Navigate the Christmas Season without adding the pounds.

It's the Christmas Season and that means, Holiday Parties! So, you've been eating well and don't want to fall off the wagon, so to speak. Instead of staying home and avoiding the temptations that the buffet tables and work parties offer, follow these few tips to keep your waistline from taking away that Christmas cheer.

1. Drink plenty of water - yes, you hear this all the time, but by keeping yourself hydrated you can keep your metabolism on high. At parties, start with water then alternate to your favorite holiday cocktail. Be sure to have that water in between and never, ever drink and drive.

2. Eat at home - worried that you can't control your appetite around all the goodies? Try having a meal before you go to a party. You won't feel the need to stuff your face with everything that is available and with a full stomach, you won't go into a food coma before the prize for "Worst Christmas Sweater" is awarded.

3. Avoid the Add-Ons - where possible avoid any dips or dressings. These may taste good, but they are basically empty calories and loaded with sodium, sugar, & fats. Go for the salads without dressing, so you can add your own on the side or just hit the veggie plate and avoid the dips all together.

4. Offer healthy alternatives - If you have the option of bringing a dish to pass; opt for healthy choices. Bring the gigantic veggie platter or the freshly cut fruit salad (avoid canned fruits as they are usually preserved in a high sugar solution).

Hopefully, these tips will help you reclaim your Christmas Party paranoia.

One last tip when navigating the buffet line; keep your portions in check. Here's a good rule of thumb when trying to figure portions on the go......talk to the hand.

Portions:
Proteins - one portion is about the size of your palm (or a deck of cards)
Fats - one portion is about the size of your thumb
Vegetables - one portion is the size of your hand
Fruits/Grains - one portion for each is the size of your fist

Get the Burn Back! by Coach Mark

If you’re like me, you have indulged a little in all-things summer, particulary ice cream treats or frozen "adult refreshments" (My favorite is the Pina Colada!)
Even though these things are super delicious, they can derail your weight-loss goals or general health in a hurry. (1 Pina Colada = approx. 200-300 calories - Are you really just having one?)
There is no better time to get back in that healthy state of mind than right now. After a summer vacation of indulging in decadent desserts laden with fat and sugar, your metabolism is probably off a little bit, regardless of your exercise habits. Sweets give you an initial high, but once the sugar rush is over you may feel tired and sluggish. Ingesting large quantities of food or eating rich, sweet, salty or fatty items will require the digestive system to work overtime. This tired state is also known as the dreaded food coma. Since we have a limited amount of energy at a given time, the bodily function of digesting food takes precedence. Thus, you're left in a "comatose" state.

Allowing yourself to get get overly hungry sends your body into "starvation mode" and it actually begins to store fat and break down muscle tissue for fuel. Then of course, you're starved so eating a large meal is inevitable which leads back to the food coma situation. And we wonder why we're not getting results at the gym!

Think of the body's metabolism as a fuel-burning engine that needs to remain burning at a constant low-level to remain efficient and keep the engine (your body) running all day.

Maybe you’re asking; "how do I get my metabolism to fire on all cylinders"? Or, "I've been exercising for a while now and my results have stagnated".

The short answer is:

1. Stoke your metabolism's fire by eating small meals throuhout the day,



2. Get back to natural foods (fruits & veggies)



3. Avoid high calorie snack foods or alcoholic drinks (ice cream or Pina Coladas). See Chef Jodi's post on satisfying your sweet-tooth with watermelon on Facebook:Eating Rehab http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Eating-Rehab-with-Chef-Jodi-Coach-Mark/12711732403798227117324037982

Here are a few additional ways to get your metabolism fired up.

1. Eat Breakfast – everyday. Lean protein in the morning will help get metabolism started on the right foot. Egg whites are a great source of lean protein. They can help stabilize blood sugar, make you feel fuller and keep you from overeating throughout the day. Lean meats do not include bacon, sausage, or even ham. When picking among these 3 favorite breakfast meats; go for the ham. If available, Canadian Bacon is even better, but try to keep these traditional breakfast meats to a minimum.

2. Eat Less Food More Frequently: Do Not Overload your digestive system with large meals. Eat something balanced every 3 hours. Example: Breakfast (protein, veg, carb) - Snack - Lunch - Snack - Dinner.

3. Resist the Redundancy – Don't get stuck in a rut when training. If you continually do the same routine your body will adjust to make it easier and more efficient. You will then officially hit a plateau and you will not see any changes until you make some changes in routine (both eating habits and exercises).

• 1st: Switch Up the Resistance: If you use free-weights change to bands, stability ball, or just your own body weight. This will trigger your body to work in a way that it is not accustom.



• 2nd: Change the Order of Exercise/Rest Cycles: By making small changes, such as order or rest-time you will challenge yourself in a new way and make your body adjust to keep up.



• 3rd: Mix Up the Cardio Routine. If you typicallly hit the treadmill for an hour, try the stair climber or a stationary bike. OR, try 20 min treadmill, 20 min stair-climber, 20 min bike.





• If cardio machines aren't your bag, try plyometrics or a scheduled kickboxing or aerobics class.




• 4th: Avoid Boredom. Just as your body will gradually grow used to any routine (4-6 weeks), your mind will also grow accustom to it. This leads to boredom and ultimately, quitting you're exercise program all together. No need to beat yourself up ... Listen to your body and change it up!

4. Rest Up for your Health. You don’t have to make a back alley deal or surf the web to get Human Growth Hormone (one of the illegal performance enhancing drugs that have been in the headlines for the past few years). You have it naturally in your body. There is a catch, however. HGH is only produced during the hours of deep sleep. HGH works directly on cells to increase your metabolic rate by 15-20%, so make sure you get a good night’s sleep.

5. Combine Properly at Mealtime. Combing lean proteins (chicken, fish, etc) with complex carbohydrates (fruits & vegetables) will speed up the metabolism as food is transformed into nutrients that your body needs. You will build muscle and burn fat during the digestive process.

6. Stimulate Your System - naturally. Some studies have shown that hop peppers (jalepenos, cayenne pepper, red chili flakes), spices, green teas, and caffeine can give your metabolism a sudden jolt by stimulating the release of stress hormones. (Just be careful with the amount of caffeine as too much can have other side-effects that can be detrimental in the long run.)

There are key factors to keep the body's metabolism firing, but listening to your body and respecting your own needs is essential. The same workout does not work for every-body. And if you're not into it mentally you won't get what you need out of your workout physically.

Got Questions?

Email me: Remy4x6@gmail.com

~Coach Mark

Move More, Eat Less, Live Better

I think we can all agree that we could clean up our daily routines to create a healthier “us”. Whether you want to lose a few pesky pounds for that wedding, run that 5k, or to be able to keep up with the kids, eating healthy & getting a daily dose of exercise can benefit anyone at any age.

 

 

A Few Simple Ways to Begin Making a Change:

 

1. Add movement to your Day
2. Portion Control is Under Your Control
3. Be Wise About Serving Size

1. Add movement to your Day
Many health & fitness organizations (including ACSM) recommend that we accumulate a minimum of 30 minutes per day, 5-7 days per week, of moderate intensity aerobic activity to increase our health (to lower the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, etc).
Children & teenagers should accumulate approximately 60 minutes most days.

 

Ways to Add Movement to Your Day:

• Park as far away from any building as you can. Take the longest path possible, whether it’s walking in every aisle of the grocery store or parking on the opposite side of the shopping mall.
• Take the stairs.
• Ride your bike or walk to your destination.
• When at work, don’t call a coworker. Go to their cubicle/office and take the long way around the office to get there.
• Take a walk at lunch time or during break time.
• Make an after dinner walk part of the family routine.
• Walk or bike to the park. Let the kids play and be active and then head home. You’ve most likely met your family’s daily activity needs by walking both ways and having some fun in between.

 

 

How Much Did I Just Eat?

Two of the most misunderstood terms in regard to the amount of food we ingest are “portion” and “serving size”. These terms are often interchanged, causing the public to become confused as to the correct amount of calories they are actually consuming.

 

 

2. Portion Control is Under Your Control.
Portion size = the amount you put on your plate, in a bowl, in a glass. The amount of food served for one meal/snack.
Restaurant portion sizes have been steadily increasing over the past few years. This is the one area that can be directly controlled by each person.

 

Tips to keep control of portions:

 

• Use smaller plates or bowls when preparing meals at home. This instantly creates smaller portions.
• Pause before going back for a second helping. Have a glass of water and wait 20-30 minutes. Your stomach will tell you if it needs more.
• Embrace snacks! Have healthy snacks nearby during the day and don’t be afraid to have an apple, carrot sticks or a granola bar in between meals. This should help you from overeating during the next meal.
• Leave the box/bag in the kitchen. Portion snacks into a bowl or small container when watching TV. Never take the bag or box with you.
• Keep water nearby. Whenever you feel like having a snack or an extra portion, have a glass of water first. Sometimes the body is thirsty, but we mistake that for hunger.
• Share a meal or Save ½ to take home when eating at a restaurant. If you’re still hungry when you get home the rest of your meal is there if you need it.

 

3. Be Wise about Serving Size
'Serving size' and 'Servings per container' is a standard unit of measuring foods (ie: 8oz or 1 cup).
Daily percentages shown on food labels indicate the amount of essential nutrients based on that serving size alone. A box of cereal may seem like a healthy choice based on the serving size, but there may be 7-8 servings per box. Using a large bowl and not paying mind to how much your pour into that bowl can turn a lower calorie serving size into a high calorie meal (or portion).

 

 

Tip: Keep a measuring cup for cereal and milk nearby so you can begin to get a sense of how much you are really eating. You may be surprised at how much milk you are actually using or that 1 bowl of cereal is actually 2-3 servings worth of calories.

 

 

Realizing that a box of snack food or a bottle of Gatorade or tea contains multiple servings is a big step in taking control of one’s caloric intake.  A quick glance at the serving size/servings per container and the number of calories per serving can save you many unnecessary calories. Ingesting calories unintentionally happens often with teas and 'sports drinks' for example.  See the seemingly 'innocent' bottle of all-natural Snapple below:

 

 

300 Calories per bottle of 24oz Snapple. If you've figured this into your daily caloric intake, okay. If not, you may reconsider drinking this, pour it into a smaller glass, or dilute it with H2O to avoid unintended calorie intake.

 

THIS WEEK’S HOMEWORK FROM COACH MARK:

• Eat only when your stomach is growling or you experience that empty feeling in the bottom of your stomach. If you feel like eating something, drink water first.
•  Eat based on having one portion of one serving size (based on the food label). Follow this for both meals and snacks.
•  Pay attention to how you feel after your meals. Are you tired or sleepy? Do you have the energy for those 30 minutes of activity?
• Take note on how much food you have left after the week.
• Notice how much less your grocery bill is since you still have food at home 

 

Some of these simple steps can lead you to a smaller waistline and a healthier you. But they can also help fatten the wallet!

 

 

And please remember: Move more. Eat less. Live better.
Coach Mark

 

Food Philosophy Series -------------------------- Part 1: EAT CLOSER TO NATURE

"Food" made in a science lab is not food.  It is not fuel. 

Processed foods and premade items often contain chemical preservatives and additives that are simply more waste for the body to deal with and filter.  Toxins are stored and ultimately, our health is compromised.  My goal as a chef is to use clean, all-natural ingredients at all times.  And to find easy ways to make things people love while sticking to this principle.  Occasionally I'll "cheat" and use a canned item but I make sure it's organic and with NO preservatives or scientific chemical ingredients which I cannot pronounce.

"Eat closer to nature"  What does this mean? 
This philosophy means: 

• Eat things with as few ingredients as possible that are NOT made in a factory.
• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store.  Ever noticed what's in the middle aisles? Junk food and soda.  Processed goods.  Cleaning products.  
• Enjoy the REAL thing...Just use a little less if calories or portion control are a problem for you.
• Eat homemade desserts when you decide to indulge.  Homemade desserts, while still full of sugar and yummy, sinful stuff, are fresh and made without the chemical preservatives, artificial flavors and colors.   

Today's Main Event
BUTTER  vs.  MARGARINE

Today's contenders will battle it out in a heated match of natural vs. artificial, real vs. fake, original vs. hyped...

In Column 1:  "Pure Butter! Hailing straight from the farm, it's got one and only one ingredient...CREAM!  Butter is the favored contender in today's competition.  Butter doesn't need smoke & mirrors to exhibit it's pure flavorful contribution to cooking."

In Column 2-5:  "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter/Margarine/Parkay!  Hailing from, well, I'm not sure.  It's been hyped and we've heard it all before, but turns out, these guys may not be so good for us.  Check out that long list of ingredients and decide for yourself."

(You might ask yourself, what is "vegetable colouring",  "modified milk ingredients", "artificial flavours", "vegetable monoglycerides", "potassium sorbate" or BHT? And why is it okay to entrust our health to huge corporate conglomorates where the bottom line is the priority? )

After careful consideration and a little lable reading, BUTTER is the clear WINNER here!  CREAM! That's it. Pure, simple, cream. ONE ingredient and nothing else used to dominate the opponents. 

Things to Note in above ingredient list:

• BHA - BHT = Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and the related compound butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are phenolic compounds that are often added to foods to preserve fats. http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/a/bha-bht-preservatives.htm
• Sodium benzoate is a preservative. It is bacteriostatic and fungistatic under acidic conditions. It is used most prevalently in acidic foods such as salad dressings (vinegar), carbonated drinks (carbonic acid), jams and fruit juices (citric acid), pickles (vinegar), and condiments. It is also used as a preservative in medicines and cosmetics.^{[1] [2]} As a food additive, sodium benzoate has the E number E211.  It is also used in fireworks as a fuel in whistle mix, a powder that emits a whistling noise when compressed into a tube and ignited.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_benzoate 

This is simply creepy that we think it's okay to ingest these things.  I wonder why cancer rates are so high and what could a lifetime of eating these chemicals be doing to our bodies internally?
The thing to take away from this is:  A little knowledge can go a long way.  Reading a label, which takes just a few extra seconds at the market, can really help you make better choices. 
Maybe you are concerned about cholesterol or caloric intake?  
Here are some options...

1. Less is More:  Use less amounts of butter in cooking, and enjoy it, knowing your body can process real butter without the introduction of chemical ingredients and/or preservatives.
2. Use Olive Oil instead of butter as it has cardiovascular benefits and may actually help lower cholesterol. http://www.health-benefits-of-olive-oil.com/olive-oil-ingredients.html
3. Try FLAX OIL on toast instead of butter. (Look for a brand without preservatives, please)
4. When baking:  Use Applesauce to replace 'vegetable oil' or 'butter' in a recipe. 

Salad Dressing Alternatives:    FAST-EASY-HOMEMADE-ALL NATURAL

1. Combine the following in a jar and shake (store in fridge)

• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp Honey or Agave Nectar
• Dash garlic powder
• 1:3 ratio of Balsamic or White Wine Vinegar to Olive Oil or Flax Oil
• Sea Salt / Pepper to taste

2.  Don't feel like making dressing?

• Drizzle olive oil over salad + squeeze fresh lemon or orange wedge + pinch of sea salt/pepper = toss!

You've Heard it Before..."Drink More Water"

My Doctor says:

Drink "1/2 Your BodyWeight in Ounces"

For Example:

You weigh:  150 LBS  (divide by 2)

You Should Drink: ~75 oz of Water per day

(not coffee, soda, fruit juice, or diet drinks)

Typically, we hear

"Drink 8 Glasses of water a day"

Eight glasses may seem like alot.

Especially if you have to keep refilling.

TRY these tips to entice you to drink more water:

• Carry a large-size water bottle and sip throughout the day.
• Squeeze a lemon wedge into the bottle to have refreshing Lemon Water each time you refill.
• Lemon H2O is also a liver cleanser.
• Freeze a little water in the bottom of the bottle before filling and you'll have refreshing "Ice Water".
• Add a bit of Grapefruit or Orange Juice (just a little to avoid too many calories) to give a burst of flavor to your water. Serve over ice.

 A couple things to Note:

1. A constant feeling of hunger may be masking your body's need for hydration.  Not drinking enough water and eating processed low-water content foods (IE:  any type of junk food, nuts, protein bars, bread, pasta) may leave you in a constant state of dehydration. (High Water Content Food great for snacking = Apples, Carrots, Fresh Pineapple or Watermelon chunks, Berries...You get the idea?)
2. Struggling with Headaches?  May be partly due to dehydration. So drink up!
3. For every cup of coffee or caffeinated drink, consider drinking a glass of water.  Caffeine is dehydrating.  (And coffee stains your teeth so "rinsing"with a glass of water may hydrate and keep your teeth pearly white!)

See also Last Week's snippet:

Boring Water No-More

Ideas for more palatable H2O

Add any combination of the following to a bottle or pitcher of water.  Keep it in your fridge.

• Sliced Cucumber + Lemons + Fresh Mint Leaves
• Sliced Strawberries + Orange Slices
• Limes + Lemons
• Basil + Pineapple Slices (or the core of pineapple which is not typically eaten)

It's Time for a Change.

Kicking old habits can be easy with an open mind and willingness to try new things.

Instead of turning up your nose at green vegetables, or cringing at the thought of drinking plain water because "it's boring", why not seek out ways to make it interesting or simply give it a try even if you think you may not like it.

Embrace a little change and see it as a challenge. 

*****

To kick it off, here is a simple recipe.

Forget the mushy, overcooked and underseasoned green peas from your past and try this at home!

Lemon-Garlic Green Vegetables
This recipe will work for any of the following:
Broccoli, String Beans, Asparagus, Brussel Sprouts

(Start slowly and choose the one most appealing to you.)

You'll need:

large pot of water

strainer

large mixing bowl filled with 1/2 ICE + 1/2 WATER (aka: Ice Bath)

saute pan

Green Vegetable of Your Choice - washed and slice or chopped to desired size

Extra Virgin Olive oil (regular Olive Oil is okay too)
Fresh garlic - 1 clove, peeled and sliced
1/2 fresh lemon
sea salt & pepper

BLANCH:
Bring pot of water to boil and add your choice of vegetable.
Simmer for 30 seconds to 1 min until tender but NOT mushy.
DO NOT OVER COOK - Veggies should have slight crunch but not raw.
SHOCK: (this stops the cooking process & retain the bright color of vegetables)
Strain vegetables then pour directly into Ice Bath
Stir gently until all veggie are cooled.
DRAIN:
Strain again and set aside.

Heat saute pan for 30 seconds over med-high heat.

Add 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil and allow to heat for a few seconds.

Add sliced garlic only for a few seconds

(IF YOU BURN THE GARLIC, WASH PAN AND START OVER. Bitter garlic is not worth it)

Add green-vegetables and toss to coat with oil. Once vegetables are heated through, add juice of 1/2 lemon, pinch or two of sea salt and pepper and toss again.

Pour into mixing bowl and serve!

*****

Boring Water No-More

Ideas for more palatable H2O

Add any combination of the following to a bottle or pitcher of water.  Keep it in your fridge.

• Sliced Cucumber + Lemons + Fresh Mint Leaves
• Sliced Strawberries + Orange Slices
• Limes + Lemons
• Basil + Pineapple Slices (or the core of pineapple which is not typically eaten)