#1 “I don’t have time to exercise”

We have all heard and used this one at some point in time.  Most people have more free time than they realize.  In fact, in might be embarrassing if someone added up all the time we had here and there.  Want to know something awesome?  You don’t have to have one hour blocked off to get the workout in, but if you can do a few 15 minute activities here and there, you will be on the right path.  Exercise is probably the best thing you can do for your health on a daily basis.  You will make time for things that are important to you.  Is your health important?

#2  “I’m too tired to exercise”

I bet you are tired because you are not exercising!  Regular physical exercise and activity gives you more energy.  More often then we think, fatigue is more mental than physical.  Your fatigue may also be related to stress.  But you are in luck…physical activity helps with that as well.  Go for a brisk walk, play with your kids outside, or go for a bike ride.  You will find it energizing and stress reducing.

#3  “Resolutions never work, so why bother?”

Do you remember teachers saying that if it is ‘always’ or ‘never’ then it is not a correct statement.  It is too absolute.  I think that is a powerful statement.  No one can tell you that you can or can’t achieve your goals.  But, you CAN do everything within your control to set yourself up for success.  Will you be perfect?  Of course not.  Just jump back on track when you get derailed.  You can’t expect perfection, but you can plan for success.  You can do it and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

#4 “I don’t have money for a gym membership, home workout DVD’s or other exercise equipment.”

Well, you do have something….and that is your body weight.  And moving around that body weight takes energy and burns calories.  Get moving.  That is free!  Do is often.  Do more today than you did yesterday.  Several resistance exercise exist that involve only using your body weight.  No equipment needed.  If you have a chair in your home or even some stairs then you have even better exercise potential in front of you.  If you have the desire, you can get the workout done.  If you need ideas, drop me an email and I would be happy to help!

So there you have it, stop the excuses and just do something.  With the time you spent debating going for a walk, you could have been done already.  And I don’t hear people say that they regret having done a workout.  You only regret NOT doing it.  So…start your year with no regrets.  Go for it and tell me all about it!  I can’t wait to hear your success stories.

Happy New Year!

1.  Put it on the calender. When putting it on the calender keep in mind that you need to be SPECIFIC.  Not just Tuesday or “in the afternoon”, but right down the EXACT time you plan on getting in your workout.  Schedule the workout like you would a doctor’s appt or coffee with your best friend.  Those things are priorities in your life, so make your workout a priority as well.

2.  Communicate your workout with your family and friends. By saying “I plan on working out Mondays and Thursdays between 2-3pm, I would really appreciate your support.”  If you can’t get away by yourself then encourage family or friends to put on their shoes and join you.  When you communicate your goal, you are sharing the importance of that goal while also getting accountability.

3.  Evaluate your priorities. We all know that we make time for things that we either have to or want to get done.  When things are important to you, you WILL make time.  So, if your workout is not happening, you may need to be honest with yourself by saying that your health is NOT a priority right now.  After you are honest, you can figure out why it is not a priority and slowly make changes to set yourself up for success.

1.  Muscle ways more and is smaller in size than its equal in fat.  A good way to visualize this:  5 lbs of fat is similar to a loaf of bread.  But 5lbs of muscle is more like 2 lbs of ground beef.  Muscles takes up much less space in your body than fat.  Circumference measurements help me know if you are are actually changing in size.  MANY times clients are frustrated because they haven’t lost much weight, but when we get the tape measure out, it shows they have lost multiple inches.  That is AWESOME!  It really helps keep motivational levels high when the scale tells you all your work isn’t paying off.

2.  Body fat calipers of all kinds help us determine your general body fat percentage.  This is a great tool because it helps determine how much of your body is fat vs. muscle, bone, tissue.  The latter is what we refer to as Lean Tissue.  The former is Fat tissue.  Based on height, weight, age, and activity level, there are recommended body fat percentages for each person.  Let’s say a client comes in and they are excited that they have lost 15 lbs.  After being happy for them, I say, “let do a body fat test.”  If what I find is that they have indeed lost 15 lbs, they have lost 10 inches, but that their body fat percentage is the same (if not higher), this is BAD NEWS.  This means that they have either not been eating enough food or the types of foods they have been eating are not enough to support their muscular system.  This person would have been using their muscles (that they worked so hard to get during their workouts) for fuel.  By losing that muscle tissue, the body’s metabolism also drops.  So even though there was a weigh loss (society says “yeah!”), it was in a very inefficient and undesirable way (I say “OH NO!).  This person now has to work at raising their metabolism through appropriate eating and resistance training so they don’t battle with this problem long term.

3.  Along the lines of body fat, I also do tape measurements to help me determine if a client has been eating too many carbohydrates or high sugar foods.  How can you tell?  When someone is working towards improving their appearance and lowering their fat mass, they should be eating an appropriate balance of carbs, proteins and fats.   Sugars tend to be carried at the waistline and abdomen (belly button line).  If someones waistline/abdomen tape measurements are not changing much, then I know we need to look at their nutrition logs and figure out some changes to be made.

Either way you look at it, measurements are ALWAYS a good idea.  Don’t worry about the scale.  If your clothes are fitting  better, than that is a great way to know you are likely moving  in a positive direction.  The scale is not ridiculous, but it needs to be used together with other tools such as the tape measure and a body fat caliper.

Vitamin D is found in dietary sources such as: Fish, Eggs, Fortified Milk, and Cod Liver Oil.  It is also provides the body enough to overcome some deficiency by as little as 10 minutes of sunshine exposure a day.

There are several different forms of Vitamin D, but two are of particular importance to the body.  D2 is synthesized by plants and D3 which is synthesized by humans when exposed to UVB rays from the sun.

Vitamin D3 (Sunshine Vitamin) is a nutrient that is also being referred to as a hormone.  One of its roles in the body is to help the body develop immature cells into mature cells.  For those of us fortunate enough to live north of northern Florida (yeah for Indiana), the sun’s rays are not at the right angle to allow us to synthesize enough vitamin D3 from October all the way to March!  And now you wonder why you get so cranky???

Recent research has showed that most healthy adults need at least 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily.  This can be a challenge with just food.  This is why supplements can help.  (Learn more reasons why you might need supplementation here).

Here are some reasons that can INCREASE your risk of becoming deficient or having poor blood levels of D3:

1.  Location: anywhere north of northern Florida
2.  Lack of sun exposure:  staying indoors or always covering skin
3.  Skin pigment:  darker skin = more time to make Vitamin D3 from the sun
4.  Obesity:  fat tissue absorbs vitamin D3 and make is unavailable to use.  The heavier we get, our need for more D3 increases.
5.  Age: we make less D3 as we age
6.  Pregnant/Breastfeeding mothers: may need more vitamin D3 to keep their own blood levels withing the ideal range.

Having a low blood level of Vitamin D3 has been link with:

1.  Cancer Rates & Reoccurance
2.  Autoimmune Diseases:  Diabetes, MS, Lupus, Celiac Disease, Arthritis
3.  Heart Disease & Congestive Heart Failure
4.  Depression & Seasonal Affective Disorder
5.  Crohn’s Disease/Ulcerative Colititis
6.  High Blood Pressure, Heart Attack & Stroke
7.  Pain/Weakness (Muscle, Fibromyalgia)
8.   Impaired Immune Function
9.  Risk of Bone Fracture from falls
10.  Osteoporosis & Rickets

So, how much should you have?  Most health adults need at least 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily.  Some many need more based on your health.  Talk to your family doctor to get your blood level checked to see if you are deficient. There are some conditions where your doctor may NOT want you to take Vitamin D (some forms of cancer and kidney stones).   Ask your doctor if you have questions or if you would like to get your level of D3 tested.

Click here if you are looking for a pharmaceutical grade Vitamin D supplement.

My short and sweet answer is:  Yes.   Our nutrition is lacking, not only because of the choices we make, but also because the foods we eat are dropping in quality because of production/feeding methods.   The BEST source of these necessary micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals) are in a wide variety of nutrient rich foods.   The nutrient foods are found particularly in plant-based foods such as:  fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and even teas.

I have read that only 3-4% of Americans follow all of the Dietary Guideline Allowances (DGA).  That is not very many.  I doubt that even the healthy readers of this blog will successfully get their 2-3 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruits a day on a regular basis.  I know it is a challenge for me to eat these amounts on a regular basis (You can read more about recommended amounts from www.mypyramid.org).  With the obesity epidemic in our country it is obvious that the majority of American’s are meeting and often exceeding their energy requirements (calories), yet so few are getting the right amount of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).  What does this tell you about our food choices and the need for supplementation?

You can find many articles about the decreased quality of our foods.  I will not go into great detail here, but in summary:  mass production, along with the types and quality of feed, have affected the quality of our foods.  A veggie grown in your backyard from organic seeds will have a higher quality of nutrients than once mass produced and sent to your local grocery from who knows where.   This is why I love to visit my local farmer’s markets for my produce when possible.  This subject can make up an entirely different blog in the future.

So, in short, I do feel supplementation is necessary for a healthy lifestyle that prevents disease.  In light of this,  here are few things to keep in mind.

1.  All supplements can have interactions with your current medications.  You need to tell your doctor and pharmacist ALL that you are taking on a regular basis.  The last thing you want is to have a negative reaction from something you are doing to be “healthy.”

2.  Talk to a your doctor and registered dietitian about which micronutrients you might be lacking.  You can get a lab test done on your levels of various vitamins and minerals.  This is the best way to know if you are taking too much or not enough.  Certain levels of supplements can be toxic, which is why there are Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA’s) and Upper Limits (UL) established.  The RDA’s and UL might be different for you.  Those guidelines are established on the average “healthy” individual.  If you are malnourished, have a specific health condition, or if you are taking medication that alters your nutrient requirements, then your amount of needed supplementation may be different.  Thus, talk to your doctor.

3.  Not all supplementation is what it says it is.  The Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) defines and sets safety/labeling requirements for all dietary supplements.  The labels can have health claims.  These claims along with the nutrient content must be pre-approved by the FDA.  BUT, it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to ensure that the claims are truthful.   Thus, you will find the disclaimer on supplementation “claims has not been evaluated by the FDA.”  There are some companies out there that do testing on supplements to determine if a products has ALL that it claims.  It is an expensive service and for that reason, most companies don’t pay to have this testing done.  I have chosen to use supplementation from a company called USANA Health Sciences.  Unlike most supplement companies, their products are “laboratory tested, quality guaranteed and they meet USP [United States Pharmacopia] specifications for potency, uniformity, and disintegration.”  You can even visit their manufacturing plant in Utah if desired.

If you want to do more reading on the subject of nutritional supplementation, you can read the  ADA on Nutrient Supplementation.  For more info about USANA Health Sciences supplements, drop me a note!

Wishing you health and wellness!

• If you are limited on time, get the resistance training in and sweeze cardio in when you get the chance. One of the BIGGEST mistakes individual’s make in their workouts is to become someone I refer to as the “Cardio Junkie.” That personlikes to do cardio (biking, running, walking, swimming, etc) five days a week for one hour and doesn’t have time for the resistance workouts. Three words for you. MUSCLES BURN FAT. Lean muscle elevates your metabolism and helps your burn more fat when you are sitting around on the boat with friends. Basic Cardio doesn’t accomplish that same thing. My Advice: Prioritize Resistance Training and squueze in bursts of cardio with your extra time.
• Find something new and exciting to do! Talk to your trainer (me) about spicing up your program and/or find a fun and exciting home exercise program that will motivate you to reach your goals. Check out www.karentanner.com for great home workouts programs such as TurboJam, P90X, Insanity, and other AWESOME workout programs). TURBO FIRE comes out June 18th – I am pumped about this! My Advice: Find something that will keep you excited about your workouts. That often means finding something new and exciting to do.
• Be Social with your workouts. Most of your friends have the same schedule that you do in the summertime. Use this as an opportunity to find workout buddies, walking buddies, or something similar. This way you can catch up on your chats while also burning calories. You will always be more successful with an accountabilty partner. My advice: TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More).

One last thought about summer workouts: Just do them! This is such a wonderful time of year to get out and be active. Embrace the sunshine, wonderful breezes and reach those summer goals. Don’t let the Fall season arrive and wonder what happend this past summer. Feel good about yourself. Set great goals this summer and have FUN!

From my perspective the whole goal of a cleanse or detox is to start fresh and make sure you body is getting what it needs.  One of the many reasons we decide to do this is because we know we don’t eat well on a regular basis, so rather than trying better habits, many just go out and find OTC “flush” that will “fix” all their bad decisions.

My suggestions is to do something that is food based for a “cleanse” rather than chemical.   I know some people who have done a fruit and veggie only kick for several days.  The motivation being to give their body what is desires and thus hoping their bodies will respond better afterward.  My concern with that type of program is that your body is not getting enough protein.  When you don’t get enough protein, your body is smart and will find a way to get it.  This usually occurs by using your own muscles as protein to fuel your body.  Do you realize how long it takes to get lean muscle tissue on your body?  Why then would you allow your body to “eat” your muscles for protein?  I would much rather find a way to have an extremely nutrient dense form of a “cleanse” that will keep my body from “eating” my muscle: a VERY expensive fuel.

My favorite cleanse of sorts thus far is the Shakeology 3-day cleanse.  It is not really a “cleanse” at all, but rather a way of eating healthy for 3 days while getting highest level of nutritional concentration possible.  My husband and I drink Shakeology once a day (in a variety of recipes) because it helps us get the greens we need that we lack on regular basis.  It has a quality amount of protein and other excellent nutrients that are truly hard to pass up.

What is allowed for the 3 days cleanse:

3 Shakeology shakes per day
2 cups of green tea or black coffee per day
1 or 2 pieces of fruit per day
1 salad for dinner with poultry or white fish
No dairy or extra sugars (this includes almond and soy milk)
Drink 2-4 liters of water every day
Only use low-fat dressings and go easy on the salt/pepper to taste

View The Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse

You’ll be eating frequently and consuming between 800 and 1,200 calories per day, and it could be even more should you feel the need. The point of this cleanse is not calorie restriction, but rather  nutrient efficiency. The aim is to get the most nutrients possible into the fewest number of calories. The goal is to put all of these calories to use as a part of your exercise program, to rid your body of undigested foods and toxins, and to bring your hydration levels into homeostasis. The result you’re after is not weight loss—though it will likely occur—but for your body to be running more efficiently. This should make you feel lighter and more energetic, even though you’re doing an exercise program.

The goal of the salad in the plan is to keep your calories coming from natural sources (no artificial ingredients should be added, including artificial salad dressing). Aside from that, you can add ingredients as necessary. Keep your meat intake to four ounces or less, but add veggies, seeds, nuts, fruits, and legumes in quantities to satiate you.

Water, of course, is recommended in quantity.  Sodas, alcohols, juices, etc., should be eliminated entirely during a cleanse. Coffee and tea, which are diuretics, should be minimized at the very least and eliminated if possible. Again, performance is the key, so if you need a cup of Joe as a pick-me-up, go ahead. Just use only as needed, and don’t use additives. Eliminating sugar and chemicals is vital. However, do not use energy drinks or soda for this purpose, including the ones with artificial sweeteners. Coffee drinkers may find that switching to black tea during a cleanse will give you the energy you’re looking for with less upset. Coffee’s acidic nature can heighten the effects in a negative way during your cleanse.

A friend has recommended that I read the book ‘Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself.’  I plan on reading it and when I do, I will post a review.   In the meantime, please make smart decisions that won’t hurt your health in the long run.

Never heard of Shakeology?  Check out this link to get more info.