Your Weight! Your Health! Your Skin!

My daily cardio sessions have been very ‘on again off again’ lately but the other day I had just finished a light session while watching a re-run of The Sopranos and I noticed that the bike was saying I’d burned off around 250 calories.  I started thinking how the cardio side of things plays such a small part in the whole weight loss battle.  To improve fitness and your heart health, it’s tremendous but for out and out weight loss I think your diet is by far a bigger factor. I know researchers say that you’ll keep burning at a higher rate than you normally would for some time after you’ve finished your cardio session, which is a definite plus but at the end of the day if you treat yourselves to a Big Mac later on at something like 540 calories you’re not going to reach your goals.

Now I’m not saying you don’t need cardio, although sometimes I wish I could, but I’m wondering if a lot of people understand that ultimately you have to be taking in fewer calories than you use to get the scales moving in the right direction. Cardio is a great way to help that equation but your calorie intake should be the primary focus.

Replacing a main meal with a low calorie smoothie, reducing the size portion of your main meal of the day or limiting junk food to maybe once a week are all great ways to decrease your calorie intake. If you’re big into your dairy maybe switch to low fat milk or cheeses. Or in the kitchen try poaching occasionally instead of frying.

Easier said than done sometimes I know, but with a bit of perseverance and determination significant weight loss is well within your grasp.

As always your questions or comments are welcome.  Please feel free to leave a comment below or contact me at info@gearup4success-today.com

We all hear all the time that we eat way too much sugar. They say as Americans we are addicted and we eat on average 22 teaspoons a day. Teens consume around 34 teaspoons. That is a lot of sugar, yet I honestly didn’t think I consumed that much. Personally I knew I was addicted to sugar, yet I figured I was managing it real well. Well my last doctor’s visit and the result of my blood work told different. In no mixed words my doctor told me I needed to cut back on my sugars as I was borderline diabetic. Wow, what an awakening and quite the reality check. So now my job was to start cutting back the sugar by kicking my sugar addiction.

After I got over the initial shock of this, I knew I wasn’t doing as well as I thought I was. Or as good as I kept telling myself I was, yet I knew I was addicted to white sugar and was not controlling it well. Maybe deep down I just needed it confirmed; well now it was and I had to do something about it. So I did lots of research and I came up with some great advice. By the way the American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons a day for a female.

They recommended the following 10 steps to help me reduce the amount of sugar I was ingesting. They are:

• Cut back slowly. The suggestion here is to make the change gradually a little at a time. This will prevent the body from going into shock deprivation mode.
• Start by weaning the sugar slowly from the foods you add it to. This would be like cereal, coffee and so on. Start by decreasing little by little till you rid it all together.
• Look at replacing some of your sugar intake with blackstrap molasses in the short term. At least it’s a sweetener that is actually good for you. I halved the amount of sugar I put in my coffee and topped up with a teaspoon of molasses. It’s also a good source of iron.
• Each day choose one sugar treat. Total deprivation is not good. Start with this small amount each day for a treat. Then lessen the amount you give yourself a treat to maybe every other day.
• Don’t be fooled by all the natural or raw sugar. Sugar is sugar there really is no GOOD sugar.
• Try to avoid liquid sugars. For instance that vitamin water has about 3 grams of sugar. You are not aware as you can’t see it, try to avoid these.
• Try to buy plain yogurt rather than flavored. You can flavor the yogurt yourself and then you are aware of how much sugar, if any is in there.
• Try not to be fooled by healthy treats. For example many energy bars still contain sugar.
• Get fruity. You can satisfy your sweet tooth with fruit and its natural sugars. Dried fruit is awesome as well, and sweet.
• Look into a herb called stevia. It is an all-natural sweetener and has some health benefits as well.
• Check labels on everything. Look for the hidden sugars, there is about 50 of them which makes it harder to avoid them. They may hide the sugars with names such as barley malt, fructose, maltodextrin, dextrose, corn syrup etc but they are all still sugars.

So they are some tips that have really helped me to cut back on my sugar. I have really made an effort to fight this addiction. I think I have cut back my sugar to half of what I was eating and am still trying to reduce it.  Hopefully these steps above will help you also.

In this post we have the second part to ‘the number one thing you can do to improve your health’.

We don’t talk about it much, especially in mixed company, but if your day starts out without a bowel movement it often sets the tone for an uncomfortable day. If you’ve ever been constipated you know the symptoms; bloating, pressure in your lower abdomen and just feeling full.

The lack of a bowel movement on the odd occasion is not a big deal; however the inability to go to the bathroom over time can create or be the result of a multitude of problems. Your intestines can’t be cleaned out; therefore toxins accumulate. Toxins are also stored in fat and other tissues when they can’t be eliminated.  Or if the transit time is slower than it should be it can lead to the reabsorption of toxins back into the body. These are a sign your digestive system is not functioning properly. Others can be undigested food in stools or foul smelling in stools, chronic indigestion, inability to sleep well or feeling ill after eating.

The list of health consequences resulting from having a poor elimination system is endless but includes things like high cholesterol, increased triglycerides, haemorrhoids and the increased risk of some cancers.

Some health consequences are manifested in the digestive tract. Other health problems present themselves through the organs that assist in the digestive process.  Some complementary health practitioners are adamant all disease starts in the bowel.

Although each one of us is different, we ideally we need to aim for a system that has minimal gas, wind or cramping during the day and 1-2 eliminations a day. These shouldn’t be unpleasant or be dreaded. There should be no straining or signs of bleeding  and when finished a feeling of total elimination.

The health consequences of poor digestion and the diseases affecting digestion often come back to the same thing; poor lifestyle habits.

Unresolved stress, lack of exercise, poor diet and excessive use of alcohol and medications can play havoc with your body.

If some of this sounds familiar to you or you miserly let go of your number two’s as though they’re gold then you may want to look into this further. Don’t take this area for granted. It is a vital part of your anatomy and your health, wellness and overall vigour depend on it.

One of the most beneficial things you can do for your health is to ensure your digestion system is working and running properly.

Digestion in the simplest terms is food is broken down by the body to individual nutrients so cells can utilize them. There are three parts to digestion.  Absorption, where food crosses the intestinal wall and enters the bloodstream, assimilation, where nutrients enter cells and elimination – getting rid of what your body can’t use.

Some common causes of digestive problems are too much stress, inactivity and poor diet.

The digestion process actually starts at mealtime. The smell of food starts your saliva flowing; the first bite of food activates the enzymes that start the digestion process. This is also where problems can start, depending upon what you eat and even how you eat it.

When we chew, it activates enzymes and enables the body to extract as many nutrients as possible from the food. A lot of chewing needs to take place for this to be efficient. No just gulping the food down as fast as you can. Chewing also signals your stomach that food will soon be there; it starts to secrete gastric acids that facilitate digestion. The stomach is where the food and the digestive enzymes mix with gastric acids. The food, now a liquid mixture, enters the small intestine and this is where your diet and fibre come into play. Fibre is an indigestible carbohydrate. Fibre moves through the intestines taking old pieces of food with it. In the colon (large intestine) fibre absorbs water increasing the weight and size of the stool. The stool softens and becomes bulky.

All this results in a healthy bowel movement.

A healthy bowel movement is a sign your digestive system is working properly. In order to stay healthy and keep the elimination process running smoothly you must have a good amount of fibre in the diet. The World Health Organization recommends 27-40 grams a day or 15-22 grams a day per 1,000 calories consumed.

• Vegans on average consume 40-50 grams a day
• Lacto- ovo vegetarians consume 30-40 grams a day
• Non-vegetarians consume 10-20 grams a day

To minimise problems with gas and cramping fibre should be added slowly, approximately five grams at a time. Adequate water consumption is also crucial. Fibre must absorb water in the colon or it can actually lead to constipation, the opposite effect of what we are looking for. Fibre comes from plant-based foods in your diet and the best sources are fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.

Everyone is different, however, visiting the bathroom one to three times a day is considered ideal.

Reducing stress especially at mealtime, increasing your level of exercise, eating a variety of high-fibre plant-based foods and drinking plenty of water are the keys to good digestion.

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