The Complete Plate. Lauren Klukas
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Название: The Complete Plate

Автор: Lauren Klukas

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Кулинария

Серия:

isbn: 9781773270166

isbn:

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      pumping—the perfect setting for sudden cardiac arrest.

      To add to the crazy paradox that is my life, ARVC is genetic and only develops in the perfect environment. Geneticists see a significant correlation between patients who were high-level athletes during their youth and the development of the disease. If doctors knew that I had the genetic code as a child, they would have advised me not to participate in intense physical activity. The active and athletic lifestyle that I had led up to this point was, ironically, the root of my rare and incurable heart condition.

      My pregnancy switched from textbook to high risk. At my 36-week checkup, there was concern that my heart might not hold up much longer. I was admitted to the hospital and induced. The delivery was intense, but on May 28, 2013, at 12:15 p.m., our precious baby girl, Charlotte (Charley), was born.

      In an attempt to decelerate the damage to my heart and prevent a case of sudden cardiac arrest, I was instructed to cease all physical activity indefinitely. Fitness was my whole life, from swimmer to trainer, so this devastating news turned my world upside down.

      I can no longer exercise. My career as a personal trainer is over. I am not allowed to have any more babies because my heart is not strong enough to handle another pregnancy. To add insult to injury, I am not even allowed to have coffee! Grieving the loss of my old life is a dynamic journey with constant ups and downs. However, as I continue to develop new hobbies and

      skills outside the scope of fitness, I am learning to not only cope with my new reality, but to thrive in it. I’m completely devoted to my role as mother of the most captivating little girl and wife of a supportive and loving husband, but I still sometimes questioned my purpose.

      When Life Gives You Lemons. . . Bake a Lemon Meringue Pie!

      After my diagnosis, I began looking for ways to control my weight without physical activity. In February 2015 I started a blog to share my journey of both weight loss and weight manage-ment through proper nutrition. Each week I developed meal plans using a diet analysis program I used in university and shared them, along with lessons learned on my new journey. Seeing the transformation of my body over a year, purely through nutrition, was amazing. And it was encouraging to know that, thanks to a conscientious meal plan, I still had control over my body.

      Exercise and Weight Loss

      While exercise is necessary for weight maintenance and several important physiological adaptations (like improved cardiovascular and pulmonary health), it is not key for weight loss.1 Current literature suggests that aerobic training must be frequent and extremely high in intensity for significant weight loss to occur.2 Nutrition is a fundamental factor in weight loss and one variable in my life

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      that I can control. (See more on Nutrition on page 16.)

      I would never recommend a sedentary lifestyle or suggest someone give up their exercise routine, but a large portion of the population is not meeting the minimum guidelines of physical activity to receive any health benefits. Studies support that current minimum physical activity guide-lines for adults—two and a half hours of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity per week—is sufficient for reducing the risk of chronic diseases.3 However, in the United States, less than 5 percent of adults get 30 minutes of physical activity a day4 and only one in three adults get the recommended amount of physical activity each week.5

      While campaigns promoting a healthy lifestyle continue to find more efficient and effective ways to encourage the long-term adoption of physical activity, a balanced meal plan—including whole foods with proper micro- and macro-nutrient composition—can also provide positive health benefits and prevention of chronic diseases. (See more on Micro- and Macronutrients, starting on page 16.)

      The Beautiful Paradox of Adversity

      ARVC has redefined my life in a way that many would consider calamitous, but there is a beautiful paradox with adversity. The painful refining process of trials and tribulations can lead to profound personal growth and create opportunities that never would have emerged otherwise. Weight loss is only

      a small chapter of this story. Weight loss and a particular body image are not, by any means, a reflection of successfully establishing a healthy lifestyle. My journey has simply highlighted the importance of meal planning, nutrition, and cooking in the attaining of food wellness and has led to the design and implementation of a successful lifestyle for weight management that works with my sedentary life.

      The Mission

      My mission for The Complete Plate is to redefine people’s understanding of nutrition. Life would be easier if food’s only purpose was to nourish our bodies. Food is at the center of our celebrations, times of fellowship, religious ceremonies, and cultural festivities. The relationship between joy and food has been fused together since the beginning of time, and that is why to establish sustainable healthy eating habits we need to redis-cover joy in eating and abandon the mind-set of good foods versus bad foods (the mentality of eat this, not that). For healthy eating to be sustainable, it needs to be more than chicken, quinoa, and vegetables for the rest of your life. I don’t want to bully anyone into eating healthily. I want to encourage critical thinking and provide a resource that presents sound nutritional information so anyone can develop healthy and positive associations with food. My hope is that The Complete Plate will be a valuable tool in this transi-tion to a sustainable, healthy new lifestyle. Now let’s get cooking!

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      Weight maintenance, and weight loss, can be achieved through a balanced diet made up of ingredients that come together to meet both nutritional and caloric demands. In the process of creating a perfectly balanced daily diet, I quickly discovered that compiling this information involved a significant amount of time, research, energy, and patience. I wondered if there was a tool or book to help people like myself map everything out. Surprisingly, there wasn’t. And this is how the idea for The Complete Plate was conceived.

      What Is The Complete Plate?

      The Complete Plate attempts to bridge the gap between nutrition and flavor. It provides 30 daily meal plans for caloric requirements of 1500, 2000, and 2500 calories per day. Each day is perfectly balanced to provide 100% of your micro- and macronutrient needs, based on current Dietary Reference Intake (dri) values.

      How It Works

      The Complete Plate is not a program or a diet. It is a lifestyle made up of three components: nutrition, meal planning, and cooking. Together, these three elements create a union of food wellness and healthy eating habits.

      the basics

      Food wellness is a term we created to describe the ideal state for making healthy eating habits a part of your busy day-to-day life. The hope is that СКАЧАТЬ