Hidden Calories

I know that losing weight and feeling better about our bodies is always a constant thought. I have heard over the past few years numerous issues about not losing weight fast enough or not fitting into your clothes. Getting on the work-out wagon is only half of the battle when it comes to complete fitness. Nutrition is just as important. I know most of you keep a food log, but how honest are you with yourself when you write down what you are eating? I am not pointing my finger at anyone, but I just want to make people aware of the hidden calories in certain foods we eat every day. Many of the foods I’m going to list are in small amounts, if those all add up, it can prevent you from reaching your goals.

1. Butter on your toast- 40 calories

2. Ketchup- 15 calories (let’s be honest…we all use way more than one tablespoon too) This could be more like 90 calories

3. Half and half- 30 calories

4. Sugar in your coffee- 10 calories

5. Mayonnaise (even just a smidge)- 100 calories. Just stay away from this stuff!!!!!

6. Oil and vinegar on your sandwich- 50 calories

7. Feta cheese on a salad- 50 calories

8. Tablespoon of grated Parmesan on a sandwich or salad- 25 calories

9. Sour cream- 30 calories

10. That handful of m&m’s in the candy jar- 75 calories

I know you might think that some are very low in calories, but remember that most don’t adhere to serving size. Usually it is much more than the standard serving. If one of those things are a staple in your diet I would suggest cutting it out or really making sure you are just having the correct serving size.

I challenge all of you to actually measure EVERYTHING you eat for a few days. I know it might take 5 more minutes out of your day, but I also know that those 5 minutes are worth it if you lose an extra 5 pounds.

Be A Deli Detective: What's In Your Dinner Tonight

Tamara Brown, MPH, RD, LD

As the air gets crisp and the nights get long, what better way to stay warm than a steamy bowl of satisfying soup? For those busy days when you don’t have time to create your own pot of soup, many local grocery stores have already done the work for you and sell ready-made soups. Often these can be found warm at the soup bar, nicely labeled, but frequently lacking an ingredient list. Have you ever wondered what is in the pre-made soup you love the most? The deli detective is back on the scene, examining some quick and easy, “grab and go” soups from five local grocery stores so that you know exactly what’s in your food tonight. The chart below highlights some of the ingredients in each store’s product.

Click here to read on

Healthy Food Swaps

The snacks we choose can make a big difference to maintain a healthy weight. By substituting a few healthier choices you can snack guilt-free!

Salsa is a great way to satisfy one of your daily vegetable requirements while adding flavor to cottage cheese as a replacement for higher calorie fruits and as a swap for sour cream on a quesadilla. A half cup of salsa is only 21 calories, which is a great way to eliminate 200 calories if using higher calorie garnishes and fruits.

Turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas are a tasty and healthy alternative for potatoes. Clean, cube and add spices like rosemary, garlic, and sage, and bake for a tasty side dish at your next meal.

Celery and carrots are a good snack but did you know that a cup of sliced bell peppers has only 20 calories and at the same time supplies 120 percent of your daily vitamin C requirement. They are also full of antioxidants – so crunch away.

Build and Repair Muscle with Protien

Most nutritionists will recommend three eight ounce (approximately one cup) portions of protein foods every day.

Meats are a prime source of protein and the ones to eat are those that are 95 percent lean. Some choices are white chicken or turkey breasts, egg whites, fish and shell fish.

If you prefer a vegetarian choice for your proteins choose beans and legumes like lentils, lima, pinto and edamame. Soy (in food form) is another great source of protein such as tempeh and tofu which can be found in several healthy choices like veggie burgers.

Dairy foods in reduced fat forms like skim milk, yogurt and cottage cheese help you to maintain the minimum daily requirements for protein for every meal. This is required to balance out your carb intake. If you eat carbs alone your blood sugar will skyrocket and then plummet. Combining proteins and carbs will eliminate these dangerous blood sugar fluctuations.

Cancer cells slurp up fructose, U.S. study finds

Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that challenges the common wisdom that all sugars are the same.
Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways, the team at the University of California Los Angeles found.
They said their finding, published in the journal Cancer Research, may help explain other studies that have linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types.
"These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation," Dr. Anthony Heaney of UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and colleagues wrote.
"They have major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth."
Americans take in large amounts of fructose, mainly in high fructose corn syrup, a mix of fructose and glucose that is used in soft drinks, bread and a range of other foods.
Politicians, regulators, health experts and the industry have debated whether high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients have been helping make Americans fatter and less healthy.
Too much sugar of any kind not only adds pounds, but is also a key culprit in diabetes, heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association.
Several states, including New York and California, have weighed a tax on sweetened soft drinks to defray the cost of treating obesity-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
The American Beverage Association, whose members include Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods have strongly, and successfully, opposed efforts to tax soda. [ID:nN12233126]
The industry has also argued that sugar is sugar.
Heaney said his team found otherwise. They grew pancreatic cancer cells in lab dishes and fed them both glucose and fructose.
Tumor cells thrive on sugar but they used the fructose to proliferate. "Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different," Heaney's team wrote.
"I think this paper has a lot of public health implications. Hopefully, at the federal level there will be some effort to step back on the amount of high fructose corn syrup in our diets," Heaney said in a statement.
Now the team hopes to develop a drug that might stop tumor cells from making use of fructose.
U.S. consumption of high fructose corn syrup went up 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990, researchers reported in 2004 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Mood Lifting Foods

You may think the secret to lifting your moods is to indulge in that ice cream sundae, but as a nutritional consultant, I know the true secret lies in eating mood-enhancing foods. Many foods and nutrients affect our moods, but protein is one of the most important because it boosts our brain chemicals. Let me explain how protein helps create balanced moods.

Protein in chicken, eggs or fish provides the building blocks for making the critical brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine. These brain chemicals help us feel calm, happy or motivated, but they can't be made from an ice cream sundae. Many people believe that antidepressant medications like Prozac or Paxil make brain chemicals, but in fact they don't. We make serotonin and dopamine from salmon, steak and chicken.

If you are experiencing low moods, it's important to eat protein throughout the day to provide the brain with a steady supply of nutrients to make serotonin and dopamine.

Low B Vitamin Intakes Related to Depression in Older Adults

Low intakes of the B vitamins are thought to contribute to depression in some people, but until now there has been little supporting evidence from population-based studies of older adults.
In a recent study published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers examined whether certain dietary intakes of vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folic acid correlated with symptoms of depression.
The study group consisted of 3,503 adults aged 65 and older who were followed over an average of 7.2 years. Vitamin intakes from diet and supplements were assessed using food frequency questionnaires, and the presence of depression was measured periodically using a standardized version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale.
After ≤12 years of follow-up, higher B vitamin intakes (including supplementation) were associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms. The lowered risk remained after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, income, and anti-depressant medication use. The risk of developing depression symptoms decreased by 2 percent for every 10mg (milligram) increase in daily vitamin B6 intake. The same effect was true for every 10µg (microgram) increase in vitamin B12 intake. Increased intakes of the B vitamins through food intake alone did not significantly reduce depression incidence.
Both vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 are involved in healthy nervous system function, but because older adults often have difficulty absorbing the B12 found naturally in food, fortified foods and a multivitamin may be necessary to reach beneficial levels.
The results of this research indicate that high total intakes of vitamins B6 and B12 may be protective against depressive symptoms in older adults.

Effects of Alcohol and Caffine On Our Bodies

First off, caffeine and alcohol are both considered (by many experts) slow
poisons that over time can cause many health issues down the line. Both
form an acidic environment in the body which can lead to heart disease,
inflammation, arthritis, diabetes and major digestive issues. Some early
studies are showing a possible link to various cancers as well.

Both wreak havoc on your blood sugar and how it's
regulated. Caffeine taxes the adrenal glands which is responsible for
regulating your hormones. It puts the body into a fight or flight
mode (all the time) which can cause longterm ill-health effects and
difficulty with weight loss. It also stimulates our central nervous system which can
affect perception, moods and behavior. Although it does increase the
"feel-good" neurotransmitter dopamine when we drink it, over time
you need more and more caffeine for the desired effect.

Dropping these two "toxins" will help you find your natural energy without a
dependence on anything outside of food to get energy or relax. Removing both
will help you to have deeper and more restful sleep.

When we drink alcohol we rarely go into REM sleep, which means our
bodies don't get the healing recovery rest that we need. Over time, it also
depletes serotonin in our bodies, which can then cause depression, mood
swings and other issues related to low serotonin. Drinking also affects our
neurotransmitters in our brain, thinking patterns, memory and hormone
regulation. Not to mention what it does to the liver.

Lack of Sleep May Promote Obesity

It is known that short-term sleep deprivation increases plasma concentrations of ghrelin (a hormone related to increased appetite) and decreases those of leptin (a hormone related to satiety.)
In a randomized crossover study, researchers studied twelve normally healthy non-obese men to observe the effect of sleep deprivation on energy intake and physical activity. During the first night of each 48-hour session, subjects had either 8 hours (from midnight to 8:00 a.m.) or 4 hours (from 02:00 a.m. to 06:00 a.m.) of sleep. All foods consumed thereafter (jam on buttered toast for breakfast, buffet for lunch, and a free menu for dinner) were eaten ad libitum (with no restrictions.) Physical activity was also recorded. Sensations of hunger, perceived pleasantness of the foods, desire to eat some foods, and sleepiness were also evaluated.
In comparison with the 8-hour sleep session, subjects consumed 559 (22%) more calories on the day after sleep restriction, and hunger was higher before breakfast and dinner. Researchers observed no change in the perceived pleasantness of the foods or in the desire to eat the foods. Physical activity was slightly higher after sleep restriction than after 8 hours of sleep, even though the sensation of sleepiness was more apparent.
In this group of healthy men, one night of reduced sleep led to an increase in food intake and, to a lesser extent, physical activity-related energy expenditure. Although further research is needed to confirm the results of this small study, these results suggest that sleep restriction could be a factor that promotes obesity.

DHA Improves Memory

Recent research published online in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association illustrates a benefit for docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation in a clinical trial of individuals with age-related cognitive decline (ARC). DHA is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found most prominently in algae, fatty fish and fish oil supplements.
Participants included 485 individuals aged 55 and older with complaints of mild memory loss. The subjects were given a daily dosage of 900 milligrams of DHA or a placebo for 6 months. Memory and learning tests were given at the beginning of the study and at 12 and 24 weeks.
At the end of the study period, the group receiving the DHA supplement had improved test scores that correlated with an increase in plasma DHA levels. At 12 weeks there were no significant differences in the test scores of the two groups. However, at 24 weeks the group taking the DHA had a 2-fold reduction in the number of learning and memory errors tested compared to the placebo group.
The results of this study are the first to clinically confirm that DHA meaningfully improves memory and learning functions in healthy adults with age-related cognitive decline. Since it is estimated that up to one-third of the aging population in the U.S. will experience a decline in cognitive function with age, the benefits of a daily DHA supplement can have a significant impact on public health.

Reasons Why People Can't Shed Fat

I wanted to share two vital reasons that many people find it impossible to shed fat...


Refined, Processed, Pre-Packaged Substances Masquerading as Food

Grocery stores are packed with stuff that manufacturers call food. An average grocery store is 47,500 square feet. and contains around 45,000 items. But, a lot of the content is far from healthy. These pre-packaged foods are made with loads of chemicals that our body sees as UFO's. In fact, our bodies have no idea how to process many of these chemicals and so it ends up storing these UFO type substances as fat in the body - to save us from toxic overload. Which puts a HUGE burden on normal body functions.

Even though we have access to all these pre-made goodies they are "cheap" - cheap calories, cheap or devoid of nutrients, cheap on the satisfying scale. Many of our bodies are actually STARVING for good nutrients, but are obese.

What you need to understand is that calorie counting is SO LAST DECADE. Instead learn how to choose high quality foods that are easy to prepare & pack a huge nutritional punch!


Chronic Dehydration

One of the first questions I ask prospects and clients is about their hydration. The answer I typically get is - "I could be drinking more." Or "Does diet coke count?" Or "I'm never thirsty." It's been estimated that nearly 80% of the worlds people are chronically dehydrated. This is a huge health challenge and a major problem to all sorts of PREVENTABLE health problems including obesity. Water transports nutrients into cells and transports toxins out of cells. Without proper hydration levels the body becomes malnourished, toxic, acidic and weak. Which leads to further fat storage.

Stregthen The Stomach To Make It Flatter

Too often people try to flatten their bellies the wrong way. They do only one ab exercise, the abdominal crunch over and over.This is not an efficient way to flatten you belly. Abdominal crunches work only one area of your abdomen- the part along the front of your belly along the belly button. Unfortunately, this happens to be the one area of the belly that's often the strongest on people. So, as as exercises, crunches simply make an already strong area even stronger, which lead to muscle imbalances. To create a slender waist and flat belly, you must strengthen your entire abdomen. The best place to start is with an abdominal muscle called the transverse abdominus. This core like muscle wraps around your pelvis, just below your ribcage. It's the muscle you use when you suck in your gut or cough or sneeze. It's also the most neglected of the abdominal muscles, primarily because so few traditional exercises work this area. Your transverse abdominus is very important because it helps hold your internal organs in place and helps support the lower back and stabilize the torso during heavy lifting. Doing exercise such as vacuums and planks will help to create a strong transverse abdominus.

Toxic Chemicals In Personal Care Products

How many times a day do you wash your hands? What about doing dishes or brushing your teeth? Most of us do these things throughout the day. Unfortunately, many products like hand soap, toothpaste and dish soap contain a toxic chemical called triclosan. This chemical is being widely used in the U.S. despite evidence that it is a real and imminent threat to public and environmental health.Many of us buy products containing triclosan, perhaps unknowingly, simply because chemical companies have marketed it in such a way to make us believe the product is more protective against illness. Triclosan products like soap, toothpaste, deodorant and makeup are often labeled as "antibacterial," "antimicrobial," "Microban" or "Biofresh." Despite FDA expert advice that antibacterial soaps are no more effective than regular soap and water in fighting illness, the dangerous substance is still allowed in too many consumer products.One of the worst things about triclosan is it persists in the environment and is recognized, like BPA, as an endocrine disruptor -- a substance that interferes with the body's hormones. There have been massive recalls and new legislation to ban BPA in products like baby bottles and food containers, but there's been very little done about triclosan, which could be just as damaging.

Train Yourself to Breathe Deep
You may know your diaphragm as that place in your belly you're supposed to breathe from when doing deep breathing exercises. You may even know that it's a muscle. Most people I talk to don't know that it's surprisingly complex, attaches to the ribs and spine, and can cause postural problems and discomfort that range from back problems to plantar fasciitis.

Diaphragm restriction often has emotional roots. By restricting your breathing, you can avoid fully experiencing uncomfortable emotions. This avoidance can become habitual to the point where the relationship to its basis in suppressed feelings is deeply hidden.

An exercise I give clients with chronic diaphragm tension is designed to use the principles of Ortho-Bionomy® to allow the body to gently explore and recognize the patterns of restriction in a way that allows processing

Sitting upright, sit and breathe naturally, paying attention to the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your body. Next, breathe deeply into the diaphragm area, this is the area of your belly at the base of your rib cage. Breathe in only until you feel restriction, do not try to expand or stretch, continuing to bring your attention to the feeling in your body. Continue this deep breathing, always coming to the edge of restriction. Notice it's shape and quality. Notice any changes that happen.

It is not unheard of for this exercise to prompt emotional response, so if you feel tearful or the beginnings of anger, just notice it, continue to breathe and allow it to move up and out. Most times, this kind of emotional processing happens somewhat transparently, and without any obvious conscious manifestations.

This exercise is really great for asthmatics who have habituated tension in this part of their body, but I've never met anyone who doesn't benefit from opening up the tension in their diaphragm.

Benifits of Strectching

Hi all! As all of our clients know we here @ FT Maple Grove incorporate a lot of stretching into our programs. We do this because of many different reasons: increased circulation, increased joint range of motion, healing of injuries, just to name a few. Now it seems that finally the rest of the world might be catching on. Check out an article from our local twin cities newspaper the Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com and type in key word "fascia". It is an excellent article titled: "It's time for a good stretch".

Earth Day Eating

Just like you, conservationists, fishermen, chefs and consumers are working together to find new ways of living off our oceans and waters while keeping nature healthy.

Love to cook? Find out why ocean conservation is important to world-renowned chefs Mario Batali and Dan Barber, and recreate their recipes forMackerel in Scapece with Lemon Thyme and Sweet Peppers and Escabeche of Spanish Mackerel.

While you’re cooking, share your favorite seafood recipe.

And while you’re out, keep a copy of this pocket seafood guide http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in your wallet, or text Blue Ocean’s FishPhone to help you choose sustainable seafood at the grocery store or in a restaurant.