You Renewed; Eat Better, Move More, Think Smart: Week 1

Did you know that your eating choices directly impact your overall health and wellbeing? By following these helpful tips, you can enjoy more energy.

Hopefully you have already picked up your copy of You Renewed at your local Henry's store.

In You Renewed, The tips for the first week include:

• Adding an extra serving of both fruits and veggies


• Taking 5 minutes each morning to stretch


• Writing down your goals
  
  

In addition to the three tips, here are a few more suggestions:

Quick Guide to Healthy Eating


Break for Breakfast:
People who “break the fast” are more alert and have more energy throughout the day. Studies show that people, who consume breakfast, maintain a healthier body weight than those who skip breakfast. Quick and easy breakfast choices can be: whole-grain cereals, scrambled eggs in a tortilla, small pancakes made from whole-wheat flour, or low-fat cheese melted on a whole-grain bagel. Also, start the day off right by adding fresh fruit and melons to your breakfast.

Time for Lunch:
Eating lunch will help keep your energy levels up by fueling your body’s needs. Since lunch is usually eaten away from home, for some people, why not save some money and brown-bag your lunch. Create your sandwich by using whole-grain breads, low-fat meats and cheeses, use avocado as a spread instead of mayonnaise. And add some chopped veggies and fresh fruit to your lunch.

Is it Snack Time:
Mid-morning or mid-afternoon, whichever time works best for you. A snack should be between 100 to 300 calories. Some health snack chooses are: yogurt, whole-wheat crackers topped with almond butter or hummus, fresh veggies or fruit, or low-fat string cheese.

Time for Supper:
Find the time to sit down and enjoy your dinner by making your meals enticing and flavorful. You don’t have to be a chef to create appeal, just include a variety of color, textures, and shapes of foods with your dinner meal. Try to incorporate more legumes and beans into your diet and choose low-fat protein sources such as fish or lean cuts of meat and poultry.

Product Recommendation by Nutritionist Janet Little

Just look at any sports magazine and you’ll find myriad products for increasing your energy levels and improving your running ability. Sadly most of these products are simply full of sugar and caffeine that can actually derail your running program.

Want to have a great run?
Driven™ - I never leave home without it!

Driven is unlike any other product on the market; it’s definitely my favorite for running and bicycling. Driven is designed to give you both increased energy and increased mental focus during your run. The ingredients in Driven allow you to train harder and for longer periods.

I take Driven 30 minutes before my run and I really noticed the difference. My runs are stronger and faster, plus I get into the ‘zone’ a lot quicker and I stay there a lot longer.
Also, I recover quicker from my runs because of the lactic acid buffers in the product.

Should beginners take Driven?
No.

1. Taking effect: It takes about 40 minutes into your run to notice the effects of driven, and if you're just beginning your running program, wait until you’ve worked your way up to 60 - 90 minute runs before taking it.
2. Into the zone: Driven is a great product to get you into the zone quicker and it helps you stay in the zone longer. However, it takes about two months of running time before your body is properly trained and you’re running with ease. This is when you can start using Driven to help increase your aerobic energy and help get you into the zone.
3. Too much too fast: Yes, Driven will help increase speed and strength for beginners but do you really need to increase that fast? I find the number 1 mistake that beginners make is increasing their run distance too soon and then failing victim to injuries. Just give yourself time and slowly build your base. Try the product after two months of proper training,.
   
   

Are there any side effects with Driven?
If you’re sensitive to caffeine you may want to avoid taking it since it contains 150 mgs caffeine. The caffeine is utilized for increase energy and sustaining longer periods of mental sharpness.


If you’re a runner, I encourage you to try Driven – you’ll love it.

You Renewed; Eat Better, Move More, Think Smart

You Renewed:

Hopefully you were able to pick up a copy of “You Renewed” at your local Henry’s store. If not, you can still follow the plan on my blog.

This week I wanted to start out with the basics of proper eating. Below is a general guideline of a healthy diet consisting of 1600 calories. Now some of you my think that 1600 calories is a lot but generally that’s how many calories you need to consume to keep your metabolic motor burning properly. I feel that going on a 1200 calorie diet is way to low for most people. Especially since I believe that you should be physically active each day. Just remember: You need to feed the machine, and that machine is your metabolism.

Good Nutrition:

Focus on a well-balanced, nutrient- dense diet plan:

• Carbohydrates are needed to fuel the muscles.
• Proteins help to rebuild muscles and tissues.
• Fats are use as a long energy source for fuel.

The value of good nutrition is essential for maximizing your fitness results. You need to properly fuel your body if you want to reach your goals.

Eating more often:

Keep your motor burning by constant fueling:
A 12 hour fast can decrease your metabolic rate by 40 percent.
When you skip meals, your body goes into starvation mode rather than burning mode.

Consume at least 3 to 5 meals per day:

Large meals should contain approximately 500 - 600 calories
Small meals should contain approximately 200 - 300 calories
Snacks should contain approximately 100 - 200 calories

Example of a daily diet:

Oatmeal with fresh fruit, 1 egg plus 1 egg white = 300 calories

Snack: Apple and Orange = 200 calories

Grilled boneless skinless chicken breast on 2 corn tortillas and veggies = 400 calories

Snack protein drink mixed with almond milk, 1 cup of strawberries, 1 tbsp flaxseed = 200 calories

Broiled salmon, 1 cup veggies, medium salad using flax oil as dressing = 500 calories

Total 1600 calories


• A daily diet journal can help keep you on track, and help you spot any errors with your plan. By tracking your diet you can adjust your diet plan as needed, and incorporate new foods into your diet. If you find that you’re cheating on your diet each day, review your food selections: are they satisfying your taste buds? Are you eating enough food each day?

• To help avoid the yo-yo dieting, you need to give your body time to adjust to your new weight. The longer you give your body time to adjust to your new weight, the longer you’ll keep the weight off.


Start using these tips today and stick with it. Consistency is the key to a healthy weight.

Keeping GUYS healthy

The Healthy Man

Guys listen up: diet and nutrition have a direct impact on your energy levels, your moods, your prostate health, and your sexual function. Yet some studies show that most men lead less healthy lifestyles when compared to most women. In fact, these same studies show that men typically smoke and drink more than women, and they also avoid going to the doctor more often than women.

That said, there are certain health conditions that men should pay close attention to, which means listening to your body and your doctor.

Prostate Cancer:

• The most common type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer.
  Second only to lung cancer in annual cancer deaths of U.S. men.
• Likely to strike 50 percent more African American men in comparison with other racial or ethnic groups.
• The good news is that prostate cancer is often slow growing and if detected early, is nearly 100 percent treatable.

Body Weight:

• Excessive body fat alters the productions patterns of certain hormones, especially the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone.
• Overweight men often have low levels of testosterone, the hormone the affects your sex drive.
• Excessive weight increases the risk for diseases and health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

Natural Therapies:

• Add flaxseed, walnuts and pumpkin seeds to your diet. They are rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids.
• Consume at least four to five servings of fruits and vegetables – particularly crucifier vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage.
• Increase your fiber intake by adding more beans, legumes and lentils to your diet.
• Include nutritional supplements such as Zyflamend™ and Prostrate 5LX™ to your daily diet. Recent studies suggest these supplements promote healthy prostate function.
  
  Herbs, supplements, balanced diet, and reducing stress will give you improved energy, brain function, and also improve your cardiovascular, sexual function, and nervous system health.
  
  Enjoy
  Janet Little CN

Beer and Running

As some of you runners know, there’s nothing better than a nice cold beer after a long hot run. Even I enjoy a cold one (or two) after a race. But the questions I always get asked “Is this beer doing more harm than good for my recover?”

The effects of alcohol can vary depending on the amount of food in your stomach, your hydration levels, the weather, your body weight, and your tolerance level. Consuming two beers after a hot weather race, may affect you like a six-pack.

Alcohol before a race:

Alcohol acts as a diuretic. So starting the race partially dehydrated from a few beers the night before is madness. Even mild dehydration by one to two percent can impair our cardiovascular function and our mental ability. For each one-percent loss in bodyweight due to dehydration typically leads to a two to three percent reduction in running performance.

Participating in a summer race after a few beers the night before means you’re starting off dehydrated when the gun goes off, and your performance will get worse from there as you sweat out additional fluids.

If you do indulge in a drink the night before the race, avoid mix drinks and stick to low-calorie beers. Be sure to drink water or a sports drink between each beer.

Alcohol after the race:

You may feel like a beer after an arduous race, but instead you need to replace fluids and replenish carbohydrates by drinking water or a sports drink. You also should consume about 30 – 60 grams of carbohydrates and 10 grams of protein immediately after a race to help speed recovery. If you want to recover as quickly as possible from the race, you should not drink any alcohol. However, if your life’s balance includes social drinking, you can afford to indulge in a couple of beers or glasses of wine after you have resupplied your body’s needs.

Sweet Nothings: How Artificial Sweeteners Can Pack On The Pounds

We read it in newspapers, see it on the nightly news, even Hollywood is responding to it in various spin-offs of the NBC hit reality show “The Biggest Loser:” Obesity rates in both adults and children are reaching epidemic proportions. While the incidence of obesity and overweight Americans have spiked over the years, so has the trend of consuming ‘sugar-free’ foods. The number of Americans consuming sugar-free products increased from less than 70 million in 1987 to more than 160 million in 2000. Surprisingly, however, switching from sugar to an artificial, no-calorie sweetener may be thwarting your attempts to cut calories and actually cause your metabolism to slow down. And a slow metabolism can be a major factor in weight gain.

Do artificial sweeteners really cause weight gain?
A recent study by Purdue University found that rats given yogurt sweetened with saccharin (an artificial sweetener) consumed more calories and gained more weight than rats fed yogurt sweetened with glucose (a natural variety of sugar). This led researchers to believe that foods with artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin and aspartame. lead to greater weight gain than the same foods sweetened with high-calorie sugar.

How It Works
Artificial sweeteners may weaken the body’s ability to identify the delivery of calories into the stomach. When you consume glucose, found in foods and drinks, such as regular soda pop, your taste buds send a message to the brain that says sugar is on its way down to the stomach. Your brain then prepares your stomach to take in the sugar, while your metabolism prepares the body for the incoming calories. When the sugar is replaced by a no-calorie, artificial sweetener and the calories never reach the stomach, the body is left in a state of confusion. Over time, your body loses the ability to gauge caloric intake, which leads to a tendency to consume more food than needed and thereby gain more weight.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should always drink regular soda either, since the high-fructose corn syrup also packs a high-caloric punch. There are other healthier, more natural alternatives that are low in calories and just as sweet.

Artificial sweeteners to avoid:
Aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal)
Saccharin (Sweet’N Low)
Artificial sweeteners to use with caution:
Sucralose (Splenda ) –- chlorinated
Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar on average and has no calories
Acesulfame K (Sweet One or Sunnette)


Switching to natural sweeteners:
Replacing artificially-processed sugars with natural sweeteners is the best solution, so consider adding one or more of the below to your diet:

Stevia -- extracted from a plant grown in South America

Does not raise blood sugar levels
Non-caloric
10 to 15 times sweeter than sugar
In cooking: 1 packet Stevia = one packet sugar, or 1/4 tsp. liquid Stevia = 2 tsp. sugar

Agave nectar -- juice is extracted from the core of the agave plant

Has minimal effects on blood sugar and insulin release
Contains calories
In cooking: 1/3 cup of agave syrup = 1 cup of sugar

Honey -- produced by honeybees
Contains a number of nutrients which include sugars, such as fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, lactose and other disaccharides and trisaccharides
Raises blood sugar levels
Honey may contain minute quantities of clostridium botulinum spores and should not be fed to children under one year of age
Raw: may contain bits of wax, insect parts and other small detritus
Filtered: This is raw honey that has been warmed to make it easier to filter out small particles and impurities. Other than being somewhat cleaner than raw honey, it is essentially the same. Most of the trace amounts of nutrients remain intact.

Sucanat -- organically grown, freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice, evaporated by a special Swiss process
In its natural state, it is highly nutritious, since the molasses has not been removed
Raises blood sugar levels
Use in place of brown sugar for an extraordinary flavor

Cane Sugar – produced from the sugar cane plant
Cane sugar does not go through the same refinery process as sugar, so it maintains it retains more of the nutritents.

Natural sweetener to avoid:
All natural sweeteners are not created equal and all though they are technically considered “natural”, they should be avoided.

High fructose corn syrup
The intake of soft drinks containing high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose has risen in parallel with the epidemic of obesity

“In 2000, the intake of added sugars for the average American was two and a half times that recommended by the Dietary Guidelines, and nearly half of the added sugars came from high fructose corn syrup,” according to the American Dietetic Association. These excess calories lead to obesity.

Table sugar (Sucrose) -- white table sugar is empty of all vitamins, minerals, fiber, amino acids and trace elements during the refining process


While all of us are in the need of something sweet once in awhile, the best suggestion is reaching for Mother Nature’s sweet bounty in the form of an apple, orange, peach, watermelon or any of the other tasty colorful fruit selections available.

Enjoy!