Eat Your Way Right Habit 7: Control Your Calories w/ Zero Sugar Beverages

Hard to believe that we are 3/4 of the way through our end of year challenge!

Are you feeling good?

Are you learning some things about your habits and your body?

Are you starting to see that good choices lead to good outcomes?

Keep it up!

This week we are going to focus on keeping the “sneaky” calories that really add up out our nutrition plan.

Did you know that the typical large coffee has 35 grams of sugar in it? Just one a day is an extra 140 calories. Have one of those every day and that is an extra 980 calories a week, or 50,960 a year.

That’s enough calories to add 15 pounds a year – just from one cup of coffee a day!

Ever taken a look at the nutrition info from a double mocha peppermint latte? Ouch!

And even if you are not a coffee drinker there are plenty of other places where those calories are hiding. Soda, fruit juices, the wide variety of “sports performance drinks” that are supposed to be good for you. All these can add extra pounds and we don’t even think about.

Another downside to sugar in our beverages (even fruit juice) is how quickly it metabolizes and can cause blood sugar swings, which causes us to reach for more food, which adds up to even more calories.

So this week it is time to focus on those labels and see if there any sugar in there. But don’t be fooled by those sneaks, because they don’t all use the word “sugar”. Here’s some other names for sugar you might just see.

Barley malt
Cane juice crystals
Demarara
Dextran
Dextrose
Diastatic malt
Diatase
Ethyl Maltol
Fructose
Fruit juice
Galactose
Glucose
Golden syrup
Lactose
Maltodextrin
Maltose
Malt Syrup
Maple Syrup
Molasses
Muscovado
Panocha
Refiners syrup
Rice syrup
Sorbitol
Sorghum
Sucrose
Treacle
Turbinado

Wow!

I would encourage you to start now to wean yourself off all calorie containing beverages, but start with the sugar. The simplest way to achieve this is to get used to drinking water, green tea, and sticking with black coffee. If you need a little cream that’s fine, but the less calories you drink the more your body will thank-you!

Make It Happen!

Eat Your Way Right Habit 7: Drink only zero sugar beverages

Fun Friday Challenge To Help End Hunger

Would you believe us if we told you we discovered a way to make Fun Friday’s even MORE fun?

I know, hard to believe, but it is true! Great thanks to Maria Gilbert, one of our 8:30 ladies, for planting the seed for this marvelous idea. As we know, we are approaching the holiday season very quickly and we live in state surrounded by poverty and hunger. It is the sad truth that sometimes we turn a blind eye to, but it is the season of giving. I am confident that Get Fit NH has more than enough helping hands to gather A LOT of non-perishable food items to make somebody’s holiday season a little merrier, what do you say? Are you up for the challenge?

Here’s how it works, come up with a challenge to complete before or after a training session on any Fun Friday during December. It could be anything, a dead lift challenge, ski erg, push up, pull up, anything! Declare your challenge on the sign- up sheet that will be located on the counter and then find a sponsor. Your sponsor will donate non-perishable food items based on your success. If you want to be REALLY brave, you can let your sponsor choose your challenge.

After you have completed your challenge, make sure your sponsor knows how you did so they can go shopping! 🙂 We will collect your food items here, and then donate them to our local food banks. I can’t think of a better way to remind us that we can make a difference!

For example:

These are just examples, be creative and challenge yourself. If you need an idea (or a push) your coaches are always there to guide you. Just remember that you are challenging yourself to help someone is going through challenging time.

There are only 3 Fun Friday’s in December so let’s make it happen!

Coach Meagan

P.S. According to our resources, the most needed items are:

• Canned Chicken
• Canned Tuna
• Canned Salmon
• Peanut Butter
• Jelly
• Mac n Cheese
• Canned Soup/Stew/Chili
• Canned/Dried Beans
• Canned Nuts
• Rice and Rice Mixes
• Pasta
• Noodle Mixes

Thanksgiving

thanks·giv·ing

noun

“the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgement of benefits or favors, especially to God.” – Dictionary.com

I am truly grateful we have a holiday named “Thanksgiving”. Because for just a few days it makes me say the word over and over again.

“Happy Thanksgiving”

“Have a wonderful Thanksgiving”

“Enjoy your family at Thanksgiving”

It is kind of ironic that the next day is called “Black Friday”. Now I understand how important this time of year is for our economy and businesses to survive. But to my recollection I have only ventured out once on that day to do any shopping, and that was a quick run to Dick’s Sporting Goods at 4:00am, because I woke up right at my normal time anyways. I glanced across the street on my way by and was convinced that anyone who ventures into Wal-Mart is crazy or possessed – no thanks. Now to those of you who enjoy the madness my hat is off to you, because you are very brave, and more power to you. Could you grab me a Starbucks on the way by? 🙂

But I Digress.

Can I encourage you to be truly thankful this year, from now until New Years?

It seems that we let this time of year stress us out to no end as we try to meet the seemingly endless expectations that tug on us to make every perfect, buy all the right gifts, put up just the right tree – busy, busy, busy.

And then it’s gone.

The holidays are over and we settle down into the long New England winter. (I am working really hard on being thankful for that one.)

Life is not easy. Sometimes our days are filled with disappointment, heartache and pain.

Which is one reason why I am grateful for the people in my life.

My family, who put up with me with love even on the worst of days.

My friends, who I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with.

My Get Fit NH team and co-workers, who labor with me to make it all work.

My clients, who share a part of their day with me. Who I get to laugh with, cry with, help through some struggles, and witness some incredible achievements.

To God, who has given me 47 years so far, in spite of myself.

I am going to put some effort, some action, some work, into slowing down a bit this holiday season and making the time to enjoy the things and people who are important to me. I am going to do my best, but with the understanding some people just can’t or don’t want to be happy, no matter what I do. They will get my kindness and compassion, but not one second of my time worrying.

That is work worth doing, and a word worth saying more often than we do.

Thank-you.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Coach Dean

Eat Your Way Right Habit 6: Start Your Recovery

Here is the bottom line.

Good post-training nutrition improves your body composition, performance and total recovery. Ignore it and those three will suffer. If we want to maximize our time in the gym, a proper focus on nutrition after training is key.

Nutrition Coach Ryan Andrews highlights the 3 primary reasons for having a solid post-training nutrition strategy:

Athletes/Exercisers want to:

• Replenish their energy stores
• increase muscle size and/or quality
• repair any damage caused by the workout

And why do we want to do those three things?

“In doing so they want to increase performance, improve their appearance, and enable their bodies to remain injury free.”

and lastly from Dr. Andrews

“Proposed benefits of good post-workout nutrition include:

• Improved recovery
• Less muscle soreness
• Increased ability to build muscle
• Improved immune function
• Improved bone mass
• Improved ability to utilize body fat”

(You can read Dr. Andrews entire article on the Precision Nutrition site by clicking here)

Guys these are all good things, in case there is any doubt. Ignoring post-training nutrition as part of our overall nutrition strategy is not a good decision. You don’t want to be sore all the time, with suppressed immune function and your body holding onto fat like a 2 year old holds onto his favorite blanket, do you?

So what does good post-training nutrition look like?

There are really 2 parts to that answer.

1. Consume a drink consisting of a protein/carb blend during and/or immediately after training
2. Eat a whole food meal within 2 hours after training

I am going to go with the premise that most people reading this are looking to lose body fat. That being said a protein/carbohydrate ratio of about 1:1 seems to work pretty well, although going as high as 1:2 usually is just fine. You don’t have to go crazy with the amount of protein, ~15-25 grams is fine, with the corresponding ratio of carbohydrate.

Some good choices for Step #1:

• Very Blueberry Smoothie (recipe here) has 27 grams of protein and 35 grams carbohydrates
• Myoplex Nutrition Shake has 25 grams of protein and 23 grams of carbohydrate
• If you want to go with something more solid, a Dale’s bar has 22 grams of protein and ~33 grams of carbohydrates depending on the flavor.

Step #2 corresponds with our previous habits. You want to have a meal that includes protein, vegetables, and this is also when you want to eat your “other” carbs, for all the reasons we outlined in previous weeks.

Many of our clients (the 8:30am ladies in Concord are very good at this) have their protein shake pre-mixed and waiting in the car for the ride home. This is ideal. As soon as you shout “Make It Happen” you should start sipping that drink or chewing that Dale’s bar. If you do that, you have Habit 6 covered!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why does Habit 6 specify protein and not carbohydrate?

A: To remind us that a “sports performance drink” such as Gatorade(r) or Powerade(r) is not adequate, because it does not have enough protein to start the protein synthesis recovery process. We want carbs, but we need the protein first and foremost

Q: Why just after resistance exercise? What about after cardio?

A: When we specify resistance exercise we are talking about weight and/or interval training such as here as Get Fit NH, as opposed to endurance exercise. Resistance and metabolic resistance training is designed to break down the muscle in order to build it back up and make it stronger, which is why protein is needed for repair, and the carbohydrate assists recovery in that process. Endurance training generally does not elicit the same physiological requirements, unless it is continuous work for 45+ minutes.

Q: Do I have to eat the solid meal within 2 hours afterward, or can I just skip it so I can lose weight faster?

A: Skipping this meal is a real good way to get “skinny fat”. In other words you may drop total net pounds for a little while, but what is going to be left behind is less muscle and more saggy. Not cool. You want a foundation of lean muscle, yes, even you ladies. The appropriate amount of body fat on this foundation of lean is what gives you the “toned” look with curves in the right places. Guys, just stick to the muscle part, ok?

Eat Your Way Right Habit 6: Eat/Drink your recovery nutrition including lean protein within 1 hour after resistance training.

Last Minute Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas and Tips from Coach Nancy

Coach Nancy wrote an article a couple years ago that I wanted to share, because it fits in so well with the “Eat Your Way Right” theme. Take a couple minutes and discover “Coach Nancy’s Top 5 Way To Avoid Couch Coma”

And if for some reason you don’t quite have your meal plans for this week settled, I thought I’d pass on some great recipes from our friend Dr. Cassandra Forsythe. “Cass” know her nutrition, and she knows tasty foods, and this list she compiled is fantastic!

Veggies: 

Green Beans with Lemon and Pine Nuts

Apple Cider-Braised Kabocha Squash with Golden Raisins and Onion
(Kabocha squash is also called Buttercup Squash) 

Acorn Squash Soup with Roasted Kale Chips and Pine Nuts

Parsnip Pancakes

Easy Roasted Seasonal Vegetables

Spicy Potatoes, Cabbage and Carrots 

Easy Grilled Beets

Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash

Jicama Coleslaw

Cranberry Slaw 

Roasted Brussel Sprouts in Balsamic Glaze 

Spinach, Orange and Red Cabbage Salad 

Stuffing: 

Cranberry, Pear Wild-Rice Stuffing

Corn Bread and Sage Stuffing

Easy Corn Bread Stuffing Mix

Desserts: 

Wheat Free Apple Crisp

Pumpkin Custard (for crustless pumpkin pie) 

Apple Crisp with Oatmeal Topping 

Death, Taxes and Sleep. Three Things You Have To Do!

You do NOT want to miss this important seminar coming up in just a couple weeks.

Dr. David Picard of the Concord Hospital Medical group has graciously offered to come talk to us about one of his subject areas of expertise – sleep!

The last time I put up a post about the importance of sleep Dr. Picard wrote me with some additional suggestions, and we both thought it would be a great idea to get him on in here.

We have how critical sleep is to a healthy body, recovery and even fat loss many times, but what do you do if sleep is hard to come by? Come find out some reasons, as well as tips and strategies on how to solve your sleep problems. I know I am looking forward to it!

Death, Taxes and Sleep. Three Things You Have To Do!

Location: Get Fit NH Concord
Date: Tuesday December 10th
Time: 7:00pm to 8:30pm

Eat Your Way Right Bonus: Splurge Survival Calendar

It’s no secret that the holidays bring some real challenges when it comes to eating. That is reason #1 why we are doing our “Eating Your Way Right Through The Holidays” challenge!

Well we want to put another tool in your hands to help you take your survival strategy up one more notch. Our colleagues over at Results Fitness in California are having a challenge similar to ours, which they are calling “Holiday Hold ‘Em”. I am guessing they have a few poker players over there. 🙂 They sent me an email with what I thought was a really great strategy involving a calendar and a few minutes of your time.

Like Get Fit NH, Results Fitness emphasizes 90% nutrition compliance, not perfection. What they suggested was pulling out a calendar, calculating how many splurge meals you could have between now and the end of the holiday season, and marking an “x” on all the days and mealtimes you were planning your splurge. A great idea that goes right along with the planning you have already been doing.

We took it one step further and created a calendar for you that covers between today (Monday November 25th) through the end of the year.

Here is what mine looks like:

My strategy was simple and realistic.

I am currently eating 3 meals per day. This allows me 12 splurge meals between now and January 4th, which is the end of the final holiday week.

I knew I would be in the kitchen on Wednesday starting some cooking, and anytime that starts I am probably going to do some sampling, so I planned a splurge there. On Thursday I figured my breakfast will be normal, but the other two meals of the day I better plan on being non-compliant. Add one meal in on Friday for some leftovers, and we are good to go. I used the same strategy for the week of Christmas. That takes up 8 out of the 12 allotted. Figure on a party on New Years Eve and that still leaves me with 3. My strategy then was to use one on each Saturday night of the “non-holiday” weeks, and that gives me 12 total.

This calendar helps me for a couple reasons. I have to have a plan or I will justify sneaking things here or there and not counting them. I like the visual aid. It helps me see that  I can still have some days where compliance does not have to be perfect but I am still on track.

One important caveat: You can still lose fat and stay on track over the holidays, but you HAVE to stick to your plan and you have to keep training. Don’t skip training sessions and think it won’t matter. It is the consistency of the training, keeping that metabolism in high gear, plus eating correctly the rest of the time that leads to success. I believe in you, now you gotta Make It Happen!

Download Your Splurge Survival Calendar Here

Eat Your Way Right Habit 5: FAT is Not a 4-Letter Word

You are a Fathead.

Yes, you are, and no, I am not insulting you.

Your brain is comprised of approximately 60% lipids (aka fat), and our cell membranes are fat based as well. According to Dr. Ryan Andrews the fat we eat literally becomes part of our cells, and has a huge impact on if our nervous system communicates properly. I was amazed to learn that a properly balanced fat intake can affect how my entire body functions, from our brain power on down. You really are what you eat!

Here is what else Dr. Andrews has to say about the importance of healthy fats in our “diet”:

Why are healthy fats so important?

Fats exert powerful effects within the body and healthy fats have been shown to offer the following benefits.

Strong evidence

Cardiovascular protection (though there is less evidence for protecting against heart failure)
Improve body composition
Alleviate depression

Average evidence

Prevent cancers
Preserve memory
Preserve eye health
Reduce incidence of aggressive behaviour
Reduce ADHD and ADD symptoms

When it comes to healthy fat, intake amount is important. People are often concerned about excess dietary fat, but not getting enough fat may also cause health problems.

We need adequate fat to support metabolism, cell signaling, the health of various body tissues, immunity, hormone production, and the absorption of many nutrients (such as vitamins A and D). Having enough fat will also help keep you feeling full between meals.

(Read Ryan’s Complete Article – “All About Healthy Fats”)

So what the good doctor is saying is that we need healthy fats – to be healthy!

The first kind of fat is saturated fat, and if you eat animal protein, you usually have no problem getting that one in, maybe even a bit too much.

The other two are unsaturated fats – poly and mono. These include the Omega-3s which are found in fish such as salmon, as well as nuts, seeds and vegetable oils. Far from being unhealthy, all of these types of fats are crucial for optimal health.

It is also important to balance out the ratio of the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. The reason Omega-3 supplements are necessary for most people is that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids has been dumped on it’s head by the way our food is raised and processed. What used to be a 1:1 ratio of 6 to 3 is now more like 16:1, and this does not allow proper cell functioning and integrity. That’s why we recommend a good Omega-3 supplement for everybody. 3-6 grams of EPA/DHA per day is the recommendation. Super Omega-3 is what we carry in the gym because you are getting over 3 grams of the good stuff in one teaspoon, which is outstanding. You can read more about Super Omega-3 in this article: Fish Oil and Why You Are Getting Ripped Off

You have been lied to

Low fat diets stink. You aren’t getting the health benefits outlined above, but that is not all. Healthy fats cause satiety, or the feeling of being full longer, more than protein and certainly more than carbohydrates. You know it’s true. You can blast through 2 or 3 donuts and be hungry an hour later. Try eating a couple eggs and an avocado and see what happens – I can guarantee you will be fuller longer. Part of the reason is that it takes fat a lot longer to digest than carbohydrate, so it doesn’t empty from your stomach and travel through the digestive system as fast.

But won’t all that fat go right to my waistline?

Au’ contraire, mon ami!

Eating fat does not “make you fat”. Eating excess of anything will cause it to be stored as excess energy (fat). And an argument can (and is) being made because it is easier to overeat carbohydrate than it is fat or protein, increasing your fat intake is a good nutrition strategy when looking for overall calorie reduction. It helps keep you full longer and also avoid the huge blood sugar crashes that can accompany carbohydrate intake, particularly from simple carbs.

EYWR Habit 5: Eat Recommended Healthy Fats Daily.

If you track your calories, 30-35% of daily caloric intake is a good place to start. If you eat meat, particularly red meat, you are getting plenty of saturated fat, believe me, so we need to concentrate on the others, the poly and monounsaturated.

Here’s a partial list of things that are easy to add into our plan.

• Avocado
• Fatty Fish (salmon, sardines, herring, tuna, mackerel)
• Macadamia Nuts
• Walnuts
• Sunflower Seeds
• Almonds
• Pecans
• Flax seed Oil
• Fish Oil
• Omega-3 eggs

Don’t go crazy. As you may remember 1 gram of carbohydrate has 4 calories, while 1 gram of fat has 9 calories, so portion control needs to be paid attention to. Too much of something good is not good, and we all know how easy it is to overeat things like almonds and macadamia nuts (love those things!)

Caution: If you are taking blood thinners, have heart issues, or have a bleeding disorder you absolutely need to check with your physician before supplementing with Omega-3 fatty acids (Fish/Algae Oils).  Just do it!

Healthy Fats. Every Day. No Excuses.

Make It Happen!

New Recipe Book from Coach Nancy – Fall Favorites

Chicken Enchilada Soup – Yum!

Coach Nancy has generously taken most of the best recipes from her “Favorite Fall Foods” seminar and agreed to make them available to you, her adoring public! 🙂

Seriously though these are some fantastic tasting, easy to make, protein packed “comfort style” foods sure to make those cool fall evening dinners shine.

How do these sound?

• Savory Beef Roast
• Asian Pork
• Herbed Turkey Breast
• Chicken Enchilada Soup

Well there are these and 12 more sure to please fall favorites. Just enter your name and email below and it’s yours for the taking.

7 Semi-Random Truths of Training

Just because it’s Thursday…

Learn to love intensity, not duration.

It is not a badge of honor to spend 2 hours in the gym. Get in, work hard, get out, start the recovery process. 20 minutes of hard work trumps an hour of lollygagging every time. And if you tell me you can work at max capacity for 45 minutes to an hour, come on in and prove it to me. The goal is to elicit the desired training effect in the shortest amount of time. Minimum effective dose. One aspirin is good so 10 must be better, right? No. Take 10 for an extended period of time and it could kill you.

Training with intensity requires the ability to do so.

In other words, if you have a movement dysfunction, or an injury, that is the “big rock” that needs to be addressed first. Trying to push through or ignore these things leads to bigger problems. Do the work necessary to clean these issues up and you will be able to up your intensity in the future. If you injure yourself further, then you are really not going to get anywhere.

You earn the right to up your intensity.

In other words, you earn your exercise. Master the sequence of exercise progressions. You must to learn to crawl, then walk, then run. In the same way you must master the basics, lay a good foundation, and then when appropriate progress the exercise. Doing 1 footed hang cleans while balancing on a dumbbell with your finger up your nose might look cool, but why?

Everything is training.

The moment you step on the floor you are training. Soft tissue quality improvement, activation, movement prep, reactive and power development, strength training, metabolic conditioning, flexibility and recovery. It is ALL training. The variables change. Length of the set, rest periods, total work duration – these may change. Your goal should be to work as hard as you can, all the time.

You have control of how intense the training is.

See above. Sometimes you just have to look inside. You can dog it if you want to, but that really has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the plan, does it?

Your level of fatigue has nothing to do with how effective the training is.

Tired does not mean better. Better means better. Should there be fatigue after training? Yes. Should you be crawling out the door every day? No. If you want to get trashed every time you walk through the door you are in the wrong place. We are physical preparation coaches, not executioners. You are in this for the long haul, your whole life. Our job is to help you get better, day after day, year after year.

Working at high intensity all the time usually has more negative consequences than positive.

Most of us have a hard enough time getting enough sleep, keeping up with the family, dealing with stress, working, etc. Remember Minimum Effective Dose? We want to do enough to get the positive effects out of our training program without adding one too many bricks on the pile. Who wants to be sore and tired ALL the time? If you are, it’s time to take a look at some other stuff going on. (Good nutrition anyone?)

’nuff said! 🙂