Do You Need a Nutrition Wake-Up Call?

“If you’ve put forth the effort to attain your weight loss goal through exercise alone you may have faced the same reality that nearly all others come to realize… Exercise alone is not enough!

50%-75% of the battle in attaining your weight-loss goal comes down to what you put in your mouth. You need to run for a very long time to burn the same number of calories you can consume in just a few minutes.”

Words right off the pages of our new website http://www.dietgrader.com

The site is up and ready for anybody needing a nutritional wake-up call, kick in the butt or just interested in learning more about their nutritional intake. It’s an amazing and useful site that we’ll be spending more and more time using within our business locally and globally as we reach out with the good word of health, fitness and wellness.

Check it out and see what kind of nutritional report card you get.

Here’s to your ample consumption of fruits and veggies..CHEERS!

Amy

I Can’t Do It All- A Trainer’s Personal Challenge

I have to admit I’ve been slacking on my job lately. My personal life has been full with some unusual circumstances that have me doing many extra things and taking my precious work time away from me. I’ve felt challenged, sad but mostly just angry becaue I haven’t been doing my optimal job as a fitness pro.

I always spend extra time checking in on people, writing articles, coming up with blogposts based on my observations or just taking a moment to appreciate the awesome people I work with, train and teach. You all mean so much to me and make my job fun, challenging and ever-changing.  Thank you!

My sharing is an effort to show everyone that even those that appear healthy on the outside can be suffering from some major emotional stress and drama that will affect their inside. That, I’m afraid, is where I’ve been the past month. Sorting out my time to take care of granny and her needs, handling my business professionally (already covered how that hasn’t been going too well), managing my family and let’s not forget my own personal health and workouts.

Yeah, they’ve been hard to get to. BUT- I make them a priority because if I don’t I will be a wreck. The physical movement and exercise helps me let off steam, feel better and allows me time to think alone and sort things out. I know for a fact, if I didn’t have it, I would be just like the person who’s been giving me the most drama over the past month.

So, I admit it. I can’t do it all, but I want to. I’ve learned some valuable lessons this past month and have listened to my own advice many times. It’s easy to give up and not prioritize your health when life gets full of unexpected challenges. This should never even cross your mind. Also, learning to prioritize and let go of things you know you just simply don’t have the time to do. There is no need to stress over getting the laundry done or dusting…it will still be there.

Although my life has been a challenge, my efforts not to my standards and my house is a mess I still love my family, friends, work and outside interests. I’m hoping things will settle in the next few weeks and all the energy I’ve been putting toward personal will be back to professional.

Look out when this happens. Usually challenge breeds creativity and deep thoughts from me. Hope you are all ready for it!

Stay balanced and focus on your health!

Amy

PS- Did I mention my eating habits are pathetic..don’t forget good food breeds good brain and body activity. Coffee, candy and bread do not make a balanced diet.

What the Food Industry Doesn’t Tell the Consumer

Every once in awhile I’m surprised by a good, quality story getting mainstream media attention- especially when it has to do with health and fitness.  The Today show hit a home run for me today with their segment on Food Industry Secrets.  I’ve been telling my friends, family and whoever will listen to me these same things for years…..mabye they’ll listen now.

Watch, listen, learn and take accountability for your health and well being. 

To your health-Amy

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/18424824#27319426

Serve It Up!

One of the hardest things I believe as a fitness professional is teaching my clients about proper nutrition habits.  After all, it accounts for at least half of your success rate when it comes to losing weight, plus by making just a few changes in your dietary habits you can see quick results.  Better yet, combine a few nutritional strategies along with a proper fitness program built just for you and voila- even better results.

So how about starting with getting to know a proper serving size?  Did you know that the average pasta serving in a restaurant is close to (gulp) 6 servings?  Yikes, or that the Vitamin waters and other sports drinks I see many a client drinking down contain 2.5 servings.  Double the yikes on that one!

It is so important that consumers get used to reading the food labels and understand what one portion is supposed to be, and even more important know what an average serving size of common food groups are.  Here is a list you can use to serve up your next meal or snack:

ONE SERVING	LOOKS LIKE
1 cup cereal flakes	Fist
1 pancake	Compact disc
½ cup cooked rice or pasta	½ baseball
¼ cup raisins	Large egg
1 baked potato	Fist
1 cup salad greens	Baseball
½ cup fresh fruit	½ baseball
1 ½ ounces of cheese	4 stacked dice (one cheese stick)
1 teaspoon of butter	1 dice
3 ounces of meat, fish, poultry	Deck of cards
3 ounces of cooked fish	Checkbook
2 tablespoons of peanut butter	Table tennis ball

 

*Source IDEA Fitness Journal, June 2008