Hidden Fat in "Health" Food

Hidden Fat in "Health" Food and Hidden Nutrients in "Bad" Food
Are you destroying your diet with these fattening foods masquerarding as healthy? Be bad instead. This article was found online at mensfitness.com.

Can't figure out why you aren't losing weight? You might think that healthy, low-fat, low-calorie, flavorless whipped Styrofoam you're eating is good for you, but there are secret ways that the foods you think are healthy are actually sabotaging your diet. We spoke to Amy Jamieson-Petonic, creator of the Go! Foods for You nutrition program about what "healthy" foods can throw a wrench into your fitness goals.

But there's a bright side too. Some of those "bad" foods you avoid like the plague actually pack a nutritious punch. So, drop the turkey burger, grab a frosty brew and reap the healthy benefits of indulging (in moderation, of course).

Five supposedly healthy foods that can sabotage your diet
GREEN TEA
Green tea itself is good for you, but some of the ones at your local grocer are packed with so much sugar that they could have drastic side effects. “Those types of sugars increase inflammation in the body,” says Jamieson-Petonic, which may then affect sexual function. Look for teas without sweetener.

CEREAL BARS
“Many of them are just glorified candy bars, given the added sugars and fats that they have,” Jamieson-Petonic says. Look for bars that are 150 calories or less, made with only a few (pronounceable) ingredients—yes to fruits and nuts, no to items like “propylene glycol.” Skip any bars made with enriched flour, which is stripped of all the bran that’s good for you.

SOY MILK
“A lot of times, soy milk is sweetened with evaporated cane juice,” Jamieson-Petonic says, which adds six times the amount of sugar as in the unsweetened varieties.

YOGURT RAISINS
Two rights seem to make a wrong in this case. Often the yogurts used to coat the raisins have palm oil, which is full of saturated fat. “Yogurt raisins can be about as unhealthy as a hamburger, with all the saturated fats and cholesterol,” she says.

GROUND TURKEY
Often, store-bought ground turkey contains not only white meat but also dark meat, which is high in fat. Look for turkey that is ground with white meat or breast meat only. “To put things in perspective, I’ve seen lean ground beef with as low as 4.5 grams of saturated fat per 3-ounce serving,” she says, “and ground turkey mixed with light and dark meat with as much as 17 grams of fat for the same serving size.”

Five foods that don’t deserve their bad rap (when consumed in moderation)
CHOCOLATE
Dark (not milk) chocolate that’s at least 70% cacao improves the elasticity of blood vessels, which improves blood flow, reduces the chance of stroke, and helps you maintain healthy blood pressure.

COFFEE
Coffee has been shown to have some cardiovascular benefits, Jamieson-Petonic says. And taking it black, not with milk and sugar, might also play a role in preventing type-2 diabetes, improving memory, and providing antioxidants. She recommends no more than three cups a day.

POTATOES
This starchy vegetable is high in carbs, but it’s the good kind (complex) that provides sustained energy to your system. Eat one before your workout—its B vitamins will provide longer-lasting energy.

SALT
If you’re working out longer than an hour, you need sodium to replace electrolytes lost through sweat—but no more than 3,000 milligrams a day.

BEER
Two cold ones a day have essential B vitamins. If you’re counting calories, light beer is a good option. “And if it’s a darker lager beer, it’s going to have lutein, which helps eyesight,” says Joy Dubost, R.D., “and soluble fiber that’s good for your heart.”

Eat More To Lose Weight

The notion of eating more to lose weight can seem a bit backwards as we usually register weight loss with eating less. But let’s take another look at our dieting habits. The typical daily routine consists of 3 meals per day. Now you say you are dieting and your meal plan just turned into one and a half meals per day and you can’t understand why you’re not losing weight. In effect you have slowed down your metabolism, as your body is hoarding calories not sure when it will be fed next. This is one reason why 5 to 6 small meals per day are ideal to keep your metabolism humming along, and keep your hunger in check. The other reason is to keep your energy levels at a consistent pace rather than endure spikes throughout the day. Eating often throughout the day not only keeps your body from hoarding, it also keeps you from pigging out on the wrong foods from hunger.
Researchers from Georgia State University conducted an interesting study. They reported that when athletes ate snacks totaling roughly 250 calories each, three times through the day, they had better energy output than when they didn’t snack. Also, they found that snacking helped the athletes eat less at each of their regular meals. The end result was a higher metabolism rate, a lower caloric intake, and reduction in body fat (found at webmd.com “Make the Most of Your Metabolism” by Colette Bouchez).
The take away here is that we have to eat often to keep our metabolism running faster so we burn our calories rather than store them as fat. This is a commonly practiced concept; however my wife lost sight of it. She was having trouble dropping a few pounds that she gained while putting in longer hours at work. Getting caught up in work, she would skip opportunities to eat and would end up eating one meal of the wrong things. During the day she found herself drinking sodas in an effort to keep up her energy. At the end of the day her caloric intake was very low, but the weight wasn’t coming off even though her work outs were consistent. She finally journeled what she was eating and realized what she needed to change. Now eating throughout the day, and passing on the sodas, she is back on track.

Cereal Bowls and Fitness Goals

Check out this article found at sciencedaily.com. This can be a very inexpensive means of aiding recovery – and it’s something most people have in the pantry.



"Cereal And Milk Is The New Sports Supplement"

ScienceDaily (May 15, 2009) — A bowl of whole-grain cereal is as good as a sports drink for recovery after exercise. New research has shown that the readily available and relatively inexpensive breakfast food is as effective as popular, carbohydrate-based "sports drinks."


Exercise physiologist Lynne Kammer, from The University of Texas at Austin, led a group of researchers who investigated the post-exercise physiological effects of the foods. Kammer and her team studied 12 trained cyclists, 8 male and 4 female. In contrast to many sports nutrition studies, however, the exercise protocol was designed to reflect a typical exercise session. After a warm-up period, the subjects cycled for two hours at a comfortable work rate, rather than the more frequently seen test-to-exhaustion.
"Our goal was to compare whole grain cereal plus milk—which are ordinary foods—and sports drinks, after moderate exercise," said Kammer. "We wanted to understand their relative effects on glycogen repletion and muscle protein synthesis for the average individual. We found that glycogen repletion, or the replenishment of immediate muscle fuel, was just as good after whole grain cereal consumption and that some aspects of protein synthesis were actually better".
"Cereal and non-fat milk are a less expensive option than sports drinks. The milk provides a source of easily digestible and high quality protein, which can promote protein synthesis and training adaptations, making this an attractive recovery option for those who refuel at home".
The researchers concluded that, for amateur athletes and moderately physically active individuals who are trying to keep in shape, popping into the kitchen for a quick bowl of whole-grain cereal with a splash of skimmed milk may be a smarter move than investing in a high-priced sports drink.
Kammer and her colleagues are scientists in the College of Education's Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. This study was supported by General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition.

I Love "The Biggest Loser"

The NBC studios continue to hit the nail on the head with their show the “The Biggest Loser.” If you are unfamiliar with the show, they basically take obese participants, and change their lives. They focus on exercise and diet and prove what the human body is capable of, as some participants lose up to 50% of their body weight over the course of the season. Clearly the contestants are not living in the real world as they live at “The Ranch” which provides a healthy environment including a strict diet, world class trainers, and a gym on site. These are advantages that most of the world simply does not enjoy. However, through the course of the program, we see how the human body can respond when given these advantages. No surgeries, no pills, just a proper diet and aggressive physical exercise. In the real world we have time crunches that may keep us from hitting the gym, or lead us through the drive-thru. We may not be able to drop the pounds as quickly as the contestants, but with some time management and motivation, we can still see results. If you think you can’t change your body, watch the show.
These surgery free transformations are inspiring and are a huge part of why I watch the program. I am not going to bash surgery as that can be the best alternative for some people. I just love the fact that someone can naturally lose half of their weight and live a better life without going under the knife. You hear contestants claim they no longer have back problems, they have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels, and their diabetes is gone. Not to mention they can be more physically active, and lead a more fulfilling life.
Really the only thing they are doing is creating lifestyle changes. When people say they can’t lose weight, or get in shape, maybe what they’re really saying is they don’t want to change how they live. As evident by the show, the body handles change impressively. In less than a year many of them are reversing years of growing obesity and health issues. If you are not a fan, you should check out some before and after photos of past seasons. Amazing what the human body can accomplish.

Spartan 300 Workout

By now you may have heard of the Spartan 300 workout, made famous by the movie "300." If you haven't heard of it, here it is. I like to do this workout about once per month to mix things up a little bit. In total there are 300 reps (surprised?). You might find a few variations of the workout on the Internet, but this seems to be the most popular:

25 pullups
Deadlift 135lbs-50 reps
50 pushups
box jumps-50 reps-24"-jump box
floor wipers-135lbs-50 reps
single arm clean and press-36lb kettlebell-50 reps
25 pullups




Disclaimer

As with any physical fitness program or routine, please consult your physician prior to attempting the Spartan 300 workout. We are not a medical authority and are not liable for any injury or death associated with this workout routine. Exercises are performed at your own risk.

You Are What You Eat

I once had a weight lifting coach who would say, ''you are what you eat." He would say it all the time. He would go on to explain that you are going to cheat yourself by giving maximum effort in the gym, and then eat poorly. This makes sense as we all know that diet is important in reaching our fitness goals. Sometimes I think we believe that we are disciplined with our diet, when we really aren't. "Oh I can have that double bacon cheeseburger with fries because after all, I did have a salad today"....I have said that a few times. I'm not saying a cheeseburger every now and again is bad, in fact moderation can be key. But it's when we start negotiating with ourselves is when we may be coming up short with our diet. Do you think a race car team owner would ever say, "you know, we have been running race fuel all season long. Let's just run regular pump gas this time." Probably not because that would put his team at a disadvantage with low grade fuel. just like we put ourselves at a disadvantage when we eat bad.

Food for thought:

• Sugar that doesn't get burned, gets stored as fat. How much sugar did you put in your coffee this morning?
• Is this food going to help me reach my fitness goals?
• Fast food doesn't cut six packs.