Weekly Fit Tip

Be Prepared - Sunday/Wednesday Tasks

You may have a tough time preparing healthy/effective meals in the morning before heading off to work. Perhaps you don't need a lot of variety in your diet. If this is the case, you may want to mix and match the meals throughout the week's list to develop a daily plan that works for you. But regardless, I'd strongly recommend having these meals prepared if possible before starting your day. Otherwise it's just too easy to grab the quickest, most convenient foods accessible (e.g., fast food, junk food at the office, etc.) without putting some important thought into the foods you eat.

A strategy that really helped me stay focused and on track was what I call my "Sunday/Wednesday Preparation." This is where I'd actually cook and prepare all my foods and snacks for the next 3-4 days, usually on Sunday and Wednesday (sometimes Thursday). I'd bake or grill all my lean meats, such as fish, and chicken, turkey, for our very effective planned recipes (e.g., Chicken & Spinach Salad, Fish Tacos, etc.). I'd cut up all the vegetables for my daily salads, bake a few yams and potatoes, hard-boil a dozen eggs, and so on. This way, on Monday morning before work, I could easily put together all the meals for the day and have them ready to eat as soon as I was hungry.

I'd also get all my snacks ready and put them in convenient places that I'd be throughout the day, such as at desk, the glove compartment in my car, gym bag, etc. For example, I'd cut up small pieces of a protein bar for my High Protein Oatmeal - Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, cut up vegetables and put them in zip lock bags, put peanut butter, cottage cheese, and/or humus in small containers, etc. This way I'd always have a healthy, convenient snack ready to eat when I started to feel hungry, which kept my energy level up, metabolism working more efficiently, and prevented me getting so hungry that I lost control and made unwise food choices and/or overate.

By having healthy, well-balanced meals and snacks already prepared and ready to eat, it is simply much, much easier to stay on track to reaching your goals. This advanced preparation strategy was absolutely critical to my and many of our member’s success - and I think it will be for you too.

Motivation

Point of view

Will you end up achieving what you set out to achieve? It all depends on your point of view. You can view fear as a reason to stop, and allow that fear to hold you back. Or you can see fear as a preparation for moving ahead, learn from what it has to teach, and go confidently forward.

You can view each challenge as an excuse for failure, and fill your life with regrets. Or you can see each challenge as a pathway to success, and fill your life with achievement.

You can look for who is to blame when things go wrong, and fill your thoughts with resentment. Or you can look for ways to make things right, and fill your moments with positive, effective action.

Success, achievement, happiness and fulfillment all depend not so much on what's there, but rather on how you choose to view it and use it. You can choose to see the world in a way that will defeat you, or you can view it in a way that will empower you.

What's your point of view? See the positive side of each situation, and you'll find yourself living on the positive side of life.


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Testimonial

"As soon as I got connected to the Internet, I became a member, and it's been the best investment of my life! With the convenient, excellent advice provided, and the outstanding motivational messages, I was able to turn my life around. I used the GHF site to locate a local gym. My personal trainer (I received a free session with a trainer when i joined the gym) agreed with everything that I showed him that GHF personally recommended for me.

And in just 7 months, I've lost 38lbs, going from a tight size 40 dress pant, back to a comfortable size 33. My bodyfat numbers really tell the story: I started at 29.6%, almost in the "obese" category, down to 16.7% as of last week!! I also greatly increased my lean muscle mass through the strength-training program that Chad developed for me.

That personal trainer now uses me as a shining example of what wonderful work he does, but I know that it was all the resources, personal guidance, and inspiration that I continue to receive from my GHF membership that really made all the difference for me.

I always enjoy receiving the motivational messages that GHF send their members. I read them in my staff meetings to help inspire others. I have received very high value of services for my small annual GHF membership fee. The GHF professionals are dedicated to their members' success, not trying to dig deeper into their pockets like most others. Thanks for getting me started back to a life that I can be proud of. I will be a GHF member for life and tell everyone else I know how incredible your program is!"

Chris Buzz
Chris_Buzz@msn.com

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Fitness Q&A

Q: I've recently been eating sugar-free hard candies to help me eat less and less sugary foods that I crave at night. The only nutritional craving or problem I've had is wanting to snack too much at night in front of the TV before I go to bed - regardless of whether I'm really hungry or not.

By sucking on the sugar-free hard candies, I'm not nearly as cue-sensitive when I get in front of the TV at night and I end up consuming quite a bit less calories. For example, over the course of an hour and a half in front of the TV, I consume less than 30 calories with the 3 sugar-free hard candies, as opposed to 280 calories with the protein bar I used to enjoy.

This is all well and good, as I'm trying to cut my calories, and total sugar consumption, back a bit as summer approaches to get more lean, but I noticed that these hard candies contain about 11 grams of Sugar Alcohol (12 grams of total Carbs). I'm wondering how sugar alcohol affects your system - does it have the same affect on insulin as sugar and does it also contain 4 calories per gram - and if so, is there any benefit to eating sugar-free candy as opposed to normal candies?

Will you please let me know your thoughts of the above "sugar-free candy" strategy I've been doing? I suppose I'd be just as content snacking on fruit at night, such as grapes, but have been limiting fruit at night because of it's high natural sugar content...but if sugar alcohol has the same affect on insulin, etc, as the sugar in fruits, then I'd probably prefer snacking on fruit (since it contains fiber and vitamins/minerals, without sugar substitutes and other additives)...or find a new low-calorie, late-night snack.

A: Sorbitol, the sweetener used in these hard candies, is a sugar alcohol which only refers to its chemical structure. It is actually naturally occurring in many fruits and vegetables. It still has 4 calories per gram; however, it is absorbed slower and incompletely, and requires little or no insulin for metabolism.

But honestly, does it even matter its affect on insulin if you're only eating 30 calories? Insulin by itself is not a problem. High insulin in the presence of excess calories is the real problem. Calorie balance, ultimately is the issue here. Remember, consuming more calories than you expend – no matter healthy you’re eating – can still result in fat gain.

Keep in mind, you can't go wrong living by the rule that anything “natural” (potatoes, fruits and veggies, etc.) is better than anything “processed” or man-made (candy, pasta, etc.). Hard candy is processed (it didn’t come off a tree that way, did it?) and therefor doesn’t have the beneficial nutrients of natural foods. Your goal should be to always eat natural over processed foods, as they have less calories and better nutritional value.

And contrary to popular belief, there is absolutely nothing wrong with fruit. Is the "natural sugar content"
really that high? An orange or apple has only 60-80 calories and 15-20 grams of carbs, plus vitamins, fiber and all sorts of beneficial nutrients (antioxidants, phytochemicals, etc) that are good for you.

Fruit does not make you fat. It is only correct to say that vegetables substituted instead of fruit will get you leaner, but that’s because the calorie density is lower, so what we're really talking about is calories more than anything. I eat fruit in the mornings even on very strict contest diets. And when you eat a protein source with your fruit (a habit you should get into with all carbs), it actually slows down the release of glucose from carbohydrates into the bloodstream. So, the sugar content should be of little concern because your overall calories for that snack/meal are low and the protein is slowing down it’s insulin/glucose response anyway. Make sense?

Also, I don’t recommend late-night snacking on ANYTHING, especially when you’re trying to get lean. My maxim is "get in the habit of going to bed hungry, and wake up leaner!" Nothing tastes as good as seeing your abs in the morning feels. If you get bad cravings late in the day, that is symptomatic of problems with your diet early in the day or it is psychologically triggered by another behavior. For example, if you've been grabbing food while you sit in front of the TV for years, then sitting in front of the TV becomes a trigger for eating. Ronda, our Weight Management Expert, or any one of our dieticians, can certainly help you with this.

I really hope this all makes sense. Making adjustments to your diet based on the above info alone can make a huge difference in the results you achieve. Please let me know if there’s anything else I, or any one of our other experts, can do to help you.

Tom Venuto, BS, CSCS
GHF Fat Loss Expert


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Success Quote of the Week

"Laziness is a secret ingredient that goes into failure. But it's only kept secret from the person who fails.”
– Robert Half


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Healthy Recipe

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Makes: 16 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 cup non/lowfat buttermilk
  
• 1 cup nonfat cottage cheese
  
• 1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute or 4 egg whites
  

Directions:

• Combine flour, cinnamon, and baking powder; stir well. Add the milk, cottage cheese, and egg substitute or egg whites, and stir well.
  
  
• Coat a skillet with nonstick cooking spray (nonfat), and preheat over medium heat.
  
  
• For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup of batter onto griddle. Cook until the top has bubbles and the edges are dry.
  

Nutritional Information:

Serving size: 1 pancake


Calories: 70


Fat: 0.5 g


Cholesterol: 1 mg


Protein: 5 g


Carbohydrates: 10


Fiber: 1.5 g


Sodium: 60 mg

Note: This is a sample of a GHF Diet Recipe – you’ll find others by clicking here.

Fitness Article

If you are having a difficult time keeping fat off permanently, it is probably because you foster the entirely wrong attitude towards nutrition. For most of us, our idea of a summer shape-up program consists of jumping on the latest diet bandwagon, which we inevitably end up falling off of when the summer is over. Losing weight is easy; the hard part is keeping it off. Instead of looking for quick fixes, we need to focus on developing better eating and exercise habits that we can maintain for the long haul. Instead of going on and off diets, we need to completely change our approach and make exercise and good nutrition our way of life. Small changes in our daily habits, over time, can produce quantum changes in your body and your health.

The first habit you must develop is to keep track of your daily caloric intake. Calories do count! Human physiology dictates that losing fat is a simple matter of consuming fewer calories than you burn up. Too much of anything gets stored as fat. However, it is not necessary to starve yourself. In fact, you can actually eat more and still become leaner by eating small meals more frequently. Five small meals, each eaten three hours apart, will speed up your metabolic rate, allow your body to absorb and utilize more nutrients, stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels, and increase your energy levels. Most importantly, small frequent meals will decrease fat storage by controlling your portion size and never giving your body more calories than it can utilize in one sitting.

The trick is to decrease your calories slightly below your maintenance level but not to cut them too far. Women can usually eat as many as 1400-1800 calories per day and men 2200-2600 per day and still lose bodyfat. Most diets are based on severe calorie restriction, often dipping well below 1000 calories per day. This approach may work initially, but it will never work in the long run. Many people believe that they can just skip meals or "starve the fat off" by hardly eating anything at all, but it’s not that simple. Your body is an extremely efficient fat storing machine during times of famine or deprivation. The direct and unavoidable consequence of very low calorie diet is a reduction in lean body mass and a decrease in metabolic rate. When this occurs, your progress will grind to a screeching halt. Once this dreaded plateau strikes, most frustrated and discouraged dieters end up falling off the wagon and gaining all the weight back.

The next habit is to divide your calories into the correct portions of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Each meal should contain approximately 30% of the calories from lean proteins and 55% from natural complex carbohydrates. The remaining 15% will come from fat. For high energy levels, your best sources of carbs include 100% whole grain cereals and breads, potatoes, yams, brown rice, oatmeal, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruits. Great sources of protein for muscle development include egg whites, lowfat dairy products, chicken, turkey, fish and lean cuts of red meat. Fats should be kept to a minimum, but cutting all the fat out is not necessary. Essential fatty acids are just as important as amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Your diet must contain a wide variety of natural, unrefined foods. The less processed your food choices are, the better; eating foods in their natural state the way they came out of the ground is ideal.

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Plan on losing weight slowly. Everyone wants fast results, but you can’t undo a lifetime of inactivity and poor nutrition overnight. If you lose weight at a rate of 1-2 lbs. per week you will be more likely to keep it off permanently. Many diet programs promise rapid weight loss. High protein, low-carbohydrate diets for example, can take off pounds very quickly, but much of the weight loss consists of water and muscle. Instead of worshipping the almighty scale, measure your progress in terms of body composition. Use your bodyfat percentage as the ultimate yardstick of your success. This will help you distinguish between fat weight and muscle weight. If does you no good to lose 5-6 lbs. per week if it is mostly muscle!

Arguably, the most important habit of all is exercise. Nutrition is only half the battle; the other half is working out. Cardiovascular exercise is the real secret to burning bodyfat. Aerobic activities such as bicycling, walking, jogging, stair-climbing, cross country skiing and rowing are all terrific fat burners. Shoot for at least thirty minutes, three to five times per week for optimal results. Weight training is also essential because the more lean muscle tissue you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate will be. In other words, by developing more muscle, you will be burning more body fat all day long, even when you’re not working out.

It is human nature to look for quick fixes. However, when it comes to fat loss, there are no shortcuts. It is easy to fall for the hottest diet craze, the newest workout gizmo, the trendiest class or the latest miracle pill, but the results they produce are often short-lived at best. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Short-term diets never work! Dieting for a few weeks or months just to get in shape for summer, only to put the weight right back on makes absolutely no sense at all! Get off the diet roller coaster once and for all by developing habits that you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life. If may take a little more discipline, patience and hard work this way, but it the end it will all be worth it.