Benefits of Herbal Tea Herbal tea can be made from any variety of dried leaves, seeds, roots or fruit and as such, the benefits are many types of antioxidants in a tea that contains the phytonutrients and chemical compounds inherent to the original plants. Herbal tea is different than black tea, green tea, white tea and oolong tea, which are all from the Camellia sinensis plant, and only vary by how…
Hearty Vegetarian Soups To Keep You Warm This Fall It seems as though fall was made for soup. The cooler nights make you crave something warm and savory and the flavors of the in-season vegetables shine brighter together than on their own. In fact, soups are an excellent way to sneak in nutrient…
What To Do With Bruised Tomatoes Tomato season is upon us. You may have gotten some tomatoes from the farmer’s market, your neighbor’s garden, or perhaps you grew your own. Either way, you may encounter some tomatoes that appear less-than-perfect on the exterior, especially if they are at their peak of ripeness. Keep…
Best 2015 Superfoods To Add To Your Diet 1. Hemp Hearts What is it? After you shell and de-hull the hemp seed, you are left with the center of the seed, called the heart. It contains 10g of protein and 10g of omegas per serving! If you are worried, hemp…
Incredible Healthy Pumpkin Recipes Rachel from Clean Food Crush is back at Total Gym Pulse with another amazing recipe for health and fitness enthusiasts alike! Today, she introduces her Pumpkin Protein Oat Muffins which are perfect for breakfast, snacks, lunch or even before a great workout on The Total Gym.…
Why Is There So Much Hate For Potatoes It’s really unfortunate that potato myths are so prevalent. The lowly white potato has been given a bad rap by many nutritionists. Because of this, people tend to think that this low-cost staple is nothing more than a source of cheap carbohydrates.…
A few years ago I was working with a client named Sarah who was hands down the busiest person I had ever met. She wanted to make changes to her health but she felt that she simply didn’t have time to make her meals. So instead of tackling all of her meals, we just started with lunch.
First we discovered that she was spending an average of $10/day at lunch. Not a huge amount at each sitting, but when we added it up for the entire year she was spending $2,600 just on lunch! Next, we estimated the calories of what she was eating. Even though she was trying to make sensible choices, the average eating out meal contains over 1000 calories. That is nearly twice as much as what her body needed at lunch. This added up to an extra 265,000 calories per year! Not to mention the additional sodium, fat, and cholesterol.
Now that we had both financial and health reasons, Sarah was motivated to make a change. Here were the three most important steps that helped her make bringing her lunch a healthy habit.
In prehistoric times when I went to college, the weight gain characterized by freshman year was called the freshmen ton; meaning that if you added up all the weight the freshman gained by throughout the school year, it would equal a ton. The Freshman 15 is close enough and is defined as the amount of weight an average freshman will gain by the end of freshman year. Some folks are spared but unfortunately many freshmen end up with the extra pounds. This type of weight gain is likely to follow us throughout life, as we encounter similar life stresses. The gain is blamed on a variety of issues, including:
How can young, vibrant 18 year olds be gaining that much weight? Is it a myth or urban legend? Aren’t they walking to class, meeting with friends, dancing, and partying? They’re too busy to gain weight right? Unfortunately, researchers followed 131 students over four years of college and found that a whopping 70% of them packed on pounds by graduation (average of 12 pounds). The overall percentage of students found to be overweight increased from 18% to 31%. The researchers noted gains in body fat composition and waist circumference as well.
A new study, published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, flies in the face of previous studies, which found that the average student gains merely 2.5 to 3.5 pounds and accused the media of fomenting the Freshman 15 myth.
But the researchers in the Auburn study observed that the “growth” they found in the college students consisted primarily of fat mass (meaning natural growth patterns could not account for it). And all the above factors were significant contributors to the gain.
Carol Holland, D.Ph., an associate professor and a psychologist in the counseling center at Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania, says that the stress of adapting to a new situation and academic and social challenges can be a problem. Students may miss the support system of friends, family, and activities that they had in high school, so they use what’s available. Food becomes a pacifier, and this coping skill can follow after college leading to adulthood obesity, if it’s not recognized early.
Avocados are a nutrient-dense fruit belonging to the drupe family, which are one-seeded fruits with a firm exterior, often resembling berries. Avocados provide more than 20 vitamins and minerals, and are a rich source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats; so consider if it’s time for you to start getting the health benefits of avocado by regularly enjoying this delicious fruit.
When choosing an avocado, color is not an indicator of ripeness. Choose avocados that are free of bruises and heavy for their size. If the avocado is hard to the touch, it is unripe. To ripen, place them in a brown paper bag at room temperature until they are slightly soft; this usually takes from 2 to 4 days. Once the avocados are ripe, place them in the refrigerator and enjoy them within a couple of days.
Avocados can be used in a myriad of recipes ranging frombreakfast (like an avocado smoothie) to lunch recipes (such as an avocado stuffed with chicken salad). You can even enjoy sandwiches with avocado, such as the BLAT sandwich found in trendy delis. In case you didn’t know, that is a bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwich. Some great avocado recipes for dinner might include an avocado dressing on your salad or a delicious avocado pasta recipe.
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When we hear the phrase high protein we often think of beefy bodybuilders or people trying to bulk up rather than slim down. However, protein is not only the building block for our muscles, it is also a key factor for losing weight. Protein breaks down slower than carbohydrates. What this means is you’ll have long-term energy rather than short-term energy, you’ll be more full longer and can significantly cut down on sweet cravings. Sounds pretty amazing, right?
In fact, the second most common mistake I see in my nutrition practice is diets that are too low in protein (the most common mistake I see is under eating). Typically we do a good job at lunch and dinner, but breakfast and snacks are where protein seems to fall through the cracks. In order to understand how we can incorporate more protein, let’s look at the primary sources of protein in our diet:
It is important to note that almost all food has some level of protein and this vegetarian list is far from exhaustive. I chose ones that are my favorite, have at least 8-10g of protein per serving and were easily accessible. If you have other great sources of protein I would love to hear about them in the comment section below!
A great rule of thumb is every time you eat; make sure it has a source of protein as well as a carbohydrate. Here are a few examples:
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