How hard should I excersice?

“How hard should I exercise?”  That is a question patients ask me frequently.  For people who have no medical reason to restrict their activity level, this can be answered using a couple of different methods.  The first and most practical method is especially useful during aerobic activities such as walking, jogging, or biking.  One should exercise at a level that makes you breathe hard but still be able to carry on a conversation if someone were to speak to you.  If you are unable to talk while exercising, you are performing the activity at too high a level for your current degree of fitness.  With time, as your fitness improves, the intensity level can be increased and this “conversational pace” of activity can be adjusted upward. 

Another, more technical method of monitoring the intensity of your activity is by measuring your heart rate.  To get many of the future benefits of exercise, you need to perform within a target heart rate zone.  This zone is between 60% and 80% of your maximum average heart rate for your age.  That is found by subtracting your age from 220.  60%-80% of that number is the range to strive for during your exercise period.  As your fitness level improves, the amount of activity needed to reach the target heart rate will increase.  That is a good thing, evidence that what you are doing is making changes in your body.  Below is a chart with target heart rates according to age.

TARGET HEART RATE ZONES

AGE                                       MAX HEART RATE                                  TRAINING ZONE

                                                (beats per minute)                               (beats per minute)

                                                                                                            60%                80%

20                                                        200                                          120                  160

25                                                        195                                          117                  156

30                                                        190                                          114                  152

35                                                        185                                          111                  148

40                                                        180                                          108                  144

45                                                        175                                          105                  140

50                                                        170                                          102                  136

55                                                        165                                          99                   132

60                                                        160                                          96                   128

65                                                        155                                          93                   124

70                                                        150                                          90                   105

A word of caution; make sure it is safe for you to engage in physical activity.  Check with your doctor if you are over 40 and have not been exercising regularly, especially if you intend to start a vigorous program.  Also, if during exercise you become dizzy, become very short of breath, or feel extremely tired two hours after exercising, you need to see if it is safe for you to continue with exercise.

The key is to start moving if you are not and find a way to keep moving if you are.  Talk to you soon.

Paul

It's Your Fault, It's Not Your Fault

Swimming is great exercise!

 IT’S YOUR FAULT, IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT

If all one has to do to lose weight is consume less calories than he expends, why are the failure rates of all weight loss programs so miserably high?  The answer to that question is the most complex point we will cover during our time together. 

The fact is that, as Dr. Phil McGraw says, “it is not possible for you to be overweight unless you have generated and adopted a lifestyle to sustain it.”  Literally the behaviors you have developed contribute to and worsen your weight problem.  It is as if you are saying you want to be slim but deliberately overeat, under-move, and get down on yourself for doing that.  Your eating habits and perhaps other parts of your life are out of control.  These habits have been ingrained over many years, perhaps since your childhood.  They are comfortable and depressing at the same time.  They are self perpetuating; you make choices that encourage weight gain, feel guilty about the weight, and comfort yourself with going back to the same old comfortable ways.  This plays out day in and day out and leads to the problems we have discussed before.  Poor planning, poor food choices, choosing not to be active regularly all are under your control and can be improved with time and help.

The “it’s not your fault” part of this discussion is very interesting I think.  The following explanation of why we love junk food brings home the point of how the types of food we find pleasurable are the result of our ancestors’ fight for survival.

There are a number of reasons we like junk food.  These include the taste, the texture and even the way our genes have been coded. Our bodies have been “hardwired” over time to crave certain foods by nearly 200,000 years of evolutionary adaptation.  
Junk foods typically are loaded with simple carbs and sugars, fats and sodium. At a very primitive level, our bodies love these things (as well as amino acids, often in the form of meat or eggs.)
When we were hunters and gatherers, simple carbs and sugars gave us quick energy, fats provided us with long-term energy stores and prevented hunger, and sodium ensured that our cells regulated internal and external pressure.  Amino acids from game helped build strength and muscle, which came in handy when hunting. Sodium also enhanced the flavor of foods and made them more palatable, which helped when your diet was primarily wild game, root vegetables or whatever else you could forage.
These factors were critical for our survival thousands of years ago, when our food supply was spotty, people needed sources of quick energy to hunt down game, vitamins and minerals were limited by geography (for example, if you didn’t live near an ocean, salt could be hard to come by) and foods were bland because of the scarcity of herbs and spices.
So our cravings for salty, fatty and sugary foods may actually be our body’s mechanism to ensure that we get enough calories and macro- and micro-nutrients to survive.
I’m not suggesting that we are genetically predisposed to eating junk food. There was no junk food available when our ancestors were hunting and gathering. But the reason that we find junk foods pleasurable today may be because they contain substances like sugar, salt and fat that our bodies require in varying amounts to survive, based on our activity levels. Remember that pleasure is nature’s way of encouraging a behavior, and pain is its way of discouraging it.

What Was Good for Us Then, Is Killing Us Now

Jump forward to 2011, and we face an obesity epidemic fueled by overly-processed snacks, junk food and fast foods that are high in simple carbs, fats and sugar. 
We still have the tastes of our ancestors, but we are not nearly as active as they were. That means that the excess calories we consume in the form of sugars and fats from junk food get stored away as body fat (instead of being used for energy), contributing to a wide-range of serious health problems from diabetes, to heart disease, to cancer.
Instead of helping us survive, our primal taste for sugars, salt and fat is killing us.
Our environment and activity levels have changed, but we continue to eat like it’s 200,000 BC.

Why Junk Food Is “Empty”

Fighting your innate biological drive to enjoy more sugars, fats, and sodium is difficult. After all, your body has adapted over thousands of years to encourage it.
You can condition yourself to get used to eating less of these foods (which will reduce cravings over time), but at a primitive level, restricting yourself for prolonged periods of time is generally ineffective. Each individual is different, as well, and some people have less cravings for fat or sugar than others. Others find it very difficult to give up junk food, even when highly motivated.
The real problem with junk food is not necessarily that it contains sugar, fat or salt, but that modern food production techniques have stripped out many of the nutrients and fiber that exist in the whole food. So these processed foods contain extra sugar, salt and fat to make them more “satisfying” and flavorful. They also contain artificial flavorings or flavor enhancers to make them even more palatable.
The result is a food that tastes great, but is nutritionally incomplete. This is why soda, cakes, and potato chips are called “empty calories.”

Kicking The Junk Food Junkie Syndrome The Easy Way

The trick to ditching junk food is to substitute healthier, whole foods that mimic the flavors and textures of junk food. The foods that you substitute will still have certain attributes of junk food (saltiness, sweetness and fat), but they will be in a form that is more nutritionally dense.
For example, if you love potato chips or french fries with a sandwich or burger, you can substitute foods like salted almonds or salted mixed nuts.
Although the sodium content and fat content will still be fairly high in nuts, you’ll have shifted from consuming empty calories in the form of chips or french fries, to a nutritionally dense food that contains healthy fats and is rich in minerals.  The saltiness and crunchiness of nuts can “substitute” for the same characteristics that you enjoy in a less-nutrient rich food like potato chips.
Other common junk food substitutes include:

• Low fat or non fat yogurt or Quark instead of high-fat sour cream
• Flavored sparkling or mineral water instead of sugary soda
• Naturally flavored instant oatmeal (try adding a tbs of natural peanut butter) instead of a cookie
• Lightly sweetened organic dark sipping cocoa instead of hot chocolate
• A scoop of chocolate whey powder with skim milk instead of chocolate milk
• Baked potato wedges with olive oil and sea salt instead of french fries
• Apple slices or bananas with natural peanut butter instead of a snack cake after dinner
• Fresh or frozen berries or banana slices on whole grain cereal instead of sugary cereals
• Homemade healthy no bake cookies instead of the sugary, full-fat kind (or as a healthy alternative to expensive and sugary sports or nutrition bars)
• Low-sugar granola like Bear Naked fit granola or homemade granola instead of a brownie
• Kashi Chewy Go-Lean Bars instead of a candy bars
• Healthy pizzas made with whole grain Lawash or flatbread, 2% mozzarella, jarred pizza sauce and low-fat ham instead of pepperoni cheese pizza
• Meatless burger like Boca Burger instead of hamburger
• Healthy nachos made with baked tortilla chips, vegetarian or low-fat refried beans, extra-lean ground turkey, avocado slices and low-fat or 2% sharp cheddar cheese instead of Taco Bell nachos
• Natural popcorn with a few sprays of butter flavored canola oil and seasoned salt instead of the full-fat version

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: In general, processed foods are more “energy dense” than fresh foods: they contain less water and fiber but more added fat and sugar, which makes them both less filling and more fattening.

The Takeaway: Say Goodbye to Junk Food and Hello To Healthy Food

“Fooling” you taste buds with nutritionally-dense substitutes for the pleasurable flavors and textures you find in junk food is one of the more effective long-term solutions for breaking your junk food habit once and for all.

I apologize for the length of this post but it is such an important topic and one that may be new to you.  I hope you find the information helpful.

Paul

Cake Is Not Your Boyfriend

Cake Is Not Your Boyfriend

No, it’s not.  While cake may sit there quietly, its chocolate frosting all wavy and just oozing comfort,  it is also smirking at you when you feel guilty about blowing five days of pounding the treadmill and eating carrot sticks.  Emotional eating is perhaps one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome, because, let’s face it; it is something most of us have done on some level since we were children.  Eating to feel better about some stressful situation or emotional need is so common, it has reached comic proportions.  Still, calories count whatever reason they were taken in.  The feeling bad afterwards just adds an added layer of guilt that no one needs.

This is a very difficult behavior to change for many people, but it is not impossible.  The first step, as in a lot of things, is realizing that you are participating in a behavior that is counterproductive to your goals that you have established for yourself.  The “ why” part of the question is often multi-layered and difficult to reach but habits can be changed, if given the time and dedication.  Finding other activities that are known to reduce stress and frustration and using them to take the place of emotional eating is the key to avoiding those useless calories and the self-guilt that accompanies it.  Some activities that have helped people overcome emotional eating are:

Taking a hot bath

Getting out of the house and going for a walk

Calling a friend and talking about what is causing the problem

Another way to avoid overeating is to keep those foods you would tend to reach for out of harm’s way.  Do not pick up that box of French Vanilla ice cream when you are at the grocery.  Feel the power you have over your emotions when you make that choice at a time when you are perhaps not in a vulnerable position where you might waver.

I review a number of sources to help me with these posts I put on the blog.  While I was researching this piece about emotional eating I ran across a list of suggestions to exchange for high calorie foods in stressful situations.  On the list was eating broccoli; that’s right, broccoli.  Obviously written by a ridiculously stress free individual.  I am all about changing behaviors to reach your weight and fitness goals, but I don’t think even I could, with a straight face suggest that crunching on a few florets would ease the cares of the day away.  Good luck; talk to you soon.

Paul

A Shaky Proposition

A SHAKY PROPOSITION

If one has done this job as long as I have, one starts to see pendulum like swings of opinion regarding certain aspects of medical thought.  The pros and cons of estrogen therapy are perfect examples of how thinking can shift 180 degrees and back again over the course of time.  Salt restriction and high blood pressure share a similar history.

We have known for a long time that too much sodium in your diet is not good for your blood pressure.  The emphasis on sodium restriction as it relates to high blood pressure, however, seemed to wane years ago, as newer medications for blood pressure came on the scene.  Now there seems to be a renewed emphasis on salt restriction and how it affects blood pressure.

SALT INTAKE AND HYPERTENSION 

 Hypertension is seen primarily in countries with average sodium intakes above 2300 mg/day; however, it is rare in societies with average sodium intakes of less than 1200/day.  This effect appears to be independent of other risk factors for hypertension, such as obesity.

HOW MUCH SODIUM DO I NEED?

FDA guidelines call for less than 2300 mg of sodium per day, an amount approximately equal to one teaspoon of table salt.  Several groups of people, those with hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, those over 51 years old, and other groups should consume no more than 1500 mg of sodium per day.  The average American diet contains 3400 mg of sodium. 

WHERE IS SODIUM FOUND? 

 The main source of sodium in the diet is the salt added to packaged and processed foods, and in foods from restaurants. Processed foods include prepared frozen meals, canned foods, pickled foods, snack foods, lunch meats, condiments, sauces, and dressings, just to name a few. Notorious offenders are certain sauces, such as teriyaki sauce and soy sauce, which may contain up to 1000 mg sodium per teaspoon! Even the “lite” versions are very high in sodium.  Sodium found in processed food accounts for about 80 percent of a person's daily sodium intake in a typical American diet, and can quickly add up, even without the use of the salt shaker.

WHAT ABOUT LOW SODIUM FOODS?

Food labels can be very helpful but are sometimes confusing.  Here is a list of terms used to describe the sodium content of foods, thanks to Up To Date:

What do labels about sodium mean?

Sodium free	A tiny amount of sodium in each serving
Very low sodium	35 mg or less in each serving
Low sodium	140 mg or less in each serving
Reduced sodium	Usual level of sodium is reduced by 25 percent
Light or lite in sodium	Usual level of sodium is reduced by 50 percent

HOW DO I REDUCE MYSALT INTAKE AND STILL ENJOY MY FOOD?

As you will find out, here at the Right Fit, we are all about preserving flavor and enjoying food.  Those people who have grown up using a lot of salt often find it hard to put down the salt shaker and chips or other foods high in sodium.  To those of you who are in that category, let me offer a couple of suggestions.  First, think of expanding your flavor horizons and substituting herbs, spices, flavored vinegars, and lemon for salt.  People are often amazed at how new and exciting old recipes taste with a new twist.  Also, give it some time; to a certain degree salt preferences are learned habits and they can be unlearned just as well, especially if you are patient and make the change gradually.  Baby steps, remember.

Let the group know what types of substitutions you have found tasty in the search to shake the sodium out of your diet.  Thanks, see you soon.

Paul

Breakfast Smoothie

                        Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups orange juice, preferably calcium-fortified

1 banana

1 ¼ cup frozen berries, such as raspberries, blackberries, and/or strawberries

½ cup low-fat silken tofu or low-fat plain yogurt

1 tablespoon sugar or Splenda Granular (optional)

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a blender; cover and blend until creamy.  Serve immediately.

Makes 3 servings, 1cup each

Per serving 157 calories, 2 g fat (0 g sat, 0g mono), 0 mg cholesterol, 33 g carbohydrate, 4 g protein, 4 g fiber, 19 mg sodium

Nutrition bonus:  Vitamin C (110% daily value), Fiber (16% dv).

This comes compliments of Judy Fehlenberg; I tried it and thought it was great.

paul

Stay on Track

STAY ON TRACK

Long-term success in any endeavor is about Mastering the Self-Improvement Process, not about how many calories you ate or how many miles you ran or how many dollars you earned or how many words you wrote on a particular day. You can have a "perfect" record for months, but if you're not learning how to cope with the imperfect days, the first few that come along can derail you completely.

It's a simple idea (that you've heard a bunch of times before) but the implications of this are really powerful. It means that for the long haul, it doesn't matter if you ran a marathon today or stayed in bed with the flu. Whether you ate 1500 calories or 5,000 calories.

What matters is that you did what you needed to do to Stay On Track.

Staying On Track is the most important thing. Over time, if you Stay on Track, there will be good days and bad days but the good days will eventually predominate. Healthy living is still a pain. But the longer you keep doing it the less of a pain it is. It will probably never, however, be completely easy and fun. You will always be tempted to Slack. Thus you need to know how to Stay on Track for the rest of your life.

For Life. It stinks but it's really important.

So what are some of the essential components of Staying on Track?

1. Staying Accountable and being Honest with yourself.

2. Acknowledging your Achievements and not just taking them for granted.

3. Trying your best but refusing to get all Punitive and Self-Hating when you inevitably screw up.

4. And so Not Quitting in self-disgust because you screwed up.

5. Then Starting Over if you do happen to quit in self-disgust despite being told Not To.

6. Setting Realistic goals and making positive changes Gradually and Steadily.

7. Accepting that while "All" may be nice, "Some" is better than "None" when it comes to good behavior.

8. Analyzing the Triggers for bad behavior and planning to Avoid them or Minimize their impact in the future.

9. There are Lots more but this is starting to get Boring.

Note one important thing about all of these items (except for #9): They Are All Impossible if You Insist on Perfection!

You will find yourself lying to yourself if your goals are lofty and become inviolable rules in your own mind. You will "forget" to write things down; you will fudge and cheat and you will be psychologically Off Track no matter how well you are actually doing. You will frequently feel disappointed in yourself even when you are objectively doing good things. You won't praise yourself for your good days because they're ALL supposed to be good days. You will feel easily discouraged and tempted to just go off the wagon in a Big Way, because it's just too hard to be good. And you won't learn how to minimize problem behaviors if you're not admitting to them or accepting them as natural and inevitable and part of the process. Blah blah blah, you get the idea.

Good luck, I know you are trying.  Send me your thoughts on what you do to stay on track.

Paul

Southern Fried

Those who know me well know that I am about as country as homemade pickles.  That translates to a deep and abiding love of fried foods.  If it walks, crawls, swims, or shoots up from the ground, I have probably dipped it in cornmeal and thrown it into the deep-fryer.  If I could figure out how to get the batter to stick on a trailer hitch, I would think about dropping it into hot peanut oil and giving it a go.

But I don’t do that, at least not very often.  At least 90% of the time I am walking the straight and narrow path of grilled this and baked that.  I do this because I am not extremely interested in having any more arteries clogging up and having to get them roto-rootered or worse.  I have never been confused with being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can tell you that I have seen the light and I am definitely with the program.

I said 90% of the time; that’s because if I want to have my momma’s fried chicken (best in the land) when she comes to visit, I do.  It’s a non-deal to stray a bit on rare occasions.  Sometimes we beat ourselves up so much for those departures, it derails all of our best efforts.

Remember, there is no perfect.  Adhering to your plan 90% of the time will get you to where you want to be without driving you crazy.  The weight loss industry has purposefully, in my opinion, tried to heap guilt on anyone who deviates an inch from the “ideal” plan.  I think we should lighten up a bit.  Life is too short and there are too many other things to stress over without the added weight of moaning over a chicken leg once every blue moon.

This is not an open invitation to move the 90% needle to 75% or 50%.  If you see that you are going down that slope, pull up, call me and let’s get back to the plan.

Please comment on the concept of the 90-10 rule and how that can ease some of the frustration that comes with making significant changes in food choices.

See you soon,

Paul