Make the most of every minute you work out by fueling your body sensibly. Let’s look at the basics.

Nutrition 101: the foundation

The big three nutrients that you need to be concerned with are carbohydrates, protein and fat. An eating strategy that balances these three macro-nutrients will skyrocket your fitness results.

• Carbohydrates: Some have argued that carbohydrates are the most important nutrient that an athlete consumes, because carbs fuel muscle. Every time you move one of your muscles, you are using carbohydrates. Your body breaks down carbs into sugars and then stores them in your muscles and livers. If you eat more than can be stored in either of these two places, the excess is stored as fat in your body.

Good sources of carbohydrates include whole grains, vegetables, fruits and beans.

• Protein: In order to build muscle, you must have protein. Muscle is the foundation of every athlete: without a solid muscle base, you will be ineffective any fitness pursuit. Muscle also plays an important role in protecting you from diabetes. The more muscle you have, the more efficiently your body can uptake glucose from your bloodstream.

It is important to eat protein daily, because your body cannot store protein very easily. Protein from animal sources is the easiest way to get complete protein, but plant-based proteins can be combined to provide complete protein as well.

• Fat: It is unfortunate that fat came under such fire during the last decade or so. Fat is essential and you need a lot of it. The key is to know what kind of fat to eat. Avoid anything that is hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated. These fats are also called trans-fats and are very unhealthy. Instead try to get the majority of your fat from olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, wild-caught fish and free-range animal products such as butter, cheese, yogurt, beef and poultry.

Finding the balance

If you are like many people, you are often confused about how to balance out the different kinds of foods you eat. It seems as though there is a new diet promotion every day, promising all sorts of miracles.

The key, however, to fueling your body for peak performance is balance and moderation. In The New Rules of Lifting for Women, Cassandra Forsythe insists that eating a ratio of 40/30/30 (carbohydrate/protein/fat) will bring the best results. Start here and then adjust the ratios to see what best suits your body.

Remember: you must give your body what it needs to perform. If you don’t, you will end up tired, weak, and prone to frustration because you won’t have the energy or strength to work out. The better you fuel your body, the better it will serve you in your pursuit of fitness and health.

Commitment means that you are in it for the long haul. Commitment rises above bad days, hectic schedules and volatile emotions. Commitment hangs in there when you don’t want to do it, when you don’t feel like doing it and when you don’t have time to do it.

True commitment doesn’t depend on how you feel. It depends on your integrity and on living for the purpose you have set for yourself.

Are you committed to get fit?

No Weekend Warriors

Committing to be fit eliminates the weekend warrior syndrome. You may know a weekend warrior. He is the person who does little physical exercise during the week, but when the weekend arrives, he blasts out of the gate like a stallion on Derby Day. In a desperate attempt to make up for his sedentary behavior all week, he goes to the gym or hits the pavement, pushing himself to the limit.

The result, however, is not what he expects.

He will likely end up with an injury, because his muscles, tendons and joints are not conditioned for the intensity of his exercise.

But he is also not getting in shape, because he is not committed. Physical fitness depends on consistency. And consistency requires commitment. It takes consistent, near-daily exercise to cause your body to make the changes that bring about fitness. For example, your joints and tendons will strengthen, your aerobic base will improve as your body becomes more efficient at utilizing oxygen and ridding itself of carbon dioxide, and your endurance will increase.

In fact, that you do something consistently is as important, or maybe even more important, than what you actually do. Even if you are just doing low intensity walking, doing it every day is infinitely better than doing something more strenuous only occasionally.

But the real rewards come when you not only commit to intense workouts, but you also commit to being consistent with those workouts.

Commit

In order to get fit, you do not need expensive clothes, fancy home-gym equipment or a complicated workout plan.

What you need is commitment. If you are committed, the rest of the pieces will fall into place.

You can start today. Don’t overthink this. Just start, and commit to doing something every single day.

It’s called clutter and each of us has it in our lives. This can be physical clutter or mental clutter.

The insidious nature of clutter is this: it establishes itself so gradually and entrenches itself so deeply, that we don’t even consciously know it is there. But it is there, sapping our creativity, our energy, and our productivity, and ultimately our health.

Physical clutter is clutter in your physical environment. This can be in your car, your office, your kitchen, your bathroom, your closet, your garage etc. It can be unorganized, unkempt, or it can be organized and arranged: but it is stuff–and too much of it.

You have to move it, step over it, dust it or feel guilty for not dusting it. You have to look at it. It is there. It takes up space that could be used for other things or space that could simply be emptied and left serene and open.

A clear, focused mind needs a clear, focused environment. When you are living surrounded by clutter (whether you even notice the clutter consciously or not), it pulls on you and chokes your forward movement and your creativity. It always demands to be dealt with, and that is draining on you. So you have less energy for fitness and for health.

And you have less energy to live and to love.

Mental clutter is clutter in your patterns of thinking and reacting to yourself and others and everyday circumstances. Again, it operates under the radar most of the time, which makes it especially menacing.

Mental clutter can be self-defeating ways of thinking about yourself, entrenched patterns of behavior with certain people, habitual ways of reacting to certain situations or just a general approach to life that blindly runs on auto-pilot.

The trouble with living blindly is that you don’t really live: you can’t see options or alternatives. With creativity choked off, you stagnate. And your energy slowly drains away.

So how do you clear out clutter that you can’t see? Whether it is physical clutter on your bookcase or the mental clutter of responding the same way to that person who always manages to raise your blood pressure, you can get to work on it immediately.

Try these solutions:

Physical clutter:

• Assess the different environments that you live and work in. Take one small space at a time and physically touch each object (otherwise you won’t see many of them, because you are so used to it being there).

• Ask yourself—What is this? Why do I have it? What is its function? Does it enrich my life? Does it bless me? Would someone else be blessed by it? Is it trash? After I’ve gone, will someone else have to come in and get rid of it? Try to eliminate as much as you can.

• Have a friend come in when you are finished and go through it again with her. You’ll have a fresh perspective, and she’ll have an objective one.
• Think really hard before acquiring more stuff. And try to remove something from your environment each time you bring something additional in. Out with the old and in with the new.

Mental clutter:

• Slow down. In order to identify your mental clutter, you must slow down and really pay attention.
• Ask yourself this key question several times a day: “Do I have other options?” Whether it is when that ‘someone’ is beginning to push your buttons or whether you are rushing to get to work again, just stop for a moment and try to come up with one or two other scenarios.

• Set a reminder several times a day to remind yourself to stop and take note of what you are doing when the reminder sounds. Are you eating? Checking

Twitter for the 12^th time? Having the same dead-end conversation with someone?

• Take a look at your routines: bedtime, morning, lunch, late afternoon, etc.   What are your habits? Are they productive? Destructive? Time wasters? How can you make them better?

• What are you procrastinating? Leaving a dreaded task undone is a sure road to low energy and low productivity. Make a list of those tasks which you have been putting off and just do them. You’ll be amazed at your energy level afterwards!

Being fit and healthy requires being intentional about your environment, your schedule and your relationships. Take it one day at a time and start moving toward deliberate living.

Those ‘good intentions,’ while no doubt admirable, tend to remain unrealized mainly because they are too vague. Vague ideas are impossible to focus on and aim for; they are moving targets.

Do you have moving targets in your life? Perhaps you want to eat a more healthy diet or lose the winter weight that has crept upon you.

Maybe you just want to establish a regular workout routine and stick with it this time.

The keys to your success are two-fold: steady the target and create momentum.

How to stop a moving target

Imagine a target shooter trying to hit a small bull’s eye on a distant target. He begins to aim, but then the target suddenly moves to the right, and before he can position himself to aim again, the target darts to the left. Will he ever hit that target? Not likely.

Without setting specific goals, your good intentions are exactly like that moving target. You would like to lose some weight, feel a little better, make a change in your diet–but without clearly defined goals and methods, you can’t focus and make it happen.

The way to steady the target so you can finally hit the bull’s eye is to define your goals and write them down:

• How much weight do you want to lose?
• What kind of changes do you want to make in your diet?
• How many days per week do you want to exercise?
• Which article of clothing do you wish would fit your body again?
• How much weight would you like to lift while strength training?

Once you know where you want to end up, you are much more likely to get there.

But you have to start moving toward your goals. That is where momentum comes in.

Create momentum to reach your goals

In his book, Eat that Frog, Brian Tracy discusses the Momentum Principle of Success. In Tracy’s words:

“This principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get started initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going.”1

There is much wisdom in his words. Sometimes, the hardest part of reaching a goal is just getting started. That first day of doing things differently or the first experience of bypassing an unhealthy treat in favor of a food that will give you more energy can be daunting. It isn’t easy and it certainly isn’t fun.

So how do you get that momentum? How do you start moving?

Accountability is the answer. Having someone else involved in your efforts can be the most important factor in your success.

It is hard to change lifelong habits on your own. You need radical motivation that comes from involving others in your efforts. Setting deadlines, making commitments and entering contests all provide an external motivation that will carry you through even the toughest temptations.

And once you get started, you will find that the momentum principle kicks in and it becomes easier and easier to keep going.

Start NOW

You can make that moving target come to a screeching halt and blast the bull’s eye right out of it by taking a few minutes to write down what you want. Don’t make it your goals too broad; be specific. And then begin brainstorming ways to get others involved with you; that will provide your momentum. Success is within your reach. You can do this!
Oh, and remember, we’re here to help you the entire way!

Source:
1Tracy, Brian (2007-01-01). Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time (p. 107). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.

What happened?

The mindless margin happened.

The mindless margin

In his book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, Dr. Brian Wansink defines the mindless margin as that margin or zone in which we can slightly overeat or slightly under eat without even realizing it.

It is very easy to slightly overeat, isn’t it? How many times have you passed through the kitchen and spied a half cookie lying on the baking pan? It’s only a half cookie, so you grab it and eat it as you keep walking.

Or what about refilling your soda cup on your way out of the restaurant after lunch? Just a little for the road…

Have you ever cleaned your plate simply because there was food left on it? You weren’t really hungry, but it was there, so you ate it.

This is the mindless margin. In each of these instances, you were not consuming the extra calories because you needed them: you weren’t even hungry! And if you had resisted them, you would never have missed them. In each case you ‘slightly overate,’ but the price you pay for this is high.

Dr. Wansink points out that eating just 10 extra calories per day results in a one pound weight gain over a year’s time. 10 calories! Here is a sample list of foods that you might mindlessly eat that are 10 calories each:

• 2 Skittles
• 4 Nestlé Toll House semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 gummy bear
• 2 1/2 Jelly Belly jelly beans
• 1 peanut M&M
• 3 plain M&M’s
• 1 shoestring french fry
• 3 green or red grapes
• 3 cherry tomatoes

Imagine how much weight you would gain if you ate 100 or 200 extra calories each day. You would gain several pounds each year. And this is what is happening to most Americans: the slow creep.

Make the mindless margin work hard for you

The good news is that the mindless margin works in reverse. While mindlessly overeating adds up to weight gain, mindlessly under eating leads to weight loss.

There is a zone in which you do not notice if you eat more calories or fewer calories.

Consider this: if you eat 1,000 calories each day, you will feel weak, lightheaded and cranky. You would notice this! And if you eat 3,000 calories each day, you would notice this too—you would feel tired, slower and sleepy.¹

However, your body will never notice if you eat 1,900 calories instead of 2,000 calories, nor will it notice if you eat 2,100 calories instead of 2,000 calories. That is why it is called the mindless margin—it is completely undetectable. You don’t feel better if you eat it, and you don’t feel deprived if you don’t.

You can trim 100-200 calories from your diet and never miss them! And you can lose weight in the process.

Here are a few ideas to help you start thinking about initiating this stealth fitness strategy in your diet.

You will come up with other ways that are specific to your particular lifestyle. The objective is to trim a few calories every place you can without really noticing it.

• Fill your glass only two-thirds full of calorie-laden beverage, rather than all the way full.
• Toss out one-third of your french fries on the way to the restaurant table.
• Dish out twenty percent less food onto your plate.
• Reduce your heaping spoon of sugar to a level one for your coffee.
• Ask the waiter to bring you one roll instead of a whole basket.
• Never eat a whole dessert by yourself: split it with someone.
• Remove most junk food from your office and replace it with your favorite raw fruits, veggies and nuts.
• Replace one glass of calorie-rich beverage each day with water.
• Never eat directly out of the bag or box. Decide how much you want to eat, then put twenty percent of that back in and put the bag or box away. Do not go back for seconds.

Keep in mind that the key to taking advantage of the mindless margin is to keep it under the radar. If you feel deprived, it is no longer mindless. It’s a great way to lose a few pounds and not even know it. As Dr. Wansink puts it, “The best diet is the one you don’t know you are on!”

Source:

¹ Brian Wansink. Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. 2010. Bantam Books.

What is it?

It’s muscle loss, otherwise known as sarcopenia. And if you are 25 years old or older, it is happening to you already.

But you don’t have to take it sitting down (pun intended).

What is sarcopenia?

Sarcopenia refers to the process of losing skeletal muscle mass and strength. “Sarco” is the Greek word referring to flesh, and “penia” means a reduction in amount. Thus, the word describes a progressive weakening of the body caused by a “change in body compensation in favor of fat and at the expense of muscle.”¹

Everyone, beginning around age 25, starts to lose muscle mass, though the actual symptoms of this loss do not usually begin showing up until around the age of 40 or so. The process begins really picking up speed after the age of 65. In fact, around the age of 40, most women will lose almost a half-pound of muscle every year and replace it with fat.²

The result of this gradual loss of muscle is an insidious weakening of the body, loss of balance, loss of confidence upon walking, and a reduced ability to recover from near falls. As we lose strength, we become more inactive. This makes sense, because if we have less muscle, it takes much more effort to move, and we fatigue more easily. But also, with loss of strength comes loss of balance and stability. The fear of falling keeps many people sedentary. And a sedentary lifestyle opens the door for chronic illness.

Take back your muscle

And now for great news: you can delay sarcopenia and even reverse it. How? By lifting weights. Even though you cannot grow new muscles cells to replace the ones you have already lost, you can develop the ones that you have left. In fact, you can become stronger than you ever have in your life by simply beginning a strength training program.

No matter how old you are, it is not too late to start. Even patients in nursing homes have seen transformation. After strength training, bedridden patients were able to begin walking with walkers, walker-dependent patients graduated to canes, and so on.³

And no matter how young you are, it is not too early to start! By starting early, you can significantly delay the effects of sarcopenia.

As you begin lifting weights, you will notice a transformation in your body. You will have more energy, you will perform everyday tasks with noticeably more ease and your clothes will begin sagging on you, because you will be building muscle and burning up the fat deposits. You will have greater balance and more confidence.

And perhaps best of all is the insurance policy you pay premiums on every time you choose to lift, because you are laying a strong, solid foundation for your later years. You are laying up health, independence and the ability to live well, not just long.

Don’t let another day go by that you are losing muscle. Take it back, and get ready to feel better than you ever have!

Sources:

¹ Biomarkers by William Evans Ph.D. and Irwin Rosenberg M.D. Page 23.

² Strong Women Stay Young by Miriam E. Nelson Ph.D. Page 22.

³ Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley and Harry S. Lodge M.D. Page 178

Zgur tinteressakom tkunu tafu ukoll, illi ‘University of Connecticut’ sabet li min jiekol 640 mg of cholesterol mill-bajd (ekwivalenti ghal TLIETA KULJUM) ma kellhomx zieda f’LDL cholesterol (l-Cholesterol l-‘hazin’, li meta jkun f’rati gholjin ikun assocjat ma’ problemi tal-qalb.

…L-iktar punt li jinterrasakom huwa zgur dan….. Drum roll….. ‘Saint Louis University’ sabet illi illi min jiekol bajd ghall-breakfast, mhux biss jiekol inqas kaloriji waqt l-gurnata minhabba li jkun iktar mimmli, imma ikollu ukoll body fat loss ahjar minn min ma jikkonsmax bajd ghall-breakfast.

Study on HDL (l-Cholesterol t-‘tajjeb’) vis-a-vis egg intake;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18575296

Why resistance train?

Resistance training is critical for true fitness. Without it, your muscles will atrophy. If you aren’t building muscle, you are likely losing it.

And if you are 20 or older, you are definitely losing muscle, unless you are working hard to build it. Beginning at age 20, we begin naturally losing muscle mass every decade.

The old liché holds true for muscle mass: if you don’t use it, you lose it.

Have you ever broken your arm or leg and had to wear a cast for a few weeks? Remember what greeted you when the cast was removed? Your arm or leg was a lot smaller and felt weak. That is because just a few weeks of disuse caused the muscles to begin atrophying.

Here are some of the benefits of resistance training:

• Stops muscle loss and helps begin the rebuilding process.
• Makes daily acttivites easier, from carrying groceries to rearraging your furniture.
• Gives you a sculpted look.
• Increases bone density, giving you a strong, stable skeleton.
• Improves balance and coordination.
• Prevents decay of the pads between your bones, so that you do not hurt when you move.
• Causes the tendons to grow deeper into your bones, reducing the chance of tearing.
• Builds muscles which will burn more calories, even while you are resting.
• Reduces blood pressure by making your heart stronger.
• Increases your metabolism.
• Decreases blood sugar, which helps prevent insulin resistance (the precursor to diabetes).
• Improves your aerobic capacity: the stronger your muscles, the better your endurance.
• Gives you a general feeling of wellness and strength. If you are strong, you feel strong.
• Makes you a better athlete: there is no substitue for strength!
• Prevents the weak, frail “skinny-fat” look.
• Raises your energy level. The more muscle you have, the less effort you have to exert and the more energy you have available.
• Secures future protection against falls and fractures. If you age with dense bones, strong muscles and good balance, your risk of injury plummets.
• Creates 22% more afterburn than aerobic exercise does. (Afterburn refers to the fat and calories that your body burns in the hours after you have finished your workout.)

Still tempted to give up resistance training?

Why aerobic exercise is not enough

“But,” the question goes, “Can’t I just go for a run and build muscle? I’m using muscles when I run!”

The answer is NO! Running or other aerobic exercise is not a replacement for resistance training. They are different exercises and provide different benefits. Aerobic exercise does not deliver the needed stress to your bones, muscles and tendons.

In order to build strength, you have to pull hard on tendons, do microscopic damage to your muscles and literally bend your bones. Going out for a run or putting in an hour on the treadmill will not do this sufficiently.

This is not to say that aerobic exercise is not important: it is! But it is not resistance training. You need both. And if you omit one, you do your body a great disservice.

Avoid the “skinny fat” syndrome

Another danger of focusing on cardio or aerobic exercise to the exclusion of resistance training is becoming what is known as “skinny fat.” Skinny fat is a condition in which a person appears thin on the outside, but inside they are unhealthy and at risk for illness.

If you are losing weight through diet and exercise but not simultaneously doing resistance training, you are not only losing fat: you are losing muscle as well. Your body will burn through your muscles tissue as surely as it will burn through your fat. As you lose muscle, you lose a major source of energy, and you lose tone and definition.

Further, as you lose muscle, your bones become weak, because they do not have to do as much work. Weak bones are a precursor to osteoporosis.

Hidden fat is also a risk for the “skinny fat” person. When 800 slim people underwent an MRI scan to check for visceral or hidden fat, 45% were found to have excessive amounts of internal fat, undetectable from the outside¹. Visceral fat is the most dangerous fat to have, because it accumulates around organs such as the pancreas, heart and liver and then begins releasing hormones and other secretions that lead to disease.

Resistance training can reduce visceral fat and help prevent the additional formation around the organs.

Don’t give up your resistance training just because spring is here and you are eager to get outside. There is no substitute for lifting heavy weights 2 to 3 times each week. Your health is on the line. GET AFTER IT!

Many people dread this “spring forward” tradition, because it means getting one less hour of sleep.   But you can take advantage of the upcoming time change to help you improve your overall fitness and health routine.

The effect of daylight

The sunlight has a profound impact on our bodies, particularly two hormones that control mood and energy: serotonin and melatonin. Serotonin tends to boost mood and energy, while melatonin tends to make you feel sleepy. Too much of it can even lead to depressed feelings in some people. Winter depression is a common disorder that many people suffer with during the long, dark winter months, and it is often directly tied to the effect of less daylight, less serotonin and too much melatonin.

When sunlight is plentiful (such as during the late spring and summer months), you will produce more serotonin and less melatonin. When sunlight is less available (during fall and winter), you will produce less serotonin and more melatonin. The result can be a dramatic shift in your overall feelings of well-being and energy; you will likely find that you have more energy and motivation when the days begin to lengthen.

Put the longer days to work for you

Have you struggled to work out this winter? Has your motivation been weak? Less daylight may be the reason. If you didn’t head into fall and winter last year with a solidly entrenched fitness habit, you may have lost motivation and spent the winter merely wishing that you were working out.

Long-term fitness is the result of having a fitness routine and sticking with it. Once a habit becomes part of your life, it is easy to keep it up, even if your motivation and energy drop from time to time, as they surely will. Particularly in fall and winter.

This is the perfect time to begin building healthy exercise habits.

Take advantage of the longer days and increased sunlight. As we get closer to spring and summer, the days will get longer and longer, which will give you more time and opportunity to work out. The increased serotonin in your body will boost your mood and energy, giving you the motivation to create an exercise routine. Get serious about this routine, so that by the time fall rolls around in a few months, you will be firmly entrenched in your healthy lifestyle.

A solid fitness habit will carry you through the dark days of winter when energy and motivation lag, and you will finish the winter strong. Get started now!

Because it seems natural to clean out the old during this time of year, it’s a great time to come face to face with our excuses for not getting fit and healthy. Excuses pile up just like the clutter that we accumulate in our houses, but it’s time to come clean.

What is your excuse for not choosing health?

I don’t have the time to exercise: This is likely one of the most common excuses. You are busy. You have to work all day (or all night), you have to get the kids to school, you have to cook dinner, go to the grocery store, mow the lawn, change the oil in the car, care for your aging parents—there is simply no time for exercise.

Really?

Consider this. If you do not exercise, you will almost certainly begin experiencing the illness and disease that comes from an inactive lifestyle. When you begin experiencing symptoms, you will have to make an appointment with the doctor, drive to your appointment, wait to be seen, schedule additional tests at the hospital, and wait for your prescriptions to be filled at the pharmacy. And with chronic illness, this scenario will be played out month after month after month. And it takes a lot of time.

Will you find the time in your busy life to see to your medical issues?

Yes, of course you will. You will make sure that you adjust your schedule and your life to accommodate your illness. So why not adjust your schedule now to accommodate the prevention of illness through exercise? You do have the time; you just have to decide to use it.

The truth is that if you do not make the time for exercise, you will have to make time for illness. And exercise takes a lot less time out of your life than disease.

I don’t like to exercise: Again, a pretty common excuse. But it won’t let you off the hook. Lots of people do not like to exercise, but they make themselves do it anyway. Do you like feeling tired? Do you like being overweight? Do you like having to undergo medical tests? Without exercise, you will feel tired, be overweight and become sick, so it comes down to choosing your ‘dislike.’

I don’t have the energy to exercise: If you are unfit, you likely have low energy. And when you don’t have much energy, the last thing you can imagine is exercising. But until you become more active, you will not have the energy you so long for. As you begin exercising, you will start having more energy. You won’t start feeling better until you start moving.

It’s just not the right time for me to start working out.  “I’ll start working out when…

• I get some decent exercise clothes
• Summer vacation starts
• The kids go back to school
• I get my house organized
• Work lets up
• I have more time
• Life calms down
• The kids get older
• The weather warms up a little
• The weather cools down a little
• Someday…just not today

It will never be the perfect time to start a fitness routine.

You just have to start.

Surrender your excuses

Decide to stop hiding behind your excuses. Make a clean sweep and toss those excuses out. Everybody has excuses for not exercising. The fit and healthy people around you choose to give up the excuses and just do it. That doesn’t mean it is easy for them. It just means that they love feeling energetic, strong, healthy, and empowered enough to push in and get it done.

You can be that way too.