Hi Byte Wellness Fam,

Let’s honor the memory Tina Turner, an incredible woman who showed us how to hold tight to her resilience and reclaim peace.

How are you feeling?

I’m ready to rest. And that’s a good thing because I have a penchant for ignoring the signals my body sends about how tired it is. Historically, when my body (and brain) try to tell me they’re worn out, I tell them to keep pushing. Sometimes, that push is necessary. Every once in a while, that push is what gets us to graduation gets our kids fed, gets us an excellent review on that work project. But, if I’m honest, pushing through fatigue isn’t something I need to do most of the time. So, for me, feeling tired, feeling ready to rest is a wellness victory. Acknowledging my need for rest helps me reach the sort of balance that wellness depends on.

Balance in eating is a lot of what we talked about this past month. Check out the discussion question and the workshop recording below.

Discussion Question

• If you could only give the next generation one piece of healthy eating advice, what would it be?

This past week, we put a cap on our conversations about eating for a healthy weight.

Check out the recording below for a recap. And, don’t forget to watch until the end so you can join our virtual dance party! We throw in the dance party every month to remind ourselves just good it feels to move. If you didn’t get an invite to this week’s workshop, make sure you’ve registered via email and cell phone here: https://bytewellness.com/join

We’re ironing out some technical trouble with the group text, so I’ll be texting you from a different number (not 1(224)302-6224) for the time being. For now, the sign-up link is the best way to get more involved in our community.

Based on our own lived experience and science, here’s our collective take-away on healthy eating: When we pile our plate full of nutritious whole foods, especially whole food veggies and fruits, we boost our chances for health. At the same time, focusing on adding more nutritious food pushes ultra-processed foods off our plate without making us feel like we’re eating less or missing out on food. Here’s a bit more detail on the Whens, Whats and Hows of eating to prevent excess weight gain and disease.

• WHEN: Sleep fast (+?)

  • Give our bodies time to burn through our energy stores by honoring our 8-10 hours of natural fasting during sleep. If we decide to try intermittent fasting, we can extend that sleep fast to 12 hours or more.

• WHAT: Non-starchy vegetables

  • Give our bodies plenty of the life-preserving, fat-burning nutrients (phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals) that only come from plants without too much of the sugar that’s contained in starchy foods.

• HOW: Whole foods > ultra-processed

  • Give our bodies all of the nutrients we need by mainly eating foods that are whole or minimally-processed. Foods lose most of those beneficial nutrients when they’re processed. And ultra-processed have too few of the nutrients we need (and too much sugar, saturated fat, salt).

Are you already following the Balanced Plate guidelines?

Feel free to share this message and image with whoever could use it.

Talk soon.

Happy Healthy Living,

Dr. Wuse