Monthly Archives: June 2010

Think your food choices are limited? Think again!

Posted on June 24, 2010 | 1 Comment

Need some great tips to refine your eating habits.  You know that I swear by eating healthy foods, making good nutritional choices and when you have less than ideal choices; make a better bad choice.  I know you’ll find this helpful and like always, there are great varieties of food here you can chose from.

Don’t destroy all your Boot Camp and other exercise efforts by making bad food choices that keep you from reaching your goals!

Eat This: Instead of:
Whole, natural foods Processed foods
Almonds Sugar-laden, trans fat snacks
Fruit Soda, juice, or candy
Nuts Chips, cookies, donuts, or cake
Vegetables Anything fried
Green Tea Coffee, soda, or sweet beverages
Lean meat Fatty meat or high-sodium meat
Low-fat Dairy Full fat dairy or ice cream
Water Coffee, soda, or sweet beverages
Raw Vegetables Bread and butter
Extra Vegetables Extra serving of bread or potato
Oatmeal Donut, pastry, or sugary cereal
Lean stir fry Fried Chinese food
Grilled, baked, broiled meat Battered, deep fried meat
Low sugar yogurt Sugary yogurt or ice cream
Sugar free natural food Sweetened food
Unsweetened ice tea Coffee, soda, or sweet beverages

4 Weight Loss Tips to Live and Lose By:

1. Eat at least five times a day at regular intervals

2. Eat 4 oz of lean protein at least twice a day

3. Fill two-thirds of your plate with vegetables and fruit

4. Make every calorie count, this means every bite should pack protein, fiber and fat.

10 Essential Nutrition-Based Weight Loss Guidelines:

1. Focus on eating a variety of foods every day.

2. Eat fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors. Green, yellow, orange, red….you get the idea.

3. Eat small meals frequently, preferably 4-6 times. Also avoid overeating or binge eating out of hunger.

4. Say no to extra fat! Avoid putting butter or sour cream on your food.

5. When you feel the first shot of hunger pain, wait it out. If you still feel hungry after 10-15 minutes then eat. If you aren’t hungry any more it was likely your emotions speaking and not your tummy!

6. Plan healthy meals ahead of time—this will save you many calories!

7. Stop eating before you feel full. Your brain is slow in receiving the full signal from your tummy – so give it a chance to catch up!  There is about a 20 minute belly to brain delay. Eat slower.

8. Eat fruits and vegetables first, then meats and lastly bread or other starches. This forces you to fill up on nutrient dense, yet calorie-sparse, foods first.

9. Drink water instead of  pop. Your body isn’t able to register all of the calories in liquid, so hundreds of calories add up without making you feel full.

10. Trade your white bread in for whole-grain bread.

10 Ways to Dining Out without Pigging Out

1. Don’t indulge in bread before your meal arrives

2. Substitute your fries for a side salad, fruit or a baked potato

3. Forgo your pop for a tall glass of ice water or tea

4. Instead of burgers, hot dogs and sausages choose sandwiches,  salads and lean meats

5. Always order your dressing on the side in order to regulate the amount that you use

6. Put half of your meal in a to go box before you start eating

7. Don’t order food that is made with creamy bases, such as white sauce

8. You don’t have to clean your plate! If you are full then stop eating

9. Eat your vegetables first…rather than last

10. If it’s fried then don’t order it

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Great food in great weather !

Posted on June 14, 2010 | 1 Comment

One thing that is amazing about summer time and the better weather in general is the fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables that just seem so much better.  Prices are usually better, flavours are richer and they keep so much longer.

Our family is always looking for great recipes that will help the kids get their vegetables while offering enough variety that lots of different veggies hit their plates all year long.

Today while we were out shopping I got two different requests for a veggie from the DD’s.  One asked for cauliflower and the other asked for brocolli….perfect! Bring on one of our favourite salads and the inspiration for tonights post!!

As much as I would love to break it down into cups and tbls and tsps for you…I can’t.  I don’t think we have ever made this the same way twice.  You can easily adjust the ingredients to suit your own taste and the amount of people you are feeding.  My husbands Mom introduced this to us and after a couple of light and low fat ingredients swapped out and dropping sugar, it is a great salad.

Raw Brocolli / Cauliflower Salad

Brocolli Flowers

Cauliflower

Lettuce (Romaine / Iceberg / Boston all work great)

Mayo (Light or low fat….just enough to bind it all together)

Red onion (Rough chop)

Options

Parmesian Cheese (Low fat)

Pepper / Cayenne Pepper

Protein Punch?

Add Grilled Chicken Breast, Turkey Breast, Grilled Flank Steak, Crisp Bacon (Back/Canadian Bacon)

You can mix all the ingredients together ahead of time holding back the mayo and parm until you are ready to go to the table with is to keep the crisp crunch intact.

Do you have a fav healthy recipe that you want to share…something that your family asks for on a regular basis? Let everyone know about it.  I’d love to hear about the good stuff everyone gets onto their palates…instead of the bad stuff you try to hide from me!!

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11 Things I Learned About Life From Boot Camp

Posted on June 14, 2010 | 5 Comments

1. Hard work pays off

Your parents said it, leaders of industry say it and you probably tell your children the same thing. Nothing in life worth working for comes easy.  Poor health and weight gain are easy, getting fit and back into shape aren’t…but are they ever worth it!

2. In everyone’s life, a little rain will fall

Even when things are at their best, there are going to be days when nothing works out right and everywhere you turn something else smacks you in the head.  Those are the times that the depth of your gut check gets you through.  Rain in boot camp means that your deep stability muscles really get their rip.  Deep strength gets you through the tough times.

3. Setting goals works

Simple, if you don’t know where you are going, how will you ever know if you get there?

4. You have to get your hands dirty to get what you want

Unless you are royalty, at some point in your life you are the one who has to make the difference, you have to do the work.  Sometimes that means getting into the trenches and sometimes that means getting dirty to ensure the job gets done.  People who are afraid to get dirty, usually won’t get what they want

5. The harder you work, the better the results

You can accelerate everything you do by working harder, doing more and being more consistent.

6. Good form is good business

Too many people get hurt in business or hurt others because they don’t use simple courtesy, decency and ethics.  All parts of ‘good form’. When you use bad form in boot camp, you can hurt your own body and in partner exercises the same can hold true.

7. If you do the same thing over and over you’ll never change

It’s been said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over the same way bit expecting different results.  Well, keep eating crap and sitting on your butt and wishing you were slimmer or healthier won’t make it so.  You actually have to change what your doing, to change your results.

8. You can’t measure success on a scale

We measure everything in life against someone or something else; like the neighbours new car or your peers latest trip.  There is no measurement of success there because everyone’s lives are different.  Its on a scale of what we have compared to what they have.  Too many people use the bathroom scale as the determination of their weight loss goals.  It is a scale to compare where you are to where you were but there is no measurement of fat loss, muscle gain, the way you look or the way you feel.

9. The power of many far exceeds the power of one

Everything is easier when you have more people involved in the process.  Problem solving, think tanks, and surveys…they all work better with more.  Support for one another, more fun and more engagement.

10. Just because you do it outdoors, you’re not an exhibitionist

Some people have told me that they would rather do it indoors because less people will see them.  Just because you are outside doing it, doesn’t mean anyone actually sees you or sees exactly what you are engaged in doing.  Doing something different, getting out of your routine or comfort zone is a good thing—makes you think in new ways and makes you work harder!

11. When you’re about to complain about something, look out, someone might just say; “Suck it up Buttercup”!!!

No matter where you are in life, you can almost guarantee that a person near you has had worse, been through more or experienced difficulties beyond your imagination.  Those are the people that will look at your problems, hear your complaints and say, “Suck it up Buttercup…it could always be worse.”

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Are we teaching our kids to be FAT ?

Posted on June 6, 2010 | 8 Comments

Is this portion control?

Yup, that’s a pretty bold question.  I’m not implying that parents are teaching their kids to be fat, but some are certainly not helping them make healthy choices.

Where this comes from is something one of my daughters said yesterday when we were coming home from their school.

Me – “How was school today?”

DD – “It was great!”

Me – “Wow! What did you do that made it great?”

DD – “We played soccer in QDF!”

That, in its self, amazed me.  QDF/DPA, as most parents will know, is mandated by the Ministry of Education in Ontario.  Normally what we hear about this 20 minute daily class exercise requirement, which disguise itself as what we used to know as gym class, is that they danced, they walked or they did something equally non-athletic.  I’m not saying that dance is not athletic, but dance led by grade 5’s or 6’s…you get it. On days when the “real” gym class happens, you don’t need QDF/DPA.  From the Ministry of Education Website:

“Healthy Growth and Development- The school implement the QDF/DPA program, by training the junior students to be leaders. With their primary buddy. These students follow a schedule by which they go into the various classes, and lead the students through a 10-15 minutes aerobic workout. All students benefit physically, mentally and have fun.

Anyone else notice that it’s supposed to be a mandated 20 minute program, but the student leaders only do 10-15 minutes aerobic workout?

So you can understand that I was shocked when I was told they played soccer!  After I asked a few questions, I learned that what was playing soccer was being told about the game by the teacher, and this was actually gym class!

The ‘soccer playing’ was achieved by the teacher spending the majority of the time reading a book about dinosaurs playing soccer…(Ooooooh…that’s productive and in library they did what? Shot put??)  Then they did some running with the ball and then, back to the books.  Wow…what a great achievement in exercise!!

Everywhere we turn you can find a story about childhood obesity being at epidemic levels.  This generation of children is expected to be the first generation where life expectancy is shorter for them than it is for us.  This comes right from the Education ministries website:

“…during the past twenty-five years, obesity rates among children have increased substantially, with the result that a large number of children face the risk of developing such serious illnesses as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke, and some cancers.”

Hmmm. Seems to me over the last 25 years the education industry has gotten away from competition, exercise and health too.  Coincidence?

Why?  Health care is better than ever, there is more known about the cause of disease and illness, we have a better understanding of fitness now than ever before.  So why is childhood obesity so rampant.

What time is soccer Mom?

Lets see, no real gym classes in the schools, video games, cars to get everywhere.  A lack of recreational facilities to support the rapid growth of towns has left huge waiting lists to get into programs.  The list goes on and on.  Lets not forget the uber-kids that are enrolled in athletic programs from 3:30 to 8:00 every evening.  That sounds great but where is their food coming from? The microwave, the drive through, a box?  Real foods aren’t even eaten to fuel the more active kids.  What do they learn? Grab food products that are convenient instead of making food that is healthy and has real nutritional value.  Oh yeah, I can’t forget, “I give my son a bottle of GatorPower to ensure he replaces his electrolytes and energy stores!”  What, is Jr. a world-class athlete that spends his time burning through a couple of thousand calories per workout?  Don’t think so.  That thought process is brought to you by mass marketing.

Gym class in some countries

Some of the healthiest countries in the world still have full-blown gym classes that start at a very early age where the kids are taught sports and exercise and health.  There isn’t a prevalence of food products in those countries, but food.  You don’t get a meal in a box that just needs to be thrown in a microwave.

If you want your children to be healthy, take it upon yourself to set a great example.  Sit down as a family to eat meals or pre-make meals that can be warmed up instead of going to the drive thru.

Tell your school boards that you want real gym classes put back into the curriculum and get rid of those things that don’t create life skills for their future.  Sorry, but learning about festivals that are celebrated around the world have no bearing on their future when the three R’s and your child’s health are suffering.

When did winning and losing, achieving and failure become bad things?  Sorry, that’s another rant…I’ll leave that alone.  I don’t want to sound like I’m ragging on teachers, I know they teach the curriculum they are handed…and the good ones I’ve talked to are just as frustrated.

What do you do? AM I right, or am I off base here?  Is this just too much of a personal opinion, or do you share the same views?  Let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Why you should supplement with Omega 3′s

Posted on June 2, 2010 | 1 Comment

One of the most talked about nutritional components out there for the last few years is Omega 3 Fatty Acids.  They have really only been on the radar of science for about twenty five years although they have been known about much longer than that.

The reason that they are so talked about, is they are one of the few supplements that has not come under fire for all the bad they do to while offering just a few benefits.  The reality is just the opposite.  It is difficult to find any negative information about them, while the benefits are abundant.

Omega 3′s come from several sources but the most well-known are fatty fish like Salmon and Tuna, Eggs and grains like Flax and Hempseed.

There are several reasons that I include Omega 3′s in my nutritional plan.  The original reason was during my first pregnancy, I like any other ‘Mom to Be’, picked up books on how to best care for my growing baby.  Omega 3′s were touted as being excellent for the development of the brain and spine of Jr.  The human brain is about 60% fat (remember calling someone a fat head – not all that wrong were ‘ya) and around half of that is DHA Omega 3′s, so it stands to reason that the best way to feed the brain is with its most common element.

But the benefits don’t just stop there:

1. Pain Relief

2. Anti-Inflamatory

3. Higher Intelligence

4. Better Brain Function

5. Mood Elevator

6. Anti-depressant

7. Better Cardio Vascular Function

8. Cardio Vascular Disease Fighter

9.Immune System Strength

10. Fat Burner

11. Metabolism Booster

I think that right there is a pretty good list.

I recommend that you try to get as much of your nutrition from foods, so here is a list of things you should be eating, but sometimes for some people supplements are the way to go.  Always get the best quality that you can.

Tuna, Salmon, Cod, Grouper, Snapper, Flaxseed, Butternuts, Hempseed, Walnuts, Pecans, Hazel Nuts, Grass fed animals.



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