I recently caught the end of a radio show and heard an interview with a bio-chemist who was speaking about some of the ills of eating too much sugar. I wasn’t able to catch his name, but what he said about sugar really got me thinking. Labels on food packages reveal a lot more than just calories. If we look to see how many grams of sugar are in a serving, we can do some quick math to decide whether the count is high or low. According to the bio-chemist, we can divide the sugar content (grams per serving) by the number four and that will indicate the number in spoonfuls (tsp.) of sugar we are actually eating. Since I was almost home when I heard the interview, I decided to look in my own cabinets to test this out. I grabbed a box of granola bars and saw they have 12 grams of sugar per serving. If what he said is true, there are about three spoonfuls of sugar in one granola bar! [Read more…]
Sugar is Not Our Sweet Friend
Post Thanksgiving Blitz
So we ate a little too much turkey and stuffing? Still snacking on the leftover pumpkin pie (I am)? Feeling a little snug in those jeans? That’s okay! Don’t throw in the towel now and say you will wait to start over in the New year… start now! I know I wrote about how to have a healthy Thanksgiving, but I also know that sometimes the day just gets the best of us! The following is a quick and dirty fitness/diet blitz to get you over the Thanksgiving weight gain and even a few pounds lighter before Christmas. It really isn’t that hard. Just follow a few dietary suggestions and do the following fitness routine over the next week or two and you can be well on your way to starting the Advent/Christmas season off on the right foot! [Read more…]
How to Have a Healthy Thanksgiving
For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time to splurge a little; and to forget about healthy eating for a day. However, it is possible to have a healthy Thanksgiving. The following are nine ways to make your day nutritious and tasty, while not giving up on the Feasting.
1. Remember that the purpose of Thanksgiving is to be grateful for all that we have. It is primarily a day of thanks, not gorging. Food is only one of the many things we have to be thankful for; don’t make it the focus of the day. Begin the day with church or with a family turkey-trot (most cities have them). Our family always plays a big game of football at a nearby field with other families. It’s a way to get outside, exercise and have a good time. [Read more…]
Movie Review: “The Way”….and a Quote of the Week
Quote of the week: “You don’t choose a life, Dad…you live one.” From the movie, “The Way” (Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen)
If you are thinking about seeing a movie this holiday, I highly recommend “The Way” with Martin Sheen. It is actually a collaboration between Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez, to honor the pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago. The Way of St. James is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried. Depending on where a person starts on the Camino, it can take a few months to travel “the Way”. [Read more…]
My Take on the “No Pain, No Gain” Theory
I read an article recently about busting some of the myths of exercise. One of these myths was the “No pain, No gain” theory. The writer was referring to the false idea that in order to gain anything from exercise, a workout needed to hurt. It doesn’t, he explained. Most people understand this; we know that exercise shouldn’t “hurt” us. When we workout, we should not push past pain that could result in injury or exacerbate soreness or pain that could lead to injury. That being said, the proverbial phrase “No pain, No gain” is a true and significant one if we want to improve ourselves through exercise. [Read more…]
Can Coffee Aggravate Incontinence?
According to My Optimum Health.com, more than 13 million people in the United States — male and female, young and old — experience incontinence. Women experience incontinence twice as often as men. Pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, and the structure of the female urinary tract account for this difference. While sometimes surgery or other procedures might be required to treat this issue, oftentimes a first step (besides pelvic floor exercises) is our nutrition. To quickly review the most common types of incontinence, the following is a brief recap: [Read more…]
Loads of Diapers Everyday
I gave my kids this math problem this morning: figure out approximately how many diapers we have changed since our first child was born in 1989. The number they came up with was 32,850. That’s a heck of a lot of diapers! We are in the process (and I do mean “process”) of potty training #9 (Sam) and so diapers are on my mind. 32,850 is actually a low estimate considering we used 730 as our multiplier (two years) and only a few of our children were actually trained at two years, most were two and a half when they became potty trained. [Read more…]
Vary Workout Routines to Reach Your Goals
I was talking the other day to a friend who told me that although she was training for a half-marathon and running long distances (over eight miles) a lot, she wasn’t losing any weight. I don’t think this is an uncommon thing to hear, and there are probably a few reasons it could be true for her. One…she might be eating more to compensate for her higher energy demands. Two…she may be gaining in muscle weight and the scale is just showing weight overall (in this case, I say who cares what the scale says). Three….her body may have adapted somewhat to her cardiovascular training by becoming more energy-efficient. This is good if you’re an athlete, but bad if you’re trying to lose weight.
[Read more…]
Nine Reasons a Food Journal Can Help Nutritionally
I recently filled in a food journal for three consecutive days. I was surprised at how this exercise in discipline (writing down everything I ate) revealed habits that I wasn’t totally aware of. While I had never done this before, I think it can be very helpful in exposing some of the little (or big) problems with our nutritional habits. I did this because I just began a two-month nutrition consultation with sports nutritionist and world-class runner, Alicia Shay. Basically I’m hoping to increase my energy, feel better and improve my running performance. Regardless of whether it is for the purposes of “finding” more energy, losing weight, or simply becoming more conscious of what we are eating, the following are nine reasons I think a food journal can be helpful: [Read more…]
“The Once and Future Way to Run”
Could it really be this simple? In a New York Times Magazine article from a few days ago entitled, “The once and future way to run”, Christopher McDougall explains how to do an exercise from the 1800’s, called the “100-Up”, that he promises will improve your running form and make you less prone to injury. A video also shows McDougall demonstrating the exercise himself and talking about the proper form. Watch it (The Lost Secret of Running) but beware…what seems like a fairly easy exercise, is not easy at all after repeating it about 40 times! Although I could only do it (before losing my form) about 55 times, I will keep trying to do a few more each time! Try it, and let me know what you think.
Follow Us