Lose More Weight with a BIGGER Breakfast

byBaseline of Health Staff


If you're the kind of person that rushes out the door every morning with just a cup of coffee or a bagel, you might want to reconsider your morning eating habits. A study from Virginia Commonwealth University has shown that a big breakfast may be a key component in the fight to lose weight. In fact, according to the study, a big breakfast that's rich in carbs, protein, and fat will help you lose far more weight than you would if you stuck to a low-calorie, low-carb breakfast.

The research focused on 94 obese, inactive women. Those in the low-carb breakfast group ate 290 calories for breakfast, including seven grams of carbs and 12 grams of protein. The big-breakfast group consumed 610 calories for breakfast, including a whopping 58 grams of carbs, 22 grams of fat, and 47 grams of protein. After eight months, the big-breakfast women lost five times as much weight as the strict dieters. Even more significant--the strict dieters had regained an average of 18 of the pounds they initially lost and were on their way back up the scale, while the big-breakfast subjects continued to lose weight.

Amazingly, the big-breakfast group lost that weight eating breakfasts that by traditional diet standards seem almost risqué. The morning menu typically contained three ounces of meat, two slices of cheese, two whole-grain servings, a serving of milk, one fat serving and one ounce of chocolate or candy.

It's hard to even imagine jamming all that food into your mouth before noon. But according to research director Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, that's precisely the point. First thing in the morning, the brain chemical serotonin is at its peak. When serotonin levels are high, we don't feel hunger, but when serotonin levels dip - as they do as the day wears on - the brain craves energy food such as cookies and candy in order to drive the levels back up. If you give in and eat the sweets, your serotonin levels spike, your brain feels happy, and that triggers an addictive cycle where you associate sweets with the serotonin high and constantly crave them. To break the cycle, Jakubowicz suggests eating sweets when you don't have a desire for them, such as first thing in the morning. That way the sweets won't supply a serotonin boost and you break the addictive association.

Now that's an interesting concept, and it seemed to work for the big-breakfast club, who balanced out the morning overload by having a small lunch and tiny dinner. They also reported reduced hunger throughout the day, unlike the low-carb dieters. Jakubowicz explains, "[A low carbohydrate diet] exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism. As a result, after a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity."

Does this mean that you should stuff your face with pasta or donuts at 7am? No! In fact, the diet consumed by the morning big-eaters, while effective for weight loss, leaves a lot to be desired. Notice that the diet that led to weight loss contained no fruit or vegetables in the morning, and also contained lots of dairy. There are better ways to get a well-balanced morning meal without loading up on allergy-inducing, hormone-laden milk, cheese, nitrate-spiked breakfast meats, and buttered toast.

The big-breakfast group might have benefited more in terms of overall health had they substituted some of the dairy with hypoallergenic, enzyme-, antioxidant-, and amino-rich proteins from sources such as brown rice, spirulina, and yellow-pea protein, and had they substituted fruits and vegetables for some of the carbs. While the research team got right the idea of front-loading the day with the highest-caloric intake, they might do well to consider alternative, healthier sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fats for the morning meal.

Are You Getting Enough H2O?

How often do you drink water? If it's not enough your body and health could be suffering. The human body is made up of 55% to 78% water depending on body size. In fact, water is the solvent in our bodies, and as such, it regulates all the functions of our bodies, including the action of all the solids dissolved in the water. In fact, every function of the body is monitored and pegged to the efficient flow of water.

Think for a moment of just a few of the functions that water regulates:

• The movement of blood
• The transport of nutrients into our cells
• The movement of waste out of our cells
• The flow of lymph fluid
• The movement of nerve impulses through our nerves
• The movement of hormones throughout our bodies
• The functioning of our brains

Understand we can function quite well and for quite a long time without sufficient water. The body quickly adapts and starts extracting more water from your stools for example. The kidneys flush less water to retain the limited supply you have. In fact, there are some health experts who claim that your body does quite well on 2 glasses of any kind of fluid a day -- plus the water found in the food you eat. But these experts confuse adaptation with health. Adaptation leads to compromise, which leads to diminished health over time.

Is all water created equal?
Unfortunately, not all water is the same. To put it simply, you want the purest water you can get that also contains essential trace minerals and that is pH optimized and in a form that your body can most readily utilize.

Some tips to keep in mind:

• Avoid chlorine and chloramines in your water. They are known carcinogens and kill all beneficial bacteria.
• Avoid fluoride in your water. It makes your bones weaker, encourages the deposit of aluminum in the brain, and lowers immune levels throughout the body.
• Drink water with optimized molecular groupings to improve cellular transport. There are many ways this can be accomplished, but applying a magnetic field to the water certainly works, and it's inexpensive. The interesting thing is that plants, which are not subject to the placebo effect, grow much better on water subjected to a magnetic field.
• Drink water that has an alkaline pH. As detailed in Chapter 13 of Lessons from the Miracle Doctors, maintaining a blood pH of around 7.45, without compromising the pH of the surrounding tissue, is vital. This requires the presence of minerals since pure distilled water has a neutral pH but turns slightly acid over time as it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, thus forming carbonic acid.

So how much is enough?
It's recommended to consume between 64 and 96 ounces of pure water a day. Pure, fresh (not bottled or canned) fruit and vegetable juices may be substituted for some of this quantity -- as may limited quantities of non-diuretic herbal teas (without sugar). In general, however, pure water is the key. If exercising or in high heat, you might want to consider replenishing yourself more often.

The other factor to consider is how often you drink water. The best method is to drink smaller glasses of water every hour to an hour and half as opposed to drinking larger amounts of water less frequently throughout the day. This keeps your body hydrated properly all day and helps keep dehydration at bay.
 
This tip was provided by The Baseline of Health Foundation
 
Here is a link to another water-related article Don't Stop Drinking Water

Healthy Living Tip #2

Add Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids to Your Diet

The AHA recommends a serving of fish two times per week.


Besides being a good source of protein and a food relatively low in the bad type of dietary fat called saturated fat, fish has omega-3 fatty acids -- which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Fatty fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, and salmon, are rich in two kinds of omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Foods such as tofu, soybeans, canola, walnuts, flaxseed, and their oils contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which convert to omega-3 in the body. Even though the benefits of ALA are controversial, the AHA still recommends foods containing it as part of a healthy diet.

In addition to their heart-health benefits, there is some evidence that omega-3 fatty acids may also soothe an overactive immune system.  Even though this benefit is still being studied, she says there appears to be a link between getting more omega-3s in your diet and reducing allergies, asthma, eczema, and autoimmune disorders.

Tips taken from http://www.webmd.com/

Metabolism Boosters

These 5 foods will keep your metabolism revved up.  (found in Shape magazine March 2011)

1.  TUNA-It has omega 3-fatty acides, which stimulate the production of leptin, a hormone that increasese feelings of fullness.

2.  GRAPEFRUIT- It contains naringenin, an antioxidant that helps your body use insulin more efficiently, keeping your blood sugar in check and improving calorie burn. (It's too bad I don't like grapefruit!)

3.  ROLLED OATS-The whole grains take more energy to digest so your body burns more callories when you eat them.

4.  GREEN TEA-It contains epigallocatechin which stimulates the nervous system without elevating your heart rate.  Reports show that people who drank green tea and exercised regularly burned more calories than those who sweated but didn't drink green tea.

5.  HOT PEPPERS-They contain capsaicin which ups your calorie burn.  A spicy meal can increase your metabolism by up to 25% for 3 hours after you've eaten it.

What are YOU Curious About?

I want to start hearing from some of you that are reading these posts. 

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO BLOG ABOUT? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT REGARDING HEALTH AND FITNESS? HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

Please comment below.

Why Eat so Often?

This was a featured part of a previous Beachbody newsletter written by Mark Nelson.

Is it time to eat again?  It probably is, because if you're like many people, you don't eat often enough. According to Turbo Jam® trainer Chalene Johnson, you should eat at least five times a day. That includes three meals and two snacks. So why eat so often?

It helps prevent your body from storing fat.


I kid you not. Our bodies are actually programmed to store fat, and this trait has helped us humans keep going over the eons. At many stages during our existence, it was critical to our survival. If you look back in time with me, I'll show you why.

Picture yourself wearing an animal skin or scratchy woolen toga, a few smears of mud and no hair product. (Don't feel bad—no one else looked good, either.) If you look in your hand, you'll see that you're carrying a spear that you made yourself. The reason for making it is that you're hungry.

If you throw well, you eat. If you miss, you don't. So being able to store energy in the form of fat will hopefully sustain you until your throwing improves.

This same survival tool remains part of our makeup today.

So the best way to avoid slipping into this fat-storing mode is to keep your metabolism going with small meals and snacks. Eating frequently prompts your body to efficiently keep working and burning the calories.

And if that weren't enough by itself, there's another good reason to avoid long waits between meals

Eating regularly tames wild cravings.


By eating smaller meals on a regular schedule, you'll help your body work comfortably on fewer calories, and stay in an energy (fat)-burning mode. This will help you feel more energetic, and keep your blood sugar stable, which will reduce carb cravings before your next meal.

Now let's say you need even more help controlling your cravings for the wrong stuff. What do you do?

Start your day with the right stuff.


Chances are, you don't eat in your sleep. So when you wake up, your cells are ready to absorb essential nutrients and, in particular, protein.

Throughout the night, your body uses excess or circulating proteins to replenish your muscles, hair, skin, and nails. In addition, your body uses proteins to create millions of antibodies for defense against bacteria, which often attacks while you sleep. That's why eating a healthy breakfast packed with protein is good for you.

Starting your day with eggs, nonfat cottage cheese, a P90X® Peak Performance Protein Bar, or Shakeology can help you get a good serving of the protein and nutrients you need.

And a good rule of thumb for the timing of this meal is within an hour of waking up. If that's not possible, have a meal or snack as early as possible to get your metabolism revving. So what about the rest of your day?

Lift weights, then lift plates.



Another smart time to eat is about 30 to 45 minutes after a workout. At this time, the enzymes responsible for energy production are in high gear, and the energy-storing hormones within our blood are suppressed.

This means less energy will be stored as fat. Carbs will be immediately taken up to replenish the low glycogen stores caused through exercising. Protein will be used for the recovery and growth of new calorie-burning muscle tissue. And the best news is, your body will burn most of the nutrients from the meal to fuel these reactions. That's why eating after a workout is a good idea.

Having protein late in the day, for perhaps your last meal or snack, will also provide your body with the protein it will use overnight to revitalize your muscles, hair, nails, and antibodies.

Of course, remember portion size. If you're not sure how much that might be, use the palm of your hand as a guideline. It's a good trick, since you probably have your hands with you.

As with most things in life, timing is everything. So when you're trying to drop pounds, don't just think about what you eat—think about when. This will enable you to get more nutrients from fewer calories. Of course, the fewer calories you eat, the easier it is to lose weight. So eat right. On time. On schedule.

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You can join the Beachbody as a club member to get these valuable tips, meal planners, and much more.  There is a FREE membership and then a paid membership.  Go to My Beachbody Website then click on JOIN.  There you will be able to see which option is for you. 

As always, feel free to email me with questions at nataliewelch@cebridge.net. 
Connect with me on Facebook.
Join my LIKE Page.
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WHAT KIND OF HEALTHY SNACKS DO YOU LIKE TO HAVE IN BETWEEN YOUR MAIN MEALS? DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS TO SHARE FOR EATING OFTEN DURING THE DAY?   Leave a comment below.

A Balanced Diet

                                                The Basics of a Balanced Diet


You’ve heard the term before and know how important it is. But what exactly makes a diet balanced? For starters, a balanced diet means regularly eating a wide variety of nutritious foods, such as lean protein, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, low-fat dairy, and healthy, unsaturated fats. Eating a balanced diet not only helps improve your overall health, but it can also help you lose weight faster and keep it off. Here’s a breakdown of foods and nutrients you should enjoy for a balanced diet.


Lean Protein: Lean protein is necessary for building strong muscles and regulating your metabolism. It also slows the speed of digestion, helping you to feel fuller longer. You can get lean protein from a variety of sources, including beans and legumes, eggs and soy products, low-fat dairy products, poultry, seafood, and lean cuts of meat.

Low-Fat Dairy: Low-fat dairy products contain calcium, vitamins A, D, B12, and riboflavin. Choose reduced-fat and fat-free dairy, such as milk and yogurt, and avoiding the full-fat varieties.

Fats: Fats often get a bad rap when it comes to dieting, but not all fats are bad for you. “Good” fats, also known as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, have been shown to help prevent heart disease and lower cholesterol levels when substituted for saturated fats in the diet. Excellent sources of “good” fats are extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil, avocado, nuts, and omega-3-rich fish and shellfish.

Whole Grains: Whole grains contain important nutrients like fiber, which helps slow down digestion, stabilize blood-sugar levels, and ward off hunger and cravings. Studies show that eating whole grains instead of refined grains can help to lower total cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and dangerously high triglyceride and insulin levels. Be sure to check that the label says "100% whole wheat" or "whole grain" and choose products that contain 3 grams of sugar or less per serving and have no trans fats.

 Vegetables: Packed with a wealth of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, vegetables have been shown to help prevent cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Enjoy vegetables of all colors, such as tomatoes, eggplant, squash, and kale.

Fruits: Fruits are just as healthy as they are delicious. Like vegetables, fruits are chock-full of health-boosting nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. Blueberries, blackberries plums, oranges, and red grapes are some examples of antioxidant-rich fruits to include in your diet.

Fiber: There are two types of fiber — soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber helps slow the rate of digestion and may also help lower cholesterol. Insoluble fiber improves bowel function and may help protect against intestinal disease. Moreover, fiber can help you feel fuller and more satisfied for a longer period of time. Good sources of fiber include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans and legumes.

Credit given to The South Beach Diet: Daily Dish

If you have any questions or need any help with your diet, nutrition, or exercise needs, please contact me at nataliewelch@cebridge.net or my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/natalierwelch



Tricks to Suppress your Appetite

Here are some simple tricks to help you slash calories by suppressing your appetite.

1.  Have PROTEIN in the AM-Protein keeps you fuller than other nutrients and takes your body more time to digest and absorb. But what you may not realize is that when you eat it also matters. A Purdue University study found that eating lean protein (such as Canadian bacon, egg whites, or low-fat yogurt) at breakfast keeps you satisfied longer than if you were to consume it at other times of the day. "Try to get at least one ounce (or 30 grams) of protein at breakfast," recommends Joan Salge Blake, R.D., a clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University.

2.  Chow on POTATOES-these starches actually have appetite-slaying superpowers. They contain a special type of starch that resists digestive enzymes. Because potatoes take a while to break down, they stay in your intestine longer, delaying the onset of hunger pangs, says Katherine Beals, Ph.D., R.D., a clinical associate professor of nutrition at the University of Utah. Have a baked potato with dinner (a medium spud is only about 100 calories) or better yet, try potato salad made with vinegar instead of fattening mayo; chilling cooked potatoes increases their hunger-busting abilities. Of course, potatoes cooked in a vat of oil (think French fries and chips) are still bad for your bottom line.

3.  Embrace a Little FAT-Trimming all the fat from your diet can backfire. Oleic acid, an unsaturated fat found in olive oil, nuts, and avocados, helps quash hunger, according to a study in the journal Cell Metabolism. During digestion, it's converted into a compound that indirectly triggers hunger-curbing signals to your brain. Just watch your portions, warns Sari Greaves, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Unsaturated fats should make up about 20 percent of your total calorie intake. Greaves suggests snacking on two tablespoons of natural peanut butter, an ounce of nuts, or a quarter of an avocado.

4.  Get SWEATY--Working out, at home or at a gym, not only burns calories but also helps you consume fewer of them. A study published in the American Journal of Physiology found that 60 minutes of high-intensity cardio can reduce appetite for up to two hours afterward. "Aerobic exercise lowers ghrelin levels and increases the amount of an appetite-suppressing hormone in your body," says study author David Stensel, Ph.D. To maximize the hunger-dampening effect, make your cardio workout more intense by adding intervals (short bursts of speed with periods of rest in between).

  **HIIT workouts, such as the ones in TurboFire and Insanity, are SUPER EFFECTIVE. 

    Ask me for more info on these programs or go to my website at www.beachbodycoach.com/nataliewelch to find out more!  

5.  Gobble Up GRAPEFRUIT--Grapefruit diets went out of style with Jane Fonda aerobic videos, but this citrus is staging a comeback. In a study at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, people who ate half a grapefruit with each meal lost an average of 3.6 pounds in three months. According to Ken Fujioka, M.D., the study's principal researcher, these yellow-orange orbs lower your postmeal levels of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar and fat metabolism.

6.  GUM!!!--A University of Rhode Island study found that people who chewed gum for one hour in the morning consumed 67 fewer calories at lunch and didn't compensate by eating more later in the day. "One theory is that chewing stimulates nerves in the jaw that are connected to the brain region responsible for satiety," explains study author Kathleen Melanson, Ph.D., R.D., an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island. So pop a piece of sugarless—chewing it can keep the munchies at bay and burn 11 calories an hour. (Hey, it's better than nothing!)

7.  Take a WHIFF-Sniff, Sniff!!--Smelling food can trick your brain into thinking you've eaten. One study found that people who inhaled a peppermint scent every two hours ate 2,700 fewer calories per week than they normally did—that's nearly a one-pound loss! Banana, green apple, and vanilla had similar effects in other studies. And the more often you sniff these aromas, the more weight you'll lose, says Alan Hirsch, M.D., neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. Stash some vanilla-scented candles in your snack drawer or cupboards. And if you tend to eat when stressed, hold your left nostril closed and sniff through the right one to activate the side of your brain where emotions are processed. It could help reduce your anxiety and your appetite.

Taken from http://www.womenshealthmag.com/

Plan for the Week

Do you plan your week out? This is something I'm trying to really do better on.  I always have a plan in my head, but unless I write it down and refer back to it, things won't get accomplished. 
Tonight, I worked on my exercise schedule for the week.  With spring and other events coming soon, it's time to kick up the workout/nutrition plan.  This week, I'm going to be doing weights every other day, abs daily, and Turbo as my cardio. 

For strength training, I will do the Burn Circuit Phase of Chalean Extreme.  I've done this program before and IT WORKS!!! You can get this program for $30 off until 1/31 on my Beachbody website.

For abs, I'm doing Jillian Michaels 6 week/6 pack abs.  This one is tough but seems to be effective.
I'm also doing some of the shorter ab workouts on alternating days from Chalean Extreme and Turbo Fire.

Cardio, which will be daily and will vary from HIIT workouts to kickboxing/dance workouts, will consist of Turbo Fire classes.

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The biggest change in my nutrition this week will be having Shakeology for dinner instead of lunch.  I'm finding that when I have Shakeology at work, I cannot drink the water that I need to because I don't have time to go to the bathroom.  I'm a teacher, so trips to the restroom are severely limited!  Shakeology gently elminiates toxins so the more water I drink, I'm finding I need to run to the bathroom more often.  My plan is to drink it by 5:00 and then drink several glasses of water the following couple of hours.  This should also give me the energy I need to get through the evening.  I'm going to try it for a week to see if there is a difference.  If you have never tried Shakeology, I HIGHLY recommend it.  I can give you a sample to try.  I don't miss a day of drinking it.

Go to www.myshakeology.com/nataliewelch for more info

Is there something you would like  help with in your exercise and/or nutrition planning?  Please comment below.

Delicious Spices that Heal

Here is a list I found in a magazine of spices that are SO good for your body!

1.  Paprika--soothes headaches.  It's hight is pain-relieving salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin.

2.  Fennel seeds--relieves bloat.  Studies show it soothes belly cramps and bloat in 65% of women.

3.  Garlic--enhances immunity.  People who have garlic daily recover from colds up to 3 days sooner.

4.  Curry--alleviates achy joints. 

5.  Black Pepper--curbs heartburn.  It's shown to stimulate the taste buds which increase the stomach's secretion of hydrochloric acid which in turn speeds up the breakdown of proteins and other foods to revent heartburn and indigestion.

6.  Cinnamon--prevents UTIs

7.  Mustard Seeds--improve sleep. They have tryptophan which is a precursor of melatonin.

8.  Cloves--rev metabolism. Has manganese which enchances thyroid function..

9.  Coriander--lowers cholesterol.  

10.  Cayenne--eases congestion

11.  Ginger--relieves nauseau as effectively as motion-sickness drugs

12.  Cumin--boosts energy