Fit Tips

Nutritional Principles for Healthy Living

Less is more

People who eat small, frequent meals are significantly thinner and healthier than people who eat large meals just once or twice a day. Reason: Going more that 3-4 hours without eating causes your metabolism to go into early starvation mode and it slows greatl,y making it extremely difficult to lose weight. You body thinks it needs to cling to fat, not knowing when the next meal will be. Instead, eating 100 calories an hour or 300 calories every 3 hours can reassure your metabolism and actually increase your calorie burn rate and cause you to lose weight just from eating more often. So dig in! Just remember to eat small amounts calorically--don’t eat like its your last meal.

It's All Down Hill After 400 Calories

Your body can only break down and use roughly 400 calories in one meal. After that your body stores additional calories as fat, regardless of how healthy they are. So estimate how many calories you’ll need before you have your next snack or meal…for example, at 9am say to your self “I’ll have 300 calories for breakfast because I won’t be able to eat until noon.”

Pump Up Your Metabolism

Don’t underestimate the power of lifting. The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be. You'll burn more calories at rest and you'll look and feel better!

fitness myth

A common misconception is that building muscle will make women bigger and bulkier. Not true--as muscle tissue regenerates and grows, it becomes tighter and leaner, more dense and smaller. That is what gives women those beautiful, clean, long lines. Women do not have the hormones to become bulky. So ladies, don't be afraid to pick up those weights!

Counting Not Always Key

Don’t end a set just because you’ve completed a certain number of reps - exhaust those muscles. Burn them out! If you find you're doing more reps than you planned, then its time to increase the weight on the next set. That’s the best way to really build muscle strength and definition!

fuel for the fire

Aerobic exercise is like kindling wood, it starts the fire in your metabolism; but weight training is like a big log that's going to carry you through, maintaining muscle & burning calories. It's just what you want!

AA for muscles

Alcohol can attack your muscles, slowing down the production of new muscle fiber. All those muscles including arms, legs, and abs take a hit.

NUTZ

A hand full of nuts every day can lower your heart disease and Alzheimer's risk by two-thirds and help you slim down. Just remember to only have that handful, try not to have the whole bag in front of you. Use little zip lock snack bags.
Best nut? Almond! A hand full: 7.5mg of vitamin E, 75mg of calcium, 81 mg of magnesium and 211 mg potassium.

Organic Fighters

Organic fruits and vegetables often contain 50% more disease fighting antioxidants per serving than regular fruits and veggies.

The Amazing avocado

An avocado has almost twice the potassium of a banana or broccoli and contains twice the vitamin C of an orange. This doesn’t mean we need to eat 5, because of the high fat avocado can have a high caloric content. Try cutting it into fourths and putting it in your salad or wrap. Garlic salt really brings out the flavor.