When exercising, especially doing cardio, many of us like to listen to music. Music is a great distraction, but it's also a great way to keep you motivated and moving. Be it iTunes, Pandora, Google music, or Spotify, nowadays, there are infinite ways to access your music.
We recently stumbled upon an article that discusses Spotify's intended new "running" app that will select your music based upon how you run. At a press event, Spotify explained: "The new Spotify app will use sensors in your mobile device to figure out
your running pace. You'll be able to pick a track that fits your
personal tastes in music, or you can let Spotify choose for you." Furthermore, "It was also announced that Spotify is creating original music that adapt
to your running pace and change tempo and intensity. So far, there are
six of these tracks, one of which is composed by electronic music
legend, Tiesto. Spotify will also integrate with the Nike and RunKeeper running apps."
If you like to listen to music when you run and you also enjoy surprises, you should check out this new app!
[Click HERE for original article]
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Healthy Recipes: Stuffed Peppers
Stuffed peppers are a great way to get creative and healthy! This recipe incorporates protein, carbs, vegetables, and some dairy. This dish is great for a single person or a crowd. It's easy to make, flavorful, and also fun to eat! If you want to try something different, you should give these stuffed peppers a try!
Ingredients:
4 peppers (your choice as to color. I really like red peppers, so I did red), tops removed and inside cleaned out
1 extra pepper, chopped (this is optional. I just really like peppers, so I wanted to add some more)
1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup brown rice
4 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
salt/pepper, to taste
other dry spices of your choice
Directions:
1. Cook your rice. Follow the instructions of the bag/box. You can cook this ahead of time if you'd like. It's up to you.
2. Prepare the peppers. Cut off the tops. If you want to make sure they can stand on their own, trimming the bottom, so that they're flat isn't such a bad idea. It would be a waste to simply throw away the stops, so if there are still any viable parts left, chop those up. This is why I suggest another pepper, in case you feel that you want more.
3. Chop the onion. In a pan, heat some olive oil. Put the garlic in the pan first. After a minute or so, add the peppers and onions. To the pan. Let them cook for about 5 minutes, until soft, but not brown. Remove the peppers and onions from the pan.
4. Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking pan with aluminum foil. I would try to put the peppers in a container that will hold them snug. Make sure to spray with cooking spray.
5. Add more olive oil to the pan and this time add the ground beef. You just want to brown the meat. About 3-5 minutes. Return the peppers/onions to the pan. Add the rice. Mix well and let cook. After a few minutes, add a tablespoon or two of parmesan cheese. Mix well.
6. Spoon the filling into the peppers. Don't be afraid to pack it in there! As the peppers cook, the inner contents may shrink a bit.
7. Let the peppers cook in the oven for about 30 minutes. Take the peppers out and add a bit more parmesan cheese to the top. You can also use any other cheese of your choice. Return the peppers to the oven for an additional 10 - 15 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and golden.
8. Serve peppers hot.
Per
serving: 285 calories / 16 g carbs / 16 g fat / 19 g protein / 0.19 g
sodium / 2 g sugar
Serves 4
Note: Depending on how much salt is added, calories and sodium content may increase slightly.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided was generated using the "My Fitness Pal" app and may not be 100% accurate.
(recipe taken from: http://diaryofastudentgourmet.blogspot.com)
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Healthy Recipes: Oven Roasted Asian Chicken Wings
This recipe is great for a weeknight dinner or even for a weekday dinner! The chicken was so succulent and bursting with flavors. The marinade takes no more than 10 minutes to make. You can let the chicken wings sit for 30 minutes or you can make this the night before so that you are ready to go the next day. If you add marinade, soaking time, and cooking time --- this takes a little over one hour. That's it!
Ingredients:
2 containers chicken wings (about 24 wings)
1/2 garlic, crushed
1 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup sake
3 tbsp mirin
Directions:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 400F with convection. (If you are making these later, you can pre-heat when you make them later. You can also make these chicken wings on the grill).
2. Mix the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and garlic together in a bowl.
3. Add your chicken wings to your marinade and allow to soak for at least 30 minutes.
4. Prepare your baking set up. My dad likes to wrap a baking dish in aluminum foil and then top the dish with a wire baking rack, which is sprayed with PAM.
5. Lay your chicken wings on the rack. Allow chicken wings to bake for about 30 minutes and be sure to watch your chicken so they don't burn!!!
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided was generated using the "My Fitness Pal" app and may not be 100% accurate.
(recipe taken from: http://diaryofastudentgourmet.blogspot.com)
Ingredients:
2 containers chicken wings (about 24 wings)
1/2 garlic, crushed
1 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup sake
3 tbsp mirin
Directions:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 400F with convection. (If you are making these later, you can pre-heat when you make them later. You can also make these chicken wings on the grill).
2. Mix the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and garlic together in a bowl.
3. Add your chicken wings to your marinade and allow to soak for at least 30 minutes.
4. Prepare your baking set up. My dad likes to wrap a baking dish in aluminum foil and then top the dish with a wire baking rack, which is sprayed with PAM.
5. Lay your chicken wings on the rack. Allow chicken wings to bake for about 30 minutes and be sure to watch your chicken so they don't burn!!!
Per
serving: 341 calories / 17 g carbs / 17 g fat / 21 g protein / 5.463 g
sodium / 8 g sugar
Serves 4
Note: Depending on how much salt is added, calories and sodium content may increase slightly.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided was generated using the "My Fitness Pal" app and may not be 100% accurate.
(recipe taken from: http://diaryofastudentgourmet.blogspot.com)
Sunday, May 17, 2015
"Why Exercising Is a Higher Priority Than My Career" by Joshua Steimle (Entrepreneur)
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a very interesting article on Time.com that discussed the importance of exercise, no matter how busy you are. The author, Joshua Steimle, is a successful and busy entrepreneur, but that doesn't stop him from making time to exercise! Very inspirational and insightful article.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If exercise stops, then everything else will start falling apart
There’s a prevalent attitude among entrepreneurs that the business, whatever that business is, comes first. It is the high priority that trumps everything else, including family, friends and especially health.
I’ve seen entrepreneurs sacrifice all these things, sometimes with tragic consequences, to focus on making their businesses successful. I’ve also done it myself, although I’m one of the lucky ones. During the years I made my business my highest priority, my wife stuck by my side, I didn’t cause any permanent damage with friendships (although I certainly didn’t nurture any) and I didn’t die.
It’s not greed that motivates us entrepreneurs. It would be difficult to justify the sacrifices we make if the only reward were money. Dollars become mere points in a sort of game. What it’s really about is building something great, doing something that matters and changing the world. That’s what makes it so easy to brush other things off. But it’s a mistake. I know that now, and that’s why today I care more about exercise than my business. But it’s not easy.
I have a growing business with 14 team members. These men and women rely on me to make sure their paychecks come on time, that benefits are there for them and their families, and that obstacles are removed so they can get their work done. We have approximately 40 clients, who are depending on me to make sure they’re getting the results that will help their businesses grow.
This adds up to a lot of tasks, and a lot of pressure. On any given day there are easily 100 important things I should be doing for my business, 50 of which are also urgent, but there is no way I can get more than 10 things done. And yet each and every week I spend at least 10 hours on focused, physical exercise.
I schedule my workouts during the workday and prioritize exercise over all my work activities. There is some flexibility, but if there is a conflict between a trail run I need to get in, and a meeting with a client, I’ll reschedule the client meeting first. I do this because I and my business can survive the consequences of rescheduling a client meeting, even if it means losing that client. But as soon as I start pushing workouts off, I’ll start missing workouts, and once I start missing workouts, I’m close to stopping workouts altogether.
Exercise must come first, or it’s unlikely to happen at all.
If exercise stops, then my health goes downhill. With the loss of physical health my productivity at work goes down. I become depressed. I lose motivation to do the things that makes my business successful. I’ve learned firsthand that excellence in one area of my life promotes excellence in all other areas of my life. Exercise is the easiest area of my life to control. It’s easy to measure. Either I get it in, or I don’t. When I do, it lifts up all other areas of my life, including my business.
For a long time, I was fooled into thinking that if my business wasn’t the top priority, then that meant I wasn’t doing all I could do to make it successful. This is an understandable way of thinking, but it’s completely wrong.
If my life is made up of 10 priorities, then it’s not as simple as saying that if I move the business from being priority two to priority one, that the business is going to benefit. The trick is to figure out which ordering of priorities provides the maximum overall benefit.
For example, when I exercise, that makes me better in every role I have, whether it’s as a husband, father, friend or entrepreneur. If I were to stop exercising because I felt that being a good business owner was a higher priority, then ironically I would end up a worse business owner than I was when it when it was a lower priority. Putting exercise first creates a win-win.
As my business grows, I see members of my team falling into the same trap I did. That’s why we’re working to institute health incentives, and why I’m not ashamed to talk about the time I take out of my work day to exercise. I know that if my team members put exercise and health before their jobs, they might work fewer hours, but they’ll feel better about themselves, have more fulfilling lives and they’ll produce better results with the hours they do work.
[Click here for the original article from Time.com]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If exercise stops, then everything else will start falling apart
There’s a prevalent attitude among entrepreneurs that the business, whatever that business is, comes first. It is the high priority that trumps everything else, including family, friends and especially health.
I’ve seen entrepreneurs sacrifice all these things, sometimes with tragic consequences, to focus on making their businesses successful. I’ve also done it myself, although I’m one of the lucky ones. During the years I made my business my highest priority, my wife stuck by my side, I didn’t cause any permanent damage with friendships (although I certainly didn’t nurture any) and I didn’t die.
It’s not greed that motivates us entrepreneurs. It would be difficult to justify the sacrifices we make if the only reward were money. Dollars become mere points in a sort of game. What it’s really about is building something great, doing something that matters and changing the world. That’s what makes it so easy to brush other things off. But it’s a mistake. I know that now, and that’s why today I care more about exercise than my business. But it’s not easy.
I have a growing business with 14 team members. These men and women rely on me to make sure their paychecks come on time, that benefits are there for them and their families, and that obstacles are removed so they can get their work done. We have approximately 40 clients, who are depending on me to make sure they’re getting the results that will help their businesses grow.
This adds up to a lot of tasks, and a lot of pressure. On any given day there are easily 100 important things I should be doing for my business, 50 of which are also urgent, but there is no way I can get more than 10 things done. And yet each and every week I spend at least 10 hours on focused, physical exercise.
I schedule my workouts during the workday and prioritize exercise over all my work activities. There is some flexibility, but if there is a conflict between a trail run I need to get in, and a meeting with a client, I’ll reschedule the client meeting first. I do this because I and my business can survive the consequences of rescheduling a client meeting, even if it means losing that client. But as soon as I start pushing workouts off, I’ll start missing workouts, and once I start missing workouts, I’m close to stopping workouts altogether.
Exercise must come first, or it’s unlikely to happen at all.
If exercise stops, then my health goes downhill. With the loss of physical health my productivity at work goes down. I become depressed. I lose motivation to do the things that makes my business successful. I’ve learned firsthand that excellence in one area of my life promotes excellence in all other areas of my life. Exercise is the easiest area of my life to control. It’s easy to measure. Either I get it in, or I don’t. When I do, it lifts up all other areas of my life, including my business.
For a long time, I was fooled into thinking that if my business wasn’t the top priority, then that meant I wasn’t doing all I could do to make it successful. This is an understandable way of thinking, but it’s completely wrong.
If my life is made up of 10 priorities, then it’s not as simple as saying that if I move the business from being priority two to priority one, that the business is going to benefit. The trick is to figure out which ordering of priorities provides the maximum overall benefit.
For example, when I exercise, that makes me better in every role I have, whether it’s as a husband, father, friend or entrepreneur. If I were to stop exercising because I felt that being a good business owner was a higher priority, then ironically I would end up a worse business owner than I was when it when it was a lower priority. Putting exercise first creates a win-win.
As my business grows, I see members of my team falling into the same trap I did. That’s why we’re working to institute health incentives, and why I’m not ashamed to talk about the time I take out of my work day to exercise. I know that if my team members put exercise and health before their jobs, they might work fewer hours, but they’ll feel better about themselves, have more fulfilling lives and they’ll produce better results with the hours they do work.
[Click here for the original article from Time.com]
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Healthy Recipe: Eggplant Gâteaux with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, and Parmesan (Serves 6)
Love lasagna, but trying to avoid pasta? This recipe uses thinly sliced eggplant in lieu of pasta. It is great for crowds and can be made to serve immediately or prepped in advance to cook and serve later!
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, thinly sliced
olive oil, to drizzle
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut int small pieces
1.5 lb cherry tomatoes, halved
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup basil leaves, torn
sea salt and pepper, to taste
5 oz Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1) Heat the oven to 400F.
2) Thinly slice the eggplants and lay the slices out on two large oiled baking sheets. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 5 to 8 minutes until softened and lightly browned.
3) Line a baking dish with waxed paper or spray with PAM/cooking spray.
4) Melt the butter in a large saute pan and cook the cherry tomatoes with the garlic until soft and pulpy. Tear in the basil leaves and season with salt and pepper.
5) Layer a third of the eggplant slices over the base of the prepared pan, top with half the tomato mixture, then sprinkle over some parmesan. Add another layer of eggplant, then the remaining tomato mixture. Cover with a final layer of eggplant and then sprinkle generously with parmesan.
6) Bake the gâteaux for 10 minutes until the topping is golden and bubbling. Let stand for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a warm plate.
7) Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
(recipe taken and modified from Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy)
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided was generated using the "My Fitness Pal" app and may not be 100% accurate.
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, thinly sliced
olive oil, to drizzle
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut int small pieces
1.5 lb cherry tomatoes, halved
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup basil leaves, torn
sea salt and pepper, to taste
5 oz Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1) Heat the oven to 400F.
2) Thinly slice the eggplants and lay the slices out on two large oiled baking sheets. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 5 to 8 minutes until softened and lightly browned.
3) Line a baking dish with waxed paper or spray with PAM/cooking spray.
4) Melt the butter in a large saute pan and cook the cherry tomatoes with the garlic until soft and pulpy. Tear in the basil leaves and season with salt and pepper.
5) Layer a third of the eggplant slices over the base of the prepared pan, top with half the tomato mixture, then sprinkle over some parmesan. Add another layer of eggplant, then the remaining tomato mixture. Cover with a final layer of eggplant and then sprinkle generously with parmesan.
6) Bake the gâteaux for 10 minutes until the topping is golden and bubbling. Let stand for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a warm plate.
7) Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
Per
serving: 245 calories / 14 g carbs / 17 g fat / 12 g protein / 0.37 g
sodium / 7 g sugar
Serves 6
Note: Depending on how much salt is added, calories and sodium content may increase slightly.
(recipe taken and modified from Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy)
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided was generated using the "My Fitness Pal" app and may not be 100% accurate.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Decisions, Decisions -- The Battle of the Tempting Foods (Part 3)
A few years back, I was reading an issue of ""Nutrition Action" and I
came across an interesting article about fast food. This article framed
fast food in the context of "which is better?" I'm sure we've all been
in the situation where you are choosing between dishes, but you have no
idea which is healthier or if either is healthy.
Well, hopefully this article (Decisions, Decisions....Which Is Better?) by Bonnie Liebman and Jayne Hurley will shed some light on those qualms!
[Note: Since the article is rather long, I will be cutting it up into 3 separate blog posts.]
8. Pita: Gyro or Falafel?
At a Greek or Middle Easter sandwich shop, should you get the gyro (a blend of lamb and beef) or the falafel (fried chickpea patties?)
Decisions: Go with the falafel. The gyro had more saturated fat, more calories, and (usually) more sodium than the falafel -- or chicken or vegetable sandwich fillings --- on most menus.
Take Daphne's, a "California-fresh" West Coast chain with 56 restaurants that lists calories on its menus and Nutrition Facts on its Web site. The Classic Pita sandwich has 660 calories and 16 grams (more than three-quarters of a day's supply) of saturated fat if you fill it with Fresh-Carved Gyros, but 510 calories and 4 grams of sat fat if you fill it up with Falafel. They Gyro's 1,025 mg of sodium also tops the Falafel's 860 mg.
Ditto for the Classic Greek salad. You're talking 620 calories (and 20 grams of sat fat) for the Gyro version versus 540 calories (and 8 grams of sat fat) for the Falafel. And those numbers don't include the dressing (60 calories for the Greek lite or 110 calories for the Classic Greek) or the pita (180 calories) and tzatziki sauce (50 sauce) that come on the side.
Tip: A salad or a pita sandwich with grilled chicken or vegetables trumps both the falafel and the gyro.
9. Noodles or Rice?
At some Asian restaurants, you can choose rice or noodles (like lo mein) on the side. Which is best?
Decision: If you're talking about a side dish at a quick-order restaurant like Pei Wei or Manchu Wok, go with rice to save on sodium. At Pei Wei, for example, an order of egg noodles has 1,010 milligrams of sodium. At Manchu Wok, the lo mein noodles 850 mg and the Shanghai noodles will set you back 1,620 mg.
In contrast, steamed rice has essentially no sodium. And Pei Wei and some other chains offer brown rice, which has more fiber and vitamins that white. Just steer clear of the fried rice (800 to 1,200 mg of sodium). And watch our for the main-dish noodles.
Tip: Ask for a side dish of vegetables instead of rice or noodles. The sodium (about 500 mg) isn't low, but the veggies have fewer calories (about 100) that the rice or noodles (300 to 400). And the vegetables' potassium may counter the load of sodium in the rest of your Asian food.
10. Pad Thai or Pad Pak?
Pad Thai is wildly popular. Most people have never heard of Pad Pak. Which is best?
Decision: Pad Pak --- stir fried vegetables with chicken, shrimp, or tofu and a small side of rice --- wins, hands down. That's because Pad Thai --- rice noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, egg, tofu, and crushed peanuts --- is such bad news.
At Pick Up Stix, for example, the Chicken Pad Thai has 1,480 calories and 4,300 milligrams of sodium. At Pei Wei, the calories (even for the Vegetable & Tofu Pad Thai) hover around 1,500, and the sodium rounds to a hard-to-believe 5,000 mg --- enough for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Somehow Pad Thai still has a decent reputation. People who would never order an entree of fried rice don't flinch at a plate consisting largely of oil soaked rice noodles. Yet Pei Wei's and Pick Up Stix's Pad Thais are worse than an entree of their fried rice with chicken, shrimp, or beef.
We estimate that the Pad Pak at most Thai restaurants has 400 to 500 calories (plus another 300 for every 1.5 cups of rice you eat). Sodium is hard to estimate.
Tip: Beware of curry dishes at Thai restaruants. Their coconut can easily supply a day's saturated fat.
11. Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt?
Does Pinkberry or TCBY beat a scoop of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazs?
Decision: Frozen yogurt wins. Even a single (half-cup) scoop of premium ice cream have about 10 grams of saturated fat. Frozen yogurt has anywhere from 0 to 2 grams per half cup.
But if you're not careful, your frozen yogurt could have as much calories as that single scoop of ice cream (250 to 300). That's the case with a 1.25 cup) regular soft-serve frozen yogurt TCBY or medium Pinkberry, for example.
Then comes the toppings. At Pinkberry, where employees do the scooping, calories range from 10 (fresh fruit) to 50 (nuts or chocolate chips) to 100 (peanut butter crunch)...if they stick to the tiny one-tablespoon scoop. At a self-serve chain, all bets are off. Topping your two-cup (16 oz) serving of fat-free chocolate with one scoop each of nuts, chips, and Nutella could rack up to 650 calories. Oops.
Tips: Order a "kids" or "mini" size (about 0.5 cup) to keep the calories down around 100, and stick to fresh fruit toppings.
--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"
Well, hopefully this article (Decisions, Decisions....Which Is Better?) by Bonnie Liebman and Jayne Hurley will shed some light on those qualms!
[Note: Since the article is rather long, I will be cutting it up into 3 separate blog posts.]
8. Pita: Gyro or Falafel?
At a Greek or Middle Easter sandwich shop, should you get the gyro (a blend of lamb and beef) or the falafel (fried chickpea patties?)
Decisions: Go with the falafel. The gyro had more saturated fat, more calories, and (usually) more sodium than the falafel -- or chicken or vegetable sandwich fillings --- on most menus.
Take Daphne's, a "California-fresh" West Coast chain with 56 restaurants that lists calories on its menus and Nutrition Facts on its Web site. The Classic Pita sandwich has 660 calories and 16 grams (more than three-quarters of a day's supply) of saturated fat if you fill it with Fresh-Carved Gyros, but 510 calories and 4 grams of sat fat if you fill it up with Falafel. They Gyro's 1,025 mg of sodium also tops the Falafel's 860 mg.
Ditto for the Classic Greek salad. You're talking 620 calories (and 20 grams of sat fat) for the Gyro version versus 540 calories (and 8 grams of sat fat) for the Falafel. And those numbers don't include the dressing (60 calories for the Greek lite or 110 calories for the Classic Greek) or the pita (180 calories) and tzatziki sauce (50 sauce) that come on the side.
Tip: A salad or a pita sandwich with grilled chicken or vegetables trumps both the falafel and the gyro.
9. Noodles or Rice?
At some Asian restaurants, you can choose rice or noodles (like lo mein) on the side. Which is best?
Decision: If you're talking about a side dish at a quick-order restaurant like Pei Wei or Manchu Wok, go with rice to save on sodium. At Pei Wei, for example, an order of egg noodles has 1,010 milligrams of sodium. At Manchu Wok, the lo mein noodles 850 mg and the Shanghai noodles will set you back 1,620 mg.
In contrast, steamed rice has essentially no sodium. And Pei Wei and some other chains offer brown rice, which has more fiber and vitamins that white. Just steer clear of the fried rice (800 to 1,200 mg of sodium). And watch our for the main-dish noodles.
Tip: Ask for a side dish of vegetables instead of rice or noodles. The sodium (about 500 mg) isn't low, but the veggies have fewer calories (about 100) that the rice or noodles (300 to 400). And the vegetables' potassium may counter the load of sodium in the rest of your Asian food.
10. Pad Thai or Pad Pak?
Pad Thai is wildly popular. Most people have never heard of Pad Pak. Which is best?
Decision: Pad Pak --- stir fried vegetables with chicken, shrimp, or tofu and a small side of rice --- wins, hands down. That's because Pad Thai --- rice noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, egg, tofu, and crushed peanuts --- is such bad news.
At Pick Up Stix, for example, the Chicken Pad Thai has 1,480 calories and 4,300 milligrams of sodium. At Pei Wei, the calories (even for the Vegetable & Tofu Pad Thai) hover around 1,500, and the sodium rounds to a hard-to-believe 5,000 mg --- enough for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Somehow Pad Thai still has a decent reputation. People who would never order an entree of fried rice don't flinch at a plate consisting largely of oil soaked rice noodles. Yet Pei Wei's and Pick Up Stix's Pad Thais are worse than an entree of their fried rice with chicken, shrimp, or beef.
We estimate that the Pad Pak at most Thai restaurants has 400 to 500 calories (plus another 300 for every 1.5 cups of rice you eat). Sodium is hard to estimate.
Tip: Beware of curry dishes at Thai restaruants. Their coconut can easily supply a day's saturated fat.
11. Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt?
Does Pinkberry or TCBY beat a scoop of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazs?
Decision: Frozen yogurt wins. Even a single (half-cup) scoop of premium ice cream have about 10 grams of saturated fat. Frozen yogurt has anywhere from 0 to 2 grams per half cup.
But if you're not careful, your frozen yogurt could have as much calories as that single scoop of ice cream (250 to 300). That's the case with a 1.25 cup) regular soft-serve frozen yogurt TCBY or medium Pinkberry, for example.
Then comes the toppings. At Pinkberry, where employees do the scooping, calories range from 10 (fresh fruit) to 50 (nuts or chocolate chips) to 100 (peanut butter crunch)...if they stick to the tiny one-tablespoon scoop. At a self-serve chain, all bets are off. Topping your two-cup (16 oz) serving of fat-free chocolate with one scoop each of nuts, chips, and Nutella could rack up to 650 calories. Oops.
Tips: Order a "kids" or "mini" size (about 0.5 cup) to keep the calories down around 100, and stick to fresh fruit toppings.
--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"
Decisions, Decisions -- The Battle of the Tempting Foods (Part 2)
A few years back, I was reading an issue of ""Nutrition Action" and I
came across an interesting article about fast food. This article framed
fast food in the context of "which is better?" I'm sure we've all been
in the situation where you are choosing between dishes, but you have no
idea which is healthier or if either is healthy.
Well, hopefully this article (Decisions, Decisions....Which Is Better?) by Bonnie Liebman and Jayne Hurley will shed some light on those qualms!
[Note: Since the article is rather long, I will be cutting it up into 3 separate blog posts.]
5. Chinese: Beef or Chicken?
At a Chinese restaurant, are you better off ordering chicken or beef?
Decisions: It depends. If you order General Tso's, orange, sesame, honey, kung pao, or some other breaded, fried, sauce-laden chicken dish, you'll push away form the table with 1,000 to 1,200 calories...and that's without any rice, according to numbers from Pei Wei, Pick Up Stix, and similar chains. That's more than beef with broccoli and other unbreaded beef dishes, which have about 700 to 900 calorie without rice.
Chicken with black bean sauce, moo goo pai pan, or another unbreaded, nonfried chicken dish, on the other hand, delivers only 600 to 700 calories...and (usually) more veggies. Szechuan and garlic shrimp are in the same ballpark.
Just don't expect less sodium. Most entrees, even the lighter ones, pack 2,000 to 3,000 milligrams (1 to 2 days' worth). Add another 400 mg for every packet (or teaspoon) of soy sauce you use.
And don't assume that vegetarian dishes are a calorie bargain. You're fine with szechuan string beans or Buddha's delight (500 calories), but eggplant in garlic sauce, stir-fried spinach or other greens, or curry vegetables (blame the curry's coconut) hover around 1,000 calories without rice. Even fried tofu with vegetables hits 800 to 1,000 calories. Save (at least) half for tomorrow's lunch.
Tip: Whatever you order, try skipping some of the rice. Brown beats white, but both have about 300 calories in a typical 1.5 cup serving. At some food courts, you could get 2 cups. That's 400 calories you probably don't need.
6. Sandwich or Salad?
For many people, a sandwich is "the usual" lunch. Is a salad better?
Decision: A salad beats a sandwich, though you have to choose your salad wisely.
Take Panera. Most of its sandwiches (not the half sandwich in a You Pick 2) and paninis start out with 300 to 500 calories from the ciabatta, french baguette, focaccia, tomato basil, honey wheat, or three cheese bread. Who needs all that (mostly) white flour? The Sierra Turkey on Asiago Cheese Focaccia gets 690 of its 820 calories from the focaccia (510 cal) and the chipotle mayonnaise (180 cal).
Only a few breads, like sourdough, keep the calories down to 200. And expect roughly 700 to 900 milligrams of sodium --- at least half a day's worth --- from most of the breads alone. With fillings, most sandwiches hit 600 to 900 calories and 1,000 to 2,500 mg of sodium.
In contrast, a full salad starts with greens (maybe even spinach) and raw veggies. With dressing, chicken, cheese, and other usual add-ons, the totals typically hit 400 to 600 calories. And the veggies' potassium may counter some of the damage done by the sodium (700 to 1,500 mg).
Note: at Panera, you can skip ingredients like crispy wonton strips or croutons, which have about 100 calories each. And you can save another 100 by using just half the dressing. Whatever you order, don't forget to add 180 calories if you get a baguette on the side.
Tip: Wraps aren't much different from sandwiches. You're just trading the bread for a 300-calorie white-flour tortilla.
7. Pizza or Pasta?
Both pizza crust and pasta supply a load of (usually) white flour. And most pizzas come with cheese. Which does the least damage?
Decision: This is a tough one. Both are located with calories, carbs, sodium, and more. But at least with pasta, you can dodge the saturated fat...if you're careful.
At California Pizza Kitchen, where each person typically order an entire pizza, the calories hover around 1,000 for both pizza and pasta. (At UNO Chicago Grill, single deep-dish pizzas range from 1,600 to 2,300 calories).
That's very true even for pizzas like the Original Hand-Tossed California Veggie (1,070 calories) or the Pear + Gorgonzola (1,420). Roughly half the calories come from the crust. CPK's (mostly white flour) honey-wheat with whole grain crust adds 140 extra calories. And most CPK pizzas deliver 15 to 25 grams of sat fat.
With pasta, you can cut the saturated fat way back (to just 4 or 5 grams)...if it has no cream, cheese, or meat. At CPK, that leaves only Kung Pao Spaghetti. At most other chains, you can go with a red or white clam, marinara, or pomodoro (that is, tomato) sauce.
But watch out. A pasta with cheese or meat is likely to reach at least 10 grams (half a day's worth) of saturated fat. Worse yet, a pasta with cream sauce --- like CPK's Pesto Cream Penne or Garlic Cream Fettuccine --- can hit 40-some grams of sat fat. Bring your defibrillator.
Sodium is another minefield. Expect 1,200 to 2,400 milligrams in a typical pasta and (stroke alert!) 2,000 to 3,000 mg (1,000 from the crust alone) in most pizzas.
Tip: A salad beats both pizza and pasta because you fill up on veggies, not white flour. (Note: at CPK, even the salads have around 1,000 calories, so order a half salad.) If you want to leave with no more fat cells that you brought, stick to a salad or split your pasta (try the part-whole-grain multigrain penne) or pizza. Or take home half for tomorrow.
--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"
Well, hopefully this article (Decisions, Decisions....Which Is Better?) by Bonnie Liebman and Jayne Hurley will shed some light on those qualms!
[Note: Since the article is rather long, I will be cutting it up into 3 separate blog posts.]
5. Chinese: Beef or Chicken?
At a Chinese restaurant, are you better off ordering chicken or beef?
Decisions: It depends. If you order General Tso's, orange, sesame, honey, kung pao, or some other breaded, fried, sauce-laden chicken dish, you'll push away form the table with 1,000 to 1,200 calories...and that's without any rice, according to numbers from Pei Wei, Pick Up Stix, and similar chains. That's more than beef with broccoli and other unbreaded beef dishes, which have about 700 to 900 calorie without rice.
Chicken with black bean sauce, moo goo pai pan, or another unbreaded, nonfried chicken dish, on the other hand, delivers only 600 to 700 calories...and (usually) more veggies. Szechuan and garlic shrimp are in the same ballpark.
Just don't expect less sodium. Most entrees, even the lighter ones, pack 2,000 to 3,000 milligrams (1 to 2 days' worth). Add another 400 mg for every packet (or teaspoon) of soy sauce you use.
And don't assume that vegetarian dishes are a calorie bargain. You're fine with szechuan string beans or Buddha's delight (500 calories), but eggplant in garlic sauce, stir-fried spinach or other greens, or curry vegetables (blame the curry's coconut) hover around 1,000 calories without rice. Even fried tofu with vegetables hits 800 to 1,000 calories. Save (at least) half for tomorrow's lunch.
Tip: Whatever you order, try skipping some of the rice. Brown beats white, but both have about 300 calories in a typical 1.5 cup serving. At some food courts, you could get 2 cups. That's 400 calories you probably don't need.
6. Sandwich or Salad?
For many people, a sandwich is "the usual" lunch. Is a salad better?
Decision: A salad beats a sandwich, though you have to choose your salad wisely.
Take Panera. Most of its sandwiches (not the half sandwich in a You Pick 2) and paninis start out with 300 to 500 calories from the ciabatta, french baguette, focaccia, tomato basil, honey wheat, or three cheese bread. Who needs all that (mostly) white flour? The Sierra Turkey on Asiago Cheese Focaccia gets 690 of its 820 calories from the focaccia (510 cal) and the chipotle mayonnaise (180 cal).
Only a few breads, like sourdough, keep the calories down to 200. And expect roughly 700 to 900 milligrams of sodium --- at least half a day's worth --- from most of the breads alone. With fillings, most sandwiches hit 600 to 900 calories and 1,000 to 2,500 mg of sodium.
In contrast, a full salad starts with greens (maybe even spinach) and raw veggies. With dressing, chicken, cheese, and other usual add-ons, the totals typically hit 400 to 600 calories. And the veggies' potassium may counter some of the damage done by the sodium (700 to 1,500 mg).
Note: at Panera, you can skip ingredients like crispy wonton strips or croutons, which have about 100 calories each. And you can save another 100 by using just half the dressing. Whatever you order, don't forget to add 180 calories if you get a baguette on the side.
Tip: Wraps aren't much different from sandwiches. You're just trading the bread for a 300-calorie white-flour tortilla.
7. Pizza or Pasta?
Both pizza crust and pasta supply a load of (usually) white flour. And most pizzas come with cheese. Which does the least damage?
Decision: This is a tough one. Both are located with calories, carbs, sodium, and more. But at least with pasta, you can dodge the saturated fat...if you're careful.
At California Pizza Kitchen, where each person typically order an entire pizza, the calories hover around 1,000 for both pizza and pasta. (At UNO Chicago Grill, single deep-dish pizzas range from 1,600 to 2,300 calories).
That's very true even for pizzas like the Original Hand-Tossed California Veggie (1,070 calories) or the Pear + Gorgonzola (1,420). Roughly half the calories come from the crust. CPK's (mostly white flour) honey-wheat with whole grain crust adds 140 extra calories. And most CPK pizzas deliver 15 to 25 grams of sat fat.
With pasta, you can cut the saturated fat way back (to just 4 or 5 grams)...if it has no cream, cheese, or meat. At CPK, that leaves only Kung Pao Spaghetti. At most other chains, you can go with a red or white clam, marinara, or pomodoro (that is, tomato) sauce.
But watch out. A pasta with cheese or meat is likely to reach at least 10 grams (half a day's worth) of saturated fat. Worse yet, a pasta with cream sauce --- like CPK's Pesto Cream Penne or Garlic Cream Fettuccine --- can hit 40-some grams of sat fat. Bring your defibrillator.
Sodium is another minefield. Expect 1,200 to 2,400 milligrams in a typical pasta and (stroke alert!) 2,000 to 3,000 mg (1,000 from the crust alone) in most pizzas.
Tip: A salad beats both pizza and pasta because you fill up on veggies, not white flour. (Note: at CPK, even the salads have around 1,000 calories, so order a half salad.) If you want to leave with no more fat cells that you brought, stick to a salad or split your pasta (try the part-whole-grain multigrain penne) or pizza. Or take home half for tomorrow.
--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"
Decisions, Decisions -- The Battle of the Tempting Foods (Part 1)
A few years back, I was reading an issue of ""Nutrition Action" and I
came across an interesting article about fast food. This article framed
fast food in the context of "which is better?" I'm sure we've all been
in the situation where you are choosing between dishes, but you have no
idea which is healthier or if either is healthy.
Well, hopefully this article (Decisions, Decisions....Which Is Better?) by Bonnie Liebman and Jayne Hurley will shed some light on those qualms!
[Note: Since the article is rather long, I will be cutting it up into 3 separate blog posts.]
1. Latte: Tea or Coffee?
Are you better off with a latte made with tea or one made with espresso?
Decisions: A coffee (espresso) latte may be better, because some tea lattes are loaded with sugar. A Starbucks grande (16 oz.) Green Tea Latte made with nonfat milk, for example, has 290 calories. That's more than the Earl Grey (150 cal), Chai (210 cal), or Chocolate Chai (240 cal) Tea Latte. A venti (20 oz.) Green Tea Latte hits 370 calories.
In contrast, a grande Caffe Latte made with nonfat milk has just 130 calories (from the milk). Vanilla or other sweetened lattes have around 200 calories, but the Skinny lattes (made with questionable sweetener sucralose) have just 120 [calories].
Tip: Cut calories even more with a grande nonfat Cappuccino (80 cal), Caffe Misto (70), or coffee and packet of sugar (20 cal).
2. Burrito or Tacos?
Are tacos worse because their tortillas are usually fried?
Decisions: Flour tortillas are worse than soft or crispy (fried) corn tortillas. At Chipotle or Qdoba, for example, a burrito's flour tortilla has around 300 calories' worth of mostly white flour, plus around 700 milligrams of sodium.
In contrast, three crispy taco-size corn tortillas at either chain have roughly 180 calories and 50 mg of sodium. Soft corn tortillas (Qdoba doesn't offer them) are about the same. Three soft taco-size flour tortillas? You might as well get the burrito tortilla.
But it's not just the wrapper. Most people fill a burrito with rice (even more carbs!), beans, chicken, salsa, and cheese. Grand total: some 1,000 calories (and 2000+ mg of sodium). Three crispy tacos with chicken, cheese, salsa, and lettuce total about 500 calories (and 1,000 mg of sodium).
Tip: Lose the flour tortilla. Get a Burrito Bowl at Chipotle or a Naked Burrito at Qdoba. With brown rice, chicken, black beans, salsa, and cheese, it's about 600 calories. Or get a salad (same ingredients, but with lettuce instead of rice). At Chipotle, use the tomato or green salsa instead of the 260-calorie vinaigrette. Qdoba's dressings are low-cal. Just skip its fried tortilla bowl.
3. Oatmeal or Yogurt Parfait?
Which makes a better breakfast on the run?
Decision: Either. Both beat every muffin, bagel, scone, banana bread, croissant, or other bakery item on the menu.
Starbucks' oatmeal has 150 calories' worth of unsweetened whole-grain oats (and 4 grams of fiber). You can add fresh blueberries (20 calories), dried fruit (100 cal), or a nut medley (100 cal). At Panera, try the pecans (100 cal). At both chains, skip the brown sugar, cinnamon crunch, and agave syrup.
You can't avoid the added sugar (about 5 teaspoons) in the parfaits, though. And Panera's Strawberry Granola Parfait and Starbucks' Greek Yogurt with Honey Parfait have 4.5 or 6 grams of saturated fat. But Starbucks' 300-calorie Strawberry Blueberry and Peach Raspberry Yogurt Parfaits keep the sat fat to 1/2 gram. And the parfaits have more calcium and more protein (8 or 9 grams) than the oatmeal (5 grams; 7 with nuts).
Tip: Want more protein? A 170-calorie Breakfast Egg White Bowl with Roasted Turkey from Panera's Hidden Menu has 28 grams. At other chains, look for egg white sandwiches.
4. Fries or Sweet Potato Fries?
Sweet potato fries sound like a healthy alternative to regular fries. True?
Decision: Nope. Skip them both. Sweet potatoes have more vitamin A and fiber, but watch out. At Johnny Rockets, for example, the sweet potato fries have more calories (590 cal) than the regular American fries (480 cal). That's partly because Johnny adds sugar to the sweets, which also have far more sodium (800 mg) than the regulars (40 mg). At Chilis, both have about 400 calories. But the Homestyle fries have more sodium (1,370 mg) than the sweets (a "mere" 970 mg).
If you have to pick one, make it the sweets. But if you're ordinarily a no-fries-for-me diner who's seduced by the "healthy" sweet potatoes, you've been tricked.
Tip: Stick with a non-starchy vegetable (like broccoli or asparagus) or a green salad for your side.
--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"
Well, hopefully this article (Decisions, Decisions....Which Is Better?) by Bonnie Liebman and Jayne Hurley will shed some light on those qualms!
[Note: Since the article is rather long, I will be cutting it up into 3 separate blog posts.]
1. Latte: Tea or Coffee?
Are you better off with a latte made with tea or one made with espresso?
Decisions: A coffee (espresso) latte may be better, because some tea lattes are loaded with sugar. A Starbucks grande (16 oz.) Green Tea Latte made with nonfat milk, for example, has 290 calories. That's more than the Earl Grey (150 cal), Chai (210 cal), or Chocolate Chai (240 cal) Tea Latte. A venti (20 oz.) Green Tea Latte hits 370 calories.
In contrast, a grande Caffe Latte made with nonfat milk has just 130 calories (from the milk). Vanilla or other sweetened lattes have around 200 calories, but the Skinny lattes (made with questionable sweetener sucralose) have just 120 [calories].
Tip: Cut calories even more with a grande nonfat Cappuccino (80 cal), Caffe Misto (70), or coffee and packet of sugar (20 cal).
2. Burrito or Tacos?
Are tacos worse because their tortillas are usually fried?
Decisions: Flour tortillas are worse than soft or crispy (fried) corn tortillas. At Chipotle or Qdoba, for example, a burrito's flour tortilla has around 300 calories' worth of mostly white flour, plus around 700 milligrams of sodium.
In contrast, three crispy taco-size corn tortillas at either chain have roughly 180 calories and 50 mg of sodium. Soft corn tortillas (Qdoba doesn't offer them) are about the same. Three soft taco-size flour tortillas? You might as well get the burrito tortilla.
But it's not just the wrapper. Most people fill a burrito with rice (even more carbs!), beans, chicken, salsa, and cheese. Grand total: some 1,000 calories (and 2000+ mg of sodium). Three crispy tacos with chicken, cheese, salsa, and lettuce total about 500 calories (and 1,000 mg of sodium).
Tip: Lose the flour tortilla. Get a Burrito Bowl at Chipotle or a Naked Burrito at Qdoba. With brown rice, chicken, black beans, salsa, and cheese, it's about 600 calories. Or get a salad (same ingredients, but with lettuce instead of rice). At Chipotle, use the tomato or green salsa instead of the 260-calorie vinaigrette. Qdoba's dressings are low-cal. Just skip its fried tortilla bowl.
3. Oatmeal or Yogurt Parfait?
Which makes a better breakfast on the run?
Decision: Either. Both beat every muffin, bagel, scone, banana bread, croissant, or other bakery item on the menu.
Starbucks' oatmeal has 150 calories' worth of unsweetened whole-grain oats (and 4 grams of fiber). You can add fresh blueberries (20 calories), dried fruit (100 cal), or a nut medley (100 cal). At Panera, try the pecans (100 cal). At both chains, skip the brown sugar, cinnamon crunch, and agave syrup.
You can't avoid the added sugar (about 5 teaspoons) in the parfaits, though. And Panera's Strawberry Granola Parfait and Starbucks' Greek Yogurt with Honey Parfait have 4.5 or 6 grams of saturated fat. But Starbucks' 300-calorie Strawberry Blueberry and Peach Raspberry Yogurt Parfaits keep the sat fat to 1/2 gram. And the parfaits have more calcium and more protein (8 or 9 grams) than the oatmeal (5 grams; 7 with nuts).
Tip: Want more protein? A 170-calorie Breakfast Egg White Bowl with Roasted Turkey from Panera's Hidden Menu has 28 grams. At other chains, look for egg white sandwiches.
4. Fries or Sweet Potato Fries?
Sweet potato fries sound like a healthy alternative to regular fries. True?
Decision: Nope. Skip them both. Sweet potatoes have more vitamin A and fiber, but watch out. At Johnny Rockets, for example, the sweet potato fries have more calories (590 cal) than the regular American fries (480 cal). That's partly because Johnny adds sugar to the sweets, which also have far more sodium (800 mg) than the regulars (40 mg). At Chilis, both have about 400 calories. But the Homestyle fries have more sodium (1,370 mg) than the sweets (a "mere" 970 mg).
If you have to pick one, make it the sweets. But if you're ordinarily a no-fries-for-me diner who's seduced by the "healthy" sweet potatoes, you've been tricked.
Tip: Stick with a non-starchy vegetable (like broccoli or asparagus) or a green salad for your side.
--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"
Sleep Is The Key To Success
New York City is a rough metropolis where the pace of life is normally,
"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Beyond New York City, we live in a world where
alarms clocks are a requirement and many of us are sleep deprived. We
are often told that getting a good night's sleep is important, but here
is why getting in those ZZZs is crucial.
We recently came across this great article in Sky Delta Magazine and wanted to share it with everyone:
Logging high-quality sleep is something Americans haven't yet mastered. According to the 2013 National Sleep Foundation Sleep in American Poll, 42 percent of people reported rarely or never getting a good night's sleep. General guidelines call for seven to nine hours a night, but if you sleep less than that, you can accumulate sleep debt, which will have adverse effects on your mental and physical functioning, says Natalie Dautovich, Ph.D., NSF environmental scholar.
The body and brain restore themselves during sleep, which is when numerous important functions happen. For starters, your body releases hormones at the beginning of the night, which is important for growth. More alarming? "Lack of sleep is a major cause of obesity and diabetes," says Robert S. Rosenberg, D.O., medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Prescott Valley, Arizona, and author of "Sleep Soundly Every Night."
Along with making sleep a bigger priority, employ the following five strategies to set yourself up for sound slumber:
- Kill The Blue Lights: Computers, e-readers, and TVs all emit blue light, which can destroy your sleep. "That blue light takes your melatonin levels, which are building to help you sleep, down to zero," Rosenberg says. About 60 to 90 minutes before bed, turn these devices off. If, though, that's impossible, at least buy a pair of blue blocker sunglasses. Or download a free software called f.lux (justgetflux.com), which automatically dims blue light on electronics at night and brings them back up during the day.
- Paint Your Room Blue: Although blue light isn't good for you, the color blue is. People who slept in blue rooms got more sleep than when they slept in rooms painted other colors, according to a Travelodge survey.
- Be A Constructive Worrier: Rather than taking your problems to bed with you, set aside five or 10 minutes at 5 p.m. and use that time to write down your worries.
- Cut The Afternoon Starbucks: Caffeine is a major cause of insomnia, Rosenberg says. If you're having sleep issues, cut caffeine completely or at least stop drinking it at least six hours before bed.
- Follow The 20-Minutes Rule: If you've been tossing and turning for 20 minutes or more, remove yourself from the bedroom and do something soothing such as reading or listening to music. As soon as you start feeling sleepy, head to bed.
We recently came across this great article in Sky Delta Magazine and wanted to share it with everyone:
Logging high-quality sleep is something Americans haven't yet mastered. According to the 2013 National Sleep Foundation Sleep in American Poll, 42 percent of people reported rarely or never getting a good night's sleep. General guidelines call for seven to nine hours a night, but if you sleep less than that, you can accumulate sleep debt, which will have adverse effects on your mental and physical functioning, says Natalie Dautovich, Ph.D., NSF environmental scholar.
The body and brain restore themselves during sleep, which is when numerous important functions happen. For starters, your body releases hormones at the beginning of the night, which is important for growth. More alarming? "Lack of sleep is a major cause of obesity and diabetes," says Robert S. Rosenberg, D.O., medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Prescott Valley, Arizona, and author of "Sleep Soundly Every Night."
Along with making sleep a bigger priority, employ the following five strategies to set yourself up for sound slumber:
- Kill The Blue Lights: Computers, e-readers, and TVs all emit blue light, which can destroy your sleep. "That blue light takes your melatonin levels, which are building to help you sleep, down to zero," Rosenberg says. About 60 to 90 minutes before bed, turn these devices off. If, though, that's impossible, at least buy a pair of blue blocker sunglasses. Or download a free software called f.lux (justgetflux.com), which automatically dims blue light on electronics at night and brings them back up during the day.
- Paint Your Room Blue: Although blue light isn't good for you, the color blue is. People who slept in blue rooms got more sleep than when they slept in rooms painted other colors, according to a Travelodge survey.
- Be A Constructive Worrier: Rather than taking your problems to bed with you, set aside five or 10 minutes at 5 p.m. and use that time to write down your worries.
- Cut The Afternoon Starbucks: Caffeine is a major cause of insomnia, Rosenberg says. If you're having sleep issues, cut caffeine completely or at least stop drinking it at least six hours before bed.
- Follow The 20-Minutes Rule: If you've been tossing and turning for 20 minutes or more, remove yourself from the bedroom and do something soothing such as reading or listening to music. As soon as you start feeling sleepy, head to bed.
Get Fitter Faster With Interval Training
I found this very interesting interview with Martin Gibala in an old issue of Nutrition Action where he discusses the health benefits of high-intensity interval training.
Martin Gibala is a professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology (scientific study of human movement) at McMaster Univeristy in Hamilton, Ontario. Please see the article and interview below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No time to exercise? Here's how to get more bang for your buck. Two caveats: A short exercise session doesn't burn enough calories to help you lose weight. And getting out of your chair throughout the day can help lower your blood sugar.
Q. What is high-intensity interval training?
A. Interval training at its heart it just alternating periods of relatively intense exercise with periods of rest or light exercise for recovery. It's a pattern of peaks and valleys: going hard, backing off, going hard, backing off, and repeating that pattern.
Image taken
from google.com
Q. Why do people do it?
A. Interval training is a way to get relatively fit with a relatively lower time commitment. Depending on the survey, 75 percent of people aren't following the public-health exercise guidelines. And the number-one-cited barrier is lack of time.
Q. How long does interval training take?
A. There's no accepted definition. In many studies, the time commitment has been around 20 minutes per session, three times per week.
Q. Twenty minutes of working hard?
A. No That includes recovery periods. One protocol that we've used in our lab involves 10 one-minute hard efforts with one minute of recovery between each other. The hard efforts are at 85 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate, so they're high intensity.
Q. And that's enough?
A. I don't want to overstate interval training research. It's a bit like a new drug on the market. In its early trials it's showing a lot of promise, but we're nowhere near the grade A evidence --- the large randomized controlled trials --- that we need to say that it has all the benefits of traditional endurance exercise.
But we know, for example, that interval training makes the heart a better, stronger pump. It makes the blood vessels more elastic. And it makes your muscles better at using oxygen, because it can rapidly enhance the amount of fuel-burning mitochondria in your muscles.
Q. Does it lower blood sugar?
A. In our study on people with Type 2 diabetes, the average blood sugar level over the course of 24 hours was reduced --- by a fairly large margin --- after only two weeks of interval training. And fasting insulin and glucose scores were reduced after two weeks in a study of sedentary middle-aged individuals without diabetes.
Q. Why would exercise help?
A. Roughly half our body weight is skeletal muscle. That's where most of our blood sugar goes. When you have prediabetes, your muscles get resistant to taking up blood sugar. Any exercise --- not just interval training --- dramatically enhances the ability of muscles to take up and store glucose.
You get more of the transporters that take up the blood sugar and they become more receptive, so it takes less insulin for them to do their job. And you have less sugar floating around in the blood.
Q. Do the people in your studies typically ride stationary bikes?
A. Yes, because it's easy to quantify their work and power. It's also safer because you're not talking about high ground impact. And it's better tolerated if people have underlying knee or joint issues.
But any exercise that involves large muscle groups, like swimming, stair climbing, or running, should be effective.
Q. Is any exercise better than nothing?
A. Absolutely. And the best exercise is the one that you like and you're most likely to stick with. If you hate interval training, it's unlikely that you'll do it. But it you're pressed for time --- whether it's an excuse or whether you're really busy --- trying intervals is not a bad strategy.
Q. And you don't have to sprint?
A. No. Some people think interval training is only sprinting as hard as you can, like you're saving your child from an oncoming car.
But it can be scaled to any starting level of fitness. Just get out of your comfort zone. If your usual exercise is walking around the block, walk faster between the next two light posts.
You can feel yourself a little more out of breath, maybe it's harder to talk to your partner, your heart rate's up a little more. And then you back off. That's an interval training session for you.
Q. Can interval training be dangerous?
A. The knee-jerk reaction is that interval training is a heart attack waiting to happen. And that's wrong.
People should be medically cleared before they engage in any type of exercise program. But they don't need to be afraid of intervals. The potential risks are similar to other forms of exercise. The greater risk is sitting on the couch all day.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Dr. Christian Jessen's Five-Point Plan For Healthy Eating
Dr. Christian Jessen is a British physician and television presenter. He received his medical degree in 2000 from University College London, specializing in: general medicine, infectious disease, travel medicine, and sexual health/HIV. He works as a member of Doctorcall, located on Harley Street.
In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Jessen hosts a slew
of medically oriented television programs in the UK including Supersize vs. Superskinny and Embarrasing Bodies. Dr. Jessen is a
strong advocate for healthy living and endeavors to help individuals who are
underweight and individuals who are morbidly obese.
Dr.
Jessen's Five-Point Plan
1) Always eat
breakfast, even just a bowl of cereal and a drink.
Skipping a meal at this time of day is not a way to lose weight. Quite the opposite. It's a way to make yourself easy prey to a fatty sugary snack-attack mid-morning. If you can't face eating first thing, at least have a cup of tea or glass of hot water, with lemon and a teaspoon of honey, then pack a light sandwich or have a hot milky coffee and a banana when you get to work.
Skipping a meal at this time of day is not a way to lose weight. Quite the opposite. It's a way to make yourself easy prey to a fatty sugary snack-attack mid-morning. If you can't face eating first thing, at least have a cup of tea or glass of hot water, with lemon and a teaspoon of honey, then pack a light sandwich or have a hot milky coffee and a banana when you get to work.
2) Plan your
mealtimes and check your food stocks.
That means organizing your shopping ahead so you don't run out of essentials such as cereal, milk, juice or bread for toast.
That means organizing your shopping ahead so you don't run out of essentials such as cereal, milk, juice or bread for toast.
3) Plan a small light
snack to have midway between your meals (if you want it).
A piece of fruit or home-made muffin is ideal. A high-fat croissant or doughnut in your coffee break will spoil with appetite for lunch and put your routine out of synch, and you'll find yourself grabbing a bag of high-fat chips or scoffing another cake in the afternoon.
A piece of fruit or home-made muffin is ideal. A high-fat croissant or doughnut in your coffee break will spoil with appetite for lunch and put your routine out of synch, and you'll find yourself grabbing a bag of high-fat chips or scoffing another cake in the afternoon.
4) Never get in a
situation where you feel ravenously hungry --- aim to feel peckish.
That way you can look forward to lunch or your evening meal and will enjoy preparing it. It could even improve your culinary skills.
That way you can look forward to lunch or your evening meal and will enjoy preparing it. It could even improve your culinary skills.
5) And finally, the
golden rule, always leave the table feeling you could have eaten just a little
bit more.
Don't stagger away feeling uncomfortably full, especially at night when you need to wind down for a good sleep. (Bonus: people who have regularized their mealtimes report a great improvement in the quality of their sleep. There is nothing quite so blissful as waking up refreshed after a good night's sleep. And you're more likely to wake up ready for that all-important first thing: breakfast, which ensures a great start to the following day.)
Don't stagger away feeling uncomfortably full, especially at night when you need to wind down for a good sleep. (Bonus: people who have regularized their mealtimes report a great improvement in the quality of their sleep. There is nothing quite so blissful as waking up refreshed after a good night's sleep. And you're more likely to wake up ready for that all-important first thing: breakfast, which ensures a great start to the following day.)
Two tips: Eating slowly is one way to help you become aware
when you are pleasantly satisfied, not overfull; so don't load up your fork for
the next mouthful until you've finished chewing and swallowing the one you've
already got. And don't feel you have to eat everything on your plate (or anyone
else's) once you've had enough; you are not a human-waste disposal unit.
(Taken from Supersize
vs. Superskinny by Dr. Christian Jessen)
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