the woRD on fitness...

Running: A Social Sport

2012-02-09T19:24:00.000-05:00

I'm not quite done with The China Study yet, but I thought we could all use a little break!

While I was out doing a long training run for the marathon I'm getting ready for, I thought about something someone said about running once. Someone told me that running really isn't a social sport, and that's probably why she never liked it. Running can definitely be a sport of solitude. It can be a time of reflection, prayer, stress relief, and thought. I have used running for these things many times. However, running is most certainly a social sport, if you want it to be. It is truly a sport of versatility.

A lot of times when I'm out running, I tend to see other runners over and over again. Even when I pass runners who I've never seen before, we always exchange a "hello", "good morning", "lookin' good", "you're almost to the top of the hill", or other tid bit of encouragement. When I go to the running store that I frequent, they often recognize me from my last visit and I often run into them (not literally) at local road races. It is always fun to see familiar faces.

You can also run with a friend or in a group. I have great memories of running with a friend of mine in college. I got to know her best during our conversations during early morning runs. My husband and I used to run together all of the time before we had kids, but now one of us has to watch the kids while the other one runs. Most cities have running clubs where people get together and hit the pavement. It is fun to enjoy something active with other people who live around you. The energy and passion for running is often contagious in these groups.

Lastly, running in road races is a great way to spend a Saturday morning. I love seeing the same runners over and over and enjoying the comradery. Everyone is sweating, working hard, testing their mental and physical strength, and celebrating at the finish line. I love the energy and excitement in races. Along the way, fellow runners cheer each other on and ofter encouragement when it is needed.

Running is truly an invigorating sport that offers versatility, stress relief, health benefits, comradery, achievement, and excitement. If you don't believe me, ask around to find a great 5K in your city. Try it and see what you think. You have nothing to lose but calories/inches from your waste!

The China Study Part III: Animal Protein, Good or Bad?

2012-01-29T18:13:00.001-05:00

Atkins, South Beach, Sugar Busters, and the list goes on. Fad diets will probably always surround us and continue to confuse the general public. Unfortunately, it seems that Campbell is planting the seed for another fad with The China Study (1). Don't get me wrong, as I said in the last post, Campbell is completely right that we need more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in our diet. We also need less refined foods and meat. However, is there really truth to the claim that all animal protein is slowly killing Americans?

As I mentioned in Part I of this discussion of The China Study, Campbell bases the idea that animal protein is detrimental on a study that linked casein to cancer. On page 104, Campbell states, "casein, and very likely all animal proteins, may be the most relevant cancer-causing substance that we consume (1)." So, it is Campbell's opinion that all animal proteins cause cancer. There is no proof and in the peer-reviewed journal article, a claim about animal protein being a carcinogen is not made (2).

The second major study (3) that Campbell draws his conclusions from was an ecological study that he performed in China. In the study, nutritional intake was compared to cholesterol levels, body weight, and many other factors that may be predictive of chronic disease. The study was very interesting and gave some insight to the idea that a whole foods diet high in plants can lead to a life with less disease. Other than the fact that this type of study cannot prove cause-and-effect, it seemed that it was fairly well designed. Of course there were limitations to the study, but it still produced a lot of interesting information. The biggest concern I had with the design of the study was that blood samples were pooled by commune, age, and sex. Those pools of blood were then used to measure a number of biochemical markers. I asked several Medical Doctors and other people skilled in research about this technique. Not one person failed to raise an eyebrow at this. It seems like a lot of validity would have been lost in dumping everyone's blood sample together and just taking an average. The actual study that was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stated that "any inferences concerning cause-and-effect relationships should be considered to be hypothetical only, with validation to be provided by intervention or prospective analytic studies on individuals." In the book that Campbell wrote, he does mention that the study cannot prove cause-and-effect. However, he goes on to basically talk about animal proteins causing disease as if they are hard and true facts. It is very important to remember that the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is peer-reviewed; whereas the book that Campbell wrote about the study and other studies is not peer-reviewed. As far as I can remember, there is actually no mention in the actual study that it is best if humans cut out all animal products. Please correct me if I am wrong. In The China Study book, Campbell highly encourages readers to cut out all animal products.

So let's get back to my claim that Campbell's book is starting a fad diet. Why would I go that far? If you look at the data, it shows that the Chinese eat animal protein. They have not cut it out of their diets, they just eat less than Americans. I don't think it is any secret that Americans eat way too much meat and cheese. If most Americans reduced their portion sizes of meat, ate less cheese, and stuck to low fat dairy products, I imagine that there would be much less chronic disease in our country. Notice that I did not say "eliminate" these products from our diets. So if the Chinese haven't eliminated animal products from their diets and their chronic disease rates are so much lower, why must we eliminate animal products from our diet? A serving size of meat is three ounces. How many people eat more than this serving size? Probably most people do. So, maybe our chronic disease rates are so high because people are eating way more than the recommended serving size, not because they're eating any amount of animal products. I believe that any diet that promotes completely cutting out a food group belongs in the "fad diet" category. Animal products provide us with necessary nutrients and we can obtain those nutrients by eating small portions of those products.

One disclaimer I would like to add is cutting out animal products in the case of ethical concern. I support any person's ethical convictions and believe that you can live a healthy life without animal products, as long as you take a few necessary supplements.

3. Campbell, T.C. & Junshi, C. Diet and chronic degenerative diseases: perspectives from Chima. Am J Clin Nutr. 1994; 59 (suppl): 1153S-61S.

The China Study Part II: Where We Agree

2012-01-23T19:44:00.001-05:00

Campbell seems to have a passion for disease prevention, public health, and eating well. I share these same passions and this is where we can certainly agree. This post will mostly be about where Campbell and I agree.

An undeniable truth that Campbell discusses in The China Study is the fact that diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are too rampant and something needs to be done. Lifestyle is a huge factor that impacts disease risk. Unfortunately, many people and some health professionals would rather blame genetics and rely heavily on medication to lower risk. While genetics certainly play a role in disease risk, the impact of lifestyle is quite dramatic, yet often ignored. It is easy to become complacent and not equate the food on your plate to disease risk, but everything we eat day-in and day-out is setting us up for health or debilitating disease. Remember that not everyone dies suddenly. Often, people live for decades with body aches, angina (chest pain), loss of sight, loss of limbs, painful surgeries, and the list goes on and on. That is what poor nutrition and lack of exercise do to a person. So, its not all about genetics and its not all about life or death. Your quality of life is heavily determined by what does or does not enter your mouth and how much you move. Of course, some people will need medication no matter what they do and it is important to take medication as directed. However, lifestyle can impact the amount you are taking and how effective the medication is.

On page 233 of The China Study, Campbell makes this statement:

"Much of this focus on genes, however, misses a simple but crucial point: not all genes are fully expressed all the time. If they aren't activated or expressed, they remain biochemically dormant. Dormant genes do not have any effect on our health. This is obvious to most scientists, and many laypeople, but the significance of this idea is seldom understood. What happens to cause some genes to remain dormant, and others to express themselves? The answer: environment, especially diet."

I am very deficient when it comes to understanding genetics, but I thought this was a very great and interesting way of explaining why lifestyle is so crucial. If anyone has more knowledge about genetics and would like to comment on the excerpt, I would love to hear it!

Nutrition is a vital ingredient to a healthy life. Another point that Campbell spent a lot of time discussing was that people do not eat enough fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Adults need a minimum of three to five vegetables daily and two to four fruits. I am guilty of not always meeting my vegetable needs and I actually felt inspired to take the personal challenge of increasing my vegetables after reading this book. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with antioxidants, fiber, phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals. They are so powerful at helping to reduce disease risk and are not consumed enough in America. Whole grains are also under-consumed whereas refined carbohydrates are abundantly eaten. Refined carbohydrates are stripped of many important nutrients and also tend to raise blood sugar more quickly due to their lack of fiber.

With the exception of just a few nutrients, Campbell believes firmly that nutrients should come from whole foods and not a pill. (The nutrients that he claims we should get from a pill are available in animal products.) This is an important point. We cannot replicate the many phytonutrients found in foods and we have yet to even identify most of them. Getting your fruits and vegetables will never be as easy as popping a pill. Vitamin supplements will not replace disease-protection that fruits and vegetables provide. I do not agree that we should take pills to replace the vitamins that are lost by avoiding animal products. Instead, I believe we should get those from small servings of meat and dairy. While I do believe that much is lost by depending on supplements to get the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, vitamin supplements are sometimes needed for "insurance". I believe that it is important to take prenatal vitamins, especially because folate is actually more bioavailable in the synthetic form. Also, children may benefit from a multi-vitamin if they do not eat a good variety of foods. This is not to say that these vitamins replace what we find in plants, but they are helpful to reinforce some very pertinent needs. There are also other disease states and conditions that require specific vitamin supplementation; however, those should be overseen by a Medical Doctor and Registered Dietitian.

Another major area where Campbell and I agree is that Americans are consuming way too much meat. I don't know who could really argue with this. A serving of meat is three ounces. Most restaurants serve steaks in portion sizes that are at least double the proper portion size. Plates should be mostly full of plant foods and have a small portion of meat. Instead, plates are full of meat with a sprig of green. The amount of meat being consumed in America is really hurting our health. The part where we disagree is that I believe meat has a place in a small part of the plate. Campbell believes that meat should be avoided completely.

In general, Campbell and I share the same sentiment that we all need to eat healthier.

The China Study Part I: Is Drinking Milk Damaging Your Health?

2012-01-15T19:54:00.000-05:00

After completing The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II, MD, I decided to discuss it over a few posts (1). Honestly, I feel like I could write a book about this book, but I will try to just hit the major highlights. The first topic I would like to write about concerns the question, "Are milk and other dairy products harmful to your health?"

Campbell hits this topic hard and fast in The China Study as he explains that milk products cause cancer. Throughout the book he encourages his readers to cut out all milk products and all animal products, for that matter. By the end of the book, the general idea is that if you eat any animal products, you are setting yourself up for major health failure whether it be from diabetes, cancer, heart disease, auto-immune diseases, etc.

Campbell's idea that milk products are dangerous originated from a study that examined rats which were fed different amounts of casein (a milk protein) and observed markers of early preneoplastic liver lesions (PNL)(2). Preneoplastic basically means that there is a very good chance this will eventually form into cancer. In the study, it was found that a minimum of 6-8% dietary casein was needed for proper weight gain. When rats were fed a diet 10% or less casein, there were negligible PNL; however, a diet of 12% or more casein showed a significant increase in PNL.

So what does all of this mean?

1. First of all, if you consume an 1800 calorie diet, you would have to drink about 7 cups of milk daily (or dairy equivalent) in order to ingest more than the 12% casein maximum threshold. Granted, casein does exist in very small amounts in processed foods. Most people don't come any where near 7 cups of milk daily, so chances are, you still won't exceed the 12% casein threshold even if you have a little bit of yogurt and some casein in processed foods. Of course, you should always strive to eat more whole foods and less processed foods.

2. We can certainly learn a lot by studying rats; however, it is impossible to directly extrapolate these results to humans. It even says this in the discussion section of the study.

3. What does this mean for breast milk? We know from countless human studies that breastfeeding has numerous benefits for babies and mothers. Breast milk does have less casein than cow's milk, but it still has casein and babies drink it all day long! Campbell does express the importance of breastfeeding and cautions about stopping too early. So, why is the casein in breast milk okay for babies, but Campbell believes that the casein from cow's milk is harmful? He doesn't address this question in the book.

4. It must be said that casein was given to the rats in isolation as well. When we drink milk, it is within the milk among a complex series of nutrients. We know that combining certain nutrients with other nutrients changes the way we absorb them, use them in our bodies, etc. It is a little difficult to compare casein given in isolation to rats versus humans drinking a glass of milk.

5. I am certainly no expert on cancer; however, I do know that it is a complex disease affected by a multitude of factors. I find it difficult to believe that we can easily isolate one little nutrient that causes cancer. Campbell actually has a whole chapter on "reductionism", taking specific nutrients, studying them, and making health claims about them. He disagrees with this practice and explains the complexity of nutrition and health. So, why does he make an exception for casein?

6. Campbell believes that, because casein causes cancer in his opinion, all animal protein must do the same. This is a wild extrapolation.

In summary, the data from the study done on casein and PNL suggests that you don't need to empty all of your milk cartons. It seems that moderation wins again! Drinking 7 cups of milk is a lot of calories, so I wouldn't suggest doing that anyway. Drink milk in moderation!

1. Campbell, T.C. & Campbell, T.M. The China Study. BenBella Books, Dallas, TX, 2006.
2. Dunaif, G.E. & Campbell, T.C. Dietary Protein Level and Aflatoxin B1-Induced Preneoplastic Hepatic Lesions in the Rat1. J, Nutr. 117: 1298-1302, 1987.

Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: My Thoughts and Opinions

2012-01-02T14:06:00.000-05:00

I recently read Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.'s book called Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. The China Study by T. Colin Campbell with Thomas M. Campbell II is next on my reading list; however, in retrospect, I realize that I should have read it first. Esselstyn's book is primarily centered on his study, involving 24 subjects, and Campbell's epidemiological study in China. There are several points that I really can't begin to discuss until I read Campbell's book, but I'll do my best to review Esselstyn's book and then will fill in the gaps later.

I think we can all agree that Americans eat way too much fat, meat, and refined grains while not eating enough fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Esselstyn really harps on this and I agree with him. If we all reduced our portions of meat, replaced our refined grains with whole grains, cut down on the desserts, and filled our plates with more fruits and vegetables, we would certainly be a lot healthier. I would also be willing to bet that chronic diseases would be diagnosed with much less frequency. I even agree that it wouldn't hurt to eat a vegetarian meal here and there. Meat does not need to be the center of every meal.

Despite the fact that Esselstyn and I agree on some points, I would not recommend this book for several reasons. First of all, Esselstyn bases most of his beliefs on his study, which contained only 24 subjects, and Campbell's China Study. Given the small sample size of his study it is hard to put much faith in the outcomes. My second major criticism of the book is that Esselstyn adamantly promotes a vegan diet. I have never been a supporter of a vegan diet unless a patient is following it due to religious or ethical reasons. Based on available science, I do not believe that there are any health reasons to follow such a strict diet. Because Vitamin B12 is only naturally found in animal products, you would need a supplement to insure you were getting adequate amounts of Vitamin B12. Any diet that is lacking in an essential nutrient makes me very leery.

Certainly, decreasing animal products in the diet would result in a decreased total blood cholesterol; however, do we really need to play the "how low can you go" game? Many things in life, including the human body, are about balance. Cholesterol is essential to the body, but too much can be a bad thing. Effort should be focused on maintaining a balance, not on racing to see who can achieve the lowest possible cholesterol level. That being said, I cannot agree that eliminating animal products is the answer. Animal products, including meat and dairy, provide us with a host of important nutrients that keep us healthy and thriving. Because this is a blog post and not a book, I won't go into all of the details.

Speaking of cholesterol levels, Esselstyn states that if you can achieve a total cholesterol of less than 150 mg/dL, you will not develop heart disease. He says that even if you smoke, are obese, have a family history of heart disease, or hypertension, you will still not develop heart disease. Any of you who have any experience with heart disease patients probably just experienced your jaw dropping. I have personally worked with numerous patients who had total cholesterol levels well below 150 mg/dL, yet they still had a heart attack. Not that this has been backed up by a study, but I would rather see a patient with a total cholesterol of 180 mg/dL and be a non-smoker than to have a total cholesterol of 130 mg/dL and light up 5 times each day.

Esselstyn also promotes a diet very low in dietary fat. Again, while I do agree that Americans eat too much fat, I don't agree that we should aim to ingest as little fat as humanly possible. Fat is necessary for absorption of fat soluble vitamins, satiety, synthesis and repair of vital cell parts, and other important functions. Research has also shown that omega-3 fatty acids decrease inflammation, which is a key factor in preventing heart disease. Research also supports that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids helps to decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. In fact, it can even help to delay the progression of dementia and Alzheimer's disease after the onset. Esselstyn actually states that his diet could possibly save a person from senile-impairment. I am not sure how he came to this conclusion as he sites no research. He even says that you should avoid avocados and nuts (although he does mention that you can have some nuts if you do not have heart disease). Although he pushes a plant-based diet, he denies the diet of some very nutrient-dense plant foods that other experts believe to be healthy. In fact, there is plenty of research showing the benefits of nuts, especially walnuts. Furthermore, the American Heart Association actually recommends two servings of fatty fish each week due to its disease protective benefits.

If you ever want to celebrate your birthday with a little cake, you won't be able to follow this diet completely. Esselstyn does not believe in moderation or the occasional treat. For this reason, I feel that his diet is totally unrealistic for the average person to follow, including myself! Although I know that ice cream isn't good for me, I don't see the harm in an occasional splurge. I believe in keeping treats to a minimum and watching the serving size. But, to think I could never make Christmas cookies with my kids or treat them to ice cream on a hot summer day makes me a little sad.

I have a list of notes that I took while reading this book and I have much more to say; however, I am trying not to turn this into a book! I leave you all with this: this book did not sway my stance on nutrition. A balanced diet that contains fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, meat, fish, beans, and nuts is healthy as shown by science. I did not feel that this book produced any compelling evidence that proves otherwise. As I said, I will be reading
The China Study next and will look forward to reporting on the text.

Jicama

2011-12-19T15:52:00.002-05:00

In an effort to try new fruits and vegetables, I recently made a Mexican salad that contained jicama. Before making the salad, I had never tried the Mexican potato, jicama. I am happy to report that the salad was quite tasty and the jicama really added a nice little crunch. Jicama, as I mentioned, is a Mexican potato found in the produce aisle of the grocery store. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive. All you have to do is peel the jicama and slice it up. There is no cooking necessary! Jicama can be used in salads for a nice, low-calorie crunch or eaten in slices (julienne) dipped in salsa. My almost-three-year-old would not try the salad that I made, but he did enjoy eating sliced jicama dipped in salsa. He called them "french fries" and has asked for them again since that night. I am pleased to spend the expensive price tag on the jicama if he will happily enjoy a vegetable! Although jicama is not the most nutrient dense vegetable out there, it is a nice source of fiber and Vitamin C. Another reason that I like this vegetable so much is that it really is a great way to add an interesting flair to salad rather than using high-calorie toppings.I wish that I could post the recipe that I tried; however, I'm not sure about the copyright laws. Try searching allrecipes.com for some recipes of your own!

A Few Snack or Breakfast Ideas

2011-12-12T18:21:00.002-05:00

Although my children love fruit, yogurt, and oatmeal, they don't seem to like chunks of fruit in their yogurt or oatmeal. Recently it occurred to me that I could puree the fruit! So here are a few snack/breakfast/lunch ideas that I have tried out on my children. They seem to enjoy them! The three ideas below are healthy, have no added sugar (of course there are is natural sugar in fruit and yogurt), are filling, and great sources of fiber and nutrients.

1. Thaw frozen blueberries and strawberries. Puree the fruit and mix it in with steel cut oats. Make plenty so that you can store it in the refrigerator and heat it up when you need it. The more fruit you add, the sweeter the oatmeal will taste.

2. Use the same fruit puree and mix it into plain Greek yogurt.

3. Mix canned, pumpkin puree into plain Greek yogurt. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.

Lasting Changes, Lasting Weight Loss

2011-11-30T19:08:00.003-05:00

Some people think that it is hard to lose weight. According to the research, it really isn't out of reach. Most people, if they put a little effort into it, can lose weight just fine. The hard part is keeping the weight off. Why is it so hard? There are probably a lot of reasons, but I would say the biggest issue is that people do not make lifestyle changes. By that, I mean that most people make changes to lose weight and don't see those changes as permanent. Folks, you have to make permanent changes in order to permanently change your body.

So now you might be thinking that it is a little too daunting to make lifestyle changes that last forever. Don't get bogged down by the huge number of pounds you want to lose, the many things about your diet that need to change, and the time you will have to spend exercising. Start thinking about ONE thing you can do TODAY that you're pretty sure you can live with. Just keep working on that ONE thing until you feel ready to try another thing.

Yes, this process may be a little slow. Ask yourself this, "Do I want to lose a bunch of weight fast and then gain it all back 6 months later because I can't continue the radical diet and exercise, or do I want to take my time and be a new me forever?"

Don't wait for the New Year to make a resolution. New Year's resolutions were meant to be broken. If you're serious, just start now. You'll need to find the right thing for YOU to start with, but here are some ideas for getting started:

1. Walk for 15 minutes during my lunch break every day that I work.
2. Take the stairs every day at work.
3. Start wearing a pedometer at least 3 days per week and aim for 10,000 steps.
4. Start each day with a healthy breakfast.
5. Add more fruit to my diet.
6. Add more vegetables to my diet.
7. Every time I dine at a restaurant, box half of my meal before I start eating.
8. Reduce my sugary sodas, fruit juices, sports drinks by one, each day.
9. Switch to 100% whole grain bread.
10. Replace one fried meal each week with something grilled, baked, or broiled.

What are you going to change TODAY?

Don't Forget your Fruits and Vegetables

2011-11-25T18:35:00.007-05:00

If you have ever tried to lose weight but felt like you were hungry all the time and unable to eat much volume of food, this post may be for you. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Yes, it really can be that simple. Most Americans get far too few fruits and vegetables in their diet.

Because fruits and vegetables are low in calories but provide a lot of bulk in your stomach, they can really help to keep your hands out of the cookie jar. Or...at least lower the occurrences of your hand entering the cookie jar! You can really eat a large volume of fruits and vegetables before the calories start adding up to much of anything. So, before all of those holiday parties and meals this season, consider loading up on some fruits and vegetables. I think you will really be surprised at how much less high-fat, high-sugar foods you will allow to cross your lips.

A diet lacking in fruits and vegetables is really a tragedy because it puts a person at a much higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic illnesses. Fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrients and phytochemicals that just can't be reproduced in a pill form. That's right, taking a daily vitamin may help to replenish some of the lacking nutrients in your diet, but it will never come close to replacing all of the nutrients. Vitamins also do not produce the same protective effect from chronic diseases that fruits and vegetables offer.

So go ahead and stock your refrigerator full of your favorite fruits and vegetables. Keep a bag of apples in your car, carrots on your desk, and leave yourself a note to grab fruits and vegetables first!

My Struggle to Breastfeed My Twins

2011-10-02T14:56:00.015-04:00

It was a Wednesday morning, the day I would meet my two new babies. I couldn't wait to hold them and snuggle. As soon as my girl and boy were born, I got to see them for just a minute before they were taken to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). They were born just a few days before I reached 37 weeks gestation, so I wasn't really expecting that to happen. I came prepared with signs to go in the babies' bassinets notifying nurses that they were not to receive any formula, so I asked my husband to follow the babies to the NICU and place the signs.

I got word that the babies were doing well, but I waited for about 4 hours post-delivery before someone could take me to the NICU to see, hold, and nurse my little bundles. When I finally arrived, I planned to feed baby boy (18 in and 5 pounds 5 ounces) first, simply because he came out first and that was my way of deciding who got the first drop of colostrum. I was wheeled into my boy's room because, unfortunately, the only twin room was being occupied. There, I was met with several nurses and a neonatologist who updated me on both of the babies. The neonatologist informed me that both babies' blood sugar levels were low, but baby girl's (18 in and 5 pounds) was the lowest. She asked me to feed her first, which of course made the most sense. Before I was even wheeled out of baby boy's room she then began to go on about how if the breastfeeding didn't go well, they would just use formula to get the blood sugar up.

This was the beginning of a series struggles I met throughout much of my babies' infancy. Very frustrated, I let the doctor know that I didn't see any need to introduce formula. I successfully breastfed my first son for 13 months and had enough stock-pile of frozen breast milk to last him until 15 months. I felt pretty confident that there really was no reason to even discuss formula. Further, if latching-on was a problem, I could just use a breast pump to retrieve the colostrum. The neonatologist insisted that she was very pro-breastfeeding, but I would beg to differ when she quickly jumped to the idea of using formula before even giving me a chance to breastfeed. Anyone who has ever breastfed also knows that stress doesn't exactly help the process either. After feeding baby girl, I moved on to baby boy. The bonding time was wonderful, but I regret that I was met with discouragement instead of a supportive environment. Before leaving the NICU, I was told that both babies' blood sugar levels were well within normal. I breathed a sigh of relief and said "take that" to the neonatologist....in my head, of course.

The babies only stayed in the NICU until that evening, but I was again met with resistance when I tried to get in a wheel chair and go back to the NICU to feed three hours later. The nurses were uneasy about letting me go. I was really kind of appalled that they would even think I wouldn't try to go back so I could breastfeed. The nurse paged my doctor who, of course, told them it would be fine for me to go.

One of the on-staff lactation consultants later visited me and set me up with a breast pump in case I had any problems with latching-on. I was discharged after about 48 hours and went home with my two beautiful babies. My husband and I were happy to see that our older son was enjoying his baby brother and sister already.

Although our house was in constant chaos with three children under the age of two, feedings were smooth and the babies seemed to eat well. The first few visits to the pediatrician's office showed good weight gain and two healthy babies.

When we took the babies for their four month well-visit at the pediatrician's office, we were in total shock that the babies didn't even weight 10 pounds. Baby girl weighed in at just over 9 pounds. When baby boy got on the scale, we were blown away even more that he was only 8 pounds 15 ounces. He had gained only 3 ounces over the previous two months.

I was really devastated and felt like a total failure. I was exclusively breastfeeding, and obviously failing my babies. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I knew I would do whatever it took to get them back on the right track. To make a very long story short, we tried several different things to get the babies to gain weight; however, nothing was really working. The pediatrician wanted us to try rice cereal but I didn't want to do that because that would only take up space in their bellies that needed to be filled with the protein and fat-rich breast milk.

I began calling on friends in my profession and was finally set-up with a local lactation consultant who I worked with closely. We tried several techniques including pumping after one or two feedings and supplementing a half ounce of breast milk after a few feedings each day. When we returned to the pediatrician's office for a weight check, we were horrified that even with the supplementing, baby girl had gained absolutely nothing and baby boy had gained only a small amount.

The next step was to weigh the babies before and after each breastfeed to find out exactly how much they were drinking. The results revealed that they were all over the map drinking up to 7 ounces in the morning and sometimes only 0.7 ounces later in the day. I was to pump after each feed and supplement whatever they drank while nursing to equal a total of 4.5 ounces per feed. This was finally a success! Both babies gained more than their goal weight for the week.

Unfortunately, the babies did not ever drink more during their nursing sessions, so I ended up pumping after every feed. We were never able to determine what the cause of them not drinking sufficient amounts was. I supplemented baby boy with 1.5 ounces of breast milk after each feed and baby girl with 1 ounce. At first, I thought that I would never be able to manage breastfeeding two babies, then pumping, then bottle feeding two babies for each and every feed (every two hours) while also taking care of a 2 year old. When I first began the new "feeding system", the whole process took me an entire hour. It was pretty tough, but I eventually streamlined the system and had a lot of tricks that allowed me to complete the tasks successfully.

Not only was this time difficult for me because of the demand on my time, but it was draining emotionally. I really couldn't leave the house for more than an hour because it was really difficult to think about toting the pump along, in addition to bottles. Then there is the fact that you have to keep unused milk cold, heat up bottles, etc etc. I couldn't even make it to my grandfather's funeral because keeping up with this routine would have been next to impossible while traveling half-way across the country. I felt isolated, not only because I didn't get out of the house much, but also because not many people could relate to what I was going through. It was tough feeling like I was barely keeping up with my babies' basic needs. Some people who didn't know the situation would comment on how skinny and small the babies looked. It really stung because I was already feeling like a failure and was doing everything I could to turn things around. Lastly, I really loathed cleaning all of those bottles and the pumping supplies.

At the nine month well-visit (this actually took place when they were 9.5 months old) we had quite a victory. Both babies were now hitting their own curves on the growth chart. Although they are still below the 3rd percentile for weight, they are making their own curves, which previously was a plateau for baby boy. This was a victory I just can't describe. It was better than any test aced, any race won, any degree earned, or basically anything I ever succeeded in. Now, my beautiful, healthy babies are almost eleven months old and thriving. I am down to pumping only three times each day, baby boy is getting just one 1.5 oz supplement at night, and they are both eating baby food and some table food. Surprisingly, I have about eight gallon-sized freezer bags full of breast milk in the freezer.

Through this whole ordeal, there were many good things. 1. My babies had a problem that I was able to fix. We are so fortunate that they are so healthy and thriving. 2. I have a very supportive husband and family who were there for me. 3. My babies are so wonderful and loving that I would do anything for them! 4. I knew God was watching over us.

So why did I write this really long blog post? It really just felt kind of good to get it off of my mind. I hope that if there are other moms out there struggling with this that this will let them know that they're not alone! Call a lactation consultant and get the support you need. Support from knowledgeable professionals and loving family REALLY helps.

Surviving Thanksgiving

2010-11-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

Just a note that blogs may be hit-or-miss for a little while. I will try to post as often as possible; however, we have a big event happening in our family so I will be spending a lot of my time and energy with that for a while.

Here are some tips for getting through Thanksgiving dinner without spoiling your weight loss!

1. Remember that its just one day, so don't be too hard on yourself if you overdo it a little bit. Just remember to get back to healthier eating the next day.

2. Remember that Christmas, and many events leading up to it, will provide you with a chance to eat goodies. So, don't go overboard thinking that this is food you'll NEVER see again!

3. Consider reconstructing some of your recipes to make them a little healthier.

4. Pick a few family favorites, but don't go overboard with cooking. The more choices you have to select from, the more you'll eat!

5. Don't deprive yourself of a holiday favorite, but take a small portion and enjoy it. Consider freezing left overs and savor it throughout the season.

6. Take a morning walk if you're a morning person! Otherwise, consider taking an after-dinner walk. You won't burn all of the calories you ate, but you'll burn some! Also, if you're diabetic, it will help with your blood sugar.

7. If you're attending Thanksgiving dinner at someone else's house, let them know that you don't want to come empty handed and would like to bring a dish. Bring something that is healthy and you enjoy. This way you know you'll have at least one healthy dish.

8. Eat a healthy breakfast and lunch. Don't starve yourself until dinner because you're likely to just go overboard.

9. Drink plenty of water. Some people overeat due to thirst! It may sound funny, but its true!

10. When you finish your plate, take a break and enjoy everyone's company. Ask yourself if you're really hungry for more, or satisfied before running back for seconds.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Breakfast...It is important!

2010-11-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

I won't say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it is really equally as important as all other meals. Leaving out any meal is a bad idea; it's just that we hear a lot about breakfast because so many people gloss over it. So, don't leave out any meals, but today we'll focus on breakfast.

Breakfast is very important because it "wakes-up" your metabolism, if you will. After a night's rest, when caloric needs were low, eating breakfast gets your metabolism back to work for the day. Eating breakfast also helps you to perform better at whatever your task may be. I also like to think of breakfast as a way to set the tone for my day. I always start off with a healthy breakfast because it gives me energy and just makes me feel ready to tackle a day's work. Even on a special occasion (i.e. Christmas) when I may plan to have a treat, I still make sure to eat something wholesome first.

The National Weight Loss Control Registry, a research study that examines the habits of people who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for a minimum of a year, reported that 78 percent of the people in their study eat breakfast daily!

So you say you're not a "breakfast person"? Well, that is because you trained yourself to skip breakfast. Retrain yourself! Start by having a very small amount of food such as half of a banana, a piece of bread, half of a whole grain granola bar, dry Cheerios, or whatever you feel comfortable with. As you start to get used to that, increase the amount you are eating. Remember that breakfast does not have to be traditional breakfast foods! You could eat leftovers from last night's dinner if that suits you. Half of a peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread with a banana and a glass of milk is another nice option.

If you feel that you don't have time for breakfast, consider how long it would actually take you to eat something. Do you think ten minutes is enough to eat a small breakfast? Do you think you could jump out of bed ten minutes early? Or, consider deciding what you will eat the night before and "grab and go" in the morning.

Make less excuses, make more solutions!

Rest Before Race

2010-10-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

If you are a runner, you have probably read or heard about tapering your activity in the week before a race. However, you may be wondering exactly how much to taper and when to start. It is not a perfect science and probably varies from person to person and with the length of the race. Here is my two cents based on research that I have read and personal experience.

First of all, when it comes to strength training, if I do lower body at all the week of the race, it would be Sunday or Monday at the latest (given that the race is Saturday morning). In addition to making it early in the week, I take it easy and just lift for maintenance. You won't find me trying to squat my all-time best that week! Taking a rest that week with strength training isn't a bad idea either. You don't want to risk injuries or sore muscles.

As far as cardiovascular exercise, I have tried several different methods and it really does depend on the length of the race. For a marathon, I would start tapering two weeks in advance. However, for the purposes of this particular post, let's say you're running a half-marathon or less. It is probably best to complete your last long training run two weeks before the half-marathon. After that, you can still run, but keep it to 5-6 miles at the most. In the week leading up to your race, consider shorter runs with the same intensity you plan to run your race. (As an aside, I think you'll always run faster in a race, thanks to adrenaline, but my point is that you should be running at a speed that you would be happy with during your race.) Some research suggests that people who run shorter distances, but with "race speed" do better on race day than those who run higher mileage at a more relaxed pace in the week leading up to the race. This may mean that during this week, you're only running 2 miles at a time, but with gusto. For the rest of your workout, cross-train or walk. Consider doing an easy workout on the elliptical or stationary bike.

Don't forget about rest! Rest is an integral part to any exercise or training regimen. I would suggest taking one to two days off before a race to allow your muscles rest. This doesn't mean you have to sit on the couch for two days straight, but keep your exercise to easy walking or the activities that are part of your normal day.

Halloween Temptations

2010-10-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

Halloween is coming, kicking off the beginning of all the over-eating that takes place at the end of the year. How will you keep from eating your bucket of candy before all of the trick-or-treaters swing by your house? How will you ignore all of those left-overs? Here are some ideas to consider...

Don't even open the bag of candy until Halloween night so that you're not snacking on the treats before the date arrives.

Buy treats that don't really appeal to you so that you don't have to worry about self-control.

Consider buying treats that are a little less sugary and full of fat, such as mini-bags of pretzels. This isn't a bad idea for the sake of the kids either!

Don't go overboard when you buy your candy. Try to have enough, but don't worry if you run out early. Running out early wouldn't be the end of the world, and that way you won't end up with tons of left-overs to tempt you.

Allow yourself a small treat at the end of the trick-or-treating so that you have that to look forward to and you aren't snacking all night.

Stay away from the break-room the next day at work! I've noticed that a lot of people bring in their left-over candy to work the next day just so they won't be tempted. Make plans to eat at your desk or somewhere else the next day.

Happy Halloween!

Motivational Monday:

I'm not going to overeat candy on Halloween because it just isn't worth undoing all of the calorie-burn from my exercise today!

Could you be undoing your hard work at the gym?

2010-10-11T00:00:00.001-04:00

It is certainly not uncommon for athletes to pop a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) after a hard workout, such as ibuprofen or aspirin. However, recent research tells us that this may be hindering the healing process in the muscle; therefore, degating your hard workout.

Basically, when you perform the eccentric phase (lengthening of a muscle) of any weight lifting activity, you are inducing damage to your muscles. When the muscle fibers heal, they essentially become stronger. So, it is in the healing process that actually makes your muscles stronger. NSAIDs suppress prostaglandin synthesis, which is necessary for protein synthesis. Without protein synthesis, your muscles cannot become stronger.

In summary, think twice before popping a pill to mask some muscle soreness. Instead, take it easy, give your muscles time to heal, and consider the soreness a workout well done!

There are some cases in which you may need an NSAID; and this should be discussed with your doctor.

Just a few research articles...

Effect of ibuprofen and acetaminophen on postexercise muscle protein synthesis.

Skeletal muscle PGF(2)(alpha) and PGE(2) in response to eccentric resistance exercise: influence of ibuprofen acetaminophen.

Motivational Monday:

I strength train to keep my bones from becoming brittle and prevent osteoporosis.

Sorry No Post!

2010-10-05T18:43:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone!
I'm sorry that there was no post yesterday! I am recovering from a very yucky bug and was unable to sit down at the computer. Check back next Monday!

School Lunch

2010-09-27T00:00:00.000-04:00

In the recent years, many professionals, parents, and teachers have started voicing concern about school lunches. I have to say that I am definitely one of the people concerned. Many schools offer pizza, french fries, and chicken nuggets as a daily staple. What is wrong with this picture? There is an exception to every rule, but most children will choose this type of food over the salad bar if they are given a choice. If children go to school to learn, then why aren't we not only teaching them healthy eating, but showing them how to do it? Lunches should be given to children to help nuture their bodies and teach them proper nutrition. We cannot control what children are eating at home, but from a public health standpoint, we should be sure that they are getting healthy meals at school.

Whether or not this issue has bothered you in the past or present, you shouldn't feel helpless. Speak up! Let your voice be heard at your child's school, by the school board, or anyone who will listen. People often think they can't make an impact, but that is just not the case. I have brought up banning smoking in a couple of areas that I frequent, and so far, that has brought on changes. I'm just one person and it didn't take much more than attending a meeting to make these changes. I know that changing school lunches may not be quite as easy, but small changes lead to big results. We have to start somewhere!

Parents magazine recently published an article on this topic and recommended three websites:

The Lunch Box

Food Politics

CSPI School Foods Tool Kit

I'd love to hear your feedback! Please share any thoughts you have or if you are doing anything in your school system to help with change.

Motivational Monday:

I want our children to eat healthy meals because it means that they'll be more focused, do better in school, and live healthier lives.

Avoid Running Injuries

2010-09-20T00:00:00.001-04:00

A few ways to make running a little safer:

1. Visit a reputable shoe store that specializes in running. Let them watch you run/walk and give you advice on the best shoe for you. People who work in these stores are runners and have a lot of experience with shoes and their proper fit.

2. Change your shoes every 300-500 miles. Keep track of your mileage on a calendar or with a device such as the Nike+ sensor. After 300-500 miles, you have worn down the cushioning/support and raise your risk for injuries.

3. Only wear your running shoes for running. This will help you to make your shoes last longer. Think of all of the miles that you walk in your shoes, which cause the shoe to wear down quicker. Consider retiring your running shoes to walking shoes every time you buy new running shoes. That way you always have a pair of shoes to walk and to run in.

4. Cross-train. The constant stress of running may lead to overuse injuries. By varying your program, you work muscles in different ways and give your joints a break from impact.

5. Strength train. Overall strength training is important for a number of reasons, but specifically training the lower body can really help with running. Not only will it aid you in performance, but will also help to decrease injuries due to increased muscle mass and strength; and increased bone density.

6. Slowly increase mileage. Increasing mileage too quickly is an easy way to hurt yourself and land a spot on the couch instead of the road.

Motivational Monday:
I run because I know that if a bad guy is every chasing me, I could outrun him :).

Classroom Treats

2010-09-13T10:58:00.000-04:00

This fall, the children are back in school. I don’t have a school-aged child yet; however, I know that children are often treated for every birthday, holiday, etc with sugary treats. I am certainly not against the occasional treat, but I do have a problem with kids getting a sugary treat to celebrate every single special occasion. It seems that there is always something to celebrate; and in America, we tend to celebrate with food. So, I wanted to get everyone thinking about fun and healthy treats for school children on these occasions. You may be in charge of providing one this year or may have some influence on what the children are snacking on in the classroom. Let’s make at least some of them a little on the healthier side! Here’s to teaching our children that good food doesn’t have to be pure sugar!

Here are a few ideas I thought of. They are mainly just foods that tend to be accepted by children, but are on the sweeter side. Please respond with your ideas or some good ideas that you have seen!

1. Apple bran muffins and flavored milk.
2. 1 oatmeal cookie and apple slices.
3. Cooked apples with cinnamon and oatmeal on top.
4. Ants on a log: top celery with peanut butter (if allowed in your classroom) and place raisins on top of the peanut butter.
5. Apple slices with cheese.
6. Banana bread.

Motivational Monday:

I want my children to eat healthy now so that they don’t have to struggle with their weight as adults.

Fall Into Exercise!

2010-09-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you guys, but where I live, its starting to cool off a little bit. What a relief because I could barely look out my window without sweating this summer! I wanted to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who has been shying away from exercise because of the heat to GET TO IT! Particularly in my region, there aren't many months that just feel great outside, so why let them pass you by without taking advantage of great weather!

Try walking in your neighborhood and notice the colorful leaves or fall decorations that people have displayed. Find a nearby park or lake to walk/run around for some variety. Sign up for a 5K in your area as these really go into full swing in the fall.

The moral of the story is, don't find another excuse to miss exercise, just get out and enjoy the fall air! It is a great way to spend time with your children, have some "me time", lower your stress level, and appreciate nature.

Happy Fall! I'd love to hear what kind of physical activity you're going to be getting this fall!

Motivational Monday:

I love to exercise because there is nothing like breathing fresh air after a day stuck in the office!

Gaining Weight the Healthy Way

2010-08-30T00:00:00.001-04:00

I know it is hard to believe, but there are some people who are in need of gaining weight. If you’re not one of them, you may know one of them, so hopefully this post will be helpful! When one is trying to gain weight, it may seem like donuts and big burgers are the way to go; however, in order to keep your risk low for chronic disease, there is a proper way to go about gaining weight. In this post, you will find two lists. The first list contains ideas for weight gain that you should use when trying to gain a moderate amount of weight, but are watching your cholesterol/triglyceride levels. The second list contains ideas for gaining weight when your need for gaining weight outweighs concerns about heart disease, diabetes, etc; or if there is a need for fast weight gain. Some examples for the second list may include patients with Cystic Fibrosis, Failure to Thrive, pregnant women carrying multiple babies, or Cancer Cachexia.

List One

1. Add olive oil to a variety of foods. Examples: sauté vegetables, toss vegetables and add seasoning, sauté fish, drizzle over baked meats, dip whole grain bread in olive oil plus your favorite seasonings.

2. Use mayo on your sandwiches. Contrary to popular belief, this is a pretty healthy fat.

3. Have peanut butter (or other nut butter) with bread or fruit. You can also mix peanut butter into your oatmeal. Yes, natural peanut butter is the best, but full fat peanut butter is fine. Do not buy reduced fat peanut butter because, although total fat is reduced, some of it is replaced with trans fat.

4. Snack on nuts. You can have a trail mix or just nuts…whatever makes you happy!

5. Top salad with nuts and an oil based dressing.

6. Add avocado to anything that sounds good such as salads, sandwiches, crackers, etc.

7. You can consider adding a protein powder to foods or drinks, such as Procel or Propass. Check with a Registered Dietitian first to decide if this is appropriate for you.

8. A supplement drink such as Ensure, Glucerna, Boost, or Carnation Instant Breakfast. Beware of the sugar content in these drinks.

List Two

1. Everything from list one!

2. Milk shakes.

3. Find places to add cheeses, such as on top of meats, sandwiches, breads, etc.

4. Fruit smoothies with full-fat yogurt and protein powder.

5. Be sure to have a protein serving with each meal, such as eggs, chicken, beef, or fish.

Motivational Monday:

I aim to include healthy fats in my diet because it lowers my risk of Alzheimer's Disease!

Overtraining Syndrome: Knowing the Symptoms

2010-08-23T00:00:00.001-04:00

Are you working hard, but instead of feeling that energetic spark that you’re supposed to get from exercise, you’re feeling tired and drained? Do you feel like you’ve hit a wall with your progress and you can’t seem to run any faster or do any better? In fact, do you feel like your athletic abilities are waning? Maybe it is time to consider the possibility that you are overtraining. This can happen to anyone when you are just working your body too hard. You may be very surprised that by taking an extra day of rest or scaling back on the intensity or duration of a few workouts each week your performance improves. Resting is an integral part of any training/exercise program that must be observed to achieve optimal performance and health benefits. Here are some signs to let you know if you are experiencing Overtraining Syndrome. This list is brought to you by ACSM’s Resource Manual For Guidelines For Exercise Testing and Prescription, 5th edition.

Functional Indicators:
1. Decline in physical performance and early onset of fatigue.
2. Decreased desire to train or decreased enjoyment from training or competition.
3. Loss of muscle strength, coordination, and maximal working capacity,
4. Increased submaximal heart rate. (This means that your heart rate is becoming higher at rest and during moderate exercise)
5. Prolonged recovery from typical training sessions or competitive events.
6. Presence of tenderness and soreness in muscles and joints.
7. Overuse injuries.

Metabolic and Psychologic Indicators:
1. Loss of appetite and body weight loss.
2. GI disturbances; occasional nausea.
3. Increased susceptibility to upper respiratory infections (altered immune function).
4. Emotional instability characterized by general fatigue, apathy, depression, and irritability.
5. Sleep disturbances.

Motivational Monday:
I exercise because it gives me more energy to get through the day!

Sneak More Vegetables Into Your Day

2010-08-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

1. Pile your sandwich high with lettuce tomato and other favorites.
2. Top a boring salad with strawberries and walnuts.
3. Finely chop spinach and add it to casseroles such as lasagna.
4. Toss peas, asparagus, carrots, or other vegetables into your pasta dish.
5. Snack on carrots or green peppers dipped in hummus.
6. Top your pizza with your favorite vegetables (go light on the cheese!).
7. Grill vegetable kabobs.
8. Add salsa to your omelet.
9. Try eating your vegetables at the beginning of your meal so that you're not too full after the main course.
10. Decide when and how you will get your 3-5 vegetable servings in the morning, then stick with your plan all day!

Motivational Monday:

I eat at least 3 servings of vegetables daily because they are full of phytochemicals which help to lower my risk for cancer...I'll never get that from a vitamin supplement!

Is Exercise the New Anti-Aging Medicine?

2010-08-09T00:00:00.002-04:00

A recent study showed that exercise just might be your ticket to anti-aging! While this news is exciting, remember these results need to be replicated several times before we can really call exercise an “anti-aging fix”.

Two groups of runners were studied, one group being an average age of 20.4 years and the other being 51.1 years. The older group had about 35 years of training history and averaged about 50 miles of running each week. The younger group averaged about 45 miles of running weekly. Two more groups containing inactive, age-matched individuals were also examined.

Because much is already known about changes in cells as we age researchers were able to identify ant-aging markers. More specifically, we know that telomere length is shortened, as we grow older. However, this study found that the active middle-aged group had only a slight, and insignificant, shortening of telomeres when compared to the younger groups. Of course, both active and inactive subjects in the younger groups had no significant difference in their telomere lengths, as they have not aged. The inactive, middle-aged group had significant shortening of their telomeres, signifying aging.

What does this mean for you and me? Well, we don’t really know yet. I am a very active person, but I do not average 45 or 50 miles of running each week! While running is my main mode of exercise, I enjoy biking and other types of exercise. Is the anti-aging effect the same with all activities? What is the minimum weekly exercise needed to achieve this effect? What is the minimum intensity? These are all questions that stem from this research, and I am sure that researchers will be jumping on these questions quickly! Let’s also keep in mind that this research did not include a large number of subjects. I can’t wait to see where this study leads us!

Motivational Monday:
Whether or not exercise will keep me from aging, I do it because I want to be stronger and more energetic as I age.

How Much Water Do You Really Need?

2010-08-02T00:00:00.001-04:00

Most people have probably heard the old rule that you should drink 8, 8-ounce glasses of water each day. Just as many other old rules, this one did not arise from scientific evidence. If you already knew that the 64-ounce rule was more of a rough guideline than a fact, you’re probably wondering how much water you really need.

If you check with different people and associations such as the Mayo Clinic, Institute of Medicine, and the American Dietetic Association, you’ll probably get some slightly different advice each time. The reason for these mixed messages is that there really is no perfect formula proven to decide exactly how much fluid a human needs each day. Most of these “mixed” messages all have the same meaning when you get down to it.

In general, if you follow the 64-ounce guideline, that is probably okay given that you are a healthy adult who does not engage in daily rigorous activities. However, you can basically trust your own instincts when it comes to fluid intake. Drink when you are thirsty. When you feel satisfied, you don’t need to keep drinking just to reach a daily ounce requirement. Another checkpoint is to check your urine aiming for a light yellow to clear color. Darker colors often signify dehydration. Remember that any fluid contributes to your body’s fluid requirements. Yes, this includes coffee and soda. Water is always the best, but it all counts. You also receive about 20% of your daily fluid from foods, on average.

Most people are certainly not in danger of this occurring; however, I want to warn everyone that it is indeed possible to die from too much water. This happens when you ingest much more water than electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and chloride) and your fluid to electrolyte ratio becomes imbalanced. This is extremely serious and mostly affects athletes who over hydrate without replacing electrolytes.

Here are some conditions that may increase your fluid needs:

Exercise/physical activity
Spending time outdoors in the heat
Pregnancy
Diarrhea
Increased fiber intake

Here are some conditions that may decrease your fluid needs:

Congestive heart failure
Kidney (renal) failure

For more personalized information about exactly how much water you should be ingesting, it is best to speak with your health care provider or a registered dietitian.

Motivational Monday:

I avoid sugary drinks! The fact that one sugary drink daily could lead to about a 15 pound weight gain in a year, if I don't burn all of those calories off, is so not worth it!

Exercise is Medicine

2010-07-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

If your doctor were to tell you that you needed to go home and start an exercise routine, would you do it? Would you keep doing it?

If your doctor handed you a prescription for a medication that you needed in order to manage a disease or control a health problem, would you fill it and take it? Would you keep taking it?

These are serious questions to ask yourself. Most of us would fill a prescription given to us by our doctor, especially if it were to control a problem that we were having noticeable symptoms from. However, if your doctor prescribed exercise because it would have the same effect as a pill, if not a better effect with fewer side effects, would you take him or her seriously?

The truth is, exercise is truly medicine and its about time doctors start using their prescription pad to dole out this powerful medicine. While I was working on my MS degree in Exercise Science, I was continuously wowed by the power of exercise. Obviously I was already a believer, or I wouldn't have been there. However, it is just amazing to see the studies proving that exercise can make impacts (depending on the particular population, dose, and severity of the problem) on arthritis, triglycerides, blood pressure, etc that are far more significant than a pill.

On June 17, 2010, the US Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, made a plea that everyone join the Exercise is Medicine initiative. Here is an excerpt from her speech:

As health professionals, we should remember that patients are more likely to change their behavior if they have a meaningful reward -- something more than reaching a certain weight or dress size. The reward has to be something that each person can feel, enjoy, and celebrate. The reward is optimal health that allows people to embrace each day and live their lives to the fullest -- without disease, disability, or lost productivity. I hope you will join the Exercise is Medicine initiative. Together, America can become a Healthy and Fit Nation.

Please take this as food for thought and consider the importance of your exercise! Hold your exercise to the same importance as your morning and evening pills!

Motivational Monday:
I exercise because it allows me to take a lower dose of my medication!

Fighting Boredom for Runners/Walkers

2010-07-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

My first tip is to cross-train! However, if you don’t have a bike, access to a gym, or access to a pool, it can be difficult to find a lot of different ways to exercise. Here are some ideas for fighting boredom on your runs; and this can also be applied to walkers!

Switch up the type of run you are doing on a regular basis. Some days do a tempo run, and others do interval training. Of course you’ll also want to have days where you just run leisurely.

Download some new running music to listen to. If you need ideas, ask your friends what they’re listening to or look in fitness magazines for ideas. Shape magazine often has music ideas for different types of workouts.

Find a new place to run. Check online for hot running spots or call your local running store for suggestions.

Run your route backwards. No, face the right way, but just start at your normal end and end at your normal start!

Get a running buddy! This can be difficult because you want to find someone who is at your level or higher and who has a similar schedule as you. If you find someone, don’t let him or her go because this can be a great motivator.

Join a running club or meet up with local runners who go on group runs. Even a lot of smaller cities have these. Check online or with your local running store for suggestions.

Consider taking a little bit of time off if you think you may be over training. Sometimes we all need a little break and reviving. This doesn’t mean to sit on the couch for six weeks! However, taking a few days off to relax and recuperate may make you appreciate running when you get back to it.

Any other tips or ideas? I’d love to hear them!

Motivational Monday:
I run/walk because it gives me time to myself!

Can chewing gum suppress your appetite?

2010-07-12T00:00:00.002-04:00

Before I begin today's post, I just wanted to let everyone know that I have decided to only post once each week. I love being able to blog three times each week; however, with recent increased demands in my life, I think it will fit my schedule better. For now, I will post every Monday! Please enjoy today's post and come back next Monday for more!

A reader brought this question to me and I thought it was a good one to explore. First, I will say that I really think we are talking more about suppressing the desire to eat when we aren’t hungry. We obviously need food and don’t want to take in less than necessary to sustain health; however, it is very easy to over-eat because we’re bored, tired, anxious, or see food that just looks good. I believe this is really what we’re aiming to prevent.

My first thought was that chewing gum probably does prevent this type of eating. First of all, your mouth is busy chewing, so you may not be focusing on the fact that you could be noshing on a bag of chips. Second, if you love that mint taste, or whatever your flavor of gum, you probably don’t want to screw that up with food in your teeth. Third, I imagine it is a lot like finding something for your hands to do when you’re trying to quit smoking. The actual act of chewing gum takes care of your need to chew food; but with much less calories!

After looking around at the research, I found that there wasn’t much! However, there is a lot of positive speculation that points to gum chewing being effective in reducing caloric intake. One study did, in fact, find that gum chewers ingested less calories than non-gum chewers (Hetherington M & Boyland E (2007). Short-term effects of chewing gum on snack intake and appetite. Appetite, DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2006.109.001.). What this study did not examine was the long-term effect. Sure, maybe those people ate less calories one day, but did that continue over time leading to weight loss? Did those people maintain their weight loss? Did this lead to better health outcomes?

Another study is in the works to be performed and it looks like they will be looking for participants soon. The researchers suspect that gum chewing will be an advantage; however, more so for lean individuals than obese. This may not come as good news to some if it is true. My thought is that some obese individuals may have more issues to overcome with food that cannot be solved by simply chewing a piece of gum.

The research will be interesting as it unfolds. When all is said and done, I believe that this gum-chewing tactic is like many others. It really just depends on what works for you! If you feel that chewing gum helps you to stave off mindless snacking, then you are a great candidate for gum-chewing! It often takes a lot of experimenting to find exactly what helps you to lose those last few pounds or stay healthier by avoiding a lot of junk food.

Thoughts? I’d love to hear them!

Motivational Monday:
I want to lose weight so that I never end up needing two tickets, just for myself, to ride on an airplane!

A Gadget For Runners and Walkers: The Nike +

2010-07-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

If you’re a runner or a walker and you would like to track your mileage, pace, time, and more, then the Nike + might be for you! With a touch of a button, this device can give you your current distance, time, and pace at any point during your walk/run. Also, it stores all of your workouts, which can be transferred to your computer. The Nike + website will show you all kinds of stats such as your overall total miles, overall average pace, how many miles you run each week, month, and year, and much more.

The website is a great way to track your progress! It rewards you when you reach certain milestones and allows you to join and create challenges. I have found that the challenges can be quite motivating and they can be completed against strangers or friends.

The Nike+ transmitter can be attached to your Ipod; however, you don’t have to have an Ipod to use this cool gadget. Nike now sells a wristband that will do the same job. However, having an Ipod can make this toy even more fun! Not only can you listen to your preprogrammed folder of running/walking music while you record your stats, but you can also program a “power song” to get you through a tough spot in your walk/run or carry you through your finish.

The Nike+ sensor can be worn inside your Nike+ shoes; however, this is totally unnecessary and I have never done this. I bought a little sensor pouch off of www.amazon.com. It is small and laces right into any shoe. Beware; the sensor has about 1000 hours of battery life. Every time the sensor is moved, it “wakes up” and begins the ticking clock. Ideally, if you are a runner, you should only be running in your running shoes anyway. That is another topic for discussion, but if you are following that rule, you’ll only be “waking up” your sensor when you’re going for a run. If you won’t be running for a while and will be wearing your shoes, remove the sensor and put it away so that it will not run down the battery life. Sensors can be replaced, but they cost around $20.

I will say I have had some problems with my Nike+. My biggest problem was that my miles/hour were being grossly underestimated and it took me (actually my husband) quite some time to figure it out. After a lot of googling, my husband determined that my sensor needed to be placed on my shoe more parallel to the floor. He changed the position on my shoelace and things have been better ever since. Also, do not expect this gadget to perfectly report your mileage. It will not be exact, but it should be pretty darn close. When I ran a marathon with mine, it ended up congratulating me on my “finish” about a half-mile before I actually finished. With 26.2 miles to cover, I thought being a half-mile off wasn’t all that bad!

Any other criticisms good or bad are welcome!

Benefits to the Babies of Pregnant Mothers Who Exercise

2010-07-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

Babies are less stressed throughout the contractions in labor. 3

Significant decrease in the incidence of cord entaglement. 3

Decrease in the incidence of meconium during labor. 3

Babies more readily respond to stimuli in their environment and self-quiet during times when they are disturbed. 51, 52

A study that looked at children at five years of age showed that children of exercising mothers were less fat and scored higher on intelligence and oral language skills than those children whose mothers did not exercise throughout pregnancy. 55

Pros and Cons of Counting Calories for Weight Loss

2010-07-05T00:00:00.000-04:00

Pros

It can help you to get a reality check of how many calories you are actually eating.

It may help you to identify a problem area so that you can move past a plateau.

Some people may find that this regimented style helps to keep them on track.

Using a computer/internet program to log your food and calories will usually also give you a breakdown of other nutrients that you are ingesting. This could help you to identify areas where you are lacking and areas where you are overdoing it.

Cons

Calorie counting can be very time consuming.

It can be too regimented making the process of eating a very negative experience.

It makes you rely more on numbers and less on your natural instincts of hunger and fullness.

Unless you are taking the time to focus on what those calories mean (ie how full/hungry you feel, what the portions look like on your plate, etc), calorie counting will not teach you anything in the long run. However, paying attention to those items can make it a great learning experience.

Does anyone else have any pros and cons they would like to add to the list?

Tips For Staying Accountable With Weight Loss and Healthy Living

2010-07-02T00:00:00.002-04:00

It can be difficult to stay on track when trying to lose weight or fight chronic disease. Sometimes it can take people decades to find a method that works for them and that they can stick to. Hopefully everyone who is reading this has already found their method, or will find it very soon! Here are just a few ideas that may be right for you. Remember that everyone is different and sometimes you have to assimilate many ideas to find just the right fit.

Keep a food journal. You don’t have to share this with anyone, but it may keep you from eating a larger portion or from eating a certain food all together. It is a lot less appealing to see a list of non-nutritious food on your journal than to actually eat them. Food journals can also be eye opening to see what you really ate all day and be helpful in determining weight loss blunders.

Take a picture of everything you eat. That’s right, in this crazy, technologically advanced world; most of us have a camera with us at all times. Do they even make cell phones that don’t contain a camera anymore? A lot of people have found success in this because they take the picture of what they will eat, and then it keeps them from eating more because they don’t want to take a picture of more food after finishing their meal. Also, it’s a quick way to have a “picture food journal”.

See a dietitian regularly. Of course I promote this because I am a Registered Dietitian and feel that it can be a great learning experience. However, this can be an expensive option. You may be able to get a “packaged deal” where you pay a lower rate for a certain number of visits. This will often allow you the option of checking-in with email too. Remember that this option can be equal to, or cheaper than a personal trainer.

Stay accountable to a friend. This could be very helpful or disastrous. The results of this really just depend on the dynamics of the friendship. Sometimes ill feelings may surface if one friend is doing better than the other with weight loss, or one friend may be an enabler to break the rules and go back to old eating habits. If the dynamics are favorable, this just may be the ticket for some people to stay on track with exercise and healthy diet.

Log everything you eat on a website that calculates nutrients. There are many websites and software that allow you to log everything you eat and give you a breakdown of all the nutrients that you are getting. I have mixed feelings about this approach, but wouldn’t count it out if it might be your key to success. Look for a post in the near future about the pros and cons to this approach. Also, many of the sites allow you to log your exercise as well. Here are a few to check out if you are interested:

Calorie King
Spark People this one is FREE
My Food Diary
My Calorie Counter
Fit Day contains some FREE services
Weight Watchers

Benefits of Exercise

2010-06-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here are just a few benefits to exercise. Whenever you’re thinking about skipping a session, remember some of these!

Exercise…

Prevents bone loss and osteoporosis.

Prevents Type II Diabetes.

Improves energy.

Boosts mood.

Helps to prevent dementia.

Prevents some types of cancers.

Prevents muscle loss that is inevitable with age if strength training isn’t performed.

Helps with weight maintenance.

Prevents heart disease.

Improves blood pressure.

Improves sleep.

The Division of Responsibility: Feeding Your Children

2010-06-28T00:00:00.001-04:00

As a dietitian, my specialized area is not in pediatric nutrition; however, when I became pregnant for the first time, I knew I needed to start learning more. I bought a book called Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter, MS, RD, CICSW, BCD. This book was a great investment and has been a great source of knowledge for me. Today I am going to talk about one of Ellyn’s philosophies, which is the division of responsibility.

The division of responsibility simply states that parents are responsible for the WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE their children will eat. Children are responsible for HOW MUCH and WHETHER they will eat at all. In a lot of ways it really takes the pressure off of the parents when you practice this philosphy. If you’re anything like me, you have probably worried from time to time if your child was getting enough of what he/she needs nutritionally speaking. It is time to go back the basics and trust children to know when they are hungry. Know that children are just like us in that they are sometimes ravenously hungry, and other times they just aren’t that hungry at all. This is normal!

Although we do have to trust our children more, we also need to remember that new foods are “weird” to children. It takes them time to adjust and explore the new food. Going back to the division of responsibility, there is no need to pressure a child to eat a new food or make a big deal out of how they “don’t know what their missing”. (By the way, don’t feel bad if you have done this! I think most of us have, but it takes time to remember to refrain from these types of phrases.) Remember that you may have to offer a particular food more than a dozen times before it becomes an accepted food, so don’t give up.

Here are a few tips to help you make this work:

Relax! Mealtime should be fun and relaxing. If you have provided the food, you have done your job.

Offer snacks and meals on a regular basis. If your little one decides to go on strike at a meal, you don’t have to worry that he/she will starve because you know more food is coming in a few hours.

Always serve at least one familiar and accepted food at each meal and snack. This way you know that your child has something to eat and his/her plate won’t look so foreign.

Remember that not everyone can have his or her favorite dish at every meal.

Know that you will be tested. My son screamed through lunch a few weeks ago because he wanted cheerios instead of what I served him. I’m pretty sure most children have these episodes!

Don’t give up. Keep bringing back foods whether your child accepted them or not. It takes time for children to explore and accept new flavors and textures.

Don’t make a big deal out of your child not eating a particular food or any food. This is counterproductive.

Motivational Monday

I exercise because it can help to prevent dementia! I want a strong mind to go with my strong body as I age!

Guest Blog Post: Snacks for your Plane Trip

2010-06-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

For today's post, please check out Fly Gracefully! I am honored and thankful that Grace allowed me to submit a guest blog post to her very informative site!

Getting Started With a Running Routine

2010-06-23T00:00:00.002-04:00

There are many right ways to start a running routine and many wrong ways! This post will just give you some suggestions of possible ways to get started. Also, you may want to read about getting started with an exercise routine if you don’t already have one.

Set one or more long-term goals. My suggestion would be to sign up for a 5K. Don’t wait around to see if you can run far enough by the time the 5K arrives, just sign up. By doing this, you’ll commit yourself to training. If after the 5K you decide that running isn’t for you, move on to something else. If you are already fit, but not a runner, 3 months should be plenty of time to train. If you are not regularly exercising already, you’ll need more time. You may want to start a walking routine and engage in other activities as well. After you feel good enough to add in some running, then you can plan to do a 5K run in 3 months.

Set short-term goals. Decide what you would like to accomplish in the coming week. Each week you will want to come up with new goals. Make sure that they are challenging, yet attainable.

Now that you know what you’re goals are, it is time to begin! If you have not been exercising regularly, start slow with brisk walking or other activities you feel comfortable with. If you have already been active, here is an example of how you can get started!

Here is an example of how you might start to sprinkle jogging/running into your routine slowly to avoid injuries.

Day 1:
Brisk walking 5 minutes
Jog 1 min
Brisk walking 3 min
Jog 1.5 min
Brisk walking 3 min
Jog 2 min
Brisk walking 3 min
Jog 2 min
Brisk walking 5 min
Jog 2 min
Walking 3 min

Day 2:
Weight training

Day 3: Repeat Day 1

Day 4: REST!

Day 5: Weight training

Day 6: Cross-train (bike, walk, elliptical, swim, etc)

Day 7: Repeat Day 1

On subsequent weeks, follow this schedule, but increase your running time. Here is an example:

Brisk walking 5 min
Jog 1 min
Brisk walking 2 min
Jog 1.5 min
Brisk walking 2 min
Jog 2 min
Brisk walking 2 min
Jog 2.5 min
Brisk walking 2 min
Jog 2.5 min
Brisk walking 5 min
Jog 2.5 min
Walk 3-5 min

Each week, lengthen the jogging intervals and even add in some short, fast, running intervals. As you progress, also add in some jogging/running intervals where you just run as long as you can before walking. This is my very simple guide to starting a running routine. I feel that the walk-run technique really helps to ease you into a routine and eventually you will get to point where you can run the entire time.

If you are running outdoors, you will want to clock your run to see how far it is. That way you can be sure that you are covering enough distance to train for your 5K. If you are running on a treadmill, be sure to set your incline at 1% to simulate a flat road outdoors. You may even want to vary your incline for a more realistic “outdoor run”. Do not hold on to the handlebars unless you fear falling off, and in that case I question if you should be on the treadmill. Holding on to the handlebars significantly decreases your effort.

New Milk Recommendations for Children 12 to 24 months

2010-06-21T00:00:00.001-04:00

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended whole milk for children starting at the age of 12 months and continuing until 24 months. This all changed after research was evaluated and discussed among the AAP.

In July 2008, the AAP changed its stance to recommend that some children should start with 2% milk at the age of 12 months. However, of course those children still receiving breast milk should continue as long as mommy is up for it! Children who are candidates for this new recommendation are those who have a family history of:

Obesity

Dyslipidemia (elevated cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, low HDL-cholesterol, or elevated triglycerides)

OR

Cardiovascular Disease

Don’t children need fat for brain development?

Absolutely! However, research found no difference in the growth and development of children who drank low fat milk versus children who drank whole milk.

How can I supplement fat so that I know my child is getting enough?

Cook with olive oil, serve avocado, and serve hummus dip with whole grain crackers. Look for foods high in unsaturated fats.

Why do experts keep changing their minds?

Research, research, research! Every topic imaginable has not been studied so some recommendations are based on speculation or inferences from other research. As research develops and we get more detailed in our techniques, we learn more and more. Recommendations and position statements change based on evolving research. If recommendations never changed, I would wonder why we fund research.

So what should I do?

First, take a look at your child’s family history. Does your child have obesity, dyslipidemia, or cardiovascular disease in his/her family history? If so, discuss options with your pediatrician.

Motivational Monday
I exercise so that when I’m older, I’ll have the strength to take care of myself!

Slash Your Diaper Spending in Half!

2010-06-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, so this doesn’t have anything to do with fitness or nutrition. However, if you think about it, saving so much money on diapers allows more money for fresh produce, lean meats, a gym membership, or piece of exercise gear/equipment. I have just been horrified with the cost of diapers and how much I used to spend on them. I have always clipped coupons and have never bought any diapers without a coupon; however, little did I know I was NOT getting the best deals. Even if you don’t have a baby or grandchild, think about all of the cheap diapers you can buy for baby showers! Again, I have to credit www.southernsavers.com for teaching me all of this valuable information!!

I buy my diapers at CVS. That’s right! I know you are all gasping at the thought of buying diapers at a drugstore where everything is marked up. Well, keep reading if I have sparked your interest. Although I’ll be discussing CVS, Walgreens and other drugstores have similar rewards programs that you can utilize.

Here is how it works. First, you must get a CVS card. This card will allow you to take advantage of sales and earn Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). ECBs are credits that you earn in the store and are tied to your CVS card. They work like real money at CVS allowing you to buy anything in the store. For all prescriptions, you earn 1 ECB, and for everything else in the store you earn 2% of your total spent. At the end of each quarter, you will get these ECBs back so that you can use them at CVS.

The next thing you need to know is that every time you walk into the store, you need to head straight to the computer that checks prices for you. Scan your CVS card and watch coupons pop out. Sometimes these coupons are totally useless to me, and other times they are awesome!

Here is where you really need to pay attention! Each week CVS features certain items that are not only on sale, but have extra ECBs tied to them. So, for instance, there may be a deal on pampers. A jumbo pack (around 36 diapers) is marked down to $8.49 and you automatically get a printout of 3 ECBs at the register! These deals do not add up over the quarter, you get them back immediately. So, let’s say you have a store coupon for $1 off pampers and a manufacturer’s coupon for $2 off pampers. That brings your price down to $5.49 and you get 3 ECBs to use on your next purchase. Let’s say that this deal allows 2 per customer. So after you make your first purchase, you decide to start another transaction. You have another $1 off manufacturer’s coupon and you use the 3 ECBs that you just earned. That brings your price to $4.49 for your 36 diapers! That is 12 cents per diaper; whereas, at Wal-Mart, if you bought a box of pampers, you would pay almost 20 cents per diaper.

Here are the morals of my story:

1.Don’t buy your diapers at Wal-Mart anymore!

2.Use store coupons + manufacturer coupons whenever you can!

3.Get started with your ECBs and NEVER pay more than 12 cents per diaper. My goal is to pay 10 cents or less, but I will NEVER pay more than 12 cents!

4.Buying diapers in bulk (the big boxes) is definitely not always the cheapest way to go!

4.Always calculate how much your paying PER DIAPER because prices and so-called “sales” may not actually be a deal at all!

5.Try to stick with items at CVS (or another drug store) that offer the ECBs (or other incentive) so that you’re always earning store credit for your next purchase.

Does anyone else have any tips or suggestions? I’d love to hear them! Also note that this ECB idea can be used on many other items such as contact solution, peanut butter, paper towels, and many more products. Go ahead, save some money and use it to buy that produce that you feel is too expensive!

Benefits of Exercise for the Pregnant Woman

2010-06-16T00:00:00.003-04:00

(Be sure to obtain clearance from your physician first! While exercise is healthy for most pregnant women, it is not appropriate for all!)

1. Less fat deposition during pregnancy and less fat retention post-partum (3).

2. Women who exercise during pregnancy experience less discomfort throughout their pregnancy (3, 29).

3. Studies have found that exercising during pregnancy leads to better moods, more energy, less fatigue, and a better body image (3, 29).

4. Labor is often shorter in women who exercise (3, 40, 41).

5. Lower risk of complications, including cesarean delivery in first-time mothers (43).

6. Faster emotional and physical recovery after pregnancy when exercise is continued post-partum (3, 29).

7. Quicker return to normal urinary control post-partum (3, 29).

8. It is speculated, but not studied, that pregnant women who exercise experience a lower incidence of colds, flu, sinusitis, and bronchitis (3).

9. The risk of gestational diabetes is reduced with exercise throughout pregnancy (29, 44).

10.Decreased risk of pregnancy-induced high blood pressure (preeclampsia) (27, 28, 29).

11. Maximum aerobic capacity has been found to increase between 5 to 10% during the year following birth; whereas those who do not exercise during pregnancy experience a decline of 10% (3, 20).

Examples of Recipe Reconstruction

2010-06-14T00:00:00.004-04:00

Here are two examples of how I reconstructed recipes and the results were crowd pleasers! Please note that these recipes aren't necessarily the healthiest recipes; however, it allows you to have a little indulgence with less saturated fat, calories, and sugar.

Original Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 quart half/half
1 pint whipping cream
1 cup chocolate syrup
1 T vanilla extract
3 cups milk

Beat eggs with electric mixer at medium speed until frothy. Gradually add sugar, beating until thick. Add next 4 ingredients; mix well. Pour mixture into freezer can of a 1-gallon hand-turned or electric freezer.
Add enough milk to fill can about three-fourths full, or up to the line on inside of freezer container. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Let ripen at least 1 hour in freezer.
Yield: About 1 gallon

Chocolate Ice Cream Made-Over

¾ cup egg substitute
1 cup splenda
½ Q fat free half/half
½ Q reg half/half
1 pt whipping cream
1 Cup chocolate syrup
1 T vanilla extract
3 cups skim milk

Mexican Chicken

6 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom
½ cup chicken broth
1 small onion chopped
½ cup shredded cheddar
1 sm bag of doritos crushed
1 can tomatoes diced

Boil chicken breast and debone. Combine all ingredients except chicken, cheese and chips. Layer chips in bottom of greased casserole dish, put chicken in next, then sauce, and top with shredded cheese, Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Goes well with rice.

Mexican Chicken Made-Over

Remove fat and skin from chicken
2 cans healthy request cream of chicken
½ cup reduced sodium chicken broth
Cheddar cheese made with 2% milk
Baked doritos
Use nonstick spray
Use whole grain rice

Motivational Monday
I exercise because I want my clothes to fit!

Tips for Staying on Track During Your Summer Vacation

2010-06-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

You may have a nice little vacation planned for this summer, but how will you be sure to come back from your vacation the same size you left? Here are a few tips for enjoying your time, but not blowing your hard work!

Indulge, but not for every meal. Bring along plenty of fruits and vegetables, if possible, for easy snacks. Savor the flavors of all of the delicious summer produce. If you feel like splurging at dinnertime, don’t be afraid. However, know your limits and plan on not cleaning your plate. Focus on savoring each bite, not on scarfing down every crumb.

Be cautious about alcohol. Drinking a lot of alcoholic beverages on each day of your trip will surely add a lot of calories. Pace yourself, drink water between alcoholic drinks, and choose low calorie drinks.

Do something active that is also fun! Think about walks on the beach, beach volleyball, jumping the waves, chasing your children, etc. The more you are on your feet, the more calories you will burn, but make it fun!

If it’s not worth the calories, skip it. Have you ever eaten a piece of cake that really wasn’t that great? I know I have. Then, I wondered, why did I eat that? If you are the average person on a vacation, you’ll surely take in more calories than typical. So, if you encounter food at a restaurant, party, or other event that isn’t that great, don’t eat it! Find something that does taste good and put those taste buds to good use!

Know your plan for getting back on course when you return home. It is okay to splurge a little here and there, within reason. The best way to make sure a vacation doesn’t totally derail you is to have a plan for eating better and exercising when you return. Stick to it! You’ll be glad you did!

Happy vacationing!

Borg's Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)

2010-06-09T00:00:00.001-04:00

This scale was created to help people gauge their level of exertion and to use it in exercise testing when heart rates are unreliable or unable to be obtained. You may have seen a copy of the category-ratio scale in your local gym or favorite fitness magazine. This is most widely used in fitness classes and the like to help participants figure out how hard they should be working. As mentioned in the article about exercise and pregnancy, the RPE scale is a great tool for gauging exertion level as heart rate has not been shown to be the best indicator. Here are the two scales.

Reconstruct Your Recipes

2010-06-07T00:00:00.002-04:00

If you have a few family favorites in your recipe box that aren’t as healthy as you would like them, but still want to be able to serve them from time to time, this blog is for you! Many very high calorie/high fat/high sugar recipes can be transformed into healthier versions without losing all of the taste. From experience, I will tell you that you can alter many recipes without your family or guests even having a clue; however, this won’t always be the case. Some recipes will have to be altered more than once before you strike a good balance of improved nutritional quality and superb taste. The following list will give you some ideas of how to alter recipes. Give some or all of them a try!

1. Flour: Use whole wheat instead of white or use half whole wheat and half white for a comporomise.

2. Butter: Will olive or canola oil work? If so, use it! If not, try using a variety such as Smart Balance that is very low in trans fat and low in saturated fat. Also consider reducing the amount of butter used in the recipe.

3. Sugar: Reduce the amount being used, use half splenda and half sugar, or use all splenda.

4. Eggs: Throw out all but one yolk when cooking with eggs, or use egg substitute.

5. Cheeses: Use cheese made with part-skim or 2% milk. When cream cheese is called for, many recipes work well with fat free or reduced fat.

6. Dairy: Most recipes work well with skim milk and low fat/fat free sour cream or yogurt.

A few extra thoughts:

Use fresh herbs to flavor foods instead of butter and salt.
Add vegetables to stir-fries and casseroles for extra fiber and nutrients.

Stay tuned next week for a few examples of recipes that I have reconstructed!

Motivational Monday!

Eating healthy sets a great example for my children!

Meal Planning

2010-06-04T00:00:00.001-04:00

Everyone’s lives are busy, whether you have a demanding job, young children, other major commitments, or all of the above! The key to having a healthy, delicious dinner on the table each night is simple…plan ahead. It is definitely okay to have a left-over night or sandwich night here and there too. You don’t need to feel like every night has to be “gourmet”! Here are some tips to decrease the times you’ll say “what are we going to have for dinner tonight?? Pizza??”

1. Sit down once each week to plan your meals. Yes, this will take some time, but not as much as you think. By doing this, you’ll never be scrounging at the last minute to figure out what to cook and trying to see if you have the ingredients. In fact, the first person to return home can start cooking the meal if you post your plan on the refrigerator. The other plus is that you’re more likely to have balanced and healthy meals because you took the time to plan them when you weren’t rushed and hungry.

2. Make your grocery list after planning your meals and go to the store only once each week. If you are a sale shopper like me, you may do this a little differently. I make most of my meals center around the foods I already have and what is on sale. The main idea here is that if you plan your meals and make your grocery list, you will save several trips to the store each week. If you are crunched for time, the time you spend planning will actually save time.

3. Make a game plan to fit your busy schedule. I can’t tell you exactly how to get your dinner on the table in a timely fashion because everyone’s schedule is different. I’ll give you an example of how I manage. I take the meat out of the freezer that I plan to cook and place it in the refrigerator the night before. To my surprise, after being a working mom for a while, I realized that getting dinner on the table is just as hard when you’re a stay-at-home-mom! To cope, I do a lot of preparation while my son naps. The idea is that when its time to start cooking, I can just bake it, sauté it, grill it, etc. Sometimes I even make a marinade or do some preparation the night before after my son goes to bed. This really makes my life easier at dinner time.

4. Enlist other family members in this process. If your children are old enough, have them each choose a recipe to cook each week. Your spouse is certainly old enough, so he or she can take a night too! With each person planning and cooking one night of the week, the burden can be lifted off of one person and everyone does less work overall.

5. Just remember to plan, plan, plan! If you are not resistant to thinking ahead, your life will really be easier and you will spend less time stressing over what to feed your family when everyone is hungry and tired from the day.

What special strategies do you and your family have in order to get a healthy dinner on your table each night? Please share your ideas!

Quick Tips for Pregnant Women Who Wish to Exercise

2010-06-02T00:00:00.003-04:00

Get your doctor's approval. While it is absolutely safe for the majority of pregnant women to exercise throughout their pregnancies, there are some situations in which the opposite is true.

Do not get overheated. Be smart about this! You know when you are uncomfortably hot, so take appropriate measures right away when you feel that you are approaching this state. Drink plenty of cold fluids, exercise indoors when it is hot and humid, use a fan, and do not over exert yourself. (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)

Avoid isometric exercises. Isometric exercises have a large effect on blood pressure, more so than other strength moves. (3, 39)

Avoid very heavy weights when strength training. Focus more on endurance by lifting weights light enough that you are able to complete at least 12 repetitions. (3, 39)

Avoid exercises completed in the supine position. This puts pressure on the vena cava restricting blood flow. (39)

Be aware of joint pain. While scientific evidence shows no concerns with pregnant women engaging in high impact activities, you may notice more stress on your joints as weight gain progresses. If this becomes a problem, switch to activities such as stationary cycling, swimming, and others that have less impact. (3, 39, 64, 65, 66)

Avoid activities that could result in falling. This includes riding a bike that is not stationary, horse back riding, and gymnastics. (39)

As long as your doctor has approved you for exercise, guidelines are exactly the same for pregnant women as they are for everyone else. These recommendations are five days of moderate activity for 30 minutes or three days of vigorous activity for 20 minutes.
Also, at least 2 days of strength training. (3, 67, 68)

Judge your appropriate intensity level based on how you feel. If you are familiar with Borg’s Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) (look for a future blog on this), you can aim for a rating of 12 to 14. If you are not familiar, the best thing to do is to be sensible. You shouldn’t work so hard that you are completely breathless and at the point of exhaustion. Aim for an intensity that allows you to speak in sentences and feel good throughout your activity. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no conclusion on a safe heart rate zone. No heart rate has actually been found to have a negative impact on mom or baby. If your doctor tells you that you should keep your heart rate below 140 bpm, ask another doctor’s opinion. That advice is completely arbitrary and has zero scientific evidence. In fact, one of the leading physicians in prenatal exercise research, Raul Artal, M.D., has written articles cautioning doctors about giving this advice to their patients. (3, 15, 39, 68)

For more information, stay tuned for other articles on this subject. Also, these books are easy reads written by leading researchers/physicians in prenatal exercise that give a lot of great information. Although both books are great, the first is a little older and doesn’t include some of the more recent research.

Artal, R. & Subak-Sharpe, G.J. Pregnancy & Exercise. New York, New York: Delacorte Press: 1992.

Clapp, J.F. Exercising through your pregnancy. Omaha, Nebraska: Addicus: 2002.

References for all blogs about Exercise and Pregnancy

2010-06-01T23:30:00.000-04:00

References
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2.Clapp, J.F. The effects of maternal exercise on early pregnancy outcome. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1989; 161: 1453-7.

3.Clapp, J.F. Exercising through your pregnancy. Omaha, Nebraska: Addicus: 2002.

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24.Hegaard, H.K., Hedegaard, M., Damm, P., Ottesen, B., Petersson, K., & Henriksen, T.B. Leisure time physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of preterm delivery. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 2008; 198: 180.e1-180.e5.

25.Madsen, M., Jorgensen, T., Jensen, M.L., Juhl, M., Olsen, J., Anderson, P.K., et al. Leisure time physical exercise during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage: a study within the Danish National Birth Cohort. BJOG, 2007; 114: 1419-1426.

26.Saftlas, A.F., Logsden-Sackett, N., Wang, W. Woolson, R., & Bracken, M.B. Work, leisure-time, physical activity and risk of preeclampsia and gestational hypertension. Am J Epidmiol, 2004; 160: 758-765.

27.Sorenson, T.K., Williams, M.A., Lee, I., Dashow, E.E., Thompson, M., & Luthy, D.A. Recreational physical activity during pregnancy and risk of preeclampsia. Hypertension, 2003; 41: 1273-1280.

28.Rafla, N.M. The effect of maternal exercise on umbilical artery blood flow in pregnancy-induced hypertension. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2000; 20: 19-23.

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30.Wang, T.W. & Apgar, B.S. Exercise during pregnancy. American Family Pysician, 1998; 57.

31.Milunsky, A., Ulcickas, M., Rothman, K.J., Willett, W., Jick, S.S., & Jick, H. Maternal heat exposure and neural tube defects. JAMA, 1992; 268: 882-885.

32.Miller, P., Smith, D.W., & Shepard, T.H. Maternal hyperthermia as a possible cause of anencephaly. The Lancet, 1978; 519-520.

33.Shiota, K. Neural tube defects and maternal hyperthermia in early pregnancy: epidemiology in a human embryo population. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 1982; 32: 281-288.

34.Jones, R.L., Botti, J.J., Anderson, W.M, & Bennett, N.L. Thermoregulation during aerobic exercise in pregnancy. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 1985; 65: 340-345.

35.Clapp, J.F., Wesley, M., & Sleamaker, R.H. Thermoregulatory and metabolic responses to jogging prior to and during pregnancy. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1987; 19: 124-130.

36.Clapp, J.F. The changing thermal response to endurance exercise during pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1991; 165: 1684-1689.

37.McMurray, R.G. & Katz, V.L. Thermoregulation in pregnancy implications for exercise. Sports Medicine, 1990; 10: 146-158.

38.Katz, M. & Sokal, M.M. Skin perfusion in pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1980; 137: 30-33.

39.Artal, R. & O’Toole, M. Guidelines of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2003; 37.

40.Clapp, J.F. The course of labor after endurance exercise during pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1990; 163: 1799-1805.

41.Beckmann, C.R. & Beckmann, C.A. Effect of a structured antepartum exercise program on pregnancy and labor outcome in primiparas. J Reprod Med, 1990; 35: 704-709.

42.Kardel, K.R. & Kase, T. Training in pregnant women: effects on fetal development and birth. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1998; 178: 280-286.

43.Bungum, T.J., Peaslee, D.L., Jackson, A.W., & Perez, M.A. Exercise during pregnancy and type of delivery in nulliparae. JOGNN, 2000; 29.

44.Dye, T.D., Knox, K.L., Artal, R., Aubry, R.H., & Wojtowycz, M.A. Physical activity, obesity, and diabetes in pregnancy. Am J Epidemiol, 1997; 146: 961-965.

45.Clapp, J.F. Fetal heart rate response to running in midpregnancy and late pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1985; 153: 251-252.

46.Hauth, J.C., Gilstrap, L.C., & Widmer, K. Fetal heart rate reactivity before and after maternal jogging during the third trimester. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1982; 142: 545-547.

47.Spinnewijn, W., Lotgering, F.K., Strujk, P.C., & Wallenburg, H. Fetal heart rate and uterine contractility during maternal exercise at term. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1996; 174: 43-48.

48.Kennelly, M.M., McCaffrey, N., McLoughlin, P., Lyons, S., & McKenna, P. Fetal heart rate response to strenuous maternal exercise: note a predictor of fetal distress. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 2002; 187: 811-816.

49.Rafla, N.M. & Cook, J.R. The effects of maternal exercise on fetal heart rate. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 1999; 19: 381-384.

50.Jovanovic, L., Kessler, A., & Peterson, C.M. Human maternal and fetal response to graded exercise. J Appl Physiol, 1985; 58: 1719-1722.

51.Clapp, J.F., Simonian, S.J., Harcar-Sevcik, R., Lopez, B., & Appleby-Wineberg, S. Morphometric and neurodevelopmental outcome after exercise during pregnancy. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1995; 27: S74.

52.Clapp, J.F., Lopez, B., & Harcar-Sevcik, R. Neonatal behavioral profile of the offspring of women who continued to exercise regularly throughout pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1999; 180: 91-94.

53.Kardel, K.R. & Kase, T. Training in pregnant women: effects on fetal development and birth. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1998; 178: 280-286.

54.Clapp, J.F., Simonian, S., Lopez, B., Appleby-Wineberg, S., & Harcar-Sevcik, R. The one-year morphometric and neurodevelopmental outcome of the offspring of women who continued to exercise regularly throughout pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1998; 178: 594-599.

55.Clapp, J.F. Morphometric and neurodevelopmental outcome at age five years of the offspring of women who continued to exercise regularly throughout pregnancy. J Pediatr, 1996; 129: 856-863.

56.Hacker, N.F. & Moore, J.G. Essentials of obstetrics and gynecology, 3rd edition. Philidelphia: W.B. Saunders Company: 1998.

57.Pivarnik, J.M., Clark, S.L., Cotton, D.B., Spillman, H.T., & Miller, J.F. Cardiac output responses of primigravid women during exercise determined by the Direct Fick Technique. Obstet Gynecol, 1990; 75: 954-959.

58.Sady, S.P., Carpenter, M.W., Thompson, P.D., Sady, M.A., Haydon, B., & Coustan, D.R. Cardiovascular response to cycle exercise during and after pregnancy. J Appl Physiol, 1989; 66: 336-341.

59.Erkkola, R.U., Pirhonen, J.P. & Kivijarvi, A.K. Flow velocity waveforms in uterine and umbilical arteries during submaximal bicycle exercise in normal pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol, 1992; 79: 611-615.

60.Marieb, E.N. Human Anatomy & Physiology. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings: 2001.

61.Lotgering, F.K., Van Doorn, M.B., Struijk, P.C., Pool, J., & Wallenburg, H.C. Maximal aerobic exercise in pregnant women: heart rate, O2 consumption, CO2 production, and ventilation. J Appl Physiol, 1991; 70: 1016-1023.

62.McMurray, R.G., Hackney, A.C., Katz, V.L., Gall, M., & Watson, W.J. Pregnancy-induced changes in the maximal physiological responses during swimming. J Appl Physiol, 1991; 71: 1454-1459.

63.Berry, M.J., McMurray, R.G., & Katz, V.L. Pulmonary and ventilatory responses to pregnancy, immersion, and exercise. J Appl Physiol, 1989; 66: 857-862.

64.Calguneri, M., Bird, H.A., & Wright, V. Changes in joint laxity occurring during pregnancy. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 1982; 41: 126-128.

65.Karzel, K.P. & Friedman, M.C. Orthopedic injuries in pregnancy. Exercise in pregnancy, 1991; ed. Artal, R.A., Wiswell, R.A., & Drinkwater, B.L. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.

66.Shauberger, C.W., Rooney, B.L., Goldsmith, L., Shenton, D., Silva, P.D., & Schaper, A. Peripheral joint laxity increases in pregnancy but does not correlate with serum relaxin levels. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1996; 174: 667-671.

67.Davies, G.A., Wolfe, L.A., Mottola, M.F., & MacKinnon, C. Joint SOGC/CSEP clinical practice guideline: exercise in pregnancy and the postpartum period. JOGC, 2003; 129: 1-7.

68.Pate, R.R., Pratt, M., Blair, S.N., Haskell, W.L., Macera, C.A., Bouchard, C., et al. A recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine. JAMA, 1995; 273: 402-407.

69.Glenn, N., Davies, G., Charlesworth, S., & Wolfe, L. Prolonged exercise in late gestation-maternal responses. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 2003; 189: S196.

70.Clapp, J.F. & Little, K.D. The effect of endurance exercise on pregnancy weight gain and subcutaneous fat deposition. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1995; 27: 170-177.

71.ACOG Committee. Opinion no. 267: exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Obstet Gynecol, 2002; 99:171-173.

Vitamin D, are you deficient?

2010-05-31T00:00:00.004-04:00

Before I begin today's post, I just want to inform you of something new I'm going to add to my blog. Every Monday will be "Motivational Monday!" So at the bottom of every Monday post, you will find a phrase or sentence that gives you another reason to lead a healthy life. My hope is that you will find these to be good reasons to exercise and eat better; and use them to help motivate you through your week (and weekend!). I'd love to hear your thoughts if you have any!!

Recently, there has been a lot of research centering around vitamin D deficiency and how it impacts our health. If you’ve been wondering what the deal is, this will give you a general idea of what is going on and what you should do to make sure you’re not missing out on a vital nutrient!

Vitamin D deficiency is real and affects many Americans. According to the NHANES III study, when men, women, white Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics were evaluated and compared, it was found that the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency was at least 40% for all groups. African Americans in the age group of 20-39 years old had the highest prevalence nearing 100%. White Americans in the same age category had the lowest prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, which was about 40%. (Martins D, et al. Arch Intern Med 2007 June;167:1159-1165)

So why are we having such a problem with vitamin D deficiency? There are many factors to blame. One difference between our culture today and our culture 50 years ago is that we use sunscreen, and a lot of it! I am not saying that is a bad thing! I am no expert on this subject, but I definitely believe that wearing sunscreen is a smart move. Vitamin deficient or not, I want my family’s skin protected! Other factors are air pollution, skin tone, less time spent outside, and poor diet. Many other factors can play into vitamin D deficiency, but they are more specific to some diseases.

Being deficient in vitamin D isn’t just something to fluff off and not worry about. Individuals who are deficient are more likely to die of heart failure or sudden cardiac death. Also, adequate vitamin D is thought to protect against hypertension (high blood pressure).

Ameri P, Ronco D, Casu M, Denegri A, Bovio M, Menoni S, Ferone D, Murialdo G. High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its association with left ventricular dilation: An echocardiography study in elderly patients with chronic heart failure. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2010 Apr 14.)

Pilz S, Tomaschitz A, Drechsler C, Dekker JM, März W. Vitamin D deficiency and myocardial diseases. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2010 Mar 29.

Vitamin D deficiency also increases cancer risk, particularly colon, breast, and prostate. Inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, in addition to metabolic disorders are also more likely to occur in those who are deficient. Insulin-dependent diabetes falls into the category of autoimmune diseases.

Peterlik, M., Cross, H.S.. Vitamin D and calcium deficits predispose for multiple chronic diseases. European Jour of Clin Invest, 2005 Apr 28.

Vieth, Bischoff-Ferrari, Boucher, Dawson-Hughes, Garland, Heaney, et al. The urgent need to recommend an intake of vitamin D that is effective. Am J of Clin Nut, 85(3), 643-650: 2007.

The first thing you should do if you have not had your vitamin D level tested is to speak with your doctor. Your serum level of vitamin D can be easily tested and your doctor can then advise you on the next step. Your level may be fine! However, if it is not, you may need to take a supplement in order to achieve a safe level. If your doctor prescribes some time in the sun unprotected, I would encourage you to speak with your dermatologist to get his or her opinion on such a plan. Do not begin taking any kind of supplement without getting your level tested and being advised by a doctor!

Some food sources of vitamin D are wild salmon, canned tuna or mackerel, shitake mushrooms, cod liver oil, and fortified cheeses and milk.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY!
Staying fit gives me the energy I need to play with my children/grandchildren!

Feeding Your Baby.....Jarred or Homemade Food?

2010-05-28T00:00:00.001-04:00

To make your baby food at home, or buy it in a jar…that is the question! Both options are ultimately fine choices, but there are pros and cons to both sides. Keep reading for a discussion about your options.

Jarred baby food bought at the store is not overly inferior to homemade baby food, although it is probably not quite as rich in some vitamins and minerals. This is due to the heating of jars, possible over-cooking and sitting on a shelf for some time. So, your baby may not get quite as much nutrition from the jarred food, but there isn’t a detrimental difference in homemade food and jarred. You shouldn’t feel that your baby is being deprived if you don’t have the time to cook your own food at home. If you do have time to steam fruits/veggies and puree them, which is not as time consuming as it seems, you may feel good about the fact that you are probably putting a more nutrient dense food on your child’s spoon.

Often times, making baby food is significantly cheaper than buying food in a jar. You can buy an inexpensive sweet potato and make a couple of weeks worth of baby food, freeze it, and pull it out, as you need it. When I did this, I always liked to calculate exactly how much I was saving because that always made me happy! However, I recently realized that you could also purchase baby food at very cheap prices, sometimes free! If you purchase baby food when it is on sale and use coupons, you’ll be amazed at the deals you get.

A definite con when it comes to store-bought baby food happens when you start your baby on stage 2 and 3 foods. I was really disappointed when I saw things like “Turkey and Green Beans”; however, I found something very different on the ingredient label. I would often see “sweet potatoes” as the first and most abundant ingredient. Sometimes the vegetable listed on the front of the jar, was the very last ingredient on the list! If I see the words “turkey” and “green beans” on a label, I expect those to be the prime ingredients. Instead, the mixture is sweetened so that we can continue to teach our children to only enjoy sweet foods. It is important for children to get a taste of vegetables and meat so that they can learn to enjoy those flavors as well.

On another note, while I found it very easy to turn fruits and vegetables into yummy foods for my baby, I didn’t have the same luck with meats. Whenever I made chicken, it turned into a crumb that my child wasn’t ready for. He really needed something smoother that he didn’t have to chew.

With all of these pros and cons, what should you do? It is really up to you! However, I'll tell you what I did. For my child, I served a mix of homemade baby food and some store-bought. I really enjoyed and felt good about cooking his foods fresh in my own kitchen. However, when I was able to get jarred food at a great price, I stocked up on meats that were mixed with whole grains. I typically stayed away from the meats mixed with a conglomerate of fruits and vegetables, unless I saw that the vegetable that I was looking for was at the top of the ingredient list. I found that when we were out and about, sometimes the jarred food was very convenient. However, I also put my homemade food in a little container and brought it with us on occasions.

If you’re wanting to start making your own baby food, but are unsure of where to begin, I recommend “Cooking For Baby” published by William Sonoma. It has great recipes for babies and toddlers. The toddler recipes are great for the whole family too! Just beware that you should follow your pediatrician or registered dietitian’s advice about when to introduce foods. Do not go by the advice of any cookbook or book that is not written by an appropriate health professional!

Exercising with Diabetes

2010-05-26T00:00:00.002-04:00

If you are one of the many Americans with diabetes choosing to exercise, good for you! This can benefit you in many ways including reducing your hemoglobin A1c (an indicator that gives insight to blood sugar levels over a three month period), increase insulin sensitivity, and decrease risk for heart disease. Here are some recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine for diabetics to keep in mind while exercising.

Check your blood sugar before exercise. If blood sugar is above 250 mg/dL, do not exercise until the level comes below 250 mg/dL. If blood sugar is less than 100 mg/dL, have a snack containing 10 to 20 grams of carbohydrate.

Keep an exercise log. On this log, record your pre-exercise blood sugar level, the time of day, medication/insulin administered, type of exercise, duration of exercise, and intensity level. Over time, this will help you to gain a better understanding of how certain types of exercise impact your blood sugar level.

Plan ahead. Knowing what type of exercise and how much you will do can help you to adjust any medications and insulin. Also, carry a 10 to 15 gram carbohydrate snack with you to eat/drink approximately every 30 minutes.

Adjust insulin dosages. Short- or rapid-acting insulin can be reduced by 50% to avoid hypoglycemic episodes. Be sure to get your doctor’s approval for this.

Exercise with a friend. This is especially important when beginning an exercise routine until blood sugar response is better known.

Wear a diabetic identification tag. Hopefully this would never be needed, but you wouldn’t drive a car without insurance, so don’t exercise without your tag! If something were to happen, this would help you to receive better care by anyone attending to your needs.

Wear comfortable shoes appropriate for activity. This helps to prevent injury.

Check your feet! Always do this whether you exercise or not. However, it is probably even more pertinent after exercise. You need to look for sores or any irritated spots and show them to your doctor if they occur.

American College of Sports Medicine. Guidelines for exercise testing and prescription, 5th edition. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins: 2006.

Go ahead, eat the chocolate!

2010-05-24T00:00:00.001-04:00

You liked that title, didn’t you? Sometimes we all get a craving for something less than healthy. If you think about it for days in and days out, aren’t you going to go crazy? You’re human and you shouldn’t be deprived of all of the things you love! In fact, I believe that when we deprive ourselves and feel deprived, we go overboard at some point eating more than “just a nibble” of our favorite, unhealthy foods.

If you are eating healthy 90% of the time, there is no reason that you can’t partake in a little indulgence here and there. Maybe if you let yourself have a little nibble of what you really enjoy, you won’t feel the need to go overboard because you know you can have it again soon. It all goes back to the old saying “everything in moderation”.

I just want to be clear that I’m not saying that is okay to eat a huge bowl of ice cream, quarter pounder cheese burger, French fries, and a bag of chips all in one day. This would be considered "going overboard". I’m just talking about small indulgences that satisfy your cravings. So, go ahead and enjoy!

A More In-Depth Explanation of Why Eating Often is Beneficial

2010-05-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

Recently, a question came up from a reader on another website (go here to read the full post) about the validity that you should eat 3-6 meals daily. This individual referred to an article written in The New York Times touting that there is really no benefit to eating frequently. Instead of responding, knowing full well that some people just have their minds made up, I decided to post on my blog giving information to back up the reasoning behind frequent meals.

1. To be clear, I stated in my post that a minimum of 3 meals should be eating each day. The studies mentioned by The NY Times compared 3 meals to 6 meals. I do not believe that eating only 3 meals is detrimental; however, less than 3 meals is damaging. Not only for the reasons of increased fat storage and depletion of glycogen, but also because people overeat when they are deprived for long periods during the day. I have seen this in practice over and over again. I have had hundreds of patients who go all day without eating, and then tell me that they are so ravenous by the end of the day that they eat everything they can find. I have had some patients find that they are consuming several thousand calories in the evening. So yes, while the end result is calories in versus calories out, a) you are more likely to metabolize more calories per day with more frequent meals; and b) people who eat less than three times per day, typically eat more calories than they need in a day in one or two sittings.

2. Magazines, Newspapers, and other media present the research how they would like to present it. There is always a way to take portions of a study out of context and bend it to appear how you would like it. The people who write these articles are not always qualified to interpret research and advise others on it. Sometimes, the articles are written simply for “interesting reading”. To decide whether or not to take heed, check their credentials.

2. I did take a look at The NY Times article and the research that it was referring to. Notice that the author also mentioned a scientific study that did, in fact, show a metabolic advantage to eating small frequent meals. ( Jenkins, Wolever, Vuksan, Brighenti, Cunnane, Rao, Jenkins, Bucklye, Patten, Singer, et al. Nibbling versus gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency. N Engl J Med. 1989 Oct 5;321(14):929-34.) Part of the story is that, in science, many studies will be conflicting, so it takes a lot of analysis and MANY scientific studies before conclusions can really be drawn. To be honest, after looking at all three of the studies mentioned in the article, I don’t believe any of them were well designed. They all include an extremely small amount of subjects and they all look at different outcomes. Unfortunately, I was also unable to pull up the entire studies; however, looking at the abstract is much more telling than a line or two in The NY Times. However, I have a few more comments on the two studies that “disproved” the need for small frequent meals. One of the studies gave every subject the same amount of calories. Everyone surely does not have the same caloric needs; therefore, you will have some people consuming more than necessary and others consuming less. How can you conclude anything from that? The other study was only conducted for two weeks and it did, in fact, show a decrease in fat oxidation. Overall, it looks like better studies need to be completed.

3. Regardless of the fact that the above-mentioned studies were really not conducted well, classic studies do show that resting energy expenditure is, in fact, decreased during prolonged periods of not eating. In the first 24 hours of starvation, glycogen stores are depleted, so there is no “fat melting away”. Glycogen is stored with water, so when glycogen is used up, water loss occurs. This leads to…….weight loss! But not fat loss! Fat loss occurs in the later stages of starvation. In the early stages of starvation, fat is preserved. (Barton. Nutrition support in critical illness. Nutr Clin Pract 9: 127. 1994) Another study shows that resting metabolic rate does drop by as much as 15% within 2 weeks of inadequate food intake. (Ravussin, Swinburn. Effect of caloric restriction and weight loss on energy expenditure. In: Wadden TA, Van Ittalie TB (eds.) Treatment of the Seriously Obese Patient. New York: Guilford Press, 1992.)

4. When you are not eating often, you can think of insulin release like hills and valleys. This is unfortunate because it causes large fluctuations in blood sugar, which is not healthy for organs. Also, when insulin is peaking due to a large influx of food after fasting, fat storage is promoted.

Hopefully this post helped to clear up any possible confusion!

Cross-training is important....

2010-05-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

1. To prevent boredom. Let’s face it; sometimes you need a little change! By switching up your workout often, hopefully you can keep interesting.

2. To prevent injuries. Because your body is moving in different ways with various types of exercise, so do your joints and muscles. Variation gives certain parts of your body a little rest and; therefore, decreases your risk for injury.

3. To make you a better athlete and make you more fit. Working muscles differently allows you to strengthen your “weakest link”, if you will. Always exercising the same way will only strengthen certain muscles, and only in a particular way. Changing up your routine allows you to challenge your muscles.

4. To possibly get you through a weight-loss plateau. When you exercise in one mode, whether it is running, walking, or riding your bike, your body becomes very efficient at that task. Challenging your body to a different type of exercise may allow you to burn more calories.

5. To find your favorite types of exercise. You never know if you’ll like something until you try it. You may just find out that you like biking better than running. However, you’ll never know if you only run!

Sensible Eating

2010-05-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

There are so many factors that contribute to our overweight nation that it is really complex and no one aspect can be completely to blame. However, I do feel that one of the complex issues is that we don’t listen to our body to tell us how much and when to eat. We’ve all been there! We’re at a party; the chips and dip look awesome even though we’re not hungry. After dinner, we’re full, but the chocolate cake looks amazing, so we manage to find some room in our bellies.

I think everyone can relate to this at one time or another. I know I have certainly been in those situations myself. In order to lose or maintain weight, the above situations need to happen infrequently. Your body knows when and how much fuel you need; and it doesn’t cost anything for that special feature! Going from ignoring your body’s signals to being very aware may take some time. Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Consider keeping a food journal. Not only should you write down what you’re eating, but also write down how hungry you were before you started and how satisfied, full, overstuffed, or still hungry you are when you finish. It is helpful to jot down your mood too. After a while, you’ll really start to see a pattern, which may be helpful in making a change.

2. Every 15 minutes, or sooner if you’re a fast eater, stop and ask yourself how full you are. If you’re not sure, give yourself a little break from eating so that your body has a chance to get the signal of whether you’re satisfied or still hungry.

3. Remember that getting that “satisfied” or “full” signal may take up to 20 minutes. If you’re eating very fast, it is a great idea to slow down so that your body can “talk” to you before you overstuff yourself.

4. Forget about reaching your “full” mark and aim for “satisfied”. In other words, think about eating until you are no longer hungry, but not until you need to unbutton your jeans or become uncomfortable. When you have reached that point, you have consumed more food than you need.

5. Don’t ignore hunger signals. Just like you shouldn’t over eat, you should also not avoid eating when you are truly hungry.

Surviving the heat without ditching your exercise routine this summer...

2010-05-14T00:00:00.001-04:00

If you have access to an air-conditioned gym, or have equipment in your home, you are set this summer! If not, you may need to be a little bit more creative to beat the heat. One way to stay in-doors and get some exercise is to visit your local mall, or other large building that you have access to, and walk there. If all else fails, here is a list of tips for surviving your exercise outside this summer.

1. Exercise in a pool.

2. Take advantage of the cool air in the mornings by exercising before work or school.

3. Always be sure to hydrate. If you will be out for a while, find places to hide water bottles so that you can grab them on your way. Personally, I prefer to wear one of those running belts that you can store several small water bottles in. These can be purchased at running stores and some athletic stores.

4. Know that it takes about 1 week of daily exposure to heat before your body adapts. This doesn’t mean you won’t mind the heat, but you’ll cope with it better. Losing this adaptation takes a very short time, so you have to continue exercising in the heat often in order to maintain your adaptations.

5. Be smart and follow heat advisories. Do not go out in the middle of the afternoon for a nice little run when it is 100 degrees. Listen to your weatherman (and your body!) and either go out during the coolest part of the day, or find an in-door place for walking or running.

6. Wear appropriate clothing for the weather and your sport. Do not overdress!

7. Use sunscreen. Just because you’re not laying by the pool doesn’t mean you can’t get a burn. Be good to your skin!

Have a great and fit summer!

Tempo Training For Better Fitness

2010-05-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

If you are looking for another way to improve your fitness, you visited on the right day! Tempo training is most often referred to as a tempo run, but you can apply it to any type of cardiovascular exercise. Tempo training is great when you only have 20 or 30 minutes for a workout, and you want to get the most out of that time.

In order to complete a tempo training session, you should be running (or whatever your sport) at a pace that is pretty strenuous and doesn’t allow you to carry on much of a conversation. You should be able to speak, but not in complete sentences. Although you should be working hard, this is not “race speed” or the fastest you can possibly run. When you finish, you should feel some relief, be proud, and feel that you got a great workout. You should not be passing out, vomiting, or feeling like you won’t get off the couch for the remainder of the day. I hope that description helps to shed some light on the proper intensity at which this workout should be completed.

So how does this tempo training work? Well, you should be working at an intensity that forces your body to breakdown nutrients for energy anaerobically, or without oxygen. When this is happening, the byproduct of this particular energy pathway is called lactic acid or lactate. Everyone has a threshold at which they can no longer process energy aerobically, so they must move to this other anaerobic pathway (anaerobic glycolysis for those of you who want the exact terms!). This threshold is called the anaerobic threshold or lactate threshold. So, theoretically, when you are tempo training your body should be working at its lactate threshold.

The results of training in this manner are a higher lactate threshold and better running economy. In simple terms, you can run faster and more efficiently. This type of training can be done about once each week.

Questions?

Sweet Rewards

2010-05-10T00:00:00.001-04:00

We all love that sweet reward; whether it is for weight loss, exercise compliance, a promotion at work, or an A+ on a test. The tricky part is, what we use to reward ourselves. Rewards are wonderful; however, using food for this purpose may be detrimental. In our American culture, we have learned to eat “emotionally”, which over time leads to a negative relationship with food. Training us to expect food as a reward can certainly add to a growing waistline.

To change the way we reward our children and ourselves, it takes some brainstorming. First of all, think about the fact that your reward for some achievements, may just be the positive consequence that naturally occurs. For instance, my reward for exercising five days this week will be feeling better, weight loss, better sleep, and more energy. If I choose to reward myself with a whole pizza and 2 regular beers, I’ll likely undo all of the progress I made.

Here are some suggestions for ways to reward yourself:

1. A new workout outfit, or any kind of outfit
2. A massage
3. An hour of relaxing by the pool without worrying about things you need to do (you may need your spouse to be in on this reward by watching the kids!)
4. Rent a movie you’ve been wanting to see
5. Get a manicure or pedicure

Suggestions for rewarding children:

1. An extra story before bedtime
2. Rent a short movie for them
3. Take them to the zoo
4. Go for an afternoon at the pool
5. Take them to the park

I would love to hear how you use non-food items to reward yourself or your children! Please post a comment with your ideas!

Hand Washing for Champions

2010-05-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

You may be thinking that hand washing has nothing to do with nutrition and fitness, so why did it earn a spot on this blog. Well, it is certainly an important part of both topics! Food safety is always a nutritional concern and avoiding viruses and bacteria at the gym is just as important. You should always practice good hand washing skills before and after handling food, after using the bathroom, and before and after using gym equipment just to name a few. This post was inspired after seeing way too many people using poor hand washing techniques at the gym. Gyms are crawling with all kinds of disgusting germs that you don’t want! Always wash your hands thoroughly before heading out the door! Anything less than the description below means that you are wasting your time at the sink because it is ineffective! The following steps are required of employees in food establishments for a reason! You should follow them also!

1. Make sure you have paper towels handy before starting to wash your hands.

2. Turn the water on to a warm temperature.

3. Put soap in your hands and then scrub for 20 seconds. You can count to 20 or sing happy birthday to yourself twice. You should be scrubbing between your fingers, the backs and palms of your hands, your wrists, and your nails. Friction is important!

4. Rinse your hands.

5. Grab a paper towel and thoroughly dry your hands. Now, using the paper towel, turn off the water. Do not touch the faucet again because you will just pick up all of the germs you left there when you turned it on, and when everyone else before you turned it on.

Happy Hand Washing!!

Fueling for endurance exercise. Part III: Nutrition for recovery

2010-05-05T00:00:00.004-04:00

During your workout, you fueled your body. After that long training session or event the fueling isn’t over! It is important to give your body fuel to recover. Here are some guidelines for a good recovery

Within 15 minutes of stopping your exercise, you need to consume carbohydrate. After a long workout, you have surely depleted your glycogen stores. (Glycogen is simply the storage from of glucose found mostly in the muscle, which is a sugar that gives your body energy.) Eating a snack high in carbohydrate post workout helps to replenish those glycogen stores. This is the time when your muscles can store glycogen most easily, so take advantage of it. Use this formula to decide how many grams of carbohydrate you need.

Body weight in pounds x 0.5 = grams of carb needed (Clark, N. Sports Nutrition Guidebook. Human Kinetics, Brookline, MA. 2003.)

Example: 150 lbs x 0.5 = 75 grams of carb

If you are still feeling hungry in 30 minutes, you should eat this amount again. Continue fueling until you are satisfied.

Research is somewhat conflicting about whether or not consuming protein post- endurance training is needed or not. Regardless, you probably need some fat and protein to make you more satisfied, so I would suggest a small amount. A tablespoon or two of peanut butter could be used to top a bagel; or you could have a handful of almonds with an orange.

Just as electrolytes were important throughout your long journey, they are also important post-endurance exercise. Any of the suggestions on last week’s post are good, but just make sure that you are having some snack that provides sodium and potassium.

Electrolytes go hand-in-hand with fluids so don’t forget that! Be sure to drink fluids as needed to continue rehydrating. Monitor your body weight and urine if you’re not sure if you have rehydrated enough.

Happy training!

Fiber

2010-05-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

You have probably heard some hype about fiber being an important part of your diet. This is certainly true, and adults should be aiming for 25 to 35 grams of fiber daily. That said, you should not transition from eating 10 grams of fiber daily to 25 grams daily. You will not like me if you do that!! It is important to slowly increase by about 2 to 3 grams, and then increase again once you are comfortable with that (about 1 week). Also, fiber acts like a sponge, if you will, that soaks up water. You must be sure to drink plenty of water as you are increasing your fiber intake, or again, you won’t like me! It will most likely make you constipated.

Something to keep in mind, in addition to the fact that you need 25 to 35 grams of fiber daily is that half of your fiber intake should be soluble fiber, and the other have should be insoluble. Soluble fiber is instrumental in lowering cholesterol and managing blood sugar levels. Prevention of constipation, possible prevention of some cancers, and contributing to satiety can be attributed to insoluble fiber. Both types of fibers can be helpful with weight control as well!

So where can you get your fiber? Here is a list of suggestions, but keep in mind that most foods on this list contain a little bit of both types of fiber. However, I’m separating foods by which fiber they predominately contain.

Soluble Fiber

Fruits (especially the skins)
Vegetables (especially the skins)
Legumes
Oats

Insoluble Fiber

Whole Grains (cereals, bread, rice, pasta, granola bars)

How do we get our children to eat fruits and vegetables?

2010-04-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is a paper that I wrote while working on my MS degree. I thought it was a nice follow up to Nancy's post last Friday; and my post on Monday. It is rather long for a blog post, so I bolded points of interest. You can kind of get the idea if you just read the bolded sections. However, if you feel like reading the whole thing, you can!

I. Epidemiological Background

Fruit and vegetable consumption in America is, unfortunately, much less than desirable. Consuming two to four fruits and three to five vegetables daily is imperative for optimal health; however, the majority of people in America rarely meet this goal. In 2005, it was found that the median percent of Americans who consumed at least five fruits and vegetables daily was 23.2% (USDHHS, 2007). In South Carolina, a mere 21.2% of residents consumed at least five fruits and vegetables daily (USDHHS, 2007). From this data, it is obvious that there is certainly a need for improvement as the lack of fruit and vegetable consumption puts individuals at risk for many diseases.

Increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables is related to prevention of type II diabetes, obesity (Bazanno, 2006), and some cancers (Adams, Pelletier, Zive, & Sallis, 2005). “At least nine prospective cohort studies have been conducted relating intake of fruits and vegetables to risk of coronary heart disease (Bazzano, 2006, p. 1364). Of those, four found significant inverse associations, whereas five found inverse associations that trended toward but did not reach statistical significance after appropriate adjustment” (Bazzano, 2006, p. 1364). Studies have also supported that fruits and vegetables have a strong association with lower blood pressure and decreased risk for stroke (Bazzano, 2006).

Chronic diseases do not form over night; neither do eating habits. This is why it is so imperative that children are reached at a young age and taught about the delicious varieties of fruits and vegetables available to them. After all, obesity is nothing new to children, and chronic diseases are showing up in people much younger than in previous decades. According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System in 2005, only 20.1% of all children consumed greater than or equal to five fruits and vegetables daily within a seven-day period (USDHHS, 2006). It is apparent that some intervention is needed to change this statistic.

II. Summary of Current Research and Intervention

Examining the current programs and evaluating which ones are successful is important in continuing the fight against poor nutrition. The first area of interest is to understand whether or not children will increase their fruit and vegetable consumption if it is simply more available.

A study was completed to find out if providing salad bars in schools rather than having pre-portioned servings would cause children to increase their intake (Adams et al., 2005). The results showed that the availability of the salad bars did not significantly increase children’s consumption (Adams et al., 2005). However, “fruit and vegetable consumption was positively related to the number of fruit and vegetable items offered at salad bars (P<.05), adjusting for sex and grade” (Adams et al., 2005, p. 1789). Schools that offered a larger variety of fruits and vegetables had a greater mean of consumption (Adams et al., 2005). It is possible that students were able to find items that that agreed with their particular tastes when the variety was larger, yielding a better outcome (Adams et al., 2005).

Pinellas county in Florida took a different approach to the same idea. They began offering prepackaged fruit and vegetable salads in the schools’ cafeterias (USDHHS, 2007). The difference with their tactic was that they did not stop at just offering these foods (USDHHS, 2007). Administrators and staff were educated about the advantages and importance of fruit and vegetable consumption (USDHHS, 2007). In addition, setting up a farmers’ market display kicked the program off each year so that children had the opportunity to see, taste, and touch the different fruits and vegetables (USDHHS, 2007). This program resulted in 3,750 students and staff members increasing their intake of fruits and vegetables (USDHHS, 2007). The program has now expanded to many other schools in the surrounding areas (USDHHS, 2007). Success is attributed to the evidence supporting the idea that offering healthier foods in cafeterias and vending machines is linked to increased intake of healthier foods in the student population (USDHHS, 2007).

From 1991 to 1994, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) provided grants to evaluate the effectiveness of the 5-A-Day promotion in many different venues, including schools (USDHHS, 2000). Through the evaluation, it was found that students in grades two through four ate significantly more fruits and vegetables when exposed to the promotion (USDHHS, 2000). The children also “had higher good nutrition knowledge scores and better attitudes towards the school lunch program than those who did not participate” (USDHHS, 2000).

A more involved, yet successful, study was complete in which garden-based nutrition education was evaluated (McAleese & Rankin, 2007). The study involved a control group and two treatment groups (McAleese & Rankin, 2007). The treatment groups consisted of a twelve-week nutrition education program and a garden-based nutrition education group (McAleese & Rankin, 2007). The children in the garden-based nutrition group helped to maintain gardens with in-season fruits, vegetables, and herbs (McAleese & Rankin, 2007). While maintaining the gardens, they learned proper care for the garden, ways to incorporate the produce into their diets, and a class cookbook was produced (McAleese & Rankin, 2007). Three, 24-hour food recalls were completed before and after the intervention to evaluate effectiveness (McAleese & Rankin, 2007). The children in the garden-based group significantly increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables whereas the students in the control and nutrition education groups experienced little to no improvement. (McAleese & Rankin, 2007)

During the 2002-2003 school year, the Nutrition Title of the 2002 Farm Act provided six-million dollars for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to start a Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program (FVPP) (USDA, 2003). Schools that participated were given free fruits and vegetables to provide to their students (USDA, 2003). During the pilot, it was reported that students consumed 93% percent of the fruits and vegetables provided in November; and 92% percent in December (USDA, 2003). Of the schools that participated, 93% offered nutrition education and promotion in conjunction with the free fruits and vegetables (USDA, 2003). “School staff believed that the pilot lessened the risk of obesity, increased attention in class, reduced consumption of less healthy food, reduced number of unhealthy snacks brought from home, increased students’ awareness and preference for a variety of fruits and vegetables, helped children who would otherwise be hungry get more food, and increased students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables at lunch.” (USDA, 2003, p. 4)

Schools are not the only places where children can learn to increase their fruit and vegetable intake. A study that examined intake for preschool-aged children living in more rural areas in Missouri where fruits and vegetables were homegrown showed that those children had higher intakes than other children living in areas where fruits and vegetables were not constantly available (Nanney, Johnson, Elliott, & Haire-Joshu, 2007). From this study one could theorize that if fruits and vegetables are made more readily available to children and their parents, children may consume higher amounts. Educating parents on the nearest farmers’ market and the need to have an abundance of fruits and vegetables available to children in their homes just may make a difference.

III. Recommendations for Future Health Programs/Interventions

Knowledge may be power, but it is not powerful enough. Most children know and understand that fruits and vegetables are good and important in any nutritious diet. Although they may not understand the long-term detriment of not including fruits and vegetables in their diet, they typically do understand that they are “good for you”.

From the research discussed in this paper, it can be concluded that children tend to respond well to hands-on activities. After examining the Nanney study, it was seen that when children’s families have home gardens, they tend to consume more fruits and vegetables (Nanney et al., 2007). Obviously, not every child is going to have the opportunity to have a home garden; however, that can be a reality in schools. It would be wise to implement activities in elementary schools where children learn to maintain a garden full of in-season fruits, vegetables, and herbs as was demonstrated in the McAleese study (McAleese & Rankin, 2007). Just as people are more likely to taste a dish that they have prepared in the kitchen, children are probably more likely to taste produce that they have grown and cared for.

With this activity sprouts many more opportunities. Children can be taught how to make easy snacks with their produce, and take home recipes to experiment with their parents. If this garden activity also takes place in middle and high schools, it would be a perfect opportunity to take the program to the next level by involving them in cooking classes that utilize their produce and herbs.

When children do reach high school-age, fruit and vegetable education should include long-term benefits of consuming a diet high in produce. Also, they should be made aware of the damaging effects and risks of excluding produce. With the practical skills from the garden activities and cooking classes, in addition to the knowledge gained from learning about the benefits of fruits and vegetables, we may be able to begin changing the diets of future generations. With these programs, fruits and vegetables can be made a part of life and hopefully, the incidence of type II diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer will be decreased as a result.

IV. References

Adams, M. A., Pelletier, R. L., Zive, M. M., & Sallis, J. F. (2005, November). Salad
bars and fruit and vegetable consumption in elementary schools: a plate waste
study. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 104(11), 1789-1792.

Bazzano, L. A. (2006, September). The high cost of not consuming fruits and
vegetables. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 106(9), 1364-1368.

McAleese, J. D. & Rankin, L. L. (2007, April). Garden-based nutrition education affects
fruit and vegetable consumption in sixth-grade adolescents [Electronic version].
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 107(4), 662-665.

Nanney, M. S., Johnson, S., Elliott, M., & Haire-Joshu, D. (2007, April). Frequency of
eating homegrown produce is associated with higher intake among parents and
their preschool-aged children in rural Missouri [Electronic version]. Journal of
the American Dietetic Association, 107(4), 577-584.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program.
(2003, May). Evaluation of the USDA fruit and vegetable pilot program:
report to Congress. Washington, District of Columbia: U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Retrieved September 19, 2007 from http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan03006/efan03006.pdf.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. (2007). Promoting fruits and vegetables in schools. Atlanta,
Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved September
19, 2007 from http://www.cdc.gov/steps/success_stories/pdf/pinellas.pdf.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. (June 2006). Youth risk behavior surveillance – United States 2005.
Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved
September 19, 2007 from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/SS/SS5505.pdf.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention & Health Promotion. (2007, April). Behavioral risk factor
surveillance system prevalence data. Atlanta, Georgia: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion. Retrieved September 19, 2007 from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/display.asp?cat=FV&yr=2005&qkey=4415&state=US.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. (2000). 5 a day for better health [Electronic version]. Chronic
Disease Notes and Reports, 13(1), 11-13.

Fueling for endurance exercise Part II: Snack ideas

2010-04-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some snack ideas when you are working through a long workout. Remember the tips from last week and know that all of these snacks aren’t necessarily complete. You will likely have to play around with these ideas, and some of your own, to make sure that you are getting plenty of potassium, sodium, carbohydrate and fluid.

1. Trail mix containing dried fruit, pretzels, and a few M&Ms. This snack gives you important electrolytes and carbohydrates.

2. Sports drink. Again, these contain electrolytes and carbohydrate.

3. Banana. Contains potassium and carbohydrate, but no sodium. If you go with this, you’ll want your next snack to contain sodium, or have a little bit of a sports drink with this.

4. Sports gummy bears. These and many other products on the market, such as sport jellybeans, typically contain plenty of carbohydrate and electrolytes. The downside of these is that they are rather expensive.

5. Half of a peanut butter sandwich. This contains electrolytes, carbohydrate, and some protein and fat which may keep you satisfied longer!

6. Raisins and peanuts. This contains electrolytes, protein, fat, and carbohydrate.

7. Rice Krispy Treat. This is definitely lacking in electrolytes, but definitely an easily digested carbohydrate.

8. Cheerios or another dry cereal. This is a great carbohydrate, but lacking electrolytes.

The Food Revolution

2010-04-26T00:00:00.001-04:00

Over the last six weeks, I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Jamie Oliver is a chef from England who traveled to Huntington, West Virginia to make changes in the way they and, ultimately, America eats. It was a very interesting series and if you want to check the shows out, you can view them here.

During the show, Jamie first started by trying to change the school lunches in Huntington. It is a tragedy that schools serve such processed foods, and count French fries as a vegetable. Of course, French fries are technically a vegetable; however, we all know that they carry very little nutritional value and are high in calories and saturated fat. Jamie also set up "Jamie's Kitchen" in Huntington to provide cooking lessons for all who wanted to learn. It was so refreshing to see so many people coming out to learn cooking basics. Cooking can be fun and a great skill for parents to share with their children. Without simple cooking skills, we most certainly will rely more and more on processed foods that are high in unhealthy fats, sugar, and calories.

My one negative criticism of Jamie's revolution is that I, naturally, believe that he should have a Registered Dietitian working with him. He obviously has the skills to cook up fantastic meals; however, a dietitian could help to be sure that all of the foods are nutritionally sound. For instance, I noticed that Jamie once served chicken with the skin. The skin of chicken is loaded with unhealthy, saturated fats. On another occasion, he served homemade ranch dressing. Homemade or store bought, ranch dressing is still loaded with unhealthy fats. An oil based dressing would have been much healthier.

Anyhow, I would like to encourage you all to sign Jamie's petition to keep this food revolution going throughout our nation. We need our children to be served better foods in school and we need to spread basic cooking skills to our citizens to improve the health of this nation! Please take a moment to sign the petition!

Grow Your Garden This Summer

2010-04-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

I am so thrilled that we have a guest post by a very knowledgeable and experienced gardner! Nancy holds degrees in Plant Science and Agricultural Education. Here is what she has to say....

I’m excited to offer a guest post to Erin’s great blog. As I sit at the kitchen table with the deck door open, thermometer reading 77 degrees at 7:10 PM in my midwestern city, I couldn’t be more ecstatic for spring to have arrived! Tonight, for the first time in a long time, I got outside and did some yard work, which included expanding the square footage of our vegetable garden. It wasn’t a lot, but I’ve been craving it for days or maybe weeks.

I started gardening at a young age. My parent’s garden is 2500 square feet! When mom finally said “Enough!” with four children and little time to can all which that entire garden could provide, it became a project for my sibling’s and I – raising and selling chrysanthemums. Now that the kids are out of the house, my mom and dad have returned to their fair share of vegetable gardening as have I.

Gardening at home or through a community garden serves many purposes such as healthy, fresh food choices; lowering your summer grocery cost; and (if you’re like me) stress relief. I’d like to offer a few thoughts to start or maintain a vegetable garden.

Start with the fundamentals. Observe your soil type. Is it made up of a lot of clay or sand? You may have to find/purchase some top soil or organic matter to incorporate into the soil to make it more nutrient rich and increase drainage.

Find a sunny location. Most all vegetables need full sun. If you have a number of trees, observe your yard at varying times of day to see what area receives the most sun. This also means you should plant your vegetables so they do not shade each other. If planting sweet corn, plant it on the side of your garden that will best allow all plants to enjoy the sun when full height.

Identify types of vegetables you and your family enjoy most. We grow tomatoes, peppers and many types of herbs as staples. Lettuces and broccoli-type varieties tend to grow best in spring and fall. You may be able to grow these during spring and fall while planting other plants during the summer months. Melons, cucumbers and squash are horizontal vine plants which require more space. Beans and tomatoes require supports such as cages that can be purchased at your hardware store. Follow the recommended planting distances for each type of plant.

Plant in stages. If you wish to plant a number of the same type of vegetable, consider planting them one week apart so that they mature at different times – spreading out the length of time when vegetables are ready. This also assures that some do not go to waste since you could be overloaded at once. If planting herbs, harvest regularly by snipping segments off each major branch. This will prevent the plant from blooming and going to seed (after which its flavor tends to fade).

Watch for small creatures. If your yard is like mine, squirrels, rabbits and my own dog put my garden at risk. You may need to put chicken wire or liquid scent deterrents down to protect your plants and vegetables. Deer and birds can also be a problem depending on where you live.

Consider container gardening. If you have limited lawn space, you might be best served with container gardens for tomatoes, strawberries and many types of herbs. They will still need sunlight and will require frequent watering.

Enjoy! There is nothing better than eating your home-grown vegetables. My personal favorite is making Caprese with fresh tomato and basil some mozzarella, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fueling for endurance exercise. Part I: Fueling during the exercise

2010-04-21T00:00:00.004-04:00

Whenever exercise lasts longer than 60 to 90 minutes, it is definitely wise and extremely helpful to fuel up during exercise. There are a lot of different points to consider; however, first and foremost, know that finding just the right combination of “fuel” depends on you. While there are general guidelines to follow, everyone tolerates liquids and foods differently during endurance exercise. For this reason, you must experiment! Once you have found one or several combinations that work for you, stick with those when it comes to the day of your event. You never want to try something new when you’re trying to perform your best!

1. After the first hour of exercise, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends consuming 100 to 250 calories every hour. This snack should contain about 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate. The part that varies here is, a. what you eat, and b. how you spread it out during an hour. You don’t have to eat a snack all at once, but you can if you want! Also, this can be in the liquid form, i.e. Gatorade, Powerade, etc.

While extended exercise does lead to the breakdown of fat for energy, your body runs more efficiently on glucose. Consuming carbohydrate while exercising gives your body quick energy to improve performance and generally feel better. Come back next week for a list of ideas for snacks during endurance exercise

2. Although fueling is important, be very careful not to overdo it. Too much sugar can have a negative effect by slowing how quickly food leaves the stomach. Also, too much of anything during endurance exercise could cause gastrointestinal distress.

3. It is imperative to drink fluids during prolonged exercise. A couple of keys are:

a. You should be sipping throughout exercise, not gulping at the end. Taking small sips here and there keeps you hydrated and energized, while a large amount of water at one time can upset your stomach during or after exercise.

b. Sip moderately. Yes, it is true that you may not feel thirst until you’re already under hydrated, but be aware that you can over hydrate. This is extremely dangerous and can result in death. No need to be scared! Just don’t down more water than you are thirsty for. Listen to your body. This is also another reason to be eating snacks with electrolytes, which are important to “balance out” the water that you are drinking.

c. Weigh yourself before and after exercise. For every pound you have lost, you need to drink 16 ounces of fluid. This can be a guide for your next workout too if you’re unsure of how much you should be drinking.

d. Check your urine. A dark color can mean that you are still under hydrated.

For further reading, I highly recommend Sports Nutrition Guidebook by Nancy Clark, MS, RD. and Nancy Clark's Food Guide For Marathoners by Nancy Clark, MS, RD.

**Be sure to come back and visit on Friday! I am excited to bring you a post from a very special guest!**

The Unfortunate Truth about Fruit Juice!

2010-04-19T00:00:00.002-04:00

Fruit juices and regular sodas can really stand between you and weight loss. Most of you are probably not surprised to hear that about sodas; however, how many of you were surprised to see fruit juices in that sentence? Here are some reasons why you’re better off crossing fruit juice from your grocery list.

Fruit juices…

1. are high in sugar. Even the juices with no added sugar still contain plenty of natural sugar. Have you ever made fresh squeezed orange juice? Think of how many oranges it takes to make a glass of juice. So, even if you don’t add sugar, you’re still getting several oranges worth of sugar.

2. lack fiber. Without the skin of the apple, pulp of the orange, and so on, you are missing out on all of the heart-healthy fiber found in a piece of fruit.

3. lack nutrients. Sure, manufacturers fortify fruit juices with vitamins and minerals, but those will never be the same as the natural form. In addition, you are missing out on many phytochemicals that are found in the whole fruit.

4. are high in calories. This leads to weight gain or the inability to lose weight. Four ounces of orange juice, although not the best choice, won’t kill you. However, if you’re drinking a lot of fruit juice, or some in addition to sodas and sweet teas, then those calories will really add up!

5. contribute to failure-to-thrive in very young children when fruit juice is consumed in excess. Sometimes, children will fill up on fruit juices and have no room left in their tiny tummies for nutrient dense foods. This is tragic and I’ve seen it happen many times!

6. contribute to cavities. All of that sugar isn’t good for your teeth!

7. will raise your blood sugar. For those of you who are diabetic, hopefully this caught your eye. Yes, anything with carbohydrate raises your blood sugar; however, sugar in fruit juice with no fiber, fat, or protein, will raise your blood sugar more rapidly.

Getting Your Pre-Pregnancy Body Back

2010-04-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

Whether you delivered your bundle of joy six weeks ago or six years ago, you may be looking to get that body back into shape! (There are just a few things in here that won't apply if you've given birth a while back!)

First, here are some points to consider:

1. Be sure to get clearance from your physician that you are healthy enough to begin exercising.

2. If you are breastfeeding, it is perfectly safe to exercise and lose weight. However, keep in mind that a healthy diet and plenty of fluids are necessary. If you are not getting these things, your milk supply will suffer.

3. Take it slow and steady. Just after giving birth, you need to ease back into your exercise routine. Also, aim to lose no more than one pound per week if you are breastfeeding.

4. Although you can lose weight and get back to normal, remember that sometimes pregnancy can alter your body shape a little bit. Accept this and consider it your badge of honor.

Now, let’s talk about getting that body back!

1. Breastfeed! On average, this requires an additional 500 calories per day. That is 200 more than when you were pregnant! Breastfeeding has so many benefits to mom and baby, including weight loss for mom.

2. Eat 5-6, small, well-balanced meals. That’s right, no crazy diets here! Eating plenty of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and lean protein are important to fuel breastfeeding and help you to shed pounds.

3. After giving yourself some time to get used to exercising again, incorporate interval and repetition training. This method is helpful in burning a lot of calories and reducing abdominal fat.

4. Take your baby out for walks often. When you can’t get out for interval and repetition training, take your baby for a walk. Babies love fresh air and this is a great way for you to move more.

5. Strength-train the abdominal muscles 2-3 times each week. Do not do this every day because it will only cause injury in the long run. It is better to get a really good workout 2-3 times each week than to train a little bit each day. Switch up your abdominal moves to avoid a plateau. This training will not reduce fat on your abdomen. However, all of that stretching of the muscles while you were pregnant caused them to become extremely weak and unshapely; and this will really help to improve their appearance.

6. Don’t forget overall strength training and cardiovascular exercise. The ideas mentioned above are especially helpful, but you need to be getting plenty of regular cardiovascular exercise. Strength training all of the muscles in the body helps to increase your metabolic rate as well. Increasing your metabolic rate will definitely help with weight loss.

7. Don’t expect results over night. Your belly didn’t become enormous overnight when you found out you were pregnant. Your belly will also not shrink back to that washboard look overnight either. Good things are worth working and waiting for!

Fueling Your Exercise

2010-04-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

Fueling up with a snack is an important part of exercise. For those of you who are trying to lose weight, it may seem counterintuitive; however, it is actually quite helpful. You have to think about your body like a furnace. You must give it fuel if you want it to burn! People who have a snack before exercising tend to have more energy, so they work harder and sometimes longer. They also feel better during their session. The net calorie burn is usually even bigger after having a snack. So for those of you who are trying to lose weight, or just want a more powerful workout, don’t forget to grab your snack!

You may be thinking that you can’t eat before you workout because it causes an upset stomach. For this reason, you do have to experiment and see what works best for you. However, as a general rule, we are not talking about a five-course meal! Just a 100 to 250 calorie snack will do. To give you an idea, a banana has 110 calories. It really does not take much to meet that calorie goal.

The other part of this puzzle is to decide when to have your snack. Generally, it is recommended to have your pre-workout snack 30 minutes to 2 hours before you begin your session. A lot of the timing depends on how well you tolerate food before exercise, and how big your snack was. For me, a small snack about 30 minutes prior to my session works best. However, everyone is different so you have to experiment to find out what works best for you.

Good pre-workout snacks definitely contain carbohydrate. Shoot for about 30 grams of carbohydrate, or more if you plan on exercising for longer than an hour. A snack that contains protein or fat may be helpful to keep you satisfied longer, especially if you are eating your snack more than 30 minutes prior to exercise. Refer back to the post about healthy snacks for ideas.

So what is your favorite pre-workout snack?

Let's Go On a Field Trip!

2010-04-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

For a Tuesday extra, please check this out. I would like to sincerely thank John for being so kind to let me guest post on his blog. See you all on Wednesday!

Sugar Substitutes: Good or Evil?

2010-04-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

Last week I attended a webinar focusing on calorie free sweeteners such as those found in diet drinks and other low calorie foods. The information was very informative, so I would like to pass along a brief overview of what I learned.

There has been some hype in the media over the past few years about these artificial sweeteners causing a host of problems. The good news is that you can safely enjoy products containing these sweeteners. I will go over the myths, but first, I just want to remind everyone of the damage that excess sugar can cause to a body. Sure, it would be great if everyone in the world only drank water and milk. However, let’s face it, that is never going to happen. We like sweets and honestly, we were born with an affinity toward sweet tasting foods. By rationalizing this situation, given that we have never found any evidence that these artificial sweeteners are harmful, yet we know that an excess of sugar is, I think its safe to say that we are all better off choosing Crystal Light over regular lemonade.

Myths:

1. Sugar substitutes make you hungrier. Research has shown this to be false. In fact, it was found that drinking one of the many beverages that contain sugar substitutes would actually provide the same satiety as eating or drinking a sugary drink. However, this is only due to filling the stomach, so the effect will subside when the stomach empties.

2. They trick the body into overeating. Again, research has disproved this! The only factor that may cause overeating is the feeling that one can eat other “treats” due to saving calories with a sugar substitute.

3. They increase sweet cravings. Again, humans are born with an affinity toward sweet foods; and having sweets, real sugar or substitutes, does not increase cravings.

4. Sugar substitutes add to the obesity epidemic. This is impossible because they have no caloric value.

5. They cause an insulin response leading to storage of fat. This has been studied and disproved.

6. They cause cancer. Over 200 studies have been done that refute this idea and no substantial evidence has been found to show otherwise.

The moral of the story is that sugar substitutes are safe in moderation. The upper safety limits of these products are so high that it would be almost impossible for a human to consume that much. Pregnant women and children can also safely enjoy products with sugar substitutes. This was definitely a very brief overview. Do you have questions? Please leave them in the comment section and I will answer to the best of my ability!

Information taken from the presentation by Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D.: Understanding Americans’ Approach to Weight Management: The Role of Low-Calorie Sweeteners

Build a Better Barbeque This Summer!

2010-04-09T00:00:00.001-04:00

It’s that time of year again for back yard barbeques! I don’t know about you guys, but I love it and I am so happy that the weather has been warmer. I want you all to enjoy this weather and spend time with your friends and family over some yummy summer-time cookouts, but here are some tips to build a better barbeque!

1. Aim for lean meats. Chicken, without the skin, is a great lean protein, but you can also grill burgers. Just be sure that you choose the ground beef with 7%, or less, fat. This will help you to avoid all of that yucky, saturated, artery clogging fat.

2. Serve whole grain buns. There are a lot of tasty whole grain buns out there, so give it a shot!

3. Pay attention to your sauce. Mayo is actually a healthy fat, but if you’re watching your calories, you may want to pass and try mustard instead. If you are diabetic, watch the sugar in your BBQ sauce.

4. Top your burger/sandwich with veggies! Yes, pile it high with lettuce, tomato, and any other vegetable that suits you. Avoid things like fried onion rings and cheese.

5. Consider kabobs! This can be a great option that is healthy and super delicious! Use vegetables such as peppers, onions, tomatoes, and potato wedges. Also, you could try orange slices or pineapple chunks. Uses meats such as shrimp, chicken, or lean beef. Try going to www.allrecipes.com and look for a delicious and easy marinade. Your taste buds may just love the break from the traditional cheeseburger.

6. Throw together a colorful salad. Instead of potato salad, consider a spinach salad with walnuts and strawberries. Another option is to make a lovely fruit salad with berries that are now coming into season. No need to add any sugar or dressing to a fruit salad, the fruits are very sweet on their own!

7. Change the focus of your get-together. After everyone enjoys their food, put it away and enjoy some friendly sports together. Try soccer, badminton, volley ball, or flag football. Not only will this keep everyone from continuing to mindlessly eat, but everyone will get some exercise AND have fun spending time together.

8. Consider this BBQ makeover…

Happy barbequing!!!!

All About Stretching

2010-04-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some important points about stretching! I hope this will help to clear up any myths about stretching and answer other questions you may have about the subject.

1. Stretching does not prevent injury or soreness. I repeat, stretching does not prevent injury or soreness. Microscopic tears in the muscle cause muscles soreness and only time can heal those tears. Injury is injury. If you injure yourself, stretching will not reverse this.

2. According to research, stretching will not improve your performance in sport.

3. Stretching will improve and maintain flexibility. This is very important, because as we age, we tend to lose this important ability. Some elderly people have difficulty reaching into cabinets and performing simple tasks. This could be improved or prevented with stretching exercises.

4. Stretching should never be performed when your muscles are cold because this could result in injury. In other words, do not stretch before exercising! If you want to stretch after a warm-up, that is perfectly fine. Otherwise, save your stretching for post-exercise.

5. Stretching should not hurt. Yes, you may feel some discomfort, but not pain.

6. Some studies show that stretches should be held for a minimum of 10 seconds and others indicate 30 to 90 seconds. If you are just starting a stretching program, my advice is to start with 10 seconds and gradually increase to at least 30 seconds. There is not much benefit in holding it longer than 90 seconds.

7. You should perform 2 to 4 sets of each stretch.

8. Stretching should be done a minimum of 2 to 3 days per week; however, 5 to 7 days is ideal.

9. You do not have to stretch every muscle each day that you stretch. You can pick a few each time and rotate through different muscles on different days of the week.

10. There are many different types of stretching; however, static stretching is appropriate for most people. That means that you hold each stretch without movement.

Questions?

Why Diets Don't Work!

2010-04-05T00:00:00.002-04:00

You’ve seen the Weight Watchers commercial where they say their famous phrase about diets not working. Well, they’re right! I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it another 10 or 15 million times throughout my career. Technically, the word “diet” is just supposed to describe what you eat, good or bad. However, it has a completely different meaning in today’s world. Diets often mean deprivation, no treats, a lot of vegetables, calorie restriction, quick weight loss, and quick weight gain. That’s right, after all of that yucky stuff; dieters almost always gain the weight back. Studies show that weight loss really isn’t a problem for most people, but weight maintenance takes great skill. If you’re trying to lose weight, take a look at this list. If you find that any of these points describe your “diet”, rethink your direction and consider changing your approach.

Your diet….

1. is too calorically restrictive. Generally people want fast results so they often eat too few calories. Not only is this impossible to maintain forever, but it slows your metabolism.

2. restricts a particular food group. You should never swear off all protein, all carbs, or all fat. Each nutrient is vital to your organ systems, disease prevention, and well-being. A healthy diet, which can result in weight loss, includes all food groups.

3. requires you to skip meals. This is just like shooting yourself in the foot when you’re trying to lose weight. Frequent eating is important in order to keep your metabolism going. Also, people who skip meals often overeat at the next one.

4. includes drinking shakes. Any type of “magical” formula that promises to help you lose weight or is considered a “meal replacement” is not the way to go. Losing weight isn’t magic and at some point you’re going to want to eat normal food. Even if you do lose weight on one of these plans, chances are, you’ll gain it back when you eat normal food again.

5. includes weight-loss pills. Even the pills that are prescribed by a doctor typically don’t last on the market long. They often end up being deemed unsafe and are taken off the market. Do you really want to take your chances? Plus, they are, again, a short-term fix.

The only long-term fix is a lifestyle change. That means taking on new habits that you can live with. Yes, the process is longer; however, would you prefer to lose weight fast and gain it back five or six more times in the next 10 years, or lose it once and never see it again?

Building Muscle Strength and/or Size

2010-04-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

Last week, one of my lovely readers asked a question about specifics for repetitions/sets for increasing strength or muscle size. This post will answer that question and hopefully generate more questions!

Before discussing the issue at hand, I want to quickly explain what a repetition and a set actually mean. Let’s say you’re doing bicep curls. The number of curls you do without stopping would be the number of repetitions, or reps. When you stop, take a little break, then resume, that would be a new set. So if you did 10 reps, took a break, and then completed another 10 reps, you would have completed two sets.

Now, what I am about to say will surprise most of you. Doing a high number of reps (10-15) actually causes hypertrophy, or an increase in muscle size. If you were to do a lower number of reps (5-8), you would be increasing your muscular strength. Both scenarios will increase muscle size and strength to a degree, but the results I just explained are the primary results that occur with that number of reps.

You may be thinking, from personal experience, that I am wrong because your results were different. Remember that whether you are doing low or high reps, you should be working to volitional fatigue. Simply, your muscles should be so tired that you couldn’t possibly produce one more rep. So if you are doing 15 reps, but could still do more, you need heavier weights. If you are wanting to focus more on your strength, you should use even heavier weights so that you can not do more than 8 reps. If you are not working to volitional fatigue, you will not achieve the results you are looking for.

For those of you who are looking for a well-rounded exercise routine, both of the above methods are good to include. Some days you may do higher reps, and others, lower reps. If you are female, don’t fear the hypertrophy. It is very unlikely that your muscles will become much larger than they are. Estrogen prevents hypertrophy and higher amounts of testosterone are necessary for muscle building.

For those of you who like to medicate with ibuprofen to reduce inflammation and pain after a workout, you may want to rethink that. Studies have found that NSAIDS, which include ibuprofen and naproxen, interrupt the process of muscle fiber damage and repair. This process is necessary for increases in muscle strength and size.

Squeezing Exercise Into Your Insane Schedule

2010-03-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

This post is dedicated to my sister who has three young boys, a career, and is also a “Suzy-Homemaker”. She requested this topic, so I’ll do my best to cover it well!

First, let me begin by recognizing the fact that all of you readers have a lot of different situations that make it difficult for you to squeeze exercise in. There is no one-size-fits-all fix to the problem of having no time. So, while I will make suggestions and try to help you all brainstorm ways to integrate more activity into your life, know that you have to change your mindset before you can change your schedule to fit exercise in.

In order to have to time to exercise, you must make time. It is just like money! Sure, I have enough money for a freezer to store food; but I do not have enough money to go to a rock concert. That sounds silly doesn’t it? A freezer costs a lot more! The difference is that I see a need for the freezer and I value what that money will buy me. At this point, I just don’t want to put money towards tickets to go to a rock concert because the value of it isn’t that great at this juncture. Now, transfer the same idea to time. We all have 24 hours in each day and we have to decide what to do with those hours. It is up to YOU!

Another important piece to this puzzle is that you have to want to exercise. You will always find a reason to not exercise if you do not want to. I know that my sister, for instance, will run any time she gets the chance! If she didn’t really want to exercise, she would find something to fill that small block of time that opened.

Now that we’re all in a good mindset, let’s talk about ways to cram some activity into your day! Do you not have 30 continuous minutes that you can devote to exercise? Here is an example of how to sprinkle exercise throughout your day. Meet Jane! Jane wakes up every morning five minutes before she needs to start getting ready for work. During those five minutes, she does one set of as many push-ups as she can, completes 30 jumping jacks, then does another set of as many push-ups as she can. During her morning conference call, she stands up and walks in place for 20 minutes. When lunchtime arrives, she is swamped with work so she continues to work mostly through her break while eating at her desk. However, she escapes from her office building for a ten-minute walk before her lunch break is over. At the end of the day, she needs to stop at the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk. She parks as far away as she can and jogs up to the front of the store, takes one lap around the store, picks up her milk, pays for it, then walks back to her car. After serving her family dinner, they let the dishes sit (hey, it never killed anyone) and go outside for a friendly game of tag. After about 30 minutes it starts to get dark, so they go back inside and everyone pitches in to clean up. Later, while the kids are getting ready for bed, Jane pulls out her free-weights and does about ten minutes of strength moves. Finally, after the children go to bed, Jane has filled her day with activity, even though she had a jam-packed day.

Jane’s day was just to give you examples of how you might be creative and fit activity in wherever you can. With today’s schedules, you really have to be creative! Even though your life may be very different from Jane’s, use her story as a way to start brainstorming on how your day could be different!

Here are some general tips for fitting more activity into your day:
1. Make it a family affair: play a sport, go for a walk, or do something active together.
2. Never look for an up-close spot wherever you are parking!
3. Know that 10 minutes of continuous activity is enough to achieve a disease-fighting benefit. You could sprinkle 10-minute walks throughout your day to achieve the recommended 30 minutes of moderate activity.
4. Take the stairs, always! Elevators are great if you are using crutches, a wheel chair, or are carrying something very heavy. Otherwise, do you really need to ride the elevator? If you’re traveling up a lot of flights, it is okay to take breaks, or compromise by riding the elevator halfway. Before you know it, you’ll be able to climb up the whole way!
5. Be active while watching television: use free-weights, do push-ups or crunches, do jumping jacks, or just walk in place!
6. Never sit for more than an hour! Get up at least once per hour and walk in place for a few minutes.
7. Wear a pedometer. You’ll be surprised at how much more you will walk with one on as you’re always trying to get your step-count higher!
8. Consider exercising/going for a walk during your lunch hour.
9. Rather than calling your co-worker who is a few cubicles away, get up and go talk to him/her. Every little bit helps!
10. Increasing your exercise intensity can make-up for lacking time to do a longer workout. For instance, a fast paced, 20-minute run may burn a similar amount of calories as a slower 40-minute run.
11. Plan ahead for exercise. At the beginning of the week, look at your planner and decide when you can make time for it.

I’d love to hear how you squeeze exercise in! Please share ways that you interject activity into your day!

Eating Out With Less Calories

2010-03-29T00:00:00.005-04:00

I must admit that my husband and I love eating at restaurants. As much as I love to cook, I also enjoy eating food that someone else cooked. It is great to just relax in a restaurant with a nice atmosphere and chitchat about whatever comes up. Plus, I just enjoy trying different cuisine and having time away from the kitchen at home. However, as we all know, eating out can often be detrimental to healthy eating. So what should you do if you love to eat out? Here are some helpful hints!

1. Skip the appetizer and watch that breadbasket. Appetizers are rarely healthy and can really pack on the calories. Have the server only bring enough bread for each person at the table.

2. Look for the words “grilled, baked, or broiled”. Avoid foods that are fried.

3. Share your meal or plan to take half home. If you plan to take half home, go ahead and ask for a box when you order or receive your meal. Place half of your meal in the box before beginning to eat so that the temptation to pick at your food past your full mark is removed.

4. Consider subbing vegetables for French fries. It may be hard to order it, but chances are, with some good seasoning, you’ll be fine with your vegetables when they arrive. This will save you a lot of calories and add plenty of nutrients to your meal.

5. Ask that butter be left off of your food. Restaurants put butter on everything! I know because I was a waitress while in college so I saw this first hand. One of the restaurants where I worked poured butter on every steak. You need to ask about this and then request that it is left off. If your steak shows up “glistening”, send it back and ask them to try again. You are the customer and you’re paying a pretty penny, so don’t feel bad about doing this if you asked up front and they did not comply. Remember to ask that butter be left off of your vegetables. If you feel like you really need something on them other than seasonings, ask for olive oil instead of butter.

6. Be mindful about what you’re drinking. With free refills, you may end up drinking several glasses of regular coke or sweet tea. These calories add up fast! Stick with calorie-free drinks. If you are choosing alcohol, try a light beer or dry wine and limit yourself to one.

7. Watch the sauce! Creamy and buttery sauces can make any grilled, healthy sounding meal a saturated fat nightmare! Two ways to handle this are, 1. order it without the sauce, or 2. order the sauce on the side and drizzle it. I feel confident that you won’t feel cheated if you drizzle a small amount on your food. You’ll have the taste with several hundred less calories.

8. Ask for whole grain whenever possible. Many restaurants are now offering whole grain breads, pasta, and rice. Take advantage of this whenever possible.

9. Ask a lot of questions and don’t be shy! You’ll never know everything that went into the dish you’re about to eat. However, you can be as proactive as possible. You’ll never know if butter comes on your food if you don’t ask. If you are wondering...just ask!

10. If you are eating out several times each week, consider swapping out at least one of these meals for something you made at home. Eating out is fun and enjoyable; however, the more often you do it, the more hidden fat and calories you will be eating!

Easy, Healthy Meals For One or More

2010-03-26T00:00:00.002-04:00

As requested by my college running buddy, today I am going to talk about creating an easy, healthy meal. These are meals that can easily be made for one person, or can suit a family.

First, some tips:
1. Stock your cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer with commonly used ingredients so that you aren’t met with the hassle of running to the store at the last minute.
2. Try to stock up on items when they are on sale and certainly when you can also attach a coupon to that.
3. Planning meals is sometimes a pain, but is instrumental in helping you to actually have a dinner on the table. This can be done once per week and really doesn’t take that long. If you have a family, try having everyone pick one or two meals for the week.
4. Purchase a cookbook that features easy and healthy meals to reduce boredom of eating the same foods over and over. Here are some that I like:
a. Simple Suppers by Cooking Light
b. Easy Dinners Healthy Recipes by Better Homes and Gardens
c. The One-Armed Cook by Cynthia Stevens Graubart and Catherine Fliegel, R.N., C.C.E.
d. Food Made Fast Weeknight by William Sonoma (Some recipes may need modification to make them healthier.)

Some meal ideas:
(Ingredients needed are bolded, click on links for coupons!)

1. Throw a chicken breast(s) in a bag with a marinade that you picked up at the store before leaving for work or the night before. When dinner time arrives, put the chicken in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook instant, whole-grain rice and throw some steamfresh vegetables in the microwave. Spray your rice once or twice with a butter spray and add some garlic powder.

2. Star cooking instant, yellow rice. Meanwhile, put a 14.5oz can of black beans in another sauce pan with only 1 T of its sauce. Add a few sprinkles of dried cilantro, a dash of red pepper seasoning, and 1 T of lime juice. When the beans are heated and the rice is ready, top your rice with the beans and enjoy.

3. Sprinkle Cajun seasoning on chicken breasts and then grill or bake them. Add your chicken to a whole grain bun with lettuce, tomato, and mustard. This is very tasty with a salad or frozen vegetables.

4. Heat 1 T of olive oil in a pan. Add tilapia and then sprinkle with a little bit of lemon pepper seasoning. Squirt some lemon juice on your tilapia and then flip them halfway through cooking. While your tilapia is on the stove, add some Smart Balance to some whole grain bread, sprinkle a little bit of garlic salt, and stick it in the oven at 400 degrees until it is toasted. You could also do this in a toaster. Enjoy frozen vegetables with this!

5. Purchase low sodium Asian sauce (William Sonoma has a great one, but I’m sure there are plenty of much cheaper varieties at the grocery store!) and drizzle over salmon. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Boil or steam baby carrots and sprinkle cinnamon on them. Add a piece of whole wheat bread and you have yourself a meal!

Thanks to Jenny, from Southern Savers, for some of these coupons!

I would love to hear any of your favorite fast meals! Please post your favorite in the comment section!

Star Trac eSpinner: Erin’s Review

2010-03-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

I discovered a new piece of equipment called an eSpinner, in the gym of which I am a member. The equipment is a spinning bike with a computer that allows you to follow many different types of “solo spinning classes”. For those of you who are unfamiliar with spinning, it is basically a cycling class taught in gyms where everyone uses a stationary bicycle and takes a virtual ride together. There is only one of these eSpinners, which is probably due to its high price tag of approximately $4000. You would think I would never have a chance to give it a shot unless I sat around in line for a few hours. The truth is, I can pretty much get on it any time I want. Why is that? I wondered what it was all about, so I gave it a shot.

Day 1: On my first attempt at using the eSpinner, I wasn’t too familiar with the settings, so I just chose to connect my iPod and sort of create my own class. I happen to have a folder of music on my iPod for fast runs that contains a lot of fast paced, energetic music. I used that folder and when the music was fast, I pedaled fast. When the music was slow, I increased the resistance on the bike and took myself up a virtual mountain. I loved making it into an interval workout and enjoyed my music. By the end of this workout, I was totally hooked!

Day 2: The next time I tried the eSpinner, I chose to follow a video class. The man on the bike who I was watching took me through a spinning class. I was able to watch my cadence on the screen and see how it compared with the range that I was expected to be in for the “class”. Cadence is really synonymous with revolutions per minute (RPM). If I had remembered to bring my heart rate monitor, I could have watched that on the screen as well! Based on my age, the machine calculated an expected heart rate range for me while I was working. That was really cool and I hope to use that next time. The machine also kept track of my calorie burn, which I would assume is pretty accurate considering it was taking my weight, activity level, and age into account. I think it would be even more accurate if it had my heart rate. The negative part of this ride was that the music stunk! A little man on a bike isn’t enough to push me! I need some rockin’ music to get me moving. At one point, I even heard nutcracker music….what???? Another issue that I noticed was that the guy who was leading the “class” had very poor form when instructing on stretches after the workout. So, I really don’t see myself using this portion of the eSpinner too often or ever!

Day 3: On my third try of the eSpinner, I plugged my iPod in and selected the “Create Your Own Workout” option. I chose to do a strength workout and I also remembered my heart rate monitor. With this workout, I listened to my own music; however, you can watch the television on the screen if you choose. Words scrolled across the screen to signal me about what move to make next and how fast or slow I should go. The cadence and heart rate range was easy to see just below the instructions, which kept me on target. This particular workout was my favorite as I got to listen to good music, and I had some guidance about what to do with my workout.

Overall, I am really happy with this new piece of equipment at my gym. I plan to use it on a regular basis and would definitely place it in my home gym if I had the money and space! So why am I the only person that ever uses it? Who knows! I imagine that people who have never taken a spinning class before may be a little afraid to give it a try. If you're one of those people, just get on it and give it a shot. What is the worst that can happen? Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:
1. Fends off boredom, as there are a ton of different workouts on the machine.
2. It allows you to take a spinning class if you are never able to make to an actual class.
3. You can use this machine no matter what the weather!
4. There are startup/setup tutorials that show you how to properly set the bike up for your comfort and avoidance of injury.
5. This eSpinner can give you a killer workout, if you let it!

Cons:
1. Unlike a class, there is no one to tell you if your form is getting poor, which could lead to injury. When a person becomes fatigued, this can easily happen.
2. There is no comradery like there is in a live spinning class.
3. Some people may find it difficult to push themselves.

Have any of you tried a new piece of equipment, or this one? I’d love to hear about it!

Part III Getting started with an exercise routine: Strength Training

2010-03-24T00:00:00.010-04:00

Any well-rounded exercise routine will include strength training as one of its components. The problem with this is that so few people know where to start or what to do. Here are some suggestions for getting started.

The best way to get started would be to find a personal trainer with a good educational background. Of course this isn’t financially possible for everyone. Just about anyone can become a personal trainer, so it is important that you check him or her out before just jumping in. Two excellent certifications are by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). This does not mean that trainers from other backgrounds aren’t good or knowledgeable; however, these two associations have the best reputation. If you are already a member of a gym, I would suggest finding out which trainers are certified through these associations and then keep an eye on them while they’re training others. If they are doing any of these things, move on to someone else:

1. They fail to correct their client's form.
2. They are talking on their phone or texting.
3. They aren’t giving their client undivided attention.
4. They are giving their client a lot of nutrition information (beyond the basics) without being a registered dietitian.
5. They push supplements sold at the gym.

Whether or not you have this opportunity to do a little observing, make sure you talk to him or her before signing up. You want to make sure that you click with that person and that they support your goals and interests. You’re paying a lot of money, so make it worth it! Although you could continue with a trainer forever, you don’t have to. Once you learn some basics, you may feel that you want to go out on your own with your new knowledge.

If you do not have access to a personal trainer, as many people do not, consider a few other options:
1. Use a video at home such as “The Firm”.
2. Visit www.shape.com or subscribe to their magazine. They have some good ideas about at-home exercises and do a good job of describing how to do the exercise. They also make sure to point out common mistakes and how to avoid them.
3. Sign up for a group strength training class where the teacher usually does a good job at helping you with form.

Lastly, let me leave you with a few tips!
1. Never do strength training with the same muscle group two days in a row. Give your body 48 to 72 hours to rest that muscle group. The abdominal muscles are NOT an exception to this rule!
2. Begin each session with a light, five minute warm-up.
3. Start with multi-joint exercises and then move to isolations. For instance, a chest press involves moving two joints; however, a bicep curl only moves one joint and isolates the bicep.
4. When doing squats, lunges, or anything of the like, never…NEVER let your knees stick out further than your toes. I see this mistake a lot!
5. Don't lock your joints when performing an exercise.

Unfortunately, there are limitations to this blog in that I can’t train anyone over the internet. However, if you have questions, please leave it in the comment section!

Check back tomorrow for a Thursday extra! I'll be telling you about my experience with a new piece of exercise equipment!

Fat Part II: The Good

2010-03-22T00:00:00.001-04:00

Fat sometimes gets a bad reputation, but I am here to tell you that it is a good and essential part of your diet. About 20 to 35 percent of your calories should come from fat; and the idea is to get most of that from healthy unsaturated fats. Today, I’ll be discussing what healthy fat is and which foods you can get it from.

Basically, any unsaturated fat is healthy. The only exception is trans fat, which is technically an unsaturated fat. You will not always see the good unsaturated fat listed food labels; however, calculating it is easy. Subtract trans fat and saturated fat from the total fat. Your answer from that simple math equation will give you the amount of unsaturated fat that is present in a serving. Sometimes the food label will breakdown fats into polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, which are both good for you!

Generally you will find unsaturated fats to be in oils, avocados, cold water fish, nuts, nut butters, and flax seed. Salmon, mackerel, halibut, and sardines are examples of seafood that are high in unsaturated fat. Remember that the wild varieties are going to be much more rich in healthy fat than farm-raised. Unfortunately, wild fish is more expensive, but my advice would be to stock your freezer when it is on sale. Olive, peanut, and canola oils are the best to choose from. Olive oil is great for sautéing, lightly pan frying, and dipping bread. Peanut oil is great for deep frying, not that I’m recommending this. Lastly, canola is fine for frying but also great for baking.

You have probably heard about omega-3 fatty acids, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). DHA and EPA are simply specific types of omega-3 fatty acids. They are all wonderful for your heart and are extremely important for brain development in children. If you have had difficulty raising your HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) or lowering your LDL (the bad cholesterol), then consider discussing consuming more omega-3 fatty acids with your doctor. There is also evidence that these fats help to decrease the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease (note that there is some conflicting evidence in this area). In addition to warding off disease, these fats can also help to decrease inflammation in your body, which possibly means less arthritic pain.

Any type of fat is good for a host of reasons as well. Fat in your diet is essential for absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and allowing you to feel full. In your body, fat cushions your bones, provides insulation and energy, plays a role in immunity, and helps to produce hormone-like compounds. These are just some of the roles that fat plays. As you can see, fat is essential, but you have to be sure that you’re eating the right types!

If your doctor has recommended fish oil, click here for a coupon. Go to the "healthcare" category. Here is an even better one!

For a $1 off olive oil, go here. Thanks, Jenny from Southern Savers!

Novice or Experienced: How interval and repetition training can work for you!

2010-03-19T03:00:00.000-04:00

Interval and repetition training have many benefits and can be a part of an exercise regimen that takes you to the next level. Recent studies show that people who do this type of training lose weight, decrease their risk for disease, and help to decrease abdominal fat more so than when people only take part in endurance activities. So, even if you like how much you weigh, but can’t seem to get that belly in shape, keep reading. However, don’t expect perfection because genetics plays a role in body shape! The other exciting benefits you can achieve by adding these types of workouts into your routine are increased VO2max, running speed, and anaerobic tolerance. In a nutshell, you become a better athlete! (If anyone is interested in learning about VO2 max and anaerobic tolerance, leave a comment because I would be glad to do a posting on this.)

You’re probably wondering what interval and repetition training are! Interval training is a type of workout that includes short bouts of high intensity activity followed by recovery periods. The amount of time you spend in your working and recovery phases should be equal and that exact time is really up to you. You may want your working intervals to last for 2 minutes, or maybe five. During the working phase, you should be working as hard as you can, but it may take several workouts to get use to this type of training. Keep in mind while you’re huffing and puffing through your working phase that your recovery is coming soon!

Repetition training is very similar to interval training; however, it typically involves even shorter working phases (30 to 90 seconds) that are followed by longer recovery periods. The work phase to recovery phase ratio should be 1 to 5. For instance, if your working phase lasts for 30 seconds, your recovery phase should last about 2.5 minutes. During those short working phases, you should be working so hard that you couldn’t keep it up any longer once your time is up. If you can run 7 mph for one minute, then you should aim to run faster when you’re only aiming for 30 seconds.

Now that you know the basics of repetition and interval training, keep in mind that your workouts don’t have to be “super structured”. This post was meant to give you the general idea of how these workouts work, but don’t be afraid to mix it up! Maybe you want to do some long and short working intervals within the same workout. Maybe you start out aiming for 30 seconds of work, but find you can keep up your speed for 45 seconds….great! The idea is to push hard for a short time and recover so that you can do it all over again!

Interval and repetition training should really only be done about once per week as they are considered a difficult workout. You should start this workout with a 5 to 10 minute, easy warm up, aim to complete at least 5 to 6 working phase intervals, and then cool down for at least 5 minutes. You can do this with virtually any type of cardio-respiratory exercise, such as running, stair climbing, biking, or swimming.

Disclaimer: Before you begin any kind of exercise program, you should consult with your doctor. However, if you are elderly or have any physical limitations, you should also discuss intense exercise with your physician to make sure that it is okay for you to do.

Part II of Getting Started With an Exercise Routine: How to Stick With It

2010-03-17T00:00:00.002-04:00

To be successful, first read Part I of this series! Remember to JUST DO IT, but to take it slow! Also, I would like to recommend an article that I just read in Shape magazine. It is in the March 2010 issue on page 42 and it is entitled "running out of excuses". It is just a short article about a woman who took baby-steps as she started a running program. I found it motivational; and there are plenty of other great articles in the magazine as well!

So getting back to the issue at hand...how can you stick to this new plan? For many years, scientists have studied the behaviors of people who exercise and those who do not. They found that many factors contribute to one’s success or failure. Here are a few tips or suggested topics to consider when starting up your routine.

It is generally accepted that people who exercise for intrinsic reasons, are usually the ones who stick with it. This means, you exercise because you want to, not because you feel like you’re being judged if you don’t or because your spouse wants you to. Beyond this, exercising because it makes you feel good, lifts your mood, keeps you healthy, or gives you general enjoyment are also characteristics of people who stick to an exercise routine. So take a minute and ask yourself why you want to exercise. What will it do for you? What do you want it to do for you? What kind of results are you hoping to achieve. When you ask yourself the previous questions, if you find that your motivation is not intrinsic, start trying to brainstorm ways that exercise can benefit your life rather than someone else’s happiness.

After taking a little look into why you want to exercise and how it will benefit you, let’s make some goals! This is really the fun part, in my opinion. Achieving your goals can be so uplifting and keeps you moving. Your initial goals should be short-term and attainable, but should also be challenging. Remember, your goal doesn’t have to include running a 5K or swimming in some event. They can be of that nature, but it may just be something like, “I will be able to walk from my house to the Smith’s house without having to take a break by the beginning of next month.” Your goal(s) should focus on what YOU want to achieve.

Now, let’s talk about what happens down the road. Maybe you have accomplished a goal or two and then you stumble upon a road block that derails your progress. When you are embarking on a new exercise regimen, you hate to think that your plans may fall apart one day and your progress is halted. However, you are really better off to go ahead and start brainstorming about these possible events and how you will handle them. Accepting that they will happen and that you can come out on the other side with your exercise plan intact will help you to continue with your new lifestyle.

For example, let’s say you have an exciting vacation planned. You and your spouse are going to St. Lucia to enjoy some R&R on the beach. Before you go, you pack all of your workout clothes with the best intentions of exercising the whole time. When you arrive, you eat, drink, relax, and repeat all week long. The whole way home you are mad at yourself for never slipping on your workout shoes and think about what a failure you are. Now, you come back to reality and you’re a little tired on your first day back at work, so you skip your work out. Before you know it, you have skipped the entire week. Each day that goes by makes you little less likely to hit the gym. What if you had planned to just give yourself a break while on vacation? What if you told yourself that you had been working diligently and this was your week off? Then, you could have planned how you would ease yourself back into your exercise routine when you returned. For instance, you could have remembered that last time you went on vacation, you were tired when you returned. So, instead of planning to exercise at the level that you were before you left, what if you planned to walk on your lunch break for 10-15 minutes? Then the next day, go back to your routine if you’re up to it, or allow yourself a few more days of that short walk. By only expecting a little from yourself when you return, you’re making the likelihood of following through so much better! Also, by not expecting yourself to pound the pavement on your vacation your thoughts shift from “failure” to “planned break from exercise”. Of course, you don’t have to take a break if you don’t want to, but the idea is that we need to be realistic with goals and expectations. If we are more realistic, we are more likely to exercise rather than to call ourselves failures and continue to sit on the couch!

I don't want the idea to be conveyed that we shouldn't expect much from ourselves either. Keep in mind that there is a balance, as there is with everything. Aim high and push the limits, but also be realistic and give yourself a break sometimes. We can't expect ourselves to be perfect all of the time, but it is important to challenge yourself too. Happy exercising!

...stay tuned for Part III: Getting started with strength training...
Blog Directory

Fat: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Part I: the Bad and the Ugly

2010-03-15T03:00:00.000-04:00

Fat is an essential part of a healthy diet and it has many important roles in keeping us healthy. The tricky part is deciding which fats are good and which are bad. I hope this post will help you to decode which is which!

I will go ahead and discuss the bad fats first just to get those ugly guys out of the way! The first bad fat that you need to be on the lookout for are saturated fats. By law, they are required to be listed under the “Total Fat” category on food labels. This type of fat can be easily converted into cholesterol, which builds around the walls of the arteries and veins. While you can easily spot this on food labels, it is helpful to know which foods are the biggest offenders. Foods that fall into this category are whole milk, cheese, butter, eggs, fat back, baked goods, and ice cream.

The other fat that we need to be on the lookout for is called trans fat. This type of fat is man made and was created to increase the shelf-life of foods. Unfortunately, we found that it actually decreases the shelf-life of humans. Back to the drawing board, food manufacturers! Because of the hype about these fats doing damage to our bodies, some food manufacturers are working to reduce or delete the trans fat from their foods. However, it is still out there and we need to watch for it. Culprits of this type of fat are baked goods, margarine, and processed foods. Again, trans fat is, by law, listed under “Total Fat” on the food label.

I would like for you to keep an important fact in mind. When a food contains less than half of a gram of trans fat per serving, the food manufacturer can list it as ZERO grams. You might say, “If it contains less than half a gram, do I really need to be concerned?” I would say, “YES!” Let me explain why. First of all, remember that this is per serving. Do you always eat just one serving? I know I don’t always limit myself to what is listed as one serving. So, if you eat more than one serving, and you tend to do that all day long with foods that contain just a little bit of trans fat per serving, it really adds up. Unfortunately, studies are showing that just a few grams daily can negatively impact your risk for disease. I wouldn’t expect you to never let trans fat touch your tongue, but the idea is to be aware of it and avoid it as much as possible. So how will you know if a food contains trans fat? Look at the ingredient label. If “partially hydrogenated oil” is listed, then your food most definitely contains trans fat! Ingredients are listed from most abundant to least abundant, so that will also give you an idea of how much is in there.
...stay tuned to learn more about healthy fats!...
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Yummy, Healthy Snacks

2010-03-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

Snacks are an important part of healthy eating because going long periods of time between meals can really be detrimental to your metabolism. The key is to eat small snacks that are satisfying and healthy. I thought this would be a good post for a Friday because most of us grocery shop over the weekend. So if you want to plan for some great healthy snacks next week, here is a list of ideas:

*****Top Dietitian Approved Snacks*****

1. Greek yogurt mixed with fresh strawberry slices and low-fat granola. (This
is currently my favorite! The plain yogurt is lower in sugar and quite
tasty if you mix fruit with it. If you live near a Publix, be sure to try
some Greek yogurt for free by going to this website
If not you do not live near a Publix, here is a coupon. If your grocery
store doubles coupons, this will be worth 60 cents. (Thanks Jenny, from
Southern Savers!)

2. Peanut butter (1-2 T) spread on a toasted whole wheat English muffin or
bagel thin

3. A small handful of almonds and a piece of fruit. My favorite is Emerald’s
cocoa roasted almonds and they often go BOGO at the grocery store!

4. Peanut butter (1-2 T) of and apple or banana.

5. Hummus dip (2 T) with raw carrots, green beans, peppers, and/or whole
grain cracker such as wheat thins or triscuits.

6. Low fat popcorn. Conveniently enough, they make 100 calorie packs for this.

7. A ½ cup of whole grain cereal.

8. A whole grain granola bar.

9. Grapes (15) and one ounce of cheddar cheese made with 2% milk.

10. Low-fat cottage cheese (1/2 cup) and pineapple and/or strawberries.

**Slightly less healthy snacks that won't blow your calorie budget**
You may wonder why these items made it into this category. These foods fall into one of the following categories: made with enriched white flour, higher in sugar or saturated/trans fat than desirable. Remember to keep serving sizes
small!

11. Graham crackers and peanut butter.

12. A chocolate chunk or turtle chex bar. This snack may help to satisfy your
sweet tooth without going overboard.

13. One ounce of pretzels.

14. Trail mix made with peanuts, almonds, pretzels, raisins, and FEW M&Ms.

15. Dried fruit.

Feel free to share your favorite healthy snack! Have a wonderful week and see you all on Monday!

Part I of Getting started with an exercise routine: JUST DO It-but realistically

2010-03-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

So you haven’t pounded the pavement in ten years, or maybe you’ve never been a regular exerciser. It can be difficult to know where to begin, how much to do, or who to turn to for advice. Let’s first discuss how to jump in and get moving!
The best advice when you are getting started is to really just go for it. You don’t have to do too much reading or have a lot of knowledge to get outside and start putting one foot in front of the other. So often people say to themselves that they will start exercising when it gets warmer outside, or when it gets cooler outside. Sometimes the thought is that they are too busy and when things calm down, they will start exercising. Let’s remember what our dear friends from Nike suggest…..JUST DO IT! Life will always be busy and the weather is only perfect for a few months out of the year depending on where you live.
Now that you are ready to get started, don’t fall into one of the biggest pitfalls of exercise. It is easy to get so excited about this new lifestyle and body that you’re going to have that you want to get out there five to seven days per week. More is better, right? Let’s just bring that down a notch! There are several reasons to start off slow and steady! Any time you ask your body to do something that it is not used to, your muscles experience injury. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless you are experiencing more than the typical sore muscles after exercise. Microscopic tears occur in your muscles, which cause delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). This is a normal, expected, and healthy side effect from exercise. However, you must let your muscles heal and recover! Hence the reason for not exercising every day when you are just getting started!
Even though we would like to think that if we start off with a bang and make exercise a daily habit, we’re more likely to stick with it, this is usually not the case. Changing a lifestyle takes time, energy, heart, and dedication. Be realistic and ask yourself, “how many days can I truly commit myself to exercise?” Although failure is a part of life, you want to start building confidence and feel that you are being successful with your new routine. Starting with two days per week of exercise may be right for you. It may even be that you feel that one day is all you can truly commit yourself to. Both of these options are perfectly fine and will help you to easily be successful and avoid over training and injury that is beyond the typical DOMS.
So what are good exercises to start with? The answer is easy! Start with something that you enjoy! Make exercise fun, not punishment! Ride your bike, go for a walk, swim, or go hiking. The possibilities are endless! Just remember, slow and steady wins the race. There is always time to become faster and increase your endurance in the future.
….stay tuned for Part II – How to stick with your new routine…

Dramatically lower your grocery bill while still eating healthy!

2010-03-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

One of the common complaints I hear from people who are trying to eat healthy is that eating well is too expensive. It is true that some foods that we think of as being nutritious or low in calories/fat do cost more money. However, there is hope! Here are ten tips to help you satisfy your taste buds and keep your body happy while not emptying your wallet!
1. Buy fruits and vegetables that are in-season. This will not only be cheaper, but also insure that you are getting the freshest and best tasting produce. It is also wise to shop produce that is locally grown!
2. Look for excellent sales on chicken breasts, lean red meat, and fish. Don’t just buy enough for the week! Stock your freezer so that you can enjoy lean meat and healthy fish at a great price.
3. Stock up on frozen fruits and vegetables when they are on sale. Frozen fruits and vegetables are highly nutritious and can be a fast and inexpensive way to get more produce in your diet. Don’t forget to bring your coupons so that you can really get an awesome deal on those sale items!
4. Look for BOGO deals! You can often find your favorite healthy cereals and breads on a buy-one-get-one deal. When this happens, use coupons to lower the price even more. Remember to stock up and freeze your bread.
5. Don’t be fooled by large discount stores. Although Wal-Mart and other wholesale stores do have regular prices that are lower than supermarket regular prices, you will almost always do better at regular supermarkets. Why, you ask? Wal-Mart has “Everyday Low Prices”, meaning that things don’t go on amazing sales! At supermarkets, as long as you are shopping the sales, prices go much lower than the “Everyday Low Price” at Wal-Mart!
6. Designate one night per week as “vegetarian night”. Legumes are a very inexpensive food from which you can get a nice variety of nutrients including protein and fiber! Start experimenting with new recipes and you may just be surprised at how yummy this can be!
7. Invest in a salad spinner and start buying fresh greens. I did this about a year ago because I was so tired of buying bagged salad that went bad quickly, or was already bad when I opened it. I figured that I was spending the same amount of time weeding through the bag to salvage any good lettuce that might still be there as I would to clean lettuce leaves and spin it to remove excess water. Fresh greens are about half the price of bagged salad, so it doesn’t take too long to make up the price of the spinner. Plus, I found that much more of my fresh romaine lettuce was edible than what I was getting in the bag! Lastly, the fresh stuff lasts longer than the bagged!
8. Pick fruits and vegetables at a local farm, or grow your own! Having your own is a great way to teach children a great skill and makes them more likely to eat fruits and vegetables. If you don’t feel that you have the time or green thumb, visit your local farmers’ market.
9. Remember that although we want to keep the grocery bill low, sometimes we have to pay now or pay later. Sometimes you have to weigh your options because an item that is a lot healthier but a few pennies more may be worth it. Eating well over the years will lower your risk of being on expensive medications, paying copays for frequent doctors visits, and even lower the possibility of expensive procedures and hospital visits.
10. Be sure to stay tuned to my blog. Sometimes the “low calorie”, “low fat”, or “organic” options aren’t the best choices anyway. Why spend extra cash when the better nutrition is in the regular product!