Category Archives: Nutrition

Holiday Candy Help

Are you finding yourself taking a piece of candy here and there all day long?  This time of year there is food everywhere! As soon as you get to the office there is a new basket from a great customer, your friend bought you the best tasting chocolates and kids are bringing things home left and right.

The average American gains 8-10lbs during the holiday season and snacking on candy is a major contributor.

Here are some tips for avoiding the candy dish this holiday season:

  • Buy Candy you don’t like, if you need to buy candy to bring to events or the office
  • Buy your candy on later in the season to minimize the opportunity to snack (it might even be on sale)
  • Bring healthy options instead or fun holiday stickers to a school event
  • Avoid the candy dish at work, home or gatherings
  • If you get a craving start with water or gum
  • Limit yourself, 1 piece a day or only if it’s a certain type that you really like
  • Bring a piece of fruit and snack on that instead of candy

Good luck this holiday season and if you have other ideas please post them below!

Holiday Weight Loss and Health

Jump ahead to December 31st for a moment. You get to the end of the night, and you may find yourself making a New Year’s Resolution. You might share it with others as well or write it down. A common one that I hear is “I am going to lose 20 pounds.” This is a good start, and next year we will talk about how to accomplish this successfully.
Today, let’s start with how to take steps now to change that goal from 20 lbs to 10 or 5 or even 0! Much of this success relies on what you do and what you consume during the holidays.
Try the following steps TODAY!
Step 1: What is your goal that you will accomplish within the next 30 days? Try to make it specific, measurable, and achievable. For example, in the next 30 days I will improve my health and begin on my body composition improvement by drinking 8 glasses of water per day. Write it down where you can see it every day.
Step 2: On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that you are 100% committed to achieving this goal in the face of all obstacles? If you are at a 9-10, we’re good to go! If you are at a 1-5, list out your obstacles and solutions to overcome them.
Step 3: Obtain credible knowledge to help you with your goals. We have a whole team of fitness experts here to help. Post your questions by leaving us a comment!
Here are a few links to help you get started:
How much should you eat?
Healthy holiday recipes for the family
Gluten free recipes
Vegan recipes
Holiday Tips & Tricks

 

Have a favorite site or tip to share? Share it with us by leaving a comment! Have goals? Have questions? Want to share a story? We’d love to read it! Leave us a comment for all of these things as well!

Holiday Eating Tips

It is November and that means our next 8 weeks will be filled with good times, family, friends and a lot of food.  All of those things can be great in moderation but when you have party after party and event after event the calories will add up.  Here are my success strategies to your Holiday eating, and drinking!

 

 

  1. Be realistic, don’t try to lose weight during the holidays
  2. Make a realistic goal to maintain your weight or workout 3x per week
  3. Don’t skip meals, you will be starving and then overeat
  4. Pre-eat, when your heading to an event have some healthy veggies and
    protein at home ahead of time to limit the unhealthy calories at the
    event
  5. Throw away or give a way leftovers, if they are in your house you will eat them
  6. When filling up your plate don’t forget to add the veggies
  7. Focus on eating while sitting down with a plate, grazing over the buffet line can be dangerous
  8. Be careful with alcohol, it can lower you inhibitions and create you to overeat
  9. Alcohol is also a lot of empty unneeded calories, have a glass of water in between each drink
  10.  If you overeat one meal don’t let it ruin your day, get back on track with the next meal
  11. Take the focus off food, volunteer at a shelter, feed my starving children or a church to spend time with family
  12. Plan group activities like a lighted holiday walking tour or window shopping at a local mall
  13. Make items you can’t eat like a gingerbread house, snowflakes, decorations and ornaments
  14. When eating at a potluck bring a healthy dish
  15. Always eat all your food on a plate and don’t let the food on your plate touch, you can only have so much that way
  16. Stay on top of sleep and your workouts, when your not sleeping well or in your normal workout routine you will want to eat more
  17. When your ”bored eating” clean, take the dog for a walk, brush your teeth, drink some water or chew a piece of gum
  18. Don’t over restrict yourself, you will crash and burn at some point if you do
  19. Make a goal for January 1st and stick to it, don’t let your holiday eating continue into the New Year
  20. Have a great holiday season and spend some time with those you care about
Here are some tricks to help make your holiday favorites a little more healthy
  1. Refrigerate your gravy and after it cools skim some or a lot of the fat off the top to reduce the amount of total fat
  2. In your dressing use less bread and more onions, garlic, celery and
    other vegetables, add fruits like cranberries and apples to sweeten and
    moisten with low sodium broth and applesauce
  3. Skip the dark meat and skin on the turkey
  4. Cook your green bean casserole with potatoes instead of cream soup and top with almonds instead of  fried onions
  5. When making mashed potatoes avoid a ton of whole milk and butter
    and substitute with chicken broth, garlic, garlic powder and rice milk
  6. Make your own graham cracker crust for desserts to lower calories
  7. Look for other healthy recipes online, some website I use are http://skinnyms.com/ and http://healthylivinghowto.com/  here are two I found from the Mayo Clinic
    • Quick
      Holiday Nog — Four bananas, 1-1/2 cups skim milk or soymilk, 1-1/2 cups
      plain nonfat yogurt, 1/4 teaspoon rum extract, and ground nutmeg. Blend
      all ingredients except nutmeg. Puree until smooth. Top with nutmeg.

 

  • Desserts
    — Make a crust less pumpkin pie. Substitute two egg whites for each
    whole egg in baked recipes. Replace heavy cream with evaporated skim
    milk in cheesecakes and cream pies. Top cakes with fresh fruit, fruit
    sauce, or a sprinkle of powdered sugar instead of fattening frosting.
I hope you were able to find a few pointers to help in your holiday
success, if you have other good ones let us know or leave a comment
below!

Nutrition for Runners

Nutrient timing and the mentality in approaching a race are huge factors that determine the success of a runner. Here is a free replay of a webinar by professional endurance coach Scott Welle.

Nutrition for Dancers: Focus on Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat

Dancers shouldn't skip meals, but should eat a well-balanced diet.

Dancers should eat a healthy diet in order to perform their best.

I’m often asked nutrition questions by teenage dancers or parents. Since I am not a registered dietician, providing a meal plan would not be appropriate. However, the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) has published several position papers with guidelines to answer these questions.

Question: How much should a dancer eat?
Answer: 45-50 calories/kg body weight for females and 50-55 calories/kg body weight for males on days of intense training.

Question: How many carbohydrates should a dancer eat?
Answer: 6-10 grams/kg body weight

Question: Is a low fat diet safe for dancers?
Answer: IADMS recommends a diet of 55-65% carbohydrate, 12-15% protein, and 20-30% fat. If these macronutrients are not in balance, the dancer may have difficulty maintaining enough energy to meet the demands of performing and recovering from their activity. Therefore having a diet low in any macronutrient is not recommended.

The answers provided in this post are quoted/paraphrased from “Fueling the Dancer,” a position paper created for the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science.