What is whole grain and what kinds can you buy

                           
“Whole grain” means the grain still has all three of its original elements: the outer shell or bran, which contains fiber and B vitamins; the germ, which contains phytochemicals and B vitamins; and the endosperm (what a name), which contains carbohydrates and protein. The key is that they’re “whole” and not “refined,” by stripping away the bran and germ, which leaves you eating only the endosperm. These whole grains are also healthy for you because they’re absorbed more slowly than enriched or bleached flour and thus raise glucose and insulin levels less — keeping you fuller longer and slowing your digestion. Many refined products are enriched with the nutrients that are stripped out.  While most studies support that these nutrients are just as good, doesn’t it make sense to eat the natural version if you can?
 Made with: It may have a drop of whole grains, but unless it’s made entirely with them, you won’t reap all the potential benefits.
 100 percent wheat: This means it could have some or a lot or no “whole” wheat.
 Multigrain: This tells you nothing about whether the grains are whole or refined. Even if you’re getting 38 grains, that isn’t much good if they are all refined.
 Whole grain: If the label doesn’t say “100 percent whole grain,” it may have many blends. Bad words to see: enriched, bleached, unbleached, semolina, durum, and rice flour.
 Blends: “Whole-grain blend” means it usually doesn’t have much whole grain at all.
  Good source: This means it has 8 grams of whole grains per serving or as little as 13.5 percent. Don’t confuse whole grain with fiber; 8 grams of whole grain may have less than 1 gram of fiber.
Source: ABC News- 1/9/07

Step into 2010 with Weight Loss Plans that Work

As we enter 2010, people everywhere are gravitating more toward a lifestyle change as opposed to finding the next diet trend. There is an important reason why this is so. Diets don’t work. The medical explanation behind this is complicated and difficult to understand, but the gist of it is that when you begin a diet, your caloric intake is much less than normal. Because of this radical change, your body immediately responds with, “Help! I’m starving! I need more energy than this!” and begins using up stored calories.
Stephanie Nimberg, founder and personal chef of The Healthy Kitchen knows what it is like to be overweight.  Throughout her teenage and adult life, Stephanie’s weight had always fluctuated.  She’d find success following a diet program only to find her weight would be gained back a very short time later.  After gaining 70 pounds and feeling unhappy with the way she felt and looked after the birth of her daughter, what finally changed her life was her effort to change her lifestyle.  Creating a healthy lifestyle change, changed her life.
 Stephanie lost 70 pounds in one year while creating and following The Healthy Kitchen lifestyle program and has kept it off while enjoying all of the foods she loves, including desserts.  Her program is based on a low-carb eating style, which allows for other delicious foods that even include delicious creamy cheeses and lean cuts of juicy red meat — foods that may have to be given up altogether on other programs. The portions are hearty and generous, and the way she teaches clients to eat never leaves anyone hungry. 
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Understanding Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fascitiis is the most common cause of heel pain, affecting approximately 2 million individuals in the United States each year. Clinical manifestation and diagnosis is well recognized based on physical examination and symptoms. This condition occurs along the long plantar fascia ligament, which is a fibrous tissue that spreads across the bottom of the foot connecting from the calcaleus (heel bone) to the proximal phalanges (toes). This structure takes tremendous stress with each step we take. Repetitive activation or irritation of the fascia can lead to mechanical overload and micro tears.
Risk factors which may predispose one to development of fasciitis include decreased ankle flexibility, improper mechanics of the foot, wearing incorrect shoes, being overweight, repetitive activities such as athletes participating in running and jumping. Other causative factors may include standing workers, sustained repetitive stress, and calcaneal heel spurs.  
Typical presentation is heel pain that has been slowly progressive and most noticeable with the first step in the morning or after being sedentary for extended periods. Pain is often sharp or shooting with each step and a progressive dull ache throughout the day. If signs and symptoms are not clear, further diagnostic modalities or consulting with your health care provider may be warranted.
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Overtraining Issues

Exercise is good for you, but sometimes you can get too much of a good thing! This point will be reached at different times for different people. Exercise should be tiring, but it should also serve a greater goal, and invigorate you over the long haul. If you are more exhausted and depressed than anything after a workout (any workout,) you may be overtraining. It is important to note that “training” can be anything from lifting weights at the gym, going for an occasional run, to setting a program to run a triathlon.

Some signs of overtraining are as follows*:

• Decreased performance
• Prolonged recovery time
• Headaches
• Loss of appetite
• Extreme muscle soreness (lasting more than 2 days)
• Stomach disturbances
• Increased illnesses and injuries
• Loss of sleep
• Irritability and depression

Increased training due to an upcoming competition is understandable. It is also common to start a new routine, see great results, and then get too fanatical about sticking to the routine. However, if it is coming at the expense of your everyday life, it may not be worth it.

To avoid burnout, it is important to understand that taking a break once in awhile is OK. Listen to your body. If you start to see signs of overtraining, skip a workout or two, even if it is part of a program leading up to a competition. Also, gradually work towards a heavy training load. Work towards your goals smartly. Finally, don’t feel obligated to keep up with everyone else’s training schedules. Everyone has a different lifestyle, fitness level, and fitness goals.

In conclusion, train hard, but listen to your body. It is beneficial to moderate your workload from time to time. It may not seem like it immediately, but it will help you reach your goals more quickly than “working through it.”

What is interval training and is it right for me

Interval training is any type of exercise that alternates bursts of high end intensity with intervals of average intensity for the entirety of a workout session.  Intervals can also include alternating types of exercise and even types of cardio for more efficiency and less boredom.  This type of exercise can be applied to almost anyone looking to up their efficiency during a workout session.  Intervals can alternate between and cardio and strength training or can alternate sprinting and walking.  There are many ways to incorporate interval training in between these two ideas.  If you think about it, a weekly exercise program is an extended interval program; cardio on Monday, weights on Tuesday, etc…  Newer studies are starting to surface that show that interval sprint training can not only improve long distance running performance, but can reduce actual overall training time.  So you get more with less!

Let’s look at this from the regular exerciser’s perspective.  How can this help?  If you plan on spending 60 minutes at the gym strength training, how much of that time is spent in between sets, waiting to recover for the next set?  If you plan on hitting the treadmill, how long can you run at a high speed without tiring and having to stop?  With interval training, you can combine the two workouts.  So in the same hour you would take to lift weights, you can add 20-30 minutes of cardio as an active recovery.  Lift lighter weights with much less breaks in between sets (30 seconds max) for about 10 minutes.  Then jump on the treadmill and run for 10 minutes.  Repeat this two more times and you have completed 30 minutes of cardio without getting exhausted by going all out for 30 straight minutes and you have also completed 30 minutes of almost non-stop strength training.  This will either give you additional rest days in your workout week, or more time to work towards your goals. 

The following is just a sample cardio/strength interval to follow.  Please make sure you are integrating this into your program so that it fits your goals.  If you would like help designing your own personalized interval training program, contact us via e-mail or phone, and I will be happy to help.

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Greek Yogurt versus American Yogurt

 

Greek yogurt owes its difference in texture to a process that slowly strains the whey (liquid) from more traditional yogurts.  This not only drains much of the runniness out of the yogurt, but it causes a more tart taste.  By draining the whey, the carb content is cut in half, as is the dairy content for the lactose intolerant.  Additionally, you will get roughly double the amount of protein in Greek yogurt than in American yogurt.  Due to the heavier feel and higher protein content, Greek yogurt should make you feel more full as well.  One note of caution:  try to buy low-fat or fat-free Greek yogurt as the fat content will be higher than regular yogurt as it is thicker.
Both are good snack choices in the low-fat form.  Be careful to avoid the regular yogurts that come in whipped dessert flavors like banana cream pie.  To achieve these flavors, much of the calories come from added sugars, and much of the health benefits of natural yogurt is removed to maintain a low calorie product.

Is Eating at a Hibachi Restaurant Healthy

 

For the most part, yes.  While the sodium content is rather high in the entrees offered, there is very little fat added.  Your best bests are the salmon or the scallops, followed by chicken.  Even the steak hibachi isn’t a bad choice.  All offer high protein, low carb meals.  The steak is a little higher in saturated fat and bad cholesterol than the fish and chicken options.  Sashimi is a great starter, and even some of the sushi rolls are low calorie appetizers.  Avoid cream cheese, roe, tempura, and mayo in your rolls.   The broth soups offered as part of your meal is a good starter; the salad dressing can push the calories up a bit, but it is usually a small bowl, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. 
The only real concern is the fried rice.  It is cooked with oil sprayed directly into the rice.  As a result, the rice tastes better, but it also retains much of the artery clogging oil that it is cooking in.  White rice cooked on the side is much better.

What to drink when exercising

Water: As the human body is about 60% water by weight, and the body loses water through perspiration and temperature regulation, it needs to be frequently replenished.  Even a slight dehydration can lead to a decrease in physical performance.  Although plain, cool water is more than adequate, adding flavors may increase the chances that a person properly hydrates.  Low calorie liquids will hydrate equally. 
Sports Drinks: Sports drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade are meant to replace water AND electrolytes such as sodium and potassium lost through exercise.  Additionally, sports drinks are effective in quickly replacing the carbohydrates needed for immediate energy while being active for longer periods of time.  During a longer (1-4 hours) exercise session, your performance will benefit by burning the carbohydrates in your sports drink rather than tapping into stored carbs in the body. 
Additionally, the ingestion of carbohydrates, sodium, and potassium have shown to reduce the amount of cramping in an athlete.  It is important to note that this should be a preventative method, not done after the onset of cramping.  While there can be many reasons for cramping, most athletes will cramp from sweating out sodium and burning through all the muscle’s usable sugars.  These are easily replaced.  Most studies have shown that Gatorade is far and away the leader in sports drinks.  However, my advice is to go with whichever one tastes best.  They are all comparable, and taste goes a long way to drinking enough!

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Cindy C

Most of my success stories come from first hand knowledge of the work put in.  This is not to say that I do the work; I consider myself a glorified cheerleader for my clients’ successes.  What makes Cindy’s story unique to me is that she was already a walking success story when I met her.  I have simply helped her maintain a fascinating and optimistic outlook that centers around her health and her family, an outlook that she already possessed.
First, a brief background of what has helped mold Cindy’s story.  She was diagnosed with uterine cancer at age 41, had surgery and chemo to help combat the cancer.  While waiting for radiation therapy to start, Cindy had a genetic test, which tested positive for Lynch Syndrome, a gene mutation that increased risk of uterine and colon cancer significantly (60% and 82% lifetime risk.)  The genetic test not only helps out other family members, but allowed doctors to better treat Cindy’s illness.  Cindy routinely praises this course of action as one of the most important things she has done.  Knowing your family history can prevent or at the very least help doctors better treat your illness.  While prepping for radiation, a CT scan found an additional colon tumor, which began a second round of chemo as well as additional surgery.
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Anonymous Success Story

My latest success story is one of my favorites.  I have worked with this client off and on for about 7 years now.  In that time, I have seen her weight fluctuate down in the good times, and back up in the not so good.  We had diligently tried everything from every angle.  Although it would be easy to say that we could have both continued to try different tactics, it was clear that any progress we made would end up a short term success due to many factors, not the least being a lifestyle that includes a hectic work schedule and a long commute to further complicate things.
Therefore, in early summer of 2008, she decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery after discussing all of her earlier attempts with several doctors.  Gastric Bypass Surgery involves reducing your stomach size and connecting it to the intestine, a large part of which is bypassed, limiting the calories you can absorb. Gastric bypass helps in long term behavior modification by reducing tolerance for foods with high sugar and fat.  It is important to note that while bypass surgery can go a long way to aiding in the success of weight loss, it is not a magic pill; plenty of work must still be done, and plenty of bypass recipients fail in even coming close to their goals. Read more

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• Tip of the Month

  January 2012

  Smart Starbucks and Steakhouse Choices

  Starbucks Choices
  • Peppermint Choc Mocha- 520cals, 20g fat
  • Pumpkin Frappuccino- 420cals, 13g fat
  • Flavored Latte- 360clas, 16g fat
  • Latte- 220cals, 15g fat
  • Coffee w/cream and sugar 180 calories
  • Cappuccino- 120cals, 4g fat
  • Coffee w/sugar 90 calories
  • Coffee w/cream 90 calories
  • Coffee w/whole milk 60 calories
  • Coffee w/skim milk 30-50 calories

  Order a coffee with cream and sugar every work day?  Add 900 calories per week to your diet.  That is over 13 pounds in one year.

  Enjoy a cappuccino every day instead, and you save 300 calories per week, and cut 4 pounds per year from the above diet.

  Go to coffee with skim milk and Splenda?  Now you are only adding 250 calories per week, and under 4 pounds per year in coffee weight.

  Enjoy a flavored frappucino or latte once per week?  That could add up to 26,000 calories, and another 7.5 pounds per year.

  Just your coffee could account for 20 pounds of caloric intake annually!

  Steakhouse Choices
  • Caesars Salad- 800cals
  • Chopped Salad, 320cals
  • Spinach Salad, 170cals click here for more »

  click here to read past tips

• Recipe of the Month

  January 2012

  Drink alcohol a little more wisely!

  Drink Choices
  • Eggnog, 350cals
  • White Russian, 260cals
  • Riesling, 160-200cals
  • Shot of liquor, 70-125cals
  • Tonic or Soda, 100cals
  • Winter Beer, 150-200cals
  • Beer, 150cals
  • Bloody Mary, 130cals
  • Wine, 120cals
  • Light Beer, 55-85cals
  • Champagne, 85cals
  Enjoy a small glass of eggnog and two gin and tonics, and you have drank 750 worthless calories.
  Or, start with some champagne, and enjoy two glasses of wine and you only have drank 330 calories, less than half of your first choices.