Category Archives: Nutrition

Where do all the calories I eat go?

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“A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.”  Calories don’t always go to your hips though.

Metabolism really refers to the breakdown of food into energy that is used for every purpose required for life. The amount of energy contained in food is expressed in terms of kilocalories, which we commonly refer to as calories. This is a measurement of heat. In reality, food is “burned” inside our cells and most of the energy is trapped to be used for thousands of bodily processes. Some of this energy is released as heat to keep our bodies warm. This is similar to the fuel in your car’s engine. The fuel is burned and the energy released is mostly captured and used to propel your car. A small percentage of the energy produces heat that is mostly discharged into the environment or used to heat the inside of your car on a cold day.

Maintaining an ideal body weight has everything to do with balance. If we consume more calories than our body can burn, excess food will be stored as fat. In fact, even normal weight people store a great deal of energy that they could draw on in a famine situation. For example, a lean, 155-pound man carries about 35 pounds of fat on his body, which holds about 150,000 calories (kcal) of stored energy or enough to keep him alive during starvation for a couple of months. Most of the people live in a body that is composed of more than 50 percent fat. This means, for example, that a 250-pound person who is 50 percent fat carries 125 pounds or 437,500 calories (kcal) of energy on their body as stored fat. This much fat has the potential to provide all of their energy needs for almost one year!

 

What should I do if I’ve overeaten?

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The best thing to do is MOVE ON.  We all have days when we eat more than our bodies need, that is the rule, not the exception.  In two decades of practice as a nutrition counselor, I have never met someone who did not lose weight because of ONE episode of overeating.  The trouble starts when one episode stretches into an entire day, week, month – you get the picture.  You do NOT need to go on a very restrictive program to compensate for over eating.  But you should try to think about the circumstances that led up to the overeating — Too much tempting food around?  A stressful personal or work situation? Being too restrictive with your weight loss program so that it is very hard to maintain? – So that you can try to understand the behavior and practice correcting the response the next time around.

The Stress and Relaxation Response and How Belly Fat Is Made

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The “fight or flight response” is our body’s primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to “fight” or “flee” from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival. When we experience excessive stress, whether from internal worry or external circumstance this bodily reaction is also triggered. Originally discovered by the great Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon, this response is hard-wired into our brains and represents a genetic wisdom designed to protect us from bodily harm. This response actually corresponds to an area of our brain called the hypothalamus, which—when stimulated—initiates a sequence of nerve cell firing and chemical release that prepares our body for running or fighting.

After studying the physiological effects of the ‘flight or fight’ stress response, Cardiologist Herbert Benson discovered that by eliciting the ‘relaxation response’ the opposite was also true (1996). This physiologic state of calm is an equally essential survival mechanism, providing us with the ability to heal and rejuvenate our bodies. Today, the relaxation response is crucial when considering how often the fight or flight response is triggered inappropriately.

When our minds become focused through deep breathing, meditation, repetitive prayer, or mantras, the body responds with dramatic affects. There is a decrease in heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rate (Benson, 1996).

Under stress, the potential to store belly fat is much higher.  This is caused by certain hormone receptor sites in the abdominal region or center region of the body.

How does it get there? It’s absorbed via the intestines. But the key player is the omentum (the abdominal fat storage facility).  It’s the pouch you carry on your belly. The belly pouch!

So your omentum clears the cortisol steroids because it has receptors that bind to them and can suck them out of the bloodstream (unfortunately, this doesn’t necessarily reduce the stress level that you feel). The steroids turbo-charge the ability of omentum to store fat, so your belly fat (and subsequent waist size) become the best surrogate indicator of how well you are really coping with stress (despite what your brain might be claiming). That uptake of steroids throws your body in metabolic disarray by:

Making your omentum resistant to insulin so sugar floats around without being absorbed and used appropriately by needy cells, and this:

  1. Chronically raises your blood sugar, which damages our tissues;
  2. Super-charging your omentum with inflammatory chemicals that destabilize the delicate equilibrium of your hormones;
  3. Forcing your omentum to pump high-octane fat directly into your liver—causing your liver to make even more inflammatory chemicals.

Here is the bottom line, the human body will always function in a way that ensures survival for evolution. A lot of times this means the body will resist the changes we are trying to induce. When you are stressed out the last thing the body is likely to do is lose weight, specifically fat mass. I have found with a lot of clients that progress will come to a screeching halt due to excessive stress in their lives. Focus on decreasing your stress, creating a planned safe approach to exercise, getting in the right type of nutrition for your goals and which compliment your exercise and everything in life will become easier and more manageable!

How can I prevent a heart attack?

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It is important for you to understand your risk factors for having a heart attack or heart disease. If you understand what they are then you can change your lifestyle to reduce your risk factors and your chance of having a heart attack. Risk factors that can be reduced are: smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, lack of exercise. You can reduce your chances by reducing your risk factors. Do not smoke, if you are overweight lose weight, if you have high blood pressure take your medications as your doctor prescribes and reduce the amount of salt you eat, if you have high cholesterol take your medication as prescribed and eat a diet low in fat, if you are diabetic take your medication as prescribed and follow your diet as prescribed, try to exercise per your doctor’s advice

Even if you have heart disease, there’s a lot you can do to improve your heart’s health.

Ask your doctor for help and when it comes to exercise and nutrition seek the help of a specialist, (ei: Qualified Personal Trainer with experience and a Certified Nutritionist),  your doctor can give you general good advice, but that only goes so far and some doctors, might even give you the wrong advice. Together, you can set goals to reduce the things that raise your risk of heart attack.

- Don’t smoke, and avoid other people’s tobacco smoke.

- Treat high blood pressure, if you have it.

- Eat a healthy diet that’s low in saturated fat, trans fat, and salt. Increase your good fats such as mono and polyunsaturates (good fish, nuts, seeds such as flax and hemp)

- Exercise at least 30 minutes on most or all days of the week.  Keep your heart rate constant and at a level that is recommended for your current condition. Your personal trainer will help you with this.  I am heart wise certified with Ottawa Heart Institute. Trainers that are Heart Wise certified can work with you to target your specific zone.

- Keep your weight in the normal range. Depending on your fitness goals, this range is different for everyone, but there is a general body mass index rule that you can follow, however it is a reading that does not take into account your goals or existing muscle mass if you’ve played sports or have done resistance training.

- See your doctor for regular check-ups.   Get full blood work done. Check the results. Ask to see them.. TRUST ME, doctors are humans and there is always a chance for human error when READING the results.

- Take your medicines exactly as prescribed.  The right type of nutrition and exercise are huge factors in helping reduce your medications, even getting off some types of medications.

- Control your blood sugar if you have diabetes. .Again, The right type of nutrition and exercise are huge factors in helping reduce your diabetes medication for Type I and eventually come off your Type II diabetes medication.

 

What should I do when I’m stressed and crave sugary and salty junk food?

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Well I say when you are stressed or craving things become active.  When you are active you less likely to snack on things that you should not eat.  Snacking on junk food when you are stressed or bored is a learned behavior so you need to change your learned behaviors.

When you are stressed or cravings things start to trigger those thoughts with activity.  If you learn to be active when you are stressed or have cravings sooner or later it will be as natural to be active as it is to reach for food.

Other techniques that I have found to be successful is to drink as much water as possible.  If you are craving but yet you know you should not eat simply drink water.  This will calm the craving and give your mouth that oral fixation.

Finally creating positive affirmations is very powerful.  These affirmations can be limitless but anything that elevates who you are and how you do not need the food you are craving can help.  Use all 3, change you learned behaviors and look at the results, these things are practical, realistic and healthy for your brain and mind.

Create A Morning Routine That Helps You Lose Fat!

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If you eat a decent breakfast and lunch, with perhaps a nutritious snack in between, you should be taking in enough calories to function properly throughout the day and feel alert until dinnertime. After dinner, many of us stop eating and do not eat anything at all until morning, while some of us snack once or continuously. However, throughout the evening and night, the body continues to function and burn calories, even when sleeping. After six to eight hours of sleep, we awake with a need to consume more calories to get through the day.

Morning is the time of day when the body is most depleted of calories. This is a great opportunity to burn fat from the body. Instead of the exercising at night to burn excess calories left over from your last meal, experts suggest a morning workout of the same intensity and length will burn three times as many calories as the afternoon or evening workout. This is simply due to the fact the body will expend the existing calories in the body then will dig down to use excess, stored fat to produce energy.

To get the most out of your morning workout, health experts recommend working out for at least thirty to sixty minutes for optimal fat burning results. Prior to working out, avoid consuming calories of any kind, as the body will use these before they begin to burn the body fat available for energy. Do not worry, however, as a good breakfast is part of a fat burning morning routine when consumed after the morning workout. Exercising in the morning kicks the body’s metabolism into high gear, burning many more calories throughout the day than if you wait to exercise until nighttime.

Of course, part of a fat burning ‘morning routine’ is…well… the routine. By consistently working out each morning, your workout for the day is complete, you’ll be better equipped to cope with the day’s stresses, and you’ll enjoy better impulse control over your food choices throughout the day. Choosing healthy breakfast foods, rather than skipping breakfast, and eating after your workout will significantly curb food cravings throughout the morning until lunch time. When that morning donut cart rolls through your office, you’ll be able to smile confidently and say “No thanks.”

Starting the day with a healthy workout and a nutritious breakfast is your best opportunity to commit to burning fat and getting into serious shape. Fitness expert Rob Lagana is available to help you, and will customize a nutritious, fat burning meal plan to help you reach your goals.

Serious Warnings about Dieting

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As an expert and someone that has been in the community of fitness and bodybuilding for many years, I’ve seen people start diets and fail after 3 weeks even when they did lose 5 pounds the first week on their diet.

Here are some facts about weight loss that you should know if you dare attempt to start a diet on your own.

* If done incorrectly can cause serious rebound effects.
* First week of initial Weight Loss is all water and glycogen — Not Fat.
*There is a big difference between Fat Loss and Weight Loss
* Second week of Weight Loss is water glycogen and muscle — Not Fat.
* Diets alone are a temporary solution to weight loss.
* Your body adapts to your diet within 3-4 weeks.
* There are different types of metabolisms and the diet that you are currently on might work against your metabolism.
* Healthy Weight Loss on diet alone does NOT work.
* Beware of Diet pills, if it’s not a drug it will NOT work. If it is a drug, it will NOT work without proper nutrition and exercise, however caution must be used as the fat loss will only be temporary once you come off the drug.
* Losing 15 pounds does not mean you lost 15 pounds of fat (adipose tissue).

Fat burning should be part of the weight loss process if done correctly. A nutrition plan and exercise plan work best for ultimate fat loss. Losing fat greatly improves life expectancy, physical and mental well-being. The true goal behind weight loss is FAT LOSS.

You want to lose weight from FAT which is mainly adipose tissue.

Weight Loss is a generic term for losing unwanted scale weight. If your not losing fat, your losing water, glycogen and muscle. These are three of the most important things your body needs to stay healthy and function. No wonder people that go on so called diets feel like crap, see no beneficial results and don’t meet their long term goals.

This can easily be solved by hiring an expert. With an expert, your obstacles and goals will be concretely defined on paper and you are guaranteed a success plan to losing fat for good.

Top 10 Protein Foods and Options

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We’ve all been there… we start a diet or what I like to call a planned nutritional program and days after you get sick of eating the same foods. The chicken or tuna makes you want to gag.

“It doesn’t matter what you cover it with,  it will still taste like chicken and tuna.”

Now, as an expert certified personal trainer, IFBB Nutritionist and champion bodybuilder, I tell all my clients that if you can make it past the first 2 weeks of the same foods, your body will go through a type of detox and your senses will adapt nicely to the same foods that your eating. Chicken will actually taste a lot better.

Most people can’t last 2 weeks on the same type of foods and will make every complaint not to eat them. I’d love to take these people to a poor part of Africa for 2 weeks and let them hunt for food on their own. I bet they would appreciate food a lot more, even if was the same types of all.

Wouldn’t that make a good reality show? Since I don’t have the money to do that right now, I’ll list 10 Protein foods you can add or substitute in a weight loss diet prepared by someone that thinks you might have been able to get past the 2 week hump.

Substitutes for Chicken

1. Turkey
2. Wild Meats (Deer, Bisson etc..)

Substitutes for Tuna

3. Talapia
4. Cod
5. Haddock
6. Orange Roughy

Substitutes for Oatmeal

7. ArrowHead Mills Rice and Shine
8. Cream of Wheat

Substitutes for Egg Whites

9. Whole Eggs
10. Whey Protein Powder

Enjoy these great tasting substitutes and steady as she goes up the road to meet your weight loss goals. Stay tuned for my vegetarian top 10 protein foods and options next !

Low Carb, High Fiber Coconut Blueberry Protein Muffins

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Ingredients:

3 eggs (room temperature – important)
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup whey protein
¼ cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup sugar substitute equivalent (liquid preferred)
½ teaspoon baking powder
6-8 Tablespoons water (see below)
½ cup raspberries or blueberries

Preparation:
Heat oven to 375° F. Prepare pan with a generous amount of butter. This recipe makes six “regular”-sized muffins.

1) Whisk or beat the eggs until whites and yolks are well-mixed. Stream in the butter while continuing to whisk. Add salt and vanilla and mix until combined. If using liquid sweetener (preferred, as it is zero carb), add at this point.

2) Mix the remaining dry ingredients — coconut flour, baking soda, and sweetener if using powder.

3) Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Now you will whisk in water, one tablespoon at a time. The coconut flour will absorb the liquid from the wet ingredients like crazy. You want to get it to a consistency that will hold up the berries, but not be too thick. I usually end up using about 4 Tablespoons of water.

4) Gently mix in the berries and divide among 6 muffin cups. Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until just turning golden on top.

Nutritional Information (using raspberries, zero carb sweetener, and an average of three available coconut flours): Each muffin has 2 grams effective carbohydrate plus 3.5 grams fiber, 8 grams protein, and 155 calories.

Rob’s 5 Tips To Help You Lose Weight and Stay On Track On Your Own

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1) Have a mental picture in your mind, and PLAN your weight loss project.
Any successful project starts with a plan, and you should look at losing weight the same way!! Thinking about details such as..where you stand presently, where you want to be, and the steps you will take to get there! And this includes planning your meals and preparing them in advance! This has helped me tremendously!
2) Look at your weight loss project as a whole life changing experience, and not as a diet!
Focus more on the idea that you have now chosen and made a commitment in taking a NEW path of a healthier lifestyle, and you can be certain that just as I you will start to witness as your body changes and becomes new again! Start by promising yourself to only allow nothing but healthy foods in, and watching your portion control,along with also starting to take small steps in making exercise part of your new daily lifestyle! Join a gym if you can, and if money is an issue for you, there is always the local YMCA’s which have a program in place to help with funds as EVERYONE deserves to live a healthier active life!
3) Use all the resources you can to help make this project succeed.
Visit your local library, do some online searches, talk to your family doctor. Get EXCITED about Re-educating yourself basically on how you can change your unhealthy body into a brand new healthier one!! You would be surprised at how much info is actually out there, and how amazing this sort of project becomes! Just remember nothing will be handed to you, its up to you to take charge of your own life, and to act on it!
4) Get mentally prepared by acknowledging the fact that it is not going to be easy.
This might be the BIGGEST challenge that you will ever make for yourself, but remember the self rewards that come with being challenged are 100x better! Being challenged makes you a stronger person both inside and out! Also remember to keep in mind especially if you are having a bad day, that in the end it WILL be all worth it, and that it certainly DOES get easier as times goes on! Just stay strong and don’t let weakness defeat you, and remember you are so much stronger! Have patience and work through it day by day, week by week…don’t focus on the end goal.
5)Set little goals before reaching your end goal.
This will make the time go by faster, and you will be excited when passing these little goals as you reach them and not even realize that you are getting closer to the bigger goal with each passing day! These can be anything from special monthly occasions, weekly weigh ins, monthly pics. Perhaps your doctor can arrange some weekly weigh ins, FREE OF CHARGE!! Whatever it is that will help keep you motivated while working towards you end goal.

Just remember we all deserve to be healthier and happier, so challenge yourself today!