Category: Meal Planning

Snack Your Way To A Healthy Weight And Lifestyle

 

Snack your way to a healthy weight

Your body needs food to function properly.  If it doesn’t get enough calories, your metabolism can actually slow down.  Most people get hungry between regular meals and need extra food throughout the day.  Including snacks in your daily diet helps to keep your metabolism working properly, avoid binging, and keep your mind alert.  It also gives you the energy you need for lifestyle activities and exercise.

Snacking Wisely

Studies continue to show us that counting calories is not very effective when it comes to weight loss and or weight management.  Not only does counting calories mess with you psychologically, constantly stressing about calories can cause you to focus more on numbers than what your body wants and needs.  Instead of counting calories, I recommend focusing on eating foods that will satisfy you.  Pairing a carbohydrate and a protein at snack time will give your body the short and long term fuel it needs to sustain you until your next meal.  For an extra bonus, I recommend including some fresh veggies at snack time as well.

Ten healthy snacks to help you Feel full

1)  Fruit.  Fruit can be a healthy and long lasting snack when paired with foods like cheese, nuts,  or peanut butter.  It’s always good by itself, however you will stay full longer if the fruit is paired with a protein source.

2)  Tortilla Chips and Salsa. Chips and salsa is one of my most favorite snacks.  For protein, add some yoghurt to your salsa.  Add some avocado for an extra twist.  🙂

3)  Cheese and crackers.  Sounds indulgent?  Not really.  Your body needs fat.  Pre-sliced cheese is a great snack for on the go..  Break it into pieces and eat it with whole grain crackers.  Add some of your favorite cold cuts for a little variety.  Uncured salami is a big hit at our house.  🙂

4)  Yogurt.  Yoghurt with fruit or a small amount of honey makes a great snack that tastes great.

5)  Whole grain toast and peanut butter or a piece of cheese.

6)  Leftovers.  A 1/2 serving of leftovers will tie you over until your next meal.

7)  Frozen Yoghurt.  Add some fruit and you are good to go.

8)  Shakes.  I don’t recommend a diet that includes meal replacement shakes because it  can be less satisfying than solid food and backfire like most diets do.  However, for people on the go, shakes and smoothies can be a great way to drink a well balanced snack.  I recommend testing out different recipes and stick to the ones that keep you feeling energized and full.

9)  Hummus.  Whole grain pita chips and hummus is another one of my go to snacks.  Hummus is great for satisfying hunger, and a good whole grain pita chip will give you the complex carbs you need for energy.  Try adding some slices of cucumber for more variety.

10)  Cottage Cheese.  Pair  1/2 cup cottage cheese with fruit or crackers.

Your body likes to be nourished.  When it’s fed properly, your metabolism can operate at a better pace and settle at it’s natural weight.

Here’s to a happy and healthy week!

Shared with love,

Jennifer

 

Why And How To Avoid Tempting Fad Diets

 

How to avoid fad diets

It’s January, it’s a new year, and almost every magazine or health related email you open this month will have advice on what you should and shouldn’t be eating.

It can be really tempting to try the latest fad diet that the fitness and/or diet industry is promoting.  It’s a normal human response to be intrigued by all the marketing that these industries roll out in January… especially if you’ve gained a few pounds over the holidays.

While I completely understand the desire to want to lose weight quickly, research continues to  show us that restrictive dieting is not very effective long term and can potentially do you more harm than good.

Some of the reasons diets fail you are:

  • They slow down your metabolism
  • They cause you to store fat, not burn it
  • They’re unsustainable for most people’s lifestyle
  • They are a means to manipulate bodies to become a size they were never designed to be
  • When you stop starving yourself and go back to normal calorie-consumption, you WILL gain weight
  • Lack of energy due to being hungry
  • Some diets ask you to eliminate entire food groups and key nutrients
  • They can cause binge eating due to a scarcity mentality
  • They can cause stress which is known to cause belly fat due to hormonal changes in the body

There is nothing wrong with wanting to lose unwanted weight.  I recently lost a few pounds after recovering from a broken foot.  What’s important to remember is that long term, sustainable, weight loss happens when you focus more on health and less on the size of your jeans.

Healthy weight loss is not about counting calories just to reach a number on a scale.  It’s about feeling good, having plenty of energy, feeding your brain properly, creating balance in your life, being happy,  and allowing your body to settle into it’s own natural and healthy weight.   Things like eating the appropriate amount of food, cutting back on the foods and or liquids that you know are excessive,  avoiding overly processed foods, and meal planning are all considered healthy eating, not starvation diets or skipping meals entirely.

HERE ARE Seven TIPS THAT WILL HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DIETING

1) Eat enough food.  It absolutely amazes me that there are still diets out on the market today that recommend dangerously low calorie meal plans when the science says otherwise.  Your body will get really good at storing what it doesn’t get enough of.  For example, if you eliminate fat from your diet, your body will not want to burn fat. It will want to store fat.  Sound nutritional research tells us that you need to eat fat in order to burn fat.  I am a firm believer that the low fat and low carb craze has contributed heavily to the weight issues in the United States.

Instead of restricting what you eat, you’ll find more success when you focus on a balanced diet that is centered around whole foods.   A balanced diet includes carbohydrates, proteins, fruits & vegetables, healthy fats, and water.  Any diet that cuts one of these important nutrients out should be avoided.

2) Exercise.  One of the most effective ways to lose weight for good is a combination of eating well AND regular exercise.  However, there are many other reasons we should all be exercising regularly besides a desire to lose weight.  Research shows that exercise can help with depression, lower the risk for heart disease and cancer, reduce the risk of diabetes, and even grow new brain cells.  Exercise is an excellent anti-aging tool!

3) Eat in.    Cook at home as often as you can and bring your lunch.  When I make our food, I get to choose how much butter, oil, salt, and sugar I add.  Sometimes I add more than the recipe calls for and sometimes I cut it back.  I can also make substitutions that I think are healthier for us like swapping out more refined grains for whole grains, adding more veggies, and choosing oils that I believe are better than others.

4) Cut back on liquid calories. Try substituting alcohol, sodas, and other higher calorie drinks with water. Try adding lemon or cucumber for some variation.

If cutting out liquid calories sounds extreme, take a more moderate approach and cut down to half or even a quarter of what you usually drink. You can always go back to your normal consumption if you want to.  This is about figuring out what works for you personally.

5) Get plenty of rest.  Substantial medical evidence is telling us that a lack of sleep affects hormones which are linked to an increase in appetite. Your body becomes less satisfied and you are tempted to eat more food than you may actually need.  Sleep deprivation can also affect your hormones in such a way that your metabolism will literally slow down.  The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.

6) Tell guilt to take a hike.  First off, guilt should never be associated with food ever.  When I go into a restaurant I order what I want and I do not feel guilty about my choices.  Guilty thoughts that attempt to beat us up usually come from a desire to be perfect.  And, even though most of us know that perfection is impossible, much of the”professional” advertising we see focuses on displaying perfection as a form of happiness or acceptance.  Thank goodness for social media!  Live raw video helps to remind us that nobody is perfect and to give ourselves a break.

7)  Be yourself.  It’s really important that you know what’s most important to you.  Not everyone wants to be or was designed to look like the models on the cover of fitness magazines.  If challenging yourself to reach an elite athlete status is fun for you and you can achieve it in a healthy way, then by all means go for it!  However, if you know in your heart you’d just like to live a long healthy life, fit in your clothes, and have the stamina to do the activities you enjoy without a whole lot of restrictions in your life, then general health and fitness is for you so please don’t beat yourself up because you’re not “doing whatever it takes” to try to look like a fitness model.  Perfection is overrated and impossible to achieve.  Even fitness models don’t look like their photos all of the time.

Instead of dieting, I recommend you pick as many things from above that you can realistically implement without stressing yourself out and then stay consistent.  Diet and exercise are very personal which is why a canned approach rarely works.  We all have different lives, different goals, and different needs. 🙂

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2018!

Shared with love,

Jennifer

Boost Your Metabolism Eating Whole Foods

Eating Whole Foods - Blueberries - Jennifer Ledford - Certified Personal Trainer

When I first entered the fitness industry over twenty eight years ago, we used to believe that a “calorie was a calorie” and that as long as you were burning more than you consumed, you would lose weight.  You should have seen some of my lunches back then.  After eating a box of Cheez Its and some salami I’d hit the gym and teach two back-to-back aerobics classes.  At least I was getting my carbs and protein.  🙂

I still eat salami (quite often actually) and I will occasionally eat Cheez Its. However, over the years, I’ve learned that not all calories are created equal.  Based on solid science, I now focus on a health-driven approach that includes eating whole foods as much as possible and recommend that my clients take this approach to meal planning as well.

Current research continues to prove that a whole food driven diet (eating food in as close to its natural state as possible) is one of the best ways to fuel your body mentally and physically.  In fact, recent studies have shown that a whole food driven diet can actually boost your metabolism compared to a diet made up of processed foods which can cause your metabolism to slow down dramatically.  Just one more reason to avoid heavily processed low calorie diet food.  Thank goodness!

Please understand, I’m not suggesting that you should never eat anything processed.  One of the biggest flaws in the diet industry today is that they usually have too many rules and restrictions.  I want you to always feel free to live your life the way that you want to live it.

However, eating “whole foods” as much as possible can help you feel better and look better without ever having to diet in the first place.

Here are five simple tips to help you add more whole foods to your daily meals

Cook as much as you can.  One of the top reasons I encourage meal planning and cooking your own food is that you have more control over the ingredients.  You can modify recipes to suit dietary needs and have 100% control over what goes into your body.  Magazines like Cooking Light are a great place to find healthy recipes that  won’t skimp on taste or ingredients.

Buy fresh.  Shop around the perimeter of the store for as much of your food as possible.  The perimeter is where most of the fresh food is stored.

Not all processed food is unhealthy.  Food that is deliberately changed before it is made available for us to eat is considered processed.  It’s usually packaged in boxes or bags and contains more than one item on the ingredient list.

Some processed foods are actually healthy for you and can be great time savers.  Foods like precooked whole grains, greek yogurt, nut butters, frozen fruits and veggies, organic soups, and canned beans are all great examples of healthy processed foods.

Take a quick look at the ingredient list before purchasing processed food.  Ask yourself if it’s something you could make at home or if it can only be made in a lab.  If you see things like high-fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated fats (transfats), the food has undergone a chemical process.  I recommend avoiding these chemicals in your food as much as possible.

Load up on fruits and vegetables.  Choose recipes like stir fry’s that include a lot of vegetables.  Try adding a side salad with your dinner or lunch or including a piece of fruit with your snack.  If you like to keep it simple, fill up half of your plate with fruits and veggies and then add your protein and carbohydrate.

Know where your food comes from.  Ask your market where the food you are buying came from.  Look for meat that is grass-fed and raised without antibiotics or hormones.  Produce that travels a few hours to get to your plate is less likely to have artificial preservatives than the fruits and veggies traveling 1500 miles or more from other countries.  Buy produce that’s in season and shop weekly.  If spoilage is a concern, buy frozen organic fruits and vegetables.  They will last  longer and can be more budget friendly.  I like to buy a combination of fresh and frozen every week and then focus on using the foods that have a shorter shelf life first.  Freeze meat and defrost it as needed.

Eating whole foods is really nothing new.  It’s simply the way of life my great-grandmother would have understood living on their farm.  Food that comes directly from the farm to the table is usually about as whole as you can get.

I think my grandmother would have approved  🙂

Here’s to your health!

Shared with love,
Jennifer