Tag healthy foods

Your Latte Habit Is Costing a Fortune

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starbucks-menu

Every time I go into a Starbuck’s, I cringe at the inflated prices of their coffee drinks. Even a plain cup of coffee is pretty expensive, at $1.75 for a Tall (12 ounces), $1.95 for a Grande (16 ounces), and $2.25 for a Venti (20 ounces). Look at the prices of some of the other coffee drinks sold at Starbuck’s:

Item Price

CAFFE LATTE
Tall $3.05
Grande $3.80
Venti $4.20
Trenta $4.30

CAFFE MOCHA with WHIPPED CREAM
Tall $3.45
Grande $4.20
Venti $4.50
Trenta $4.70

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOCHA WHIPPED CREAM
Tall $3.90
Grande $4.65
Venti $4.85
Trenta $4.95

Starbuck’s Coffee is a treat for me, not a daily habit. I may have five Starbuck’s beverages a month at the most (my average is one or two Starbuck’s beverages each month), but I know many people who indulge in Starbuck’s beverages on a daily basis, and some of them get the fancy drinks every time. All of those multisyllabic coffee concoctions can really add up and burn a hole in one’s wallet over time. In addition, the mochas, the lattes, and certainly the frappucinos are loaded with calories. Here is the nutritional breakdown of my favorite Starbuck’s beverages, a Tall Caffè Mocha. I get it with nonfat milk but even then, the calories, carbs and sugars really add up:

Caffè Mocha (Espresso with bittersweet mocha sauce and steamed milk)

Nutrition Facts Per Serving (12 fl oz)
Calories 190 Calories from Fat 20
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g 3%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 5mg 2%
Sodium 100mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 32g 11%
Dietary Fiber 3g 12%
Sugars 27g
Protein 10g
Vitamin A 10% Vitamin C 0% Calcium 30% Iron 20%
Caffeine 95mg**
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
**Each caffeine value is an approximate value.

Let’s look at how much someone would spend in a year by getting a Grande Caffè Mocha every day, including weekends (after all, when you need your coffee, you don’t take breaks on the weekends, right?). At $4.15 per Mocha, you would end up spending $1,514! That same $1,514 could be invested in a vacation fund, put into an IRA, or be used to pay bills. Do you really think it is worth spending that amount of money on coffee drinks each year? I certainly don’t. What I do is I load up a Starbuck’s card with some money, say $50, and use it when I visit Starbuck’s. I find that I re-load my card maybe one or two times in a year, and I confine my consumption to special events, travel, and the occasional weekend coffee run. I am comfortable with the idea of spending $100 to $150 on Starbuck’s coffee in an entire year, and couldn’t imagine being hooked on those beverages and having to pay ten times that amount!

I challenge all of you who have a daily Starbuck’s habit to spend one month in which you brew coffee at home. Then what I want you to do is to set aside the money you would have spent at Starbuck’s ($126 in the example above). You will dip into the money you set aside to buy ground coffee and whatever ingredients you add to your coffee (like chocolate, sweeteners, milk). At the end of the month, see how you feel. If you truly love Starbuck’s Coffee (or Coffee Bean, or Peet’s) THAT much, then by all means, resume your habit. But if you can’t stand the idea of spending a small fortune on caffeinated delights, you might want to continue with your home brews.

Nutrient Timing

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nutrient-timing
If you are at all interested in optimal fitness, you need to be aware of what nutrients your body needs in order to build muscle and metabolize fat as well as optimize performance. This is better known as nutrient timing. Proper timing of the foods you eat will support hormone function and promote a lean and muscular physique, while eating the wrong foods at the wrong time will trigger fat deposition, loss of muscle, and longer post-workout recovery times.

When nutrient timing comes into play, the goal is to shift body composition so that fat loss and muscle gain are optimized and glycogen stores are maximized. Such shifts have long-standing health benefits which can effectively prevent development of major diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. One caveat is that consuming excessive amounts of food will result in fat gain regardless of nutrient timing.

During training days, you should consume higher amounts of protein and carbohydrate and decrease your fat intake. The general rule is to consume about 1 to 2 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight, with most of your carbs consumed post-workout. On your rest days, you should consume higher fat and protein while dropping your carb intake to about 0.5 grams per pound body weight. The rationale behind this is that you want to encourage higher insulin levels post-workout, but lower insulin levels at all other times.

You may want to bump up your carbohydrate intake a bit throughout the day if you are looking to gain muscle, since insulin stimulates growth or anabolism. You can also ingest carbs throughout the day if you are already lean and just want to maintain. However, if you are looking to lose body fat, you need to consume most of your carbs during and post-exercise, and consume mainly protein and fat during all other times.

I Can’t Eat That! – Balancing Healthy Eating And Normal Life

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Fast_Food hottie

There are countless challenges and roadblocks which can derail us from our efforts to follow a healthy meal plan, especially when we are faced with the indulgent foods that emerge during the holidays. Whether you are a seasoned competitor who is accustomed to following a strict meal plan, someone who wants to adopt healthier eating habits, or battling excess body weight, it can be very difficult to pass up regular restaurant meals, fast foods, and holiday treats. However, it IS possible to stay on track even in the face of such temptations.

The first and most important thing is to remember your GOAL, whether it is improved health, weight loss, or getting into contest shape for an upcoming event. Your goal should serve as a tangible mark which you are aiming for. I always tell my patients and weight management clients to post images of people who possess the type of physique they covet in a prominent place (such as a refrigerator) so that they can be reminded of their specific goal.

Here are other effective strategies to help you follow a healthy meal plan:

1. Keep forbidden foods out of the kitchen so that the temptation to eat something unhealthy is removed. This means that you need to avoid purchasing chips, crackers, cookies, ice cream, packaged pasta dinners and whatever other unhealthy foods you tend to gravitate towards. If unhealthy foods are not in your kitchen cupboards, you won’t be tempted to grab them and indulge.

2. Prep your meals at home beforehand. Meal prep can be tedious but it is well worth it when you consider the control you will have over what goes into your body. You can control ingredients, cooking method and portion sizes and maximize your chances of maintaining healthy eating habits. Once you have prepared your food, you can store single serving sizes in individual storage containers which are easy to pack when you need them.

3. Invest in a great food cooler bag. Trust me, you NEED one of these!

4. Make sure your meal plan is balanced. The best meal plans have lean protein, healthy fats and slow digesting carbohydrates. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that all fat is bad! You need certain healthy fats to maintain normal cellular function.

5. Avoid fast food restaurants. Fast food restaurants (and most restaurants for that matter) feature extremely unhealthy options which can completely destroy your efforts at reaching your health and fitness goals. You will also save a ton of money by avoiding the calorie and saturated fat laden options found at such establishments.

6. Don’t cave in to peer pressure. I don’t know what it is about friends and family, but it seems like they get some twisted thrill out of convincing others to eat forbidden foods. If you find yourself in such a situation, you need to ask yourself if it is worth unraveling your healthy eating habits in order to appease a relative or buddy. I have heard, “Awww, come on, a couple of bites won’t hurt ya!” from people who usually mean well but who are unaware of the psychological torture they might be putting me through. I honestly don’t want to be pressured into consuming something that will make me feel guilty or will not digest well . It isn’t worth it!

Getting Back On The Horse: Returning To The Gym

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Please check out my latest article for Sports Nutrition Supplement Guide! Please read original post and see the site here:

http://www.sportsnutritionsupplementguide.com/training/training-tips/item/1549-getting-back-on-the-horse-returning-to-the-gym#.Vkpn9RCrSi5

Horse_Gym_310x250

Perhaps the ebb and flow of life has thrown you off your fitness routine, and you are ready to return to the gym. It might be that you are post-partum, or had to nurse an injury or illness. Or it could be that you have been moving at such a frenetic pace in your life that you got sidetracked from your “every damned day” gym schedule, and need to get back into the groove. Whatever the reason is for putting consistent gym visits on the back burner, the good news is that you can re-establish a consistent fitness regimen. In order to ensure the greatest success with your efforts, here are some suggestions which will motivate you and keep you on track.

Set Goals

I bet some of you may have forgotten about the power of setting specific goals for yourself. It may be that you have been away from the iron den for a long time, so you might want to set strength gain goals in which you move up in your 1 rep max every two weeks, increase the number of free dips or pullups you can perform every few weeks, or even increase the amount of time you hold a plank.

Another type of goal you can set for yourself is to increase muscle mass in a measurable way, perhaps a one inch increase in your calf girth over a 6 week period, for example. Instead of meandering back into the gym and having a general objective, like just getting back in there, make sure to hang a carrot in front of you so that you are even more motivated to stick to the program.

Be Realistic

Thank goodness for muscle memory, because it enables those who are at a high level of fitness to regain their muscle mass and strength rather quickly after a period of inactivity. However, those who were at a lower level of fitness at their baseline will lose muscle and strength pretty rapidly, after even as little as two weeks of not lifting weights. Depending on what your degree of muscularity or strength was before your setback, you will have to give yourself some time to build back up to previous levels of muscle mass and strength. If you find yourself with more padding around the midsection, glutes, or thighs than what you had when you were hitting the weights consistently, make sure that you target fat loss with your training and food intake.

Eat Properly

You can’t expect to achieve stellar results just by hitting the weights like a fiend, while putting junk food in your body, so make sure to establish healthy eating habits to support your return to lifting weights. If your eating habits have gone by the wayside, incorporate a consistent meal plan which provides your body with clean macronutrients and supports your weight training. Throw out the forbidden foods which may be lurking in your kitchen, such as sweets, crackers, chips, and ice cream. Stock your kitchen with whole foods like lean turkey, chicken breast, salmon, eggs, green vegetables, sweet potatoes, brown rice, almonds, walnuts, and avocado. Confine cheat meals to one evening on the weekends.

Don’t Overtrain

Make sure to give yourself time to get back into the swing of things, especially if you are returning after an injury or illness. You MUST take it easy, otherwise you run the risk of injuring or re-injuring yourself, causing an even bigger setback. If you were very fit before you took your break, your muscle mass and strength should both return to their previous levels within a couple of weeks.

Skipping Meals Does NOT Work For Weight Loss

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skipping-meals

Yes, you read that title correctly. If you have been on one diet after another in an effort to try to lose those last 5, 10, 15, or however many pounds, perhaps losing some weight only to gain all of it back plus some bonus weight, then it is highly likely that you have damaged your metabolism via severe calorie restriction. There is a very good reason why the weight loss industry is so successful and why certain well-known weight loss programs keep their customers coming back. The reason has everything to do with severe caloric restriction which squashes metabolism.

Another common practice among those trying to lose weight is to skip meals in an effort to cut calories. As stated before, you wreak havoc on your metabolism when you skip meals by causing it to slow down. Why does this happen? When there is no food to break down, the body’s furnace slows down and becomes so sluggish that when you actually do eat something, your body is less equipped to break down the food quickly, so much of it is stored as fat. Depriving yourself of food also causes sharp drops in blood sugar, robbing you of energy and increasing insulin resistance. Increased insulin resistance over time can precipitate the development of diabetes.

Other consequences of skipping meals include the following:

• Malnutrition – If you do not feed your body regular, balanced meals, it is highly likely that you are depriving it of essential nutrients. Malnourished states can lead to weight gain, poor health and progression of disease over time.

• Poor concentration – This is due to the depletion of glycogen stores which occurs. The brain simply does not have enough fuel to run on, resulting in fogginess.

• Hunger pangs – When you skip meals, you may experience intense feelings of hunger along with anxiety, dizziness or nausea. In addition, such feeling may lead to overeating when you finally sit down to eat something. Loading the body with a large meal is overkill, and leads to poor digestion and absorption as well as increased storage in body fat stores.

Do yourself a favor and practice the following guidelines. If you do, you will be rewarded with a healthy weight for a lifetime.

1. Don’t skip meals.
2. Make sure to eat enough protein to sustain your energy levels and satisfy your hunger.
3. EAT BREAKFAST.
4. Commit to healthy meals.
5. When you turn to snacks, make sure healthy alternatives are available so you aren’t tempted to reach for a nutrient-poor convenience food.

The BEST Health Insurance Policy – REPOST

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Health apple

With the recent upheaval in the world of health insurance coverage, I thought it would be a perfect time to talk about ways that we can safeguard against the need to access insurance benefits and keep our out-of-pocket costs to a minimum. If you have a predisposition towards conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, joint issues, depression or anxiety, a little self-nurturing can go a long way in keeping those issues at bay. Though there is no absolute guarantee that being proactive about your health will completely prevent disease from manifesting in your body, you can minimize the chances by following sensible guidelines.

1. Get Regular Exercise: If you have yet to take part in regular exercise, here are a bunch of reasons why you should. First of all, regular exercise supports and encourages healthy circulation, lowers blood pressure and reduces cholesterol levels. It also reduces your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer. When you strengthen your muscles with resistance training, you protect your bone density and improve your mobility. There are also mood-elevating benefits which exercise confers which can push away depression and anxiety. Lastly, exercise keeps your mind and memory sharp as you age. A good plan is to exercise 30 minutes a day, 4 to 5 days per week at a moderate intensity. Now, if you aren’t quite at that point, or you ae nowhere near that point, don’t get discouraged. The important thing is to start. You can work up to the 30 minutes a day, 4 to 5 times per week regimen gradually, as long as you remain committed to the program. Make sure to schedule exercise sessions into your day, and STICK TO THEM!

2. Reduce Stress: You may be thinking that reducing stress may be next to impossible in this hectic society, but it is absolutely essential for your physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. When you go through life at top speed, anxiously rushing through in an effort to meet deadlines, you not only miss out on special moments, but you also overtax every major organ in the body, including adrenals, heart, pancreas, liver, colon, brain and skin. Similar to over-revving an engine, you cannot expect to keep going at a gallop constantly without burning out the engine. Have you ever noticed that you are more prone to catching colds when you burn the candle at both ends? Simple things, such as practicing breathing techniques when anxiety creeps in, or truly allowing yourself to BE IN THE MOMENT when you take a break, can be very helpful in reducing stress. Pay attention to the times when you feel overwhelmed, when you feel like you are unraveling or are at that point in which you are either going to explode or give up and hide under a rock. It’s during those times that stepping outside the bubble is crucial. And once you understand not only that you CAN step away, you may relish that escape when it feels like the walls are closing in on you.

3. Practice Sound Nutrition: Proper nutrition is critical to supporting optimal health. This means eating meals throughout the day instead of starving yourself, and turning to whole food sources as much as possible. By incorporating leafy green vegetables, fresh fruit, whole grains, lean meats and healthy fats, you will equip your body with the fuel it needs to function properly and to repair itself optimally. Without proper nutrition, inflammation and free radicals can wreak havoc on an already challenged body, culminating in disease and illness. It is important to stay away from fast foods at all costs.

4. Get Sufficient Sleep: Slumber enables our bodies to repair cells and tissues so that we can function during our waking hours. It supports a healthy metabolism and also reinforces learning and memory from the day’s activities. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body cannot adequately repair itself. If sleep deprivation occurs regularly, the metabolism becomes sluggish, inflammation accumulates, and the risk for diseases of all kinds becomes significant. Make sure to get a solid eight hours of sleep each night, and try to go to sleep at around the same time each night.

5. Laugh: I listed this as a separate topic from stress reduction because I honestly believe that laughter as a daily medicine can do wonders for one’s health. Over the past several years, I have resorted to listening to comedy when I am in my car instead of listening to music, literally adding comic relief to the commutes I make around the Los Angeles area. Laughter truly is the best medicine!

I’m sure some of you are completely on board with what I am advocating, and are implementing some or all of these healthy habits in your daily regimen. Then there are those of you who believe the advice is sound, but haven’t found the motivation to make the necessary life changes which can have a profound positive impact on your health. Lastly, there’s a group of you who stubbornly refuse to listen to advice, who will keep practicing unhealthy habits as a rebellion to everyone around you. I’ve got a message for the last group. Every single person I have EVER met who threw caution to the wind like that, and pretended not to care about the health impact of habits like poor nutrition, alcohol and drug use, lack of exercise, smoking, and reckless lifestyles, somehow got it in the end. Whether it was a cancer diagnosis, high blood pressure, obesity, or some other illness, every single one of them was forced to change their tune. Don’t be one of those individuals who is forced by illness to finally wake up!

You have the power to transform your life. Don’t forget that!

Staying Lean Through The Holidays – REPOST

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thanksgiving-turkey-dinner

Here is a repost of an article I wrote last November. It’s that time of the year again for holiday foods, so beware!

It seems that I will continue to uphold my yearly tradition of making my incredible (and incredibly UNclean) fudge for the holidays, as well as my signature turkey stuffing. Since the holidays come only once a year, it seems reasonable to indulge a bit, right? Well, if you’re a fitness fanatic and you have competitions coming up like several of my friends do, you can’t exactly throw caution to the wind and consume whatever you want. However, you CAN still indulge in small amounts of rich foods which are not considered clean as long as your other foods are healthy and clean. This means that your abs don’t have to hibernate during the holidays!

There are a few tricks to minimize the amount of bad foods which you may be tempted to devour.  You can consume a small amount of lean protein right before you have a carb cheat.  This will slow down digestion so that the carbs aren’t stored as readily.  Another trick is to drink at least eight ounces of water before you indulge in a decadent treat.  This will help to fill you up so you consume less food afterward.  When you are aware that you will be at a function in which tempting foods will be around, make sure your meals beforehand are kept clean and that you you eat every 2-1/2 to 3 hours to ensure that you won’t be ravenous come party time.

A newer tactic which can often work wonders for some people is to practice an intermittent fast the day before in which you consume a small number of calories, say 400-500, then go to town on turkey day, consuming your maintenance calories then. This seems to work better if you ramp up the week before with a series of intermittent fasts in which you consume your food (maintenance calories +10-20% on training days, then drop to -20% of maintenance on rest days) within a 4 to 8 hour window, then fasting the rest of the time. If you do this, crank up your protein intake so that it is at least 1 gram per pound of body weight. I personally love this diet approach and my body responds well to it, plus I can enjoy all the goodies on Thanksgiving without remorse.
turkey leg
There are food choices which are cleaner than others during the holidays. Though common holiday foods are rather calorie dense, here are a few food items which are lower in calories and fat:

  • Roast turkey breast
  • Green beans without butter
  • Mashed potatoes made with whipped butter and Greek yogurt instead of milk and regular butter
  • Pumpkin Pie

I know some of you are assuming that my cats join in with holiday feasts, but I always put them in my bedroom and lock the door. There are several reasons why I keep my felines away from the holiday table:

1. People food can often be hazardous for animals
2. My cats will run underfoot and probably trip people
3. My cats will suddenly forget the rule about not jumping onto tables and will create an unsanitary environment for guests
4. My cats will turn into pesky little beggars
Holiday-treats

Some of you may also be wondering what I am planning on cooking and eating, so here is my Thanksgiving menu:

  •  16-18 pound turkey
  • my secret stuffing recipe which has lots of goodies in it, but is relatively low in fat and calories compared to other exotic stuffing recipes
  • mashed potatoes made with light butter and sour cream
  • green bean casserole
  • my homemade fudge
  • whole cranberry sauce
  • turkey gravy
  • wine
  • store-bought pumpkin pie

Obviously there are some items on my menu that fall outside of my “clean food guidelines”, but since the holidays only come once a year, I have no qualms about it.   This is the time during which we should count our blessings and spend quality time with the people we love without getting anxious about what we are eating.  However, this does not mean you have free license to go nuts on bad foods for the next month!  If you end up indulging in other foods, don’t beat yourself up.  Instead, enjoy the feast and resume healthy eating the next day. 

Happy holidays!

MAW Nutrition Update!

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MAW Nutrition Inc. now has meals available! You can select 3, 4, 6, 8, or 10 ounce portions of cooked chicken, then customize the rest of the meal by choosing any one of the carb sources, and any one of the vegetable sources.

Check it out here: http://www.mawnutritioninc.com/category-s/1866.htm

As always, you can order a la carte selections as well. Be sure to use my discount code, NAITO10, for 10% off your order!

Are Post-Workout Carbohydrates Necessary?

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Please check out my latest article for Sports Nutrition Supplement Guide!

You can access the original post here:

http://www.sportsnutritionsupplementguide.com/eating-plans/item/1532-are-post-workout-carbohydrates-necessary#.VfiGeBFViko

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If you have been lifting weights for a while, you have probably heard about the importance of ingesting simple carbohydrates during the critical post-workout window. The idea is that the insulin spike which occurs with carb consumption augments protein uptake and thus optimizes muscle building and repair.

However, there is a growing body of evidence which argues against this theory. One study which was published in Nutrition and Metabolism split older male subjects into two groups, one of which consumed only protein post-workout, while the other group consumed the identical amount of protein, with an added carbohydrate source in a 1 to 2 ratio. The subjects in the second group initially had an insulin spike and a greater uptake of protein into muscle tissue, but after several hours, both groups had the same uptake of protein.

Athletes who train several times a day may benefit from the faster rate of protein absorption which accompanies carbohydrate consumption during the post-workout window since they need to keep glycogen stores full for the next workout. However, the average person or athlete who only trains once per day will be able to replenish glycogen levels within a day or two, without any negative effects, as long as enough carbohydrates are consumed in the diet throughout each day. This is great news for individuals who cannot consume large amounts of simple carbohydrates, either due to diabetes or excess weight, because the overall absorption and uptake of protein is unaffected by carbohydrate intake.

Substances like whey protein induce an even bigger spike in insulin than carbs do, and the increase insulin levels from protein alone is adequate to inhibit the muscle breakdown which occurs post-lift. You might also consider employing a carb-cycle diet which consists of a low carb plan intermixed with one or two high carb days per week. The carb spike days will effectively replenish glycogen stores and keep your energy high for those intense lifting days, while the remaining lower carbohydrate days will boost growth hormone production.

REFERENCES: Hamer H, Wall B, Kiskini A, de Lange A, et al (2013) Carbohydrate co-ingestion with protein does not further augment post-prandial muscle protein accretion in older men. Nutrition & Metabolism 10:15.