How to Stay Forever Fit and Firm - Part 3, A Balanced Diet

I have to be honest and tell you that more than 50 percent of the exercise required to stay fit and firm as you age involves a fork and knife. No amount of exercise can compensate for poor dietary habits. I believe in finding a healthy eating plan that works for you, that you can live with for the long-term.

Fad diets don’t work because they are too restrictive for most people to follow and to incorporate into their daily lives. How many times have you seen someone lose a lot of weight in a short period and here people say, “Have you seen so-and-so, since she’s been on that new diet? She looks so good.” Then you see that person a year or so later, and she is heavier than ever. That’s the typical outcome of a fad diet.

The key to eating healthy over the long-term is balance and moderation in the foods you consume daily. You can eat any food you desire as long as it is in moderation and balanced it with the rest of the foods you consume. For example, I love brownies, so when I have a brownie for dessert I only have one. I also balance the carbohydrates and sugar in the brownie by not having bread with my meal.

The first step to learning balance and moderation in your diet is knowing how to classify foods into their basic source of protein, carbohydrates, and fats as well as how they are used in your body. The second step is mastering portion. Knowing how many calories you consume from each food source and what your serving sizes are will enable you to balance your meals. Eating this way can be easily incorporated into your lifestyle - it’s a plan you can stick with over time.

Core & Lower Body Workout For Tues 7-26-2011

A quick intense workout this morning focusing on legs and core.

Location: Capitol View Fitness Studio, Washington DC

Warm-up

5 x 100 Jump Rope

TRX assisted stretching

Workout

5 x 10reps Leg Ext superset w/ 20 TRX Jump Squats

3 x 20rep DB Calf Raises

3x:

1 x 100 Jump Rope

1 x 10 DB Deadlifts

1 x 10 TRX Pikes

1 x 10 TRX Crunch

1 x 10 TRX Superman Planks

1 x 10 Cable Torso Twists

3 x 100 Jump Rope

Metabolic Finisher

DB Squat Thrusts/Push-up (This is a serious ass kicker with 50lb dumbells)

8rep countdown to 45 sec rest

Cool-Down

TRX Assisted Stretching

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2 a day workouts on deck for Wed & Thurs.

Wed a.m. - Shoulders, back, & arms

Wed p.m - Sprints & Sprint Drills, Flexibility

Thurs a.m. - TRX Legs, Core & Flexibilty

Thurs p.m. - Bodyweight Cardio & Agility Drills

Stay tuned for the workouts

Recovery Week July 19th Thru July 22nd 2011

After Monday of this week I allowed myself some time for recovery to allow my body to 'reboot' and refresh. During this time, I still remain active but just no over exerting resistance or cardio exercises. The body needs time off to get heal and get stronger. This recovery period began on after Monday the 18th. Monday I had one last short intense workout before the rest period. Listed below is the log for this week.

Monday

Location: Howard HS Track & Football field

Warm-up:

TRX assisted dynamic warm-up

1 Football Field Suicide (25yd, 50yd, 75yd, & 100yd semi-sprint)

TRX Circuit 2x

1 x 40 Windmill Lunge (20 each side)

1 x 100 Jump Rope

1 x 10 Pikes

1 x 100 Jump Rope

1 x 10 Oblique crunch

1 x 100 Jump Rope

1 x 20 Single Leg Burpbee (10 each side)

1 x 100 Jump Rope

1 x 15 Clutch Curl

1 x 100 Jump Rope

Hill Sprint 25 yd

1 x 10 up & down

2 x 100 Jump Rope

TRX Stretch

1 x 6 up & down

1 x 100 Jump Rope

TRX Stretch

1 x 4 up & down

2 x 100 Jump Rope

Cool Down

TRX Static Stretch

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Tues July 19th (RECOVERY)

Location: National Mall Washington, DC

Walk 20 mins

Static Stretch

Power Walk 20 mins

Static Stretch

Walk 20 mins

Static Stretch

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Wed July 20th (RECOVERY)

AM Location: Capitol View Fitness Studio, SW Washington DC

20 minutes for TRX assisted dynamic drills & flexibility training

PM Location: Howard HS Track, Columbia Md

1 hour Walk and Dynamic drills

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Thursday July 21st

Location: Pool

30 mins of light water drills (running in place, leg lifts, calisthenics)

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Friday July 22nd

Location: My Ass (Complete rest day while traveling)

Mental preparation for the weekends grueling workouts.

20 Minute Workout Express

Think you can't get a workout in this week because you are pushed for time?  Checkout my 20 minute workout routines on Health Fitness Nation.

The Warner Street Kidz Boot Camp Workout

The Warner Street Kids (Salem, Ma) Boot Camp Workout:

The children who perform this workout range in age from 13years old to 7 years old and they bring it every time. This is their standard workout. They were however introduced to the TRX last week.

Run in place for 2 minutes

Dynamic Stretching:

Torso twists

Arm rotations

Torso rotations

Lunges

Hamstring kicks

Pull-ups as many as you can. (Some are learning some can do as many as 11)

Cardio Circuit:

Jumping Jacks 1 minute

Jump Squats 30 secs

Heisman Step 30 secs

Log jumps 45 secs

Burpbees 45 secs

Mummy Kicks 45 secs

Mountain Climbers 30 secs

Tri-set Blitz:

5 push-ups

10 curl-ups

15 jumping jack

(repeat 5 times)

2 x 40 yard Suicides

1 lap around the field run/walk

Cool-down stretching

AFS-TRX Agility Workout

My Workout Log for Tuesday 6-28-2010

Location: The National Mall, Washington DC

Warm-up:

½ Mile run/walk

Dynamic stretching

34 ft Agility ladder drills (up and back):

2 x In/Out

2 x Icky Shuffle

2 x High Knees

2 x Lateral in-out

(Drill was repeated after every 2 TRX exercises performed)

TRX circuit repeat twice:

1 x 20 Balanced Lunge (10 each leg)

1 x 10 single armed bicep curl (each arm)

1 x 10 singled leg squat (10 each leg)

X-Y rows to failure

TRX assisted Static stretch cool down

My Weekend Workout for Saturday 6-25-2011

My Workout Log for Saturday 6-25-2011

Location: North Shore YMCA, Beverly, Ma

Warm-up:

5 x100 Jump Rope reps

5 minute TRX assisted dynamic stretching

Leg Circuit performed 3x:

1 x 10 Split Squats (10 ea leg)

1 x 20 Plyo-box jumps

1 x 20 TRX Plyo-Sprinter Stance

1 x 10 Single legged deadlift (TRX/Kettlebell)

2 x 100 Jump Rope reps

TRX Metabolic Circuit 2x:

1 x 20 Burpees

Suspended chest press to failure

1 x 20 lateral lunge

Single armed curls to failure

1 x10 atomic push-ups

1 x 10 Hamstring curl

Single armed chest press to failure

2 x 100 jump ropes

Shoulders/ Back Circuit 3x:

1 x 10 cable raises

1 x 10 resistance band lateral raises

1 x 20 pull-ups

2 x 100 Jump rope

10 minutes heavy bag

5 x 100 jump rope reps

Static stretch cool down

Workout fuel:

Pre-workout: Whey protein shake, 1000mg L-Arginine

During: water, 20 oz G-2 low cal

Post-workout- 16 oz chocolate milk immediately after cool-down. 40 min later Avocado/Protein Shake. 2Hrs after workout 2 eggs & 1 egg white with grits.

Eating Good Fat Is Good For You

Image by net_efekt via FlickrFat has taken a bad rap over the years but, it is very essential to your health and well being.  “Eat a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet” has been the mantra for healthy eating for decades now. Touted as a way to lose weight and prevent heart disease and other chronic conditions, millions of people have followed this advice. Seeing a tremendous marketing opportunity, food companies re-engineered thousands of foods to be lower in fat or fat free. The low-fat approach to eating may have made a difference for the occasional individual, but as a nation it has not helped us control our weight or become healthier. In the 1960s, fats and oils supplied Americans with about 45 percent of their calories and about 13 percent of the population was obese and less than 1 percent had type 2 diabetes. Today Americans take in less fat, getting about 33 percent of calories from fats and oils, yet 34 percent of the population is obese and 8 percent has diabetes (mostly type 2).

Your body packages fat and cholesterol into tiny protein-covered particles called lipoprotein in order to get them into your blood stream. Some of these lipoproteins are big and fluffy, and others are small and dense. However, the most important ones to remember for your health and well-being are low-density lipoproteins, high-density lipoproteins, and triglycerides as explained below.

Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) carry cholesterol form your liver to the rest of your body. Your cells latch onto these particles and extract fat and cholesterol from them. When there is too much LDL cholesterol in your blood, these particles can form deposits in the walls of your coronary arties and other arties throughout your body. These deposits, called plaque can cause your arties to narrow and limit blood flow resulting in a heart attack or stroke. Thus LDL cholesterol is called your bad cholesterol.

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) scavenge cholesterol from your bloodstream, from your LDL, and from your artery walls and ferry it back to your liver for disposal. Thus HDL cholesterol is referred to as your good cholesterol.

Triglycerides make up most of the fat that you eat and that travels through your bloodstream. Triglycerides are your body’s main vehicle for transporting fats to your cells and thus, are very important for your good health. However, an excess of triglycerides can be unhealthy.

The type of fat your diet determines to a large extent the amount of total and LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream. Cholesterol in food matters too, but not nearly as much. You can basically break the fats in your diet into three categories; good, bad, and very bad.

Good Fats

Unsaturated fats are called good fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels, ease inflammation, stabilize heart rhythms, and play a number of other beneficial roles. Unsaturated fats are predominantly found in foods from plants, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. They are liquid at room temperature.

Further, there are two types of unsaturated fats. First monounsaturated fats which are found in high concentrations in canola, peanut, and olive oils; avocados; nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans; and seeds such as pumpkin and sesame seeds. Secondly, polyunsaturated fats which are found in high concentrations in sunflower, corn, soybean, and flaxseed oils, and also in foods such as walnuts, flax seeds and fish.

Research has shown that replacing carbohydrates in your diet with good fats reduces harmful levels of LDL and increases protective HDL in your bloodstream. A randomized trail known as the Optimal Macronutrient Intake Trial for Heart Health showed that replacing a carbohydrate-rich diet with one rich in unsaturated fat, predominantly monounsaturated fats lowers blood pressure, improves lipid levels, and reduces the estimated cardiovascular risk.

Bad Fats

Saturated fats are called bad fats because they increase your total cholesterol level by elevating your harmful LDL. Your body can make all the saturated fat that it needs, so you don’t need to get any in your diet. In the US and other developed countries saturated fats come mainly from meat, seafood, poultry with skin, and whole-milk dairy products. A few plant sources are also high in saturated fats, such as coconuts and coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil.

As general rule it’s a good idea to keep your intake of saturated fats as low as possible. Saturated fats are a part of many foods, including vegetable oils that are mainly unsaturated fats, so you can’t totally eliminate them from your diet. Red meat and dairy fats are the main sources of saturated fats in most people’s diets, so minimizing them in your diet is the primary way to reduce your intake of saturated fat.

Very Bad Fats

Trans fatty acids, more commonly known as trans fats are made by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas, a process called hydrogenation. Partially hydrogenating vegetable oils make them more stable and less likely to spoil. It also converts the oil into a solid which makes transportation easier. Partially hydrogenated oils can also withstand repeated heating without breaking down, which makes them ideal for frying fast foods. This is why partially hydrogenated oils have been a mainstay of restaurants and the food industry.

Trans fats are worse for cholesterol levels than saturated fats because they raise bad LDL and lower good HDL. They also increase inflammation, an over-activity of the immune system that has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other chronic conditions. Even small amounts of trans fats in diet can have harmful health effects. For every extra 2 percent of calories from trans fat daily (the amount in a medium order of fast food French fries) the risk of coronary heart disease increases by 23 percent. It is estimated that eliminating trans fats from the US food supply would prevent between 6 and 19 percent of heart attacks and related deaths (more than 200,000) each year.

How To Practice Balance And Moderation In Your Diet

I have to be honest and tell you that more than 50 percent of the exercise required to stay fit and firm as you age involves a fork and knife. No amount of exercise can compensate for poor dietary habits. I believe in finding a healthy eating plan that works for you, that you can live with for the long-term.
 
One of the easiest ways to incorporate a healthy eat plan into your life is through balance and moderation in the foods you eat everyday.You can eat any food you desire as long as it is in moderation and balanced it with the rest of the foods you consume. For example, I love brownies, so when I have a brownie for dessert I only have one. I also balance the carbohydrates and sugar in the brownie by not having bread with my meal.

The first step to learning balance and moderation in your diet is knowing how to classify foods into their basic source of protein, carbohydrates, and fats as well as how they are used in your body. The second step is mastering portion. Knowing how many calories you consume from each food source and what your serving sizes are will enable you to balance your meals. Eating this way can be easily incorporated into your lifestyle - it’s a plan you can stick with over time.

So let’s begin by seeing how foods are broken down into their basic components of protein, carbohydrates, and fats and how your body uses them. In this post we'll talk about Protein.

Protein

Protein is a necessary part of every living cell in your body. Next to water, protein comprises up the greatest portion of your body weight. Protein substances make up your muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, glands, nails, hair, and many vital body fluids. It is essential for the growth, repair, and healing of your bones, tissues, and cells. In addition, the enzymes and hormones that catalyze and regulate your body processes are comprised of protein. So, you see the proper amount of protein in your diet is vital for your health and wellbeing.

Protein is composed of building-block chemicals called amino acids. There are approximately 28 commonly known amino acids that your body uses to create all the various combinations of proteins needed for survival. These 28 commonly known amino acids are further classified as essential and nonessential amino acids. Nonessential amino acids can be produced in your body, while essential amino acids cannot be produced in your body and must be obtained from the foods you eat.

The sources of protein in your diet are classified as complete or incomplete. Complete proteins contain all the essential amino acids and are mostly from animal sources such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. Incomplete proteins lack one or more essential amino acids that your body cannot make itself. Incomplete proteins usually come from plant- based sources such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts. You must eat incomplete sources of protein in a combination that contains all the essential amino acids in order for your body to use them.

As mentioned, you must get your essential amino acids from your diet because your body cannot make them itself. Some of the best animal sources of protein are fish, poultry, lean cuts of meat, and low-fat dairy products. Some of the best vegetable sources are beans, nuts, and whole grains.

So, now you must be thinking how much protein should be in your daily diet? According to research on this topic, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Recommendations range from a minimum of 10 percent of your daily caloric intake to 30 percent. However, results from scientific research are now revealing that people who consume higher amounts of protein (20 to 30 percent of their daily caloric intake), while cutting back on their carbohydrate intake, tend to lose weight faster and stay leaner than those people on low-fat diets.

The reason higher protein, lower carbohydrates diets are more conducive to weight loss and maintenance is interesting. First, high-protein foods slow the movement of food from the stomach to the intestines, meaning you feel full longer and don’t get hungry as often. Second, protein has a leveling effect on your blood sugar which means you are less likely to get spikes in your blood sugar that lead to cravings for carbohydrates. Third, your body uses more energy to digest protein than it does to digest fat or carbohydrates. (3)

Over the years, I found that eating about 30 percent of my calories from protein works great for me to maintain my weight and muscle mass. Here’s how to calculate how many grams of protein that equates to 30 percent of your daily caloric intake. First, you must have an idea of how many calories you consume daily. I suggest you keep a food journal for at least a week in which you write down everything you eat and drink and the corresponding quantities. Next, you have to calculate the total calories you eat each day from your journal. You can do this by finding the nutritional data for foods from different sources. For example, the USDA’s National Nutritional Database can be found at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/.

Once you know how many daily calories you are eating it’s easy to calculate how much protein you should be consuming. Let’s say the result from above calculations show that you are eating approximately 1800 calories per day. So, 30 percent of 1800 calories equates to 540 calories that should be consumed from protein. Next, you convert the calories from protein to grams by dividing the 540 calories by 4 which equals 134 grams of protein.

Now that you know how much protein you need in your diet here are some good sources of protein listed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help you with you serving sizes.

1 ounce meat, fish, poultry equals 7 grams of protein

1 large egg equals 6 grams of protein

4 ounces milk equal 4 grams of protein

4 ounces low-fat yogurt equals 6 grams of protein

4 ounces soy milk equals 5 grams of protein

3 ounces tofu, firm equals 13 grams of protein

1 ounce cheese equals 7 grams of protein

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese equals 14 grams of protein

1/2 cup cooked kidney beans equals 7 grams of protein

1/2 cup lentils equals 9 grams of protein

1 ounce nuts equals 7 grams of protein

2 tablespoons peanut butter equals 8 grams of protein

1/2 cup vegetables equals 2 grams of protein

1 slice bread equals 2 grams of protein

1/2 cup of most grains/pastas equals 2 grams of protein

I hope this helps you start to understand how to balance your meals.  In my next post I'll talk about carbohydrates.

The Mental And Physical Requirements Of Staying Fit and Firm With Age

Last Wednesday I spoke to a group of people at an Active Adult Community about the mental and physical requirements of staying healthy, fit, and firm over the age of 50.  I explained that they had to incorporate the following three things into their lives to do so: a positive mental attitude, a fitness program built on strength training, and a healthy diet designed around balance and moderation.

I feel as though I’m qualified to speak on the subject because I’m an ACE certified personal trainer with over 17 years of experience in the health and fitness industry.  Most importantly, I’m 52 years old and healthier and fitter than I have ever been in my life.  So, I can speak on this subject not only from scientific facts, but also from my experience (proof in the pudding).

A Positive Mental Attitude

I think a positive mental attitude about aging is the first and most important step to staying healthy, fit and firm as you age.  I believe the mental vision you have of aging is what you become.  Your body renews itself every 11 months, and that means every cell in your body is replaced.  I think that if you visualize yourself as becoming weak and frail as you age, your body conforms to this image over time.  Contrarily, if you imagine yourself as healthy and strong as you age, your body continues to renew itself according to this vision.   I always visualize myself as healthy and strong.

A Fitness Program Built On Strength Training

I believe strength training is the most important form of exercise you can do to stay healthy, fit and firm if you are over the age of 50.  Beginning in your 40s you naturally start to lose muscle mass, and if you don’t do anything to combat this process you can lose as much as a pound of muscle each year.  This is not good because muscle is that active component of your body that burns most of the calories you consume.  Also, muscle is what gives your body that fit and firm look.

Strength training has been proven to minimize and in some cases to reverse muscle loss due to aging.  Therefore, I recommend that you build your fitness program on strength training.  A good strength training program should consist of exercises that target all the major muscle groups and should be performed 2 to 3 times each week.  I’ve been weight lifting all of my adult life and I’m as strong and muscular as I’ve ever been.

A Healthy Diet Built Around Balance and Moderation

I was asked by one of the attendees if they could eat fried chicken?  I responded by saying that you can eat anything you desire if you do it in balance and moderation with everything you eat. 

 

I believe balance and moderation in your diet is the best solution to long-term weight management.  If you balance the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat in your diet and practice portion control you can eat what you want.  Fad diets don’t work in the long-term because they are too restrictive as to what you can and cannot eat.

To practice balance and moderation in your diet you have to know the following two things.  First, how to classify foods into their basic sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.  Secondly, how to calculate your serving size.  If you master these two things then you can eat healthy anywhere.  I’ll explain how to do this in my next post, and also how I practice balance and moderation in my diet.