Pants getting tighter? (Here is the fix...)

It's almost Halloween and this is just the beginning. The next two months are going to be FULL of big meals, parties and temptations that inevitably get us wanting to jump on the weight-loss bandwagon come January.

That doesn't have to be you.

Get my holiday action plan here.

This will keep you on track – and help you lose weight if you need to. Yes, even during the holidays!

When you sign up for the Food Babe Eating Guide today, you'll get access to my entire meal planning service, starter guide, monthly recipe guide and an exclusive holiday bonus that features everything you need to enjoy the holidays with a "Food Babe Approved" holiday menu, tips, and strategies.

You can start now - Get instant access here!

24-HOUR BONUS: Get my Healthy Holiday Survival Guide FREE when you sign up by tomorrow (10/31) by Midnight PST!

Want to stop gaining weight every holiday season? This is the solution. This bonus guide includes...

• Holiday detox strategies
• Guidelines to keep you from overindulging
• Holiday pitfalls to avoid with common brands and products to avoid
• Full holiday menu with recipes for appetizers, main entrees and desserts
• What to do with all those leftovers
• All recipes are non-GMO and organic of course!
  

Living a healthy life and getting the body you want is not a sprint to the finish… it's a marathon. That's why yo-yo eating and dieting never works. There's no reason to overdo it on the holidays and then regret it in January anymore!

This holiday bonus guide is only available for the next 24 hours – act now and find out how to avoid the holiday bulge ASAP.

Get instant access here

Xo,

Vani

P.S. Don't wait another minute to live the healthiest life you can. The Holiday Bonus is ending tomorrow at midnight (PST). No exceptions.

 

 

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How I stopped gaining weight this time of year

This time of year used to be a real struggle for me… the candy, cookies, feasts, pies, parties, casseroles, decorating, shopping, stress… all added up and made me pack on the pounds. Then, every January I used to find my "skinny jeans" tighter and my waistline generally uncomfortable when I sat down. Do you know the feeling? And let's not even talk about how I felt mentally – tired all the time and not self-confident at all. I hate those feelings!

After I started learning about what was really in my food, I made a conscious decision not to eat toxic chemicals in processed food regardless the time of year because I knew they were responsible for making me gain weight and making me want to eat more. This really forced me to learn how to navigate the holiday season without getting off my game.

But, don't get me wrong… I still enjoy yummy pies and goodies, but I no longer suffer with yo-yo weight and energy levels that really threw me off. Here are a few of the things I do (that YOU can do too) that have really helped me stay on track during the holiday season…

• Drink a green drink every day: This will give you a healthy energy boost and will remind you that your health comes first. Follow this up with a healthy meal too, so that you keep your hunger in check!
• Keep moving and stay active: Jumpstart your metabolism each day by going to the gym or enjoying a long walk with a family member you haven't seen in awhile. I always love attending fitness classes on holidays because it can be hard to motivate myself, so it helps to have an instructor or trainer cheering me on. Sweating it out will improve your mood, boost your metabolism and keep you from snacking on goodies all day.
• Eat a little something before you go to a party: You don't want to show up ravenous, because then you'll eat everything in sight! Eat a good source of organic healthy protein and fat (such as avocado or raw nuts) to help sustain you for a few hours. This way you can still enjoy your favorite foods at the party, but won't be so hungry that you go overboard. (P.S. This also saves me every single time I am put in a situation where I wouldn't touch the food being served with a ten foot pole).
• Focus on your friends and family: Remember what's really important and enjoy spending time with your loved ones. I love socializing at parties, rather than eating.
• Cut out the alcohol (or keep it limited): Your liver is your main detoxifying organ, so if you're trying to lose weight drinking alcohol is your worst enemy. If you want to have a festive drink, have one glass of organic wine and then replace it with sparkling water and lime the second time around.
• Chill out. If you are feeling super stressed out, your cortisol levels can skyrocket causing your body to hold onto weight (particularly in the waist). Fat accumulates near the stomach because the cells in the stomach are more sensitive to cortisol, and very effective at storing energy. Do some yoga, meditation, or take a long walk either before or after a meal.
• Consider a fast: Doing a 12-hour fast after a big meal can help get your
  body back on track and help you digest everything you have eaten more efficiently.
• Make healthier versions of your favorite holiday dishes: This will give you the option of eating at least one healthy item while you're at a party. It will also give you the opportunity to share a real food holiday dish with friends and family, showing them healthy food can be delicious!

Next Monday, I'll be offering something that will give you everything you need to have a healthy and happy holiday season, without packing on the pounds!

Make sure you keep an eye out for my email on Monday. You don't want to miss it.

Until then…

Xo,

Vani

P.S. In case you missed it, here's my organic and non-GMO Halloween shopping list that is full of great swaps to traditional treats.

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A warning about rice + new cookie recipe

How would you like to sprinkle some arsenic on your dinner? Sounds crazy, I know. But you could be filling your body with this heavy metal without knowing it, every time you consume rice. Rice is known to contain 10 to 20 times more arsenic than other grains, as it tends to absorb more arsenic due to the way it's grown.

If you don't know what arsenic is… it's a powerful carcinogen that promotes the risk of several types of cancer. It's also linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, problems in pregnancy and infant development. Although it is naturally occurring in our environment and food, you definitely want to do what you can to limit exposure.

The good news? You don't need to completely avoid rice… But take these steps to protect yourself from arsenic:

• Soak uncooked rice overnight and discard the water before cooking. This has been shown to cut arsenic levels up to 80%.
• Thoroughly rinse your rice before cooking.
• Cook rice with 5x more water than required. After cooking, drain remaining water and rinse rice in hot water.
• Buy rice that's grown in areas where the arsenic contamination is known to be lower, such as California, India, and Pakistan. Contact the companies that you buy rice from and ask them if they test for arsenic and where their rice is grown.
• Choose basmati rice, as it's found to have the lowest levels of arsenic.

This is extremely important if you are on a gluten-free diet, because these diets are notoriously high in rice.

Scientists have found that people on gluten-free diets have DOUBLE the amount of arsenic in their body. That's because when people go gluten-free, their consumption of rice typically goes up. Even if you don't eat rice for dinner, almost all gluten-free breads, crackers, cookies, and tortillas are made with rice flour instead of wheat. So you could easily be eating rice every single day on a gluten-free diet.

I just published my favorite recipe for flourless, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies on the blog today - and they are utterly amazing. You'd never guess they're flourless - with absolutely no rice flour either! They have a texture and taste very similar to cookies made with regular flour. They won't crumble all over the place like other gluten-free cookies you may have tried, and are rich with flavor. Even if you eat gluten, you'll LOVE these cookies!

Get my new Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe HERE

If you've tried a million chocolate chip cookie recipes trying to find the best one, look no further. It's pretty amazing that you can make a crispy, chewy, tasty cookie without any flour, but you really can.

Please share this email about the arsenic in rice with everyone you know - especially if they're on a gluten-free diet. Who knows, maybe they'll bake ya these flourless cookies to say thank you!

Xo,

Vani

P.S. For tips on how to eat healthy on a gluten-free diet without going overboard on the rice consumption, check out this post.

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Non-Toxic Candy Cheat Sheet

Halloween candy is BIG BUSINESS... the industry expects us to spend about $2.7 billion on Halloween candy this year. Where is your money going? What kind of Halloween candy are you planning to buy?

See my Halloween Candy Shopping List here.

Here's a list of the most popular Halloween candies in the U.S. this year… just check out those controversial ingredients...

1. Skittles: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Citric Acid, Tapioca Dextrin, Modified Corn Starch, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Colors (Titanium Dioxide, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1), Sodium Citrate, Carnauba Wax.
2. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Nonfat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, Soy Lecithin, PGPR), Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, TBHQ.
3. M&M's: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Cocoa Butter, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Artificial Flavor), Sugar, Cornstarch, Less Than 1% - Corn Syrup, Dextrin, Coloring (Includes Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Red 40 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Blue 2), Gum Acacia. May Contain Peanuts.

These candies contain RISKY INGREDIENTS that no child should be eating...

• Artificial colors linked specifically to health issues that affect children - allergies, skin reactions, and hyperactivity. Europe requires any food containing these dyes to carry the warning label, "May Have an Adverse Effect on Activity and Attention in Children."
• Exposure to TBHQ has most recently been linked to the rise in food allergies. It's also banned for use in food in other countries including Japan.
• Unless a candy is organic or Non-GMO Project verified, it's probably made with genetically modified (GMO) ingredients. "Roundup-Ready" GMO sugar is sprayed with Roundup Weedkiller – linked to cancer.

The fastest way to get this junk out of our food is to refuse to buy products made with them. That's why I choose to ALWAYS vote with my dollars… Yes, even when shopping for Halloween candy and treats. I don't want to poison anyone's child with these risky ingredients! They are already bombarded with enough junk out there every day. Don't our children deserve better?

I invite you to JOIN ME in voting with your dollars this Halloween season too. Let's get the entire Food Babe Army on board! This will really send the message to these brands that we don't want their toxic treats anymore.

I've made it EASY for you with this list of delicious organic alternatives to popular Halloween candies… everything from Snickers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Starburst, M&M's… I've got you covered with these MUCH better options! These alternatives aren't perfect (they're candy after all!) but at least they don't contain all the risky ingredients - and I also include some of my favorite non-food items to give which kids love.

If we all vote with our dollars and stop buying Halloween candies with controversial ingredients, we will start seeing better options in the years that come. Are you with me? Please share this information with family and friends and get your whole neighborhood on board!

Get the Food Babe Halloween Candy Shopping List here.

Have a happy (and healthy) Halloween this season!

Xo,

Vani

P.S. Do you always buy an extra bag of Halloween candy just for yourself to eat? ...I know I'm guilty. My partner Kur Superfoods makes amazing organic bite-sized bars that are sweetened with dates. These treats do the trick to satisfy my Halloween candy cravings, without compromising my real food lifestyle. Their bars are Certified Organic, Vegan, Gluten Free, Kosher, Verified non-GMO and Paleo friendly. This week only Food Babe readers can take an exclusive 20% off + FREE shipping with the code "FOODBABE" for the next 24 hours when you order here.

 

 

 

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Jaw-dropping new book is out! Please help!

There is a chemical that likely causes cancer being sprayed on 80% of the food in this country and residues have been found in popular foods like Cheerios and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

This chemical is Roundup Weedkiller (Glyphosate) made by Monsanto.

Even though the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer deemed glyphosate probably carcinogenic to humans, Roundup has NOT been banned. This chemical continues to be used on food crops, parks, playgrounds, and by homeowners everywhere. Glyphosate is now so rampant in our environment that it's found in honey, cereals, meat, drinking water, breast milk, infant formula, chips, cookies, air samples… the list goes on. 

Since our regulatory agencies are not taking action, this carcinogen continues to proliferate and is contaminating virtually all of the food that we and our children are eating. It's maddening! 

How do we get Roundup BANNED and out of our food?

My dear friend Carey Gillam expertly delves into this issue in her new must-read (and courageous!) book, Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science. Just as Rachel Carson started the environmental revolution which led to getting the dangerous pesticide DDT banned over 40 years ago, I believe Carey's book will have the same impact on our world. It is a MUST READ.

Please get a copy of WHITEWASH for you and a friend, and help spread the word.

Xo,
Vani 

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General Mills Appalling Decision Hurts Children

As part of the Food Babe Army, I doubt you're filling your carts up with Trix and Lucky Charms at the grocery store, BUT I have some really idiotic news about Trix and let me explain why I'm so ANGRY about it.  

People sometimes criticize me for writing about processed junk foods like Trix because they think it's obvious how unhealthy it is but there are still a lot of people out there who do not know this information. They do not know what additives like Yellow #5 and TBHQ could be doing to their health or the health of their kids. They do not know that there could be Roundup weedkiller in their Cheerios, silly putty in their french fries, or wood in their cheese. We still need to reach these people! That's why it's important to keep raising awareness of these issues and share this news.

General Mills just announced they're putting the artificial dyes – Yellow #6, Blue #1, Red #40 – back into Trix Cereal because they were "besieged" by customer complaints since they removed these dyes two years ago.

This upsets me to no end because I know there are thousands of children who are suffering greatly due to the use of these dyes in their food, and their parents are struggling to find out what's going on.

Since we launched the successful petition which got the artificial dyes out of Kraft Mac n' Cheese, I've received countless letters from parents who have seen their children's behavior, skin, and health change DRAMATICALLY after artificial food dyes were removed from their diets. Today on the blog I shared a remarkable story about how one little boy's life was changed forever when he stopped eating food dyes following our petition. This is what his mother had to say after solving the mystery behind her son's behavioral issues...

"I never in a million years would have thought additives in food could be linked to Cameron's behavior, but after seeing the cravings for and withdrawal from food coloring, I can honestly say it should be illegal. It is addictive and mind-altering, just like any other drug. After consulting many allergists, dermatologists, pediatricians & pediatric rheumatologists for more than five years, and not getting help, we finally figured out my son's issues. It began with an online petition and continued with the help and guidance of the Feingold Association. Happily, Kraft removed the synthetic food coloring from its Mac & Cheese in 2016." ~ Feingold Association Pure Facts Newsletter, September 2017

Read Cameron's remarkable transformation story after he stopped eating dyes here.

I am so moved by this story and hope this information helps every family out there who is affected by the dyes in our food. I truly believe if consumers knew that these colors are derived from petroleum, what they do to their bodies and how they have been shown to affect children, they would not want to eat them. We clearly still have so much work to do and need to keep spreading the truth. Please share this email and Cameron's story with your loved ones. You never know who it may help!

Xo,

Vani

 

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Want a career in health and wellness? Here’s your chance!

Last week I shared with you the pivotal moment when I knew it was time for me to dedicate my work to helping others learn about their food and achieve amazing health. I wouldn't change this job for anything! I know many of you are feeling called to help others with their health and wellness too. I often get emails from readers like this one…

"I am a big fan ever since I came across your site and just like you have become interested in food and nutrition. I would like to learn more about holistic health and nutrition and be able to share information informing people about the truths of our food and make better choices; however I don't know where to start. I thought about going back to school to learn more and become certified so I can actually be able to create a career out of it (figured people would rather receive info from someone with credentials) but, then I realized that is not the only way. What would you suggest? I'm just trying to see what my options are."

Do you feel this way? Would you love a career in health and wellness?

Whether your calling is to work in wellness centers, doctor's offices, gyms, spas, yoga studios, schools, private practices… or you want to write books, create products, open restaurants, teach, and start your own business… the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) Health Coach Training Program can help you get there!

Their program teaches you how to nourish every aspect of your health and life, AND it teaches you how to launch a new career in health and wellness. You'll get everything you need to start working with your own clients, and turn your passion for wellness into a career you love.

I was honored to be asked to be part of their curriculum and you can watch a clip of a lecture I gave at their NYC headquarters here. They provide online training, so you can work towards your certification from anywhere in the world and whenever you want!

Sign up for a free sample class here.

Inside the Sample Class you'll learn:

• What a Health Coach does and how they help people make lasting changes to their health and lifestyles
• What to expect as a student at IIN
• How IIN is leading the way to a healthcare revolution + incredible activities you can engage in!

The next training session begins soon and, as a partner, IIN is allowing me to offer up to $1,500 off tuition to Food Babe readers! To claim your IIN discounts, simply sign up for a free sample class here. IIN will be in touch to answer any questions you have about curriculum, tuition and the HUGE discount offered to Food Babe readers.

EXTRA BONUS…

If you enroll in the Health Coach Training Program at IIN right here, I will also give you a FREE One Year Food Babe Eating Guide Membership. This is the perfect compliment to your journey with IIN and will help make your life easier while you are in the program! As a member, you'll get an entire year's worth of Food Babe monthly meal plans, new recipes, shopping guides, and resources to keep you looking and feeling your best. I normally charge over $119 for my annual Eating Guides, so this is an incredible bonus that I know you'll love!

If you are feeling scared about taking this step, I get it. I used to feel that way too. Throughout my life I have had some amazing people encouraging me to take the leaps of faith needed to keep growing. I want to be that person in your life. Remember, it is NEVER too late to find your calling. The community at IIN is one of the most supportive, enthusiastic groups of people I've ever seen, and everyone says that is one of the best parts of their program.

See for yourself! Check out the free sample class here.

If you know anyone who wants a career in health and wellness, send them this email and encourage them to go after their dreams!

Xo,

Vani

P.S. Here is a note I just received from a recent IIN graduate. I hope to hear from YOU next!

"Thank you Food Babe. In so many ways you have inspired me! Back in 2012 when I was starting to open my eyes and start my journey I found you. I was ranting to one of my co workers about the GMOs and chemicals in our food and how I wanted to shout about it from the roof tops and tell everyone about it. My co-worker looked at me and laughed and then said you know Food Babe is already doing that! I have to admit I was a little jealous. Lol...... I was also excited and full of joy that someone cared as much as I did and all ready took matters into their own hands. You my friend are a force to be reckoned with.

I graduated from IIN last November as a health coach, I also have my personal training certificate......I also just quit my corporate job and took the leap of faith.... I am now trying to build my health and fitness business. I call my business exciting life and fitness, because I want to help everyone live their best life. I feel we have much in common, I too was tired of being sick and seeking the root cause and not just a bandaid...... My friends call me the health hustler because I never stop trying to interest everyone I meet in their health and happiness.. I think I want to brand this name. Eventually I want to host motivational health seminars all over the US and possibly the world..... . Hopefully someday I will teach a lecture at IIN and meet Joshua and YOU.

Thank you for doing what you do! I am by your side working for our healthier world! Rock on Food Babe!" ~ Nicole H.

 

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