Meal Plans

By Kimberly Morell

Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients that provide calories in our diets. The other two are protein and fat. Carbohydrates provide most of the energy needed for our daily lives both for normal body functions such as heartbeat, breathing and digestion and for exercises such as biking, walking or running up the stairs.

Carbohydrates are considered simple or complex based upon their chemical structure.

·         Both types contain four calories per gram

·         And both are easily digested into a blood sugar called glucose, which can then be used to fuel our bodies for work and exercise.

Somehow, simple carbohydrates have become known as the “bad” carbohydrates while complex carbohydrates seem to be designated ad the “good” carbohydrates. But there is no real scientific or nutritional justification for these descriptions.

·         Simple carbohydrates are digested quickly. Many simple carbohydrates contain refined sugars and few essential vitamins and minerals. Examples include fruit, fruit juice, milk yogurt, honey, molasses, maple syrup and sugar.

·         Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest and are usually packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Examples are vegetables, brown rice, and legumes.

Most experts recommend that 35-55 percent of the total calories in our diets come from carbohydrates depending directly on activity and fitness or health goals. The bulk of our carbohydrate choices should be complex carbs and most of the simple carb choices should come from fruits, which also contain vitamins and minerals. Avoid making the bulk of your carbohydrate choices from refined foods high in sugar, since they are usually low in the nutrients we need to maintain health and energy levels.

1.      Starches (or complex carbohydrates), and

2.      Sugars (simple carbohydrates)

Proteins

Not counting water, protein makes up three quarters of your body and is found in every cell. Your muscles, organs, some hormones, and certain antibodies and enzymes are all made up of protein. No wonder this incredible substance comes from the greek root word meaning “of first importance.”

What is Protein?

Proteins are complex compounds that are made of smaller compounds called amino acids. There are twenty different amino acids that can be combined in an infinite number of ways to make up all the thousands of different proteins your body needs. Of these twenty amino acids, your body can manufacture eleven. The other nine must be supplies by your diet and are therefore called “the essential amino acids.”

How Does Your Body Use Protein?

When you consume protein, your digestive system will break it down into it’s component amino acids. These amino acids go into an amino acid “bank” that your body can draw from to put together the proteins that it needs for tissue building and repair. If your body goes to the bank, and a particular amino acid is overdrawn, or in such short supply that the required protein cannot be built, then your body’s tissues begin to break down.

The protein in your diet can come from two sources:

1.      Animal products, such as milk, meat and eggs

2.      Plant products, such as legumes, nuts and soy product

Your body’s first priority is to meet your energy needs. If you don’t eat enough fat and carbohydrates to meet your energy needs your body will begin to break down protein from food or from body tissue (muscles). Getting enough energy every day in the form of carbohydrates and fats will spare protein for the work that it does best, rebuild and repair. If you eat more protein than you need for tissue building or more than is needed to meet your body’s energy demands, the surplus is stored as fat.

Fats to Eat and Fats to Avoid

I like to classify fats into two groups: Fats that heal and fats that kill. I think this is a great way to explain a fairly complex topic. There are certain fats, or more properly fatty acids, that are needed by every single cell in your body to function properly. You need those fats, avoiding them will not lead down the road of health. This is one of the reasons the low-fat or no fat approach to eating ends in disaster.

Essential fatty acids are those that can’t be made by the body and thus must be obtained from the diet (or supplements). There are only a couple of them, but they are important. Other fatty acids, which we sometimes refer to as essential, can be made by the body, but aren’t made very efficiently or effectively.

The essential fatty acids come in two “flavors,” omega-3’s and omega-6’s. This classification has to do with the architecture and arrangement of the carbon molecules and the kinds of bonds that they make with one another. For our purposes, the most important thing to know is that we do not get the proper proportion of these fats in our diet. For most of human history, we consumed them in near a 1:1 relationship; the modern diet provides more like a 20:1 ratio of omega-6’s to omega-3’s. The consequence of this imbalance on human health is enormous.

What’s not good for you, on any level, is the man-made, mutated, refined fats found on supermarket shelves masquerading as ‘healthy.” These include virtually all vegetable and cooking oils including sunflower, safflower, and soy. To make these oils palatable, they are treated with chemicals, then acid, then bleach. They are then heated to above frying temperature to remove the disgusting odors. All this refinement gets rid of any possible nutrients, antioxidants or other beneficial properties that the original might have held. The take home point from all of this is that there are fats that give life and there are fats that take life. Avoid the one’s that take and choose from the one’s that give. Healthy fats can be found in fish, nuts, avocado, flax- but keep in mind that while all fats are not created equal, there calories are. And at 9 calories per gram, overdoing the good fats can still lead to weight gain.

The Facts on Fiber: Are you Getting Enough?

Chances are that you, like most Americans are not getting enough fiber in your diet. Of the 20 to 35 grams that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends American’s should eat, 11 grams is the average. In this world of overly processed and overly packaged foods it’s not surprising that most people aren’t meeting there daily requirements. Dietary fiber is the part of the plant fiber that we eat. It is divided into two categories:

·         Soluble: the part of the plants that can be digested by enzymes in the intestinal track. Soluble fiber, that’s found in fruits and beans, is soluble in water.

·         Insoluble: also can’t be digested y enzymes, Insoluble fiber is the type found in bran (the outer layer of the grain) and is insoluble in water.

No matter how good your health is, you can certainly benefit from weaving more fiber into your diet. Consider the following:

·         Digestive Health: fiber helps to maintain regularity by adding bulk to stools and drawing water into the digestive track. It stimulates the nerves in the intestine, causing contractions of the colon and moving waste through quickly. The accelerated transit time and increased bulk helps to prevent diverticulitis, hemorrhoids and constipation.

·         Heart disease: When soluble fiber is part of a low-fat diet, it can reduce cholesterol levels and thereby decrease the risk of heart disease. According to studies, men who ate at least 35 grams of fiber a day suffered one-third fewer heart attacks than those who had a low intake, 15 grams or less a day. Clinical evidence shows a 0.5 percent to 2 percent drop in the cholesterol levels for every gram of soluble fiber eaten per day.

·         Weight Loss: New research suggests that fiber could help cut calories by blocking the digestion of some of the fat and protein consumed with it.

Lack of nutrition knowledge and poor eating habits can contribute to poor fitness, low energy, and the development of lifestyle related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, some types of cancer and obesity. The time is right now to start making wises food choices and commit to an exercise program. In theory, eating well is not difficult. All that is needed is to eat a selection of foods that supplies appropriate amounts of energy and nutrients. Yet putting this principle into action is easier said than done. If it were that simple we would not be dealing with the obesity pandemic that threatens a majority of Americans. We all have a basic idea of what we should and should not eat; a carrot is better for us than a doughnut, salmon better for us than hot dogs. So why are we so tempted to eat foods that we know are not good for us? What triggers our eating habits? Why do we like high-fat, high-calorie foods?

According to The American Council on Exercise, “Many factors influence our eating patterns including hunger, habits, economics, marketing, availability, convenience and nutritional value.” Most likely the strongest reason we choose to eat certain foods is taste. We like the taste of sweet and salty foods and usually end up eating too much of these types of foods and not enough of the veggies, fruits, quality proteins and whole grain that we should be eating.

As most of you can relate, our lives have gotten very busy and often we pick foods out of convenience with little thought of what we are putting in our bodies. With everything going on, choosing foods that we can pop in the microwave and eat quickly wins over the time that it takes to prepare a meal from scratch. Unfortunately, most of these “convenience” foods are loaded with fat, sugars, preservatives and sodium. We will teach you how to navigate through all the information out there and ultimately make better choices for yourself and your family. The bottom line is that if we commit to making more healthy choices than unhealthy choices it will make all the difference. That means eating clean 90% of the time and the other 10% is for life’s indulgences.

10 tips for sticking to your diet

1.      Stay out of the kitchen except when it’ time to eat. After eating, clean up, grab a glass of cold water and turn the lights off. The Kitchen and it’s immediate surroundings are now CLOSED.

2.      Prepare your meals in advance and stick to PRE-SET eating times. If it means eating cold chicken and broccoli in the car, so be it! Not only is this good for your metabolism, it’s also good for your sense of discipline and control.

3.      Keep Tabs. How many more grams of protein do you have left to go in the day? Do you really want to eat this junk now and then out of guilt, cut back on the meals that are actually going to help you reach your goals?

4.      Do the math! Having a latte a day or some other little vice you just can’t seem to give up? Multiply the calories, fat, and carbs of one portion and multiply that by 365. The shock value of what “just one a day” can be enough to top you dead in your tracks. Why not let the collective days of saying no add up in a positive direction?

5.      Do something busy and productive. Fold laundry, do the dishes, walk around the backyard, call a friend you haven’t talked to in a while, send a thank you card, go try on those pants you can almost fit into. Do anything but give in!

6.      Brush your teeth. Nothing tastes good after brushing your teeth.

7.      Talk to yourself. “It’s not as if I’ll never eat this again. I just won’t eat it at the moment. Besides, I already know what it tastes like.”

8.      Beat a Sweet. If you’re craving sweets, try drinking a glass of crystal light with crushed ice. Eat a frozen strawberry or peach slice. Sometimes feeding a craving only strengthens the craving, so practice resisting once in a while.

9.      Think Realistically. If you want to eat because you feel bad that you’ve already “blown it” deeply consider how it is that pizza or a burger is going to alleviate that guilt or solve the problem.

10. Visualize. Take a deep breath and mentally replay your best workout or look through your journal. Remind yourself of how much time and effort you’ve invested at the gym.


	How to Stay on a Meal Plan By Kimberly Morell Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients that provide calories in our diets. The other two are protein and fat. Carbohydrates provide most of the energy needed for our daily lives both for normal body functions such as heartbeat, breathing and digestion and for exercises such as biking, walking or running up the stairs. Carbohydrates are considered simple or complex based upon their chemical structure. · Both types contain four calories per gram · And both are easily digested into a blood sugar called glucose, which can then be used to fuel our bodies for work and exercise. Somehow, simple carbohydrates have become known as the “bad” carbohydrates while complex carbohydrates seem to be designated ad the “good” carbohydrates. But there is no real scientific or nutritional justification for these descriptions. · Simple carbohydrates are digested quickly. Many simple carbohydrates contain refined sugars and few essential vitamins and minerals. Examples include fruit, fruit juice, milk yogurt, honey, molasses, maple syrup and sugar. · Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest and are usually packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Examples are vegetables, brown rice, and legumes. Most experts recommend that 35-55 percent of the total calories in our diets come from carbohydrates depending directly on activity and fitness or health goals. The bulk of our carbohydrate choices should be complex carbs and most of the simple carb choices should come from fruits, which also contain vitamins and minerals. Avoid making the bulk of your carbohydrate choices from refined foods high in sugar, since they are usually low in the nutrients we need to maintain health and energy levels. 1. Starches (or complex carbohydrates), and 2. Sugars (simple carbohydrates) Proteins Not counting water, protein makes up three quarters of your body and is found in every cell. Your muscles, organs, some hormones, and certain antibodies and enzymes are all made up of protein. No wonder this incredible substance comes from the greek root word meaning “of first importance.” What is Protein? Proteins are complex compounds that are made of smaller compounds called amino acids. There are twenty different amino acids that can be combined in an infinite number of ways to make up all the thousands of different proteins your body needs. Of these twenty amino acids, your body can manufacture eleven. The other nine must be supplies by your diet and are therefore called “the essential amino acids.” How Does Your Body Use Protein? When you consume protein, your digestive system will break it down into it’s component amino acids. These amino acids go into an amino acid “bank” that your body can draw from to put together the proteins that it needs for tissue building and repair. If your body goes to the bank, and a particular amino acid is overdrawn, or in such short supply that the required protein cannot be built, then your body’s tissues begin to break down. The protein in your diet can come from two sources: 1. Animal products, such as milk, meat and eggs 2. Plant products, such as legumes, nuts and soy product Your body’s first priority is to meet your energy needs. If you don’t eat enough fat and carbohydrates to meet your energy needs your body will begin to break down protein from food or from body tissue (muscles). Getting enough energy every day in the form of carbohydrates and fats will spare protein for the work that it does best, rebuild and repair. If you eat more protein than you need for tissue building or more than is needed to meet your body’s energy demands, the surplus is stored as fat. Fats to Eat and Fats to Avoid I like to classify fats into two groups: Fats that heal and fats that kill. I think this is a great way to explain a fairly complex topic. There are certain fats, or more properly fatty acids, that are needed by every single cell in your body to function properly. You need those fats, avoiding them will not lead down the road of health. This is one of the reasons the low-fat or no fat approach to eating ends in disaster. Essential fatty acids are those that can’t be made by the body and thus must be obtained from the diet (or supplements). There are only a couple of them, but they are important. Other fatty acids, which we sometimes refer to as essential, can be made by the body, but aren’t made very efficiently or effectively. The essential fatty acids come in two “flavors,” omega-3’s and omega-6’s. This classification has to do with the architecture and arrangement of the carbon molecules and the kinds of bonds that they make with one another. For our purposes, the most important thing to know is that we do not get the proper proportion of these fats in our diet. For most of human history, we consumed them in near a 1:1 relationship; the modern diet provides more like a 20:1 ratio of omega-6’s to omega-3’s. The consequence of this imbalance on human health is enormous. What’s not good for you, on any level, is the man-made, mutated, refined fats found on supermarket shelves masquerading as ‘healthy.” These include virtually all vegetable and cooking oils including sunflower, safflower, and soy. To make these oils palatable, they are treated with chemicals, then acid, then bleach. They are then heated to above frying temperature to remove the disgusting odors. All this refinement gets rid of any possible nutrients, antioxidants or other beneficial properties that the original might have held. The take home point from all of this is that there are fats that give life and there are fats that take life. Avoid the one’s that take and choose from the one’s that give. Healthy fats can be found in fish, nuts, avocado, flax- but keep in mind that while all fats are not created equal, there calories are. And at 9 calories per gram, overdoing the good fats can still lead to weight gain. The Facts on Fiber: Are you Getting Enough? Chances are that you, like most Americans are not getting enough fiber in your diet. Of the 20 to 35 grams that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends American’s should eat, 11 grams is the average. In this world of overly processed and overly packaged foods it’s not surprising that most people aren’t meeting there daily requirements. Dietary fiber is the part of the plant fiber that we eat. It is divided into two categories: · Soluble: the part of the plants that can be digested by enzymes in the intestinal track. Soluble fiber, that’s found in fruits and beans, is soluble in water. · Insoluble: also can’t be digested y enzymes, Insoluble fiber is the type found in bran (the outer layer of the grain) and is insoluble in water. No matter how good your health is, you can certainly benefit from weaving more fiber into your diet. Consider the following: · Digestive Health: fiber helps to maintain regularity by adding bulk to stools and drawing water into the digestive track. It stimulates the nerves in the intestine, causing contractions of the colon and moving waste through quickly. The accelerated transit time and increased bulk helps to prevent diverticulitis, hemorrhoids and constipation. · Heart disease: When soluble fiber is part of a low-fat diet, it can reduce cholesterol levels and thereby decrease the risk of heart disease. According to studies, men who ate at least 35 grams of fiber a day suffered one-third fewer heart attacks than those who had a low intake, 15 grams or less a day. Clinical evidence shows a 0.5 percent to 2 percent drop in the cholesterol levels for every gram of soluble fiber eaten per day. · Weight Loss: New research suggests that fiber could help cut calories by blocking the digestion of some of the fat and protein consumed with it. Lack of nutrition knowledge and poor eating habits can contribute to poor fitness, low energy, and the development of lifestyle related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, some types of cancer and obesity. The time is right now to start making wises food choices and commit to an exercise program. In theory, eating well is not difficult. All that is needed is to eat a selection of foods that supplies appropriate amounts of energy and nutrients. Yet putting this principle into action is easier said than done. If it were that simple we would not be dealing with the obesity pandemic that threatens a majority of Americans. We all have a basic idea of what we should and should not eat; a carrot is better for us than a doughnut, salmon better for us than hot dogs. So why are we so tempted to eat foods that we know are not good for us? What triggers our eating habits? Why do we like high-fat, high-calorie foods? According to The American Council on Exercise, “Many factors influence our eating patterns including hunger, habits, economics, marketing, availability, convenience and nutritional value.” Most likely the strongest reason we choose to eat certain foods is taste. We like the taste of sweet and salty foods and usually end up eating too much of these types of foods and not enough of the veggies, fruits, quality proteins and whole grain that we should be eating. As most of you can relate, our lives have gotten very busy and often we pick foods out of convenience with little thought of what we are putting in our bodies. With everything going on, choosing foods that we can pop in the microwave and eat quickly wins over the time that it takes to prepare a meal from scratch. Unfortunately, most of these “convenience” foods are loaded with fat, sugars, preservatives and sodium. We will teach you how to navigate through all the information out there and ultimately make better choices for yourself and your family. The bottom line is that if we commit to making more healthy choices than unhealthy choices it will make all the difference. That means eating clean 90% of the time and the other 10% is for life’s indulgences. 10 tips for sticking to your diet 1. Stay out of the kitchen except when it’ time to eat. After eating, clean up, grab a glass of cold water and turn the lights off. The Kitchen and it’s immediate surroundings are now CLOSED. 2. Prepare your meals in advance and stick to PRE-SET eating times. If it means eating cold chicken and broccoli in the car, so be it! Not only is this good for your metabolism, it’s also good for your sense of discipline and control. 3. Keep Tabs. How many more grams of protein do you have left to go in the day? Do you really want to eat this junk now and then out of guilt, cut back on the meals that are actually going to help you reach your goals? 4. Do the math! Having a latte a day or some other little vice you just can’t seem to give up? Multiply the calories, fat, and carbs of one portion and multiply that by 365. The shock value of what “just one a day” can be enough to top you dead in your tracks. Why not let the collective days of saying no add up in a positive direction? 5. Do something busy and productive. Fold laundry, do the dishes, walk around the backyard, call a friend you haven’t talked to in a while, send a thank you card, go try on those pants you can almost fit into. Do anything but give in! 6. Brush your teeth. Nothing tastes good after brushing your teeth. 7. Talk to yourself. “It’s not as if I’ll never eat this again. I just won’t eat it at the moment. Besides, I already know what it tastes like.” 8. Beat a Sweet. If you’re craving sweets, try drinking a glass of crystal light with crushed ice. Eat a frozen strawberry or peach slice. Sometimes feeding a craving only strengthens the craving, so practice resisting once in a while. 9. Think Realistically. If you want to eat because you feel bad that you’ve already “blown it” deeply consider how it is that pizza or a burger is going to alleviate that guilt or solve the problem. 10. Visualize. Take a deep breath and mentally replay your best workout or look through your journal. Remind yourself of how much time and effort you’ve invested at the gym.

How to Stay on a Meal Plan