You Are What You Eat
Knowing the right foods to choose for a healthier life and maximum weight loss may not seem that difficult, but you’ll be amazed at just how bad some seemingly innocent popular foods are for you and how they can prevent you from shedding those extra pounds. What you eat does make a difference in not only your weight, but also your overall health. Banana chips and granola or energy bars may seem healthy, but that’s not always so. Some granola/energy bars are loaded with sugar and banana chips are fried, with fewer nutrients of a fresh banana.
Choosing healthy foods means never having to diet again.
Or as Ali MacGraw from “Love Story” might say, “Eating the right foods means never having to say your sorry.” Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but it is true. When you make smart food choices, your body thanks you with a healthy weight and plenty of energy. Processed foods are not on that list. The closer you come to whole foods, foods with very little processing, the better off you are. Whole foods contain more vitamins, such they aren’t destroyed by heat from cooking. They provide fewer hidden ingredients, especially if they’re organic. (Some of the hidden ingredients in some non-organic fruits and veggies may be pesticides.) You can eat as much as you like when you’re eating whole foods. It’s hard to eat enough fresh fruit and vegetables to put on any weight.
What you drink makes a huge difference.
Stop immediately before you reach for your next can of soda. Pop is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to poor nutrition. It’s sugar water with flavoring. Even fruit juice can be a little bit of an enemy, since much of the bulk and fiber is removed, so you have to drink more before filling up on it. It also is missing the bulk that helps slow the absorption of the sugar in the fruit in your intestines. Even in a smoothie, where you put the whole fruit and vegetable in the blender, you may be getting all the vitamins, but not nearly the same satisfaction or feeling of satiety. While smoothies are better than juice and juice is 1000 times better than carbonated drinks, water is probably the best drink for you if you’re trying to shed extra pounds.
You need fat in your diet.
Too often people cut out all fat when they diet, even healthy fat. That’s not good nutrition. Healthy fat has a lot to offer. It keeps you feeling full longer, promotes good metabolism, aids in the absorption of vitamins and is good for the heart. Avocados, salmon, real butter (particularly from grass fed cows) and coconut oil are examples of healthy fat that actually aids in weight loss and makes your body healthier.
Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, but get a broad mix of colors. A simple way to insure you’re getting all they phytonutrients and vitamins and minerals from fresh fruits and vegetables is to insure you have a broad mix of colors.
Learn to cook foods differently. When you steam vegetables instead of boil them, more of the nutrients stay in the veggies. Baked or grilled meat is always better than fried.
Learn to make substitutions in cooking. Some of the fat or sugar in baked goods can be replaced with unsweetened applesauce.
Find lower calorie substitutions. If you want the richness of sour cream, but with fewer calories, use Greek yogurt instead. There are hundreds of small changes and substitutions you can make to lower calories, but get the same flavor.
Fight The Holiday Blues
If you have to fight the holiday blues, you’re not only missing much of the enjoyment, you also probably dread the coming of the season. The holiday blues can occur for a number of reasons. With days getting shorter and chillier, getting out for a day in the sun is often not an option. That may lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder—SAD. One of the reasons for the depression, besides the lack of sunshine, is a lower amount of vitamin D that sunshine helps the body create.
Eat for a healthier mental attitude.
A healthy diet is important to preventing depression, but some foods are actually better than others to help lift your spirits. Even though sugary treats may be comfort foods, they will only lift you up for a while and then body slam your emotions back into the ground. Walnuts and cashews contain Omega-3 fatty acids that can help lift your spirits and improve brain health. High fiber carbohydrates such as whole wheat breads, as well as green tea can help make you feel good too. Turmeric spice is an antidepressant. Foods high in vitamin D and B complex are important to a healthier mental attitude.
Exercise for relief.
Exercise is a stress buster and can help you relax, but it also can stimulate the body to create natural anti-depressants. After exercise burns off the hormones from stress, such as cortisol, it causes the production of dopamine, endorphins and serotonin. Endorphins make you relax, raise your pain threshold and makes you feel good. Serotonin is often called the happiness hormone. Dopamine improves your mental alertness.
Treat yourself to a wrap, massage or aromatherapy.
All three of these things will help lift your spirits. Massages help eliminate pain and relaxes you, taking away anxiety in the process. Saunas can supply heat therapy to alleviate adrenal fatigue syndrome, while wraps embrace your body and help detox it. All of these therapies go hand in hand with aromatherapy, by integrating the essential oil into the massage, sauna or wrap. You’ll be treating yourself to a relaxing time, which will lift your spirits, lower anxiety and help you enjoy the holiday time more.
Get plenty of sleep. Lack of sleep can cause depression even if it isn’t a holiday. Exercise can help you sleep better at night.
Stick to your routine or add to it. You may feel like staying at home under the covers, but that only makes depression worse.
Volunteer to help others. Doing something positive to make someone else’s life better can be so rewarding it can lift you from depression. You’ll not only be doing something for someone else, you’ll be making yourself feel good in the process.
Have fun with a friend. Whether you workout with them in the gym, go shopping with them or just have a cup of coffee, good friends and good conversation are important to lifting you out of a holiday funk.
Best Thanksgiving
You can make this your best Thanksgiving yet by starting now with a program of healthy eating and regular exercise. It’s not too late to get into better shape for the holidays. Even after two weeks, you’ll notice a huge difference in your energy level and how your clothing fits. You’ll look better and feel better, too. You’ll get a head start on learning what foods to eat at the holiday table and even how to make your favorites a little healthier.
If you’ve been exercising and eating healthy, you’ll be ready for the holidays.
Thanksgiving means food and lots of it. Some of the food is superb in both nutritional value and flavor. Others simply aren’t. Luckily, once you know which is which, you can load your plate with healthy low calorie foods and use the higher calorie ones for trimmings. That’s right, you can still eat those mashed potatoes and a little bit of gravy, just not a Santa Ana mountain size serving. You’ll know exactly what to eat and enjoy every minute of it, while grazing constantly on the vegetable plate and other healthy foods for snacks.
If you’ve just started program, you’ll be amazed at how your self image rises.
While you might not see all the results you want, just knowing you’re talking a fitness issue can give you an improved self image. Feeling comfortable in your own skin is a treat that not everyone has the pleasure of enjoying. That extra bit of confidence goes a long way to making your day far more fun and the best Thanksgiving yet.
Start your day off right.
No matter how busy you are, make the time to eat a healthy breakfast and exercise before you go over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house or have family and friends knocking at your door. That short 30 minute walk or workout can burn off the stress hormones and help you relax and enjoy the rest of the day. The breakfast will give you extra energy to accomplish all your tasks with time to spare.
It’s time to find the perfect healthy food to take to a family celebration if it’s pot luck. You’ll dazzle them with flavor and know that the food is healthier than anyone would guess. Start trying new recipes to find the one your like.
Make sure you take your time eating so your brain has time to receive the signal that your body is full. Get involved with others at the dinner and spend more time talking while you eat or simply eat slow and savor each bite slowly.
Drink extra water throughout the day and avoid alcoholic beverages. If you drink a glass of wine with the meal, take very small sips to make it last longer.
Portion control is extremely important. Put small portions on your plate, filling in the gap with salad or vegetables. You can always ask for seconds if you’re still hungry.
Who Inspires You
Everyone has somebody that inspires them. It might be a person who has accomplished a great deal in his or her life or someone that overcame great odds. Inspiration also comes from kind words of encouragement and belief in you. Sometimes mothers come to me and want to lose weight. Their reasons vary but often it’s so they can make their children proud of them and not ashamed at how heavy they’ve become. While it’s sad, it also is extremely motivating too.
Find the person who inspires you by their great deeds.
If you have a favorite character from history or know somebody that has overcome great odds, handicaps or suffering but relentless continued on toward their goal, you can use that person for inspiration when you workout. I have a friend whose sister died several times in the hospital and was revived, but because of neglect at a constant care facility,was told she’d never walk again. In fact, they never even exercised her muscles as she lay in bed for months recovering. She finally got to go home, but with someone stopping in daily. She spent every waking hour determined to walk and she reached her goal. Her gait is slow, but she’s mobile. My friend uses her story each time she feels like quitting and it keeps her going.
As a parent, you want to take care of your children and be there for important times.
Some parents want their children to be proud of them and not ashamed of their excess weight and that can be pretty motivating. However, parents also want to see their children and grandchildren grow up, too. If you’re extremely out of shape, the chances of that happening become less and that can become a powerful motivating force to help you change.
Get a supportive group around you.
Even though you may have friends and family for support, sometimes they simply don’t understand how hard sticking with a program of exercise and a healthy diet can be. That’s why working out with a group can help. Each person in the group, whether it’s an actual group like boot camp or just some people you formed friendships with when working out, can help inspire you when you need it the most.
As a personal trainer, I don’t like to say I inspire people, but I can help motivate them so they are inspired by their own success.
While you should always undertake a workout program for you, not for someone else, having a person that acts as your inspiration can help you become more successful.
When you consider people who have overcome great odds to achieve a goal, remember, they didn’t get there all at once but took small steps that gradually increased to larger steps and gains.
Always remember, you can achieve any goal with the right type of attitude and perseverance.
Get The Body You Want
If the body you want is trimmer, has more endurance and strength and moves with grace, it’s available! You don’t have to settle for less than the best possible you when you have the right type of training to help you achieve your fitness goals. Some people may say, “Hey, that’s not true. I’ve always wanted to be taller.” Well, guess what, that’s possible too. You see, when you workout and build muscle tissue, you don’t GROW taller, but your posture improves to the point you’ll be taller. That gives a whole new meaning to the words, “walking tall.”
Start where you are.
That might seem too simple, but it is one of the hardest concepts for most people to understand and one of the reasons personal trainers are so important. Unless you’re very familiar with overall fitness, identifying your own level of fitness is difficult and then it’s only in broad terms. If you don’t know where your starting, setting up a program to get to the next level can be difficult, but not impossible. I put that only because I don’t ever want to discourage people from working out even if they don’t have a personal trainer. A personal trainer makes it easier and gets results faster, so it’s better, but any kind of exercises is good.
Achieve the most in the least amount of time.
You don’t have to workout for hours at a time to get results. In fact, one study shows that even moderate exercise for over two hours straight can cause the body to release stress hormones, such as cortisol, which make weight loss more difficult. It’s recommended that working out between 30-45 minutes is best. When you work with a personal trainer, the trainer can often accomplish in thirty minutes or less of the right type of exercise, as much benefit as most people accomplish in 45 minutes or more. Saving time is always important in today’s busy world.
You’ll get the curves, muscles or sleek lines you want because trainers know which exercises work best to achieve your particular goal.
As a trainer, I never have done a one-size-fits-all type of program with my people. Each person is assessed and treated as a special individual with special and different needs. The programs you’ll work on with a trainer are aimed specifically at trouble spots, while giving the entire body a thorough workout.
You’ll learn how to eat healthier when you work with a personal trainer. Eating healthier isn’t dieting. Diets end. Eating healthier is a lifestyle change that means you’ll never have to diet again.
Trainers get results faster. Getting results quickly helps you stick with program and that is one of the keys to success.
You’ll be held accountable for your success. It’s just too easy to skip a workout when you’re on your own, working with a trainer keeps you more accountable until working becomes part of your daily routine.
You’ll feel fantastic as you work toward looking your best. You get more than just a great body from working out even if you’re not trying. You get more energy, better health, more endurance and will be burning stress hormones in the process.
Custom Workout
No matter where you’re working out, you probably don’t have a custom workout unless you’re working with a personal trainer. Personal trainers don’t just have you work until you feel tired or point you toward a machine and say do it ten times and work up to fifteen by next week. You often find that type of “leadership” at big box gyms where the person helping you actually has no more training than ten minutes on how to use each machine.
Personal trainers first assess your overall fitness.
Trainers may give you an exercise to do and watch as you do it. They may put you through your paces and see where you struggle or how you move your body. Even though you’ll be doing exercises often the first day, those exercises help to begin the continual assessment of fitness. That includes identifying all types of fitness and the level of fitness of each muscle group.
You’ll have a program that’s continuously in a state of flux.
A custom program isn’t created and then used the rest of your life. That’s because your body continuously changes. The more you work out, the more fit it becomes and the higher your level of fitness becomes. If you started with a good customized workout, it won’t be viable after a few weeks when your fitness level improves. That’s why trainers are constantly changing the workout to reflect your improvement, keeping it customized.
Make sure the program considers special needs and goals.
When I work with some people, they want to focus on specific problems, such as endurance and cardio or weight loss. That’s their goal. I create a program to focus on it, but also insure the workout provides all types of fitness. Others may come in with physical problems, such as back injuries, which require me to adjust the workout so it doesn’t exacerbate the problem. If time or travel makes a scheduled workout difficult. I create programs for people that fit their lifestyle, even ones that can be used traveling.
You don’t just get one customized workout but many. As a personal trainer I continuously change the program to avoid plateauing. That comes from the body becoming too efficient at one type of exercise.
A personalized program includes insuring you do all the exercises correctly. Not only do I and other personal trainers show clients how to do each exercise, we watch them to insure they do it right, thus,avoiding injury and getting more benefit..
A customized workout can also include nutritional advice. Nutritional advice isn’t dieting, but learning how to eat healthier so you never have to diet again.
No matter how fit or unfit you are, you’ll benefit from a customized workout.
The Holidays Are Coming
The holidays are coming and not only can they take a toll on your energy level, they also are a time when people want to look their best. Unfortunately, most people wait until the last minute to start a workout program. While starting at any time is good, you won’t get the results you want if you have only a few weeks to achieve them.
Holidays are busy times too.
One of the biggest problems with starting a program close to holiday time, besides time to achieve your goals, is that your schedule often bulges with new demands. Whether it’s Christmas shopping, planning family activities, the office party or other holiday activities, it can create challenges finding time to exercise. You’ll also be changing your eating habits and learning to cook healthier. That can take some time too.
Two to three months can help you get into fantastic shape to celebrate the New Year.
If you want to start the new year right, start working out now. Don’t wait and make it your New Year’s resolution. By starting now, you can look fabulous and wear clothing for the holidays that accent your new figure. You’ll have more energy for all the demands of the holiday season too. You’ll be starting the next year healthier and fitter, with plenty of energy to dance the night away until the clock strikes 12:00.
Surprise your family and friends with your new look.
Some people love the idea of keeping their fitness program under wraps and then wearing more form fitting clothes on the holidays. It’s so much fun to see people look in astonishment at the new you. Often you’ll be seeing relatives you haven’t seen since the last holiday, who won’t believe the change you made. You’ll also have plenty of knowledge of how to eat healthier so you can eat all you want at the celebration without worrying about gaining weight.
No matter when you start your workout program, you’ll notice other changes besides weight loss. You’ll look years younger because regular exercise helps all parts of your body, including your skin.
Exercise increases circulation sending oxygen and nutrient rich blood to all areas of your body and stimulates the production of antioxidants. You’ll be healthier than ever.
Exercise can help back problems and reduce pain. If you have a serious condition, our Wellness Center can help you be pain free by the holidays.
You’ll be ready to sit down at the holiday table and know exactly the right types of foods to choose. You’ll even learn to make your favorite dishes healthier and lower in calories.
Get Fit For Fall
Whether you spent all summer corralling the kids or just had a break in your busy schedule, you still have time to get fit for fall. There’s still plenty to do in Orange County and having the energy to do it is important. Whether you’re entering a race to raise awareness for your favorite charities, participating in the events at a festival on the beach or enjoying an Octoberfest, being in shape can make it that much more fun.
When you start now, you’ll be fabulous for the holidays.
Everyone wants to look their best at the holidays, but unfortunately they wait until a few weeks before to start exercising and eating healthier. You can be ahead of the game and look great for Thanksgiving, besides knowing exactly what to eat to help keep your weight in check. You won’t have to starve on that day of celebration where food is so important. That’s because you won’t be dieting, just eating healthier and there’s even room in that prescription for some pumpkin pie.
Looking fabulous is important, but feeling fantastic is even more important.
Working out is about more than just looking good. It’s about being healthy and feeling good. When you eat healthy and workout on a regular basis, you’ll not only tone up and slim down, you’ll be bursting with energy and good health. Studies show that regular exercise can help prevent serious conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and osteoporosis. It can also help control them if you already have them. Regular exercise also helps build your immune system to keep minor illnesses at bay, like colds and flu.
You’ll be able to spend time with the family enjoying everything this area has to offer.
Whether it’s just hiking the many trails at parks, participating in arm wrestling at Silverado Days or walking on the beach enjoying the sand sculptures, you will be making many memories with your family and they’ll love it. You’ll even be able to wear a sexy Halloween costume! It’s all fun when you feel good and look great.
Regular exercise can help you think clearer, helping to develop new neural pathways in your brain. If you’re learning anything new or are back in school yourself, that can be a huge benefit.
There’s still time for surfing. You’ll be fitter and ready to give it your all.
Get ready for the Turkey Trot and a host of other marathons and races. The fall weather is perfect for running and if you start now, you’ll be ready too.
Hiking at William R Mason Regional Park can be fun, but not if you’re out of shape. Start today and you’ll be ready for plenty of hikes this fall.
ART (Active Release Technique)
If you’re in pain from carpel tunnel, shin splints, back problems, sciatica and other soft tissue related conditions, you may have become frustrated from lack of help, face surgery or just given up and decided to live with the pain. There’s no need to do that. ART (Active Release Technique) can help you. This specialized technique is bringing help to thousands that thought their problem was a lost cause or faced the potential of surgery, a life of pain or limited movement. While it may seem simple, it’s not. There are over 500 treatment protocols, specific movements, which allow the specialist to first identify the tissue problem and then work with it. Each client has their own personalized treatment.
Soft tissue treatment includes working with muscles, nerves, tendons, fascia and ligaments.
These tissue injuries occur in a number of ways, most of which which are overuse injuries. You may have a sudden injury from pulls, accidents caused from striking the area and tears. The damage may come from an accumulation of injuries causing micro-tears that accumulate and cause scar tissue. Finally, the tissue area, for one reason or another, may not be getting enough oxygen.
It doesn’t take long for these injuries to add up to chronic pain.
When the injury or injuries heal, it forms scar tissue in the muscle and soft tissue. Just like scar tissue on the surface of the skin, it’s tough, dense and builds up. That can bind the surrounding healthy tissue in the area and cut the blood flow, bind the muscles and tendons. If nerves are trapped, you notice numbness and weakness. If it’s tendons, tendinitis occurs. It can reduce your range of motion and limit your strength.
Each appointment includes an examination and treatment.
Even though it may sound simple, special training is required to enable the ART-provider to locate the the injured area, evaluate it and use their hands for directed pressure, combined with specific client movements to loosen the scar tissue and eliminate much of the pressure that causes the pain. It releases the scar tissue that sticks to the surrounding tissue and allows your muscles, tendons and etc. to work the way they were supposed and not put all the work onto the healthy unaffected tissue to cause further injury.
Athletes and even occasional athletes who workout for enjoyment will benefit from ART.
Scar tissue can build up around a muscle and cause it to shorten. It can also trap nerves, cause inflammation of the tendons and weakness.
ART is non invasive. It is a method of helping your body get back to normal and operate the way it was meant to operate.
The ART provider has studied the body soft tissue system extensively. He or she understands how each muscle, tendon or other soft tissue should feel both at rest and moving. It’s that knowledge that helps him or her evaluate the injury.
Energize Through Relaxation
You can renew your vim and vigor with exercise, while also burning off the hormones created by stress, but you can also energize through relaxation. You don’t have to learn a complicated relaxation technique either. Something as simple as taking a retreat to a quiet spot during the day can help. However, for most of us, that quiet spot is not in the proximity of our work or home. Even if it was, it takes more than just minutes to eliminate the stresses of the day without help.
Massage therapy could be your answer.
When you get a massage, it stimulates circulation, relaxes tight muscles and puts you almost instantly into harmony with your body. Anxiety, stress and other worries often make their way to become tight shoulder, neck and back. A therapist works on those areas to eliminate the hormones created by stress and stimulate the production of hormones that make you feel good.
Massage does more than just relax the body.
Massage is effective in reducing pain by stimulating circulation and loosening tight muscles. It also helps reduce stress and the muscle tightness it causes. It’s been found helpful for a number of conditions, such as sports injuries, TMJ, soft tissue strain, myofascial pain syndrome and digestive disorders. If you suffer from insomnia, massage can help. You’ll get more than just renewed energy when you have a therapeutic massage
Massage therapy can get the pathways for blood circulation and nutrients open again.
You may not even realize how you start to tense your body when you’re under stress. It may be because in today’s world, almost every waking moment has potential for stressful situations, even though they may be low grade stress. For instance, have you ever been listening to television when a commercial came on the screen? It’s often not just louder but incredibly loud and disturbing, but you don’t realize it unless you mute the television and feel the relaxation overwhelm you. Those small stresses build up to big changes in your body that massage can address and get you back to a relaxed state.
When you’re in pain, your brain isn’t ready to relax. It’s too busy telling you to do something about the pain or announcing it every few seconds. Massage therapy can help reduce the pain.
Lack of sleep can cast a negative cloud over your day. Massage therapy can help you sleep better at night and wake up energized.
The stimulation of blood flow does more than just help your body, it helps feed the brain too. That’s energizing.
Studies show that human touch is healing and also beneficial for anxiety and depression. Massage provides that in a non-threatening manner.
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