Eating delicious meals without all the carbs!

My first post as an official personal trainer.  It feels good!  All the hard work I've put in for the last year has paid off!  I promise to try my best to post an update once a week now that I have my Tuesday and Thursday nights free from class.

I want to share an amazing recipe website for low carb dishes that I ran into while trying to make more interesting meals for dinner. 

Low Carb Delicious Recipes

This women has compiled each recipe that she has found and tried in the categories of snacks, soup, salads, main dishes, side dishes, breads and desserts.  She gives each recipe a star rating of her opinion of the dish, which has helped decide which ones to make.  I've made 8 of the main dishes and side dishes and they have all been delicious.  I would recommend SALSA CHICKEN, ENCHILADA CHICKEN, BROILED TILAPIA PARMESAN, MEATY EGGPLANT LASAGNA, TACO BAKE, CABBAGE ROLL PIE, CABBAGE AND ONIONS, BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BACON, and MEXICAN "RICE".  

I was just looking at the dessert section and I may have to try one of those today.  I did notice that in many of the desserts they call for Splenda.  I would recommend using Truvia instead because it's a natural sweetener, where Splenda is chemically processed and will spike your insulin like I discussed in my previous post. (I made the MICROWAVE CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE tonight and it was delicious.  I would definitely recommend trying it!)

What have I learned since starting this new lifestyle of limiting grain carbohydrates?  It's absolutely amazing what you can make without them.  I always thought I would miss them until I started making delicious meals that made vegetables interesting. It's been about 6 weeks and I don't crave them anymore! 

Look through the website and give a few of the dishes a try and please let me know which ones you recommend.  You will not be disappointed!

Next post: What are the benefits of working with a personal trainer?

Why Do We Get Fat?

That has been a questions that I've been intrigued by for quite some time.  I'm sure many of you are saying to yourself "You eat to much fat."  I'm here to tell you that statement is only a myth.  It was started by the manufacturing companies in the 80s to get you to buy their low fat and no fat products.  It worked, didn't it?  You were eating Snack Well cookies, Reduced Fat Oreos, Light Milky Ways, and low fat chips and crackers.  Did America get thinner and healthier during this craze?  No!  Americans actually continued to get more over weight and more unhealthy.  Why do you ask?  Your body actually needs fat to survive and believe it or not it provides nutrients your body needs.

So why do we get fat?  It's because insulin makes you fat.  Insulin is what your body uses to get sugar out of your blood.  Of course your pancreas produces it (or you would have type 1 diabetes), but you also get it from the carbohydrates you eat (which is sugar).  The more carbohydrates you eat, especially those that have added sugar the more insulin your body produces.  The insulin then goes to your bloodstream to attach to the sugar you just ate to regulate your blood sugar.  There is only so much sugar in your blood for the insulin to attach too.  Once there aren't any more receptors for them to bond with, the extra insulin finds it way to one of two places. 

1. If you are an individual who keeps active and exercises, the extra insulin will attach to your muscles and help them grow.
2. If you are someone who is less active and who doesn't exercise at all or rarely, the extra insulin will attach to your fat cells and they will grow. 

I'm sure you are thinking that option 2 isn't what you are looking for in your body.  How can we prevent this from happening?  The first thing would be to get the majority of your carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables and then choose whole grains like wheat flour in whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice, or oatmeal.  The refined carbohydrates you find in white products like white rice, flour, and bread have more sugar and will produce more insulin.  This is also the case for processed foods and even those low fat foods we were talking about above.  When a product is made to be low fat, 9 out of 10 times the sugar will be increased to make up for the lost taste from lowering the fat content.  One trick while grocery shopping is to stick to the perimeter of the store.  That's where your fresh produce, meats, and dairy are located.  This is what you want in your diet! 

There is one more thing I want to mention that has really blown my mind lately.  Diet Soda can make you fat!  Now how is that true since it has no calories?  Think about what you just learned above. Your body releases insulin when you eat sugar, so it can clear your blood of that sugar.  You drink diet soda and how does it taste?  Sweet, right?  Your brain senses that sweetness and what does it release?  Insulin, because it thinks sugar will be coming into your blood that it will need to clear.  What happens when that insulin realizes that it doesn't have any sugar to attach too since the soda was sugar free?  It has no where else to go, but to steps 1 and 2 above.

This doesn't mean that if you are exercising you can drink diet soda and eat however you want because the insulin will attach to your muscles. Everyone's body reacts differently, so I would just assume all the extra insulin will be attaching to your fat cells!

I hope you find this information interesting and helpful.  I've loved studying this in class while learning about diabetes.  Needless to say, I've been eating much fewer carbohydrates, sugar, and diet soda and I can see a big difference!  I challenge you to try it and let me know if you have any questions.  I will do my best to help!

Fast food...yes or no?

Of course it's best to stay away from fast food as much as possible, but we all know that there are times when it just can't be avoided.  If you find yourself needing to eat at a fast food restaurant, there are some better ones to choose.  If you find yourself at one of the less healthy establishments, there are some tips that will help you make the best choice you can. 

Choose these restaurants when eating fast food:

1. Subway - When eating at Subway, make sure to choose wheat break and load your sandwich up with all the great veges.  To cut calories, choose lean meats (turkey, ham, grilled chicken) and leave off the cheese and fatty sauces like mayo.  Choose apples as your side and you have a great meal!


2. Panera Bread - Make sure to choose whole grain bread when ordering a sandwich and when ordering soup stay away from the creamy soups.  They also offer great salads with healthy low calorie dressings. Choose an apple for your side and have water, plain coffee, or unsweet tea to drink.  Use the calories listed on their menu to help you make good choices!

3. Chipotle (yep, you read that right!) - Their ingredients are organic and locally grown!  You do want to stay away from the very large tortilla shell in the burrito and go light on the sour cream and cheese (or skip it all together). I love how they offer brown rice now for the bowl.  The salad is the best option, but a bowl loaded up with veges is a good choice as well!

4. Chick-filet - You may want to stay away from the chick-filet specialty sandwich since it's breaded, but choosing a grilled chicken breast on a whole wheat bun without mayo (add some mustard if you want) with lettuce and tomato is great choice.  They also serve some great salads.  Make sure to choose smartly with the dressing and only use a small amount.

5. Noodles and Company- Craving pasta?  This is a great choice!  They offer whole wheat pasta and lean organic meats.  They also provide a smaller portion of all their meals for an affordable price.  Choose wisely and you can satisfy your pasta craving without getting off track! 

* What if those 5 restaurants aren't available or the rest of the family wants to go some place else?  Here are some tips to get you through a meal at any fast food restaurant without killing your calorie budget in one meal!

Tips to follow at any fast food restaurant:

1. Stay away from anything fried - I think that's self explanatory.  Fried = high in calories and saturated fat!  

2. Say no to any sauces - Grilled chicken sandwiches are always a great choice, but always say no to any sauces that come on the sandwich.  You can always add mustard.  It has no calories!

3. Go green and have a salad - Salads can have way more calories than you think, so look at the ingredients before choosing the salad.  Choose salads that have a variety of vegetables and limited cheese, bacon, fried chicken, tortilla strips, or dried fruit.  Also make sure the dressing comes on the side, so you can control the amount you use.  Order a vinaigrette dressings and stay away from creamy ones.

4. Drink Water with you meal - Soda and sweet tea have a lot of calories and added sugar.  These drinks will also make you feel hungry longer and you will eat more than you should.  Water will actually help you feel full quicker and not add any extra calories to your meal.

5. Eat Mindfully - Pay attention to what you eat and savor each bite. Chew your food thoroughly and avoid eating on the run. Being mindful also means stopping before you are full. It takes time for your body to register that you have eaten. Mindful eating relaxes you, so you digest better, and makes you feel more satisfied.

* Don't feel guilty when you end up at a fast food restaurant.  You don't have to forget what you are working for and go crazy with fried food!  Think before you order and you will feel proud as you walk out the door and you didn't loose control!

Snacking, Good or Bad?

I seem to hear that questions all the time.  Should I or shouldn't I snack between meals.  The answer is snacking is great if you do it correctly!  It depends on what you are eating and when you are eating it.  Like I've mentioned before you want to eat every 3 to 4 hours, so it is likely that you will need 1 - 2 snacks a day depending on the times you eat your meals.  In my day, I eat 2 snacks.  One between breakfast and lunch and another between lunch and dinner.  I want to eat these snacks to keep my metabolism working all day long instead of allowing my body to go into starvation mode and hold onto my fat as fuel.

It may be hard to get out of that mindset of "Don't eat between meals," but do believe me that it's important to keep your body burning calories all day long.  Deciding the right things to eat for those snacks is the important part. 

You don't want to fill up on carbohydrates for these snacks.  They won't keep you full until your next meal.  They may even make you feel more hungry because they spike your insulin and keep you craving more of the same.  Instead of choosing your typical snacks of granola bars, crackers, chips, or even 100 calorie packs you should choose foods that are high in protein and fat.  These two nutrients keep you feeling full until your meal 3 - 4 hours later.  Eating between 150 - 200 calories is the perfect size snack.  Some of my favorites are almonds, cheese, a hard boiled egg, or apple with peanut or almond butter, or plain Greek yogurt with some fresh fruit and a pack of Truvia sweetner.  Eating a planned snack will also help you from binging on a treat in the work room or over eating at lunch because you are so hungry.

If you aren't used to eating snacks, I challenge you to give it a try and see how much better you feel!

Food Labels Decieving?

The past three years have brought a lot of change on how I look at food.   In the past when I was on a "diet", I would pick a food off the shelf that said low fat or diet and I would assume it was a healthy choice.  Why else would they use those terms?  I now know that those words can be deceiving and if you truly want to choose a food that is healthy, you need to read the entire food label.  From the serving size all the way down to the ingredient list.  I'm going to break down a few labels and help you better understand the importance of reading them for every food you buy.  Below you will see a label for Activia Greek Strawberry Yogurt.  Yogurt is healthy right?

The first place you want to look is the serving size.  This yogurt is one serving, but many products are more than one serving so you want to make sure you know exactly how much you are eating and if you need to adjust the nutrition information. 

Next we will see the calories (190).  Low calorie isn't always necessary.  It depends what sources these calories are coming from.  This is why we look at the ingredients to see exactly what we are eating.

The first macro-nutrient listed on a food label is fat.  It usually has a total amount and then it's broken down into 2-4 other categories (saturated, trans, mono-saturated, and poly-saturated).  This yogurt contains no fat, which is not always a good thing.  Many products will add extra sugar to compensate for the flavor lost in removing all the fat. 

You will see a second label for Special K Bars. 
 
Another product that is marketed as a "diet" food.  Yes, it is low in calories at 90 and even low in fat at 2 with 0 grams of trans fat (a manufactured unsaturated fat that has a hydrogen atom added to it to allow the product to have a longer shelf life).  When a label says 0 trans fat, you need to check the label to make sure it indeed doesn't contain any.  If a product has less than 1 gram, they can list it as 0 on the label.  When you look at the label, you will see partially hydrogenated palm kernel and soy bean oil which is a trans fat.  Trans fats are linked to heart disease, so you want to stay away from any amount of these fats.

The next thing listed on a food label is cholesterol.  Try to limit your cholesterol intake to less than 300mg a day to help prevent heart disease.  Foods higher in saturated fat (animal sources) have higher cholesterol levels.

Next you will see sodium listed.  Sodium causes you to retain water and feel bloated, so limit your daily intake to 1500mg.

The second macro-nutrient on a food label is carbohydrates.  This nutrient is very controversial.  The FDA recommends 45-65% of your daily calories should come from this nutrient.  Yes, I agree that it's very important to include in your diet because it is your main source of energy to get through your typical day and your exercise.  However, it's important to see what source the carbohydrates are coming from.  Is it whole grains?  Dietary fiber?  Sugar?  Understanding this will help you choose your carbohydrates wisely. 

To see if your product contains whole grains, look at the ingredients.  The first ingredient listed should be whole wheat.  You don't want to see enriched (un)bleached wheat floor.  It sounds like wheat.  It actually started as wheat floor, but then the nutrients were taken out and put back in on top of them bleaching the floor white for white products.  Is this really necessary?  The yogurt doesn't contain any flour and the Special K bar says "whole grain wheat" so that is great to see! 

The next part of carbohydrates is dietary fiber.  This helps you digest your food, lower your cholesterol, and feel full longer between meals.  You want to have between 20 - 35 grams a day for these benefits.  The Special K bar isn't doing to bad at 3 and the yogurt has none. 

The final source of carbohydrate is sugar.  You should not have more than 40 grams of added sugar a day.  Added sugar is anything that doesn't come naturally in a food like milk, fruits, and vegetables.  This is where food labels get tricky!  Many manufacturers will list several different names for sugar so they can list it lower down the list.  Some of the names you will see are sugar, fructose, sucralose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, glucose, lactose, maltose, galactose.  The yogurt has 29 grams of sugar!  It's listed as sugar and fructose in the ingredient list.  About 6 of those are natural in milk, so that puts you at 23 grams of your added 40 allowed for the day!  Was all that added sugar really needed in that yogurt?  I don't think so!  Some of it was probably added because it is fat free.  They needed to make up for the lost taste from having no fat.  The Special K bar has fructose, sugar, corn syrup, and brown sugar in the ingredient list which counts for 6 grams of added sugar.  Add that to the yogurt and you are almost 3/4 the way to your total allowance of added sugar for the day and you thought you chose two "healthy" snacks!

The last macro-nutrient on a food label is protein.   10 - 35% of your daily calories should come from this nutrient according to the FDA.  You should have protein at every meal because it makes you feel full longer and it's important in building muscle.  Greek Yogurt is a good choice for protein because it has 12-20 grams compared to your regular yogurt that has 6-9 grams.  The Special K bar only has 1 gram.  Which food item would hold you over until lunch?  Choosing a plain or vanilla Greek yogurt is a great snack with minimal added sugar and a lot of protein! 

The final piece of information we will discuss on a food label are the ingredients. Ingredients are listed from the ingredient you will find most in the food to the least.  My rule of thumb is the less ingredients listed the better.  Also, if you can't read the ingredient you probably shouldn't be putting it in your body.  So many things are added to brighten up the colors, keep the food on the shelf longer, and make it taste the best it can.  These are many times chemicals that just aren't good for your body!  There may be another post at some point with more information on this!  Look at the ingredients in both the yogurt and Special K bar.  There are definitely several on each that I can't pronounce.  If you ever need something to do, Google some of them and see exactly why they are in the products you love. 

Thanks for reading this very long post and I hope you are now at least a little more educated on food labels and what you should be looking for when choosing products for both you and your children to eat!