweeteners, your mouth gets used to those flavors which tend to be much sweeter than foods found in nature.  For example, when you choose yogurt with fruit on the bottom, the syrupy sweetness of that fruit is several times sweeter than adding the actual fruit to plain yogurt.  Your taste buds are trained to crave sweeter foods so that real fruit and other naturally sweet foods no longer seem sweet enough. 

Another issue is that sugar provides little nutritional value.  Yes, it’s used by your body for energy, but when you overeat, your body stores the excess sugars as fat in exactly the places where you don’t want it – hips, thighs and belly.  When sugars are used to replace the flavors lost by removing fat from processed foods, your caloric intake can skyrocket and lead to excess weight and often to other health concerns, including diabetes.

And then there’s the salt.  Eating foods high in salt is linked to high blood pressure.  Having high blood pressure often leads to heart attacks and strokes.  In the quest for making healthier choices by picking up the low fat options, you’re causing hidden harms to your body that can lead to lasting troubles.

We’re all for eating foods that are naturally low in fat or fat free such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains.  There’s a lot of research explaining why lean cuts of meats are better for you than cuts containing higher fat quantities.  That doesn’t mean that you should cut out all fats.  Eggs, dairy, fatty fish, avocados and nuts contain healthy fats which make them great choices to include in your diet.

Try to choose mainly foods that are naturally low in fat or that contain healthy fats, and when it’s time for a treat, enjoy a serving of the full fat version.

What do you snack on?  Tell us in the comments section!  

  It’s early July, and the outdoor tables are piled high with ears of corn.  Sweet corn is one of the great pleasures of this season.  There are many varieties of sweet corn, but whatever’s local is best.  Head over to a farmers market to get the freshest corn around.

When we were kids, my brother and I were often sent outside to the porch in the summer with a trash can to shuck ears of corn for dinner.  Most of the husks landed in the garbage, but there was always a bunch of fly-away silk that remained behind.  That was our gift to the neighborhood.

Think that corn is just filled with carbs and calories?  Think again.  Sweet corn contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are important for good health. Vitamins A and C help fight age-related diseases.  Thiamin and folate, B Vitamins found in corn, help develop healthy muscles and red blood cells.  Corn also contains magnesium, potassium and phosphorus along with trace amounts of other minerals including iron, calcium, copper and zinc.

Now that you know why you should include corn in your diet, here are a few ideas for how to buy it and eat it.

Look for corn with lots of golden silk sticking out of the top. You want to look for green husks.  Leave the brown ones behind for someone else. They’ve been sitting in the sun for too long.  The ears should feel firm in your hand.

Fresh corn tastes best soon after it’s picked.  When fresh corn stays around too long in your fridge or laying in the sun at roadside stands, the sugars turn to starch.  So buy it fresh and eat it fresh.  You’ll be glad you did.

Corn is simple to cook.  You can boil it in a pot of water on the stove, you can steam it or you can grill it to list a few options.  After that, it’s up to your imagination.  Eat it straight from the cob with butter and salt or your favorite seasonings.  Toss some kernals onto green salads, mix corn into grain or bean salads, make corn chowder or add it to your favorite tex-mex recipes.  Add corn to salsas or guacamole, make corn cakes or add it to crab cakes, and then invent some recipes of your own.

Want corn to last longer than the summer?  You can remove raw kernals from fresh corn with a sharp knife, and keep that in your freezer to use in winter recipes such as soups and stews.  Just stand the ear on its end and use a sharp knife to cut down toward the cutting board.

Do you love sweet corn?    Let us know how you eat it!

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Have trouble with less than healthy sweets?  You don’t want to miss the Sweet Revenge Sugar Cleanse starting on July 16^th.  Sign up here!  

When you think about air pollution, you may think of cars, planes and factories.  Smokestacks, smog and holes in the ozone layer probably make you think about dirty air. You hear all too often about the polluted outdoor air.  But, what about your indoor environment?   Should you also be concerned with the air that fills your lungs every day in your office?  Furniture, carpets and wall paints are filled with chemicals that can harm you.  Sure, the stains won’t stick and the floor may be fire retardant, but is that air safe for you to breathe?  Adding to the mess, fast food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags and pizza boxes also contain harmful chemicals.

Many offices have recycled air and windows that don’t open. Is that the case for you? You probably have little or no control over what goes in your office, so what can you do to protect yourself from the office air?

Make plants your best friends. Decorate your office with a few.  You’ll be doing yourself and your office mates a favor.  Plants will help to improve the air quality in the place where you spend so many hours, day after day.    Plants are effective at reducing the chemicals that the furniture and the carpets give off.  They also reduce pollutants like ozone that are emitted by office equipment.

There are many varieties of plants that thrive indoors and in low light that are very effective in improving air quality. So, which plants should you choose?

English ivy cleans the air by absorbing airborne pollutants that computers and other office machines throw off into the air.  These pollutants can cause headaches and nausea.  Golden pothose is a vine that reduces indoor ozone like that from printers and copiers.  Even low levels of ozone can cause chest pain and throat irritation.  Areca palms can grow to be 6 feet tall which makes them great at cleaning the air.

Now that you’ve cleaned your air with plants, here are a few more to improve your mood.  Peppermint smells great, and it can increase your alertness, improve your memory and decrease your appetite.  Lemon balm stimulates your brain and improves your mood.

Since you spend most of your days cooped up in your office, why not bring some greenery to your scenery and also boost the quality of the air that you’re breathing?

Do you have plants in your office?  Tell us about them in the comments below.

Diet soda has less calories than regular soda.  Therefore, it must be better for you.  This is a myth that I am here to dispel.

Too many folks believe that drinking diet soda gives them a free pass to have a treat somewhere else in their day.  Many people use this theory to add some fries or a dessert to their meal.  If you save calories on the soda, it makes sense that you can eat more food, right?  Wrong.  There is no free pass.  Diet soda is making you fat.

Another popular theory is that diet soda is actually a diet tool.  It says so right in the name. With that in mind, most people who drink diet soda should be thin, but that’s not typically what you see.  Rather, it tends to be the opposite.

I don’t know who came up with the idea of saving calories by drinking diet soda, but I often wonder what they’re being “saved” from.  Is it versus regular soda?  A better comparison would be versus water or tea which both have zero calories.  So then, I ask you, what have you saved if you chose a diet drink rather than water?

Regular soda is adding something extra when we consider calories and sugar, but diet soda isn’t less.  Nothing was removed from your meal when you chose the diet soda.  Calories weren’t erased.  Sugar didn’t disappear.  These things weren’t there to start with.  When we start with water, everything else is extra.  

A better question would be to ask what you have gained by choosing a diet soda.   It’s true that choosing a diet soda doesn’t add sugar or calories to your daily tally.  Instead, it adds chemicals, and these chemicals are wreaking havoc inside your body.

Here’s what’s going on. When you feel hungry or you want something sweet, and you reach for a soda with sugar in it, your body gets satisfied.  Sugar is a food that your body knows how to use.  Note: This is not permission to drink soda.  Stick with me.  When you reach for a diet soda, your body tastes the sweet flavor from the chemicals in the soda, but it doesn’t get any carbohydrates from sugar.  Your body doesn’t get anything of value.  

Instead, your body keeps waiting for something that it can use.  What happens next?  You probably reach for a snack to satisfy your sweet tooth.  Since the chemicals in diet soda are so much sweeter than real sugar, and your body is waiting for something to satisfy its expectations for foods that deliver carbohydrates or sugar, you may find yourself eating more than you would have if you’d never had the diet soda.  You may not even have been hungry prior to drinking the soda.

Test this idea by noticing how you feel after your next diet soda.  Does it satiate you or do you soon reach for food?  If you only drink diet soda with meals, try this experiment between meals.  Does it quench your thirst or does it leave you wanting something more?  Do you feel hungrier after drinking the diet soda?

What should you do if you want something to drink but plain water just won’t do?   Make this fizzy and bubbly drink to replace your diet soda.  Squeeze a half of a lemon into seltzer water, and make your own flavored thirst quencher.  Zero calories, zero chemicals.  Your body will thank you.

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Are you ready to kick the sugar habit?  Sign up for the Sweet Revenge Sugar Cleanse.  You deserve this!  

You rush home from the office, and you’re hungry. While takeout is tempting, having some things on hand to make a fast, delicious meal may be just the quick fix you need. One of our favorite things to have on hand is pesto, a mixed paste made from fresh herbs (usually, basil), nuts (usually, walnuts or pinenuts), garlic, extra virgin olive oil and parmesan cheese.

Pesto is easy to make but even easier to buy. It’s also a sneaky way to get your family to eat their greens.

There are many varieties of pesto (basil, cilantro, sundried tomato, olive), all delicious, in the refrigerator case of most natural food stores and supermarkets. Some flavors of pesto are available in jars that you can store in your pantry (refrigerate after opening). Also look at your Farmers’ Market for fresh, homemade pesto varieties.

Pesto can be eaten right from the fridge or heated. Fresh pesto can also be frozen and then just spoon out what you need and keep it frozen for a longer shelf life. Portion your pesto ahead of time for easier use by freezing it in ice cube trays.  When you’re ready to use it, just pop a cube or two into your dish, heat and eat.

Here are 6 easy ways to use pesto:

1. Thinned out with olive oil and vinegar or lemon for a delicious salad dressing.
2. Tossed with veggies such as asparagus or broccoli.
3. Mixed into pasta, rice, quinoa, chickpeas or couscous for a quick meal or side dish.
4. As a topper for grilled or rotisserie chicken, fish or shellfish.
5. As a dip for cherry tomatoes or other raw veggies.
6. Drizzled over fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers.

How do you eat pesto?  Let us know in the comments section.

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Are You In?  Don’t be left out of the Sweet Revenge Sugar Cleanse.  Register today!  Make it an office challenge – How many office mates can you get to join?

You don’t often equate vitamins with fun, do you?

It’s a common greeting to ask someone what’s new. Typical answers are “nothing much,” “same stuff, different day” or “same old, same old.”  Right? Sometimes, people don’t even stop to listen to the response they’re given. It’s all said in passing and means nothing more than a casual “hey.”  Asking what’s new is part of your dull routine.

Being stuck in a routine is a big energy drain. It’ll suck the life right out of you. The good news is that it’s easy to boost your energy by changing things fast with an essential nutrient that many of us lack.  We hear lots about Vitamins D and B-12 and calcium, but nothing about Vitamin F, an essential “nutrient” which you need to boost your energy and help you to feel your most vibrant. If you’ve never heard of Vitamin F, don’t worry. . . .

Vitamin F stands for fun, and you’re just not getting enough of it. What’s special about Vitamin F is that where you get your F is unique to you. Some people love sports or dancing, cooking, music, learning something new, playing board games or karaoke.  The list is endless.

The more you mix these fun activities into your daily life and boost your Vitamin F, the more energized and happy you’ll feel. Knowing you have an instant energy-booster at your disposal is really handy, and it’s easier than you think!

How will you add more fun into your routine?  Here are 6 questions to get you thinking:

1. When was the last time you did something for the first time? When was the last time you did something fun? Maybe it’s about time!
2. What have you always wanted to do but haven’t yet – – learn a new language, run a marathon, join a book club, cook thai food, do more pro bono work?
3. What’s one activity that feels like a treat (hint: anytime you do it, you feel energized)?
4. What hobbies or interests did you have as a child or teen that you haven’t made time for in years?
5. Has it been a while since you had a night out with friends? Call someone you haven’t seen lately and make a plan to catch up for a karaoke night, go to a concert, dancing, bowling or see a movie.
6. When you channel surf on the tv or flip through a magazine in the reception area, what makes you stop to look more closely?

Remember, it can be small and simple or BIG and elaborate, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is to identify one thing that brings YOU Vitamin F and adds more fun to your routine.  Take a few minutes and do this today or schedule it for sometime soon so you have something fun to look forward to. Then do it again and again to keep boosting your Vitamin F.

We’d love to hear how you plan on getting your Vitamin F so let us know in the comments below.  

It’s summer, and that means condiment season. The grills and the picnic blankets are ready for the BBQs, picnics, potlucks and dinner parties of the season. When the weather’s warm, we love to eat outside. We also love to add flavor to our foods.  But, sometimes, that flavor comes in secretly harmful forms when our condiments do us wrong.

While the bounty of fresh fruits and veggies and the warm beach weather make it easy to make healthier choices, many people are unknowingly sabotaging their health and their waistlines with their summer meals.  You go to the farmers markets, and you buy what’s fresh, so how can that be bad for you?  It’s not the fruits and veggies, it’s often the toppings that you put on them that can trip up even eaters with the healthiest intentions.

Condiments are often loaded with chemicals, unhealthy oils, sugars and other additives. They can also add lots of fat and calories to your otherwise healthy meals. These 6 lateral swaps are easy ways to upgrade your summer nutrition without adding more to your full plate. Here’s to healthy condiments and meals to be remembered!

1. Ditch the mayo and switch to mustard, salsa, pesto, guacamole, olive tapenade, balsamic vinegar or hummus to dress your sandwiches, salads or wraps.
2. Ditch the bottled dressing and switch to olive oil and vinegar or an easy homemade dressing (pour extra virgin olive oil, your favorite vinegar, mustard and a splash of lemon or orange juice to a jar, cover and shake).
3. Ditch the margarine and fake butter spreads which contain unhealthy oils, chemicals and additives and switch to organic butter (preferably from grass-fed cows) as a healthier alternative.
4. Ditch the jelly which often contains high-fructose corn syrup and switch to naturally-sweetened fruit preserves, jam or sliced, fresh fruit.
5. Ditch the table salt which is highly processed and switch to Celtic Sea Salt which contains minerals that your body needs.
6. Ditch the white sugar and artificial sweeteners and switch to a natural raw sugar, raw honey, pure maple syrup, or if you aren’t ready to ditch the little packets, opt for stevia or xylitol to add sweetness to your food and drinks.

We’d never take away your outdoor summer fun which often includes the meals and memories that keep us warm all winter long.  Just make some simple condiment swaps, and toss us the beach ball!

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If you’re ruled by your cravings for sweets, join us for the Sweet Revenge Sugar Cleanse: 7 Days to Shake the Sugar, Boost Your Energy and Slim Down! 

Click HERE to get started.  You don’t want to be left out!

Do you notice how you feel after you eat?

Throughout the day, you probably go through several moods, and your mood depends a lot upon what you eat.  You may even use food to change your mood.  When you’re feeling tired, stressed or just plain down, do you reach for a sugary pick-me-up?  That may boost your mood for the moment, but you’ll soon crash and need another burst of the sweet stuff.

What can you do instead? It’s a good idea to eat foods that keep your mood steady so that you’re not cycling through highs and lows throughout the day.  You’re more productive this way, and you end up with more time to spend with your family or doing your favorite activities.

Here’s a quick list of what to eat if you want more energy and a happier overall outlook –

1. Fiber keeps your mood stable by maintaining your blood sugar levels.  It’s also slow to digest, so it keeps you feeling fuller longer.  Add some oats, beans, brown rice and vegetables to your meals.
2. Protein will also help you avoid blood sugar crashes.  When you pair protein and fiber together at your meal, they work together to slow your digestion and keep you feeling stable.  Fish, eggs, lean meats, seeds, nuts and nut butters are all good choices.
3. Omega-3s are essential fatty acids found in cold-water fish such as salmon.  They’re also found in walnuts and flax seeds.  These healthy choices are heart-healthy, and they’ve been shows to help people feel better.
4. B vitamins are necessary for the production of brain chemicals that regulate your mood. Get your Bs from leafy greens, eggs, low-fat yogurt and shellfish.
5. A little bit of dark chocolate goes a long way toward boosting your mood.  Reach for the good stuff instead of the sugar-filled milk varieties.

A few small changes to what you eat can make a big difference in how you feel.  Be your happiest you.  Let us know what works for you.

Tell us about it in the Comments below!

You get one chance to start your day off right.  Do it wrong, and your whole day is ruined, you feel rushed, and your stress level only increases throughout the day.  We know. When you hop out of bed, sprint to the shower, grab a suit from the back of the closet door and slam the front door on your way to the car, you set yourself up for a day that gets no better.

With that beginning, what’s to stop you from reaching for the glazed donut during your meeting, tossing back a few too many cups of coffee and running out to grab a greasy lunch that you end up eating at your desk?  When you start your day like this, you end up crashing mid-afternoon. You snip at clients, talk back to your emails and storm the kitchen for sugary snacks by 3pm.

Mornings are busy, and that won’t change.  What can change is how you start them. 

When you start your day with enough time to do all that you need to do before you get to your desk, you can go through your day feeling calm and in control.  How would you feel if you adjusted your morning routine so that you got to work breathing easy rather than dashing for your desk feeling flustered before you begin?

There are several things that you can do to begin your day feeling relaxed and ready to take on what the morning holds in store.

Before you leave your home:

1. Set the alarm so that you wake up with enough time to spend a few minutes either reading, meditating, watching the news or taking a short walk outside to breathe fresh air.  This can be as few as 10 minutes each day.
2. Listen to some soothing music while you dress.  Feeling especially energetic? Crank up the tunes and dance.
3. Plan your outfit the night before so you’re not staring aimlessly at your closet wasting precious morning minutes.
4. Have quick and healthy breakfast options available so you don’t leave home with a grumbling stomach.  Sit down for a few minutes while you eat.
5. Pack snacks or even lunch the night before so you can have healthy foods on hand when you’re hungry during the day.

When you get to work:

1. Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and drink it leisurely at your desk while you check your email.
2. Don’t answer or return calls for the first fifteen minutes after you arrive.  Let your mind prepare for the day ahead.
3. Jot down 3 – 5 items that you want to get done that day.  Check your list throughout the day to stay on track.
4. Let your assistant know what your expectations are for the day so that you don’t end up feeling angry or disappointed. When you’re both on the same page, the work gets done, and you both end up feeling satisfied rather than stressed.

It takes time to make adjustments to your daily routine.  Start with one item from each of the at home and at the office categories and add on from there.  Over the next few weeks, see how your days change by making these simple shifts to your routine.

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Let us know how this is working out for you in the Comments below.