Fats

Fats are delicious and make our food taste so good! Actually, fats are essential to the human body for supplying tissue needs in energy fuel and structural material. Plant and animal fat effect the body in different ways, but excess amounts of dietary fat (from animal sources) can cause risk factors for poor health.

 

Fat is stored in a space within adipose tissue. Fats can supplement carbohydrates (primary fuel source) as an energy source. Lipids are the chemical group for organic substances for fats. Which are fats, oils, waxes, and fat-related compounds similar to cholesterol. Glycerides are the principal constituents of adipose tissue found in animal and plant fats and oils. The fatty acids are called monoglycerides, diglycerides, and triglycerides.

 

Saturated fats are the solid fats usually from animal sources. The reason why they are called saturated fats is because, the state of fatty acid components are being filled in all their available carbon bonds with hydrogen, which makes the fat harder or solid. Examples of saturated fat: butter, cheese, meat, and eggs.

 

Unsaturated fats are the less dense and usually found in plant sources. These fats are the opposite of saturated fats. So, a fatty acid that isn’t completely filled with all the hydrogen that it can hold is unsaturated. Most food triglycerides are in the unsaturated group. The other two forms of unsaturated fat are monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat. Examples of food sources are; olive oil, peanut oil, almonds, avocados, safflower oil, corn oil, and soybean oil.

 

Trans-Fats are the fats to avoid the most! These fats pose a great number of negative health consequences. These fats are partially hydrogenated to produce  a more solid or “shelf-life” in products. Commercially hydrogenated fats are in margarine, snack items, and fast food. Always look at the label!!!! Just because a package says it has no trans fat, doesn’t mean that fat isn’t in the food! THIS FAT IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO THE HUMAN BODY OR DIET!

 

Omega-3 and omega-6 fats are also unsaturated. These fats are essential to the human body, and are found in fish, seeds, and nuts. Both of these fats serve important functions to the body like tissue strength, cholesterol metabolism, muscle tone, blood clotting, and heat action. These fats we get from food because our body don’t produce them. The body can produce monounsaturated fats and cholesterol.

 

Cholesterol is vital to membranes and is a precursor for certain hormones and playing a part in metabolism. It occurs naturally in animal foods but are not found in plant products. There is no daily recommendation for cholesterol but studies have shown that lower cholesterol diets are beneficial.

The functions of fat are to supply energy to the body. Fats serve as a fuel for energy production and is also used an important storage form of body fuel. Essential nutrients from fat supply essential fatty acids as long as the recommended daily amount is followed. These essential fats help make cholesterol and are a source for fat-soluble vitamins. Fats tend to slow the rate of digestion compared to carbohydrates.

 

Cholesterol is vital to membranes and it is a precursor for certain hormones and playing a part in metabolism. It occurs naturally in animal foods but not found in plant products. There is not daily recommendation for cholesterol but studies have shown that lower cholesterol diets are beneficial.

The functions of fat are to supply energy to the body. Fats serve as a fuel for energy production and is also used an important storage form of body fuel. Essential nutrients from fat supply essential fatty acids as long as the recommended daily amount is followed. These essential fats help make cholesterol and a source for fat-soluble vitamins. Fats tend to slow the rate of digestion compared to carbohydrates.

The recommended daily intake of fat is 20%-35% (good sources of fat are better)

1 g of fats= 9 calories

GOOD FATS
Monounsaturated fat	Polyunsaturated fat
Olive oil Canola oil Sunflower oil Peanut oil Sesame oil Avocados Olives Nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews) Peanut butter	Soybean oil Corn oil Safflower oil Walnuts Sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds Flaxseed Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines) Soymilk Tofu
BAD FATS
Saturated fat	Trans fat
High-fat cuts of meat (beef, lamb, pork) Chicken with the skin Whole-fat dairy products (milk and cream) Butter Cheese Ice cream Palm and coconut oil Lard	Commercially-baked pastries, cookies, doughnuts, muffins, cakes, pizza dough Packaged snack foods (crackers, microwave popcorn, chips) Stick margarine Vegetable shortening Fried foods (French fries, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, breaded fish) Candy bars

http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_fats.htm

 

 

S.M.A.R.T Goal setting

In this blog I wanted to focus on short and long term goal setting. I want to give you some tools to make S.M.A.R.T goals. S.M.A.R.T is establishing Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-targeted goals. By using these tools, your goals will be reachable and you will be aware of what is expected to reach your personal goals.

So, let’s start simple with some short term goals. You can make your short term goals anywhere from 1 week to 3 months. I would suggest looking at your short term goal and seeing what time is needed to accomplish this goal. You do want to test yourself but you also want to feel good about completing the goal, so try and keep it simple and reachable. Once you successfully reach and complete your goal start planning another short team goal and keep testing yourself. So try it out! Take a piece of paper out and write down a short term goal. Then think about all the S.M.A.R.T concept and brain storm what it will take to get this goal accomplished! As everything on the paper comes together, try writing down in order so you know what it's going to take to successfully accomplish your short term goal.

Ex: if you're trying to lose weight, put a goal where you lose 10 lbs. in 3 months. Brain storm what your going to do to lose that weight, what its going to take physically and time wise. Map out the steps of what you're cutting out of your diet and how much you plan to exercise. Start off slow! It takes steps to get to your goal so don’t put everything in at once. You can make as many short term goals as you want!

There is nothing wrong with your short term goals leading up to your long term goal. I think this is a great way to keep yourself in check so you know that you’re doing everything needed to complete short and long term goals. Reachable goals make it easier to continue on long term goals!

Now, I’ll go through long term goals using S.M.A.R.T theory. Long term goals can be from 1 year to 50 years to 75 years. This is related to a personal goal for your life! If you plan on getting a PhD or start your own successful business, ect. Long term is still similar to short term because you want to be able to accomplish your goal, but this goal will take much longer and will take more work. Take the long term goal seriously and make it something you are passionate about and really want to complete. You would do the same planning as you did with short term goals. Write down the long term goal, brain storm what its going to take, how long its going to take, and what are the outcomes from this goal. Then organize your goal so you have a map to follow and successfully complete your goal! Save that piece of paper, document, or whatever you used to map out this goal. Then from that point on, its up to you! Believe in yourself, take a deep breath, and starting completing some goals!!!!

Digestion to metabolism a quick break down of what our bodies do with food

It's a tricky topic, with this blog post I’m going break down the processes it takes to absorb food, the types of digestion, and metabolism.

First of all food must be eaten to start the processes of digestion, absorption, and metabolize. Food must be changed into simpler substances for absorption and even after that the food is made even simpler so that cells can get the nutrients needed to sustain life. Preparing food for the body uses many processes and steps, but the main steps are: Digestion, Absorption, Transport, and last metabolism.

Digestion- Is the process of food being broken down in the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) to release nutrients in forms for the body to absorb.

Absorption- Is the process of nutrients that are taken into cells that line the GI tract.

Transport- Is the movement of nutrients through the circulatory system from one area of the body to another.  

Metabolism-The vast number of chemical changes in the cell ultimately produced the materials that are essential for energy, tissue building, and metabolic controls.

There are two types of digestion, mechanical and chemical. Together these two actions change food so that the overall process of digestion and absorption continues in the body.

Mechanical uses muscles and nerves. Starting in the mouth, muscles and nerves in the walls of GI tract coordinate actions to provide digestion. Food being broken down starts the automatic response to break up food mass and move it down the digestive pathway.

Muscles generally use two types of movements 1) muscle ton or tonic contractions which makes sure the continuous movement of food mass and valve control along the way. 2) Periodic muscles contraction and relaxation. The rhythmic waves that mix the food mass and move it forward.

Nerves regulate muscular action in the GI tract. These are complex networks of nerves called the intramural nerve plexus that extend from the esophagus to the anus. These nerves do three things 1) control muscle tone in the wall. 2) Regulate the rate and intensity of the alternate muscle contractions. 3) Coordinate all various movements in the digestion process.

Chemical digestion uses a series of secretions that work together in digestion of food. There are five different types of chemicals or substances involved. 1) Hydrochloric acid and buffer ions- are used to correct pH for enzymes. 2) Enzymes- are proteins of specific kind/quantity for breaking down nutrients. 3) Mucus- lubricates and protects the mucosal tissue that lines the GI tract. 4) Water and electrolytes- products of digestion are carried and circulated through the GI tract and also into tissues. 5) Bile- made in the liver and stored in gallbladder, bile is used to divide fat into smaller pieces to expose more surface area in the body.

 

Secretory cells are found in the intestinal tract and close to the pancreas and liver to help trigger chemical digestion. These cells or glands are stimulated by three things 1) presence of food 2) nerve impulses 3) hormonal stimuli.

Absorption and Transport- After food has been broken down and changed into simple end products the cells of the body are ready to absorb the nutrients from the food. Carbohydrates, fats, and protein have been broken down and the body is now ready to absorb and transport the nutrients provided. For vitamins and minerals, this is the gatekeeper that determines how much of the nutrient provided will be kept for the bodies use. *There is some result that some nutrients won’t be absorbed because *of nutrients bioavailability which is 1) amount of nutrient present to the GI tract a 2) the competition of nutrients for common absorptive sites and 3) *the form the nutrient is present.*

Absorption process happens in the small and large intestine. *There are two 4 types of absorption* 1) simple diffusion- force by which particles move outward in all directions from an greater concentration to lesser concentration 2) facilitated diffusion- same as simple but uses protein channel for the carrier-assisted movement of larger substances across the mucosal cell membrane 3) Active transport- force by which particles move against their concentrations gradient. *Usually need a carrier* partner to help ferry the particles across the membrane 4) pinocytosis- penetration of larger materials by attaching to thicker cell membrane and being engulfed by the cell.

Transport process happens in the vascular system and lymphatic system. This is the transport of nutrients to various cells in the body. Vascular system- is composed of veins and arteries and its responsibilities are supplying the entire body with nutrients, oxygen, and vital substances that are necessary for *life like blood.*Lymphatic system- are lymph vessels and villi (the lacteals) are for fatty materials and are not water soluble so this is the route that is provided through vessels of the body that will enter to the bloodstream through the thoracic duct.

Metabolism is the outcome of all the nutrients that was digested, absorbed, and transported. Now the nutrients can be converted into needed energy or stored in the body for later use. The energy used is our fuel. The mitochondrion of the cells is the work the center of the metabolic reactions. The two types of metabolism are catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is used for breaking down large substances into smaller units (ex: stored glycogen into glucose). Anabolism is the opposite and is the process of building large substances from smaller particles (ex: complex protein to single amino acids).

I will go deeper into the processes involved in metabolism in a later blog because it gets to be technical. This is just a generalization of what the body does with our food.

The three Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates

First I wanted to start off with, DON’T BE SCARED OF CARBS! Our bodies need carbs in order to survive, but there is a difference between good carbs and bad carbs. We always want to have good carbs to help with energy and recovery of physical activity. But we do want to stay away from bad carbs which in the end will get us to gain weight. So there are three different groups of carbs: simple, complex, and fiber. All three carbohydrates are broken down in the body differently and have different nutritional value.

Simple Carbohydrates

This is simple sugars like fruit, dairy products, and vegetables because they contain natural sugars. Simple carbs can also be bad because of food that uses added sugar to foods like processed honey, sugar, molasses, and corn syrup. This is what our sweet tooth calls for, but if you keep it natural instead of eating food with additives of sugar, much better off choosing fruits and veggies.

Complex Carbohydrates

These are called starches, which are several linked chains of sugar which make complex carbs. Complex carbs are much healthier than simple carbs. Since they are starches, they provide you with healthy sugar and fiber. The types of food that are considered complex carbs are: bread, cereal, pasta, rice, and corn. While our bodies break complex carbs down, its converted into glucose during digestion but can also cause a spike your blood glucose levels and some people can build an insulin resistance.

Fiber

Fiber is categorized as a complex carb but doesn’t act like simple or complex carbs. Our bodies digest fiber easier and it isn’t broken down into sugar. Fiber helps regulate blood glucose levels and helps our body lower our cholesterol levels as well as regular digestion. The foods that contain fiber are: Whole grains, fruits and veggies. Dark greens and orange colored fruits and veggies are the richest in fiber. Also lentils, peas, dried beans are also healthy forms of fiber. Watch out for processed whole grains or refined white flower for example. That means the fiber is removed and now has changed into a simple carb instead of a fiber.

 Some Simple Carbohydrates

Table sugar                         Corn syrup

Fruit juice                            Candy

Cake                                      Bread made with white flower

Soda                                      Pasta made with white flower

Most packaged cereals  All baked goods made with white flower

Some Complex Carbohydrates

Spinach                                Whole Barley

Turnip Greens                   Buckwheat

Apples                                  lettuce                                 

Zucchini                                oatmeal                                                                              

Asparagus                           pears

Artichokes                          Museli

Strawberries                      Wild rice

Cabbage                              Brown rice

Yams                                     Multi-grain bread

Potatos                                                Yams

Fiber

Raspberries                        Pear (with skin)

Banana                                                 apple (with skin)

Bran flakes                          split peas (cooked)

Black beans                        almonds

Broccoli (boiled)               sweet corn (cooked)

Potato with skin (baked) carrot

Carbohydrates are preferred fuel by the body and it is the critical energy source for an active person before and after exercise. The complex carbohydrate is preferred carb because it sustains energy needs and supplies fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The fuel that is made from carbohydrates comes from two sources: circulating blood glucose and glycogen stored in the muscle and liver tissue. Complex carbs are also called starches. Starches break down slowly, helping maintain blood glucose levels avoiding hypoglycemia and maintain glycogen storage as a constant primary fuel source.

A low-carbohydrate diet decreases the body’s ability for capacity work. This makes the body less efficient for maintaining energy homeostasis.

A high-carbohydrate diet enhances muscle glycogen concentrations and exercise performance. When exercising consuming small amounts of carbs improves whole-body carbohydrate oxidation and metabolic efficiency.

Food sources of Carbohydrates

Starches (the most important of carbohydrates) are whole grain such as rice, wheat, corn, and potatoes.

Sugars (good from fruit and veggies, not from candy or drinks) bananas, orange, and apples

Fiber (the cleanser of the body) rye, nuts, and beans

Carbohydrates recommended daily intake is 45-65%
this translates to 225- 325 grams of carbs a day
1  gram of carbs = 4 calories

Refined carbohydrates are the carbs you want to stay away from. Refined means it’s a high carbohydrates and it has been strip out everything and only keep the highly digestible carb (starch or sugar). Refined carbs are produced from an whole plant but has been broken down so that the body processes it very quickly.

Refined Carbohydrates are-sugar (granulated, high fructose, corn syrup), grains that have been made with white or enriched (white flower, white rice, white pasta, enriched rice, soy, almond milk), starch (corn starch, modified food starch)

Why core stability is so important

Making the muscles in your trunk (abdominals) strong is great for the spine and posture. Stability is great for balance, lower back pain, strengthening the tendons in your back and stomach. The inner muscles are there to help support your spine and body, as the other muscles outside of the inner core are there to help you work and make movements. Working from the inside the core means working the transverse abdominis (TVA) muscles and then starting to strengthen the outside like the oblique, upper, and lower abs.

You might be asking yourself why this important….

Well some facts that I have found on WebMD and other websites is that 1. Being strong and feeling healthy comes from good posture. 2. Good balance means you can move more efficiently and have confidence in your strength. 3. More energy, strength, and power for your activities. 4. Your chances of getting injured are less likely because the body is stronger and stable. 5. And the most important is that core stability is a great way to reduce lower back pain!

There are a million reasons why core stability is important especially when it comes to being healthy. Have you ever thought about the way you breathe while working out? Breathing from the diaphragm helps move air in and out of your lungs. The best way to do this is as easy as 1,2, and 3. I found this on WebMD so read it over and tried it out. It’s amazing how we don’t know how we are breathing!

1.   Lie down on your back and put your hand on your stomach. 

2.   When you breathe in and out, your hand should move up and down. Notice how it feels to breathe this way. 

3.   When you start to exercise, try to get the same feeling of your chest and belly moving in and out as you breathe, rather than your chest and shoulders moving up toward your neck and back down.

If your interested in learning more go to the link and read up on finding your neutral spine, pulling your belly in, and floor bridge. But I’m going to give you a couple of exercises for you to start building up the TVA! The picture below is the set up of the trunk. The trunk is much more complex than many people think unless you have taken an anatomy class.

So here are exercises to help strengthen the TVA.

1.       Plank

2.       Side Plank

3.       Bicycle Crunch

4.       Long arm crunch

5.       Ab crunch on exercise ball

Ok, so let’s go with a couple of different plank exercises to start with and as you gain strength start looking into other core building exercises.

Plank

1.       Start in either a push up position or with your forearms lined up with your feet. BE SURE TO KEEP A FLAT BACK AND KEEP THAT BUTT DOWN! If you're not ready to do this you can place your knees on the ground and work on form first. For the time start with 10 seconds to 15 seconds to 30 seconds and then move your way up as you get stronger

2.       Like I said before keep your body straight like a line from your ears to your toes with no sagging or bending.

3.       Keep your head relaxed and keep a focus point on the floor.

4.       Don’t clasp your hands together. Try to keep your arms a lined with your shoulders. This position will burn at first, but as you get stronger it will get easier. 

As you get stronger, try the different variegations with lifting one leg or arm. Then you can move up to one arm and one leg at the same time. For example put your right arm out and your left leg out and hold it for as long as you can then give yourself a break and switch to the left arm and right leg out to balance out the stabilization.

 

Stress and your health

All of us experience stress in life. It could be getting to work or school on time, it could be more complex like paying bills or emotional stress, or health stresses. Either way all of us experience some kind of stress that affects our bodies. When it comes to our overall health, stress can affect the way our body is reacting and cause problems with losing weight, getting fit, and reaching an overall goal. Our body is made to handle stress by the fight or flight reactions that happen in the amygdale and hypothalamus in our brain. These functions are the “command center” of our brain and send messages through hormones to our body in order to react to the command. This is some technical stuff were talking about here, but the stresses we experience everyday affect our bodies and can make it hard to lose weight, get fit, and the overall health functions of our bodies.  I could go on and on about how the body reacts to the chemical reactions from the hormones and how the messages get relayed thought out the body, but I’m just going to generalize just so you understand how this reaction works.

1.       The amygdale gets the message that there is a stress occurring, and starts the emotional processing by sending a distress signal to the hypothalamus.

2.       The hypothalamus is the command center, it communicates to the nervous system and sends a message to the sympathetic nervous system to respond to the perceived stress signal.

3.       This triggers the fight or flight response.

4.       The hormone adrenaline is released into the bloodstream, and it circulates though out the body and brings on the physiological changes from the stressor.

5.       The heart beats faster, blood pressure increases, the lungs open up, and sight and hearing are shaper at this time. Oxygen is sent to the brain to help with the alertness.

6.       Once the adrenaline has subsided from the stress reactions, and a second reaction is sent to the response system called HPA axis. The hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands are reacted.

7.       This is the “gas pedal” of the sympathetic nervous system and as long as the brain continues to perceive something dangerous, the brain releases corticotrophin hormone and its sent to the pituitary gland then triggering the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone.

8.       These hormones are sent to the adrenal glands and release cortisol. The body stays up on this high alert until the treat passes and the parasympathetic nervous system starts the “break” of the stress response.

This is a general run down of how the body reacts to stress. It’s really intense stuff, there is more information on line if you want to learn more, but I want to get into the main point…. How stress affects fitness and losing weight!

The hormone cortisol regulates blood pressure and the bodies use of macronutrients also the release of insulin so that our bodies can convert sugars (glucose) to energy. If we have too much cortisol, it affects the suppressed thyroid functions, lowered immune response, and imbalanced blood sugar.

If this stress and cortisol are a long term affect, then there are more damaging effects. Loss of muscle which slows metabolism, increased blood sugar which will increase appetite of the bad carbs like sugar and can lead to insulin resistance, and accumulation of body fat from stress!  So the excess cortisol makes it hard for your body to burn fat for energy, which makes it hard to sustain weight loss which makes it hard to lose fat and makes it difficult to get the fitness results you want!

So how do we deal with stress and reduce stress…..

Well, here are just some basic ways to deal with stress, so here are some ideas to help cope or deal with stress on your own. If your stressors are more serious you may want to talk to a doctor and figure out ways that can help out also.

1.       Work your body out- exercise a little bit everyday. Even if its just walking around the block, take some good deep breaths and clear your mind so you can naturally calm yourself and let your body relax. Swimming, walking, jogging, playing sports, taking your dog to the park. All are good ways to get up and get fresh air and get your blood flowing.

2.       Get enough sleep- Your body needs to rest and needs to be able to recover from everyday life. This gives our body a way to restore energy to make it though the next day. Also getting into regular sleeping habits so your body is used to a schedule.

3.       Eating good food- Be healthy and think of your body as a temple, don’t put junk in it! Your body wants to eat and feel good too! Fast food and processed food isn’t going to help you lose weight or reduce stress. Drink water and low sugar drinks…(try to stay away from drinks with processed sugars). Fruits, complex carbs, teas, nuts, protein (good protein) and veggies.

4.       Take a deep breath and RELAX!-  your body needs to be able to relax and it’s a great way to reduce stress. If you don’t let your body rest it never gets to repair itself or recover. When relaxing keep your mind open and just breath. Let your body and mind know that everything is ok and your stresses will be easier to cope with.

Like I said before this might not work for everyone, but some of the info might help you recover or handle stress better. There are tons of articles online to look up about ways to deal with stress and how the stress reaction happens. So do your research and figure out what works for you, if you need to visit a doctor then take that step, if it’s just a matter of being able to cope with stress, maybe try yoga or breathing techniques with eating healthier, sleeping better, and drinking more water. Listen to your body and think about the hormones that are involved in sending the messages though out our bodies. It’s a science for sure and there is so many chemical reactions happening in our bodies and its hard to sum all of them up in one blog post. Either way, I hope this article helps connect the dots and you can take the steps to reducing stress.