And This…

Not to mention this…

(Look at all the beautiful colors – its got me salivating)

NOT THIS!

Don’t be deceived – this last picture looks very similar to the first picture above, but this one is full of refined (dare I say deadly) white, devilish carbs.  Throw out those nutrient-free bagels, chips, muffins, pasta, and breads and replace them with the whole wheat variety.

These days it’s not so easy to tell anymore.  Just because something is brown in color or claims to be “whole grain” doesn’t mean it’s whole wheat.  In order to weed out the good from the bad you really have to check the ingredients list.  Make sure the first ingredient in anything carb-related is the phrase “whole wheat”.  If the first ingredient says “enriched” anything put the devil back on the shelf!

Carbs ARE good for you and essential for energy and metabolism.  Good carbs are full of fiber (for fullness), essential vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.  Don’t be fooled by the marketing blitz’ against carbs.  That’s all nonsense.

My Rule of Thumb: the closer it came from the ground the better.  So whenever possible, eat rice over bread.  And of course, it’s hard to go wrong with fruits and vegetables.

(Source: http://www.badfatsbrothers.com/BFB.html)

In my last post, I mentioned “the right kinds of food”, but failed to tell you exactly what those are.  Instead of doing one long post, I thought I’d do a brief series on this topic.

Contrary to popular belief, eating fat does not always make you fat.  Look at the French with their Foie Gras and full fat butters.  Stick to eating the right kinds of fat for optimum health.  The good, unsaturated fats help reduce harmful LDL cholesterol and increase good HDL cholesterol.  Avoid bad fats (mostly trans fats and some saturated fats) that clog your arteries and raise bad cholesterol.

Did you also know that even though fat is the most calorically dense, it also helps to suppress appetite?  Always a good thing when you’re trying to lose weight.

Good Monounsaturated Fats:

• Avocados
• Nut butters
• Nuts (except Macadamias)
• Flaxseed and Flaxseed Oil
• Canola and Olive Oil

Good Polyunsaturated Fats:

• Salmon (contains Omega-3 Fatty Acids)
• Fish oil
• Corn, Soy, Safflower, and Sunflower oils (contains Omega-6 Fatty Acids)
• Leafy Greens
• Algae, seaweed

Saturated Fats - these are naturally occurring fats often found in animal protein and dairy products.  The media went on a frenzy against saturated fats so they have a bad rap, but they do have a place in our diet and are not necessarily bad for us (when eaten in moderation).  Benefits include aiding calcium utility in bone health, reducing heart disease, acting as an antiviral agent, and stimulating the immune system.  Nonetheless, try to limit your intake of these foods because they are high in cholesterol.

• Palm oil and coconut oil
• Cream, butter, margarine
• Chicken with skin
• Marbled, non-lean meat
• Whole milk, yogurt, and cheese
• Mayonnaise

Bad Trans Fat - beware of these sneaky devils – it’s hard to tell which foods contain them unless you read labels and check the ingredients list of most packaged foods.  Trans fats (or trans fatty acids) are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid.  Another name for trans fats is “partially hydrogenated oils”.  The good news is that most companies are veering away from using Trans Fat in their products because of the bad rap its been getting in recent years.  You’ll see a lot of products now touting “0 Trans Fat!” in big, bold font.

• Processed, packaged foods
• Deep fried foods like french fries
• Shortening
• Pastries and Pie crusts

Bottom Line? Yes certain fats are good for you, but too much of it can still lead to weight gain if you’re not careful.  Ultimately, it is about calories in versus calories out.  I wouldn’t recommend eating a bucketful of nuts in one sitting no matter how much healthy fat they contain.

In the last day or two, 2 major news outlets (and many more I’m sure) have published articles linking Alcohol and Weight Loss.  You can read about them here and here.

A brief breakdown of their key points:

• Women consuming the highest amount of alcohol per day (more than two drinks daily) were 30% less likely to be overweight and nearly 70% less likely to be obese than nondrinkers.
• There is evidence that alcohol may cause physiologic changes to appetite and metabolism that may drive women to lose weight as they drink more.
• The trend toward less weight gain among drinkers doesn’t appear to hold true for men.
• The risk of becoming overweight was almost 30 percent lower for women who consumed one or two alcohol beverages a day, compared with nondrinkers.

This was a 13-year study and they controlled for factors such as age, weight, body mass index, smoking, physical activity levels, and income levels.

The study was published by a major medical journal, making it hard to dismiss, but at the same time I wouldn’t be surprised if some “doctor” decides to ride its coattails and turn it into another crazed diet fad.  Drink alcohol for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and lose 10 pounds in 10 days!!!

Before you go out and celebrate let’s consider a few things:

• They didn’t distinguish between types of alcohol.  Red wine has long been known for its health benefits, but beer and mixed cocktails?  Full of sugar and empty carbs if you ask me.  Something to think about.
• The study said that the women who consumed the most alcohol replaced the alcohol with food.  They replaced one form of calories for another.  Alcohol over food is not the healthiest approach IMHO.
• Previous studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption is highly correlated with already active women.  If you’re thinking about adding alcohol to an already sedentary lifestyle, I’m not sure it will lead to weight loss.

Bottom Line? Moderation is key.  My biggest concern with these articles is that they were saying those who drank the most alcohol saw the least amount of weight gain.  Remember in the 70s when they said Low fat and High Carbs were the way to go?  That led us to a generation of obesity and diabetes.  In the 90s it was High Protein and No Carbs.  That led us to a generation of obesity and heart disease.

Remember, it’s the RIGHT kind of carbs, the RIGHT kind of fats, the RIGHT kind of protein, and now… the RIGHT kind of alcohol that matters.  In reasonable amounts of course.

“If you went to work out the moment you thought about working out, you would be back by now”  - Nike

If you’ve been working out regularly, sooner or later you’ll hit that wall we fondly call “the workout rut” or “workout plateau”.  You’ve been using the same machines, going through the same routine, and every time you think about working out you have a long debate about it in your head (then end up on the couch).  Not only that, but you aren’t even losing any weight!  Is this you?

Common Symptoms of Rut-ville:

-  Working out doesn’t excite you the way it used to.
-  You usually get lost in your music or TV, but these days all you can think about is the clock, and how much longer you have on that treadmill.
-  You feel lethargic after working out and you’re tired all the time.

So how do you get out of this annoying predicament?

1.  Change up your routine. Variety is key to keeping your body challenged.  When I first started working out all I did was run because that’s what I was comfortable with, and that’s what worked for me.  I still love to run, and I hope I never stop, but it bores me to tears at times.

Recently, my friend asked me to take a bootcamp class with her.  I didn’t know if I’d enjoy it, but bootcamp has been surprisingly fun and challenging.  I’m not great at it, but it’s something new that my body enjoys.  That Groupon deal is also something my friend and I decided to do together.  Pole Dancing sounds craaazy and a little bit risque, but to each their own!  I’m excited to let loose and just go with it.  These activities are a welcome change from my first love – running.

This leads me to my next point…

2.  Find a Buddy! As a runner, I always preferred running alone.  These days, that mindset is changing.  I checked out a yoga studio with one friend and went to bootcamp with another.  At first I went for the chance to bond with the girls, but it’s also been a great way to keep me accountable to working out.  It’s hard to bail on a workout (no matter how lazy you are), when a commitment is made to a good friend.

3.  Do something you love. If you don’t love what you do, you’re not going to stick it out for the long run.  Kickboxing wasn’t for me, but yoga and bootcamp is.  You would never find me in a dance studio (two left feet at a dance studio?  Nuh-uh), but I’m all for a rough bike ride through the back country.  One workout doesn’t fit all.  Find the one that fits you.

4.  Rest. Sounds counterintuitive doesn’t it?  The workout world calls too much exercise overtraining.  Symptoms of overtraining include chronic fatigue, chronic muscle soreness, irritability, headaches, and an overall decrease in workout performance.  If you’re overtraining that means you’re not giving your body enough rest in between workouts.  Your muscles need time to recover.

Taxing out your body may even have the opposite affect on your fitness goals and actually stall weight loss.  The solution?  Take a week off if necessary and start fresh the next week, or make sure you incorporate recovery days in your week to prevent overtraining.

The bottom line? LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.  It will tell you what it needs.  Love it, nurture it, keep it healthy.  Treat it well and it will treat you well.

I decided to go today after hours of studying.  I was restless, the weather outside was perfect (crisp, cold, and gloomy), and I had been missing yoga for awhile.  I looked at the online schedule and didn’t recognize half of the teachers’ names.  So much can change in just half a year!  It was a risk having to try a new teacher my first time back – if you think all teachers are created equal, I’m here to break that illusion and tell you NO, they are definitely not.

Luckily, my teacher today was amazing.  Better than amazing.  She had a soothing voice, was very helpful, encouraged me throughout the class, and couldn’t be funnier.  Yes, Bikram can be fun (and funny).

As for me… I wanted to die halfway into the balancing series.  We were barely at balancing stick pose and I already had to sit out a few times.  The heat was getting to me.  My stomach felt nauseous.  My head was lightheaded.  I felt the onset of a Migraine.  I did not feel good.

But I got through it.  I even got myself to do the triangle and tree to toe stand poses.  No easy feat I tell ya.  Once the floor series started I stopped thinking about the lightheadedness and just let my body bend and breathe the way it needed to.

It felt like the longest hour and a half of my life, but I got through it with dignity.  At the end of it, my teacher even called me a superstar!  I don’t know when I’ll be back, but for today I just want to relish in this accomplishment.  Now back to studying.

“What the Eff”
“You’ve got to be KIDDING me!”
“America and their quick fixes”
“Children still have so much life ahead of them. They can change their lifestyle NOW without going under the knife”

Trying not to jump too ahead of myself, I read the article through.  It didn’t provide me any comfort.  I understand that weight loss isn’t easy, but for those under the Age of 21, I think it’s just irresponsible for parents to allow their children to undergo such a drastic surgery.  Dare I say that they should make a surgery like this for teens illegal?  First of all, they aren’t even finished growing.  We don’t know the implications of such a surgery on adolescents.  Second of all, they are still young and can change their ways with proper guidance, and support.  How about we start by adding P.E. classes back into schools while taking out the snack bars and soda machines?

Take a look at the trends I pulled from the CDC website.  Close to 20% of our adolescents are now considered obese, but is surgery the answer?

(Source: CDC.gov)

It saddens me to see that our society’s obesity problems have gotten to this point.

I hope you’re reading this!  The contact form didn’t work properly so all I got was your subject line.  It didn’t capture your name or email, so here I am trying to find you in blogosphere.  Please fill out the contact form again (it works now!) – I’ll do my best to answer whatever inquiry you might have had.  :)

It is Christian tradition to give up something for 40 days starting from Ash Wednesday (that’s today!) to mentally and spiritually prepare for Easter.  Lent is a time for Christians to re-focus their lives back towards Christ by giving up something that is difficult for them to relinquish – usually a distraction of some sort.  Instead, the time that would have been allotted for ‘A’ or ‘B’ would go towards spiritual renewal and reflection (and just an overall better use of time).

Guess what I’ll be giving up this year?

This year I’ve decided to give up Facebook.  I’ve thought about giving up Facebook for lent for the past 3 years, but always found a reason not to.  This is going to be HARD for me.  An inordinate amount of my internet time goes to Facebook, so for the next 40 days I’m leaving it behind.  It is without a doubt, one of my biggest time sucks.

The soul is as important to our health as our mind and body, yet, it is one of the most neglected.  It’s so easy to go on cruise control throughout our days without one moment of pause (sorry, vegging out in front of the TV doesn’t count).  I know my soul is thirsty and I hope these next 40 days will be a time of refreshment.

If you do celebrate Lent, what are you giving up?
If you aren’t celebrating Lent, what distractions are cluttering your life that weigh you down?

Rick Hoyt has a debilitating disease called Cerebral Palsy, and these are the lengths one father will go for his son.  If you’ve never seen this inspiring video about Team Hoyt, you should.  Still one of the most moving stories I’ve ever encountered.

Since 2009, they’ve accomplished over 1000 races together, including 6 Ironman competitions.
Have you ever witnessed a love so deep?

More About Team Hoyt: http://www.teamhoyt.com/about/index.html

The results are in and the numbers don’t lie.  Missed my half marathon goal by 1 minute 16 seconds!!!