Life and Fitness Coach

Top 5 weight loss tips for the new year

Diet and weight loss are on top of many people's to-do list this time of year. There's never a bad time to think healthful thoughts, of course, but for many overweight people this is the time for action. 

Here are some weight loss tips and advice from the past year's postings on Life and Fitness Coach -- guaranteed good to go for 2009!

Turn up the volume: Studies show that people who eat high-volume foods lose more weight than those who do not. Fruits and vegetables are high in water and fiber, and contain few calories per unit volume. Plus, you can eat all the natural fruits and vegetables you want. No one ever got fat doing that! 

Don't drown dinner: Drink water between meals, not with food. Drinking liquids with foods waters down digestive juices and lowers your metabolism. Many foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, contain a surprisingly high amount of water.

Write on: One of the most powerful tools for weight loss is keeping a food log. Writing a regular diary makes people accountable to themselves. The log doesn't have to be a formal thing. Just scribbling it down on a daily basis works jut fine. Emailing yourself information on eating and workouts works great too.

Shake up some meals: When combined with a healthful diet and exercise, meal replacement drinks can help you lose pounds while providing nourishment. Several studies found that participants were able to successfully lose weight while consuming meal replacements as part of a nutritionally balanced diet. I make sure mine have healthful doses of protein powder, carbs and essential fatty acids.

Boning up: Cutting calories alone can cause bone loss, studies show. A study shows that people who exercise and lose weight retain their bone mass, while dieters who fail to work out typically lose bone. Body weight itself helps maintain bone, and weight loss reduces the load. Weight training, however, can counter the diet-induced bone loss.

Eat high-volume foods, lower fat

High-volume foods such as fruits and vegetables are high in water and fiber, and contain few calories per unit volume. Calorie-dense foods, such as cheese, French fries and burgers contain a lot of calories in a small volume.

Dr. Barbara Rolls has studied the effects of meal volume on food intake and obesity for more than 20 years. She secretly films people eating in her volumetrics laboratory and studies the effects of dietary composition on appetite and weight loss. 

Rolls' studies have shown that people who ate more high-volume foods lost more weight. What's even better is the study shows you can eat all the natural fruits and vegetables you want.

Eating high-volume foods also cuts down on caloric consumption when you're preparing to eat calorie-dense meals. For example, eating a salad before a meal will decrease your caloric intake of a subsequent meal by almost 20 percent. 

So here we go again -- are we getting the message? -- eat more fresh fruit and veggies!

Check out Rolls' book: "The Volumetrics Eating Plan: Techniques and Recipes for Feeling Full on Fewer Calories"

Water for fitness: don't drown!

We still hear "Drink eight glasses of water a day." I have never agreed with this blanket statement.

 If you are 100 pounds it’s probable that you won’t need as much water as someone who weighs 200.

 What I recommend is drink until you’re no longer thirsty and then, only if you wish, just a sip or two more. 

When you do drink, drink between meals, not with the food. Drinking with meals dilutes your digestive juices and therefore slows down your metabolism. Also remember that most foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables contain a surprisingly high amount of water. 

The time to drink lots of water is when you’re working out and especially if you’re working out in the heat of the sun.

If you’re an athlete playing a high-power outdoor sport such as soccer, volleyball and tennis, it’s vitally important to stay hydrated.

 A study at Chicago State University showed that dehydration while playing power sports decreased upper body power by 7 percent and lower body by 19 percent. The test subjects felt their fatigue levels were 70 percent greater than when they were normally hydrated.

Dear diary: I lost weight, again!

With my many years of experience in the fitness industry I have found one of the most powerful tools is keeping a food log. I'm pleased to say this has now been confirmed by a recent study.

Researchers found that keeping a food diary -- a detailed account of what you eat and drink -- is an extremely powerful tool in helping people lose weight.

The study tracked 1,685 middle-aged men and women over six months. It found that the people who kept such a diary lost about twice as much weight as those who did not.

"For those who are working on weight loss, just writing down everything you eat and drink is a powerful technique," said Victor Stevens of Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. "It helps the participants see where the extra calories are coming from and then develop more specific plans to deal with those situations."

Average weight loss for the study period was about 13 pounds for those who kept a food log (six or seven days a week) compared with 9 pounds for those who did not.

My observation over the years shows that writing a regular diary makes people accountable to themselves. The log doesn't have to be a formal thing. Just scribbling it down on a daily basis works jut fine. Emailing their eating and workouts works great too.

Also note that this technique can work for those wishing to gain weight/muscle. My clients who are body building benefit from writing a food diary.

Time to feel like a '10'

How do you feel? 

Do you know how it feels to be at a 10, physically, mentally, emotionally?

 Lisa does! 

Lisa showed up recently for her session and Wow! Did she look good! I asked her if she felt as good as she looked and she said yes, she felt wonderful. 

There she was, her skin glowing, her hair shining, the whites of her eyes were W-H-I-T-E and the blue of her eyes were sparkling! She was sharp, witty, present and energized. In short, bright-eyed and bushy tailed!

 Lisa started as my client a few months ago. At that time she was slim, in reasonable shape for a 26-year-old woman, was a little weak with average cardio fitness. 

She had a pervious shoulder injury from playing netball but worst of all she had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The doctors, in their wisdom, gave her medication that stopped the bloating but did little else. The only other choice they gave her was "to live with it."

 IBS has several symptoms; pain in the stomach, sometimes diarrhea, sometimes constipation. Bloating is common, as is belching, passing gas, nausea, aches and pains, often in the lower back, tiredness and weakness. 

When I met Lisa I promised we would get the better of this IBS. She was surprisingly open to my promise.

 A lot of people have seen all the experts who not been able to 'fix' the problem and I do understand when they say. "How come a simple personal trainer can help me when all of these highly paid doctors can't?" My answer is, I work holistically and I come forth with 36 years of experience!

 IBS is exacerbated by certain foods eaten in the incorrect combination at the wrong time of day! If you correct the food combining while staying away from the foods that ill affect you … hey, presto! Problem solved! 

Now, the only time Lisa has IBS is when she chooses. She knows if she eats certain foods in the wrong combination with other foods she's gonna have a problem … it's as simple as that. 

Lisa now knows how to feel a 10. Her old 10, she tells me, would have been her current 6. From my observation most people go their whole lives never knowing how it feels to be at a true 10. Most people are living their everyday lives at about a 4 dropping to a 2 at their lowest ebb and raising to a 6 when they're feeling "fantastic." Of course, it varies from person to person as to how to reach a 10 but there are some basic rules:

• Don't eat wheat or products with wheat in them.
• Don't drink cow's milk or eat cow's milk products.
• Don't eat sugar or processed foods.
• Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Exercise regularly but don't over train
• Take vacations often.
• Meditate or take quiet time most days.
• Be love and in love.
• Give to others
• Study life. Read, listen to CDs etc.
• Choose to feel good. Be grateful.
• Drink alcohol sparingly.

Meal replacements for weight loss, nutrition

Meal replacements used alone are not a panacea for weight loss, but when combined with a healthful diet and an exercise program, they can control calories while providing wholesome nourishment.

Several studies examining the effects of meal replacements found that participants were able to successfully lose weight while consuming them as part of a nutritionally balanced diet.

One study followed dieters for 10 years, and found that those who used meal replacements, on average, weighed 33 pounds fewer than people who did not use the replacements. In all, participants reported that dietary compliance and convenience are the greatest benefits of using a meal replacement.

Remembering there are only three food groups -- protein, fat and carbohydrates -- the following ingredients make up the perfect meal replacement:

Protein powder. Make sure this is a "natural" protein powder -- for example, only whey protein, amino acids and maybe some digestive enzymes. No sweeteners, no added vitamins or minerals, and no coloring.

Carbohydrates. A small handful of fresh or frozen berries makes this a tasty smoothy. I like a mix of strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.

Fat. You can either take some fish oil directly before you consume the shake or put some flax oil or something similar in the blender. I like Udo's brand of essential fatty acids. It actually enhances the taste and consistency of the shake.

Usually I'll take a meal replacement shake in the evening, especially if I'm late getting home and it's past time for dinner.

Trans fats ... fast track to fatness

Fast foods are loaded with trans-fatty acids (trans fats). Trans fats are polyunsaturated oils loaded with hydrogen to preserve and harden them.

High intake of trans fats increases the risk of heart disease and some cancers. Stick margarine, fast foods, commercially processed foods and fried foods contain high levels of trans fats.

Researchers from the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, in a six-year study, found that feeding monkeys trans fats increased abdominal fat 30% and increased weight by 7%. The monkeys also had higher blood sugar levels, which means they were insulin resistant.

People who eat 5 grams of trans fat per day increase their risk of heart disease by a whopping 25%!

Check out some books about trans fats.

Never get sick -- it's a matter of mind, spirit

People find it hard to believe when I tell them that I don’t get sick. In fact, I haven’t had even a simple cold since November 1996 (when I had the most terrible flu).

When I first tell people I never get sick, they voice their disbelief and wait in earnest for me to show symptoms of some kind of illness. My clients wait year after year -- and eventually become believers.

When I tell my fitness clients that they too can stay well year after year they say something like: "It's OK for you but I get sick a few times a year" and before you know it they’re ill!

I believe people are programmed to get sick. From our earliest days we hear our mother, father and elders (who we assume know more than us) talking about getting ill. How we should expect to get a cold or the flu because it’s winter time. We should expect a "summer cold." Don’t get close to people who are sick because you’ll catch whatever they have.

I believed it for years and of course followed suit and became sick a few times a year. In November 1996 when I had that terrible flu, I was in bed listening to an Anthony Robbins tape. He was talking about this very subject. How we are brainwashed into getting sick. I believed him. Followed some simple guidelines and I haven’t been ill since!

Here are my simple rules to avoid getting sick:

• Eat a healthful diet consisting of lots of fresh and preferably raw fruits, vegetables, salads and nuts.
• Eat animal protein sparingly. Most people eat too much in a sitting. We only need 4 to 6 ounces when meat or fish are part of the meal.
• Cut out products made with wheat and cow’s milk. There are plenty of substitutes, such as rye and rice milk.
• Cut back on sugar and products make with sugar and sugar substitutes.
• Drink plenty of water. Cut back on every other kind of beverage, especially soft drinks.
• Take supplements, especially "The A-list," which you will find throughout this fitness blog.
• Exercise regularly (but don’t overtrain). Exercise should consist of vigorous cardio and weight training, two to four times a week.
• Get plenty of rest and relaxation time. Most days take time for yourself. Usually 20 minutes meditation/nap/quiet time is enough.
• Get enough sleep. Seven to 10 hours sleep is needed.
• Take vacations often. I will usually take time off work about every six weeks, four or five days at a time. Studies show that vacations longer than five days become stressful and therefore counterproductive. Go some distance away from home. When you are truly away your problems appear smaller.
• When at home or at work, keep a window open, even if it's just half an inch. Most buildings contain toxic materials such as plastic, rubber, TVs, computers, cleaning products -- and a whole list of other stuff we wouldn't even think of -- and of course, other people! Keeping a window open will help alleviate the toxicity.
• Keep your surroundings neat, clean and tidy. Study feng shui.
• Wear natural fibres, such as cotton, wool and silk. Man-made fibres give off toxins and don't breathe like natural fibres.
• Keep your neckline open. Wearing high necks on a regular basis keeps your throat the perfect temperature for incubating viruses.
• Oral health and personal cleanliness is important.
• Lead a simple, stress-free life. Don’t overextend yourself. This includes work, family, friends and money.
• Follow a spiritual path (not necessarily religious). Live your life in integrity.
• Love is the highest vibration known to man. Love of family, friends and others is vital. Romantic love is truly wonderful.
• Be grateful and thankful for everything and everyone in your life. Do daily affirmations of gratitude.

Blood pressure tip: Don't pass the bread

Substituting lean animal protein or soy protein for high-carbohydrate foods -- such as pasta and white bread -- may reduce blood pressure.

Chronic consumption of high-carbohydrate foods increases insulin levels and may desensitize insulin receptors, which are linked to elevated blood pressure.

Australian researchers found that eliminating high-carb (starchy) foods in favor of protein-rich foods reduced blood pressure by about 4 points in hypertensive men.

Scientists from the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute found that people on reduced carbohydrate diets (less white rice, white bread, pasta, etc.) experienced decreases in blood cholesterol, even when they didn’t lose weight.

The researchers speculated that high-carbohydrate diets increase fat accumulation in the liver, which increases blood cholesterol. People can get many of the beneficial effects shown in the study by avoiding sugary foods, white rice, pasta and white bread, all of which are high in calories and low in nutrients.

It must be noted that "healthy carbohydrates" such as fruits and vegetables should be eaten every day in abundance.

Dieting without exercise linked to bone loss

Cutting calories alone can cause bone loss, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The study involved mostly overweight people who either dieted or exercised to lose weight. After a year both groups lost comparable amounts of weight (18 and 15 pounds respectively) but dieters also had a 2% decline in bone density. In contrast the exercisers showed no change in bone mass.

Body weight itself helps maintain bone, and weight loss reduces the load. Weight training, however, can counter the diet-induced bone loss.