Rachelle Wood, RHN is an honors graduate of CSNN Halifax 2002. After working a few years in the industry, Rachelle started her own company in 2005 that specializes in weight management. She has 2 office locations and has helped PEI lose over 75,000 pounds! She is the author of the See Results Holistic Weight Loss program and the Positively Charged Holistic Detoxification program. Rachelle teaches Business Mastery for CSNN Moncton, and is the CSNN Alumni Board Maritime Representative on the Board of Directors. In 2009 Rachelle won the PEI Business Women's Association Emerging Business of the Year award.In 2010 she was nominated for the Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Health Care award. Check out her company website, rachellewood.ca and nutrition blog.rachellewood.ca or lose weight online with her seeresults.rachellewood.ca.
In 2010 Rachelle launched, See Results, an online weight loss program and client management tool. With the help of See Results, Rachelle is now able to work with clients nation wide online. See Results provides clients with: customized meal plans, healthy recipes, holistic education, interactive tracking tools, charts/graphs, journals and homework questions to submit. It is easy to use for the client and nutritionist. The system was designed and developed over 2 years and based on Rachelle's successful in office program. To find out how See Results can help to grow your existing or start-up nutritional consulting business, please email us at info@seeresults.ca
Do you suffer from a sweet tooth? Are you trying to cut back on your sugar intake? Then you should learn more about stevia, the natural sweetener with no calories or carbohydrates. Stevia has been medicinally used as a stomach tonic and weight loss aid in Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. However stevia hasn’t always had a good reputation. This natural sweetener was banned in the USA from 1986-1995, when artificial sweeteners exploded onto the marketplace. Stevia is now approved to be used as a supplement in North America and sold at health food stores.
The word sugar also has a very bad reputation. Found in almost all processed and prepackaged product, refined white sugar is full of calories and carbohydrates. In the earlier sugar series post, Sugar Series Part 1, we learned about the evils of artificial sweeteners. Well in all honesty, refined white sugar isn’t much better. Recent studies suggest that refined white sugar is highly addictive, and should really be classified as a drug. This powerful anti-nutrient destroys health by weakening the immune system and impairing glucose metabolism.
So you’d like to switch off of sugar and are looking for a safe alternative. In my nutritional consulting practice, Positive Change Nutrition
www.rachellewood.ca I educate my clients about Stevia, a natural sugar substitute. Stevia tastes 300 times sweeter than sugar, so a little goes a long way! You can buy Stevia at your local health food store in powder, packets or liquid drops.
Stevia rebaudiana is a small shrub like plant that grows wild in Brazil and India. The leaves are especially sweet, but the entire plant is usually harvested. Stevia can replace sugar sweetness but not volume in a recipe. For example if you want to replace 1 cup of sugar use ½ tsp of Stevia + 1 cup of dry high fiber ingredients like chicory.
Did you know that Stevia is:
- diabetic safe
- calorie free
- does not adversely affect blood sugar
- is non toxic
- contains no artificial ingredients
- can be used for cooking
Stevia can also be used cosmetically. In the Orient, stevia is used to control bleeding gums and is added to many toothpaste formulas. It has anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory properties and is added to many facial masques. In China women praise stevia for it’s sweetness and beautifying properties.
Recent studies suggest that stevia may help to fight off tobacco and alcohol cravings. Since stevia is so sweet, it can overpower your taste buds. This is how it may help to fight off addiction and help to control cravings.
So when choosing a sweet treat, consider stevia as a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners. Look at your local health food store for stevia sweetened bars and candy. Try to replace sugar for stevia in your favorite baked goods to create a lower calorie and carbohydrate alternative.
Stay tuned next time for Sugar Series Part 3- Shocking Sugar Facts