BMI or Body Mass Index has long been the go-to metric used to determine whether an individual falls within a "healthy" weight range. But after decades of using it a standard practice in the health and fitness world, there is now a growing understanding that BMI is actually fraught with error and inconsistency and is rarely a great measure of health. (If you didn’t already know this, read on to find out why!) If so many of us, including doctors, acknowledge that BMI is so flawed, why is it still around? Let's dive into some of the complexities of evaluating health beyond a simple number and discover why BMI is not as helpful as previously thought.
To understand BMI, we have to go start at its roots. Our first stop takes us back in time to Belgium in the 1830s and involves a man by the name of Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet. Lambert was a statistician, astronomer, sociologist, and mathematician. In short, this was a man interested in numbers and one of Lambert's obsessions was pondering “l’homme moyen” (or “the average man”). Simply put, he was curious about what the average size of a man was. To collect this data, he collected the heights and weights of various individuals in his area, primarily white European men. To simplify the litany of data, and based on mathematical patterns he identified, he chose to set weight (in kilograms) divided by height (in meters) squared. This number became known as the “Quetelet Index”, but today we know this as BMI (or Body Mass Index). BMI today is used to classify one’s body size (e.g. “normal weight”, “overweight”, “obese”, etc.) and is used in many doctors’ offices to determine one’s “weight-associated health risks”. Despite Lambert Quetelet’s extensive resume, “healthcare professional” is not a title or role he ever held and the Quetelet Index was never created with the intent of defining one’s health. So how did BMI become so central to our healthcare practice?
Fast-forward just over one hundred years, when a physiologist and researcher by the name of Ancel Keys conducted research and identified that individuals at higher BMI ranges tended to have higher incidences of chronic health issues. In other words, people in higher BMI brackets tended to have heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers more often than those in lower BMI brackets. With this discovery, BMI became a focal point of research to identify health trends.
Later, in the late 90s, the World Health Organization (WHO), with the help of the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), sought to set standard ranges of BMI to classify health risks. Despite research to this point describing health risks increasing above a BMI of 40 kg/m2, the WHO and IOTF set “overweight” starting at a BMI of 25 kg/m2 and “obesity” starting at 30 kg/m2. These ranges of “high risk” being set so far below the research-backed risk threshold is a head-scratcher…until you know that two major funders of the IOTF were pharmaceutical companies with the only weight-loss drugs on the market, Abbott and Roche. If being at a higher weight is suddenly pathological, prescribing medication to lose weight is suddenly much easier.
What does this mean? It means that BMI was never a helpful standard for identifying health risks and was pushed as a healthcare tool by pharmaceutical companies who wanted to make more money. BMI does not account for or adjust for differences between genders, ethnicities, body composition, or lifestyle factors. In addition, BMI’s very roots are not founded on defining health. Further, the application of BMI to health is based on bias and flawed science.
But what about the trend mentioned earlier? What about people with higher BMIs experiencing more chronic illnesses?
It is indisputable that observational research has shown being at a higher weight/BMI is ‘associated with’ higher risk/occurrences of various chronic diseases. On the flip side, various observational research has also concluded that weight loss reduces this risk. But to conclude that the weight increase or decrease is causing these changes in risk is where many are making a fundamental error. In the research world, we like to use the phrase “correlation does not equal causation”. It is neither the high weight nor low weight deciding the health risk, but the health behaviors and lifestyle factors that can influence one’s weight. In other words, your weight doesn’t decide how healthy you are–your lifestyle does.
To illustrate this point, I want to give a parallel example. Consider shark attacks and ice cream sales. If one were to track both throughout the year, one might find that both shark attack rates and ice cream sales are relatively low in the early months of January, February, and March, with a steady climb through April, May, and June, then peak in July and August. One would then likely find that both steadily decline throughout September, October, November, before returning to a low rate in December. With these two rates being seemingly correlated, does that mean that buying ice cream causes shark attacks? Or does that mean that there are possibly other factors at play? Perhaps the time of year and temperature influence peoples’ desire to purchase ice cream and desire to go swimming in the ocean. Relating this back to health and weight, perhaps it is possible that it is not weight gain that makes someone "less healthy" nor weight loss that makes someone "more healthy" but the lifestyle changes that accompany each?
To offer some real-world facts that offer even more perspective on the huge amount of nuance that BMI fails to consider:
As you can see, BMI fails to consider the context in which health and wellness exist across race, gender, culture, location, genetic predisposition, and socioeconomic status.
Long story short, your BMI can’t tell you if you’re healthy or not.
Don’t get distracted by the numbers and weight classifications measured by centuries-old systems that were never meant to measure health in the first place. Don’t get discouraged by what direction the scale moves or what you’re “at risk for” based on your BMI level. If you are taking action to change your lifestyle to incorporate healthier behaviors, rest assured that you’re doing something good for yourself. Regardless of what direction the scale moves.
If you find that this leaves you curious as to what your “healthy weight” is without BMI being a reliable measure, please consider checking in for my next Wellness Corner blog, where I will continue educating on health, weight, nutrition, and specifically the controversial “Health at Every Size®” (HAES®) approach to health and weight.
If you're itching to learn more right away, let's connect! Learn more about our nutrition services and how you can talk with me about your health and wellness goals by visiting our Nutrition Services webpage or emailing me at tad.taggart@westernracquet.com.
In Wisconsin, we know that sunlight is a precious resource in the winter. With our long work weeks, busy school schedules, extracurriculars, and other hobbies, it can be hard to soak up enough sun during the colder, darker months of the year. Unfortunately for us northerners, we get most of our intake of Vitamin D from exposure to sunlight, which can be challenging during the winter. In fact, it’s so hard for us to get enough sunlight in the winter months that Vitamin D deficiency is endemic in Wisconsin.
Fortunately, we’ve officially passed into spring (although you might not know from looking outside) and should see more sun soon. Until we can spend more time soaking up those rays, there are other ways to keep our Vitamin D levels up!
Vitamin D is more than a vitamin; it actually acts as a hormone! Vitamin D plays an important role in calcium absorption and the maintenance of adequate serum calcium and phosphate levels, which assists in the growth of healthy bones and teeth. Without sufficient levels of Vitamin D, our bones may become weak or brittle over time.
Vitamin D also plays a vital role in our immune health, reducing inflammation and modulating cell growth & glucose metabolism. Research suggests a link between long-term Vitamin D deficiency and autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis and lupus. Low Vitamin D levels are also linked to depression, which may be another reason we feel extra low during the dark winter months.
Doing a little sunbathing is one of the best ways to get more Vitamin D, but if you live in a place that lacks adequate sunshine, you likely won’t be able to get the 15-30 minutes of daily midday sun on at least a third of exposed skin that you need to produce an optimal level of Vitamin D. (Unless you plan on lounging around in a snowbank in your swimsuit.) Plus, the darker your skin is, the longer the time necessary for maximum absorption from the sun. And let’s not forget that too much sun exposure comes with big risks too—sunburn and skin cancer are serious concerns when spending a lot of time in the sun. All of these factors make it difficult to get the necessary amount of Vitamin D your body needs from the sun alone.
Because it is a “fat-soluble” or fat-loving vitamin, Vitamin D is best absorbed when consumed with fat. Luckily some foods that have Vitamin D already contain a source of fat, which means they’re the perfect all-in-one food. Examples are salmon, tuna, chicken, eggs, sardines, liver, and trout. Other foods with high levels of Vitamin D include mushrooms, fortified dairy products, and fortified cereal. Getting your Vitamin D through food is an easy way to boost levels, but unless you plan on eating a steady diet of mushrooms and tuna salad sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you still likely won’t get enough Vitamin D.
Vitamin D supplements are another good way to ensure your body produces enough of this essential nutrient. A good Vitamin D supplement taken daily can keep your Vitamin D levels healthy all year long.
Before choosing a Vitamin D supplement, research which dosage to take or consult with your doctor. Vitamin D is measured in micrograms (mcg) or international units (IU), and the recommended dosage for people ages 1 to 70 years old is 600 IU (15 mcg).
Dosage recommendations do vary by age. Check out the chart below for a full list of recommended dosages:
| Infants 0-12 months | 400 IU (10 mcg) |
| People up to 70 years | 600 IU (15 mcg) |
| People over 70 years | 800 IU (20 mcg) |
If you’re browsing the supplements section at the pharmacy, you may notice Vitamin D bottles with dosages far exceeding the ones listed above. That’s because optimal Vitamin D intake varies widely based on age, skin color, season, and latitude. So an adequate amount of Vitamin D for someone in Wisconsin winter would be higher than someone near the equator. The upper limit for recommended Vitamin D intake is 4,000 IU per day, and you should consult with a medical professional if you think you need to go beyond that dose.
Though rare, Vitamin D consumption in excess can lead to high blood calcium levels, which causes bones to calcify and hardens the blood vessels, kidneys, lungs, and heart tissues. This serious reaction to an overdose of Vitamin D is unlikely to occur with dosages under 10,000 IU a day, but it’s still important to speak to a medical professional before going higher than the average recommended dosage.
If you’re feeling a little worn down by all the snow clouds still in the sky, stop by the FuelBar at Western and try our current seasonal smoothie —the Vitamin D-licious. Made with fortified orange juice, almond milk, and multivitamin powder, this fruity drink provides 65% of your daily recommended Vitamin D!
Stop by the FuelBar this week and get a dollar off the Vitamin D-licious smoothie when you mentioned this blog.
Visit the website to view our full menu of tasty smoothies, snacks, and more.
When it comes to seeking nutritional advice, finding an equipped, experienced, and educated professional goes without saying. There is a lot of misinformation about nutrition out there, so consulting with a registered dietitian/nutritionist (RD/RDN) can help clear up misconceptions and make sure you're receiving accurate information that's relevant to you and your lifestyle. A registered dietitian/nutritionist also has years of schooling in the realm of nutrition and health, as well as required field experience. After completing school and internships, aspiring registered dietitians must pass a rigorous exam to receive their license as a dietitian. Nutrition recommendations from a registered dietitian are likely backed by current research and expertise.
While scheduling an appointment with a registered dietitian is the sure way to leave with expert advice, how you ask your questions, what questions you ask, and what information you share with a dietitian can dictate how effective and impactful your appointment is. In other words, the registered dietitian can’t answer a question you don't ask and they can’t provide advice on information you don't share. Oftentimes, people are inclined to hold back information from their dietitian because of the shame associated with eating and body image struggles. Take it from Western Racquet & Fitness Club's own registered dietitian, Tad Taggart - dietitians are NOT judging you! In fact, they are passionate about helping every client they see achieve their goals and feel happy and healthy in their bodies. The more thorough you are with the information you share and the deeper you go with the questions you ask, the more likely you are to leave your dietitian appointment feeling well-informed and empowered.
Let’s start with what information you should share with the dietitian. Before meeting with the registered dietitian, you’re likely going to need to complete some form of health history questionnaire. If not, you can expect the dietitian to ask you a variety of questions about your health history and habits. Some relevant questions you’ll want to answer in advance or be prepared to answer include:
Be sure to answer all questions as thoroughly as possible. Just because you don’t believe a certain fact or detail is relevant to nutrition doesn’t mean it isn’t. Many people are surprised to find that old health conditions or experiences can have nutritional connections or implications.
Once you’re prepared to answer the questions above, you can begin to plan what questions to ask your dietitian. What questions you ask can determine how satisfied you’ll be with the outcome of your dietitian session. For example, many people want to ask if certain foods are healthy or not. While these are legitimate questions, you could use up a good portion of their appointment asking about a variety of specific foods. Try to prioritize what is most important to you. Think about what it is that made you want to speak with a dietitian in the first place and build your list of questions from there.
If you're not sure exactly where to start, take a look at this list of common questions most dietitians hear from clients. This could be a good jumping off point to brainstorming questions relevant to your goals and lifestyle.
This is by no means an all-inclusive list. You are encouraged to bring your own burning nutrition questions!
If you find you have any struggles with eating and/or nutrition, consider scheduling an appointment with Western's registered dietitian, Tad Taggart! Nutrition coaching with Tad is open to the public, not just Western Racquet & Fitness Club members, and can be done in person, by telephone, by video chat, or through our health coaching app. Tad has worked with clients of all different ages, genders, and with different goals - from people struggling with eating disorders, to people looking to lose or gain weight, to people managing chronic illness, to people who want to increase their athletic performance, and more!
Using research-backed coaching and nutrition strategies, Tad aims to help clients elevate both their health and happiness. Receive personalized health and nutrition coaching guided by Intuitive Eating and Health at Every Size principles and backed by the latest in nutritional science.
To schedule an appointment with Tad, visit our nutrition webpage and fill out the interest form or simply email Tad at Tad.Taggart@westernracquet.com.
Advice for what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat can be confusing and conflicting. I’ve talked to many people that say the amount of nutrition information out there tends to be more overwhelming than helpful. When this happens, it seems easier to simply eat nothing at all than navigate these muddy waters. It’s for this reason that intermittent fasting often seems so appealing. Proponents of intermittent fasting will proclaim the amazing benefits of simply not eating, saying that fasting will make you leaner, stronger, smarter, and even live longer. Are these claims true? Let’s find out!
If you’ve never heard of it, intermittent fasting is a dietary approach that involves abstaining from food for a particular period of time. There are many different forms of intermittent fasting, but the most popular forms are time-restricted feeding and alternate-day fasting. Time-restricted feeding includes a prolonged period of fasting followed by a shorter eating, or “feasting” period. This can often look like a 16-hour fast with 8 hours to eat, an 18-hour fast with 6 hours to eat, or a 20-hour fast with 4 hours to eat. On the other hand, alternate-day fasting involves eating little to no food for an entire day, while other days involve unrestricted intake.
Of course, one of the first things that come to mind with fasting is fat loss. During a normal eating schedule, the average person eats enough food to provide their body with a consistent supply of energy. The body converts nearly all food to glucose, the body’s preferred energy source. At the same time, the body is able to store some glucose in the muscles and liver as glycogen. This stored energy is there for when you are pushing through intense exercise or go a short period without eating. When you don’t eat for 12 hours or more, though, you begin to drain your glycogen storage. Around the 16-hour mark of no food, give or take, is when the body is out of glycogen and forced to switch to fat-burning. The body is extremely efficient at storing fat because it wants to tap into using it for energy when food is sparse. This metabolic shift occurs to make the body no longer rely on glucose, but instead use its own stored body fat as fuel. To do so, your body breaks apart stored fat and turns it into ketone bodies, or ketones. These ketones circulate in the blood for readily available energy, and they are actually the namesake for the popular “Keto diet”. The ketogenic diet is a whole other conversation, but this diet shares a similar process to intermittent fasting. It is by this mechanism, though, that intermittent fasting has become very famous for burning fat. There is a variety of research backing intermittent fasting’s ability to aid people trying to lean out.
The effect of fat loss with fasting is multiplied with endurance exercise or cardio. Endurance exercise classifies as longer duration and usually lower intensity. Exercises like jogging and biking would qualify. With this type of exercise, your body actually prefers to burn fat for energy. If you do cardio in the fasted state, your body has already started liberating stored fat and converting it into ketones. As you jog, your working muscles are happy to pick up the fat and ketones circulating in the blood and burn them for energy.
How can you practically apply this to your own fat-loss journey? If you are able to fast overnight and exercise before breakfast, cardio in the morning will allow your body to burn fat much more efficiently than after breakfast or any other meal of the day. It’s worth noting these effects aren’t a magic bullet, though. Fat loss doesn’t happen overnight. Even if you were fasting during that night! There is limited research saying that people didn’t lose fat using intermittent fasting, but this research was done over a short period of time and in a very small group of people. At the end of the day, being consistent with your exercise and nutrition will always be the key to leaning out.
What about those of us that care more about living longer? Some research has related intermittent fasting to a variety of general health benefits that fight some of the most common ailments leading to death and disease. Some research has found that intermittent fasting has helped improve cholesterol levels, protect heart health, improve the balance of gut bacteria, and even help to fight cancer. Limited research saw that intermittent fasting actually decreased peoples’ triglycerides and LDL (bad cholesterol), while increasing their HDL (good cholesterol).
Further, different fasting regimens have been found to slow down cell proliferation (excessive growth), decrease inflammation, and reduce hormones that are indicated in the uncontrolled growth of cells. All of these processes are related to the belief that fasting can help prevent certain forms of cancer. Early research is even suggesting that fasting allows for more efficient apoptosis (or destruction) of cells that are defective and have the potential to become cancerous.
In the gut, the metabolic changes that occur with fasting influence the “good” and “bad” bacteria. In short, fasting has been seen to increase the good and decrease the bad bacteria, which is part of improving digestion and gut health, as well as helping to reduce and fight obesity. Further, there’s some research beginning to suggest that a properly executed intermittent fasting regimen can even help reduce stress and improve learning abilities.
Part of these benefits from intermittent fasting stem from the ability to help the body reconnect with its circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is the body’s internal clock, telling us when to sleep, wake up, eat, exercise, and much more. Our current lifestyle involves unpredictable eating and sleeping patterns that disrupt the body’s circadian rhythm, causing improper brain and hormone signals and patterns. Providing the body with set times to eat, fast, and sleep helps realign this rhythm and can correct the body’s metabolism. In doing so, our ability to regulate our body weight, fight cancer, and generally stay healthy is vastly improved.
What about working out? Won’t fasting hurt my performance in the gym? Well…it might. Generally, exercise performance during “feasting periods”, or the times that you can eat, is unaffected. Unfortunately, a good number of studies have found that individuals that exercise during their fasting periods usually perform worse. In other words, intermittent fasting might help you lean out faster, but you most likely won’t be able to lift any heavier or run any faster. In other words, you might get leaner but you certainly won’t get any fitter.
How would you know if intermittent fasting is worth trying? Intermittent fasting may be achievable and sustainable if you’re someone who finds that they “forget to eat” when they’re too busy, has a work/life schedule that makes eating or snacking more difficult, or finds that they simply don’t get hungry very often. With lifestyles like this, intermittent fasting may be an easy dietary pattern to adopt.
When you don’t feel like eating or don’t have time to eat, just don’t eat! On the other hand, intermittent fasting may not be sustainable if you’re someone who gets very tired or “hangry” from not eating, quickly gets hunger pains, is prone to low blood sugar, or has better energy levels when they snack on small meals throughout the day. If you’re an individual in the latter group, you might feel like there’s no hope for reaping the benefits of intermittent fasting. Fear not! Even shorter periods of fasting carry their own benefits. Research has found that simply eating dinner at a normal time, say about six o’clock, and not eating the rest of the night until breakfast, say sometime after six o’clock in the morning, can have health benefits. Fasting between dinner and breakfast could help improve your quality of sleep and even help regulate blood sugar levels for the whole next day. Both of these benefits can lend to sustained energy levels for the entire day, prevent you from feeling the need to overeat, and reduce fat storage during the day. Even if fasting for 16 hours seems quite daunting, refraining from some late-night snacking can impart benefits similar to intermittent fasting without all the hunger pains.
Intermittent fasting is simply another approach to how we eat, and it may have certain health benefits if you find it to be sustainable. Just as important as how we eat is what we eat, though. Regardless of how you approach nutrition, what matters most is that you eat a balance of food that is good for you and that you enjoy. Food is fuel, true. But food is also emotional. Food is tradition. Food is social, and food is meant to be shared and enjoyed. So, whether you’re slurping a kale smoothie or splitting a pizza, rest assured that you’re living a healthy life if you’re enjoying what you consume without allowing it to consume you.
Ever feel like you have a million nutrition questions and don’t quite know where to start? Look no further! Below is what I'm calling a Dietitian Brain Dump. Read through this list to soak up a variety of some of my most random, handpicked nutrition facts! Some may answer your burning questions, some may be nutritional game-changers for you, and some may leave you with more questions than you started with (in which case, email me at tad.taggart@westernracquet.com so I can give you answers).
Enjoy!
Have more questions? Contact me to set up a session where we can dispel any nutrition myths or clarify any nutrition confusion you may be contending with. While there are many nutrition “universal truths”, the best nutritional approach is one that is personalized to you and your lifestyle.
Email me at tad.taggart@westernracquet.com to set up your dietitian consultation.
As we inch closer and closer to the holidays, there are a number of distractions and speed bumps we have to navigate through in order to make healthy decisions. There are parties, wine tasting, pies, desserts, and leftover Halloween candy that just has to be eaten. And let’s not forget two of the best holidays: Thanksgiving and Christmas. As the weather gets colder and colder, we often stay indoors as well, catching up on our favorite shows or binge-watching a new series while not being able to enjoy the warm weather that’s slowly leaving us here in Wisconsin.
While all these changes are happening, many of our health and fitness behaviors are changing as well. Many people use this time to step off the track and indulge themselves in the holiday treats, saying they’ll start up their fitness routines and healthy eating habits again after the holidays. Sometimes the busyness of the season can make it too difficult to work out and eat healthily.
However, the holiday season is an important time to stay committed to our healthy behaviors. As the saying goes, “It’s easier to turn the wheels of a moving car,” meaning it’s easier to stay in the habit of health instead of starting up again after taking weeks off and losing much of what we’ve been working for this past summer and fall.
I’m not saying to go on a strict diet and workout plan because I think we should all be able to indulge a little during the holiday season, but even indulgence should be done in moderation. I’m also not saying going to the gym and working out every single day is necessary, but I would suggest making it two or three times per week so you can keep that momentum into the new year. Plus, at Western there are so many health and fitness options - we can make just about any schedule or lifestyle work for you! We have a great personal training team who would love to help you and the best group fitness classes and instructors in the state as well! And if you’re looking for a “taste” of fall without all the excess sugar and calories of holiday treats, stop in at the FuelBar. We have delicious and healthy treats that you’ll love!
If you're looking for some personalized guidance, and haven't had a Fitness Consultation yet, I also highly recommend reaching out to Ryan Kostroski, Western's Fitness Consultant, at ryan.kostroski@westernracquet.com. He will be able to assess where you’re currently at, where you want to go, and options on how to get there. This is a valuable tool for tracking goals and progress as well as pinpointing areas that may need improvement. There's no better time to do it than now! Why wait until after the New Year to get started? Give yourself a leg up so that a healthy foundation is laid well before January 1st.
If you need some holiday diet tips or guidance, please reach out to our Registered Dietitian and Precision Nutrition Coach, Tad Taggart at tad.taggart@westernracquet.com. He is an excellent source of information and can help you stay on track while still being able to enjoy all the delicious holiday foods. You can learn more about Tad's approach to a healthy relationship with food and our bodies and about our nutrition programs at westernracquet.com/nutrition.
My advice during this holiday season is to enjoy yourself but also keep in mind your health is very important as well. You don’t need to floor the gas pedal, but please don’t hit the brakes either. Use the wonderful resources Western has to offer so you can enjoy the holiday seasons and go into 2023 feeling confident and healthy.
As soon as I "lose these last x pounds" or "fit into size x pants" or "look like x" or "have six-pack abs", then I will be happy and confident in my body.
Do you feel like your life is on hold until you reach that particular body goal? You’re not alone – the lines between an individual’s body, body image, nutrition, and overall happiness blur all too often. At this point, we are conditioned to accept that a person’s body shape and size are entirely dependent upon they way they eat and exercise. Generally, the train of thought is often as follows:
1. If I eat and exercise just right, I can get the ‘perfect’ body.
2. Once I have the ‘perfect’ body, I will feel confident and secure in my body.
3. Once I feel confident and secure in my body, I will always be happy (because I’ll be more attractive to others, my spouse will love me more, I’ll be better at my job, I’ll be a better athlete, etc.)
4. To conclude, if I eat and exercise just right, I will always be happy (because I’ll be more attractive to others, my spouse will love me more, I’ll be better at my job, I’ll be a better athlete, etc.)
Unfortunately, to draw such a conclusion is a stark example of a logical fallacy known as a "non sequitur”. In other words, just because A=B and B=C, that does not mean that A=C. Or, in the example above, just because we assume 1=2, and 2=3, that does not mean that 1=3 (as demonstrated in #4). Number 4 sounds extreme, but it isn’t far from the promise of many diet-fads and weight loss infomercials. The messaging typically circles back to “You’re unhappy because you’re fat. If you’re not fat, you’ll be happy” which, by the way, this is another a logical fallacy known as “affirming the consequent”; just because A=B, that doesn’t mean B=A. To be clear, though, I don’t believe or endorse any of the messaging shared above related to eating, training, or striving for a particular body ideal. These statements rely on a number of faulty presumptions about your ability to change your body, your body image, and how these things truly influence your overall wellbeing.
Ultimately, the key presumption upon which these arguments rest is that your body image (or perception and satisfaction with your body) relies solely on the shape of your body and your ability to change it. If you were told your entire life that you had the ability (or even responsibility) to change your body, then it seems a no-brainer for you to assume that you are the only thing getting in your own way of being happy. But what if your unhappiness with your body size or shape isn’t because of the size or shape it actually is but rather because you have been told it “should” be a certain size or shape? Your dissatisfaction isn’t with the inherent shape of your body, it is with how it compares to the ‘ideal’ or ‘perfect’ body; if it doesn’t measure up, you feel like you’re falling short. For example, if you got a B on a test and knew that an A is a higher grade, of course you’d be disappointed. If you instead were focused on the work put into achieving the B and ignored that the A is the ‘ideal’, you may find more contentment in the grade you received, particularly since both are still a ‘passing’ grade.
Back to body image. Let’s further explore the idea of rooting our confidence in how our body looks. What about the physical outliers? Those that have limbs or other body parts that are different, nonfunctional, or missing altogether. How does their body image fit in with the narrative of “change your body to fit the ideal if you want to be happy?” These individuals are forced to face the reality of their body and that it will never fit the so-called “ideal”. But does this mean these individuals are the body image exception? Or that their approach to body image should be radically different than everyone else? Not really; at some point or another, we will all have to face the reality that our control over our body, how it looks and how it functions, is not entirely in our control. Even the most educated and diligent health and fitness experts cannot stop time from marching on. Eventually, your body will change and you will need to decide how you’re going to handle that. Even famed fitness guru Bob Harper thought he had fitness and health figured out until he suffered a massive heart attack.
To fully understand my point, you must fundamentally understand that body image (how we feel about and perceive our body) has two primary components. First, body image is what we actually see in the mirror - the reality of the physical form we face. Most people are familiar with this component of body image. The second, and arguably more powerful, component of body image is what we think and feel about the undeniable physical form. To look at our own body in the mirror and to perceive it as different than it actually appears is quite common. Many people struggle with seeing themselves as being skinnier, fatter, taller, or shorter than they actually are. Whether this perception is true or not, few are able to look in the mirror and feel that their body perfectly aligns with what culture would consider the “ideal” body. As a result, many people feel dissatisfied with their body and the perceived imperfections separating them from said “ideal” body. This ability to misrepresent the reality of our body and set unrealistic expectations exemplifies the power of how we perceive the body we are living in, regardless of how it actually looks. How you choose to see your body and how you choose to react to that perception is more profoundly impactful on your emotional state than the actual physical shape in the mirror. Further, ongoing shame or dissatisfaction in your body could perpetuate a variety of health issues. In fact, the very same health issues that are typically associated with being “overweight” are actually known to be caused and aggravated by stress from body shame.
Further flaw in the train of thought is revealed through our limited control over the shape and function of our body. No matter how many “good” foods you eat and how many “bad” foods you avoid, your body will continue to change. Further, our genetics, environment, socioeconomic status, and much, much more can have an even greater influence over our health and body size than our nutrition or fitness ever will. This means that point #1 (If I eat and exercise just right, I can get the ‘perfect’ body) is a flimsy foundation for the argument that nutrition and fitness can really lead to you feeling confident and happy with your body. At least, not permanently. Even more so, that foundation will crumble if your confidence is based entirely in how your body compares to the supposed “ideal”. No amount of “clean” eating can fix how you see and feel about your body.
Can embarking on a fitness journey be incredibly empowering? Absolutely. Can changing your diet to better support your physical health also result in mental health benefits. For sure. But (and this is a big but!) if the aim of achieving a particular physical change in your body is the primary driver of these changes, you’ll ultimately be disappointed. Either you will be disappointed and defeated when you never attain that goal (and maybe even say screw it to your whole health journey), or you may get near that goal, only to find that the satisfaction of reaching for this goal was overinflated and fleeting. Don’t believe me? Here’s a testimony from a personal trainer on her experience competing in bodybuilding and how it didn’t improve her body image as she anticipated.
And maybe you’re reading this and thinking “I am perfectly content with my body as it is, right now.” That’s great! I only implore you to question where this contentment comes from. Is it because you “check all the boxes” of fitness and nutrition to keep your body as close to the ideal as possible, or does your contentment derive from the inherent value your body holds? Can you be satisfied in the fact that your body is functional enough to be living today, reading this article? If you can say yes to the latter, I would say you’ve found a more solid foundation of positive body image, rooted in a strong sense of gratitude. If your answer more aligns with the former, you may find that this form of “positive body image” is vulnerable to times in your life where your body may feel like it is betraying you. Where it will gain or lose weight, despite your best efforts. Where it will be injured, change, or breakdown. Though it may not be pleasant to consider, that day where your body doesn’t do exactly as you wish will certainly come.
As you read this, I hope this doesn’t prevent you from pursuing a new health or fitness journey. The aim is for you to evaluate your goals and ensure that the goals you pursue will truly result in you feeling better, physically and mentally. My encouragement is this: to approach a health or fitness goal with a sense of gratitude towards your body, rather than a sense of shame. This will grant you the freedom to accept the unchangeable, find joy in the mundane aspects of health and fitness, and allow for room to discover authentic passion in the health and fitness journey rather than the destination.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Don’t try to live someone else’s life or satisfy someone else’s expectations. Life your best life, and live it for yourself.
To put this message into practice, I propose a new thought process as to how you can approach body image, fitness, and nutrition:
1. I will move my body in a way I enjoy so that I continue to feel inspired to do so.
2. As I continue to move my body, I will need to fuel and nourish it. I will choose foods that are nourishing for my body (nutrient-dense) and foods that nourish my soul (foods I crave).
3. As I nourish my body and soul, I will feel physically and mentally better, gaining an appreciation and gratitude for the life my body allows me to live.
4. Through the way I nourish and care for my body, I enhance my overall wellbeing, increasing my gratitude for my body and desire to care for and nourish it.
Notice the cyclical nature of these processes? It’s called a spiral of health and healing, and it’s a great place to be.
If you live in Wisconsin, you will see cherries on the menu just about everywhere – from salads to baked goods, and even in your Old Fashioned (brandy press for me please)! But did you know those sweet little stone fruits have a variety of health benefits and a rich Midwestern history?
In 1896, E.S. Goff and A.L. Hatch planted the area's first successful tart cherry crop just north of Sturgeon Bay. Goff, a Horticulture Professor at the University of Wisconsin, and Hatch, a local fruit grower, found the shallow, rocky soil, and the lake effect to be the perfect growing environment for Montmorency cherry trees. Farmers across the peninsula took notice and began planting their cherry crops. In 1929, Carl Reynolds created the Cherry Blossom Festival, attracting visitors and attention from around the country.
By the 1940s, 700 Door County cherry growers were producing up to 50 million pounds of cherries every year, or about 10% of the world's cherry supply! But because cherry picking was a tedious and time-consuming process, the fruit growers had to get creative. This is when we saw the rise of "pick-your-own" cherry attractions and cherry picking camps for teenagers. The cherry industry also diversified the local culture by attracting laborers from other states and even other countries. Along with the invention of the mechanical cherry picker in the 1960s came increased production, and Door County cherry products started to be shipped nationwide. Today, Door County still grows 5-10% of all cherries in the United States.
Cherries are a low-calorie and highly nutritious fruit. They are full of vitamins and minerals including potassium, magnesium, copper, manganese, and vitamins C and K, which all help keep your body functioning properly. Vitamin C is especially helpful for strengthening your immune system, and potassium aids in nerve function and preventing muscle contractions. The fiber found in cherries helps you to maintain your digestive system. Cherries also rank low on the glycemic index when compared to other fruits, so they will not spike your blood sugar or insulin levels.
All types of cherries are packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. These compounds protect your body against cell damage and a variety of diseases including diabetes, heart disease, cognitive decline, and some types of cancer. The anti-inflammatory effects of cherries can also help reduce the pain and symptoms associated with arthritis and gout.
The compounds in cherries that give them their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties have also been found to help with muscle recovery and may even help with athletic performance. Research has shown that cherries can help with endurance, prevent strength loss, accelerate muscle recovery, and decrease exercise-induced muscle pain, inflammation, and damage.
Fruit-rich diets are a fantastic way to increase your heart health and prevent cardiovascular disease, but the potassium and antioxidants in cherries can be particularly beneficial. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure by removing excess sodium from the body while the antioxidants in cherries help protect your heart against inflammation and damage. Research has also found that cherries may help to control diabetes and high cholesterol.
Recent studies have found that cherries may even provide health benefits outside of waking hours. Cherries naturally contain melatonin, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep and mood, which can help you fall asleep and improve the quality of your sleep.
So, drink to your health and the Wisconsin economy this Free Shot Friday at the Western Racquet FuelBar! Along with our typical offerings, you will also have the option to choose cherry juice as your free super shot with the purchase of any smoothie while supplies last.
"I am enjoying a relationship with two men simultaneously. The first is called Ben, the other, Jerry. Number of current boyfriends: zero." — Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004 movie)
In the Friends episode “The One with the Thumb”, Monica dates a man named Alan. As the rest of the gang comes to know Alan, they become even more enamored with Alan than Monica. When Monica breaks up with him, the whole crew takes it pretty hard. At one point, she walks in to find them collectively drowning their sorrows in tubs of ice cream.
Why is it that this common trope in television and movies seems to persist? We often see the heartbroken individual turn to a dessert-like food for solace. Many people will see this and at least understand what’s being conveyed, if not have a level of empathy for having a similar experience. We seem tied to this recurring imagery because it resonates with us. It feels familiar. Many people are familiar with and understand the concept of “comfort food”, but did you know that there’s ancient biological wisdom hidden beneath this comedic messaging? For generations, fables and mythical tales have been often told to convey moral lessons or wisdom. In our current age, television and film are our most common vehicle of storytelling, and it’s possible that television could be passing along innate, ancient wisdom.
For most, the common reaction to stressful events is either a noticeable increase or decrease in appetite. But why is that? Why would appetite change at all in response to stress, and why is it different in different people? And with that, why is it we would rather reach for something like ice cream than celery?
Like many of the baffling phenomena related to food and eating, we have to start by looking at the brain. Specifically, we are concerned with the motivational circuit, where dopamine is released after positive experiences to serve as the ‘rewards system’. This motivational circuit overlaps with the limbic system, which is the part of our brain responsible for emotions, reactions to stressors, and responses that are critical to maintaining homeostasis (keeping us safe and functioning). You could refer to the limbic system as our “caveman brain” or “survival brain” because it only knows how to respond to emotions and try to keep us alive. In addition to the limbic system, we need to be familiar with the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The PFC is responsible for what you might call “higher-level thinking”. This is the region of the brain that is typically responsible for executive functioning, planning, and control of impulses, desires, and cravings. You might call this part of our brain, the “mature adult” brain. During times of high stress, our “mature adult” brain (PFC) is overtaken by the “survival brain” (limbic system). With the limbic system in the driver’s seat, we are more prone to “automatic” behaviors done for survival. In other words, our brain only knows that it is stressed and needs to survive. Back in the “caveman days” where food was scarce, seeking out food in response to stress meant avoiding starvation. This reaction of seeking higher fat and/or carb foods in response to stress is actually a brilliant survival mechanism. In times of high stress, our ancestors didn’t have time to sit back and
contemplate their 5-year plan. High stress meant danger. Danger meant a need for immediate action. Eat to avoid starvation or run to avoid predators.
To support this survival instinct, our body has established metabolic and hormonal reactions to further help endure stressors. In a normal stress-response, cortisol is acutely elevated, causing metabolic changes (like increased blood glucose mobilization, blood flow redirected to the muscles/heart/muscles, and increased heart rate) designed to prepare us for “fight or flight”. As these changes occur, our body decreases the priority of digestion and appetite. Historically, sitting down to eat never seemed like a top priority when running away from a hungry tiger.
These responses are all what we expect and actually want in response to normal, short-term stress. This is what helps us perform better on the test, in the big meeting, or during our athletic competitions. Where we run into problems is when that stress doesn’t come back down.
Chronic stress can contribute to a host of unsavory health issues. In the context of stress eating, we are concerned with chronic stress causing dysregulation to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This dysregulation can have consequences for our appetite regulation. In general, people already under chronic stress are more prone to experience greater appetite and cravings in response to additional, acute stressors. In these scenarios, research has also shown that people show greater preference for foods higher in carbohydrates and/or fats.
But what happens when, or if, you choose to follow these cravings? What happens, physiologically, when you reach for that pint of ice cream your body beckons for after a brutal day? Interestingly, choosing to abide these cravings may help dampen the stress response. It’s been shown that insulin action helps to reduce cortisol. Insulin is released in response to eating foods, particularly those with carbohydrates. The greater the carb intake, the greater the insulin response. In other words, that sweet treat could actually be just the medicine your body needs to take the edge off your stress. If anything, this speaks to the innate wisdom your body holds related to food and health.
What happens if you resist the ice cream? What if you are committed to a particular diet-style and have decided that whatever your body is craving doesn’t fit in the plan? This is called “restrained eating”, and research has shown that this perspective only serves to further raise cortisol levels during a stress-response and, ultimately, contributes to more frequent and/or intense cravings in response to future stressors.
By fighting these cravings, you are fighting your biology. You’re opposing your survival instincts. The body doesn’t understand the difference between a rough day at work and being chased by a tiger. In the same way, the body doesn’t understand the difference between you choosing to not eat something and starving from lack of available food. To the body, stress is stress. Hunger is hunger. Following a stressful event, your limbic system (“survival brain”) takes over, causing you to be more ‘reactive’ to your stress and emotions. By resisting the drive and urges of “survival brain”, cortisol stays high, the limbic system stays in the driver seat longer, and you feel stressed out longer.
So, what do I suggest? Stop fighting your biology. Eat the ice cream. Help your cortisol return to baseline more quickly, which will let the limbic system take the back seat and put the prefrontal cortex back in control. Once you’re not in ‘max stress’ mode anymore, you can address the thing that stressed you out in the first place and try keep the stress from becoming a chronic issue.
In 1965, a group of researchers noticed the University of Florida Gators football team struggling in the intense heat, many of them suffering from heat exhaustion during practices and games. In a lab, this group of researchers collected and studied the sweat of the players to then create a fluid that mimics the composition of sweat. The researchers theorized that replacing the fluids and electrolytes lost in sweat would help players push through the heat and enhance performance. The researchers lifted their glasses, took a sip, and promptly spit it out. The earliest form of Gatorade had been born, but the flavor needed quite a bit of work before it resembled that of the Gatorade we now see on shelves.
As the researchers had expected, the Gators performance throughout the season saw significant improvements after the introduction of this hydration solution. While there was certainly awareness around hydration and electrolytes prior to this, one might say that this was a dawn of a new age in hydration. In the coming years, a variety of sources (including the American College of Sports Medicine and Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics) would confirm that as little as a 2% decrease in body weight from sweat loss can result in significant declines in athletic performance. Maintaining adequate fluid intake is critical for all facets of health and fitness. Nearly all metabolic reactions in the body occur in water. In addition, water (and sweat) is needed to maintain body temperature during workouts. Without adequate fluid for sweat, the body overheats, resulting in various bodily functions running less efficiently (including muscles and the nervous system). As sports nutrition research would progress, we would come to find that the minerals, electrolytes, in water and often lost in sweat are just as critical to our overall hydration as water.
What are electrolytes? These are minerals found in the diet that carry a charge (also known as ions). These minerals are special because of this ionic charge, giving them special functions in the body. The primary electrolytes in the diet include sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and chloride.
Sodium is the most predominant electrolyte lost in sweat. This is because sodium is the most abundant extracellular electrolyte. In other words, sodium prefers to exist outside your body cells and stay in your fluids. Potassium, on the other hand, is the predominant intracellular electrolyte (preferring to exist inside body cells). This balance of sodium outside the cell and potassium inside the cell is critical to maintaining a cell’s health and function. Body cells are constantly pumping sodium outside the cell and potassium in. This exchange helps to transport nutrients into a cell and waste out of a cell (think of it as the electrolyte highway!). In addition, adequate intake and balance of sodium and potassium helps nerve impulses and muscle contractions operate properly, both of which are critical during any form of physical activity. Plus, a proper balance of sodium to potassium helps regulate and maintain a healthy blood pressure. What is this “proper balance” of sodium and potassium I refer to? In general, a ratio of about 2:1, potassium to sodium, tends to be the ideal balance of these electrolytes. For most adults, the sodium tolerable upper intake level (UL) recommendation is 2300mg per day, while the potassium recommended daily allowance (RDA) of potassium is 4700mg per day. Unfortunately, many people under consume potassium (due to a diet lower in fresh fruits and vegetables) and over consume sodium (due to a higher concentration of processed foods in the diet). This will throw off the balance of our sodium and potassium intakes, hindering out exercise capacity and general health. How do we regain balance?
Seek out foods higher in potassium to include in your diet! In general, most fruits and vegetables are abundant in potassium. That being said, some examples of potassium superstars include:
Other major electrolytes of concern are calcium and magnesium. Both of these electrolytes work synergistically to facilitate muscle contractions and relaxation. In fact, magnesium is often recommended for individuals with chronic muscle cramps, as it has been known to help alleviate this issue. In addition, magnesium is involved in over 300 metabolic processes in the body. In other words, it is hard to overstate the significance of this mineral. Magnesium helps the body create energy from food, build proteins, regulate blood glucose, manage blood pressure and heart rate, maintain bone strength, maintain immune function, and much, much more! On the other hand, calcium is equally as significant. In fact, calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. Many know that calcium is critical for bone health, but as mentioned above, it is also critical for muscles to both contract and relax. Insufficient calcium can result in muscle cramps, spasms, and overall weakness. In addition, adequate calcium intake has been shown to help manage blood pressure and possibly reduce risk of cardiovascular disease. In a day, most adults need 1000 to 1200mg of calcium per day, while most adults need about 400mg of magnesium in a day. Most adults do not get adequate magnesium, particularly since this mineral found in lower amounts in most foods. Some (but not all) adults get adequate calcium in the diet, but you may want to seek out additional food sources, particularly if you are someone that typically avoids dairy for any reason.
Good sources of calcium?
While you’re at it, pick up some foods high in magnesium, too:
Notice some overlap? Nature is pretty good at including the nutrients we need in proportions our body prefers. All the more reason to include fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole plant-based foods into the diet often!
The next time you are bearing through the high heat of the summer and think about hydration, don’t forget the whole picture of hydration: fluids and electrolytes. While drinking plenty of water is important, the minerals in your diet play an equally vital role. In fact, at least 20% of your daily water intake comes from the food you eat and nearly all of the electrolytes in your diet come from your food selections. While it may not be what you expected, your food selections are just as critical to your hydration as the water you drink! Before you reach for Gatorade or some other electrolyte/hydration supplement, ensure that you’re getting adequate minerals from your diet first!
Did I get your attention? Great.
Okay, this recipe might not exactly be carrot cake, but don’t leave now because it does taste pretty darn close! I like to say that these muffins are “carrot cake in disguise”. More specifically, these muffins pack many of the same flavors of carrot cake but are “in disguise” as a nutritious breakfast pick.
How did I stumble upon this life-changing recipe? Well, yours truly interned with a non-profit, educational farm in Sheboygan Falls, WI, called Nourish Farms. At this farm, they have a beautiful facility that is host to weddings, farm-to-table events, cooking classes, community dinners, cooking competitions, and much more! During my time here, I had the opportunity to work in their state-of-the-art kitchen and cook up some meals using some of their locally-sourced ingredients (including those grown right on the farm!).
One of these recipes was the “Nourish Morning Glory Muffins”. Whether you’re the type that needs an easy breakfast to grab on the way out the door or you’re looking to help your picky eaters sneak in more fruits and vegetables, these muffins will do the job! The whole-food ingredients in these muffins, such as the sunflower seeds, carrots, apple, and coconut help to boost both the nutrition and flavor. Compared to typical muffins, these deliver a greater dose of antioxidants, fiber, protein, potassium, and vitamins A, C, E, and B! Enjoy the nutritional boost at breakfast or anytime you’re craving a healthy sweet treat!
Before you scroll down to the recipe take a second to check out the amazing Nourish Farms and then sign up for our Farm-to-Table event and get your own tour and taste of Nourish! Learn more at westernracquet.com/events.
Want to see a video of the recipe being made? Check out the link below to see a video from my internship days when we did a cooking demonstration for the local WFRV Channel 5 news: https://www.wearegreenbay.com/local5live/local5live-recipes/nourish-morning-glory-muffins-recipe/
Below is the complete recipe. Happy baking!
Nourish Morning Glory Muffins
Courtesy of Nourish Farms in Sheboygan Falls, WI
Ingredients:
· 2 cups flour
· 1 ¼ cup sugar
· 2 tsp. baking soda
· ¼ tsp. salt
· 2 tsp. cinnamon
· ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
· ½ cup sunflower seeds
· ½ cup raisins
· 1 apple, shredded
· 2 cups shredded carrots
· 3 eggs
· 2 tsp. vanilla
· 1 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix wet ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry, stir until batter is smooth and evenly distributed.
4. Distribute muffins evenly into greased muffin tins or muffin tins with muffin liners.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes, until toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean.
6. Enjoy!
It seems superfoods are “discovered” more rapidly than Marvel or DC can drop its next movie or TV series. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for a good superhero story. Despite that, it can feel pretty overwhelming trying to keep up with the break-neck pace that these shows get released. It can often feel the same way with all the mighty “superfoods” that seem to be discovered.
“This just in! This new root, found deep in the Amazon Rainforest, might be the best food to cure inflammation, make you feel 10 years younger, help you make more money in your job, and it will even do your taxes!”
You might think I’m sounding crazy, but the claims that made around these supposed “superfoods” make it seem like you’ve been bitten by a radioactive spider and can now scale walls or swing from webs. Truth be told, some of these “magic elixir” powdered greens or ‘health’ drinks taste so bad, I’d rather just get bit by the spider and take my chances.
Why, then, does it seem that our diets are populated by the mundane, superpower-less types of foods (“Hello boring ol’ white potatoes, broccoli, and carrots!”) while we are constantly bombarded by the “next major superfood to take you from zero to hero”? When you really boil it down, it comes back to our same fascination with superheroes. There’s nothing exciting about the everyday staples, the boring, the normal, but there’s something endlessly fascinating about the incredible, new, or unique. So, as you stare down at yet another boring salad, you dream of the superpower promises brought on by goji berries and dragon fruit.
But when we think about it, we have to ask the question – what makes a superfood super? When we strip it down, remove the masks and capes, are these foods really super or are they just posers with a great PR department? Do they stack up like Superman, wielding impressive otherworldly powers, or are they more like Batman – a grown-up karate kid with plenty of money and impressive gadgets?
Let’s take a look at the humble spud, the white russet potato, and its super counterpart, the sweet potato.
| The Contender: | White Potato (medium, baked) | Sweet Potato (medium, baked) |
| Calories | 161 | 103 |
| Fat | 0.2g | 0.2g |
| Protein | 4.3g | 2.3g |
| Carbohydrates | 36.6g | 23.6g |
| Fiber | 3.8g | 3.8g |
| % Daily Recommended Intake | ||
| Vitamin A | 0% | 438% |
| Vitamin C | 28% | 37% |
| Magnesium | 12% | 8% |
| Phosphorus | 12% | 6% |
| Potassium | 26% | 15% |
| Iron | 10% | 4% |
| Copper | 10% | 9% |
| Manganese | 19% | 28% |
Credit: Information sourced from Precision Nutrition Infographic
Upon analysis, it appears that the sweet potato might not be as dramatically superior to its “less-as-super” counterpart. The sweet potato comes in at lower overall calories per serving, but also with less carbs and protein – nutrients that can be critical to fueling an active lifestyle (or fighting crime!). As far as dietary fat and fiber are concerned, these potatoes are a dead-tie. The sweet potato weighs in heavily with a Hulk-sized punch of vitamin A. Besides just beating out the white spud in vitamin C, the russet potato demonstrates a strong lead with a number of highly important dietary minerals, particularly electrolytes that are often lost in sweat.
After combing through the results, what can we conclude? That both potatoes certainly carry their own unique traits and contributions. My verdict? These both have their place when you assemble your plate, in the same way that every hero has their role to fill when the Avengers assemble.
Truly, the definition of a superfood according to Oxford Dictionary is, “a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being.” When you really dig into it, you might come to realize that this definition applies to any fruit or vegetable.
Did you know that carrots, broccoli, and garlic are among some of the best kryptonite for various forms of cancer? Also, the healthy monounsaturated fatty acids found in olive oil defend you from inflammation in the same way that Iron Man’s suit defends him against – well, everything. These foods are anything but new or exciting, but they carry immeasurable potential!
As a dietitian, I often get asked “What’s the main foods I should eat for [insert goal here].” In this moment, I know people are asking me for a specific answer - the foods that I’ve supposedly learned of in my years of studying that are apparently not known to the public. In this moment, these clients see me as some sort of nutritional Nick Fury – a man who’s investigated and assembled the most powerful superfoods on the planet, wielding the power of the superfood Avengers to come to the rescue at any moment. Unfortunately, the answer is rarely one they want to hear. The truth is that the fix to most nutritional goals rarely lies in the next, up-and-coming hero of a food. The truth is the answers lie within the mundane, within the everyday staples of life. Unfortunately, nutrition isn’t as easy as finding the next magical cure of a food.
That’s the bad news, but here’s the good news: optimizing your nutrition isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Captain America makes for a wonderful example. Steve Rogers gained his incredible abilities from a Super-Soldier serum, but he never would’ve mastered these abilities without all of his rigorous training and dedication. In Captain America’s case, the serum and his powers weren’t what made him super. Steve Rogers’ dedication, heart, and discipline are what truly made him into Captain America.
Well, that’s nice… but what the heck does that have to do with food?
It means that committing to consistency – consistently eating plenty of fruits and vegetables (not just the “super” ones), consistently drinking enough fluids, consistently getting in your exercise to train towards your goals – is the key to accomplishing what you seek. Finding dedication to the mundane and everyday – in the same way that Captain America commits to his training – is what will constantly and consistently move you forward.
This means that you can stop searching for that next magic food. You can rest assured that the capability for (nutritional) greatness already lives within you! It lies within the ‘boring but oh so fundamental’ truths we’ve been told growing up. Maybe mom was onto something when she told you to eat your vegetables so you could be “big and strong like a superhero”.
As you start to discover the freedom and power that comes with embracing the basics, never forget: with great power comes great responsibility.
After seeking the “quick fix” of nutrition for so long, it can be hard to figure out what the fundamentals even are and how to apply them to your life. Just like every hero needed guidance in the mastery of their powers, you may want to consider talking to a Wellness Coach or dietitian about how to harness your newfound nutritional powers. Check out the link to our website below to answer your Call to Adventure and begin your own Hero’s Journey!
Wellbeing at Western Wellness Coaching
Another way to tap into the potential powers found in all fruits and vegetables is finding more ways to get them in the house and on the table! Thankfully, Western will be partnering with a local farm, Moder’s Gardens, this summer to offer Western members the opportunity to purchase farm boxes. These boxes are filled with seasonal, local produce that can be picked up directly at Western! If you’re interested in learning more, speak with a Western employee at the Fuel Bar.
Hello Western Racquet members! My name is Taylor Erholtz, a Dietetic Intern through the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay. Upon completion of my internship at Western in May, I will be able to take the Registered Dietitian Exam and become a Licensed Registered Dietitian. I love all things nutrition and hope to make an influence in whatever route I take in my future career in nutrition. I have had the amazing opportunity to intern at Western for 4 weeks. By the time you read this post I will be gone, however I hope my time there was as influential for you as it was for me. The atmosphere here is inspiring, not only because of the family-like culture, but because of the strong passion and commitment each member and staff has here.
During my time, I had a discussion with someone regarding their metabolism. Now I know, the word metabolism can be a troubling issue for people. I think in today’s wellness world it is constantly thrown around, when in reality so many people do not even know what our metabolism is and how it is affected by so many things throughout our life. So, I wanted to take this chance to talk about what our metabolism is and how it functions, some of the most common metabolism myths, and what are ways to improve its capacity.
“Metabolism refers to a series of chemical reactions that occur in a living organism to sustain life”. When we eat carbohydrates, protein, and fats, our body converts that food into energy (measured in calories). The energy through food helps support daily life functions and physical activity in addition to digesting food, breathing, eliminating waste from your body, building muscle, and providing nutrients to cells. Our metabolism is what breaks down or builds up the energy given to us through two ways: catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism involves breaking down larger molecules into smaller ones, releasing energy. Anabolism involves building up or synthesizing compounds, requiring energy. The rate at which we burn calories (or energy) is called your metabolic rate. Metabolic rate is what most people think of when references their metabolism. Two numbers that are important are Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the number of calories required to sustain essential body function, and Active Calories, the calories burned during physical activity.
Myth 1: Our metabolisms are permanent
Our metabolism can be affected by many different factors like activity level, hormones, muscle mass, body temperature, food intake, and body size.
Myth 2: Our metabolisms worsens as we age
There is minimal impact on metabolism as we age. I know I have heard many times that someone’s metabolism is slowing down because they are getting older. That is not most likely the case since our calorie needs do not start to change until we are in our 60s, and even then there is not a big change.
Myth 3: Someone with more body fat has a slower metabolism than those who have less body fat.
The larger the body, the more energy it typically takes to support movement and basic functions. To understand, if two people are doing the same exercise, the person with more body mass with most likely burn more calories, in turn increasing their metabolic rate.
Myth 4: Eating breakfast increases my metabolism
Although breakfast is important to start your day with energy, breakfast itself does not increase your metabolism. Your metabolism is more affected by the total amount of food a person eats through the day than by the time those calories are eaten.
With all of this in mind, who do we improve our metabolism?
1. Exercise: Exercising increases the number of calories you burn, thus improving your metabolism. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week (30 min/day), or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week (15 min/day).
2. Eat your protein: Protein has the highest thermic effect of food which refers to the increase in your metabolism after eating. For basic protein needs, we recommend 0.8 grams protein/kilogram of body weight. 1.2-2 grams of protein/kilogram is ideal for recovery and muscle building.
3. Build muscle: Exercise that includes strength-training increases muscle mass which can improve the metabolism. Muscle requires calories to function properly.
4. Improve daily activity: Exercise and physical activity are different. If you find it hard to fit exercise into your day, try to increase the number of daily activities throughout your day like doing chores, walking the dog, laundry, going up and down the stairs, and making your bed.
5. Get more sleep: probably the most underrated aspect is lack of sleep and its negative impact on your metabolism. Lack of sleep is also related to increased blood sugar levels. Try to aim for the recommended 8 hours of sleep, however find what amount works best for your body.
With anything in life, it is always sensible to consult with a professional to help your diet and lifestyle, especially with a certified dietitian. Setting goals will help improve so many aspects of our lives. I hope the information I provided gave you even a tidbit information to help adapt into your life today. Best of luck in your nutrition journey!
Part 3: Why Your Workouts Aren't "Working Out"
After years of scouring through fitness and nutrition research, I have discovered quite the assortment of tips and tricks to ‘maximize results’ in the gym. By this, I mean I have put in considerable time and effort towards understanding all the ways to help my clients most efficiently and effectively reach their fitness goals. Throughout this research, I have come to find that much of the ‘big picture’ or ‘fundamental’ truths for fitness seem to be glossed over, neglected for the sake of defining and understanding the minutiae. In other words, we often seem to “miss the forest for the trees” when seeking or giving advice to make progress in the gym. Many of the popular articles in the news and on the internet are announcing the next ‘breakthrough technique’ or product that will ‘take your fitness to the next level’. While we are obsessed with finding the cutting-edge difference-makers, we forget that fundamentals are… well… just that: fundamental. The “tried and true” basics of how to be successful in the gym aren’t shiny, sexy, new, or exciting. So, while we frantically search for the next secret to make that 1% difference, we forget to attend to the other 99%. Among the chatter of all the ‘new research’, we seem to no longer hear about what has worked for so many people over so many years prior.
In this three-part blog, I would like to introduce the major errors I see fitness enthusiasts make that prevent them from reaching their goals or their fullest potential. The intention with this article is that you use it as a sort of “checklist”. As you read through each bullet, consider whether any of these fundamental missteps sound familiar. If this is the case, addressing this factor could be the missing link in truly accelerating your health and fitness goals. With that, I also recommend treating this list in sequential order, working from top to bottom. If you find that there are multiple points you need to work on, start with the upper-most point (closest to #1) and work your way down. The higher on this list the point is, the more foundational it is. If you don’t resolve any issues in the earlier points, any changes in the later points will not have as significant of a result, if any. Whether you are starting a new fitness journey or have been working out consistently for years, this list is essential to ensuring you find a fitness plan that works for you.
As this is a 3-Part blog post, be sure to read Part 1 & Part 2 prior to moving on to this section.
With that, read on for the top foundational fitness mistakes and how to fix them:
These next two points (#5 and #6) are often the first things people contemplate and seek advice on when they want to advance their progress in the gym. Note that these points are lower on the list because changes in these will yield little results unless points #1 through #4 are addressed first. It is only after you have established a fitting and sustainable approach to fitness that you can address these following points. Ensure your approach to fitness considers activities you enjoy, goals that make sense, recovery that sustains you, and focus during your fitness routines before being concerned with the following points.
Error #5: You make it to the gym, but possibly too much or not enough.
Frequency of your workouts is a major consideration in many fitness circles. When discussing it, the image of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” is always comes to mind. You don’t want it to be too much or too little – but “just right”.
I can’t emphasize this point enough. Sometimes, it seems the messaging from health and fitness influencers says “more is better”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. With any form of physical activity, there is a point at which increasing your frequency or total volume will not result in any further benefit. In fact, surpassing this limit of maximal benefits can result in regression (not to mention increased risk for injury, illness, and many other issues. Especially if intense activity is overdone). If you recall point #3, recovery is just as important, if not more so, than the effort and activity itself. The point at which no added benefit is gained from increasing exercise frequency/volume is known as “the point of diminishing returns”. In a practical interpretation, this could mean that weightlifting 3-4 times per week is your “sweet spot” for increasing strength, for example. For this individual, lifting weights any more during the week would only interfere with their recovery and likely lead to loss in strength and possibly even injury. While the example I provided is for lifting weights, this principle applies to all forms of fitness.
In other words, there is truly “too much of a good thing”. It’s true. Doing “all the right things” too often can actually hinder your ultimate progress. Spending too much time and effort on “perfecting” a singular piece of your fitness won’t necessarily be the fastest path to results. Sometimes the “scenic route” will yield the best outcomes. For example, a runner may think that the best, and only, way to improve their running pace may be to simply run. It has been shown, though, that performing various weightlifting and agility drills can help enhance speed and power while decreasing risk of injury in runners. From this perspective, including variety in your training won’t just make you a more well-rounded athlete, but a better athlete at your activity of choice.
With that being said, all forms of activity need a minimum frequency and volume of training to result in noticeable progress. While I wish I could give the “magic number” of times you should generally work out each week to maximize progress, any number I would give would be a gross oversimplification. Every person has a different threshold for volume of activity and making progress. This threshold is based on the activity they do, their ability to recover, their genetic potential for said activity, their diet, and much more. To help guide you, I would like to provide you with a rule of thumb: If you currently do an activity or exercise consistently, have not made any noticeable progress within the last couple weeks or month, but also find that you are consistently feeling fully rested and recovered, you are probably ready to explore increasing your frequency. Note: this ONLY applies of you aren’t making progress AND are consistently recovering.
While I know that this is a very broad approach to finding your ideal frequency to train, this is going to be your best method to discovering your individual needs and limitations. Struggling to find that training “sweet spot”? Consider talking to a Western personal trainer about how your current routine could be tweaked to accelerate your progress.
Error #6: Your nutrition could be better… and not in the way you think.
“I’d hit my gym goals if I could just stop eating carbs/sugar/junk.”
“It would be so much better if I had more self-control with food.”
“I just need to eat less calories. It’s all just calories in, calories out.”
“I think keto/intermittent fasting/[insert popular diet here] will be the key I’ve been looking for.”
In the fitness community, nutrition seems to be the center of conversation quite often. Just as I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, it seems that we also seem to “miss the forest for the trees” when it comes to nutrition. Take it from a dietitian: nutrition does not need to be complicated. In fact, the belief that you just need to cut out a particular food or follow a certain diet to be fit or healthy only serves to overcomplicate nutrition.
It seems that every year is accompanied by the next new “diet hack” that is guaranteed to make you thinner, leaner, stronger, faster, etc. Despite each “diet breakthrough” spreading like wildfire, it seems that it never sticks long before the next is announced. Case in point; For much of the 1980s and 1990s, eating low-fat was the key to ideal health and fitness. Across grocery stores, low-fat versions of everyone’s favorite foods could be found. Now entering the 2010s and 2020s, a diet that is low-carb (Hello, Keto!) is the key to ideal health. Those very same low-fat foods that filled the shelves have now been replaced by high-fat and low-carb alternatives. Anyone else suspicious about the flip in script?
Hidden underneath the shouts of these “revolutionary diets”, you may have heard the quiet but unchanging mantra of many nutrition professionals, “eat a balanced diet, including a variety of fruits and vegetables.” Is this advice revolutionary, breakthrough, or grabbing any headlines? No. But it never changes, and that is for good reason. This advice, though not exciting, is consistently true. I hate to break it to you, but there is no magic pill, no revolutionary diet, or perfect food. Our human biology has developed over many, many years. As a result, it is unlikely that we will simply discover a way to “hack” our incredibly smart, complicated body. For some, this news may be disappointing. You may not even want to believe it and continue to hold on to hope that the next new diet will be your secret key. Perhaps for some, though, this may be a relief. It may be reassurance that you can stop your searching and rest easy knowing that eating doesn’t have to be complicated.
Despite this, I can still assure you that there are tips and tricks to change your diet for improved fitness and even just general health. Thankfully, these points are short and simple enough to fit on the following bullet points:
Nutrition can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it. Know that there’s no such thing as a “bad” or “wrong” diet. There are certainly different ways to eat that may or may not support whatever outcome or goal you desire, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with any particular food choices. When in doubt, the smallest and most sustainable changes to your current nutrition habits will have the longest-reaching and most significant impacts.
Part 2: Why Your Workouts Aren't "Working Out"
After years of scouring through fitness and nutrition research, I have discovered quite the assortment of tips and tricks to ‘maximize results’ in the gym. By this, I mean I have put in considerable time and effort towards understanding all the ways to help my clients most efficiently and effectively reach their fitness goals. Throughout this research, I have come to find that much of the ‘big picture’ or ‘fundamental’ truths for fitness seem to be glossed over, neglected for the sake of defining and understanding the minutiae. In other words, we often seem to “miss the forest for the trees” when seeking or giving advice to make progress in the gym. Many of the popular articles in the news and on the internet are announcing the next ‘breakthrough technique’ or product that will ‘take your fitness to the next level’. While we are obsessed with finding the cutting-edge difference-makers, we forget that fundamentals are… well… just that: fundamental. The “tried and true” basics of how to be successful in the gym aren’t shiny, sexy, new, or exciting. So, while we frantically search for the next secret to make that 1% difference, we forget to attend to the other 99%. Among the chatter of all the ‘new research’, we seem to no longer hear about what has worked for so many people over so many years prior.
In this three-part blog, I would like to introduce the major errors I see fitness enthusiasts make that prevent them from reaching their goals or their fullest potential. The intention with this article is that you use it as a sort of “checklist”. As you read through each bullet, consider whether any of these fundamental missteps sound familiar. If this is the case, addressing this factor could be the missing link in truly accelerating your health and fitness goals. With that, I also recommend treating this list in sequential order, working from top to bottom. If you find that there are multiple points you need to work on, start with the upper-most point (closest to #1) and work your way down. The higher on this list the point is, the more foundational it is. If you don’t resolve any issues in the earlier points, any changes in the later points will not have as significant of a result, if any. Whether you are starting a new fitness journey or have been working out consistently for years, this list is essential to ensuring you find a fitness plan that works for you.
As this is a 3-Part blog post, be sure to read part 1 prior to moving on to this section, which you can find here.
Error #3: You aren’t chasing your dreams.
Now that you’ve chosen workouts that you love and have goals that align with these activities, it’s time to start focusing on how to continue fueling yourself for these activities. Points #1 and #2 focus on the fitness activities and goals we choose, because this sets the course for our fitness journey. If we are consistently active and working towards goals we care about, we have the foundation needed to make progress. From here, we need to consider other factors in our days and lives that will either accelerate or hinder our fitness progress.
There are many different variables that may come to mind when I say that recovery is critical to making fitness progress. Many health and fitness experts would agree that the quality of your recovery matters more than the actual effort made in they gym when it comes to making progress. This point should not be overlooked, so read it again if you need to. It is very intentional that this point is the very next fundamental to follow up your activity and goal selection.
Don’t believe that your recovery is just as important, if not more so, than your effort in the gym? Consider this: all forms of exercise are a physical stressors. The common lesson many of us receive regarding how a muscle grows and gets stronger stands as an excellent example. As you may have heard, damage is done to a muscle as it works. This damage is known is “microtraumas” or “microtears”. When the body repairs this damage, it is supposed to grow back bigger and stronger. While this is an oversimplification of the process, at its core it is true. Considering this, you may realize how significant recovery is. Without the recovery or repair process, the muscle simply remains damaged. In this case, you’re not just delaying progress but possibly causing regression. It is for this reason that significant progress in any fitness endeavor demands adequate rest and recovery.
With that in mind, we must address sleep. Sleep is the cornerstone of our health. Without adequate sleep, nearly all your health and fitness efforts will be more like an uphill battle. During sleep, your body and brain are restored and repaired from a full, exhausting day. The more you miss out on this opportunity to reset and recover, the less motivated you’ll feel and the less energy you will have for nearly anything else.
Unfortunately, there are many different things that can interfere with our ability to get a good night of sleep. Stress, blue light from screens, caffeine intake, or any number of factors can seriously hinder our ability to drift off to dreamland. Feel like your sleep needs some improvements? Check out this link to find tips for improving your sleep from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Error #4: You make it to the gym, but you aren’t present for the workout.
At this point, you are certain that you have picked forms of exercise you enjoy, you have set goals that keep you coming back to these activities to seek progress, and you are getting enough sleep to recover from all the hard work you put in. This next rule focuses on your mindset in the gym. More specifically, we are concerned with the principle of prioritizing ‘quality’ over ‘quantity’. In other words, it doesn’t matter how long you spend in the gym, but how intentional you are about working towards your goals. To put it bluntly, nobody ever hit their fitness goals staring at their phone. Distractions during our workouts diminish the quality of our workouts and the benefits we will receive from them. Among the top offenders for distractions: phones and stress.
If you find yourself getting sucked into your phone during your usual time for fitness, it may be time to find ways to distance yourself from the phone. If that isn’t a possibility (perhaps you listen to your music through your phone or need to be close to your phone for work), it may be worth at least exploring options to reduce distractions. For some, putting the phone on ‘airplane mode’ or silencing notifications is enough. For others, it may mean putting the phone in the locker or the gym bag. Can’t quite part with your phone during a workout? Try to at least leave it on the other side of the gym. This way, you may be less tempted to pick it up as often.
If you find stress is the main culprit distracting you during your workouts, you’re not alone. Many people struggle with balancing busy schedules and various responsibilities, more than a few of which tend to creep into our mind during our fitness time. In this scenario, having routines or strategies to create a ‘mind-shift’ into fitness mode can be very helpful. Sometimes it may be as simple as having a favorite playlist of music to blast in your headphones. Other times, it may require some creativity. Having a routine or ritual to your workout can help you get into the proper headspace. Some people feel they need an activity that is mentally challenging and stimulating, like boxing or playing basketball with someone else, to pull them out of their headspace and into the present. Other people sometimes find that changing the time of the day that they workout can be a simple fix to stress-levels and distractions. For some, the morning workout is too stress-inducing to squeeze into an already-packed morning schedule. For others, the evening workout is too difficult, as they still have thoughts from work swirling in their head and find they can’t focus. Finding your sweet-spot may take some trial-and-error.
Still feel that you’re struggling to manage your stress and finding that it is hindering your fitness goals? Contact a Wellness Coach here at Western to see if we can help you find effective stress-reducing strategies!
Every December 31, many of us start thinking about what the new year will present to us. We set goals, we break them. We make other goals and break them as well. It's hard to create new habits; oftentimes harder than we realize!
What’s your goal? Do you want to lose weight? Run a marathon? Sleep more? Or do you have a physique that you’re working towards? At the root of it all, a plan with self-discipline will get us to where we need to go.
In order to keep a New Year’s resolution, breaking down our goals and creating smaller, short-term results is key. Do you want to lose 40 pounds this year? For many, the sound of it sounds unattainable or unrealistic. But, does losing one pound in two weeks sound possible? Absolutely.
Do you have a plan? Do you need help creating a plan? A plan is like a road map. If you don't know what you’ll be doing, how to do it, or even where you’re going, getting to a specific destination is really difficult.
Below are some strategies you can use to assist in your New Year’s resolution.
Happy New Year from me and all of us here at Western! We can't wait to help you with your goals in 2022!
When it comes to literally anything related to nutrition, protein seems to be at the forefront of many people’s minds. When it comes to fitness and performance nutrition, it’s not a matter of if, but when, protein becomes a part of the discussion. While there are 3 different macronutrients (i.e. “macros”), carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, it seems as though protein gets a disproportionate amount of attention. Today, I’d like to clear the air related to some of the common misconceptions I hear regarding protein. Along the way, I’d like to make the argument that this macro isn’t any more important than carbs or fat, regardless of your health and fitness goals.
That being said, let’s get started…
Myth #1: Eating more protein means building more muscle
This is possibly the most common mistake I see, particularly among the weightlifting community. The thought-process behind this is actually quite logical: muscles are damaged during exercise… muscles are made of protein… protein is needed to help repair muscles… thus, MORE protein will repair muscles BETTER and FASTER. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t the case. Our body can only rebuild muscle as fast as it is genetically programmed to. Providing adequate protein is obviously important so that the rebuilding of muscle can occur, but extra protein does nothing to help the process. For example, imagine you are the boss of a team of construction workers building a house. You can continue buying and stockpiling all the supplies you want to build the house, but your workers can only build this house so fast. The exact same is true for muscle.
To take this argument one step further, I would argue that overdoing it on protein intake can actually hinder muscle-building and other fitness goals. Protein is a highly-satiating macronutrient. In other words, foods that are high in protein are typically very filling. With this, a protein that is very high in protein will crowd out other foods that carry other important nutrients, leaving you too full to consume a balanced meal. While a balanced diet filled with vitamins and minerals is essential to performance and recovery, the main nutrient that I see get left out in favor of protein is carbs. When you fill up on protein and don’t take in enough carbs, your energy levels are going to suffer. If you get in the habit of under-fueling for your workouts, you aren’t going to be truly pushing your limits and actually experiencing any kind of genuine progress. It may not be a surprise to hear, but a diet that balances all nutrients without prioritizing one over the others is going to yield the best results for performance and overall health.
Myth #2: Too much protein is bad for your kidneys
This misconception seems to take the polar-opposite stance to the first. Instead of trying to get more protein in, I hear some people share that “too much protein is bad for your kidneys”. A quick Google search using terms like “kidney function” or “kidney disease” and “high protein diet” will yield a variety of results that seem to say that high-protein intake is detrimental to kidney function. What’s more, these results have connecting links to peer-reviewed, scientific, sound research. Based on these results, it is very easy to conclude that too much protein will wreak havoc on your kidneys. Rest assured, this is also not the case.
As a dietitian, I’m rather defensive about definitive recommendations related to diet and health. In this case, making conclusions based on Dr. Google’s quick search results undermines the work and experience needed to truly read, understand, and implement research. In this case, many of the studies that populate in this sort of search are referring to individuals with kidney function that is already compromised. In other words, it is true that high-protein intake can be detrimental to kidney function, but only those with kidneys that already don’t work properly. I feel this study by Martin et al., 2005, says it quite well: “Although high protein diets cause changes in renal function (i.e., increased GFR) and several related endocrine factors that may be harmful to individuals with renal disease there is not sufficient research to extend these findings to healthy individuals with normal renal function at this time.” To wrap up this myth-busting, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to eating protein so long as your kidneys are healthy.
Myth #3: Protein from animal sources is superior to plant sources
This argument has some pseudoscience roots that makes it seem like a rather strong point. The basis of this myth comes down to the difference between “complete” versus “incomplete” proteins. Complete proteins are proteins that have all essential amino acids, or amino acids that our body needs to function but cannot make on its own. On the other hand, incomplete proteins are proteins that are missing one or more essential amino acid. Animal sources (e.g. eggs, meat, dairy, etc.) of protein are considered complete, while plant sources of protein are considered “incomplete” (with a few exceptions, such as quinoa). The important distinction here is that our body is able to convert some amino acids into other amino acids, based on what it most needs, but it is only able to do this with non-essential amino acids. For example, your body can convert alanine (a non-essential amino acid) into glutamine (another non-essential amino acid). What your body CAN’T do, is convert something like alanine (a non-essential amino acid) into tryptophan (an essential amino acid). In this case, you must get tryptophan in the diet. From this understanding, the animal protein source, containing all essential amino acids, is always superior to the plant-based protein.
While the perspective of this argument is logical, it is a very reductive perspective when nutrition should also focus on “bigger picture”. In this case, this ignores all other nutrients within the food supplying the protein. In other words, a steak will provide high levels of protein, but it is usually high in saturated fat, relatively high in cholesterol, and low in fiber and vitamins and mineral. On the other hand, plant sources of protein, like black beans, are high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals while also delivering next to no fat or cholesterol. If you’re concerned about getting all essential amino acids, you can rest assured knowing that having variety of protein sources throughout the day (e.g. oatmeal with breakfast, rice with lunch, beans with dinner) will meet, if not exceed, all essential amino acids you need in a day. With that, you can feel confident about meeting your protein needs whether its from animal or plant sources (or ideally, a mix of both!) as long as there’s variety.
Myth #4: A high-protein diet is the key to successful weight-loss
This myth also has some roots in truth, but unfortunately it is often misconstrued and taken to extremes. As I shared under Myth #1, protein is a highly-satiating nutrient. Eating protein helps aid with feelings of fullness. If you’ve ever eaten a big helping of beans, eggs, or steak, you might agree. With this understanding, the perspective for weight loss is often to eat as much protein as possible to stay full as long as possible while eating as little as possible. While this is logical, it is again missing the “bigger picture” of nutrition. First, refresh yourself on why eating too much protein is counterproductive for fitness goals by reading my debunking of Myth #1. In short, excessive protein intake means deficient intake of something else. It could be carbs, fats, vitamins… take your pick. If you have a weight loss or body composition goal, you need to provide your body with the healthiest, most balanced diet possible. If your diet is not balanced or sustainable, you’re going to quit on whatever changes you’ve made. Further, weight loss is much more complicated than “calories in, calories out”, and you can’t just “cheat the system” by eating a diet heavy is one nutrient while lacking in others. Weight loss is a subject much too complicated to be distilled into a couple short sentences. Suffice to say, any diet that requires you to take in high levels of something while restricting something else is guaranteed to be unsustainable and will, eventually, fail.
If you want to be your healthiest and happiest self, find a dietary balance of nutrients that nourish your body while satisfying your cravings. If you don’t know how to find this balance, talk to a licensed or certified health or nutrition professional.
Myth #5: Your body can only use a certain amount of protein in one sitting, anything more is wasted
This myth is my favorite to debunk, as it assumes that the body is “incapable” of using food you give it. To bust this myth simply, your body does not waste any food you eat. Regardless of how much protein you eat in one sitting, your body will metabolize it all and find some way to use it. I do believe that this is sometimes thought in the context of whether the protein will be used for muscle-building or “wasted” by being used by the body for something else. When it comes to eating more protein and whether it will help build more muscle, you can refer to Myth #1. In addition to overdoing the protein daily, it is possible to take in more protein than is helpful for muscle growth in one sitting. Will the extra protein be harmful? Not necessarily. It simply won’t speed up your recovery any faster after reaching a certain threshold. Beyond the threshold of protein needed for repairing muscles, the remaining protein will mostly be burned for energy. With a much greater excess beyond use for muscle-repair and energy-production, some protein might be converted and stored as fat for energy later on. With that answer, most people want to know, “So what is that threshold? How much protein should I have in one sitting for the best recovery without going over?” To give you the most honest and accurate answer anyone could possibly give: I don’t know. That’s the unfortunate truth. I don’t know because nutrition recommendations can’t be made as generalizations. Every body and lifestyle is too diverse to be making nutrition prescriptions in a public blog. If there is a public article claiming exact numbers for how much of anything you need nutritionally, they’re making grave generalizations and are definitely not accurate for your individual needs.
With that, allow me to climb down off my soapbox and give you an answer that might be helpful in some way. Now that I’ve established that I don’t actually know how much protein your body needs and that generalizations aren’t accurate… allow me to make a generalization. Based on research of averages of body weights and body sizes, it seems that 20-30g of protein, depending on how large your body is and how active you are, seems to be the ideal range for optimizing protein use for muscle-protein synthesis (or building and repair). In addition, the metabolic and recovery benefits of consuming this amount of protein after a workout is enhanced when also eaten with carbs.2 This range of protein can apply to meals or snacks throughout the day, as well as after workouts. Note that despite using averages and making a generalization, it is still a range. My hope is that these numbers help you at least make ballpark estimates when it comes to nutritional planning.
Busting nutrition myths takes a lot of “bigger picture” views because understanding our body requires a “bigger picture” perspective. When it comes to health, fitness, and nutrition, it is easy to get caught up in the details and nuances while forgetting our fundamentals. While some of the info I might be sharing is not earth-shattering, it is based in fact and proven itself for many, many years.
Our bodies are incredibly efficient and incredibly resourceful. The body is not wasteful. Years of our ancestors surviving famines and droughts has taught our body that any food that comes in is more valuable than gold. Further, our bodies are much, much smarter than we are. Years of research on the human body has turned up as many (if not more) questions as it has answers. This fact remains, there really isn’t a diet we can choose that will “outsmart our biology”. Recent years have shown a dramatic uptick in extreme diets, choosing to cut out entire food groups or revert to extreme restriction. Whatever diet you may think of, it simply can’t account for all that isn’t known about the human body and nutrition. Every day, research discovers something new about the human body. Every year, dramatic progress is made in nutritional research and developments. Despite every major discovery made from year-to-year, one truth remains: The body functions best with a balanced diet rich in a wide variety of food, including foods from plant and animal sources.
As Western Racquet’s Fitness Consultant I am in a position to talk with many of our new members about their goals when it comes to their health and fitness. I typically hear many of the same responses with weight loss being the number one desire for many out there. Weight loss isn’t easy and it tends to become more difficult for most of us as we age. It definitely doesn’t help that we see a plethora of commercials daily advertising silly things like lose 30 pounds in 30 days when most of us in our heart of hearts know that isn’t reasonable. These ads give people unrealistic expectations that can often lead to them giving up way too early when the end goal of losing significant weight feels unattainable. As someone who lost 40 pounds over an 18 month period, I am here to help you find some practical ways to make this dream a reality.
I hope these ideas helped and reaching your goals is something you can definitely do with the right motivation, work ethic, and some help from the family here at Western Racquet.
With the recent Labor Day weekend wrapping up we now officially enter one of the busier times of the year for gyms and health clubs everywhere. Many people find themselves overwhelmed during the summer months with an abundance of traveling, sporting events, family activities, etc. and simply fall out of their regular fitness routines. If this sounds familiar to you then there is simply no time like the present to reassert your commitment to your health and fitness. That being said, what is the best way to go about doing this?
There are a plethora of different ways to get back into shape and you ultimately need to do what is best for you. For some people this will mean group fitness classes, others will hire a personal trainer, or people who love running may dust off their shoes and start hitting the pavement once again. No matter which avenue you choose to go down there is one thing all these methods will need in order to be successful - a combination of both short and long term goals.
Long term goals are extremely important because they offer you something you can strive to achieve over an extended period of time. Some examples of long term goals would be: lose 20 pounds, decrease your body fat percentage by 5 points, run a marathon, or increase your squat max by 50 pounds. Long term goals are more successful when they are something you truly care about, so make sure you pick out something that is important to YOU. It’s also important to pick out a goal that is measurable. While “living a healthy lifestyle” is important there is no true way to dictate whether or not you are legitimately achieving this goal. My last point on long term goals is that, while they are extremely important for achieving long term success, they need to be coupled with short term goals. This is necessary because long term goals can be intimidating and overwhelming. There is no way to quickly achieve long term goals and this can create a mental roadblock for many. However, if you also create a series of short term goals you can succeed at in a shorter period of time the feeling of accomplishment will push you and become a motivating factor.
What are good short term goals? Just like long term goals, short term goals will be met with success more often when they are personal and something you care about. Also, just like we mentioned with long term goals, make sure you pick out something that is measurable so you can quantify if you are actually reaching or surpassing these milestones you set for yourself. A good example of long term goals vs short term goals could be, I have a long term goal to run a half marathon (this training could take a year depending on where you are starting) but my goal this week is to run 10 miles over 3 sessions. Never hesitate to give yourself a reward for achieving your milestones, it often time will help to give yourself an incentive to push it harder!
For anyone reading this, I challenge you to take 15 minutes this week and write down some short term goals and long term goals for your health and fitness. You may find this is something that is really helpful for you when it comes to achieving being the best version of yourself!
“It’s all in your head.” Whether you have struggled with anxiety, depression, or even overwhelming stress, this is a phrase you may have heard at some point. Even if it comes from a well-intentioned friend or family member, this “advice” or suggestion is literally less helpful than someone saying nothing at all. If you or a loved one has struggled with their mental health, you might also agree that this statement couldn’t be further from the truth. What if I told you that research continues to find evidence that psychological conditions are actually a manifestation of physical imbalance or illness and not simply just a result of “a bad mindset”. You may be thinking of the “chemical imbalances in the brain” often discussed with mental illness, but that isn’t what I’m referring to here. No, I’m actually discussing an imbalance in the body that is nowhere near the brain. Instead, we need to look lower. Much lower. We need to look to the gut.
More specifically, I’d like to focus on the trillions of bacteria that live in our intestines, primarily the large intestine but to a lesser degree the small intestine. The numbers and types of bacteria that live in our gut differ from person to person and changes across the lifespan due to many different factors. Regardless of the make-up, the collective of these bacteria is referred to as the gut microbiota. Some of the variables that influence a person’s microbiota include diet, exercise, stress, sleep, medical conditions, medications, and much, much more! Though they are very small, the importance of these bacteria shouldn’t be underestimated! On a fundamental level, these bacteria ferment many of the different foods we eat. While this sounds insignificant, the byproducts of this fermentation provide our bodies a host of benefits. Some of the direct byproducts include vitamin K and a number of B vitamins, all of which are directly used by our body. Other byproducts help maintain the health of the gut, which in turn helps prevent issues like bloating, indigestion, diarrhea, and malabsorption. Another role of gut bacteria is to assist our immune system by fighting off harmful bacteria and preventing them from crossing the border of the intestines into the bloodstream. Some byproducts even produce a cascade of events in the body that controls the level of inflammation in the body. While all these roles are interesting and valuable, perhaps most incredible is the gut microbiota’s effect on the brain.
During the fermentation of certain foods, the microbiota produces short-chain fatty acids (which I will abbreviate as SCFA). Of these, the most prominent and active SCFA are butyrate, valerate, and propionate. These byproducts have the ability to travel in the bloodstream and impart effects on the brain. Emerging research has been investigating the relationship between certain concentrations of these SCFA in the blood and the presence, absence, or severity of conditions like depression, anxiety, ADHD, and even autism. This isn’t to say that an increase or decrease in certain SCFA is directly related to the onset or prevention of these conditions. Unfortunately, it is a bit more complicated than that. In general, it is more about a certain balance of these different SCFA for ideal health. To achieve that, there is a certain balance of bacteria needed in the gut to produce the ideal amounts of these SCFA. It is often simplified down to a balance of “good” and “bad” bacteria in the gut. In essence, the “bad” bacteria promote inflammation, weaken the immune system, are harmful to overall gut health, and produce proportions of SCFA that promote mental health issues like anxiety and depression. On the other hand, the “good” bacteria do just the opposite. Throughout your life, these “good” and “bad” bacteria are in a constant battle to populate your gut. The best thing you can do for your health, both physical and mental, is to support your “good” bacteria in consistently winning the battle.
Years are spent by researchers studying the countless strains of bacteria in your gut. They spend immeasurable hours investigating which specific strains have what effect in your body and how various lifestyle factors can increase or decrease the presence of said strains. Despite the seemingly endless research, one resounding message seems to hold true: habits we know as part of a healthy lifestyle also support the healthy bacteria in our gut. In other words, eating plant-based foods (fruit, veggies, and grains), exercising regularly, getting adequate sleep, and managing stress all help support the presence of “good” bacteria in the gut.
Certain foods are particularly good at boosting levels of “good” bacteria in your gut, helping them win the war for your colon. Foods that have prebiotic fiber provide fuel for your “good” bacteria, fermenting these fibers to produce healthy byproducts that fight off “bad” bacteria. In other words, the “good” bacteria are your troops and prebiotic fiber is the supplies and ammo they need to fight. Some excellent prebiotic foods include oats, bananas, berries, apples, and asparagus. On the other hand, probiotic foods are those that already have “good” bacteria in them. This helps to directly add more “good” bacteria directly to your gut. In other words, probiotic foods are like reinforcements for your bacterial ‘army’. Some excellent probiotic foods include yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kombucha.
Filling your life with healthy foods, physical activity, stress management, and good sleep habits can help create both a balanced life and a balanced gut. In turn, you’ll fortify your gut against the negative effects of imbalanced gut microbiota. Not only will this help minimize inflammation and boost your immune system, it might actually boost your mood and help you stave off anxiety and stress! When it comes to struggling with any number of mental health struggles, whatever level of severity, I can confidently say that, no, it is not, “all in your head.” In fact, one of the best things you can do for your mental health is to take care of your body, and then watch how, in turn, it will take care of you.
Sugar! People love it and it’s practically found in everything. The average American consumes 47 pounds of sugar and 35 pounds of high fructose corn syrup per year! We all know sugar is in foods like cakes and other desserts, but it’s often hidden in other “healthy” foods as well. Cereal, yogurt, Nutrigrain bars, protein bars, Gatorade, and many others, all contain it. Sugar-dense foods, such as these, are linked to heart disease and obesity, but they can also affect your joint health, as well.
High sugar diets spike your insulin levels. This leads to several biochemical reactions that can produce inflammation in the body. For example, when a person consumes a high sugar diet, it can lead to an increase in visceral fat, or abdominal fat. This type of fat secretes inflammatory proteins and hormones that create chronic inflammation in the body. If a person is injured and eats a lot of sugar, the healing process may take much longer.
Sugar also depletes the body of important minerals, like magnesium, calcium, and others. Muscles need these minerals for normal contractions and relaxation. Magnesium supports muscle and nerve function and energy production. Some studies show that the body requires 28 molecules of magnesium to break down one molecule of sugar! Therefore, a diet high in sugar can deplete the body of the magnesium needed for muscle contraction.
If you suffer from joint pain or stiffness, try eliminating sugar from your diet and focus on natural foods that haven't been processed. Any questions, please feel free to contact our Registered Dietitian, Tad, and he’ll be happy to go over anything with you!
Do you dread meal planning each week? Here are some easy tips to make this “chore” become a choice you look forward to completing each week or month.
If you choose to try these meal planning tips, you may reap these benefits.
Enjoy! With a little practice, meal planning can become a part of your normal schedule.
Many people in the fitness community fall into one of two categories. The first category is filled with those that view their time at the gym as a necessity. These people feel energized, refueled, and fulfilled by their trips to the gym. A missed session would make for an incomplete day. The second category dreads every workout. The trip to the gym is a box to check off on the “to-do” list, and the workout is anticipated to be long, painful, and unpleasant. These categories are not necessarily distinct from each other. Rather, these categories fall on opposite sides of a spectrum. Regardless of which side of the spectrum you feel you typically fall, it may benefit your fitness journey to consider the following.
Why is it that there can be such dramatic differences in perspectives on exercise? There’s no denying that people are diverse in past experiences and preferences. Further, different physical baselines can make certain ways of being active more or less enjoyable. But what if there was something even more fundamental impacting your enjoyment, or lack thereof, of exercise? What if I told you your diet is killing your exercise joy?
This may be something of an understatement, but weight loss is a common goal among gym-goers. The saying “eat less, move more” is the paramount mantra of the weight-loss industry. Eating in a caloric deficit is touted as the only way to achieve the “ideal” body. But in actuality, how does “eat less, move more” make you feel? Lethargic? Weak? Irritable? This shouldn’t be surprising, as the body doesn’t function properly under circumstances of self-induced starvation.
If you have only ever used exercise as a means to lose weight or prevent weight-gain, you have likely experienced most workouts while in a caloric deficit. In other words, most of your workouts have been spent demanding your body to work harder while being provided less fuel. A workout without enough calories for energy is bound to feel like torture. In this state, it is no wonder workouts would be something to dread.
If you have always associated workouts with dieting, exercise has always been associated with feeling tired and weak. Exercise has always been a means for aiding weight loss and nothing more. Further, the exercise stops when the diet stops. And because diets are not sustainable, they always stop, eventually. Sometimes the break from the diet lasts a week, sometimes a month, and sometimes years. Regardless, the exercise often doesn’t resume until the diet does. If you’ve found that you fall into some iteration of this cycle, you may have not given yourself the permission nor opportunity to find a love for fitness. On the other hand, phases of “bulking and cutting” may be to blame for dips in motivation for the frequent gym-goers. Feel like your drive to be active is less than ideal? Consider the state of your nutrition.
If you forced yourself to go to the movie theaters starving and sit through a movie you don’t care for, you might find that going to the movies is an unpleasant experience. Why would the gym be any different than this? You may find that your time in the gym is much more enjoyable when you have the energy to run, jump, and row. Further, freeing yourself of the weight-loss goal may allow you to find methods of exercise you actually like. Feeding your body the calories it needs and giving yourself permission to do activities that sound exciting, instead of those that “burn the most calories”, might actually spark joy for movement. If you don’t dread the gym, or exercise in general, you won’t find yourself constantly digging deep for every morsel of motivation. When going to the gym is no longer a chore, but instead something to be excited for, you won’t need to dig for any motivation. You’ll no longer need to worry about “falling off the wagon” because you never got on the “wagon”. Instead, your purpose for exercise becomes enjoying the process of moving and feeling better.
At this point, I’m afraid I might have lost you. Whenever the suggestion of “eating more calories” comes out, most people shut down. These blasphemous words go against every tenant of the weight-loss and dieting culture we live in. The truth is, eating more calories may not be the fastest way to lose weight. Despite this, choosing not to starve yourself may give you the energy to explore new ways to enjoy exercise. Choosing to be active while giving your body what it needs may at least provide the motivation to be consistent with a workout routine. Consistency in a fitness routine is much easier to achieve when you aren’t scraping the bottom of your “willpower barrel” for every workout. With enough energy to enjoy every workout, you’re much more likely to stick to your fitness journey and reach your goals.
Have you ever sat down to eat a meal and instantly thought, “I should not be eating this!"? Or, did you ever think that “My day was awesome! I owned it, I am going to enjoy this cheeseburger, fries and beer!”? Nutrition is often a love/hate relationship because some foods that you truly enjoy may not be what you ‘should’ be eating. Yet, who is to say that you should or should not eat a cheeseburger and fries or enjoy a venti peppermint mocha with extra whip and sprinkles? Granted having those high fat, high sugar, highly processed foods daily can lead to some future health concerns, but they may be consumed in moderation.
I know for myself that when I have a craving, I will give myself a day to see if other foods I eat can provide that fix. If I am not satisfied and the craving still lingers, I will eat whatever it is I am craving. Usually, it is not a specific food it is more of a taste craving; salty, sweet, sour, or bitter. It could be pizza (maybe a whole one), candy, sugary coffee drinks, chips, or a dessert. At times, I find that after eating the ‘not so healthy’ food and going back to my usual meals I see results and feel great. There is nothing wrong with indulging these foods but knowing it should not become a staple in your daily diet is very important. Many would be surprised to know that people in the health and fitness industry don’t always stay on point either. After surveying some of the Western staff the following food items were listed as their go-to indulgent foods: ‘pizza, wings and beer, ‘doughnuts’, ‘cereal or Chik-fil-A’, ‘burger and wings’, ‘Culver's', Starbucks cheese danish, doughnuts and coffee, 'candy, tacos, cheese pizza, cake' and ‘protein balls’.
I would like to encourage you to read the article in the linked here, entitled Mind Over Food. Part of it talks about how your mood, brain and hormones can affect your digestion and the other part talks about the power of expectation. The first portion is very eye-opening and it has me being more mindful about my mood when I am eating my meals. It is amazing to think, the mood you have about the food you are eating will play a role in your digestion.
With the holiday season upon us, I encourage everyone to give yourself compassion and grace to eat the cookies and pies (in moderation 🙂), have a second helping of cheesy potatoes or have a glass or two of your homemade baileys.
Wishing you all a very merry holiday season to you!
Have you found yourself stressed from the COVID-19 pandemic? The virus and many changes over the last few months have impacted all of us in some way. Are you having a difficult time managing your stress during the pandemic? One common reaction to stress is overeating. Here are a few tips to help you turn stress and eating into a positive influence for your life.
Knowledge is control. Know your personal triggers when it comes to eating.
Resilience. Overeating is bound to happen from time to time and that is okay. Overeating is not desirable, but the self-destructive “after talk” that occurs after overeating can be more damaging. One of the most important lessons to learn is to forgive yourself before you make another unhealthy choice or overindulge.
Exercise is a wonderful stress-reliever. Choose the form of exercise you enjoy and do it often. Whether that be a round of golf, weight-lifting, yoga, hiking a nearby trail or walking to your favorite hunting spot. Make it work for you! Even a short walk can get your mind off food and help you deal with what’s stressing you out.
Meditation can help you handle stress. Try taking three to five deep breaths before giving in to a food craving. After your deep breaths and taking a moment to pause, ask yourself if you still want that specific food.
Mindful eating can help stop stress-eating before it even starts. Slow down and savor the foods you choose to nourish your body. Being mindful takes time, so be patient with yourself. Read these mindful eating tips to help you refresh your eating habits.
Sleep may be the answer to deal with stress and overeating. When you repeatedly don’t sleep well or go to bed too late, the lack of sleep can play a role in your ability to fight off infection, keep your weight at bay and feel focused and energetic. By getting the recommended amount of sleep (seven to eight hours per night for adults), you will be able to better manage and likely not overeat. Read these sleep tips to help you get a good night’s sleep.
Coloring helps relieve stress as well. And as an added bonus, eating is hard when your hands are occupied! Find adult coloring books online or at your favorite book or craft store!
Hope these tips help you manage your stress and eat healthier during the pandemic.
What are they and why are we afraid of them?
Fats are a macronutrient, meaning they are one of the three main ways the body obtains energy or calories.
CALORIES are ENERGY.
According to health.org: Dietary fats are essential to give your body energy and to support cell growth. They also help
protect your organs and help keep your body warm. Fats help your body absorb some nutrients and produce
important hormones, too. Your body definitely needs fat.
WHY ARE THEY BAD?
Fats gained a bad name around the 1980s when professionals became aware of the harms of saturated fat.
From there, food industries started pulling ALL fats from their foods and then adding more products (like sugars) to
alter the taste back to normal!
HEALTHY FATS
Unsaturated fats are typically liquid at room temperature. Look for these types of unsaturated fats when purchasing
prepared foods and cooking:
Monounsaturated fats: found in nuts, avocados, olive, canola, and peanut oils
Polyunsaturated fats: found in soybean, corn, sunflower, sesame, and safflower oils
Omega-3 fatty acids: found in fish, ground flaxseed, chia seeds and walnuts
REMEMBER...FATS ARE FRIENDS!
WHAT ARE CARBS?
Carbs. Aka. Carbohydrates.
What are they and why are we afraid of them? Carbohydrates are a macronutrient, meaning they are one of the three main ways the body obtains energy or calories. Yes... CALORIES are ENERGY.
"The American Diabetes Association notes that carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy. They are called carbohydrates because, at the chemical level, they contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen." - Livescience
Why are they bad?
Carbs gained a bad name when professionals realized reducing carbohydrates in a diabetic diet could make a positive impact on their patient's lives. Soon enough the whole country was in a frenzy of reducing carbs for EVERYONE and many believed it was the magical secret to weight loss.
Shouldn't I cut carbs though?
NO! Reducing your intake of healthy carbs can lead to the following problems:
A slower metabolism
Lower levels of muscle/strength-building hormones
Higher levels of stress hormones
The result? You might find yourself feeling cranky, fatigued, weaker, or even sick at times.
Aren't carbs just sugar?
Yes. Carbs DO turn into sugars in the body, but here's the thing: fiber is one of the things that makes the carbs usually described as "good carbs". Fiber helps the digestion process and gets this human factory moving! According to the USDA, most of the carbs you should be getting from your diet should be complex carbohydrates: the unprocessed, fiber-laden, long chain complex carbohydrates like whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Less than 10 percent should be coming from simple carbohydrates, like table sugar, refined or processed.
Are there "good" carbs?
Carbs are carbs, but some are going to digest much more efficiently in your body than others! Check out a list of some of the most optimal carbs to include in a healthy diet according to Heathline:
1. Pizza
Now that I have your attention — yes, you can eat pizza! If you make it right, that is. Make it with a thin crust (preferably whole grain or gluten-free) and load it up with tomato sauce or pesto sauce, plus lots of flavorful vegetables.
2. Quinoa
This powerhouse seed acts and tastes like a nutty grain, but it’s actually a gluten-free seed. It’s higher in nutrients and protein than most grains, meaning that you can forego the cholesterol, saturated fat, and cancer-causing compounds found in animal proteins.
3. Lentils
Yum! Lentils are quick and easy to prepare in comparison to other types of beans. They’re high in protein and a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber, which can be helpful for people with diabetes, as fiber prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal. Lentils contain many important minerals including iron, magnesium, and folate.
4. Dates
Dates can help fend off everything from night blindness to anemia, and constipation to seasonal allergies. The significant amounts of minerals found in dates like iron, calcium, and potassium can help with healthy bone development and maintaining a healthy gut. Incorporatie dates into my snacks and desserts!
5. Oats
Oats play a vital role in improving our feeling of fullness, and can be a boon to our digestive, cardiovascular, and overall metabolic health. Oats are rich in a specific type of fiber called beta-glucan known to help lower levels of bad cholesterol.
6. Whole wheat pastas
Yes! Spaghetti, linguine, farfalle. Give pasta a chance, in smaller portions and especially when paired with a plethora of vegetables.
7. Black beans
Black beans are classified as legumes. They’re easy to make, and chock full of protein, fiber, and iron. They also contain many minerals important in building and maintaining bone structure and strength, and contain selenium, which plays a role in liver enzyme function and helps to detoxify cancer-causing compounds in the body.
8. Apples
Apples are one of the best sources of carbs you can eat, since they contain large amounts of pectin, which helps keep you feeling full, as well as vitamin C and potassium. They’re also rich in natural sugars, which digest more slowly than those found in processed foods.
9. Chickpeas
Chickpeas are particularly high in fiber and are loaded with health-building and bone-building minerals, including vitamin K, phosphate, and calcium.
10. Pears
Pears offer a large dose of potassium, vitamin C, magnesium, and fiber. They’re decadently sweet and aid in cleansing the digestive tract.
Did you know that vitamin D is comprised of more than one vitamin? Vitamin D is actually a “family” of vitamins that includes vitamin D2 (calciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Vitamin D3 is found in animal-based foods and vitamin D2 is found in plants. Although both help to fulfill your vitamin D requirements, research at times has shown that vitamin D3 may raise your blood levels of this important vitamin slightly more than vitamin D2. Keep in mind, both are still needed.
Vitamin D is important to your body because it helps to absorb calcium and promote bone growth. Too little vitamin D can lead to soft bones in children (rickets) and fragile, misshapen bones in adults (osteomalacia). Vitamin D deficiency has now been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, depression, weight gain and other maladies. These studies show that people with higher levels of vitamin D have a lower risk of disease, although they do not definitively prove that lack of vitamin D causes disease – or that vitamin D supplements would lower risk. As with many nutrition findings, more research is still needed.
3 tips to increase vitamin D
1. Consume foods that contain vitamin D. Sources of vitamin D3 include liver, egg yolk, butter, fatty fish, fish oil and supplements. Vitamin D2 can be found in mushrooms (grown in UV light), fortified foods and also in dietary supplements. These foods can easily be added to your diet in the following ways:
*Since vitamin D2 is cheaper to produce, it’s usually the most common form found in fortified foods.
2. Spend time in the sun. Even in Wisconsin, you can get sunlight to help your body produce the necessary vitamin D it needs. However, this works best if you are without sunscreen and lightly clad with clothing, which can be difficult in the winter months. Bottom line, getting outdoors for some vitamin D is always a good idea, but even if you don’t get the formation of this precious vitamin, getting outside and breathing fresh air is never a poor choice. Climates like Wisconsin may require you to take a vitamin D supplement during the winter months.
3. Talk with your physician. Take an active role in requesting that your vitamin D levels be checked. If you need a supplement, the safe upper limit for vitamin D is 4,000 IU’s. Your physician may put you on a dose ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 IU’s or more a day. According to the US Institute of Medicine, the recommended daily allowance is 400 to 800 IU’s. Bottom line, make sure your levels are monitored and check your level before you decide to supplement.
About 1.6 million car accidents, every year, happen because of texting and driving. According to the National Safety Council, nearly 400,000 people are injured and 1 in 4 car accidents occur because someone was attempting to text while driving. With this in mind, it’s reasonable to consider distracted driving an epidemic. Unfortunately, humans are terrible at multitasking. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we spend most of our days looking for solutions to accomplish more than one thing at once.
No two people have the same goals and motivations regarding fitness. Some join the gym with the goals of losing weight. Others lift weights because they want to gain muscle. For some, exercising is therapeutic while for others, making it to the gym is just another check on the “To Do” list. One person may be exercising to stay healthy for their family, and another might exercise for aesthetic goals. Some simply see the gym as a socializing opportunity. Nobody’s purpose in the gym is the same, and nobody’s fitness journey looks the same. Some hit the genetic lottery and see nearly instant results. Others aren’t quite as lucky, and it takes them longer (sometimes much longer) to even start to see progress. No two individuals are the same, but there is one factor that determines absolutely everyone’s satisfaction and sense of accomplishment in the gym: intentionality.
Do you have a sense of purpose when you are in the gym? Are you deliberate about what you do and how you spend your time? It’s time to be honest with yourself. If your goal is to shed some fat but you spend more time talking than moving, it may be time to reevaluate your strategy or change your goal. No single goal is more admirable or impressive than any other. Don’t set goals for anyone but yourself. Regardless, whatever you choose, pursue it with passion and intention. If you want to improve your one-mile running time but spend most of the time trotting at half speed, lost in thought about your day, don’t be surprised when you don’t see progress.
We are all guilty of spending time on “autopilot”. You may often find yourself doing something, but your mind is a million miles away. Maybe you feel the need to multitask, like reply to that one email while you ride the stationary bike. Unfortunately, sitting on the leg press while you catch up on texts will not count towards leg day reps. Many people spend much of their life riding through the present on autopilot while their mind is focused on the past or future. Allow yourself to become distracted, and you will never give your full effort. If you never perform to your full potential, you will never reach your full potential. It’s time to live in the moment. Have a sense of intention for what you are doing and eliminate all other distractions. If you set your life on autopilot and allow yourself to become distracted by something else, you are bound to crash and burn.
“You are what you eat” is a very common phrase used to gently warn people that they should make healthy food choices. Rephrase that a bit and ask yourself, “What are you eating?” This is a simple question, but do you actually pay attention to what you are eating? I mean, really pay attention and think about the aroma, flavor and texture of the food?
A simple approach to being mindful of your eating can be reached by asking yourself these three questions:
Perhaps stopping and asking yourself these questions will help you to choose with awareness and eat with intention instead of mindlessly snacking on your craving.
Mindful eating does not equate to perfect eating. Perfection is not the goal as certain fad diets expect you to be perfect. Instead, mindful eating allows you to eat all foods. Did you read that right? Let’s repeat. All foods are allowed, but being mindful of where you are on the “hunger and fullness scale” is a key component to finding success with this eating style. The goal of this scale is to try and eat when you’re at a 3 to 4 level and to stop eating when you are at a 5 to 6.
The Hunger and Fullness Scale
Source: Dr. Michelle May’s book, “Eat what you Love, Love what you Eat”
If the “Eat-repent-repeat” cycle categorizes how you feel on a daily basis, perhaps mindful eating is an option to consider. Perfection is not the goal of mindful eating. Knowing that ahead of time can be so reassuring and comforting.
If you would like to learn more about mindful eating, visit thecenterformindfuleating.org or amihungry.com.
“It’s in the bag.” This is a common expression often used confidently to mean that the results will be favorable. It’s primarily been used to refer to a winning team of a sporting event or perhaps a salesperson may say this right before they close the big deal. A more literal meaning of the phrase, “it’s in the bag”, is the focus for today’s topic. Let’s chat about packing lunches. Currently, what is your present schedule when it comes to packing lunches? Do you pack it every day? Twice a week? Does someone else pack it for you? Do you take mostly cold items or hot? Once you have answered these questions, you will have completed an important step to packing healthy lunches.
How often do you pack a lunch? The benefits of packing a lunch are insurmountable. You have choices that you can make in advance so spontaneous eating is at an all-time low. Second, cold lunches usually help you to be more frugal. This is plain common sense. You can pack at least three lunches for the price of one lunch at a restaurant. Third, planning is KEY for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Notice weight loss wasn’t mentioned as a benefit of this eating pattern, but planning meals/snacks (including and especially those outside of the home) will help with the numbers on the scale.
What are you packing? Is it the same cold sandwich and piece of fruit every day? While there is nothing wrong with a sandwich and fruit, variety is not only the key to life, but the key to gaining valuable nutrients and antioxidants. If you are following a pattern of sandwich and fruit, try these simple tips. Change your protein every other day. Try chicken breast, tuna, canned salmon or nut butters for your protein sources. Make a turkey breast in the oven and use it for sandwiches during the week. Choose whole wheat bread such as Dave’s Powerhouse bread or Ezekiel bread. Switch up your fruit daily, or at the very least, every other day with different colored choices. Also, your spread on your sandwich can change from an olive oil based spread to a variety of hummus or avocado.
When are you packing your lunch? This matters because if you take the time to put some energy and thought into it, chances are it will be much healthier. If you start packing five minutes before you run out the door, chaotic choices usually are not the healthiest ones. Good rule of thumb: pack your lunch with or after your supper meal. As you are putting away leftovers, put some in small containers ready for lunch the next day. Also, when making a dinner salad, prepare two or three salads for yourself or others that need a packed lunch. You have all the ingredients out anyway so making multiple salads at once will cut down on time.
Don’t let packing lunches become a chore. You can make “around the world” lunches. Have you ever attended a party or holiday that had an “all around the world” theme? Choose a country, a region, a state, etc. and choose cuisine from that area for the week, the day or the month. Eating can become mundane if you don’t give it a little spark or change it now and then. What do you have to lose? Well, maybe your packed lunch boredom.
Usually, when one sees the abbreviation “vs.”, it leads us to believe that one is better than the other and that we must make a choice. This is not the case with fermented and fresh foods as both are beneficial to a healthy diet.
Let’s start with the simplest form of foods: fresh. Why choose fresh? Fresh food is food which has not been preserved and has not spoiled yet. For vegetables and fruits, this means that they have been recently harvested and treated properly postharvest. For meat, it has recently been slaughtered and butchered, and for fish, it has been recently caught or harvested and kept cold. These foods are at their finest as they are fresh. Try to purchase fresh foods whenever possible. Perhaps you grow your own vegetables, raise chickens for their eggs, or hunt or fish for lean/healthy protein sources. These are all examples of eating fresh and an excellent way to promote healthy eating.
So what is all the hype regarding fermented foods? First, fermentation uses microbes, such as bacteria and yeast, to preserve food. It is an easy way to add beneficial bacteria to your gut to help support a healthy microbiome. This ancient technique of preserving food breaks down carbohydrates, like starch and sugar, using bacteria and yeast. Common fermented foods include kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, apple cider vinegar, tempeh and yogurt. These foods may reduce heart disease risk, aid digestion, immunity and weight loss. Let’s take a brief look at these as they are less familiar to most people.
Kombucha is a fermented tea that is fizzy, tart and flavorful. Since it is made from either green or black tea, it contains all of those health-promoting properties. During the fermentation process, the bacteria turn the sugar in the tea to alcohol leaving a low level of alcohol in this drink. However, commercial-made kombucha tea has less than 0.5% alcohol, so unless pregnant or breastfeeding, it’s usually not a huge issue. Homemade varieties can have up to 3% alcohol in them so be vigilant and ask questions.
Kimchi is a popular Korean side dish and is usually made from fermented cabbage, but it can also be made with other vegetables such as radishes. It is known to help with lowering cholesterol and reducing insulin resistance.
Kefir is a dairy product is similar to yogurt but has a thinner consistency. It can be used as a drink or it can be used with cereal instead of milk.
Apple cider vinegar has been noted to have many benefits. To name a few, besides its fermentation properties, research suggests it may help with lowering cholesterol and blood pressure.
Tempeh is popular in Japanese cooking. It is a soybean-based fermented food and is a popular meat substitute (similar to tofu). It does contain all the essential amino acids so it is a complete vegetarian protein source.
Vegetables are packed with powerful nutrients and antioxidants. Two of the most common fermented vegetables are sauerkraut and pickles. However, other vegetables can be fermented, such as eggplant, ginger, beets, broccoli, mustard greens, carrots, radishes, etc.
If fermentation sounds interesting to you, please note there are many different recipes, blogs and tips available for you. Here is just one basic recipe that you can use to start fermenting vegetables.
Choose fresh AND fermented foods for better health!
Tony Robbins said the secret to happiness in one word. ... “I always tell people if you want to know the secret to happiness, I can give it to you in one word: progress. Progress equals happiness.” That's because reaching a goal is satisfying, but only temporarily. It’s a feeling of satisfaction that needs to be replenished again and again. “Did I get that thing that I want? Yes, Now I’m happy. I didn’t get what I want. Now I’m unhappy.” Happiness doesn’t stay in one place forever and that’s why we need progress over and over because progress is an onward movement towards a destination. And moving forward is the only way to attain goals.
I believe that’s what keeps people coming back to the gym and working on themselves: goals. I don’t think it needs to be totally tangible either (while many are very tangible). Some people come to the gym to work out because they need a social connection every day while some come because they want to lift a particular weight. Some come because they want to make their golf or tennis better and others want to lose 15 lbs. by summer. Some work with a personal trainer towards a specific goal and many others make it a priority to make it to a high energy class a few times a week.
I think having a goal and working towards it is a very important part of progress. And progress leads to happiness.
To everyone out there who makes a goal and is working towards it, no matter what it is, I applaud you. Keep up the great work. If you’re new in the fitness world, my advice is this: Do things you like and keep doing it. If you hate running, don’t do it. Maybe you’d enjoy walking your dog every night for an hour instead. If you want to lose weight but can’t seem to figure out how, start with looking at what you eat. Try eliminating one unhealthy thing like sugary treats, candy, or perhaps cut wine down to a glass per day or every other day. You don’t need to overwhelm yourself with adding things you don’t care for such as grueling workouts. Try the process of elimination. You’re body and mind will respond for the better by default. That’s the start of progress which will lead to happiness.
Hypertension affects millions of people in the United States. Do you struggle with keeping it in check? Rather than first focusing on what foods to avoid, let’s spend some time with what foods you can choose to help combat this condition.
Drinking beet juice reduces blood pressure both short and long term. Choose 1 cup of the juice every day for 4 weeks and keep track of your numbers. If you see them drop, it will be worth the effort.
As if you needed another reason to eat dark chocolate, but this sweet treat may lower your blood pressure. Be sure you choose 70% or greater cacao and consume a single square serving or 1 ounce each day.
Fruits such as berries, kiwis, guava and bananas are all excellent choices when trying to lower those blood pressure numbers. Berries such as blueberries and strawberries contain the antioxidant, anthocyanin, and this nutrient was found to be more prevalent in people with lower blood pressure. Kiwis and guavas are quite rich in Vitamin C with 70 mg packed into one medium kiwi and 125 mg in a guava. Researchers have found a correlation that consuming an average of 500 mg of Vitamin C per day may produce small reductions of blood pressure. Be aware that this far exceeds the recommended daily value of 90 mg Vitamin C, but know that it is a water-soluble vitamin so your body will excrete what it doesn’t use. How does vitamin C help? It may act as a diuretic, removing excess fluid from your body. This may help lower the pressure within your blood vessels. Bananas have long been touted for the potassium they contain. This mineral is very important in managing hypertension. According to the American Heart Association, potassium reduces the effects of sodium and alleviates tension in the walls of the blood vessels.
Speaking of sodium, now that is one nutrient that is usually given the blame in relation to high blood pressure. If you are struggling with hypertension, monitor your sodium levels. The American Heart Association encourages your sodium levels to be no more than 2300 mg (1 tsp.) of salt a day and an ideal limit of fewer than 1500 mg per day for most adults, especially those with high blood pressure.
Alcohol can also play a role in your pressure numbers. While consuming a small amount of red wine has been proven to help with heart health, using too much alcohol can cause havoc on your pressure numbers.
Finally, you know that caffeine is a stimulant. However, let’s think about this for a bit. The caffeine you consume in coffee, tea, soda or energy drinks can cause a short-term spike in your blood pressure. The review of five trials found that drinking up to 2 cups of strong coffee can increase both systolic and diastolic blood pressure for 3 hours after consumption. The good news is that this short-term increase is just that, short-term, and the findings didn’t show that it caused a long-term increase in your blood pressure. At the very least, plan when you take your blood pressure and try to avoid caffeine use a few hours before.
Hope these tips help in keeping those numbers within the normal range.
Debbie Guenterberg MS, RDN, CD
Prevea Health Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
Food additives are very present in our food supply. When is the last time you looked at a nutrition label strictly for food additives? Of course, it is always important to pay attention to the entire nutrition label focusing in on added sugar, calories, saturated fat, etc. However, I want to draw closer attention to the ingredient list on products and provide a few tips.
You may already know that ingredients are listed from the ones with the highest amounts added to the lowest. However, even if they are on the bottom of the ingredient list, there are additives you want to avoid completely. Please refer to the Chemical Cuisine web site and look at the key and the ingredients that are placed within the following categories.
Safe: The additive appears to be safe
Caution: May pose a risk and needs to be better tested. Try to avoid.
Cut back: Not toxic, but large amounts may be unsafe or promote bad nutrition.
Certain people should avoid: May trigger an acute, allergic reaction, intolerance or other problems.
Avoid: Unsafe in amounts consumed or is very poorly tested and not worth any risk.
If you have specific questions regarding one of the additives, the site provides a relatively lengthy description of why it was placed within a certain category. Too often, in an effort to eat healthfully, you may be choosing chemically ridden foods. I encourage you to use this resource as a reference and to expand your nutrition knowledge.
Debbie Guenterberg MS, RDN, CD
Prevea Health Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
Every year there seems to be a new fad or diet kick that promises big results. Oftentimes the science behind a new diet or fitness trend is not fully understand and we base decisions off what we hear from others (or what we want to believe). “Diets” seem to be used as a quick fix solution to lose ‘x’ amount of weight quick, but usually quick fixes aren’t the answer to long term success. It is important to remember that diets do end and once we are done, it’s common to find ourselves slipping back into old habits. If we focus on living a healthy lifestyle, we will find a steady improvement ratio with no yoyo effects.
Now, let’s take a second to try and understand the goals and the science behind the Ketogenic Diet. The diet requires us to intake low carbohydrates, high amounts of fats, and moderate levels of protein. By eating low amounts of carbs, the body should reach a phase called ketosis which is a metabolic state where the body breaks down fat for energy.
If you live a sedentary life, meaning spending long days sitting or never going to the gym, this diet will be the most effective for you. With a low carb intake, the body is creating lack of muscle glycogen, which is not important to a person not using it anyway. It has also shown to possibly decrease inflammation in the body. This diet has also proven to improve the symptoms of some types of epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and diabetes.
The downsides of this diet are immensely more intriguing. The brain utilizes blood sugar (glucose) as a main ingredient to focus, help with cognitive work, interpersonal communication, and sluggishness throughout the day. Anyone who is an athlete or avid gym goer is going to have a terrible time on the Ketogenic Diet. Not only will you have no energy to work out, you will start to burn muscle for fuel. People do see weight loss numbers on the scale the first couple weeks of the diet, but it has been identified as mainly water weight being excreted. There is a difference between losing weight and burning body fat. This diet also consists of a very strict eating plan that most people have had a challenging time following and instead end up using this fad as an excuse to eat high fat diets.
The takeaway from this is that living a healthy lifestyle will always trump the new diet fad. Do it right and you won’t have to do it again. Be knowledgeable about what you are doing to your body and keep working hard.
Alexis Alger-Feser
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
Have you ever thought that in order to be healthy you must give up certain foods? If someone tries one of my prepared dishes or snacks and then states, “it tastes pretty good for being healthy,” I feel I need to change the recipe or buy a new product. News flash…you can have both pure deliciousness AND healthy!
After being a dietitian for more than 20 years, I realize that people have specific foods that they love but they either try to avoid altogether or eat a healthier version of but are not really satisfied with the taste. I want to help you with this dilemma and provide you with recipes and products that I think are pure deliciousness. You may agree or disagree with my selections, but at least it may help you to consider that you can have wholesome and delicious foods at the same time.
Pizza…do you avoid it? There are some healthy, creative ways to make pizza part of your menu, but I wouldn’t be a registered dietitian without reminding you that portion is still key. Check out this pizza recipe from eatingwell.com.
Ice cream is certainly a fan favorite too, especially as we approach a warmer season. A healthier alternative to ice cream is Halo Top since it is very low in calories. They use the zero-calorie sweetener Stevia and for added sweetness, they use organic cane sugar and erythritol (a type of sugar alcohol). I certainly am not stating that this brand is a ‘healthy snack’, but it does have fewer calories and less fat and could be enjoyed in moderation.
Chocolate is another favorite food that people crave. Desserts can be made with healthier ingredients and still satisfy your sweetness palate. If you believe that chocolate should be a part of your everyday routine, then meet Katie by reading her blog. This blog has not failed me, and I have made quite a few of her decadent desserts for guests and cooking demonstrations. She also has many other recipes for breakfast, lunches and snacks.
Additional healthy recipes, including breakfast foods, can be found at:
cleaneatingmag.com
allrecipes.com
foodiecrush.com
I am all about balance. Are you? Aim for eating healthy 85% of the time and 15% of the time you have some of these foods above. Not quite there? Perhaps you are an 80-20 person or maybe you have higher goals and eat healthy 90% of the time and only waiver 10%. Whatever the case, restraining from certain foods can be emotionally and mentally exhausting. Treat food as fuel and just like you choose high-end fuels for your car engine, treat your body the same. Occasionally you can get away with the cheaper choice, but your body will tell you in many ways that it craves the high-end fuel. Choose wisely!
Deb Guenterberg, MS, RDN, CD
Prevea Health Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
