My Basics on Fitness and Nutrition

I have had many people come up to me and ask me for advice on how to lose weight and get fit. "I need to lose 20 lbs, Tell me some basic things that I can do to achieve this goal". Another is "What are you doing to lose weight, please tell me your secret, so that I can do it too!" Very seldom do I hear, "I want to feel better, lower my risk of many diseases, and live a longer healthier life, how can I do this?"

The reality is, many people live theirs thinking that what they feel is 'Normal'. They lack the knowledge and understanding of how they could feel, most often because, they haven't ever had the opportunity to truly feel well. There are so many issues related to poor nutrition and fitness. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies lead to health problems in both children and adults. Diabetes and heart disease are becoming more prominent in the recent years. Depression and Anxiety are being treated with drugs and not assessed to the root cause of the issue being developed. Cancer is becoming more apparent and even when patients are trying to get into remission, their diets are still not supplying the necessary nutrients to help the body get healthy again. Hospitals and clinics are becoming After Care and people lack the knowledge and understanding of the importance of Preventative Care.

When people ask me for advice on how to lose weight and get fit, my response is always the same; "Eat healthy in small portions, throughout the day. Be active, and find time to do physical activity in your everyday life. And no, there is not a magic pill that will help you to lose weight, get fit, and feel healthy."

So that you can understand a little bit of why people are inquiring me on fitness and nutrition, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I have always been a healthy weight, up until I had my first child six years ago. I gained a whopping 80 lbs in my first pregnancy, shooting my weight from 145 to 225. I then lost most of my weight over the next two years, getting back down to 155, just to find that I was pregnant, again. Two weeks before my due date, I was back up to 225 lbs. Fortunately, my water broke, and I had an early delivery. I kept a lot of this weight on the second time around, and I decided in December of 2010 that I did not want to feel the way that I did anymore. I was depressed, anxious most of the time, fatigued and sore, losing my breathe constantly, and suffered from a very poor self body image and self esteem issues. I was so unhappy, that I wasn't even finding enjoyment in everyday simple tasks. My children were suffering, my marriage was suffering, and most importantly, I was suffering. It was time for change. I made a goal, and this is what it was: I want to feel better. Everything that I did from that point, was to work towards this goal. Twelve months later, I lost a whopping 100 pounds. At 125, I felt great. It wasn't about the weight, or how good I now looked in my skinny jeans. It was the understanding that I now have. I know how to live healthy and feel well. Most importantly, I know how it feels to live healthy and feel well.

No matter what stories I share with you, what tips I give, or words of wisdom and advice. The bottom line is, reaching a goal, especially one like this, is not a temporary fix. It is a lifestyle change. It takes an internal drive and determination to get there, and you will not know how good you will feel, until you get there. No plan will be perfect. Life is unpredictable at times, and not everything will happen according to plan. You will fall off track at times. My advice to anyone is to remember that every effort counts, and life is a series of falling off track and getting back on again. The important thing is that you never give up.

I am listing my personal basics on Fitness and Nutrition. I believe, that if you incorporate the ideas that I give into your own personal lifestyle, you will be making baby step towards living a longer healthier and happier life. Vitality is achievable. Easy? No. But worth it? Yes.

Nutrition and Quality of Food-

What is nutritious food? Are all foods created equal? There are many misconceptions of food quality and nutrient density when it comes to food choices. When I go to the grocery store, I find myself peaking into other people’s carts, assessing what they plan to take home and feed their families. Are they aware of what they are feeding their children? Probably not, I know that I was completely oblivious before I discovered what many consider to be Secrets of Nutrition, or more frankly, Secrets of a Health Nut. Here is my key to choosing nutritious foods: The fresher, less altered and manipulated, in the rawest form, is the healthiest. With that said organic means that a food is not grown with harsh chemicals and insecticides (can promote cancer). Canned foods often lose nutrient content when being processed and have additives added to increase shelf life. Meats contain hormones that help the animals to grow faster, but these harmful hormones are being ingested by you, the consumer (Think of why girls are going through puberty faster). Processed foods are losing their nutrient content in the process and being refortified afterwards (Are the vitamins and minerals being added back in as authentic as the ones lost in processing?) Think logically before purchasing a food item from the store. Convenience isn’t always the best choice. Nutrition should be a priority for you and your family.

Here is a meal idea: homemade spaghetti dish with whole wheat pasta cooked with a cap full of olive oil to prevent sticking, lean ground beef, fresh tomatoes, onions, green peppers, and organic canned spaghetti sauce. Add a little bit of olive oil for flavor and enrich with some wheat germ to fortify for your family (It won’t even effect the texture). A side of sprouted grain bread, with an olive oil garlic spread, toasted to perfection. A tossed organic Caesar salad dressing, with organic romaine and spinach, asparagus, avocado slices, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and topped with raw almonds and shredded all natural parmesan cheese. This is a classic dinner that would put a smile on your whole families face, as well as give you the peace of mind that you are feeding your family a truly nutritious and fulfilling meal.

This is how I used to prepare this meal: Regular ground beef with lots of grease left in the pan (to bring the spaghetti sauce together), a vegetable spaghetti sauce (good choice right, cause veggies are already added?), add a can of stewed tomatoes (Same as fresh tomatoes, right?), regular spaghetti noodles, with margarine added for flavor to the pasta (margarine is a healthier choice then butter, right?), whole wheat garlic toast made with margarine, and a side of canned green beans to get those veggies in. Don’t forget the grated Colby jack cheese topped on the spaghetti.

In this particular meal, it isn’t a matter of saving time, it’s all about choice. Using butter instead of margarine is a better choice because it doesn’t contain the hidden Trans fats (Hydrogenated oils) that are contained in margarine. Olive oil is an even healthier tasty Mediterranean twist to using solid fats. Lean ground beef if a healthier choice then regular beef, and the olive oil can provide the same stability to bring the sauce together. Sprouted grain bread is a low glycemic food that doesn’t contain the sugar that you find in the so called healthy wheat bread on the shelves today. A fresh salad with many colored vegetables is a much more nutrient dense choice then a can of green beans that has lost most of their nutrient value in processing, and has had chemical additives for shelf life. White cheeses are naturally lower in fat and have a stronger taste, thus you are using less for more flavor.

Think critically when you grocery shop. Use your common sense and logic to make healthier choices.

· Processed American cheese versus all natural cheddar cheese. Milk chocolate versus Dark chocolate.

· Fruit juice made from fruit without high fructose corn syrup versus fruit juices made from concentrate.

· Organic free range eggs versus regular white eggs.

· Canned fruit in light syrup versus fruit in water. Better yet, freshly chopped fruit.

If nutrient dense and fresh foods cost more, think of it as an investment towards you and your family’s future health.

Take the Time to Prepare Food-

Sometimes healthy eating isn’t the easiest to prepare. Homemade dishes can be time consuming and may take some planning to ensure that your ingredients are readily available. You really have to understand the health benefits of eating wholesome and fresh, to appreciate the time that you take to make these more nutritious meals. Try eating fresh for a week. No fast food, no processed foods, go overboard on your fruits and veggies, and stay away from salt and saturated fats. See if you can notice a difference in how your body starts to feel at the end of the week.

Here are some more time consuming, but more nutritious alternatives.

Frozen waffles versus whole wheat pancake mix made fresh in a waffle maker, topped with agave nectar maple syrup, opposed to butter flavored maple syrup that contains high fructose corn syrup.

Frozen lasagna premade meal versus homemade lasagna made with fresh vegetables, lean beef, wheat lasagna noodles, and topped with your cheese of choice.

Refrigerated cookie dough in a container versus organic cookies made with all organic flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate, and oatmeal. You can literally taste the difference in quality.

Timing of food intake can also be important. For example, eating a high protein and low sugar breakfast will help you get off on the right foot in the morning. Not only will it get your body up and ready to go, as well as satisfy hunger until your next meal, but it will also ward off cravings for sugar for the remainder of the day. Another thing to consider is your meal in the window period immediately following an exercise session. This is the time that eating a sugary carbohydrate as well as a protein, would be most efficient for your body to utilize to replenish glycogen stores used doing your workout session.

Food Groups-

It is essential to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. This is my guideline for vegetables. Each day, I try to eat a leafy, green, yellow or orange, red or purple, starchy, and one of the “A” vegetables. The “A” vegetables include Asparagus, Avocados, and Artichoke.

An example for a day would be a spinach (leafy) salad, topped with chopped cucumbers (green), tomatoes (red), and sliced avocado (“A” veggie), carrot sticks (orange), and a baked potato (starchy). Guidelines for fruit include eating an apple each day (for sustainable energy-one apple provides the same amount of energy as a cup of coffee), fresh berries in a smoothie each morning (for the antioxidants that help to rid of free radicals), and at least one other piece of fruit by the end of the day.

Guidelines for fats include using butter versus margarine, due to the Trans fat that is contained in the product, and my first choice always being a heart healthy oil, such as olive oil or coconut oil. Although coconut oil is high in saturated fats, studies have shown that this oil actually has health benefits that acts in the opposite way as your normal saturated fats found in butter and most meat products.

Guidelines for grains include using whole wheat over white, multigrain over wheat, and sprouted grain would always be my first choice. Sprouted grain bread is very low in fat and a low glycemic index compared to other breads including multigrain. For pastas, I always shoot for whole wheat pasta.

When choosing meats, I always choose hormone free over regular meats found in the grocery, Lean over fatty meats, white meats over red meats, wild caught fish over farm raised fish, and organic free range eggs over regular white eggs.

My favorite food group falls into the discretionary section of calorie intake. Yes, chocolate, candy, and sugary sweets. If you crave chocolate, eat a piece then wait awhile before indulging yourself with a second piece. I cannot stress how important to eat sugar in moderation is. The more sugar you eat, the more you crave. There have actually been studies that have shown that people who eat sugary foods often, have a harder time losing weight as well as maintaining a healthy weight.

What to Avoid-

There are two simple things at the top of my list that I would try to avoid when going to the grocery store, and they are always on the top of my list. First is High Fructose Corn Syrup, and the other is Trans fat aka hydrogenated oils that you can usually find on the ingredients list, even though it isn’t labeled under trans fat under the nutrition facts. These two ingredients are extremely detrimental to your body. Think of your body as a machine; if you fuel your car with high quality gasoline and oil, the life of the car is going to be much longer with less break downs. High fructose corn syrup is linked to diabetes, as it puts your body into sugar spikes, then drops out, causing you to feel fatigued and craving more sugary foods. Trans fats clog your arteries and make the outer lipid membrane of your cells hard, making it difficult to take in essential minerals and vitamins that your cells need to properly function. Another ingredient that raises caution is MSG. This additive has been linked to multiple sclerosis.

Another thing that I would consider when making food choices is the Ph of the product you are going to consume. Soda has a very low Ph, about 1 on a scale of 1 to 14, 1 being most acidic, 14 being most alkaline, and 7 being neutral. Your body is at homeostasis at about 7 (neutral). When you drink a soda, your body uses the energy it would use to metabolize and digest food, and spends a lot of effort trying to regain it back to its homeostatic neutral Ph. It also uses vital minerals and vitamins in order to carry out this work. This is why people who drink soda regularly have a lower bone density due to the vitamin D that is used to reestablish Ph instead of working with calcium. There are also many other ingredients in soda, such as phosphoric acid and caffeine that have been considered in theories to be linked to bone loss. Another key fact to realize is that meat has a very low Ph, whereas fruits and vegetables may be acidic, but act very alkaline when in the body.

Portion Size and Eating Often-

The biggest change I made with my food intake, and I still struggle with at times today, is portion size. Sometimes when the food I prepare is so delicious, I can’t help but indulge myself with seconds. There are some simple tricks that can help you to eat smaller meals and still feel satisfied. The first is, use a smaller plate, less room, less food. Second, is to wait between servings. It takes approximately 20 minutes for your mind to realize that it is actually full and satisfied. If you continue to eat throughout the 20 minutes, you will probably stop eating when you feel like you can’t possibly fit anymore. How many times have you ordered an appetizer at a restaurant, and by the time your meal got to the table, you were full and satisfied? Then, you sit at the table feeling obligated to finish the meal. There is no shame is saving the rest for later. This strategy can actually come in handy. On my work days, I make a big salad with all the fixins, and every few hours on my breaks, I will eat a portion of my salad. To keep your body fueled properly without smothering the fire, you should fuel up every 2-3 hours when hunger begins to creep your way.

Portions on your plate should also be assessed when preparing your food to eat. My rule of thumb is that you should always have ½ of your plate fruits and vegetables, ¼ lean meats, and the remaining ¼ should be a healthy grain. Keep it simple. Every meal should include a lean meat, healthy fat, and an unprocessed carbohydrate.

Planned Exercise-

When planning exercise, it is important to incorporate training in flexibility, strength, endurance, and cardio respiratory.

· Flexibility-Yoga, Pilates, and regular stretching are excellent ways to gain and maintain flexibility. Stretching as a warm up and cool down are important in preventing injury and promoting range of motion in sports and activities.

· Strength and Endurance-Weight lifting can help you to accomplish both of these areas of training. Lighter weights, more reps can help you with endurance; whereas heavier weights and fewer reps will help with strength. For a weight training session, you want your muscles to be tight; in this case, it is best to do a cardio workout for warm up, and a flexibility workout for cool down.

· Cardio Respiratory-Aerobic workouts, bike riding, treadmill, running, Zumba, and anything that gets your heart rate up can help you to develop and maintain efficient cardio respiratory health.

Finding Physical Activity in Everyday Life-

Whether you are doing laundry, mopping the floor, wiping the counters, or scrubbing the bath tub, you are burning calories and getting a workout. You can also enhance your calorie burning machine by choosing to walk instead of drive, parking in further parking spots when going to the grocery store, and using the stairs instead of the elevator. Physical activity doesn’t always need to be planned, it can be a way to get your kids active and away from the television set. Jumping on the tramp with the kids, kicking around a soccer ball in the back yard, and going swimming instead of to a movie; are all good ways to be active and have fun quality family time.

Attitude and Determination-

Bottom line is that you always have a choice. You wake up every day with a choice of what you will eat and how you will utilize your time. Goal setting is important, and you are most likely not going to feel and most definitely will not see results right off. It will take a positive optimistic attitude, hard work, and determination. Set little goals that build to bigger ones in the future. Change your thinking, your mind will drive your body in the right direction. You can be the best that you can be, it’s up to you and you only.

References-

Weight Training for life, James L. Hesson, 10th Edition,

Total Fitness & Wellness, Scott K. Powers Stephen L. Dodd and Erica M. Jackson, 3rd Edition,

Nutrition for Sport and Exercise, Marie Dunford and J. Andrew Doyle, 3rd Edition,