Let's cover 3 things: metabolism, protein and carbs!
I've have definitely talked about the importance of mental clarity; I’ve talked about the minor life style changes you can make to become more active; last week we lightly touched upon the importance of diet, but in general I think I left you hanging. So today, I want to continue on talking about diet-diet-diet.
It is some sort of ancient tradition to eat three meals a day- breakfast, lunch, and dinner; dinner being the largest and most important. Well, I am here today to tell you that in most situations that is not the best eating schedule. Rather, eating several meals throughout the day is a better solution. We have developed the habit of starving ourselves and then when we do eat, we devour! But by providing your body with a constant supply of nutrients and calories, you will be able to maintain healthy blood sugar levels while maintaining your weight. What happens when your body goes for an extended amount of time without food is that it begins to protect itself from potential starvation, thus your metabolism slows down. But, by eating every two or three hours, your body constantly has to break down that food and send it to the right places, keeping your metabolism at work for a longer amount of time. This, over time, can speed up your metabolic rate.
Another thing to keep in mind is that it takes 15-20 minutes for your brain to process the feeling of being full. It’s something to be conscious of during all meals. If you eat till your body tells you that it’s full then chances are, you are overeating, especially if it takes you less than twenty minutes to eat a good sized meal. If you pre-plan your meals ahead of time and have already thought about setting up appropriate portion sizes, you are less likely to overeat.
In our western culture today, there is minimal emphasis put on meal time anymore. This is sad and is only contributing to our obesity problem. From now on, make meal time priority. Make sure that you are eating slowly and chewing your food thoroughly. You will find that eating healthy foods often takes longer than eating junk food. Compare the time it takes you to chomp through a bag of Doritos compared to the time it takes you to eat a healthy salad. Not only does the salad take longer to eat, but it also provides a multitude of nutrients and keeps you fuller longer.
Another thing that I am really going to stress to you is the importance of protein. Protein is one of the essential building blocks in the human body. It is made up of amino acids, which play a part in the growth of muscles, internal organs, hair, nails, and blood. Second to water, protein is the most plentiful substance found in the body and it mostly resides in our skeletal muscles. Evidence shows that a diet high in protein can help treat obesity and perhaps even osteoporosis. A good way to determine how much protein you should eat is by first, calculating your body weight in kilograms. This is easy, whatever your weight is in pounds, divide by 2.2. So a 160 pound person would be 72.7 kilograms. Then just take that number and multiply it by .8. So that 160 lb person would need to consume at least 58 grams of protein each day. But, for those who exercise strenuously daily, that number could be too low. Instead try multiplying your weight in kilograms by 1.2 instead. In that case, the active 160lb person would need to consume about 87 grams of protein daily.
The final thing that I am going to talk about today is carbohydrates. There are complex carbs and simple carbs. Both are going to be incorporated into your diets, but let’s distinguish between the two. Simple carbohydrates require little digestion and therefore can act as a quick energy source. Fruits and milk are simple carbohydrates, but so are candy bars and a lot of other sugary junk food. The difference between the junk and the fruit and milk are that with the two latter you are also in-taking vitamins and nutrients.
Complex carbohydrates require far energy and more digestion time. They are often rich in vitamins, fiber, and iron. They are the best source of energy because they are slowly burned and thus the energy is slowly released. They also help to maintain blood sugar levels. Examples of complex carbs are whole grain wheat products, barley, rice, oatmeal, legumes, and much more. Both are essential elements to a healthy diet. Timing of your foods is of great importance and we will touch on that next week!
Check out the right hand column for the Body-N-Motion Quality foods list and food logs!
Let me know what you think. Leave comments and/or questions here or on our FaceBook page.
If you want to learn more about Body-N-Motion, click on the logo to visit our website.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
One Reason Why I Care
Why healthy eating and exercise is important to
enjoying your later years.
People often ask what drives my passion to help people so much. I have been hesitant to share these things with all of you, but for some personal mental clarity, I think it’s time.
As I stated in my personal story, I struggled with my weight throughout childhood. My mom was an old-school cook. Dinner always consisted of cooked meat, potatoes, along with lots of butter, fats and creams. To this day, her diet consists of much of the same foods.
She is a nurse and is truly one of the hardest working people I have ever met. She takes care of an entire office from dawn till dusk. However, she has neglected to take care of herself. I beg her — often with tears — to take care of herself so she can live a long and healthy life, but she is just so stubborn. It is the same excuse day in and day out: “I don’t have time,” “There is nothing you can do for me” and “I am too old.”
My mother began her life with a major disadvantage. She was born with a lung disease that caused her to have most of one of her lungs removed. Regardless, all the stories I have been told from her past would make it seem like she never had any problems. She was 6 feet tall, could run like the wind and even dunk a basketball — a very impressive woman to say the least.
Along came three sons, a career, and soon, a very rapid decline in health. And now, at ONLY 60 years old, she is on oxygen and can hardly walk from the car into a restaurant to eat with her beloved grand-kids.
I truly believe I am a motivated, professional personal trainer. How then, could I not get my own family members to change their ways?
It breaks my heart because my mother has waited her whole life for a granddaughter to spoil. Now her excuses from the past really are valid. The things it would take to give her the high quality of life she deserves probably would kill her at this point. She is on every medicine under the sun just to make it through the day.
I know this will haunt me and I sometimes feel as though I may never be able to fully forgive myself.
I suppose in carrying on a profession as a personal trainer, I hope to give each of my clients what I feel like I could not give even to my own mother. I cannot help but feel some resentment toward her for not supporting me and not allowing me to help her. But today, I want to let that resentment go. I need the mental clarity that only forgiveness can bring, so I have to just say MOM I FORGIVE YOU. Through all the tears and hardships I will always love you.
I am still going to ride you constantly to try and keep you from eating all that fatty food and drinking all of those Pepsis. My mission is to try to help all of you from experiencing the pain of watching someone you love — or perhaps yourself — slowly killing themselves by not caring for their bodies.
OK, so now that I have achieved that mental clarity, let’s start talking about you all. It’s time to take the next step in this journey. No more excuses! You all are capable of being healthy and happy. Hopefully, each of you has begun to follow the baby steps routine by taking the stairs or adding walking to your daily routine.
So today, let’s talk diet. Over my 20 years of training, I have found a few fundamental truths about people regarding diet and exercise: People often lie, to themselves and others. We underestimate how many calories we consume, while overestimating how many we burn each day.
Let’s face facts: It is easy to eat. It’s so comforting when we are stressed; it is something to do when you’re bored; it is entertaining; it has become a staple in almost all gatherings, whether it is a birthday party, holidays, even a funeral. We love to eat. The problem is we are a nation of sugar and fat addicts. Each day we go looking for the fix.
What I have done — and suggest that you do — is keep a dietary log of what you eat every day. That way, you can evaluate what you eat, when you eat and the emotional state you were in at the time. You can even print a copy of this log online JUST CLICK HERE.
So start today by looking at your diet, and next week, we will give you information on foods to help you make more informed choices. Also, check out a few of these Web sites that provide some great dietary information:
- www.projectswole.com
- www.hsph.harvard.edu
Let me know what you think. Leave comments and/or questions here or on our FaceBook page.
by Mike White
Owner, Body-N-Motion
As I stated in my personal story, I struggled with my weight throughout childhood. My mom was an old-school cook. Dinner always consisted of cooked meat, potatoes, along with lots of butter, fats and creams. To this day, her diet consists of much of the same foods.
She is a nurse and is truly one of the hardest working people I have ever met. She takes care of an entire office from dawn till dusk. However, she has neglected to take care of herself. I beg her — often with tears — to take care of herself so she can live a long and healthy life, but she is just so stubborn. It is the same excuse day in and day out: “I don’t have time,” “There is nothing you can do for me” and “I am too old.”
My mother began her life with a major disadvantage. She was born with a lung disease that caused her to have most of one of her lungs removed. Regardless, all the stories I have been told from her past would make it seem like she never had any problems. She was 6 feet tall, could run like the wind and even dunk a basketball — a very impressive woman to say the least.
Along came three sons, a career, and soon, a very rapid decline in health. And now, at ONLY 60 years old, she is on oxygen and can hardly walk from the car into a restaurant to eat with her beloved grand-kids.
I truly believe I am a motivated, professional personal trainer. How then, could I not get my own family members to change their ways?
It breaks my heart because my mother has waited her whole life for a granddaughter to spoil. Now her excuses from the past really are valid. The things it would take to give her the high quality of life she deserves probably would kill her at this point. She is on every medicine under the sun just to make it through the day.
I know this will haunt me and I sometimes feel as though I may never be able to fully forgive myself.
I suppose in carrying on a profession as a personal trainer, I hope to give each of my clients what I feel like I could not give even to my own mother. I cannot help but feel some resentment toward her for not supporting me and not allowing me to help her. But today, I want to let that resentment go. I need the mental clarity that only forgiveness can bring, so I have to just say MOM I FORGIVE YOU. Through all the tears and hardships I will always love you.
I am still going to ride you constantly to try and keep you from eating all that fatty food and drinking all of those Pepsis. My mission is to try to help all of you from experiencing the pain of watching someone you love — or perhaps yourself — slowly killing themselves by not caring for their bodies.
OK, so now that I have achieved that mental clarity, let’s start talking about you all. It’s time to take the next step in this journey. No more excuses! You all are capable of being healthy and happy. Hopefully, each of you has begun to follow the baby steps routine by taking the stairs or adding walking to your daily routine.
So today, let’s talk diet. Over my 20 years of training, I have found a few fundamental truths about people regarding diet and exercise: People often lie, to themselves and others. We underestimate how many calories we consume, while overestimating how many we burn each day.
Let’s face facts: It is easy to eat. It’s so comforting when we are stressed; it is something to do when you’re bored; it is entertaining; it has become a staple in almost all gatherings, whether it is a birthday party, holidays, even a funeral. We love to eat. The problem is we are a nation of sugar and fat addicts. Each day we go looking for the fix.
What I have done — and suggest that you do — is keep a dietary log of what you eat every day. That way, you can evaluate what you eat, when you eat and the emotional state you were in at the time. You can even print a copy of this log online JUST CLICK HERE.
So start today by looking at your diet, and next week, we will give you information on foods to help you make more informed choices. Also, check out a few of these Web sites that provide some great dietary information:
- www.projectswole.com
- www.hsph.harvard.edu
Let me know what you think. Leave comments and/or questions here or on our FaceBook page.
by Mike White
Owner, Body-N-Motion
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Baby Steps
You may find yourself thinking, “I thought this guy was my personal trainer, not my therapist… when is he going to start talking about all of the physical stuff that I can do to improve…” But here is the thing, mental health leads to physical well being- no ifs, ands, or buts. Exercise is just one aspect to becoming a healthier person. And until we get to the bottom of all of your negative habits and thoughts, it is going to be extremely difficult to recognize the physical evolution. Research shows that any habit can be broken within twenty-one days to six weeks. This may seem like a long time but in the grand scheme of life, it really is not much. So stick with me guys. You CAN do this.
I believe that fear and being unrealistic about your goals are key players in the reasons why many people have given up on being as healthy and fit as possible. People also have this tendency of comparing themselves to people that have entirely different body structures than they do! We see all these infomercials promising results in just a few short minutes a day for a few weeks! Yes, in some very rare cases this can happen, but if all of us would simply pause these ads and read the very tiny print at the bottom of the page, you’d find the big truth. It often straight up tells you that the results shown are not typical, individual results vary! The makers of these products do not guarantee or promise you will get any real improvement with their products. Although most all of these products could potentially help, but most of the time they end up in a closet or under a bed never to be used after the first few weeks. So many people have been mislead by these products. Think about it, if all these products did generate such great results, then why would there be so many new products coming out every other week? The diet and random fitness equipment business is a billion dollar industry that preys on your hopes of a quick fix. Let go of the thoughts that being healthy and fit is going to be quick and easy. If it was, wouldn’t everyone be in great shape?
In my last blog, I said something along the lines of take a stand today for a better tomorrow. This correlates back into the idea of baby steps. By now, I hope that each of you have taken that stand and concretely decided that you are going to do this thing all out for the right reasons. You should be keeping positive thought patterns and telling yourself that you can do this. So let’s take it to the next step and start working on the physical aspects of this challenge finally. There are a million things that you could do in your daily life to become more active. For instance, live by a ‘no elevator policy’; instead, opt for the stairs. Quick stat, for every minute you are walking up the stairs, you burn around ten calories. That can really add up if you are doing this multiple times a day. Another thing that you can do is purchase a pedometer. It will count how many steps you are taking each day. At the end of the week, average how many steps you take daily. Then, the following week try adding an extra thousand steps. It may sound like a lot, but I assure you, it is not. Just little changes, baby steps, can make a huge difference.
Now for another step in my personal growth, I learned this week from a great woman and friend that I train that any emotion we have anger, happiness, fear or any other emotion takes only 90 seconds to start and exit our mind. It is then up to us to hold on to it or to let it go, so it’s a choice! Where am I going with this well for many years I have had anger issues during stressful times and I have hurt and offended many people in my life much more in my younger days than now. I have lengthened my fuse so to speak from about 5 seconds to hours. I still have work to do and it is a struggle but, I will do this because now with 5 year old twins I don’t want them to ever develop this trait. Much of who we are is based on learned behavior! With that in mind parents set a great example for your kids by being healthy, happy and full of positivity! Lastly I would like to do an open apology to the people in my past that I hurt or offended because of my anger issues, I am sorry!
If you want to learn more about Body-N-Motion, click here.
I believe that fear and being unrealistic about your goals are key players in the reasons why many people have given up on being as healthy and fit as possible. People also have this tendency of comparing themselves to people that have entirely different body structures than they do! We see all these infomercials promising results in just a few short minutes a day for a few weeks! Yes, in some very rare cases this can happen, but if all of us would simply pause these ads and read the very tiny print at the bottom of the page, you’d find the big truth. It often straight up tells you that the results shown are not typical, individual results vary! The makers of these products do not guarantee or promise you will get any real improvement with their products. Although most all of these products could potentially help, but most of the time they end up in a closet or under a bed never to be used after the first few weeks. So many people have been mislead by these products. Think about it, if all these products did generate such great results, then why would there be so many new products coming out every other week? The diet and random fitness equipment business is a billion dollar industry that preys on your hopes of a quick fix. Let go of the thoughts that being healthy and fit is going to be quick and easy. If it was, wouldn’t everyone be in great shape?
In my last blog, I said something along the lines of take a stand today for a better tomorrow. This correlates back into the idea of baby steps. By now, I hope that each of you have taken that stand and concretely decided that you are going to do this thing all out for the right reasons. You should be keeping positive thought patterns and telling yourself that you can do this. So let’s take it to the next step and start working on the physical aspects of this challenge finally. There are a million things that you could do in your daily life to become more active. For instance, live by a ‘no elevator policy’; instead, opt for the stairs. Quick stat, for every minute you are walking up the stairs, you burn around ten calories. That can really add up if you are doing this multiple times a day. Another thing that you can do is purchase a pedometer. It will count how many steps you are taking each day. At the end of the week, average how many steps you take daily. Then, the following week try adding an extra thousand steps. It may sound like a lot, but I assure you, it is not. Just little changes, baby steps, can make a huge difference.
Now for another step in my personal growth, I learned this week from a great woman and friend that I train that any emotion we have anger, happiness, fear or any other emotion takes only 90 seconds to start and exit our mind. It is then up to us to hold on to it or to let it go, so it’s a choice! Where am I going with this well for many years I have had anger issues during stressful times and I have hurt and offended many people in my life much more in my younger days than now. I have lengthened my fuse so to speak from about 5 seconds to hours. I still have work to do and it is a struggle but, I will do this because now with 5 year old twins I don’t want them to ever develop this trait. Much of who we are is based on learned behavior! With that in mind parents set a great example for your kids by being healthy, happy and full of positivity! Lastly I would like to do an open apology to the people in my past that I hurt or offended because of my anger issues, I am sorry!
If you want to learn more about Body-N-Motion, click here.
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