Let's Shake Things Up!

It was only 4 weeks ago that I first heard about Whole Body Vibration (WBV).  I received an email from Dr. Mercola's website where he gave information on it and fully endorsed this "accelerated training".  What I read was interesting but I kinda dismissed it as too "out there".  However, something told me to look into it and I am so glad I did!  WBV has a 50 year history of use from Russian cosmonauts and Olympians to US pro sports teams and athletes, medical rehabilitation and therapy, chiropractors and high-profile celebrities.  There have been over 600 published medical reports on WBV that show the increases in body strength, bone density, human growth hormones, blood circulation and lymphatic drainage.

I knew this equipment would be ideal for the women here at Trim Up.  To be able to increase muscle without stress on joints and do it in 10 minutes vs one hour is remarkable.  As we age, it becomes more
difficult to build and maintain muscle mass, boost metabolism, keep weight off, especially around the waist,and fight the aging process with declining hormones.  WBV will accelerate our efforts in exercise so that we can see faster and more results without having to risk injury or aggravate achy joints with longer or more intense workouts.

WBV can be found in a few gyms out in California and Florida but I had little success in finding anywhere nearby.  The company I was purchasing my equipment from referred me to some of their customers in Canada who have had their machines for several years.  These clubs only have the vibration machines along with other spa-type detoxifying treatments. They have regular customers who have seen amazing results with vibration training.  In only a few weeks they are seeing noticeable changes in their bodies with more muscle, less fat, better sense of well-being and energy, more mobility and flexibility and smoother skin with less cellulite.  I was sold!

So it has been a week since we received our machine and I have used it every other day for a strength workout lasting about 10 minutes and every day for stretching and leg  massage.  The first thing I noticed was that I could move my usually stiff neck more freely from side to side.  My arms, legs and butt also feel tighter....and less "lumpy"!  I also kept up my usual fitness routine of 3-4 cardio/strength workouts. And I have been sleeping a little better - not waking up so much....probably from the decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone. At first the vibration felt odd but each time I become more accustomed to it and now I think it feels good! Afterwards, I feel like I just had a massage!

I know this sounds too good to be true but WBV has so much documented, proven success and has been used for many years in Europe that I know eventually it will become standard fitness equipment for Americans.  It can so beneficial for the inactive, older population or those with injuries who can't exercise normally.  With its time-efficient 15 minute workouts, WBV can make regular exercise possible for those with overly busy schedules.  And let's face it.....so many people just don't like to exercise so this is a way to get the health benefits of blood circulation, bone density, muscle  mass, weight loss and lymphatic drainage with little exertion, sweat or time.

This is so exciting that Trim Up is a pioneer in this new, revolutionary method of accelerated training.  I hope all of my members will try it and experience it for themselves.  Some  of the more adventurous ladies are ready and willing to give it a try while others are holding back, until they see what others think.
So, stayed tuned and we'll see how it all "shakes out"!

Weight Train for Weight Loss

Hard to believe the Saturday before I was bouncing with energy, anxious to get outside and enjoy the 70 degree weather. Feeling like I just came out of hibernation, I went out to lunch and then took our dog for a nice long walk. Without even a sweater on. Heaven.
Fast forward to this past Saturday afternoon with its gloomy skies and
50 degrees. I was back inside, in my favorite spot next to the fireplace,
with a warm throw and reading material. I hate cold weather!
One of my favorite magazines had just arrived, Women's Health. They have
great articles and the one on weightlifting was very well written, highlighting the reasons why it is so important for women. In a nutshell:

12 Reasons women shouldn't live another day without weight training(WT):

1. You'll lose 40% more fat.
If you diet without WT, you will lose about 25% from muscle, which
may drop your scale weight but makes you more likely to gain back
the fat you lost. However, if you WT as you diet, you'll protect
your hard-earned muscle AND burn more fat.

2. Your clothes will fit better.
Between the ages of 30 and 50, you'll likely lose 10% of your body's
total muscle, and it's likely to be replaced by fat over time. One
pound of fat takes up 20% more space than one pound of muscle.

3. You'll burn more calories.
WT burns more calories during and after a workout than just cardio.
Muscles need more energy to repair the breakdown during WT which
raises metabolism for up to 2 days afterward.

4. Your diet will improve.
Exercise helps your brain stick to a diet plan, reminding you to
stay on track.

5. You'll handle stress better.
Fit people are shown to have lower levels of stress hormones than
those least fit. And under a stressful situation, blood pressure
of people with the most muscle returned to normal faster than the
levels of those with the least muscle.

6. You'll build stronger bones.
Just 16 weeks of WT can increase hip bone density and elevated
blood levels of osteocalcin (a marker of bone growth) by 19%.

7. You'll get into shape faster.
Circuit training with weights raises your heart rate 15 bpm higher
than if you ran at 60-70% of your max heart rate. This type of
workout can strengthen muscle while getting cardiovascular benefit.

8. Your heart will be healthier.
Regular total body weight workouts can lower blood pressure enough
to reduce the risk of stroke by 40% and chance of heart attack 15%.

9. You'll be more productive.
Workers are shown to be 15% more productive on days they exercised.

10. You'll live longer.
Total body strength is linked to lower risks of death from
cardiovascular disease and cancer. And scientists found that being
strong during middle age is associated with "exceptional survival",
defined as living to the age of 85 without developing a major disease.

11. You'll be happier.
Researchers found that people who did 3 weight workouts a week for
6 months significantly improved their scores on measures of anger
and overall mood.

12. You'll be even smarter.
Muscles strengthen your body AND mind by enhancing cognitive
function. Regular WT results in better short- and long-term memory,
improved verbal reasoning and a longer attention span.

Only about a fifth of females strength train 2 or more times a week. I
know how much fun Zumba classes are, and how easy it is to throw on Nikes
and walk through the neighborhood. But weight training is needed too and
as you can see is well worth the effort!

Finally - a good role MODEL!

I'm not a big fan of the fashion industry with their anorexic models and
unrealistic standards that "normal" females can never live up to. And so I
was pleasantly surprised to read an article last week about Brooklyn Decker.
A resident of this area (she went to my son's high school), she has made
Union County proud! She got her start as a model, married tennis great Andy Roddick, and is now in a major motion picture - at the ripe age of 23!
Obviously she was blessed with extraordinary beauty, height and drive. But as far as her knock-out physique, she achieves that by maintaining a regular exercise regimen and a healthy lifestyle. Brooklyn says that as a young girl she was embarrassingly tall and skinny and that her mom got her started exercising. Not so much to be in shape but because she worried about her getting osteoporosis later in life. So Brooklyn began strength training at age 16 which she credits for her lean shape, once her body finally matured and developed some curves.
When she first moved to NY to model, she initially got caught up in all of crazy diets and fasts the other models were doing and actually ended up gaining weight. Luckily her family intervened and got her back to normal eating and exercise. Brooklyn now has a healthy approach to maintaining her "assets" - running 4 days a week and using free weights 3 days a week. And she eats a nutritious diet, focusing on foods that she should be eating more of rather than foods she should not eat.
Even though she is living a high profile life in NYC, she doesn't seem to be caught up in celebrity excessiveness. She loves shopping at Target,
is close to her family and is practical and level-headed.
The fact that the small-town-girl-next-door made it big by being smart,
resourceful, honest and a hard worker is a good model for all girls.

Where's the Beef???!!!

We were having a discussion during class the other night about fast food and a customer commented that she was never eating a fast food hamburger again after hearing about what is in them. I knew they didn’t use high-quality beef but was not aware of how bad it really is. Here is what was revealed recently in the New York Times:

> Extra cow parts and trimmings (traditionally sold for use in pet
food)are being used to make hamburger patties in fast food chains
(McDonalds is the main one and they also named Burger King) and federal
school lunch programs.

> The processed beef is injected with ammonia to make it “safe” enough
to eat.

> Both e. coli and salmonella have been found contaminating the products
sold by Beef Products, Inc., who make this processed beef, a mashlike
substance frozen into blocks or chips and used in a majority of
hamburger sold nationwide.

> The ammonia doesn’t always kill the pathogens, which came as a shock to
the USDA, which had exempted the company from pathogen testing and
product recalls. It seems that the USDA agreed to Beef Products, Inc.’s
request that the ammonia be classified as a “processing agent” and not
an ingredient that would be listed on labels.

So apparently this process of using beef trimmings injected with ammonia in fast food beef has been a well-kept secret for years. No wonder fast food is so cheap! And what else is in processed foods that we don’t know about and our government is not protecting us from?

The next time I am tempted to grab a quick burger, I will think about opening a can of dog food, spraying it with Windex and eating it on a bun, which is essentially what we are getting with a fast food burger!

Eat Your Peas!

To my regret, I allowed my kids to grow up on too much soda, too much junk food and too much holiday candy. But I think I managed to do a few things right – nutritionally. We always ate a pretty healthy breakfast first thing each morning (oatmeal, eggs, fruit,or non-sweetened cereal). And I usually cooked dinner 4-5 times a week, depending on their activities, that exposed them to a variety of vegetables and dishes. Now in their 20’s, while they have their junk food favorites, I am glad to see that my kids are pretty health-conscious and still eat many of those healthy foods I prepared for them. I have also noticed that they are trying new foods and eating things that they once “hated”.

How kids are raised in regards to food and eating habits will have a big impact and influence the way they continue to eat once they are start making their own choices and become adults. Although we all have a few foods that we don’t care for and can live without, I’ve met a lot of “picky” eaters through my nutritional counseling who have an adverse reaction to healthy foods that limits their balance of proper nutrition and successful weight control.

But nutritional scientists say that it is possible to learn to like foods you hate. Here are the 4 most common food issues and how to overcome them:

1) One in four people actually taste vegetables like broccoli and
Brussels sprouts as extremely bitter (survival instinct to protect
against eating poisonous plants)

Solution: Try masking bitterness with more pleasant tastes by
preparing the veggies with some fat, vinegar or sweetener. Or dip raw
veggies in ranch dressing. Also, do not overcook as it enhances the
sharp flavor of vegetables.

2) Childhood associations influenced you – maybe your parents didn’t
like the food or you became ill soon after eating a certain food

Solution: Wait until you are really hungry become trying a disliked
food, as your body will start to associate the foods with a positive
benefit – relieving hunger. Smell changes as we age, so the food may
not be as offensive as you remember.

3) It’s a texture thing – something about the feel or look of a food
turns you off.

Solution: Try changing the texture of the food by mixing it with other
food like in a soup or casserole.

4) No explainable reason why you don’t a food.

Solution: This trick works: try the same food 8-10 times,
incorporating it into several dishes throughout the week (in a soup,
on a sandwich, in a salad, on a pizza)

I remember when I first starting drinking low-fat milk instead of whole milk. I thought it tasted so watery and bland but now that I’m used to it, whole milk tastes too sweet and thick. And I never thought I’d get used to the “dry, cardboard” taste of whole wheat bread. Now I love the nutty, rich flavor and always choose it over a nutritionless white loaf.

Turkey bacon instead of pork……I’m not quite there yet but keep trying! :)

Weight Loss Begins in the Brain!

I love this time of year, when fitness is #1 on most everyone’s TO-DO list and Health and Exercise gets the spotlight in the media. I have been following the Charlotte Observer’s series on weight-loss that has been surprisingly detailed with new research on the obesity epidemic our country is facing. North Carolina is the 10th fattest state, with more than 6 out of 10 of us obese.

For those who missed it (or could not hang with reading the full page article) here are the highlights of “Brain Betrays Body In Fight Against Fat”.

Researchers are finding that our nation’s problem with losing weight is not just from lack of will-power or self-control but are environmental, biological and genetic. They are discovering:

 Rich foods work much like heroin on the brain, making it hard to stop
     eating them.

 Depression and obesity can be so tightly linked, it’s hard to determine
     which comes first.

 As people gain weight earlier in life, they not only get chronic diseases
     sooner, they also set the course for a lifetime of weight battles.

Our food environment as evolved over millions of years from being hard to come by and requiring hunting and gathering, to abundant, cheap food that requires almost no physical effort to obtain. This change has upset the body’s natural equilibrium in being programmed to like sweet and fatty foods from ages ago when food supply was sparse, to encourage eating during the few opportunities of abundance (finding a berry bush or tree nuts). This reward system was meant for basic survival, to eat more than you’d need for that day,
to put down a layer of fat to survive months when food is scarce. But in today’s world, our hunting and gathering is limited to fast food drive-thrus and grocery store aisles!

Recent studies show that some people can actually develop extreme cravings from today’s environment of food abundance – much like the addiction from heroin or cocaine. In 2009 researchers from UNC-CH reported that they had found a gene associated with obesity in some people that was previously identified as playing a role in those with substance abuse. This link between overeating and drug addiction – two problems stemming from difficulties limiting enjoyable experiences – explains how obesity from food addiction can not be treated with just a diet-and-exercise plan.

The link between depression and obesity is only recently becoming better understood. Some of the same hormones and neurotransmitters are active in both diseases.

Most people gain their greatest amount of excess weight between the ages 18-35. Those people who diet to lose weight usually end up gaining all of it back within 5 years and 33% gain back some of the weight in the first year after a successful diet. Scientists attribute this to basic physiology – for survivalist reasons the body’s cells are programmed to sock away extra fuel to protect against times of famine. That extra fuel is stored as fat, and once the body has created a fat bank, it fights to protect it – by setting into motion a complex cascade of hormones and brain signals that trigger hunger while it also starts to conserve energy. The food cravings and slower metabolism often gets worse the longer a dieter tries to restrict calories.

To make matters worse, the body appears to store fat more efficiently after being deprived of calories – making it difficult for even the most committed dieters to maintain their hard-won weight loss.

So, as dismal as all of this sounds, it doesn’t mean that it is impossible to be lean! The bottom line is:

 Avoid gaining the weight in the first place by establishing healthy eating habits and staying away from  
    rich, processed, convenience foods. People who successfully kept off weight after dieting had to work a
    little harder than those who never gained in the first place – according to researchers from the National
   Weight Control Registry.

 When losing weight, avoid quick weight-loss diets where your body will feel threatened and start 
     protecting against starvation.

 To boost metabolism and conquer the body’s fat-storing tendencies, EXERCISE! A study at Brown
     University showed that the benefits of exercise outlast a diet, even when people return to unhealthy
     eating.

A New Year - A New YOU!!

As 2010 is coming to a close, even though many of us are still in holiday mode with vacations, trips, house guests and food galore, it is time to look ahead to the new year and think about what we will do with 2011.

Instead of the generic “Lose Weight” or “Get Healthy” resolutions, here are 5 more specific suggestions on how to make the biggest impact on improving your health and body in 2011. These things are not hard to do but very challenging to maintain without some mental focus, commitment, time and energy.
But the payback can be life-changing!

1) Schedule Your Workouts – Find times that you can reasonably commit to exercise consistently each    
   week and treat those times as appointments that are too important to miss. But also have backup plans 
   when necessary.  To protect your health, cardio is needed 3x per week and strength training 2x.
   For weight loss, exercise 6 days a week.

2) Take Supplements – This is by far, the best thing you can do for your health that requires the least
     amount of energy and effort. Get a pill organizer to save time and make it easier to remember. Taking
     vitamins will not only protect your body from disease and illness but give you more energy, youthfulness
     and aids weight loss. Here are the basics:

               High quality Multi-Vitamin
               Vitamin D
              Omega 3 (fish oil)
              Calcium (for menopausal women)
              Whey Protein

Also recommended:
             Pro-biotic (acidophilus is the supplement that promotes healthy bacteria in the digestive tract)
             Resveratrol (super antioxidant)
             Extra Vitamin C (to boost immune system, esp with high stress)

3) Prepare Your Own Food – Cutting back on restaurant and processed foods will cut back on calories, fat, sodium and unhealthy artificial additives.  Get up a little earlier to eat a good breakfast before leaving the house and bring your lunch to work. Take time each week to grocery shop and plan meals and snacks.

4) Get enough sleep – If you don’t sleep at least 7 hours a night, your body will suffer. Besides chronic fatigue, your immune system, metabolism, weight control and susceptibility to disease is compromised.

5) See a Professional – If you have been dealing with physical or mental issue that have affected your
    quality of life and kept you from being the best you can be – then get help! If not sleeping or suffering  
    from hot flashes - get your hormones checked! If having chronic joint pain – see a chiropractor! If  
    emotional/relationship stress is overwhelming – see a counselor! If you need to lose weight or manage  
   diabetes and need help – see a nutritionist (or ME)!

Starting a new year means a fresh start and new beginnings. Make 2011 the year that you improve your life in some way! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!