Community Benefit- A Peek Inside What Others Are Doing

       Lets take a look at some things people are doing out there that truly are inspired, and inspiring people by nutrition! First here are a few overviews of some things I have seen in the media.
      Jamie Oliver's food revolution: Jamie saw a problem in public school with the cafeterias feeding the students what essentially was a bunch of junk. The schools had some pretty messed up idea of standards for nutrition that may as well have been non-existent. Oliver worked very hard to petition these school as well as individual families he saw that had a problem. He was interested in getting people in the community to restore their health starting at a young age! To see his dedication and hard pushing of his changes was amazing to me, because some people out there really just don't recognize how to improve their nutrition! The people in the unhealthiest city in America (Huntington, West Virginia) were collectively originally fairly resistant to his attempts to change. People get comfortable in their routines it seems and don't want to be told they live in a town of people living their lives wrong. They view eating healthy as "eating lettuce" for a meal, something that is boring, awful, and painful. They don't realize how dynamic and variable eating well really can be.
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Episode 1(preview without Hulu Plus)
ABC Show Website

     Another one of my heroes for the same reason is Jillian Michaels. She has created an entire industry off helping people change their lives to become more active and healthy. Between training contestants on Biggest Loser, and her own workouts among the other side projects she has including her website with personalized plans and informational articles, she also ran a show called "Losing It With Jillian" that spoke to me. She came into the homes of families who really needed her help. They might have been disease candidates, lost their job due to lack of motivation, or have otherwise extreme circumstances. Jillian would come raid their kitchens, teach them how to eat better and then proceed to train them like a drill sergeant, and work them physically and mentally in a week inspiring them to the point where they could change their mentality and open up the things that were mentally blocking them from success in becoming healthy. In a week she was able to make some changes that showed to have a lifetime of beneficial value with some crazy impressive results for the individuals.
Loosing it Episode 1 (preview without Hulu Plus)
Losing It- NBC Show website

     More recently, at University of Washington, the following video describes re-implementing home economics classes in order to help fight obesity rates. One of the key problems they see with the youth of this "time-starved" generation is that they don't know how to cook. Without cooking knowledge, the diet of eating out and microwave dinners definitely puts them at risk. UW wants to modernize home economics so it isn't just geared towards preparing women for home duties. The following link has the video article from King 5 news.

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Home-economics-classes-are-making-a-comeback-116715334.html

     The message: You don't have to have a big name like Jillian or Jamie to make a difference. Take their dedication and serving as key examples. Think of things you can do to help out your own community, or maybe just someone you know. Don't stop just because there is someone who is resistant to your ideas! Chances are, they are simply afraid to admit they themselves have a problem. Be a supportive individual and be a role model. Anything you can do helps, and while many Americans are finally starting to become more health informed, not everyone has enough resources or motivation to make those crucial life changes.

Marketing and Perception of Nutrition Facts and Food Labels

Marketing plays a huge role in the way food is now accepted, eaten, and perceived by people. As body image becomes more important to people, and health knowledge is more available, many are looking for additional healthy alternatives.
    Smart (food) marketers, see this as a valuable opportunity to promote the products they are working with as "healthy", but what is healthy has essentially become subjective. Does healthy mean low calorie? Low fat? Nutrient Rich? Green? It might be different depending on the individual needs of the "dieter".

A lot of words on a small wrapper is a lot to sort through!

    The problem is there is an extraordinary amount of vast information for people to sort through to find out what they want as a nutritious option that fits them. We are a "time pressed" society and the last thing people want to do is sort through first the initial advertising, then the food labels, then the nutrition facts, ingredients, unknown chemicals... the list goes on. One piece of packaged food may contain tonnnss of text, and if we can't even identify what half the ingredients are, how can we tell if they are good for us, and how much does someone have to care in order to actually find out what they are putting in their body? At what point does the value of nutrition overrule the value of time/energy for someone?

     So many claims are made when it comes to food marketing. One example is Sugar Free Coffee Mate Creamer,  or the fat free version applies here as well. This creamer may have low sugar or low fat accordingly, but the sugar free version contains tons of fat, the fat free contains tons of sugar! Both creamers are full of chemicals and artificial ingredients that create empty calories with very very little nutritional value! Also the serving size is a mere tablespoon, so according to the label, there isn't much of anything in it as far as negative nutrients go. 30 calories of the SF Vanilla-Caramel Creamer don't sound like much, but it can be misleading for the type of food it is and how it is affecting your body. Corn syrup is one negative thing, then there are things like dipotassium phosphate, and acesulfame potassium that are extremely unfamiliar to most, so out of the large number of buyers, the chances that those who regularly purchase the product actually knowing the purpose of the ingredients is slim.Serving size is another thing people take for granted, and when they don't measure, their evaluation of the nutrition facts is generally off. This creamer is just a mere example of the extensive amount of items out there with similar issues.

The harsh reality is that many people are drawn to diet type products like "the cookie diet" pictured above and don't even bother to think about the fact that it might not be optimally nutritional. They are thinking that a bunch of chemicals and preservatives are something that is going to help them be healthy and loose weight. It might in the short-run, but they need to be able to maintain healthy diets, because in general quick fix treatments are ineffective. They generally result in the dieter falling back to their old weight, possibly gaining more. Special K may promise that you will loose weight in just 2 weeks with their challenge; but of course anyone who is eating 2 very low nutrient low calorie meals a day is going to loose weight. They probably aren't going to want to be hungry and their body craves other nutrients in the long term, so 2-weeks is unlikely to be effective.

So what can we do to remedy this issue and know what we are eating? For starters, you can always start with fresh whole food ingredients especially  those that you know the source of. Beyond this, if people do have the free time, do some research. Figure out what you want out of your food, and find the foods that meet your criteria. Make small changes. Instead of buying Yoplait light yogurt, try buying plain nonfat yogurt and adding fresh fruit and agave if necessary to sweeten it. For the same calories you are getting more protein, more calcium, MUCH LESS SUGAR, and more satisfying and healthful ingredients.
I truly hope this helps raise awareness so people do start paying more attention to what they are actually eating vs. what they thought they were.

Why Do I Care?

(This entry is somewhat of a response/continuation of yesterday's post)

    When it comes to your nutrition and diet (as in what you eat not diet as in restriction necessarily) what motivates you to eat the way you do? Is it friends/family-- Do you just eat whatever is around you or what they are eating? Does doing this help your health or hurt it? Or do you have a different approach and eat healthy because you want to live longer or be healthy in general? Or... do societal standards motivate you? Do you strive for that perfect beach body? What I would really like to know is why we care so much! The weird thing is that many people say they want this body, yet just complain about it and don't put in the effort with nutrition and exercise to execute. Extrinsic motivation seems apparent in this case. Extrinsic motivation alone is rarely enough to drive people to reach a goal. They have to also want something intrinsically bad enough to push themselves  for a long term time period.

MANY OF US DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY WE ARE EATING SOMETIMES! For these instances it is best to stop and think about the food we are eating and how we are being satisfied by it. Checking in with how your body is feeling, and asking yourself if you are really hungry, and do you really need that is helpful.

     Another difficulty of mental nutrition is when you are so consumed with food and your intakes that you focus on food and keep eating it because you are thinking about it even if you are trying to cut back. From personal experience I would say that it is easier to not be consumed in you diet because when you eat naturally and listen to what your body wants, it is much left of a mental struggle. The issue with this is, you can't just stop thinking about food because someone tells you to. Just like the Ironic process theory posed by Wegner explains... when someone tells you not to think of a white bear, it is the first thing you actually think of. So a question  I can't tell you the answer to is how to not let thoughts of food, diet, body image etc. take over.

     The book Feed Your Eagles, by Derek Newton describes the motivation chips theory. There are two types of chips. First is gold which are chips that make you feel loved and give you self-worth like being hugged, having someone tell you I love you, you are valuable to me etc. The other type of chip is silver; these chips promote feelings of capability and describe self-confidence through things such as rewards and recognition. Different types of people have and respond to different types of chips in multiple ways. Having good amounts of both types of chips usually leads to individuals having lots of self-confidence. Without any support from any types of chips from others, people may feel worthless and unloved. Does this drive them to work harder towards their nutritional goals so they will be accepted or does it push them away because they don't care? Another group of people is those who have many silver chips and few gold ones. These people may be strong at work or school, but have sacrificed their personal lives. Last there is also a small group of people who has a lot of gold chips, but few silver ones. I feel like these people would be the most susceptible to laziness given that they felt extrinsically motivated when it comes to their health because they feel like they are well loved why work towards something they feel no pressure to do?

Trying to Find a Balance

  
   Today I would like to talk about my personal struggles to find balance. As someone who is currently working full time, taking a full 16 credits in school, and trying to maintain my workouts, I realize the importance of harmony between things that are important to you. Every so often you still need time to relax, breathe, socialize, see family etc.

    Balance in life, more specifically balance between health, exercise, nutrition, and still being able to have a life. When I was training for my NPC competition, I had to let the diet and exercise plan dictate my life in order to succeed. I had to have a huge amount of dedication in order to stick to it. The payoff was huge. I was able to change my lifestyle and maintain my weight loss while ultimately reaching the most difficult goal I have achieved in my life.

    After competing there are many different strategies people have to eating. Some people just go all out eating anything and everything after their stringent dieting. Some stick to their diets which isn't necessarily good in the long run because you do miss out on certain nutrient levels in order to have the lean body you get while dieting. The trick is trying to find a balance between living healthfully and relaxed at the same time.
For me this unique balance was extremely difficult to find. It was a constant struggle of trying to incorporate some of what I wanted without overdoing it, and when I did go outside the training diet not feeling guilty about it was difficult as well.
Over time, I have talked the ears off of people holding a cognitive dissonance between my love of food cooking etc, with the joy I felt from having the goal weight and body I reached.
I am still working on the balance, but things are getting better. I know we all experience our own problems when it comes to being body conscious, and having guilt towards food. The scary thing is extreme cases of this can lead to eating disorders for some people.

If anyone has suggestions as to the perfect way to find a balance without letting food overrule your life, I would love to hear about it and their resources. The point of this blog post was mostly to open up a discussion about something that affects most Americans especially females differently in their everyday lives. What you want to be like, how you should be, how you want to be seen etc, are all very different perspectives.

Support--Find Some BEFORE You Collapse

       It gets quite difficult to keep up a diet and or exercise plan that is balanced, healthy, and effective. Life throws lots of little curve balls at you and sometimes you just don't have the time, energy or stress management it takes to continue on your path to successful health.
       It is important to actually keep up and follow with your path that takes you to the goals you ultimately have for yourself. On the other hand, most people realistically fall off that path multiple times before reaching their goal. The harder part about that is just because you hit your target weight, body fat percentage, endurance rate etc, doesn't mean you can just call it quits, you should try to build a lifestyle that will aid you in maintaining that goal! My point is.... ITS HARD WORK!!!! Sometimes you just can't do it alone.

     Gaining the support of others can be a hugely important contributing factor in your personal successes. For some having other people to keep them on track is more beneficial than for other personality types; however people have a number of different ways that they can gain the extra boost they need. Here are some things that might work for you:

• Join a group fitness class. Especially for those competitive types, simply having other people around you doing what you are will push you to give yourself a hard workout.
• Get a workout buddy. Have someone who has similar goals or styles as you to mutually push you and schedule workouts and even healthy meals with you. This also helps pass the time when you are working out because you are less distracted by the actual amount of "work" you are doing. You can also mutually verbally be there to push your workout buddy and make sure one another are working hard enough. Warning: find someone who is just as committed if not more so than you, if your workout buddy can't make it to the gym one day, that is no excuse for you to pass on your workout as well!
• Have someone you can talk to and rely on emotionally. When you are feeling like you are ready to binge on a pint of ice cream have a rational person that you trust to call up and help you think about the real reason behind you stress. Just venting about your stresses to someone can help you feel better! 
• When I was training, it was extremely stressful and difficult for me. Having a few close family and friends I could vent to about it who would keep me in check and push me to keep going was amazing!
• Hire a nutritionist or personal trainer. Having someone to check in with your progress who has expertise in the area might motivate you to stay on track!
• Actually measuring your progress is a major contribution because you can see what you need to work on and what you are doing well.
• Good goals are S.M.A.R.T.>>> Specific>Measurable>Attainable>Realistic>and Timely
• Join an online support community like Sparkpeople.com. You can post blogs, discuss topics with other members, track your progress, enter your nutritional info and exercise for the day. 
• Use one of these or another resource to develop a plan. For some people having a structured layout of exactly what they should eat and do for workouts in a day is very effective. 
• Read blogs or other motivational books, listening to stories and seeing real peoples' hard work paying off can help to inspire you.

Here are a couple examples of online resources to find someone to help you make it through your obstacles and accomplish beyond what you thought was possible for yourself!

1. http://www.exercisefriends.com/home.aspx
2. http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=102
3. http://www.livestrong.com/article/41268-workout-friend/

Let me know if you have any more ideas of ways you can feel encouraged in order to fulfill your aspirations!

It's the Little Things that Count

Here's something you might want to hear: You can have your cake... and eat it too! (and NO, it does not have to be topped with brussel sprouts like this one for it to be okay. Every once in awhile, its okay to have a cheat meal or treat yourself. In fact, your body may actually get confused and you may have a spike it your metabolism if you eat well otherwise. Everyone needs a little healthy fat in their diet every once in awhile for many processes and reasons. Also, mentally everyone needs to have a little something to indulge in... like I have previously stated, within reason. Obviously you should go for healthier options the majority of the time, but we all slip up every once in awhile...

One great solution to this problem is making SMALL changes to your cooking/baking to make the overall result much better for you (AND STILL TASTE GOOD!) Just because something is made with olive oil instead of butter or stevia instead of sugar doesn't mean its going to be a total let down of a dish.
I remember when I was training I would still cook with lots of color, spices, and pizazz to keep my healthy food delicious. People would always tell me my meals looked surprisingly good for how healthy they had to be.
Try some of these substitutions in your next dish!:

• Use unsweetened applesauce or plain nonfat yogurt (or even avocado) instead of butter or oil in baking recipes. It keeps things moist, and naturally sweetens it.
• Always try to avoid butter at all costs. (SORRY Paula Deen...) Depending on what you are cooking use olive oil, canola oil, or even a smart balance or earth balance butter substitute if you have to. You can easily sautee and stir fry without oil by using pam and adding small amounts of water as necessary.
• Instead of cream or full fat milk, try using evaporated nonfat milk or regular nonfat milk accordingly.
• Try reducing the amount of sugar in things. Most recipes call for more sugar than is necessary. You can also use a splenda/stevia blend, agave, honey, or sugar free maple syrup in place of brown sugar. You usually don't need to add as much with these as you would with sugar.
• Unless it will totally change the texture or binding agents of your recipe try substituting 2 egg whites for 1 egg.
• Sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, and cheeses of all types can all be replaced with low or even fat free versions! The amount of calories you can save by switching is astounding.
• Instead of fat to thicken recipes like soups try using a vegetable puree.
• Top pancakes with things like berries, sugar-free syrup, or nonfat yogurt.
• Instead of heavy salad dressings and dips try topping with salsa, hummus, or a homemade balsamic vinegar, garlic, spice and mustard puree.
• Replace white flour with whole wheat flour, oats, or oat flour.
• Replace enriched white rice with brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat cous cous, jasmine rice, wild basmati rice, etc.
• When using chocolate chips, try replacing some of them with dried fruit and/or use dark chocolate!
• Instead of your traditional jif or skippy peanut butter try unsalted natural (or even fresh ground) peanut or almond butter. They lack the sugar, salt, corn syrup, and other additives.
• Instead of ground beef, try ground turkey breast.
• When cooking, avoid adding salt. Try using garlic powder, onions, herbs, and other spices to your dish. Its amazing how much flavor you can add without the additional sodium. Your heart also will thank you.

I hope some of these recommendations help you to clean up your meals and still enjoy them. Feel free to let me know how any uses of them go for you! I might have some more specific tricks for you if it doesn't workout the way you hoped!

P.S. Eating butter has this kind of effect:

JUST KIDDING, of course... but still haha. Keep it in moderation!

Idealistic, Realistic, and Healthy

  

  The reality of those three words (idealistic, realistic, healthy) is that they all are unfortunately different. We know that standards in society make these words that would ideally exist in a harmonious fashion hold very different meanings.
   One thing I learned through my training and weight loss is that just because you are loosing weight and exercising, doesn't mean you are keeping your body healthy. There certainly is such a thing as overdoing it. Unfortunately the diet and training for NPC competitions, while it may get you to an extreme ideal body type, this body is completely unrealistic to maintain and the diet isn't healthy for the long term even though you are eating a clean low fat diet. Just because you are not obese, does not mean that you are"healthy".

    What needs to be realized is that your body does need certain amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Beyond this, your body also needs rest and time to recover from exercise. Although it feels good to be making weight loss progress, you shouldn't have a greater caloric deficit than about 1000 cals a day and you should research the levels of nutrients that your individual body needs, which may differ from that of another. Eating much below what your body needs can affect your body processes, your mood, and your energy levels in general.
    It hardly seems fair that some people you know have such an easy time loosing and maintaining their weight while some struggle endlessly just to refrain from gaining. It may be hard to accept, but there really are different sizes and shapes that people come in. At the same time, there is a way with enough determination for nearly anyone to get to their goal size, fitness level, etc. It is important to listen to your body to remain healthy. One of the simplest, and most effective ways is to eat smart when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied, not stuffed.