Bland speaks about healthy living at Concordia
Bobby Bland, certified health and life coach and founder of Snack Lab, spoke Friday, March 31, at Concordia about healthy living.
He said when he was 53 years old he weighed 400 pounds and suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, neuropathy and sleep apnea. He decided to change his eating habits and stopped eating anything that came from a can, pouch, bag or box. He lost 180 pounds and lost all his disease, he said.
He recommended his audience pursue a “balanced, healthy life.”
“You can lose weight by what you eat, but you’ll never feel better without exercise,” he said.
Bland said he became a health coach to help others and learned that people want to become healthy but do not know how. He said younger people do not know how to cook and don’t have time.
He said Snack Lab offers healthy, convenient grab and go meals and healthy snacks, along with meal plans and family meals.
“We don’t do processed sugar, nothing in a can,” he said.
Bland said everyone’s body is different, which is called “bioindividuality.”
“I’m not saying everyone should be a vegan like me, I’m saying you should know your body,” he said.
He recommended eating mindfully without distractions and eating more slowly.
“Don’t think about what you can’t eat, think about what you can eat,” he said.
He shared facts about the human body and about nutrients.
“The human body is miraculous. It’s the greatest machine ever made,” he said. He added the body has 50 trillion cells, each producing billions of chemical reactions per second. He said the heart pumps 7,500 liters of blood per day.
He said a teaspoon of white sugar and a serving of broccoli each have 60 calories, but the sugar has no nutrients whereas the broccoli is loaded with vitamins.
“If you’ll just eat what God made, you’ll get better,” he said.
He recommended practicing “crowding out” — “eating so much good stuff that you don’t have room for bad stuff.” For example, drinking plenty of water to “crowd out” soft drinks.
He also recommended exercise, including strength training and stretching.
He said cooking real food at home can be more expensive than purchasing manufactured foods, but shoppers can purchase beans inexpensively and can find produce at reasonable prices. The farmers market is also a good option, he said.
He added that during his worst health, he spent about $1,000 per month on medical expenses, so that expense dwindled when he became healthy.
Bland discussed some of the options at Snack Lab, noting everything is gluten-free except for the burritos and wraps. The business uses grass-fed beef, free-range chicken and eggs, local pork from Harrison and vegetarian and vegan options. Snack Lab uses local honey and lettuce and offers 60 to 70 varieties of soup and about the same number of “Simple Suppers.”
Snack Lab is located on 28th Street in Bentonville across from Tractor Supply.