The nutrition cheat sheet

It takes years and years of schooling to become a registered dietician. I am not one—not even close. However, there are some basic tips and tricks I can share with you that I have picked up over the years that you can use to make sure the food you are ingesting is healthier, leads to greater physical performance and helps maintain an appropriate body weight for your frame.

1. Stick to the walls in the grocery store. Think about what lines the walls of a typical supermarket: fruits, vegetables, milk, seafood, fresh cuts of meat and bread (whole wheat, please). The nasty, processed stuff all tends to be in the middle aisles of the store. Fill your cart with items from the perimeter, and you will have a healthier fridge and cupboard.
2. Look for “radioactive” elements on the label. If you pick up a food that has the words “high fructose corn syrup” on it, throw it out. It is loaded with calories and provides almost no nutritional value. In other words, it is a incredibly effective way of getting fat quickly. You don’t want it.
3. Eat things that spoil quickly. This means that it is natural and free of most preservatives. Yes, you will have to shop more often and monitor the sell by dates. However, fresh food equals good food.
4. Shop for things grown by a _____ farmer. You have heard of a potato, poultry and dairy farmer. You have never, ever heard of a Twinkie farmer because there is no such thing. Shop for foods that are picked off a tree, out of the ground or raised on a farm.
5. Eat foods without multiple “layers”. People add too much to basic food, and they ruin its nutritional value in the process. For example, eating potatoes (single layer) is fine. Eating one with butter, cheese, bacon bits and sour cream on it (5 layers) is not. Try to eat food as close to its natural state as possible. Lemon juice, salt, pepper and other spices do not count as extra layers, but they do add flavor.
6. Measure your portions instead of guessing. How many calories does a 1/2 cup of cooked rice provide? 50? 100? Try 200. When is the last time you consider a half-cup of rice as a serving? Most of us severely underestimate how many calories we are eating due to improper portion control. Get a scale or measuring cup and do your homework.
7. Learn about the law of thermodynamics. Instead of turning to an organic chemistry textbook, just remember that for the most part, weight gain/loss/maintenance is controlled simply by the ratio of calories in versus calories burned. Don’t over think it. Smarter people than us have been researching this for 200 years. Some foods are better and more efficient than others (think of the analogy of premium versus regular gasoline), but don’t let being worried about the details mask the adherence to this basic concept. You eat more calories than you burn whether they are from carbs, proteins or fats, you will gain weight. The opposite also is true.
8. Pretty, flashy packages are hiding something. Ever see a flashy label on a bag of potatoes? How about a box of Cheez-Its? My point exactly.

Think obesity is not an epidemic?

Take a look at this map and let it load for a few seconds.

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2010/01/07/image6069005.gif

We will ALL be paying for this one day, especially if there are major changes to the way health care is provided in the United States. Do your part:

1. Take pride in becoming a healthier, more fit person in 2010.
2. Insist your kids exercise and participate in sports. Limit computer and video game time.
3. Make your kids go outside and play. Despite what you hear on the news, there is NOT some rampant kidnapping problem in America.
4. Insist that your company provide wellness benefits as well as incentives to be healthy. Look at other benefits that are NOT used by the majority of employees as potential sources of funding.
5. Ask your company to stop providing free soft drinks (non-diet), candy, Monday morning bagels and other things that lead to day long grazing and weight gain.
6. Stop making excuses.

We all get older, busier, more stressed and burdened taking care of others. Don’t let time push you around. Push back.

Military fitness: is it for you?

I know, I know. Darryl has gone completely off the deep end this year with all of his workout recommendations. Deadlifts, maximum strength testing and now MILITARY style workouts? Isn’t this all a bit much?

Not at all.

The military is very black and white in its approach to the world. It has to be since there are only two types of soldiers, sailors and marines: live ones and dead ones. That may be a harsh statement, but it reflects the harsh reality of serving in our Armed Forces. Thus, they have an incentive to find methods and techniques that actually work instead of being just the hot “new thing” in the industry.

Also, think about the typical person who joins the military. They typically are in their early twenties, but one of the fastest rising demographic groups is the over 35 crowd. They also are not typically Olympic athletes who just have nothing else to do. They are our sons, daughters, friends, neighbors and co-workers. In other words, they are average Americans, just like you and me.

So, the military has spent decades on creating and testing physical fitness routines that give tangible results, use minimal equipment and can be easily understood by the average Joe.

Sounds like they know what they are talking about, and they have designed it just for you. Since you are paying for it with your tax dollars, you might as well take a look.

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/

GREAT-grandfather knew best

In the last 48 hours, I have seen advertisements on TV for dozens of fitness systems and machines that all claim to have discovered the “secret” to a fitter, trimmer you. I also realized I stay up too late watching bad cable TV.

I stumbled upon a text (now available online) that was printed in 1904. Yes, when Teddy Roosevelt was President of the United States. Take a moment to read some of the topics.

You will find that a number of these “new discoveries” are just time tested common sense in a nice, shiny package.

How strong ARE you?

This is always a relative term. You may be stronger than your friends or stronger than you used to be. However, how do you compare to the population at large? How about elite athletes?

Maybe you are not looking to set records, but it is nice to have a ring to strive for.

Take a look at some standards for common lifts you perform at the gym.

Remember, performing these lifts is not just about strength,. Core strength, balance, flexibility, central nervous system activation and practice all have influence on how you do.

The moral of the story is that if you feel you want to move up, set a goal and work for it!

Pull ups for those of us without beards

My friend, Gretchen, commented yesterday that she loved the deadlifting idea, but chin ups were a bit more challenging. This is the case for many women since they tend to carry the majority of their weight below their hips. Even strong women have trouble since their muscular development of their lats does not overcome this drag.

I did find an excellent article that helps women develop their pull up prowess. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

As for the deadlift, women should use no more than TWO THIRDS of their body weight. Sorry for the confusion.

Happy 2010! Start here

I know you are desperate for a new fitness approach to the New Year. Try this routine from Chad Waterbury for your very first workout:

Deadlift for 50 reps w/load equal to your body weight
Push-ups for 100 reps
Chin-ups for 50 reps

Break it up into as many sets as you need to get it done (e.g., 10 deadlifts, 20 pushups, 5 chin-ups, repeat). But, don’t stop except for a brief 10-20 seconds between each set!

By the way, there are some people that claim the deadlift is not relevant except for Olympic powerlifters. Really? Go take a look at what it is and then I will rattle off about 37 day to day activities it mimics (picking up heavy boxes, picking up a child, moving furniture, etc.). It is actually one of the few resistance exercise that has real life applications. When was the last time you did something resembling a pec-dec chest movement outside of a gym?

Go here if you need some deadlift pointers.