Friday, September 26, 2008

Small Changes, Huge Rewards

As a licensed professional counselor you work with clients to deal with unhealthy behaviors. Unhealthy eating behaviors fall under this category and individuals have to challenge their thoughts, feelings, and cues regarding food and eating that they have formulated all their lives. No easy task! Experts say that permanently changing your eating means permanently altering your relationship with food. With appropriate recommendations, individuals can recognize and curb unhealthy eating and by exploiting psychological strengths make healthier eating easier. By modifying your negative eating behaviors, one-by-one, you will eventually create a habit out of positive eating behaviors. If you are continuing to struggle with identifying strategies on your own, please check out my community fitness website for ideas or my individual lifestyle consulting website for professional services.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

How Hard Am I Really Working?

Are you seemingly working hard but not getting any fitter? You may not be surprised, but most exercisers don't know how hard they should be exercising. In my previous post, I discussed one way to measure intensity but most people don't understand that moderate intensity means more than a leisurely pace. For a more precise measurement, find your target zone at mayoclinic.com, then stay within it for at least 20 minutes, 5 times a week (recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine), to increase your cardio-respiratory fitness.

Monday, September 22, 2008

A Simple Formula for Gauging Progress

One way to measure your fitness improvement is by heart rate. As your fitness improves, your heart doesn't have to pump as often, resulting in a decrease in your heart rate. An easy way to measure this is by taking your pulse both before and after your workout. Your heart rate should return to its before workout rate within five minutes. If it takes longer to drop, cut back your workout intensity. Then begin increasing intensity gradually. If recovery takes less than 2 minutes, you not working hard enough. Continue to use this technique until you find the rate balance of intensity for your goals.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Making Exercise a Habit

Most exercisers start a new program and because of their initial zeal end up overdoing it, getting sore or injured, and then stop working out. You want to gradually ease in to a workout program and add intensity as required. Make sure you start off with the minimum necessary to make an impact—three 20-minute cardiovascular sessions and maybe one total body strength training session (one that hits legs, rear, core, shoulders, chest, back, and arms). Do this for a minimum of two weeks but no more than four weeks. In the second month, add another set of strength training and increase your cardio sessions by 5 minutes (three 25-minute cardiovascular sessions/two total body strength training session). Use this progression over the next few weeks/months (depending on your fitness level) until you are doing a minimum of three-to-five 30-45 minute cardiovascular sessions and two-three total body strength training sessions. After reaching this point, continue to switch up your routine every few weeks. Need help in changing up your routine, check out my consulting services at Design Your Healthy Life LLC.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

What to Eat Before Working Out

Your pre-workout snack should deliver constant glucose to your muscles, so it needs to include some quality carbohydrates and also a bit of protein to slow down the rise in blood sugar. By adding protein the carbohydrates are transported to the muscle cells where they can be used and help aid in repairing and building muscle. To improve performance without stomach upset, eat one to two hours before workouts. Liquids digest faster, so an 8-ounce fruit and yogurt smoothie is a good choice if you snack within one hour before any vigorous sport. Have a bigger meal but allow more time—up to four hours—before jumping into a heavy-duty workout.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Getting Rid of Negative Thoughts Will Lead to Positive Results

In order to shut out those negative thoughts (especially if you have missed a workout or failed to stay with your eating plan) you have to trick yourself to stay motivated. One way to help is by setting realistic goals. By doing the smallest step necessary to move toward your bigger goal, you are more likely to stay encouraged because you will have some success you can measure each day. When you contemplate quitting a workout, shift your focus to finishing out your set and then re-evaluate if you really want to stop. Sometimes you may need to visualize a competition to get through the last couple of minutes of your run. If you workout seems boring, think of other aspects of the workout that are positive—your form looks great or you finished all sets and repetition. Just remember, you can force out the negative all with positive thoughts.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Making the Healthy Choice

You may not always find yourself in a position to make the right choices to stay fit but you can always find a way to make a healthier choice. Maybe the fruit and yogurt you packed for breakfast doesn't look as good as the donut shop you pass on the way to work. If you really feel the need for sweet, add a few chocolate chips to your yogurt. If your regular whole grain cereal is a bore, add a small portion of a sweeter cereal. I find putting together Cheerios (plain) plus some Honey Nut Cheerios takes care of my sweet tooth but still gives me the whole grains I need. At Happy Hour I will try my best to keep my drinking to a minimum and plan on eating dinner as soon as possible rather than overindulge in all the high calorie appetizers. If I absolutely have to have a treat while watching TV, I work on making it something I can easily portion or is already in individual-sized packaging (100 calorie popcorn bags are great). Just today, I went to a luncheon for a fellow employee who was leaving our organization and rather than have a large entree, I ordered a small salad and a delicious appetizer. Both were the right amount of food and very flavorful. Remember, it is about eating the healthiest you can most of the time. Your choices may be limited, but you can choose to make the healthiest decision.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Distress Leads to Change

Having a healthy breakfast is a great step to improving your diet. Most individuals either don't eat breakfast or eat a breakfast high in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates get into your system quickly and increase your blood sugar. That triggers your insulin which leads to a decrease in energy and follows with another bout of hunger. A healthy breakfast helps keep your metabolism going and controls hunger throughout the day. Some tips for making a healthy breakfast: 1) Oatmeal: it is easy to make, takes care of your carbohydrate fix, and you can make it to your liking by adding other ingredients (wheat germ, fresh berries, cinnamon), 2) Eggs: They are the perfect protein and only 80 calories, 3) Create portable breakfasts such as packing cereals, fast oats, yogurt, and fresh fruit to take to work, 4) Have something you don't normally have for breakfast, like tuna. It may sound unusual but try it and see if you can expand your repertoire of breakfast options, and 5) Skip the pastries and replace with PB and fruit preserve on toast. It is loaded with protein, good fats, and a little sweetness. Try any or all of the suggestions and start your day and diet off right.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Become a Breakfast Eater

Having a healthy breakfast is a great step to improving your diet. Most individuals either don't eat breakfast or eat a breakfast high in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates get into your system quickly and increase your blood sugar. That triggers your insulin which leads to a decrease in energy and follows with another bout of hunger. A healthy breakfast helps keep your metabolism going and controls hunger throughout the day. Some tips for making a healthy breakfast: 1) Oatmeal: it is easy to make, takes care of your carbohydrate fix, and you can make it to your liking by adding other ingredients (wheat germ, fresh berries, cinnamon), 2) Eggs: They are the perfect protein and only 80 calories, 3) Create portable breakfasts such as packing cereals, fast oats, yogurt, and fresh fruit to take to work, 4) Have something you don't normally have for breakfast, like tuna. It may sound unusual but try it and see if you can expand your repertoire of breakfast options, and 5) Skip the pastries and replace with PB and fruit preserve on toast. It is loaded with protein, good fats, and a little sweetness. Try any or all of the suggestions and start your day and diet off right.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Convenience + Low Cost = Overweight

It seems pretty obvious to me why the American public is overweight; food is so easily purchased (both cost and access) and so convenient to get (you don't even have to get out of your car) that no one gives it a second thought. At the drop of a hat, individuals can get as little as a cup of coffee to a full meal and never get off their rear end! In fact, people eat everywhere-at school, in the office, on public transportation, in their car, on their bikes-as long as they can manage to put something in their mouth, they will do it. Why? Because they can! Imagine if you actually had to walk a mile to get the milk you needed for the next day? Or, had to harvest the corn you were going to have with your dinner tonight. Would you do it? The fact is most families don't sit down and make their dinners at home, they pick them up on the way home. And they can do it because now almost everyone can afford to "eat out" which in previous generations was a special event. Additionally, grocery stores provide a multitude of already prepared foods for the eating, so you don't even have to slave over the stove to produce a meal. Try this for a week--every time you wanted a meal, you have to prepare it yourself. No fast food, no pre-packaged or frozen entrees, no carry-out, no drive through, no home delivery, no vending machine--you get the idea. See how much less convenient eating becomes and you may forgo certain items because of the effort necessary to produce it. My guess is you will stick to the basics that are simple to make, not processed, and more healthy for you. Just think about how much easier it is to eat an apple than to make (not purchase) an apple pie. Would you really go to all the effort to make a pie, if you had to for a piece? I didn’t think so.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Appetitie Control

One of my biggest challenges is controlling what I want to eat. I start off the day thinking logically about my food intake and then somewhere in the course of the afternoon I find myself looking for a snack. I found if I considered whether the food would bring me closer to my goal (fit and trim) or keep me from accomplishing my goal (poor health) it made it easier to make a better decision. I also found if I kept in mind my overall eating routine and whether the snack would match the routine (fruit versus candy), it lead to better choices. The other thing I noticed was if I asked myself "can I eat a full meal?" and the answer was "no" then I probably wasn't as hungry as I thought and could wait until the next meal. Another motivator to making good decisions related to how eating had improved my overall quality of life such as sleep quality, skin tone, fewer colds, headaches, etc. If I reminded myself of these benefits it was helpful and usually pushed me in a positive direction. Despite all these "brain games", as I call them, every so often I make a poor decision but I have found that I cannot think of one overindulgence as the end of the world. If I follow up my "food indiscretion" with a number of quality meals and snacks the likelihood of a complete reversal of my overall good nutrition is pretty slim. As many behavior-related support groups chant you have to take "one day at a time".

Monday, September 1, 2008

Labor Day Cookout Precautions

In order to keep your cookout or picnic healthy, keep the following in mind:

-Everyone that is handling food should thoroughly wash their hands before doing so.
-If preparing foods in advance, keep it to one day unless the food is frozen
-Keep cut melons and/or mayonnaised-based foods refrigerated on ice
-Keep hot foods hot; don't allow them to cool to room temperature
-Throw away any thing that was sitting out for more than an hour

For additional tips, check out the North Carolina Cooperative Extension site and have a safe Labor Day!