Low-Carb Diets

Low-Carb Diets 

Several popular diets advocate that you don’t eat carbs, and that’s one way to lose a lot of weight in a hurry. After all, for every gram of carbohydrate that is stored in the body (as glycogen), we store 3 grams of water.  But that’s a good thing since it keeps us hydrated. 

If you go on one of those diets without carbs, it’s like taking a sponge and wringing the water out. You’ll lose the water weight, but as soon as you eat carbs again—and you will at some point, because you need energy to function, and you can only go so long without carbs—then the sponge is going to fill up with water.  Research shows that the weight will come right back, and with a vengeance; people often gain back all the weight they lost while following a diet that severely reduces carb intake—and more. As with dieting, you’ll likely lose some of your lean mass in the process. 

In addition to the decrease in performance associated with low carbohydrate diets,  those following the low carbohydrate diets often omit many of the high-fiber whole grains and the vitamin, mineral and phytochemical loaded fruits and vegetables. 

A better approach is to eat carbohydrates based on your activity level and understand what makes up an actual serving size of carbohydrate. Carbohydrate equals fuel, and the body prefers glucose (what the carbohydrate is broken down into) for energy to fuel both the muscles and the brain. Without enough carbohydrate you are bound to sputter along like a car that is about to run out of gas. This becomes particularly important to the athlete who needs to have a full supply of energy at all times. During exercise or sports activities, the body will use available glucose in the blood for energy. Once that supply of glucose is depleted, the body will begin to break down glycogen, which is stored glucose, for energy. After that is gone, the body no longer has an efficient way to release glucose and your ability to perform at a high level will be compromised. 

Throughout the day and before training, choose mainly lower GI carbohydrates including high fiber whole grains and fruits and vegetables. After your training, eat enough carbohydrates by choosing some higher GI carbs to replenish your glycogen stores. By using carbohydrate as your training and performance partner and not as the forbidden nutrient, your energy stores and your diet will be appropriately balanced. 

7 Fat Loss Habits

7 Simple Fat-Loss Habits for 2012 That Really Work... For Life!

Why wait until you the New Year or some special event that dirves you to living a healthier you! Many seem to be looking to shed the extra pounds we've packed on while raising a family, in college, first years of marriage. The resolution we make to lose weight and get fit is sincere, but all too often, our good intentions don't ev...en last until for one month.

We all know that... "Every January, health clubs see a spike in attendance, followed by a drop in February," say boomer generation health experts Dian Griesel, Ph.D., and Tom Griesel.

The Griesels share seven simple steps we can easily incorporate into our busy schedules to make our lives healtheir:

• Set a goal for fat loss and improved body composition, not a reduction in pounds. Most dieting efforts, which focus on a drop in scale weight, result in the loss of lean body mass (LBM) along with fat. This loss of LBM can be significant and will reduce your base metabolic rate (BMR).

• Drink more water. Most people are chronically dehydrated, particularly first thing in the morning. We often mistake thirst as hunger, and eat when we should be drinking. Always drink a large glass of water as soon as you wake up, and whenever you feel hungry, before you eat anything. You may find you really weren’t hungry after all.

• Focus on being more active. Sitting for long periods of time is hazardous to your health and cannot be counteracted by daily trips to the gym. Never sit for more than an hour at a time, and always look for ways to increase your daily activity. Walking is great, but everything counts. Just be up on your feet and moving as much and as often as possible. Find an outdoor activity that you enjoy.

• Build and strengthen your muscles. It is your muscles that drive your metabolism 24/7/365. Increasing your muscle mass will increase your BMR. You do not need to join a gym or buy a set of weights. Simple body-weight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, and squats done three to five times per day for as little as one minute will do the trick, especially if you have been inactive and sitting around too much. Do what you can now and build from there. Consistency is the key.

• Start improving your nutrition choices. Replacing the refined, processed, packaged, and fast foods in your current diet with fresh, natural foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, and meat will dramatically increase your health and improve your body composition without dieting or counting calories.

• Get a good night’s sleep. We need deep, quality sleep for peak energy levels and to be optimally healthy. Set regular sleep hours and keep them whenever possible since it is during sleep that we “recharge our batteries." Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or stimulating TV or activities before your scheduled sleep time. Keep your room dark, cool, and quiet.

• Practice regular stress reduction techniques. In today’s world, we experience chronic stress that was unknown to our ancestors. Modern stressors constantly activate our "fight or flight" survival mechanism, and this is very detrimental to our health. Meditation can be very helpful. However, consistently practicing short relaxation exercises during your day is often even better, because they provide regular feedback and can help you to recognize and break stress patterns. These mini-relaxation sessions will reset your nervous system and do wonders for your health and feelings of well-being.

check out NUTRIMANAGE for helpful products to support your weight loss plan.

The right way to Dieting and Losing Weight

give up dieting forever, stop asking no white diet,no meat diet,no…

1 : Finding a better way

our web site introduces you to a different way of thinking about your weight, what you eat, and how you exercise. It’s called the ”nondiet’ approach, and, yes, it involves giving up diets and renegotiating  your image of an attractive body. at its core, the nondiet approach is about nurturing all facts of your life: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

you will learn more about these principles and explore how to incorporate them into your lifestyle. you will also read advice from experts and real peaple who stopped dieting and not only survived, but also thrived.(see “Nondieters success stories“). by the end of this section, we hope you’ll adopt a new definition of the word diet.

2 : the diet trap

It’s hard to resist the allure of diets. our culture is mesmerized by thinness. from an early, we see slender image splashed across billboards and gracing TV shows, advertisements, movies, and magazines. Ironically, even those waiflike  models need an airbrushing before they’re deemed pageworthy. how is the average person supposed to attain that? No wonder we’re a diet-mad society, so willing to pin our hopes on every latest fad diet that come along. Diets set unrealistic expectations that are as elusive as the proverbial carrot on a stick.

3: The allure of being thin

Consider what you think losing weight will do for you. Sure, you expect to get  thinner, but how do you imagine your life to be then ? will you find your dream love match ? get a promotion ? be more populare ? Enjoy great wealth? if you think you’ll finally have the perfect life and fell terrific about yourself, you have lots of company. “our society is obsessed with thinness and promotes weight loss as the key to happiness and the answer to many of life’s problems,” says registered dietitian dayle hayes, advocate of the nondiet approach, author, and nutrition therapist in billings, Montana. these promises are seductive, but seldom, if ever, come true. you can probably lose weight on any diet, but you’ll still be the same person. “once the initial thrill of buying new clothes in smaller size wears off, you lost weight,” says hayes. weight loss never changes who you really are, nor will it make you happy. happiness is internal.

4: Why diets fail

Many discouraging statistics report that people who lose weight on a diet will gain it back within a few years. one reason for this dismal success rate is that people often view diets as a temporary situation to endure until they lose weight. then they go off the diet and back to the same eating patterns that caused them to gain weight.

Another reason diets are unsuccessful is that they override inborn hunger and fullness signals, placing external controls on eating. ” Chronic dieters are used to eating when, what , and how much their current diet dictates, not because they”re hungry or full,” says registered dietitian evelyn tribole, a southern california-based weight management and eating disorders specialist.

principles of a non diet approch

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Product Recommendations for Sports & Activities 

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Whole Grains Are Better

"Go for the Whole Grains-- and Beware Added Sugars:

What are good foods to choose if you want to eat carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, crackers, and cereals?

A wise approach is to seek out the whole grains and shun added sugars. When you are shopping for packaged carbs, search the ingredient
list. Choose foods with whole grains such as buckwheat, brown rice, millet, whole rye, whole wheat, wild rice, quinoa, bulgur, oatmeal, whole grain barley, and whole grain cornmeal.
Shun food with added sugars in the ingredient list such as brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, sucrose, molasses, and sugar.

The higher the item in the package's ingredient list, the more of it in the product. Therefore, whole-grain ingredients listed first on the package indicate that they are the food's primary component.

Don't be fooled by healthy-sounding options such as "wheat bread" and "multigrain." These products are not necessarily whole-grain rich.

PROTEIN MAP

WHEN TO

USE IT

	THROUGHOUT THE DAY Protein should be taken multiple times per day to ensure your body gets the nutrition it needs, timing your intake around workouts.
	POST-WORKOUT It is especially important to take protein within 30 minutes of a workout so muscles have the necessary fuel for building and repair.

HOW MUCH

TO TAKE

15 TO 45 GRAMS POST WORKOUT Consuming 15 to 45 grams of high-quality, intact protein as part of post exercise recovery is critical. Depending on the intensity of your workout and your fitness goals, you may need to fuel your body with more protein. Examples of high-quality protein include whey, (isolate or concentrate), casein and soy protein.

DAILY NEEDS

VARIED BY

FITNESS

The average adult needs at least .5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Protein needs will vary based on age, gender and the type of athlete.

	ENDURANCE .5 to .6 grams of protein per pound of body weight
	STRENGTH .5 to .8 grams of protein per pound of body weight