Category: Uncategorized

Your best high-tech nutritional information sources

 

Even though I am certified in nutrition, it is almost impossible to remember the nutritional content of every single food out there. I often have to do some Googling and research in many situations with my job, such as when posting the nutritional breakdown of one of my recipes, when a client has an advanced nutrition question such as “what are the best sources of magnesium?” — or if I am exploring a new food or looking up food additives.

 

Many of these nutritional food information websites are hard to understand. They also have too much information about prepared food.

 

Some sites are hard to use if you are looking up a simple vegetable. They will have pre-packaged vegetables in sauce as the first choice. If you are eating a Ruby Tuesday sandwich, chances are you are not interested in whether it is good for you or not!

 

Another thing to watch out for: “overly alternative” sites that make all kinds of healing claims about food. The healing power of food is not without merit, but take these sites with a grain of salt.

 

Wikipedia, we all love it we all use it. I will use it as my third or fourth source of information when looking up anything. But really since anyone can add to it, it might not be the most accurate.

 

Here are a few apps and websites that I find the most clear and concise.

 

Self:

 

A good magazine and the nutritional information on foods on their website is perfect. It’s easy to read and very clear. I love the charts too.

 

Livestrong:

 

Despite the scandal of Lance Armstrong — oh the shame of it all! — this website offers clear and concise information on foods. The articles are easy to read and provide good, useful information.

 

Nutri Explorer:

Hands down this app is the best. Just search any food and Nutri Explorer will give you TMI (too much information) about it. It has everything, ash (the undigested part of food), sugars, protein, and every single trace nutrient in the food. I love how this app gets specific for individuals. You have a choice of information for babies, kids, adults in every age range, and even lactation options.

It is from the USDA so the nutrients are minimal requirements for health.

 

You can also search a specific nutrient, such as copper. I just found out that braised Alaskan Moose liver has 2.78 mg of copper per serving. Yes, the Nutri Explorer app is very, very detailed.

 

Fooducate:

 

This is a food activism blog against Big Food and the GMOs available as an app. I love the newsletter. It has some very good “101” basic information for the everyday consumer and some good tips for professionals too. I paid $5 for the Fooducate Pro app and consider it a good investment. You can also scan products at the grocery store and get a rating on them. I had an easy time scanning the big commercial brands, but the app seemed to not recognize the many alternative products I have in the house.

 

When trying to find out the best information about what you are eating, just stick with these sources.

 

Fooducate can even set up a diet plan for your age and activity level. If you are lacking in certain nutrients, Nutri Explorer can help you find the right foods. Remember the most important part of nutrition, everyone is different.

 

The best way to eat right depends on who you are as an individual — for example, if you have individual needs (such as an iron deficiency or low blood sugar). If you have questions, you should consult a nutrition expert or registered dietician.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misleading Label of the Month from AWA.

“Humane” label claims are now widely used to convince consumers the food manufacturer is making a special effort in the way animals are raised. However, as there is no legal definition or minimum agreed welfare standard for the term “humane,” this claim is increasingly found on products where animals are confined on dirt feedlots or indoors in confinement systems, and where antibiotic use and mutilations–such as beak trimming or tail docking–are routine practices. Unless the product is also verified by an independent third-party farm certification (such as AWA) according to high welfare and environmental standards, you’re almost certainly still buying industrially farmed food.

How not to gain weight on the Holidays.

Holiday Eating Tips

 

Oh, the outrageous amount of food and alcohol over the holidays… “It only comes around once a year, so why not indulge completely?” Well, it’s just not a good idea to go crazy with food at every holiday event, especially if you have a lot of parties and social obligations over this joyous season. Pigging out at every party can really add up over the five weeks from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, turning into the unwelcome guest of weight gain that will be difficult to get rid of, and even more so as we get a little older.

I enjoy the holiday season to the fullest and do enjoy some sweets and wine, but I choose my food carefully at every event. With a busy social life, business parties, and a huge multi-faith family, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Buddhist, all in one family (yes, it’s true), I can end up going to 10 parties in the month of December.

Here are some tips for healthy party eating that can make your diet-conscious holiday experience feel like an indulgence. Look over all of the available food choices first, then pick which treats you are going to have. This will stimulate your brain into healthy eating. Then, think about how good the treats are going to be. This is one of my favorite eating strategies and can actually prevent overeating.

 

Appetizers and pre-meal snacks –

1) Skip them all together. These are often the fattiest and most calorie-laden items at a party. If you just can’t skip them, choose 3 of the best ones, eat those, and stop at that. Do not feel the need to grab at every appetizer if they are being passed around on a plate; this can add up before you know it.

 

2) Don’t sit by the snacks; this can lead to mindless picking and over-consuming. Go sit next to Grandma — she misses you, and you won’t talk with your mouth full.

 

3) Pick away at the vegetable appetizers, my personal favorites. I eat the carrot sticks and celery (Go easy on the dips!), and I’ll have just a few chips.

 

4) Eat the pretzels, low fat and not such a bad snack. If there are sesame pretzels, that’s all the better for your sodium intake.

 

5) Try the hummus. Yes, it is very high in calories, but hummus is also very high in fiber and protein and can make you feel more full very quickly.

 

Uh-oh… Booze!

 

Alcohol equals 100 calories for a glass of wine or a beer, 100-plus calories for a cocktail, and some cocktails can have up to 300 calories each. Keep this in mind when enjoying your holiday cheer.

 

The lovely Christmas meal –

1) Eat slowly, take the time to enjoy the company and the meal.

 

2) Try everything, but do so in small, 2- to 3-tablespoon portions. You will be surprised how full this can make you feel, and you get to enjoy all of the dishes at the dinner.

 

Hanukkah! –

 

Hanukkah is a celebration of the oil; therefore, it is almost impossible to eat a low-calorie meal at these holiday celebrations. Here are some healthy tips for enjoying your latkes (potato pancakes, fried in oil) .

 

1) My family mixes low-fat yogurt or kefir into the traditional sour cream to cut the fat content of the sour cream in half (Low-fat sour cream is also available, if you can find it.). With a nice oily latke, you can hardly tell the difference in taste. Greek yogurt makes a great sour cream substitute too.

 

2) Pile on the applesauce! Remember, an apple a day helps keep the doctor away. Also, you may shop around for lower-sugar applesauce, and if you have time, you can make it at home; it’s fun to do, tastes delicious, and the family members literally eat it up!

3) Just have one or two latkes if you are trying to lose weight — end of story. These babies can have up to 200 calories each.

 

4) Get into the gym the next day after Hanukkah, burn off those latkes and all that fortified Manischewitz wine. You’ll need at least an hour of cardio exercise to burn off the latkes, but hey, an hour of cardio is the gift to yourself that keeps on giving!

Mega Bar the Cutting Edge in Home workouts.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/822424463/mega-bar-the-most-versatile-and-affordable-workout

 

 

 

Recently a young personal trainer and entrepreneur named Obidi sent me an e-mail about his new invention.

 

I looked at his Kickstarter campaign and was very impressed. The Mega Bar is a complete home gym in one compact product. It can be used with resistance bands, weights, suspension straps, and also transforms into a pull-up bar. It’s incredibly versatile and extremely affordable.

 

‘Wow!’ I thought, ‘I want one of these! This looks great for my own home workouts and for my clients.’

 

We email occasionally now. I decided to interview him for my blog:

 

Me: What certification do you have and how long have you been certified?

 

Obidi: I have AAAI and have been certified for two years.

 

Me: What made you decide to invent a piece of exercise equipment?

 

Obidi: I was at the end of my junior year in college. I couldn’t find a job and I was wondering what would happen if I couldn’t find a job after college. I had been looking at ways to improve a pull-up bar and I ended up inventing a totally new product.

 

Me: How long did it take you to design the product from start to finish?

 

Obidi: About three and a half months. Even after my idea was completed, I kept adding little touches.

 

Me: Who is the Mega Bar designed for?

 

Obidi: It is for anyone who can do resistance training. I designed a versatile product that anyone can use, no matter how experienced or inexperienced.

 

Me: Is it safe for pregnant women to use?

 

Obidi: Yes, though of course it depends on the exercise. It’s not as cumbersome as 6 foot barbell. Even if a pregnant woman doesn’t want to train with weight plates, she can use bands with it.

 

Me: Great! I train a lot of seniors, I have two clients in their 80’s. Is it safe for that population?

 

Obidi: Yes, this product is for anyone who wants to work on any muscle. It’s important for seniors to do resistance training, not only to prevent osteoporosis but to improve their balance.

 

Me: What is your favorite exercise to do with the Mega Bar?

 

Obidi: It might be the front squat. The Mega Bar allows you to front squat comfortably and naturally, without putting any strains on your wrist.

 

Me: Anything else you want to put out there?

 

Obidi: It’s on Kickstarter for just a few more days. Act quickly if you want an early bird discount!

 

 

 

Me: When is the product going to be available?

 

Obidi: As soon as the Kickstarter reaches the 12k goal, it is going to go into production. We expect that it will be available for delivery in March. After that, it will be available exclusively on line.

 

Obidi loves fitness and working out and he really believes in his product. Keep an eye out for this young entrepreneur; he is going to go far if he keeps up at this pace. I think we will all be hearing about him in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Microscopic Workout

The Microscopic Workout.

Working Out Is Good for Every Cell in Your Body!

 

Even the biggest fitness enthusiast may think that exercise mainly benefits muscle cells, building them up and stretching them, but exercise is actually healthy for every single cell in your body. You may notice that everyone’s favorite gym rat looks a little young for their age. They have a healthy glow. This is because not just their muscle cells are in top shape but working out actually changes you at the cellular level.

 

When I first began working out I listened to other trainers who encouraged me to get into the fitness business. I remember telling one friend how great I felt after my rigorous kickboxing class. I said that I felt cleaner on the inside, like every bit of waste and all the toxins were cleaned out of my body after a good workout. My friend told me I was weird and said that I was just getting an endorphin rush, a rush of natural ‘feel-good chemicals’ and by my own growth hormone which is released by exercise. It turns out that I was right.  A new study confirms the way I feel after working out; exercise does help clean out your body at the very deepest level.

In the publication Nature, and in the New York Science Times , suggests that exercise helps a long a process called autophagy, by which cells rid themselves of waste products. A recent study was conducted by Dr. Beth Levine, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The New York Times said, “Dr. Levine and her colleagues concluded that an increase in autophagy prompted by exercise, seems to be a crucial step in improving health.” They termed the findings, “extremely exciting.”

 

Exercise also increases your mitochondria, or the energy producers in your cells. This means that a person working out can potentially have millions more little energy producers in their bodies than someone who does not. This is one of the reasons why exercise increases your energy level.

 

Working out also helps your nerve cells, by preserving them and by increasing their power to channel the electrical currents that make the nerves function. As we age, our nerve endings begin to degenerate. This is one of the reasons why senior citizens lose their balance and are prone to falls. Exercise is proven to help preserve the nerve endings and increase nerve-to-muscle communication.  A proper exercise program for people over age 50 should include several  balance exercises to keep the nerve cells healthy, and help prevent falls. Exercise also helps improve the  parasympathetic nerves. These are your involuntary nerves, which, for instance, tell your heart to beat and your lungs to breathe. The increased heart rate and increased respiration brought on by exercise simulate the parasympathetic nervous system to its maximum capacity.

 

These are just some of the myriad ways through which working out benefits every cell of your being. As medical science continues to prove, as if you couldn’t recognize it on your own, exercise is not just for your muscles anymore.

 

 

Misleading Label of the Month from AWA.

No Hormones Added (pork and poultry)

A highly misleading label claim, because hormones are actually prohibited in raising hogs or poultry. Yet many companies use this label claim to make it appear their products are different from others or that the company is making a special concession to animal welfare. The reality is that ANY pork or poultry product could make this label claim. And although the company is legally required to include text saying “federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones,” this wording often appears in very small lettering at the bottom of the label.

11 Reasons Personal Trainers Are Better Than Fitness Apps

 

It’s amazing how many times I’ve heard about ways to save on personal training by buying videos or downloading apps.

“Why spend all of that money for a personal trainer?” a recent TV ad broadcast. “Personal trainers cost a bundle. Just buy our DVD, it comes with a personal consultation.” Other times, I’ve heard, “Training is too expensive, get a fitness app instead.”

 

Am I about to be replaced by a robot?

 

I do like fitness apps — I think they are great tools. I am all for anything that helps people get in shape and live healthy lifestyles.

 

In fact, I have used two of them: MyFitnessPal and Fooducate. I like Fooducate but honestly I only read the newsletter. I used MyFitnessPal for a while and liked it. The only reason I did not stick with it is because my phone at that time was too hard to type on. But two of my clients use MyFitnessPal and love it.

 

One thing that fitness apps can do that I can’t do is follow you around all day. I have to go home; a fitness app does not.

 

So why should you invest money on training with me or someone else instead of using a fitness app?

 

There are several reasons:

 

  • Trainers get the latest and most up-to-date information and relay it to YOU. I just found out two new facts that have changed in the last few months: Seniors benefit from eating more protein, and the caloric intake for nursing and pregnancy has gone down from 500 calories to 300 extra calories per day. Does your fitness app know this? These are just two examples of new information that comes out every day in the news or studies, which may take months to translate into an app interface.

 

  • Personal attention. Enough said. This just can’t happen with an app.

 

  • Apps aren’t specific to your needs. Apps cannot take into account food allergies, personal preferences, surgery, injuries, and other such issues. This is what part of what a trainer does.

 

  • Apps don’t care. Developers care about making money. A good Personal trainer cares about you and your fitness needs.

 

  • Apps can’t target weaknesses. I have a client who is in amazing shape. He does Iron Man competitions. Why does he need me? Because I targeted the two areas in his body that were weak: his rotator cuff and internal obliques. There is no way an app can get that specific and detailed. Only years of hands-on experience enabled me to find his weak areas.

 

  • Apps can’t take into account how you are feeling on that day. Yesterday’s planned workout had to be changed due to the fact that my client was getting over a bad cold and felt a little weak. A session on Friday involved a client who hadn’t slept well and was too tired to work out. Both sessions required me to do some quick thinking on my feet. I did some resistance training while sitting with a stress relief and meditation session at the end. Is your app that flexible?

 

  • Apps can’t get creative, and change it up. Creativity just can’t come from an app. Sure, you can look up different exercises on your own, but personal trainers are always looking for new, fun, creative ways to exercise. Part of what I consider to be my job is to make your workout as enjoyable and un-boring as possible. This means I check out all different techniques and bring them into my sessions.

 

  • Apps can’t tell if you are over- or under trained. Today’s session with a client included a discussion about working out every day. This client was a little over trained. Her age injuries and doing the same workout every day was causing her body to release too much cortisol, a stress hormone. Her overzealous workout routine was actually keeping some body fat on. This does not happen to everyone who works out every day, but in this particular situation it did. Most people in the United States are under trained. They just do not get enough exercise. And I can see this right away when I meet with a client. An app can’t necessarily detect this.

 

  • Apps can’t give you a manual stretch. This is the part of the session of my clients look forward to the most. When I tell them they worked hard and now it’s my turn to work hard. Finding all of the tight muscles in your body and getting rid of the tightness through a manual stretch is what a good trainer does.

 

10) Apps can’t tell if you have reached a plateau. You need to change your workout routine every 6 to 8 weeks in order for you to get the most benefits out of it. Is it 6 weeks or 8? Did you have a setback in your routine such as an injury or illness or did you plateau at 9 weeks because you went away? Do you really love this routine and just want to add more reps for the next month? These type of subtleties can only come from a person.

 

11) Chances are you will only use an app for 6 months. That is the average time consumers stick with fitness apps. Apps can’t motivate you the way a person can.

 

Fitness apps are great tools — I even use them myself and so do my clients. But nothing beats the personal attention and custom-made, individual workouts a good trainer can give you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some information on egg labels.

Deciphering Egg Labels

Eggs are a nutrition powerhouse. They are a very affordable source of protein and nutrients. So eat eggs!

Once upon a time, you would go to the grocery store and purchase a dozen eggs. Today, things are more complicated, as there are many different labels on the carton. The labels refer to the living conditions of the hens and how they are fed. But they are very confusing. Some are outright marketing gimmicks. Here’s what you need to know.

  • Antibiotic-free, Medication-free – Unregulated term, can mean anything.
  • Cage-free – The hens “reside” inside large barns or warehouses. They are required to have outdoor access, but the amount, duration, and quality of outdoor access is undefined.
  • Certified Organic – “USDA certified organic” is a certain improvement over standard living conditions for hens. They are fed an organic, all-vegetarian diet free of antibiotics and pesticides. The hens are housed cage-free in large barns, and may or may not see the outdoors. They may be de-beaked (to prevent pecking their peers), and starved (to induce molting, which leads to more egg production).
  • Farm Fresh – meaningless.
  • Fertile – The hens were living with roosters, which means they were likely cage-free.
  • Free-range or Free-roaming – This is an unregulated term, but generally implies that the hens are not in cages, reside in a barn and have access to the outdoors. The extent of outdoor access is not defined.
  • Hormone-free – Marketing gimmick. Hens never get treated with hormones.
  • Natural, All Natural – this is a meaningless marketing term.
  • Omega-3 enriched – the hens were fed either fish oil or flaxseed. You get the omega-3 second hand. Omega-3 eggs are unregulated, so you won’t necessarily know how much and what type of omega-3 you’re actually getting.
  • Pasture-raised – Unregulated term, but usually means that the hen spends the majority of the year outdoors engaging in natural activities such as foraging. Debeaking and starvation are still allowed.
  • Pasteurized – the eggs were heated to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit for half an hour or longer in order to pasteurize them. There is no regulation of this term.
  • United Egg Producers Certified – meaningless.
  • Vegetarian-fed – no animal byproducts in feed. Keep in mind that chickens are omnivores, and will eat bugs, mice, and any other animal small enough for them to peck and swallow.

Beyond organic, there are several third party certification systems that you may encounter in specialty shops or farmer markets:

  • Animal Welfare Approved – flocks can be no greater than 500 hens. The hens are housed cage-free and must have continuous access to outdoor vegetation. Debeaking and starvation are prohibited, and the feed provided is vegetarian.
  • American Humane Certified – there are 4 levels of certification. Colony cages – larger cages than standard, but still tiny. Cage-free – hens are housed in large barns and no outdoor access is required. Free range – outdoor access is required, but no duration is specified. Pastured – Outdoor access with substantial vegetation for each hen.
  • Certified Humane – Divided to three levels. Regular: hens are cage-free, starvation is prohibited, but debeaking is allowed. Free Range: at least 6 hours of sunlight required daily, but it can be without any vegetation. The highest level is Pasture-raised and requires at least 6 hours a day of pasture access – the hens eat off the land, not just feed.
  • Food Alliance Certified – cage-free hens and access to outdoors for at least 8 hours a day. Debeaking is allowed but starvation is not.
Bottom Line
Now that you know what the labels mean, choose the eggs that work within your values and pocketbook.

Misleading Label of the Month by AWA Approved

Cage-Free (poultry meat)  

The “cage-free” claim is increasingly found on poultry meat packaging and implies the company is making a special concession to animal welfare by raising broiler chickens without cages. Yet it is arguably one of the most misleading label claims around: Meat birds are never raised in cages–no matter how intensive the system might be. So any broiler label could display this claim. Poultry raised for meat under this label claim are inevitably raised in enclosed barns where tens of thousands of birds are kept in close confinement, where routine antibiotics and rapid-growth breeds are the norm.