Eating out might not be as healthy as you think

Click this link, very intestesting stuff on nutritional facts

Happy Thanksgiving

As the beginning of Holiday season nears, I just wanted to remind everybody to stay on track with your fitness goals. Just because you are off of work a lot and having a lot of social events doesn't mean you have to gain weight back. There is no excuse. In fact, with this extra free time from work it should be even more convenient to get a work out in. As I don't expect you to eat as healthy as you should, it becomes even more important to stick to your workout plan to help compensate for the increase in calorie intake.  Be active, go for a run, hit the gym first thing in the morning and stay consistent.  Get some type of exercise in 5 to 6 days a week. It will keep you feeling healthy and fit and relieve stress of the holiday season. Don't you want to show up to those holiday parties and  family gatherings looking to impress?

I know today, Thanksgiving Day, will be filled with your favorite traditional home cooked foods you love. It is after all only once a year and I'm not telling you to pass up on them.  But be realistic, watch your portion control and skip second helpings. The average American consumes 4,500 calories and 229 grams of fat  from their Thanksgiving Day meal, not including other meals/snacks of the day! Take a look a this link and get an idea of what you might be at and consider serving sizes!  Thanksgiving Day Calorie Calculator

Liquids Have Calories Too!

When trying to get in shape, tone up, lose weight or whatever you term your fitness goal, diet is an important key to your success.  Sometimes we tend to overlook what we drink is also a part of your overall calorie intake for the day.  Starting off the day with coffee is OK in moderation but just like food, it can quickly change from things you add to it like cream and sugar. Milk of course is a healthy choice but go with 1% or skim milk to cut down on the fat, sugar and calories.  Next comes the obvious, cokes (as we like to call it in Texas) depending where you are from, maybe you call it soda or pop. If you are a habitual coke drinker, try to cut that from your diet for a week and two and I think you'll be surprised what an effect if can have on you.  You might experience headaches but eventually they will subside and you can get some caffeine from alternative sources.  Unfortunately many juices aren't much better for you than coke. They are packed full of sugar as well, so unless you are freshly squeezing it yourself, read the sugar content on the label before you think you reaching for a nutritious drink.  Lastly comes the nightcap. Here again are empty calories and carbohydrates you can eliminate from your diet and that will help change the shape of your body. Whether it is a mixed drink or beer, you are just adding more calories to be stored as fat! I know you've heard the term "beer belly" before! So instead of reaching for these drinks, just have a nice old fashioned glass of.....ICE WATER. Not only are you cutting these empty calories and extra grams of sugar, drinking a lot of water will help boost your metabolism, have you feeling more energetic and happy,  and improve your overall health.  If you get bored easily with the lack of taste, try a calorie free water enhancer like Mio.

Start Your Day Off Right

It's 6:00 A.M. in the morning when your alarm goes off. Among many other possibilities, you've got to feed and walk the dog, shower and get dressed, then head off to fight traffic, coffee cup in hand. What's missing from this picture? BREAKFAST! In a poll by ABC News, 4 out of 10 Americans skip breakfast. This number actually surprised me. From my experience speaking to people about diet and nutrition, I expected an even higher number. Nonetheless, it is a problem that needs to be addressed. I remember a saying I was taught at a young age, "Eat like a king for breakfast, a queen for lunch, and a pauper for dinner." It turns out there is some truth to be told in this saying. Unfortunately, the norm in America is quite the opposite.

Why is breakfast so important? First, you consider the fact that you (should) have been sleeping for the past 8 hours and have obviously not had any food to eat. Your body needs to refuel for the start of a new day. You will feel healthier, more energized and have better concentration on school or work. Also it plays part in another principle of diet and nutrition of eating smaller portions 4-5 times a day. This will help boost your metabolism and keep you eating the right amount of food. When you go long periods of time without eating (i.e. sleeping and the waking up to skip breakfast) your body is going to conserve the food you eat and store it as fat. This slows down your metabolism.

While I am reminding you to eat breakfast, just as any other meal it needs to consist of healthy and beneficial nutrients. Good lean proteins, high fiber and whole grain/whole wheat carbohydrates are the most important things to consider when choosing your menu.  Plain unflavored oatmeal is one of the best things to start with. You get good whole grain complex carbohydrates as well as a smaller amount of protein. Note I said PLAIN oatmeal, not flavored or sweetened. Most people give me an ugly face when I tell them this. Some simple ways of adding flavor to it are a teaspoon of peanut butter, cinnamon, a small mix of honey, or some of your favorite fruit. If you are using milk, make sure to use low fat or skim milk. For protein, eggs are considered one of the best natural sources of protein for breakfast. Specifically the egg whites are the most beneficial part so if preparing more than one egg, keep it to just one or no egg yolks which hold more cholesterol. Other items good to have as part of a breakfast meal are yogurt and cottage cheese. Be wary of high sugar/high sweetener yogurts though. Greek yogurt is also high in protein so look for those. Lastly, the most common form of breakfast is cereal. Again, be careful which cereal you choose as many of them have high sugar levels. There are some great whole grain cereals that have protein in them as well. Post and Kashi brand cereals are among the best! As you can see, these examples I have given take little to no preparation time so don't tell me you don't have time. Tomorrow when you wake up, start your day off right!

The most important exercise you can do for your body

Two of the biggest mistakes I see in the gym are people that do not do cardiovascular exercise (often referred to as cardio) intensely enough, or those who neglect to do it altogether. First, I'll address those who don't even attempt it. This one goes out mostly to the guys who sit around and lift a weight that is most likely too heavy for them and then sit around for 5 minutes in between sets. Your heart is undeniably  the most important muscle in your body, so why would you not want to work it out and make it stronger? Big muscles and probably a big gut won't do anything to increase your overall health or lifespan. Now to those of you who say " Oh, this doesn't apply to me, I go to the gym everyday and do 30 minutes of cardio." If you are reading or talking to your neighbor while doing your "cardio", you aren't getting much benefit out of it. I'm not saying you have to be out of breath the whole time, just push yourself outside your comfort zone. You need to get your heart rate up. You are there to exercise your heart, not your eyes, ears, and mouth. You shouldn't be able to comfortably carry on a conversation for 30 minutes while exercising, and yes, get a little sweaty, it is good for you! Bring your iPod, turn on some fast paced songs, and get moving! OK, enough ranting and bashing (hopefully you got a few laughs from it though), now I'll get more into the science of it  and why you should listen to what I'm saying..

According to the Framingham Heart Study, daily moderate cardiovascular exercise can add at least 4 years to your lifespan.  That one sentence alone should be enough to motivate you to get your cardio in. Also, you are less likely to develop heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels. Aside from a longer healthier life, cardio is a great way to lose weight. When your heart is working harder to pump oxygen to the muscles, you have a much greater caloric expenditure. But wait, it gets even better. Your body will burn more calories after a workout than if you didn't exercise. Known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC, is the number of calories expended to return the body to a pre-exercise resting state. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 48 hours to fully reach this resting state, depending on the intensity and duration of the exercise.

So now you are ready to do some cardio but aren't sure how intense your workout should be? Use this simple method to determine your target heart rate zone. Once you figure out the right range for your body, you can monitor your progress by periodically gripping the handles of the heart rate monitor equipped on most modern cardio training machines which I will get into in a minute. Also, there are personal  heart rate monitors you can purchase that you wear around you chest and wrist.
OK, so using the Karvonen formula, the target training zone is 60 to 80 % of you maximum heart rate.
    
Heart Rate Reserve = (Maximum heart rate-resting heart rate) X intensity + resting heart rate

So first you have to find you resting heart rate. Using your index and middle fingers, place them together on your wrist slightly below the thumb on the radial  artery or underneath your jaw on the carotid artery. In a resting state, count the number of beats in 60 second, this is your resting heart rate. You are looking for a number hopefully somewhere between 60 and 90. For maximum heart rate, it's as simple as subtracting your age from 220. So let's say you are 40 years old with a resting heart rate of 75 beats per minute giving you a maximum heart rate of 180 (220-40).

      (180-75) 60% + 75= 136
      (180-75) 80% + 75= 156
This person's training zone would be between 136 and 156 beats per minute.

There are many great ways of getting cardio exercise outside of a gym like running and swimming but for the purposes of this post, I am going to briefly go over the common machines you find in a gym with the heart rate monitors I previously spoke about.
1. Bicycle-good workout for the legs with increased resistance, somewhat less of a calorie burn due to the lower body isolation and being in a seated (vs standing) position but can be advantageous to those who can't be on their feet for longer durations.
2. Treadmill-most commonly used, good for beginners, better caloric expenditure with increased incline grade and hands off the machine unless absolutely needed, high impact on joints though
3. Elliptical-new age technology, low impact on joints especially knees, incorporates more upper body movement, also better caloric expenditure with increased incline grade.
4. Arc Trainer-also new age technology, greater resistance on the quad and glute muscles again with little impact on joints, higher caloric expenditure.

5. StairMaster- my favorite! highest caloric expenditure and most difficult in my mind, the name should say it all. I can burn 500 calories in just half an hour on this.
Next time you go to the gym try each of these out and see for yourself. The most common recommendation I have for the average person is the elliptical. Get one with the arm pumps and the incline grade!

All of these recommendations aren't for everybody. Should you question whether or not you are ready for high intensity exercise, consult your doctor first especially if you have muscle/ joint problems, high blood pressure, heart problems, are pregnant, are a diabetic, or are over the age of 50. Oh and please have a healthy snack an hour before exercising and hydrate hydrate hydrate! I'll speak more about that on another post one day...