Healthy Tips & Things to Remember
Fad Diets
A Fad diet is anything that is sold in a store, on a commercial, any type of a diet that comes in a bottle or pre made meals, and claims you will lose 20-30lbs in 8 weeks (south beach diet, Atkins, Jenny Craig, or diet pills) well chances are you will lose that 20-30lbs in that 8 week period but you will gain 30-40lbs back once you stop that diet. Most diets are starvation diets that you cannot and will not live on for the rest of your life. What most people don’t realize is when you starve your body for every pound of fat you lose you also lose 1-2lbs of muscle.
Muscle
This is one of the most important things in our bodies. Muscle directly controls the speed and health of our metabolism the less muscle we have the slower our metabolism will be which means the higher our body fat percentage will be and the lower our energy levels will be. Your nutrition plan should be providing you with enough nutrients to gain muscle and lose fat not losing both at the same time.
The scale
This is the worse indicator of whether or not a diet is working or not just because the number on the scale is going down does not mean it is going down in a positive way. Keep in mind if your doing a starvation diet which means you’re eating less than 1500 calories per day for every 1lb of fat you lose your losing 1-2lbs of muscle. Which means all you’re doing is slowing your metabolism down even more then when you stated and putting yourself into an even unhealthier place. The best way to find out if a diet really works or not is have your body fat tested weekly to see if the plan actually works.
Body fat analysis
There are several different forms of a body fat analysis. Electric impedance is the cheapest and least accurate forum, pinch tests, of this forum there are 3 different types of pinch tests there is a 3 site which is not accurate at all there is a 6 site which still has a very high margin of error and then there is a 9 site which very few people know how to do correctly and this is the most accurate form of the three and when done correctly is one of the most accurate ways to measure your body fat percentage. There are pod tests that are done with pressure in a pod that are very uncomfortable but more accurate then the pinch tests and the most accurate is water submersion.
Proper Nutrition
A few tips on proper nutrition first build yourself a balanced nutritional plan each meal should consist of a protein, starchy carbohydrate, and a fibrous carbohydrate. The list attached has good choices for all of these as you will notice there is no fruit on the list that’s because what we think are the benefits of fruit are actually outweighed by the negative factors such as high sugar content it does not matter what forum the sugar is in it is all going to have a same effect once it lands in your digestive system and will turn into fat!!! Eat more than 1500 calories per day in at least 5 different meals throughout the day. If you are eating less then 1500 calories per day you are starving your body of the nutrients it needs to build muscle and lose fat and you will continue to not see results.
Exercise
As most people think cardio such as running, walking, riding a bike, running on an elliptical will make you lose weight. This is true but what most people don’t know is cardio will cause you to lose the wrong kind of weight which is muscle. Also cardio only burns calories while you’re doing it, weight training combined with proper nutrition and cardio is the best exercise plan. What you may not know is weight training burns twice as many calories while you’re doing it as well as it will cause your body to continue burning calories for up to 48 hours after you stop!!! Again cardio only burns calories while you’re doing it. This is why real results are achieved and permanent results are achieved when you combine all three in the right combination for you.
Top 5 Healthy Snacks
There is so much confusing information out there on diet and nutrition, whats healthy and whats not healthy. great marketing to make you think something is healthy when its really not and its just a marketing ploy. what my nutrition program is designed to do is to teach you how to read labels and not just carbs and protein but ingredients as well and things to look out for on this so called healthy food. and to help get you on the right path to healthy living losing weight and feeling better!!
1 Low fat or non-fat cottage cheese.
Low fat cottage cheese has about 12g of protein per serving which is a half cup. There is little to no fat. This makes it a very healthy choice for a snack at any time during the day.
2 "Protein Bar's"
This is one of the hardest snacks to find. An actual protein bar and not a hidden candy bar with a little bit of protein in it. If you pick a bar it should have less than 7g of sugar in it, less than 5g of fat and around 20g of protein. If it does not have at least 20g of protein in it it's not a protein bar!!!!! Also look for soy protein in the ingredient list. If it has this don't waste your money!!!!
3 Yougart.
This is another one you have to be careful with just because the label says its healthy does not mean it is make sure it is never higher than 5g of fat and little to no sugar. 2g of sugar should be the maximum and it should have a min of 12g of protein. If it does not put it back. It's not worth it and your body will gain nothing from it.
4 Clean Proteins
Meat is always a great snack. Meat is nearly impossible to store as fat inside the body, but is needed to build muscle. Always remember, the leaner the meat the better these are. Some good examples of great meat choices are:
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Fish- tilapia, salmon, orange roughy, cod, tuna and just about any other white fish
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Red Meat- ground beef that’s over 95% lean, sirloin steaks. Avoid ribeye, t-bone, porterhouse, NY strip
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Poultry- skinless chicken and turkey breast
5 Fibrous Carbohydrates
You can never go wrong with munching on veggies. The only downside is they have no protein and are not calorically dense. So, you never want to just eat veggies, unless you're replacing an evening snack with junk food such as chips, pretzels, and ice cream. These are some good examples of fibrous carbohydrates: broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, red and green peppers, cucumbers, salad greens, celery, tomatoes, brussel sprouts
Diabetes
Diabetes can be a little tricky. Many doctors still treat it with the old school belief that a carb is simply a carb and base your insulin use off of that old world thinking. But it's just not the case. There are 3 different types of carbohydrates, each of which the body handles differently. Simple carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, and fibrous carbohydrates. Each one of these requires a different adjustment with your insulin, based on how quickly they affect your blood sugar. Simple carbs such as sugar, like fruit, require the most insulin to adjust for. Complex carbs like oatmeal require far less of an adjustment (less insulin). And fibrous like vegetables require very little or none. The goal is to balance your diet enough to limit your use of insulin. I have had clients come to me with an insulin pump and leave without the pump because they have cut their insulin use to less than half.
Medical Nutrition Therapy
Thyroid conditions are a big one i see come through my door. Also high blood pressure with a thyroid condition. Most of the time if you get yourself on a solid eating regimen, eating multiple times throughout the day, you will balance out your metabolism enough to help balance your thyroid. Now, does this mean you will eliminate your medication? No, but you can drastically reduce the amount you need. And with high blood pressure, most of the time you can achieve the same result. With consistent eating, the weight (body fat) comes off, your blood pressure will lower and you will be able to slowly lower the amount of medication you need. With consistency and effort, you may eventually not need blood pressure meds at all.
Top 4 workouts tips to kick off your new exercise regime
1 “Cardio Kick”
I see a lot of you are not really sure what to do. So, you hop on a cardio machine and you cycle, jog or run the time away until you hit 30 or 40 minutes, maybe an hour. You hop off, wipe your forehead and think you have had a great workout. But in fact, you have hardly done anything, other than maybe improve your heart and lungs. Yes, this is important but that will come as you reach your goal anyway. Instead, hit the weights! This is so much more important than the cardio room. When you stop doing cardio, your body stops burning calories. When you stop lifting weights your body will continue to burn calories for the next 24-48 hours. So, kick the cardio and hit the weight room.
2 “Circuit training”
3 I am too tired to workout!!!
I hear it all the time. “I am too tired by the end of the day to workout.” Break this cycle by setting a small goal first. Just making it to the gym twice a week is a great start. After you achieve that goal move to 3 days a week. Then from there 4 days. Have a realistic goal of doing some sort of activity everyday, even if it's not going to the gym. But make sure you're still getting a real workout in, at least 2 to 3 times per week.
4 Workout Partner
Buddy up and find a friend to plan your workouts with. That way you can hold each other accountable and you can look to each other for motivation.
It's so easy to walk into a big box gym and get lost. So, most people default to all the pretty machines they have lined up in a perfect circuit to get a full body workout in. You figure if you do that 3 times per week you will get in great shape. But what they don't tell you is it takes a muscle 72 hours to recover from a basic weight training workout. If you do that every other day or 3 times per week you will break your own muscle down and go nowhere. Breaking the body up into muscle groups is the best way to see real results. One example would be chest/ triceps, back and biceps, and legs.