To Eat or Not to Eat

That is the question. And the attached picture is proof of what we all face. So, when it comes to desserts its a good idea to decide ahead of time one meal where you might try skipping a sweet treat. Seriously, who needs to eat dessert after EVERY meal over the Holidays?? What else works for you when it comes to skipping high calorie items on occasion?

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Cookies for Santa

So, if you had to put out your favorite cookies for the imaginary man we call Santa, what would it be?  I would guess that since the man is apparently 400+ years old, he would be a very classic (i.e., old fashioned) type of guy.  I mean, he drinks Coca-Cola from a glass bottle.  He gives toys to little children like wooden trucks, baby dolls, and jack-in-the-boxes.  A man like this has GOT to eat good old chocolate chip cookies.  Right?

And looking at his figure, that belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly has seen some serious cookie action over the last 400 years.

Jedi Eating Tricks

I'm thinking we should all take a few moments and have a conversation with the little voices inside our heads.  If Master Yoda can do it, so can I.  I think mine will go something like this:

"Self, I've noticed that during the last few days leading up to Christmas & New Years you've seemed to have limited self control regarding your food intake.  Food, and especially sweets, are everywhere.  Whenever you see food at the office, at friends houses, and at home, you act like a 12 years old school girls at a Justin Bieber concert.  Maybe for the next few days you could actually practice some SELF CONTROL.  This would include, but not limited to; having a single piece of pie for desert instead of three; defining meal times to 3 meals a day and not one continuous eating session; portion control is NOT spelled 's-e-c-o-n-d-s & t-h-i-r-d-s'; and lastly remember that each calorie you take in, no matter how good it looks and tastes, will be much harder to get rid of than it was to consume."

Have a little pep talk with yourself before the holidays.  Remember to enjoy yourself, but just keep in mind that you are what you eat...or something like that. And may the force be with you this week!

Late night eating

What is it that makes you raid the refrigerator late into the evening?  The last meal of the day has worn off and you are jonesing for something salty or sweet.  You do the ritualistic dance by opening the pantry door, refrigerator door & ending by peeking in your spouses favorite hiding place for sweet treats.  You might even be one to get up mid-sleep to see if something has magically appeared in the afore mentioned places.  So how do you resist the temptation to continue to eat late into the evening?  It would seem that is just the solution; resist the temptation.  Give yourself boundaries that sound something like, "I won't snack after xx time." or, "I will only eat a certain amount of food after the last meal of the day."  Helping regulate either your quantity of intake or when the cutoff can help you from consuming extra calories at the end of what might have been a very healthy day!

What other ideas have worked for you to help cut off late night eating habits?

The effects of STRESS!

No one is a stranger to stress.  If you've lived long enough you've faced your fair share.  So how does stress impact us on a daily basis?  How does it effect us physically & emotionally?  Well, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I'm not a medical expert so I can't tell you the actual effects on your body, but I can surmise a bit and would love your input too.

The first thing I think of with stress is a racing mind.  No time to slow down. No time to stop and think.  Just going 100 miles per hour!!!  Imagine what happens to a mind that is always engaged.  It could lead to loss of appetite & loss of sleep which we all know can have a detrimental impact on us physically.

Stress can also leave us without a sense of direction.  Because we are pulled in several directions, we are never able to focus on one specific task.  When my stress levels seem to be high, I tend to be less organized than I would like.  Lack of organization isn't terrible, but it can lead us to quick food (i.e., unhealthy) solutions when we have failed to plan ahead.

So, how does stress effect you?

When to exercise?

This seems to be a timeless question.  Is it more appropriate to workout first thing in the morning or potentially later in the day?  Let's look at a few thoughts:

Late afternoon / early evening workouts are at a point in the day when you may have had a hard day and going to the gym or jumping on your treadmill aren't top priority.  The advantage, however with a later workout is you are already out of bed, your body has been somewhat active which means you are stretched and your blood is flowing.  

Compare this to an early morning workout.  First thing in the morning is when your core body temperature is at its lowest and you would also naturally have the lowest energy level.  Advantages to an early morning workout can be that it is early before distractions enter the day.  Also, raising your heart rate early in the morning can kick start your metabolism and get your body off to a good start potentially burning extra calories through the day.

So, when is the best time of day for your workout?  It would seem that for most the easiest time to schedule a workout would be early morning, however there are some potential trade-offs.  Based on the information I was able to find combined with the experience of working out regularly both early morning and later afternoon, it would see the optimal time to workout would be sometime mid-afternoon.  Unfortunately, how many of us can actually take a break mid-day to work out.

What are your thoughts on when is the best time of day to workout?  What pros and cons do you run into with your workout routines?

Eating at work

So I'm at an all morning work training and lunch is being catered. Breakfast consisted of muffins and danishes from Panera. Fortunately I had eaten my standard breakfast of oatmeal and blueberries. Lunch was a little more difficult. Chicken salad sandwiches, salads, chips, and chocolate chip cookies. It all looked great. The only problem was self control. I decided that since I had worked out this morning I could splurge for the cookie. After entering my food into Livestrong, I still have 700 available calories for dinner...which should be plenty.

So my question is: What delimas do you face with having to eat a work lunch and what are some good ways to still make good decisions?

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Water

Proof that I'm drinking my daily intake of water...at work today

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watering trough

I'm thinking the more water the better. I know the standard recommendation of daily water intake is 8 glasses but what do you think? What is your daily intake or what do you think it should be? Water: calorie free since 1776.

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Falling off the wagon

I thought my subject appropriate since I started a blog several months ago about healthy lifestyle choices and then in early May, stopped posting to the new blog on healthy lifestyle choices.  You can only imagine what has happened since.  I have not made the best decisions regarding diet & exercise, so I thought I would consider the subject of falling off of the wagon.

Often times when life catches up with us, we revert back to our past; and this often includes the tendency to do what is simple and easy.  I'm referring to the way we eat specifically, but this can happen in almost any aspect of life.  We get busy and we do what is easy.  McDonald's Drive-Thru is easy.  Wendy's $.99 cheese burger is easy.  "Cooking" pre-packaged meals at home is easy.  Eating sugar loaded cereal for breakfast is easy.   But after some time passes with the cruise control on, you realize that easy and fast does not equal good and healthy.  Your body starts to give you signs that something isn't quite right.  You learn that you've been ingesting too many calories in one meal than you should be eating in an entire day.  So, how do we get back on the wagon?
In short, I'm not sure.  I can't get you back to a place you once were without knowing what cause you to derail in the first place.  So for now I'm going to focus on what I'm doing to get back on track and hope you find it helpful.  First things first, I'm starting my day off right with a good breakfast.  Right now I'm eating old fashioned oatmeal with a teaspoon of brown sugar and a few blueberries.  Lunch is usually something left over from the night before, so a health dinner feeds a healthy lunch for tomorrow.  I'm back to using livestrong.com which is an excellent program that one of my earlier blogs discusses in detail.  They have almost every food known to man cataloged for quick entry of entire meals.  And besides meals I have been exercising at home on a semi-regular basis.  My goal is to have 4-5 good workouts throughout the week.  These are my first steps.


So, what are your techniques for starting fresh and getting back on the healthy lifestyle wagon?

Summer Basics: Access to Fresh Vegetables

Just a few things to consider as we enter mid-late spring.

Consider where you will source your fresh vegetables through the spring.  Search out a good local farmers market or local grocer where you can pick up fresh local produce.  Not only will you find some great bargains, but you will also enjoy the best and freshest your local area has to offer.

You might also consider growing a few select vegetables on your own.  The easiest to grow would be tomatoes or some peppers (green, jalapeño, etc...).  You'll need some fresh soil and really not much real estate to start a small garden patch with a few plants.  When summer arrives, you'll be glad you made the effort to plant and nourish your little guys to full health.

If you are really eager, have the time, and the space, you can always go all out and plan a full on garden.  I'm sort of in transition this year and doing my first "full garden" and doing a small variety but not really large volumes.  Now I have room to grow green beans, multiple tomato plants, onions, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.  Should be an interesting summer with a pregnant wife due in August and a full garden right around the same time.  I'll keep you posted.

The benefits of planting your own spread can be endless.  You'll be able to indulge in fresh vegetables at your hearts desire, share with your friends and neighbors, as well as put some away to enjoy through the fall and winter months.  More to come once I attempt freezing and canning this summer.  

So, whether you plan on shopping at your local farmers market, or planting your own, be sure to get out enjoy access to plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables this summer.  Your body will thank you!

If you plan on planting a small or large area, here is a rule of thumb website that can help you in planting and harvesting at the right time.  http://www.thegardenhelper.com/

Seeing Double

What is the deal with double chicken breasts everywhere these days?  I go to my favorite (insert your favorite chain or local restaurant here) and I order a chicken dish because chicken is healthy, right?  Well, it can be a good choice, but it seems like these days our portions are getting even larger.  Case in point?  KFC's new chicken sandwich called the "Double Down" that substitutes buns that would normally hold a chicken breast for...two pieces of chicken.  And to top it off there are two slices of cheese and two strips of bacon between the two pieces of chicken.  Here is a picture just for those keeping score:

And not to worry about researching the nutritional information before considering this as your next lunch purchase.  Here are a few of the amazing facts:  540 calories, 32 grams of fat, and 1380 mg of sodium.  And don't fool yourself into thinking the "Grilled Double Down" is any better with a savings of only 80 calories on it's counterpart and an extra 50mg of sodium!  

So, the next time you are out and think about ordering a fried chicken sandwich (especially one that has two fried chicken breasts) you might want to reconsider. 

Trying a mobile upload to my blog. This should be fun!

From Zero to Hero

It's hard to beat an ice cold Coca-Cola while out supporting your favorite local pizza joint but let's face it, with the calories in the Coca-Cola (including both refills), you are racking up some serious calories just on your beverage.  So, without promoting a "zero calorie diet" because we all know those don't work, I wanted to start a list that is comprised of my favorite food or drinks that contain zero (or almost zero) calories.  So, I'll start out with a few and you can take it:

1. Water - drink it often.  drink it long!
2. Yellow Mustard - when I'm tempted to spread a thick layer of Miracle Whip on a sandwich, I always think about substituting some calorie free yellow mustard.
3. Spicy Brown Mustard - if you like a little more zing, try it with spicy brown
4. Clementine - this tiny orange is easy to peal and only weights in at 30 calories, not to mention it's packed with other great nutrients.
5. Banana Peppers - this "nearly calorie free food" is a great way to spice up a sandwich or salad
6. Herbal Tea - at about 2 calories per cup, this is a great substitute for your favorite fancy coffee drink.  And try a mint or fruit flavor to resist adding any sweetener.
7. Raspberries - This rich colored food is dense in essential nutrients and at only 50 calories for an entire cup, makes a great mid-afternoon snack.

What are some of your favorite zero or nearly zero calorie foods, snacks and drinks?

Raw foods

Vegetables are on the "healthy" list of foods.  As a kid, no one liked broccoli and cauliflower but we were always told to eat up.  Now as adults, we have learned what vegetables we like and we are willing to pass over the mashed potatoes for the grilled vegetables once in a while to please that healthy side within us.

So if you really want to get the most bang for our buck, you might consider choosing raw vegetables versus cooked.  Here are just a few benefits of introducing more raw fruits and veggies into your diet:


Because uncooked fruits and vegetables are naturally "bulky" and filling, the raw food diet provides a high degree of volume and nutrition without delivering excess calories. Strict followers of the diet also abstain from potentially fattening items such as refined sugar, processed foods and fried products -- resulting in a lower calorie intake and a greater potential for shedding pounds


Increased energy is a common perk of consuming an all-raw diet. A study published in Iowa Source that reported raw food's immunity benefits also revealed a trend in energy levels: 88 percent of respondents rated their energy as "good" or "excellent" after transitioning to a raw food diet, whereas only 31 percent reported high energy on cooked cuisine. As the study describes, this rise in energy also coincides with greater cardiovascular endurance, improved flexibility and a more frequent desire to exercise on a raw versus cooked.




What are some of the benefits you have noticed from an all-raw or partially raw vegetable diet?

Screen Shots - MyPlate from LIVESTRONG.COM

As promised, here are some screen shots to give you an idea of what the MyPlate features on Livestrong.com look like.  And remember it's FREE!  You can even create you own custom recipes from your kitchen to add to the system for simple calculations.

Screen 1:
you can see that my total calories consumed for the day are shown on the right side of the screen in the left of two boxes.  2236 calories.  Quite a lot considering my target is to loose 2 pounds per week for the next several weeks.  But you can also see next to this 2263 is my very FAVORITE measurement of all; Calories Burned.  So, my Saturday morning workout of 20 minutes on the treadmill and 1 hour Pilate class act as a "credit" and still allow me to be within my actual goal of 1722 net calories per day.  Wow!  No more guess work on how much to eat or how much to workout.  If you like being organized and following the numbers, this is a great solution. (click picture to enlarge)

Here are a couple more screen shots to give you an idea of how much detail is available.  This screen shows my meal totals and not only tracks calories, but also tracks other important indicators like fat, sugar, fiber, and protein.  Off to the far right you'll notice the daily tracking calendar to show how my performance on previous days compares.  The red line is the "loose two pounds a week" line. (click picture to enlarge) 

On this screen, you can see the daily and weekly totals as well as a convenient place to track your eight glasses of water per day that is recommended. (click picture to enlarge)

On this last page I have switched to my "Fitness" tab where it shows my workouts for the day.  This tool is a great way to not only track calories and loose a few pounds, but also do some research ahead of meals on what to eat or not eat. (click picture to enlarge)

Thank you, Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong is one of the most recognizable sports faces of our time.  He has won on several stages in life including his 7 consecutive victories in the world renown Tour de France and his victory over testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain at the age of 25.  He is an amazing athlete that has proved the human body is capable of more that we often think, he has elevated the sport of cycling to an extremely high level, and he has created an marketing and fundraising empire with one word and some yellow bracelets.

LIVESTRONG.  The namesake of Lance Armstrong; this organization is dedicated to promoting not only a healthy lifestyle, but to raise money for the research of cancer the world over.  To date, just in sales from the yellow "Livestrong" bracelets that were all the rage a few year ago, the Livestrong organization has raised over $70 million dollars.  Pretty impressive.  And now that the name has become its own trademark, you can get almost anything with this powerful world stitched or printed on the front.  Check out the store here.

So, you can see why Lance is so worthy of some serious props when it comes to his commitment to a cause. And as I mentioned before, he not only is committed to raising money for cancer research but he also has created several tools for the average Joe like myself to help boost my ability to live a healthy and fit lifestyle.  What are these tool, you ask?

Check out Livestrong.com.  This website is amazing...and FREE!  Let me share just a couple of my favorite features with you and then you can explore and share back your favorites with me.

1) My Plate - Calorie Tracker:
The last week and a half for me have been proof enough that tracking your food intake on a daily basis will lead to results.  I have been using the Livestrong.com calorie counter about that long and in that length of time I have lost between 5-6 pounds.  It has every food item you could possibly think of...down to the Costco Organic Peanut Butter I like on my toast in the morning.  A co-worker of mine turned me onto this awesome little tool and I've been using it non-stop.  I'll try posting some screen shots soon so you can see what the calorie counter looks like.

2)Fitness Tracker:
Part of the "My Plate" feature is the ability to track all of your workouts.  Again, you can find any type of workout on this tracker from 5.2mph runs on the treadmill, to pilates, swimming, spinning, and weight lifting.  Each exercise has several custom choices to zero in on the number of calories your burned during your exercise.  Wow!

So, just between these two awesome tools, you are able to track your calories in and out for the day all through a custom program that is available for free online.  Also available is a mobile app version for iPhone and Blackberry that syncs with your online version.  Check out your respective app store for the mobile version.

So, Thank you, Lance.

Check it out and let me know what you think.  I will try and post some screen shots from my livestrong.com page over the weekend so be sure to check it out!

Rate your Heart

Every piece of workout equipment I've ever been on has this to say before you begin your workout:

Please consult with your doctor before beginning a workout routine.

I'm not promoting that we kick our doctors to the curb, but I am promoting that we do a little less talking and a little more doing when it comes to our workouts.  It's all about your heart rate.  And if your heart wants to tell you something, it will.  Like, "You're KILLING ME!  Slow down already!" or "Hey, you've been running for 20 minutes and have barely broken a sweat".  Our hearts are an amazing indicator of how good or bad of a job we are doing with our workouts.

For those who are not in sync with your body to know when to do more or when to do less, here is a tool that will help put things into perspective.  It is called a heart rate calculator.  Just enter your AGE and FITNESS LEVEL and voila...instant target heart rates!  (Just a note when selecting your fitness level, most people will fall into the "average fitness" category.  If you use the heart rates for "novice" or "beginner" you will want to quickly advance yourself to the "average" or "above average" category in order to notice any substantial results.)

Now that we have our targets in mind, let's look at mine as an example.  I'm 30 and would consider myself pretty serious when it comes to my workouts.  That puts my range between 133-171 beats per minute.  There are several schools of thought when it comes to where you maintain your heart rate.  The most basic is to go all out at the high end of your range.  The second is more in line with interval training where you build your heart rate to the maximum several times in a row to create a "stair step" approach.  Either method will lead to excellent results as long as **this is important** you stay toward to middle-to-top end of your target range through your entire workout!  Anything above is clearly too much, and anything below will provide less than stellar results.  This process can be carried across to any of your favorite cardio workouts.  Just be sure to rate your heart first, then get to it.  It's all about the level of intensity that you put into your workouts, so don't be afraid to dive in head first and see what your body tells you.  It may ask you to slow down....but don't be surprised when it screams for more!

Calories are Good!

There is so much focus now in our society (and even in my most recent post) about how we need to limit out calorie intake. Count your calories. Count your points. Count your intake. Calories in = calories out.  But is all of this focus on calorie counting really a good thing?

Yes....and no.  Counting is good.  But when it becomes a race to the bottom line, we can really send our bodies for a loop.  So the real question becomes, when does counting become a bad thing?

For starters, it's a bad thing to count calories when you goal is to eat as little as possible.  In a sense, calories are good.  Think of it as fuel for your body.  If you don't have enough fuel in your tank you risk being "stranded" halfway through your day.  This can make for good short term results, but in the long term your body won't like you very much.

Another drawback of eating as few calories as possible is the risk you run of your body going into survival mode.  If your body feels like it is being shorted on "fuel", it will actually start to convert any extra calories into stored fat.  If you think you're going to lose weight by skipping breakfast and lunch and then eating a 1000-1200 calorie dinner, think again.  You are setting yourself up for failure.  Most dietitians agree that the minimum calorie intake should be around 1200 calories per day (consult your doctor or dietitian for their recommendation).  This will provide you with enough fuel for the day while maintaining a low enough intake to help maintain or reduce your overall weight.

In the end, just remember that it's all about a healthy balance.  To many calories can lead to weight gain, and so can too few calories.  Find a balance that works for you.  The more you know about your body, the better your can strike that perfect balance and find success!

Calories 101

Everyone works out, right? We have all been at a point in our lives when we face the music and realize that our normal everyday activity just isn't going to cut it for maintaining a healthy body weight. So, for most people the solution is the same; go to the gym and workout. And not just workout, but a cardiovascular workout. This means that your heart rate is elevated for 20 minutes or more and you are working not only your legs and arm, but also your heart. These are all good things. However, we often exert all of this effort with little results. So the questions becomes, "What should I do if this isn't working?"

For starters, you must realize that a healthy body weight requires more than just 20 minutes of cardio work every other day. Doing situps won't melt away your stomach fat. We have to attack the problem at the root...and for most red blooded Americans, that would mean we need to look at our diet. At the end of the day you can burn 1000 calories at the gym, but if you are consuming 5000 calories each day you aren't going to get the results you want. So the first thing is our diet.

I did some research on what the USDA recommends for someone my size (6'2" - 205lbs). Here is what I found So, the USDA recommends I consume 2800 calories a day. The only problem is that the average American today consumes somewhere around 3800 calories. We know that 1 pound of body weight = approximately 3500 calories, you can see how it's so easy to put on an extra pound here and there from our extra calories.

Here is what the math looks like:

Average American: 3800 calories/day

What I should eat: 2800 calories/day

extra per day: 1000 calories

That's 7000 extra calories per week which is equal to 2 pounds of additional body weight per week!

So, how do we tackle an extra 7000 calories per week?! For starters, start with this list of small items:

Choose one main course or desert each day where you can substitute:
Choose the grilled vs. fried chicken or skip the cheesecake for fresh fruit salad. You can save anywhere between 150-300 calories per meal by substituting.

Eat your favorite fruits and veggies without the dip:
this is the best way to ruin a healthy between meal snack.

Eliminate sodas and soft drinks from your diet:

Sodas contain more empty calories than almost any other "food" item. Example: a 20oz. Coca-Cola contains almost the same amount of calories as a Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich! If you cannot completely eliminate these drinks, try reducing to only ONE per day.

What other ways can we make small steps towards reducing our overall calorie intake? What ideas have worked for you?

Post a comment below:

Healthy Allergies - a remedy

For those of us who suffer from spring allergies, the phrase "Spring has sprung", has a very different ring compared to non-allergy sufferers. Growing up I never had allergy issues. I would go outside as a kid during any season with no adverse affects.

However, my life changed one spring day after I had graduated from college and moved to southern Indiana. Spring was stinging like a bee...especially in my eyeballs. I could barely open my eyes for work through the first few weeks of early spring. I hadn't changed my lifestyle, so the only thing that seemed to be causing the issue was a move to a slightly warmer and earlier spring in southern Indiana (compared to my north central Indiana college days).

Fast forward to this spring. After 6 years of suffering through spring allergies and trying to figure out what the real problem was, I had a thought. Maybe something in my diet had caused my allergy issues and the combination of high pollen counts and a certain food were together causing me to have bad allergic reactions. What to do?

My first focus was on relieving the pain in my eyes. I can deal with a some sneezing and a runny nose. I had noticed over the past few years a thick mucus would build up in the corner of my eyes that almost certainly would perpetuate the collection of even more sticky airborne particles. With this information, I decided to go to work. What foods am I eating that would cause a mucus build up in my eyes? No clue. My first thought was milk.

I love milk, but when I drink it before I'm physically active I notice that my mucus tends to be thicker than normal. So, this spring I've been diligent to not ingest any milk. I have allowed anything with the word "cheese" or "cream" to be eaten. Just strictly no milk.

The results:

I can finally say after 6 years of suffering from severe respiratory and eye allergies, that I am doing MUCH better. Spring has really sprung over the last 2 weeks, and I only notice some small sneezing spells and very very very mild redness in my eyes (but typically only at the end of a long day).

In short, for the time being my allergy problems have been reduced greatly this season and I'm hopeful that I'm onto something.

Has anyone else tried a "home remedy" that worked for your allergies or someone you know?

Seriously. Blogging is so old skool, yet I've never attempted to understand this world that seems to be so unto itself. Regardless, I now have a venue to spew forth my thoughts in regards to the health and wellness of yours truly. And when I find something that works for me, I can guarantee that you will be the first to read about it right here. Let's get to work, shall we?

My first and most basic pointer with it comes to your health is to be aware of what you are eating. Mindless eating is the most dangerous. Grabbing M&M's and chicken legs by the fistful and cramming them down your throat is certainly not a good prescription for a health life. I often find myself eating "mindlessly" while watching TV or up late at night sitting in front of my computer doing work items. Even mindlessly munching on a bag of Snyder's Fat Free Pretzel Sticks can tally up your calorie count rapidly. Your best option at a time when you are almost certain to eat "mindlessly" is to grab some fresh fruit or veggies to cram down your throat. Start with thinking about the thing you might not think about....mindless food consumption. More to come.