How Soda Affects the Body
(posted by Joseph Bishop; 02/15/13)
Weekly Health Tip
(posted by Joseph Bishop; 08/27/12)
Healthy Tips for The Holiday Season!
December is usually synonymous with an abundance of eating and a lack of exercise. We want to encourage you to start this New Year on the right foot. The holidays are a time for celebration and family, not to put on weight. It's almost as if we've come to accept that we are going to put on 10 pounds during each holiday season.
Celebration doesn't have to mean gluttonous eating, or deprivation for that matter. It's time to bring the focus back to the purpose of the holiday. Enjoy your friends and family, the time off and the traditions of the holidays
Shop Well For Your Self
It is more important than ever to stock your kitchen with healthy foods. Have healthy snacks handy. The more convenient they are, the more likely you are to eat them. Instead of thinking about what you shouldn't eat, promise to eat your 3 to 5 servings of vegetables each day.
Schedule You Exercise
Your schedule will be very hectic this holiday season. Schedule your workouts just as you would any other appointment. It's ok if you can't make it to class, but make sure that you get some activity in at least three days per week.
Just Say No
You probably aren't aware how much extra food you consume just from people offering it to you. A sample at the market here, an extra cookie at an office party there and it all adds up. Just think twice before you take that food and decide if you really want it.
Skip The Baking
Do you make baked goods for giving? Chances are you eat much of what you bake. Who wouldn't? Instead make non-food gifts, or prepare ingredients for baked goods and put them in pretty jars--let your gift recipient bake it up. That way, they can eat it when they want it and you don't have to be tempted in the kitchen.
Hydrate! HYdrate! Hydrate!
Keep your water bottle with you at all times. You should be drinking eight, 8-oz glasses of water each day. One handy trick is to buy a 64 ounce water jug. Fill it up in the morning and know that you need to finish it by the end of the day.
Healthy Tips and Tricks
(posted by Joseph Bishop; 08/27/12)
Get Moving
It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine. Walk, bike or jog to see friends. Take a 10-minute activity break every hour while you read, do homework or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day.
Start your day with breakfast!
Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get you going after a long night without food. And it can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare breakfasts include cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night's pizza!
Go for Garlic!
Adding raw or lightly cooked garlic and onions to your meals may help keep you healthy this winter. Both foods appear to possess antiviral and antibacterial properties and are believed to boost immunity.
Wash Up!
To fend off colds, washing your hands well and often is the best step you can take. Use plain soap and water and scrub for as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday to You" twice
Have Some Honey!
Research suggests that honey may be more effective than over-the-counter cough syrup at quelling nighttime coughing. Use a medicinal-grade variety such as manuka honey and take up to 2 teaspoonfuls at bedtime.
Healthy Snacks and Recipes
(posted by Joseph Bishop; 08/27/12)
Snowman Snacks
Banana
Pretzel Sticks
Blueberries
Rainbow sprinkles for the eyes and nose
Reindeer Treats
Grandma may not be too keen on them, but I wouldn’t mind being run over by these cute and healthy reindeer. They may not be able to fly, but as a delicious sweet-and-salty snack, they’re pretty fantastic! If your kids are like mine, they’ll love making this holiday recipe as an after-school snack— just have everything ready when they come home, and let them do all the work! (Try to name all of Santa’s reindeer while you’re making them.)
What You’ll Need:
1 apple
10 pretzel rings
5 raisins (1 dried cranberry or red M&M if you want to make Rudolph)
10 mini chocolate chips
To Make Reindeer Apple Snack:
Core apple and slice into thin large circles. Use a vitamin bottle to cut small circles out of the apples. Place 2 mini chocolate chips on each circle for the reindeer eyes. Add a raisin underneath the mini chocolate chips for the nose. Place a pretzel ring on the apple to finish the reindeer face. Arrange reindeer faces on a plate. (Make sure to leave room for the antlers!) Gently break pretzel rings in half and put in place for the antlers.
Fruity Chicken Kebobs
Makes 4 Servings
Ingredients
• 8 ounces lower-sodium deli chicken or turkey, sliced 3/4-inch thick
• Eight 8-inch wooden skewers
• 16 green grapes
• 12 strawberries, cut in half lengthwise
Directions
1. Cut the chicken into 3/4-inch cubes. To make the kebabs, thread 3 pieces of cubed chicken, 2 grapes, and 3 strawberry halves onto each skewer in any order that you and your children choose. Be sure to leave enough space at the bottom so the kids can hold the skewers comfortably.
2. To wrap, lay 2 skewers on a sheet of aluminum foil and fold the foil loosely over the kebabs.
Tip: Pack with an all-natural fruit smoothie and a mini whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese to round out the lunch.
Nutrition Information per Serving (2 kebabs): 100 calories, 1.5g fat (0g saturated), 360mg sodium, 10g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 14g protein, 80% vitamin C
Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
There's a lip-smacking surprise in the center of each of these yummy muffins.
Our Test Kitchen staff made them simple to prepare, so you can easily bake them up for family and friends.
12 Servings Prep: 10 min. Bake: 15 min. + cooling
Ingredients
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup thawed apple juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat chunky peanut butter
• 1/4 cup fat-free milk
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup strawberry spreadable fruit
Directions
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and
• salt. Combine the eggs, apple juice concentrate, peanut butter, milk
• and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
• Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Spoon half of the batter into
• cups. Spoon about 1-1/4 teaspoons spreadable fruit into the center
• of each; top with remaining batter.
• Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into
• muffin comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan
• to a wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 1 dozen.
Timing is Everything!
(posted by Ben Wolfe; 12/17/12)
Timing is everything!
What if I said that you can lose weight and not change what you eat?! Impossible? It has to do with the time you eat your meals. To emphasize my point, I would like to mention a story from one of the lectures in my class from a well-known doctor in the field of nutrition named Dr. Douillard. His story was about an iron man athlete he was training. He told the athlete to eat his biggest meal in the middle of the day before the big race the next day (instead of eating a traditionally large meal at dinner before the race). The next day he ate 2/3 less of his snacks during the race and made his personal best race, mentioning that he felt great the entire time.
How can this be?
Eating your biggest meal at the end of the day is rough on the body. While your body is supposed to be resting while you are sleeping, it is working hard to digest the food you just ate. This leads to feeling tired and having a sluggish metabolism. To put it in perspective, you should be waking up in the morning hungry and thirsty. By eating your biggest meal in the middle or even the beginning of the day allows your body to have time to not only digest it but also use it for energy instead of storing it as fat while you are asleep.
What can I do?
Try to make your breakfast and lunch the two biggest meals of the day while your dinner is smaller. Experiment so that you feel satisfied before you sleep but you are waking up hungry and thirsty. Let me know if you have any questions!
WODs for Week of 12/17/12
(posted by Ben Wolfe; 12/17/12)
WOD For 12/18/12
30 skips (jump rope), 30 lunges (each leg), 30 sit ups, 30 pushups, 30 wall balls, 30 high jumps, 30 bodyweight squats, 30 one legged deadlift (bodyweight), 30 burpees, 30 skips (jump rope)
WOD For 12/20/12
Partner WOD: In 20 min, keep track of the max amount of burpee wallballs. One partner does as many burpee wallballs as the other person does 50 skips (jump rope).
WODs for Week of 12/10/12
(posted by Ben Wolfe; 12/09/12)
WODs for Week of 12/10/12
12/11/12 WOD:
4 rounds of 4 minutes (1 minute rest inbetween) of:
- Run 2 laps around gym. For the rest of the 4 minute time do as many rounds as possbile of: 4 burpees, 4 jumping squats, 4 pushups, 4 high jumps, 4 mountain climbers.
- Keep score of how many times you can go through the burpees, jumping squats, pushups, high jumps and mountain climbers in the 4 minute time after your two lap run.
12/13/12 WOD:
TEAM WOD: One person runs 2 laps around gym while the other does: 100 wallballs, 100 situps, 100 pushups. Person A doing the run will continue with the amount that Person B finished with. For example, if person B did 20 wallballs in the time that person A ran two laps, person A continues with the 20 wallballs.
Sleep More Eat Less!
(posted by Ben Wolfe; 12/09/12)
Study
A recent study suggests that there is a strong correlation between sleeping and eating. The study showed that people who were sleep deprived (sleeping on average of 5.2 hours) ate an astounding 549 calories compared to the people who had more sleep (sleeping on average of 6.5 hours). Cravings for more energy are triggered when you have not gotten your usual amount of sleep. These cravings lead to not only eating more, but often less healthy foods. When your body is sleep deprived, it will crave foods that can give a jolt of energy, meaning sugary foods such as cookies and energy bars. This is a “double whammy” for your health due to the high calorie content of those foods and the sugars they possess.
The Message
Obviously, sleeping between 7-9 hours of sleep is best for the body but when that isn’t possible, try to keep energy cravings down by eating foods that can give you energy but not with the sugar. The best way to look at food for energy is if microorganisms cannot thrive on it (meaning it will take a long time for it to get spoiled), what makes you think you’ll be able to? ? Also, try to have some sort of fiber or protein with your meal to decrease the speed at which your blood sugars rise. When your blood sugar rises too fast, you’ll get a crash later on that is not so pleasant!
Examples
•Try an apple. They are known to give an energy boost the healthy way!
•A few banana slices with peanut butter in a wrap is great. The peanut butter keeps the sugars from the banana from raising your blood sugar too much.
•Leafy greens have the most energy and nutrients per ounce. They aren’t called super foods for nothing!
•A smoothie (greek yogurt with frozen fruits and a splash of milk/almond milk) is easy and you can be creative by putting whatever you want into the smoothie
Resource
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20120314/sleep-less-eat-more?page=2
Upcoming Events
(posted by Joseph Bishop; 08/27/12)
UGLY SWEATER RUN 5K - Saturday, December 8, 2012. City Park, Denver
JINGLE BELL RUN/WALK - Sunday, December 9, 2012. Washington Park, Denver
SANTA STAMPEDE 5K/10K- Saturday, December 15, 2012. Hudson Gardens, Littleton
A CHRISTMAS CAROL CLASSIC 5K/10K - December 22, 2012. City Park, Denver