ELIMINATING EXCUSES | fitness

Before I get into this post, I have a special announcement. One of my sisters just bought a computer, so I am excited to welcome her to the 21st century!!

Now to the business – some of the benefits of protein:

Inclusion of up to 6 grams of protein during training or racing lasting greater than 3 hours may help enhance endurance performance by sparing muscle glycogen as well as increasing fluid uptake. One study demonstrated nearly a 25 percent increase in cycling endurance when an hourly rate of 6 grams of protein was consumed in a 7.75% carbohydrate solution. Another study discovered that athletes utilizing protein during training had 20% more endurance during their second workout of the day.**

DO SOMETHIN’!

** information source: Competitor texas magazine (CompetitorTX.com), January 2008 vol.05 #1, pg. 12, article by Kimberly Mueller, M.S., R.D.

In addition to eating a variety of fruits and vegetable everday, it is important to make sure that each meal is the right portion size for you. Rather than eating to fill completely your stomach, think in terms of what your body needs for normal functioning and how much food your body can process at one time. Overeating can lead to poor digestion of your food and other health issues. What I’ve found to work best for me is to eat about 4 – 6 times per day with each meal consisting of portions of foods that are about the size of my fist. So I am eating about the same amount or slightly more than I used to when I had 3 meals per day. By spreading this amount of food over more meals (not all meals being the same size as in total calories), I am not sluggish from eating a lot in one sitting (as in no more post meal ITIS); and I feel that more food digests more smoothly. Here’s a tip from Competitor texas health and fitness magazine on portion control:

For the average active person, the size of a small fist represents an appropriate portion of food. At main meals, aim to eat a fistful of starch (such as legumes, potatoes, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, whole grain cereal or a slice of bread) along with a fistful of protein (low-fat yogurt, milk or cottage cheese, soy foods, flank/round/sirloin steak, skinless poultry or fish) and two fistfuls of color (fruits and vegetables).**

For more details on what the right portion size is for you based on your caloric needs, I suggest that you check with your physician or dietician.

DO SOMETHIN’!

** information source: Competitor texas magazine (CompetitorTX.com), January 2008 vol.05 #1, pg. 12, article by Kimberly Mueller, M.S., R.D.

Happy New Year! I hope that you enjoyed the holidays and that ’08 is off to a strong start for you.

As we look to keep our nutrition on point, here is a tip from Competitor texas health and fitness magazine:

Half of every meal should have a rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables, which have been shown to be loaded with antioxidants that help protect our immune cells from harmful oxygen molecules called free radicals and ultimately protect against disease. Norwegian and American scientists recently complied a list of the foods with the highest antioxidant content per serving. The list included blackberries, strawberries, artichokes, cranberries, raspberries, blueberries and grape juice.**

Now that you have the facts, DO SOMETHIN’!

** information source: Competitor texas magazine (CompetitorTX.com), January 2008 vol.05 #1, pg. 12, article by Kimberly Mueller, M.S., R.D.

Feeling energetic today? If not, can you buy some energy? How about an energy drink? Actually no, you don’t need to buy an energy drink. Let me explain.

I asked a question in regards to how you “feel.” So, the answer will be based on subjective mental and physical feelings as it should be. However, just because you feel this way does not mean that your muscles don’t have the potential (or capacity) to do work. Your muscles use ATP (adenonine triphosphate) for fuel; ATP is derived from the foods that you eat. For this reason, it is critical to eat the right kinds and quantity of foods to provide your body with sufficient carbohydrates, protein and good fats. In addition, your body needs water, vitamins and minerals. Even though vitamins and minerals don’t provide calories, they are essential to many key bodily functions like energy production. So if you are eating right, you already have the energy needed to DO SOMETHIN’! If you don’t feel energetic, maybe you had a stressful day or you need to get more sleep.

Don’t be fooled by energy drinks. Many provide nothing more than caffeine which is addictive and can be harmful to your health. If you are looking to quench your thirst before/after/during a workout, water is an excellent choice. You can also consider sports drinks with no caffeine, no (or low) sodium and a concentration of 5 – 10% of carbohydrates.

Now you have the facts. DO SOMETHIN’!

**information source: ACE Personal Trainer Manual 3rd edition, edited by Cedric X. Bryant, Ph. D and Daniel J. Green

One of my youtube friends asked me about my perspective on dietary supplements. This topic is an important one so I’d like to share my perspective. I am a fitness enthusiast, not a health professional; so consult your physician or a trusted health professional to help you determine what supplements are best for you.

My opinion on dietary supplements is that they do have a role in nutrition; but whatever I take, I am going to make sure I have a clear reason on why I am taking it and what it will do. Some supplements contain ingredients that are of minimal or no nutritional value or even harmful when consumed over a long period of time. In my opinion, the fewer supplements I take, the better off I am. Therefore, I try to eat foods that provide sufficient nutrients. I only take a multivitamin and I make protein shakes. As for the multivitamin, I buy the generic kind from a nutrition store like Vitamin Shoppe. There are so many brands and types that I prefer to go with the basic kind since I don’t have any particular health issues or deficinies I need to address. You might want to talk to your doctor or a nutritionist if there are specific health needs/concerns you have. As for my protein, I buy protein made from natural sources with no added creatine or other unnatural ingredients.

So, you might be thinking why do I take multivitamins and protein? I do acknowledge that it can be challenging to get all the nutrients that the body needs from food. For this reason, I take a multivitamin. As for the protein shakes, I consume them for the same reason.

Be mindful of what you put in your body. DO SOMETHIN’!

This week I want to answer some of the fitness and nutrition questions that I have received recently. Please continue to post your questions and comments; and I will get back to you.

Question:
How do I eat healthy when traveling for business?

Answer part 1:
The first step is to make your nutrition part of the planning for your trip. Find out what kind and what quality of food is served at the location you will be working. Find out what restaurants and eating establishments are in the area (ask your colleagues that have traveled there and talk to individuals that work at the site). If you are going to another country, find out as much as you can about the native cuisine, the most common foods and the quality of the tap water/drinking water. With this information, you will know what to expect for food choices and be able to plan accordingly for your meals.

During your trip, I also recommend that you visit the grocery store. There, you can pick up some healthy snacks and breakfast items (nuts, yogurt, wheat bread, fruits, etc.); and some grocery stores have decent delicatessens and cafeterias where you can get a quality meal. Lastly, if you are in a hotel that has a kitchen, take advantage of it and make some easy, healthy meals from what you buy at the grocery store. For example, your dinner can consist of an oven baked sweet potato, mixed vegetables (from a frozen bag) and oven baked chicken (from the meat section or butcher). These tips might sound like a lot of effort; but I applied them during several 1-3 week long trips to Germany, and I found them to be useful and managable.

Answer part 2:
DO SOMETHIN’!

This week I will share some tips to help you make healthy food and beverage choices.

So, we are at the end of another week. You have plans to hit the dance club tonight, followed by a mellow lounge and then who knows what next. But before you head out, you cook a healthy meal so that you can continue with your good nutrition. Unexpectedly, the meal seems a bit bland. What should you do? A: Keep eating because the meal tastes good anyways. B: Poor copius amounts of hot sauce on your meal. C: Add some salt to the meal. The choice is yours, but I want to make a few comments about salt (I would choose A).

As you know, salt contains sodium. Sodium acts an electrolyte in the body and assists in the maintenance of the acid/base balance and is essential to nerve transmission and muscle contraction. In general, foods contain adequate amounts of sodium, especially processed foods. Approximately 75% of a person’s sodium comes from processed foods. The remainder comes from what you add to your food and that which is naturally in food itself. About 10% of your sodium comes from that which is naturally found in food. So the salt you add to your food will provide the remaining 15% of your sodium needs. Based on this ratio, you should use salt sparing as you cook and season your food. Excess salt intake can lead to hypertension (high blood pressure).

Now you have the facts. Manage your salt intake wisely and enjoy the weekend! DO SOMETHIN’!

***information source: Macrobolic Nutrition by Gerard Dente with Kevin J. Hopkins

This week I will share some tips to help you make healthy food and beverage choices.

So you just finished a nutritious and delicious meal and you are thirsty. What are you going to do? A: Reach for a beer. B: Reach for a diet soda. C: Reach for a glass of refreshing water. D: Go to Starbucks. I hope you choose C. Even though water does not contain vitamins or minerals and it does not have any caloric value from carbs, protein or fat, water is an integral part of nutrition. It is the key enabler of many bodily processes like protein synthesis, energy metabolism and many other critical chemical reactions. Water is essential to human life.

Therefore, staying hydrated is critical. I recommend that you consume at least 8 – 10 eight ounce glasses/day. If you are very active or working out, you’ll want more since sweating is one of the key avenues for water loss. One way to determine if you are drinking enough water is to look at the color of your urine. If you are properly hydryated, you will have clear urine as long as you are not on any supplements or medication (they have been known to change the color of urine). Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink water and don’t stop drinking it because you feel that you have quenched your thirst. Research has shown that if you rely on thirst to determine when to drink water, you’ll put back only about 50 – 75% of the fluid you have lost; and thus you would start the next day already in a state of dehydration.

Now you have some key facts on water. DO SOMETHIN’!

***information source: ACE Personal Trainer Manual 3rd edition, edited by Cedric X. Bryant, Ph. D and Daniel J. Green

This week I will share some tips to help you make healthy food choices.

We all know our own eating habits and we know what our favorite foods are. Some of these favorites may not be the healthiest choices. I share tips on how to eat healthy so that you will have the infomation to make the best choices for yourself. However, I recommend that you don’t take nutrition too far and thus end up not being able to eat unless your grew the food in your own garden or unless you raised the animal yourself. Do your best to eat healthy, but allow yourself to eat foods that you enjoy occassionally even if they are not the healthiest choice. To be clear, I am not saying indulge but rather take a few occassions to treat yourself. I call this balanced eating. Balanced eating allows you too be healthy in a fun way.

DO SOMETHIN’!

This week I will share some tips to help you make healthy food choices.

Throughout the day, we often get hungry and want something to eat that is not a full meal but sizeable enough to tame the hunger until we can get to a meal. It is easy to go to the store and buy cookies, pastries and various other heavily processed snacks. Be careful with these choices. Many of these snacks (if not the majority) have little to no nutritional value and will not support your work towards good health. These snacks are often high in fat, cholestorol, sodium, preservatives, artifcial flavors/colorings and sugar. They are usually made solely for the purpose of tasting good.

When you are at the store buying snacks, look for fruits (apples, oranges, bananas, pears, etc.), vegetable (carrots, celery, green peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, etc.) and nuts (pecans, almonds, peanuts, etc.). These choices makes for healthier snacks, especially when you can get these in their natural form (no insecticides, no salt, frozen as opposed to from a can, etc.). However, always remember to wash your fruit and vegetables before eating them. If it says “organic,” ask the questions to understand what that means. Yogurt also makes for a great snack. You can add your fresh fruit, nuts and/or honey to add more flavor without minimizing the nutritional value. I recommend that you get plain yogurt and read the ingredients to make sure that you are getting the natural kind (in some cases it may be labeled organic). Another alternative for a snack is to take a smaller portion of one of your healthy meals that you make and have that as a snack.

DO SOMETHIN’!