Count to 5 and Give Thanks!

5 ways to be thankful and enjoy the holiday:

1.  Be thankful that you don't have to wait to eat.  

If you enjoy a supportive breakfast and a supportive lunch, you will not be tempted to overeat during the    "big" meal of the day.  So eat well . . . all day!

2.  Be thankful the main course is turkey.

        What a great main dish!  Turkey is low in fat and high in protein.  Just what you need to make sure your body is not prompted to react with a high insulin response which causes more fat storage.

3.  Be thankful for lots of colorful vegetables.

Fill up with these low calorie, nutrient dense gems!  But make sure they are clean . . . not covered with sauce, or cheese or combined with high glycemic carbs.

4.  Be thankful for cool, clear water.

        And drink lots of it!  Remember that lots of calories lurk in holiday drinks.  But water is clear . . . and provides a fullness with no calories.

5.  Be thankful for the enjoyment of a holiday with a splurge of real sugar.

         The traditional dessert for Thanksgiving actually provides some nutrition along with the sugar . . . pumpkin has lots of fiber and vitamin A.  So enjoy . . . in small bites.

Toning Vs. Building Muscle

This is a woman thing.  Women say to me all the time, “I don’t want to build muscle. I just want to tone my muscles.”  Well, guess what.  It’s all the same thing.  When you work on your muscles by using resistance training, you are toning those muscles and building new muscle tissue.  (Actually, you build as you rest and as you eat.) Now, in order to become really “muscle-bound” like you see on the magazine covers, you have to eat insane amounts of protein and have an insane amount of testosterone at your body’s disposal.  Most people do not have that much testosterone naturally in their body.  And ladies, we naturally have WAY less than men do.  So unless you are “supplementing,” you are not going to become “muscle-bound.”  But if you are consistently doing the right kind of resistance training along with the right kind of aerobic training . . . and eating supportively, you will create and maintain that lean, fit, sexy look that all of us enjoy!

Do Carbohydrates Make Me Fat?

No, but that dress does.  Just kidding!  Your body requires 3 macro-nutrients:  Proteins, Fats and Carbohydrates.  You should not eliminate any one of these categories from your diet.  In fact, ideally, you should eat from each of these categories at every meal!  Now, carbohydrates come in all different shapes and sizes . . . and qualities.  Some carbs are pure fluff and provide little to no nutritional value to your body.  These include refined sugars and overly-processed flours: i.e. candy, cupcakes, white bread, white rice, crackers, and even pretzels and bagels.  When you eat grain carbohydrates, make sure they are made from whole-grains: i.e. oatmeal, whole wheat bagels, quinoa, and brown rice.  But realize, too, that vegetables and legumes are a great source of the carbohydrates that your body needs!  The key here is to eat as naturally as possible and avoid too many processed products.  If you do choose to eat from a package, read the ingredients and look for higher fiber numbers and lower sugar numbers. And combine the carbs that you eat with a protein and a fat.  This will help moderate your body’s uptake of the food and keep your blood sugar more stable.  And this really is the key to avoiding the fat accumulation that occurs in response to “feast” and “famine” blood sugar spikes and dips.  So, eat carbs.  Just try to eat mostly good quality carbs and eat a lean protein and a good fat with those good carbs.  You’ll feel the difference in the energy you have to face each day!