Category: Living Fit For Life
Nutrition Tip Tuesday: Eating Smart this Holiday Season
Welcome to Nutrition Tip Tuesday in the Live Fit Community. What is it about the holidays that sends my appetite desiring more. Maybe it’s because so much time during the holiday season is centered around food and celebration. I personally feel when I am more active in the summer months and on the go I’m not reaching for that midnight snack that I often reach for in the winter.
Over the years I have developed a little bit of a strategy to propel me through the holidays and winter months and it’s about this time each year that I start to implement it again, when I am feeling like that 10pm snack is sounding pretty stinking good.
Here are a few simple steps that help me eat smart during the holidays. These tips allow me to celebrate our savior being born, enjoy family, delicious food, and not focus on what I shouldn’t have ate at holiday meals.
Tip 1: This visual aid is a great reminder of how to eat smart this holiday season. You can create one on your own with using a plate/paper plate and a dry erase marker. 1/2 of your plate should consist of fruit and vegetables. 1/4 meat or protein and 1/4 starch or whole grain. Often times at meals we end up filling 1/2 our plate with starch and 1/2 the plate with protein.
Healthy Portion’s Visual
Tip 2: Avoid eating two hours after dinner and two hours before bedtime. This can help with unnecessary cravings. I have really noticed over time I don’t have them anymore after consistently giving up eating after dinner for 2 weeks.
Tip 3: Eat to nourish your body. If you are feeling like you want to fill your plate for seconds drink an 80z glass of water and see if you still feel hungry after. If there are appetizers, holiday drinks, and dessert consider these calories before grabbing a second plate. I am a big believer in eating in moderation. I love dessert so I will cut back on appetizers and bread with my meal.
Tip 4: With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season don’t forget to eat breakfast, it helps start your metabolism and try to eat it within one hour of getting up each day. Plan your meals I talk about my meal rotation plan: here:https://livefitwomensfitness.com/2014/04/04/egg-steak-and-rice-stir-fry-cook-with-michelle-thursday/ This will help when you are busy and on the go (having healthy snacks to keep on hand (nuts, granola, smoothies, veggie trays). These healthy snacks preventing you from reaching for that (bag of chips or crackers). They prevent unneeded stops in which you may be hungry which could cause overeating, picking up things that are unnecessary and fast food trips.
Below is a picture of a really quick meal I made. My husband is remodeling our kitchen and I honestly wanted to eat a burger and fries. It’s so chaotic in our kitchen area currently, some days it’s so hard to cook. Instead of heading out to grab fast food I made homemade burgers on the stove grilled in a little bit of evoo. I have a half open sandwich since we were eating homemade fries. For the fries I grabbed two big Idaho potatoes and cut them small drizzling a small amount evoo, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, a sprinkle of seasoning salt and pepper to taste. I baked them in the oven until crispy at 375 stirring them every few minutes so they wouldn’t burn. Fruit isn’t pictured here but generally I prepare it for our family to eat throughout the day breakfast, lunch, and snacks.
Quick Meal
Live Fit how do you eat smart during the holidays? Please share your comments and healthy quick recipes with us below in the comments.
I hope you find this information helpful and are able to apply it to your life as you enjoy this holiday season.
Blessings, Michelle
The Fitness Professional’s Manual Third Edition by National Exercise Trainers Association; was referenced when writing this post.
Benefits of Fitness
Here are me and my oldest before I was heading out to speak to a group of women about the benefits of fitness
This past weekend I was able to speak to a group of moms about the benefits of fitness. I have a passion for spreading awareness about the many benefits of fitness and how they can have such a positive impact on your health. I also have a passion for sharing my core beliefs as a personal trainer: “making fitness a habit of daily living.” I told these ladies: “you have to find what you love and go with it”. Schedule thirty minutes to yourself each day to fit fitness in your daily routine. I am notorious for disappearing to my treadmill during the day even if I only have a quick thirty minutes. I grab my headphones, running shoes, and disconnect with the craziness of life and connect to a world that allows me to process my thoughts, connect with God and reap the benefits of fitness. When I am able to take care of myself, I am able to take better care of my family and those around me.
For many women it’s hard to find your niche in the fitness world. I suggest when you are searching for a type of workout you enjoy to try many different forms of working out before you decide what you love the most. Try it a handful of times before you make a decision. When you enjoy something you are going to go right back to it and repeat it again. Making it a daily habit. If you have had a negative experience you are going to hesitate to allow yourself to go back to it again. This is when you may need the help of a personal trainer or friend to get you started in the right direction and encourage you to keep searching until you find what feel most comfortable to you while exercising. Personal trainers help clients understand the benefits of fitness and create training programs that will help them stay consistent to their workouts and goals.
When I asked the women: “How Can you Make Fitness Fun?”
I received answers like: “meet up with a friend to workout, group exercise, workout with your spouse and compete for a cause”
Here are some benefits of fitness that I briefly touched on when speaking to these women:
-helps with stress relief
-helps manage health problems
-helps boost the health of your heart, helping improve your ability to burn calories managing your weight
-strength training helps our muscles work more efficiently and keeps our bones strong
-flexibility (stretching) helps prevent injuries and provides mobility of joints and muscles
-our body is better able to perform the tasks of daily living
Once you figure out what you enjoy while working out, schedule a time to workout each day, and if finding what you enjoy or understanding how to build a workout program is overwhelming to you and you understand how important the benefits of fitness are I would love to help you create a fitness regimen that is tailored to fit the needs of your specific lifestyle.
Blessings and Live Fit, Michelle
Motivation Monday: Start this week off with a healthy breakfast
Where does the weekend go seriously? Well I have really learned the hard way in the past. Working out hard and putting in my hours and not seeing results. That is when I realized how much diet and fitness work together. Our diet is just if not equally important as our fitness regimen. You want to be rewarded for your hard work by seeing results. Thats when I realized that my mom was right, It has to start with a healthy breakfast. Not with somedays, everyday. Consistency here is the key. Eating a healthy breakfast is the basis of any good and healthy routine in life.
If you have kids, or a crazy work schedule, believe me I get it. It’s hard to plan out your meals and I have fallen victim to starbucks, dunkin donuts, the big breakfast (oh man it’s good), countless times because I failed to plan. I also extend out grace on certain occasions, well because come on Starbucks is a nice treat. Most days I have gotten into the routine of making breakfast that provides lean protien, fiber, and carbs out to my kids. At first it was hard, I mean MOMMY, Mom, I NEED Water, I’m hungggery, I pooped(ya, gotta love my middle child so dramatic in the morning), I just want to throw anything I can at her because I feel a bit scattered brained and then I remember, hey I have to feed my kids healthy breakfast too!
It was also overwhelming to me when I got online to find out healthy idea’s that I could make quick for my husband and kids. I get asked a lot at the gym about my diet so I thought I would share breakfast on most days and my oatmeal trick with you:0
A few Tips why breakfast is important:
1. Eating breakfast starts us off on the right foot, helping us make better choices throughout the day
2. By skipping breakfast to cut back on calories, it could cause you to over eat at other meals
3. It helps balance your fitness regimen by fueling your workout
4. Helps control your hunger and keeps you from reaching an unhealthy mid-morning snack
A few things to incorporate with your breakfast:
1. Lean protien-holds you over longer and helps you feel full until lunch (eggs have the highest quality of protien-grab an omelet instead of a bagel!)
2. Fiber- helps digestion, decreases cholesterol, controls our blood sugar, and helps with weight loss
3. Complex carbohydrates- whole grains, veggies, fruits are high in essential vitamins and minerals. They contain fiber and polysaccharides(which require more energy to digest and are released into our blood stream slower). (USDA recommends 55-60% of our total caloric intake be from this form of carbohydrates). While only 10% is coming from simple carbohydrates. These are refined sugars, table sugar, low nutrient density food, honey, corn syrup.
We usually have this variety for breakfast:
chobani yogurt w. peanut butter and honey 100% whole wheat toast (smoothie mid-morning)
Malt o meal w. peanut butter and honey 100% whole wheat toast (smoothie mid-morning)
Omelet w. butter 100% whole wheat toast (smoothie mid morning)
Oatmeal w. nut mixture and a pinch of brown sugar (smoothie mid morning)
Below is a picutre of how, (If I know the week is going to be hectic) I store my oatmeal. I make a big batch on Monday and then I pull it out throughout the week warm it up and add some brown sugar and nuts. The kids love all of this!
Please share your idea’s below, on our Facebook page, Instagram, or twitter. I love getting new ideas and it’s healthy and good for our bodies to change up the foods we eat. #livefitin2014
Blessings, Michelle
Home-canning Recipes
Hey LIve Fit,
Here are a few of my favorite canning recipes. If you are new to canning and have questions about what process or hot bath means please comment away and I will do my best to help answer your questions. My pizza sauce recipe is also just a lot of throwing together so please if you have questions with that let me know! I always make notes on my recipes in my cook book about where and who I got them from. From one kitchen to the next lets spread the wealth of healthy eating ladies!
Tomato Soup: ( My mother-in-Law for found this delicious treasure! great for a quick lunch in the winter. It tastes out of this world with the fresh tomatoes)
14 quarts ripe tomatoes
14 ribs celery
14 stems of parsley
11 bay or basil leaves (We prefer basil Leaves)
Cook this together first until it cooks down and is tender. Put through a sieve( I always have my husband do this part) Place back in the kettle. Add these ingredients:
7 Medium Onions
2 Cups of Cream
14 T. of flour
1lb of butter
8 T. of salt (I cut this in half and do 4)
16 T. of sugar (I cut this in half and do 8)
Boil a half hour and then pour in hot jars and process jars for 15 minutes
*I usually double most of my recipes, so my yield is higher
Yellow Peppers: (My mother-in-law found this a couple years back great on sandwiches, on top of fresh pizza, or in a skillet with eggs, potatoes and rice)
1 pinch of alum
1 T salt
1 clove garlic
put in each jar, then add cut up banana peppers
pour over top of above mixture after it has boiled:
6 c vinegar
6 c water
2 c sugar
Make sure the jars are hot right out of the dishwasher along with the lids. Make sure the lids pop to ensure proper sealing. You will hear a little pop and the lid will be pushed down to indicated it sealed.
Salsa: (Got this recipe from one of my best girlfriends Melissa we can it together each year)
8 cups of tomato
2 1/2 cups onion
1 cup jalapeños or green or assorted peppers
6 cloves garlic
2 1/2 tsp cumin
2 tsp black pepper
2T canning salt
1/3 cup vinegar
15oz tomato sauce
12oz tomato paste
boil 10 mins and then squirt in lime, place into hot canning jars and process 15 mins
End of the Year Pizza Sauce: ( Use up the rest of your tomatoes and bell peppers)
cut up a pan full of assorted tomatoes, green peppers, onion, garlic,
have these spices out and ready (pepper, salt, oregano,)
Fill the bottom of the blender with tomatoes and a little bit of water, add green pepper, onion, clove of garlic and a shake of pepper, salt, oregano and blend (I Usually fill blender until almost full)
have a big pot on the stove ready and pour in the blended batch and repeat until you are done with the cut up vegetables. Bring to a boil and let it cook down. Have your jars hot and ready fill them up and process them in the hot bath for 15 minutes.
when you get out a jar of this add a can of paste and heat up to thicken on the stove. Place on pizza crust, Enjoy:)
Please post your favorite canning recipe, we are on this journey of health and fitness together!
Blessings, Michelle
The Benefits of Canning Fresh Vegetables
Hey Fitness Friends!
Over the past two weeks I have been in full swing of harvest season. If you have a home garden you are probably reaping the benefits of all your hard labor throughout spring and summer. If you don’t have a green thumb or a passion for gardening you can also visit local farmers stands, flea markets and even super markets to buy fresh vegetables to incorporate into your meal planning.
Whatever the case nothing is better then fresh vegetables straight from the vine that supply a wealth of nutrients to our bodies. The best part is knowing where they came from, watching them grow(especially if you have children) and being rewarded for all the hard effort you put forth.
Canning and gardening is a lot of work. I often times compare it to our workout regimen. It’s a lot of effort up front but as time goes on we start to reap the benefits of canning all winter-long. Just as if we stay consistent with our exercise and eating habits we begin to develop stronger muscles, our clothes fit differently and we start to think twice about eating that bag of potato chips.
I often joke with my husband, I tell him I belong in a more primitive era! But that’s beside the point!
Here are a few benefits I have found from home canning:
1. SAVES US MONEY and TIME!
2. Clean eating straight from the garden all year long
3. Power outage, winter blizzard? No worries we can find something to eat in our canning cellar home canned goods can last up to 4 years
4. The veggies we have canned are not exposed to harmful pesticides
5. Less sugar, salt, and preservatives
6. Tomatoes offer vitamins A, C, K, folate, and potassium. The longer they are cooked the more lycopene (a cancer fighting antioxidant) is released
Over the next few weeks, I will be posting some of my home canning recipes. If this is something you find that you could quickly get interested in, I suggest taking a look at this website to help you collect the materials needed to can and find recipes that will suit your family. I only can what I know we use a lot of. I have learned over the past six years how to incorporate what I am canning to make it useful in our family meal planning. More Canning Information
Here is a quick List of what I re-stock in my cellar each year:
whole tomatoes
tomato juice
salsa
homemade tomato soup
pickles
pepper mustard
banana peppers
tomato marinade
zucchini relish
A couple things I freeze:
homemade pizza sauce
green bell peppers
tomatoes
sweet corn
egg plant
I’ll never forget all the hot summer days I spent with my father a small produce farmer, picking corn, clipping beans, and watching his mother make a peach jelly that was incredibly tasty. I love watching my daughters sprint to the garden and pick tomatoes and fight over who is going to help me in the kitchen. Give one canning recipe a try this year. Slowly incorporate this into your late summer routine. It makes me feel accomplished in knowing I can provide my family with the freshest vegetables all year long. You will love grabbing a fresh jar of salsa on a cold winter night or using fresh tomato juice for your favorite soup recipe!
Blessings, Enjoy Your Holiday
-Michelle
Why Weights? Part 2
(Photo courtesy of Pinterest)
Good Afternoon Fitness Friends,
Here is our second segment on Why Weights? if you didn’t get a chance to read our first segment on weight lifting it covered the benefits of why lifting weights is so important to incorporate into your fitness routine. Today I am going to talk about some resistance training guidelines.
Resistance Training Guidelines:
1. If you are new to weight lifting, find an experienced friend or partner that can offer feedback, assistance, check your technique and help keep you motivated.
2. Select a minimum to 8 to 10 exercises targeting major muscle groups
3. Training each muscle group for 2-4 sets and 8-12 repetitions
4. If you are just beginning a workout routine ease into it with 1 or more sets of 10-15 repetitions for the first month really focusing on your form and postural alignment
5. Resistance training for each major muscle group should be performed 2-3 days per week on nonconsecutive days, separated by at least 48 hours
6. Use a full range of motion
7. performing each exercise in a slow, deliberate and controlled manner.
8. Don’t hold your breath! Here is a great article explaining how to breath during exercise from Spark People.com and it also has some great video demo’s with different exercises explaining when to inhale and exhale during weight lifting. Breathing During Exercise
Reference-NETA Fitness Professionals Manual
What is postural alignment? Postural alignment when we are focusing on good posture. Our Chin is up, shoulder blades nice and tall, and abdominals are compressed. Our feet our hip width apart, weight evenly distributed on each foot. Postural alignment is important in preventing injury and making each exercise effective.
What is full range of motion? Range of Motion
Resistance Training during Pregnancy helps women from loosing muscle mass and here are some safe exercises that can be performed: Bicep curls, shoulder raises, chest press (back supported, on an inclined bench), triceps extensions, and leg lifts.
Blessings, I hope this information will help you on your fitness journey. Find a friend, keep good form and postural alignment, remember to breath, make sure to rest and exercise each major muscle group on nonconsecutive days and next week I will write on how to formulate a exercise routine that will target the major muscle groups.
Why Weights? Part 1
Greetings Fitness Friends,
If you would have asked me six years ago if I liked lifting weights. I would have had to tell you occasionally. At this point I would lift here and there and mostly pound the pavement or my treadmill everyday. I would be getting in anywhere from 4-6 miles per day.
It wasn’t until the birth of my first daughter that I was struggling to get back to point A. I kept trying the things I knew had kept me fit in the past and they just didn’t seem to work like they once did. I was flat out discouraged. I began reading, researching, and understanding why it is so easy for people to become stuck in a workout rut. I understood why it was easy to give up and become complacent both physically and spiritually throughout life. If you are currently feeling like this, you aren’t alone and I want you to know that part of the process is believing in yourself and starting with small steps. Don’t let the big picture overwhelm you.
New Years hit that year and I was ready to make some changes. I had a one year old and I was ready to feel good again. To have energy and to live with purpose. I wanted wear something besides the same two outfits I had worn all year!
My husband started giving me some pointers. He encouraged me to start lifting more and I did. Over the past six years I have read and learned so much about the bodies response to weight training. Over the past six months I have especially realized through becoming a certified personal trainer that it is a major component of any workout regimen.
Today I am going to just give you the benefits of why weight lifting is so important:
1. Increases lean body mass, resulting in improved body composition and resting metabolic rate
2. Improves coordination and balance
3. It strengthens muscles and joints so that you can increase the intensity and duration of cardio-vascular work
4. Increases bone density, reduced risk of osteoporosis, musculoskeletal injuries and hip fractures
5. Enhanced athletic performance and functional capacity to perform activities of daily living
6. Reduces back pain
Pregnant women: It can help prepare you for childbirth, help you recover your pre-pregnancy weight, strength and flexibility levels.
The above is taken from:
National Exercise Trainers Association The Fitness Professional’s Manual 3rd Edition
Strength Training for Women, By: Joan Pagano (One of my Favorite Books on Weight Training)
This is a pretty meaty topic. Look for Part’s 2-4 of the Why Weight’s Series over the next three weeks on Live Fit’s Blog.
This information can seem overwhelming, small steps. Small steps are rewarded in both our physical and spiritual walk. The changes you start today on your spiritual and physical walk are an investment in yourself.
“But you, Take Courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”
2 Chronicles 15:7
The Lords rewards us for our faithfulness. Physically as we take charge of our physical health we begin to see results on the outside. While on our spiritual journey it’s a matter of the heart and letting God in to help us when we become discouraged in knowing we can’t do this alone and we need him in this life.
Blessings Live Fit,
Michelle
If workout plan A fails: Always have a plan B
Hey Fitness Friends,
Yesterday I had this great plan of action in my head for my workout routine. My husband recently moved our weight room around and I needed him to plug in my treadmill before he left for the gym early morning. Which he did not. So, I slept in and fell back to my plan B: Take the girls for a run in the double jogging stroller. I was really hoping for a good 3-4 mile run. I was just feeling the itch. I think it’s this weather. It reminds me of my countless summers training for Cross country season.
I literally unloaded the girls. I had to go to the bathroom. The whole first half-mile was me a twenty week pregnant women sprinting to a bathroom with both kids in tow. It was downhill from this point on. after 1 mile of running I had to go to the bathroom again. Ava my oldest demanded to run on the track. Amelia then climbs out of the stroller and we all are running. The kids had fun and I started to loose motivation. We were off to the playground next to play and to the library to take out a few books for the girls.
Frustrated mid-afternoon because I still hadn’t worked out and I was starting to literally feel sluggish and icky. I stubbed my toe and I think I broke it and my brother shows up with my dads f150 and a truck load of firewood for our log pile. I sighed. Because, honestly if I don’t do it by mid-afternoon I have about a 20% chance of working out before I throw in the towel that day due to: dinner, bath-time, and being a pregnant mom of two under 5, the last thing I want to do at 7:30pm is workout.
I dropped everything grabbed the girls and said we are working out. I put on my music and warmed up. Was it worlds most challenging and creative workout? No. I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I lifted my back and biceps and in between each set did a 30 second cardio drill. I didn’t give myself much rest except to let my heart rate come down a little bit before I moved onto the next set. The girls rocked their babies to the music and I spent a few minutes breaking up heated arguments over mini strollers. I’m telling you when I was done I felt so much better. I had energy to finish my very unorganized and random day.
If you have a hectic schedule or maybe you are a mom like me grant yourself grace. Tomorrow is a new day. Don’t let life’s little interruptions drain your fire. Use them to your advantage to set yourself up for success instead of failure. Let them help you learn quick mindless workouts that give you both Cardio and strength training at once. When we begin to understand more about working out, our muscles and our bodies response to exercise. We can use it in situations were we are pressed for time and still get an effective workout in.
Here are a few tips I have learned over the last five years of child rearing and trying to squeeze in my workout:
1. Have a plan in place the night before. Set up your week on a planner or in your head about what you want to accomplish workout wise throughout the week. If it is planned you can’t use many excuses to avoid it. You won’t have to worry about what you are going to do on that specific day.
2. If plan A falls through have a few quick workouts on the back burner for plan B so you are staying on routine and don’t let it discourage you. We all go through seasons in which things aren’t going to look exactly the way you might expect them to.
3. Know that some sort of activity is better then nothing at all.
4. If you get fitness magazines tear out workouts and store them in a binder. I often refer to these when I feel like I need to beat plateau or am just stuck in a rut. Change is good and it’s easy to forget that when we get set in our working out routine.
Lastly, When these things happen don’t give up! Start fresh the next day.
Whats your Plan B?
Blessings, Michelle
My Blog Vacation
Greetings friends,
I have been away and I am ready to get my blog in order and start sharing with you again! Some exciting things have kept me from keeping up over the last four months!
My husband and I are expecting our 3 baby GIRL!
I have been studying to obtain my personal trainers certification and hopefully passed my test yesterday!
I have been in constant prayer about the direction of my blog, Live Fit’s Local fitness ministry and exactly how I will utilize my training certification when I become certified.
In the meantime here is what you can look for on Live Fit’s Blog in the upcoming months:
The strength training post I never got around to posting:P
New exercise moves to integrate into your routine, fitness tips
Workouts: strength training, cardio and the importance of flexibility
Tips on having a fit and healthy pregnancy
Healthy recipes, tips on eating
Canning 101 – How to effectively can and put clean food away to eat all year long
Money saving tips in fitness and on groceries
Random posts on life as a real life mom and wife
The direction of Live Fit’s Ministry, this blog, and how I will use my training certification
I am looking forward to training our bodies in both the physical and the spiritual together! Here is some encouragement as I have been anxious and nervous over these last few months:
” Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phillippians 4:6-7
Blessings, Michelle
How Much Sugar are you really Consuming Each Day?
Hey Live Fit
About a month ago we were blessed to work with Certified Personal Trainer Sonia Maranville. Sonia gave us a booty kicking kickboxing workout and shared some astonishing information on America’s sugar intake. We are going to be meeting with Sonia again on March 13th and 27th if you missed our last meeting and want to join! Check our Meeting Times tab or message me for more information.
I thought this information really correlated with our eliminating 1 bad habit and adding a good habit in its place post: https://livefitwomensfitness.com/tag/eliminate-the-bad-add-the-good/ How is that going for you ladies? For me it’s still been a struggle. I was having energy highs and lows during the day and realized it was due to consuming too much sugar. I have cut out a good deal of sugar and am feeling a lot better. I substituted packaged oatmeal for homemade, sugary snacks for triscutts and in the evening have been giving up eating after 8pm which at first seemed hard but know I’m realizing it was pure boredom that I was eating out of. I am craving fruits and vegetables much more than sweats these days and am loving it! Please reply all let us know what you cut out and added in its place. Maybe for you it was turning negative thoughts into a more optimistic attitude, Let us know!
This article was written by Sonia, Owner of Sonia’s Fitness Training. She is a Group Fitness Instructor and Certified personal Trainer through National Exercise Trainers Association (NETA). She has been in the fitness industry since 2005. You can find her at: www.soniasfitnesstraining.com
Sugar, How Sweet it is…Or is it?
Do you ever have a hunkering for something sweet? Do you think about it all day until you satisfy it? After you find something sweet do you feel a rush from the sugar, almost euphoric? Research shows that a high intake of carbohydrates, including sugar, releases feel food chemical in the brain called serotonin. Then within an hour of eating the sugar you start to crash and feel tired, fatigued, and lethargic and grab another piece of candy or something.
Maybe you’re sitting there thinking “who cares, what harm can a little sugar really do to me? Cravings, binge eating, weight gain, and heart disease are just a few problems that sugar can cause when eaten in excess. It also causes an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, elevated triglycerides, and low HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It has also been linked to depression, migraines, poor eyesight, autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis, gout, and osteoporosis.
Twenty Years ago the average person consumed about 25 pounds of sugar per year. According to the USDA, today the average American consumes over 135 pounds of sugar a year. That’s about 22 teaspoons of added sugar daily, the equivalent of 350 calories which means over 8,000 teaspoons a year. That’s double the recommended amount. The American Heart Association recommends that we limit our daily sugar consumption to 7% or less of our daily calorie intake. That’s about 6 teaspoons (100 calories) for women and 9 teaspoons (150 calories) for men. One 12 ounce can of regular soda contains 8-10 teaspoons of sugar, and a glazed donut contains 6 teaspoons. At least half of the sugar we consume comes from high-fructose corn syrup found in fat-free foods like ketchup, teriyaki sauce, chocolate milk, cookies, cake, ice cream and cereals. And even when you think you’re eating healthy foods, like yogurt and instant oatmeal can pack as much as 20-30 grams (5-7 teaspoons). Wow looks like we have some work to do!
4 Ways to reduce your sugar intake:
1. Only drink water and milk. No sugary liquids, including juice.
2. only eat sugars that have fiber (ie fruits). This will slow down he breakdown of sugars and cut out the unhealthy sugary treats.
3. wait 20 minutes for a second portion. A second portion only doubles the sugars you ate for that meal. You might not even want it!
4. Exercise. It improves skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity. And if exercise is done after you eat sugar it makes fructose less toxic therefore improving liver insulin sensitivity.
Taken from the UCSF Watch Clinic Lifestyle Intervention.
The attached picture is from an exercise we did with Sonia. We measured out the sugar consumption for all the meals listed next to the glass mugs. The first day is the American Typical day of Sugar, The second day is the Healthy day of sugar and the last day is the Ideal day of sugar.
Thanks Sonia, What a great visual exercise that helps us grasp how mush extra sugar we are consuming and not even realizing it.
Blessings Ladies, Michelle
Live Fit Women's Fitness 