Have you found it difficult to balance a healthy diet with increased exercise or training?
Midtown Chicago’s Registered Dietitian, Jenny Maloney, is back to tell you how.
Spring is training season for many members. If you have a marathon, triathlon, 5K, or other athletic competition on the calendar, you’re likely exercising more and getting hungrier as well.
There is a fine line between fueling for your exercise or sport and overeating, which can result in weight gain despite an increased caloric burn.
The tendency after a hard workout is to eat twice as much as you normally would, and this can get you into trouble, so ensure that you are eating an overall healthy and balanced diet. Are you consuming enough fruits and vegetables? Are you choosing whole grain versions of foods and lean protein?
Once you are eating a variety of healthy foods, then you can start to think about fueling for exercise. Instead of eating two desserts after a hard workout, add an extra serving of fruit, vegetables, or protein, or add an extra healthy snack. For example, if your dinner is a chicken stir fry, add another ½ cup of brown rice and an extra ounce of chicken. If you are still hungry after dinner, you can always have a snack.
Make sure to eat before and after exercise so you are not starving when you are done. During the off-season or taper periods, cut down your portions but continue to eat healthfully. When you are in training or exercising more, you can eat more but make sure the food is still healthy.
What race(s) are you training for this spring?
As the obesity epidemic grows in scope, so too does the “blame game.” Lack of exercise, over-consumption of food, sedentary work environments, lifestyle choices, biological predispositions, genes…the list of possible culprits for America’s fatness goes on.
Fast food is a common target. Earlier this month, an advocacy group launched a campaign petitioning 26 hospitals across the country to remove a major fast food restaurant from their cafeterias with the aim of sending a “better message” to consumers.
Some of the reasoning behind the group’s initiative comes from a 2006 study published in the journal Pediatrics that concluded that allowing fast food centers to operate in hospitals not only affects guests’ consumption of fast food on the day of their visit, but also unintentionally boosts the perception of the “healthfulness” of fast food in general. Here’s more research that supports the initiative:
Courtesy of wagnerfpa.wordpress.com.
So being near to fast food increases the likelihood of obesity, but will removing fast food from hospitals (and other institutions and neighborhoods) help solve the problem?
Consider this:
Blaming fast food restaurants for obesity can place us on a slippery slope. Should we remove buses from our streets to force people to choose the less convenient, but “healthier” walking or biking options? After all, sitting for long periods of time is correlated with obesity, and most adults do not get the recommended level of exercise.
Similarly, while we should limit consumption of fast food, we can’t eliminate it from the American diet as long as there is a demand for convenient, inexpensive, and (arguably) tasty food. We need to improve health through education and develop incentives that encourage healthy lifestyle decisions, proper nutrition, and exercise.
Perhaps a partnership between hospitals and Weight Watchers (or other proven commercial weight loss programs), or the establishment of walking groups or active events within hospital walls, could promote lasting change.
We won’t make any progress in the fight against obesity by playing the blame game at the expense of taking responsibility for our health into our own hands.
Courtesy of www.topnews.in.
What do you think? Will restricting fast food lead to a decrease in obesity? How can we as individuals, families, and institutions promote a healthier America?
Courtesy of eatright.org.
March is National Nutrition Month, and this year, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is urging Americans to “Get Your Plate In Shape.” With the help of the “My Plate” model, which replaced the Food Pyramid in June 2011, the experts are giving us a reminder of the healthy nutrition goals we have heard before:
According to Vegetarian Times, approximately 7.3 million Americans consider themselves “vegetarians” and 22.8 million more
say they follow a vegetarian-inclined diet. The American Dietetic Association supports this diet, citing appropriately planned vegetarian diets as healthful, nutritionally sound, and helpful in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.
Think vegetarianism isn’t for you? It’s not as difficult as you might think, and the health benefits are significant.
Vegetarian diets are plant-based and consist of vegetables, fruit, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. The diet is absent of animal products, including meat, poultry, seafood, fish (and sometimes dairy). While there are many varieties of this diet, these are its main categories:
Most vegetarians eat healthfully, which makes weight control easier for them. Doctors have long advocated that a healthy weight lowers the risk for disease. This diet is also known to promote more physical activity and exercise, which also actively lowers the risk for disease.
A vegetarian diet includes colorful fruits and veggies, which are loaded with antioxidants, known to prevent many types of cancers. Because it’s nutrient-dense and high in fiber, the diet lowers the “bad cholesterol” that causes heart disease. The diet is also low in cholesterol and saturated fat, which helps to control blood lipid levels, an indicator of heart disease. What’s more, the plant-based protein in the diet lowers the risk of kidney dysfunction, kidney stones, and osteoporosis. Osteoporosis occurs when calcium is excreted in the urine from excessive protein.
Many vegetarians worry that they may not get enough of certain nutrients, but truth be told, meat-eaters miss many of these same nutrients, too. Healthy options for a vegetarian include fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, essential fats like olive oil, flax seeds, nuts and seeds, avocado, peanut and other nut butters.
The Vegetarian Food Pyramid can offer some guidance for those new to the plant-based diet.
People often become vegetarians to lose weight and eat “healthier.” Keep in mind, however, that one can still eat unhealthily on a vegetarian diet, so it’s worth taking the time and effort to reap its rewards.
What’s your favorite vegetarian recipe? We’d love to read it!
Do you have a dress or suit you want to fit into this weekend? Are you sick of that bloated feeling?
With some easy changes to your every day diet, you can lose those last few stubborn pounds.
Jenny Maloney, Registered Dietitian at Midtown Chicago, shares her expertise.
Instead of two or three large meals, eat smaller portions throughout the day to keep your metabolism working. This will allow you to burn more calories.
Try to eat no larger than about a fist-size of each type of food on your plate.
Enjoy fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and avoid sugar and white flour. When presented with a choice in grains, opt for the whole grain version, such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, beans, oatmeal, whole grain cereal, and whole grain crackers. Fiber takes longer for your body to break down and will keep you satiated until your next meal or snack.
Not only does processing take out the nutrients from many nutrient-rich foods, they often contain hidden sugar, salt, and fat. Try for all fresh foods instead.
Reducing sodium will eliminate bloating. Sodium is found in most processed foods. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables cuts down on your salt intake. Salt dehydrates and causes our body to retain water, giving you that bloated feeling. Drink more water and less diet sodas and coffee, as these drinks dehydrate you.
By following these nutrition tips, you’ll eat healthier, which can decrease bloating, give you more energy, and hopefully lose that extra water weight gained by eating heavy food and processed food.
When are you getting started?
Jenny Maloney is a Registered Dietician and NASM- and ACE-certified personal trainer for Midtown. An expert in improving health and fitness through proper nutrition, Jenny shares tips for eating wisely this holiday season.
Most people gain weight during the holidays. If you don’t lose the added weight, you could gain 25-50 pounds in five years! This weight gain is mainly due to the high-calorie, high-fat foods that traditionally go along with holiday meals — and too much of it.
Why not try to make healthy and smart choices that will help you to maintain or even lose weight?
Here are some tips to keep weight gain to a minimum while still enjoying yourself this season:
What’s your tip for enjoying the holidays without overindulging?
It’s 2pm and you are three hours away from being done with your work day. 
If you’re hungry, low in energy, or feeling lethargic from a heavy lunch, then a healthy afternoon snack can give you that extra energy to finish your work day and avoid overeating at dinner.
Snacking has had a bad rep in the past because the word “snack” conjures up images of chips or candy bars.
However, snacks can and should be healthy and one of the most important parts of your day.
When choosing a snack, try to include carbohydrates, protein, and fat. The carbohydrates will give you immediate energy while the protein and fat will satiate you. Aim for about 100-to-200-calorie snacks to give just the right amount of energy without making you feel too full.
Snacks are a good way to add more nutrients to your diet as well. Fruits and veggies are hard to fit in throughout the day so incorporate them into your snacks.
Here are some healthy, 200-calories-or-fewer snack ideas from Midtown’s own Registered Dietician, Jenny Maloney:
What’s your healthy go-to mid-day snack?
