70% of You and Me

There are so many body facts from school that I remember, but yet don't always apply. Drinking water seems pretty easy to remember, but a very large part of the population is not drinking even close to the right amounts each day! I am guilty of this, and have started making this more a priority because when you break it down, water is a very large part of our make up as humans! Unfortunately, the most popular drink of choice in this country is soda. There are countless Americans that consume sugary, yucky soda daily instead of reaching for the healthier beverage of water. Water has a lot of important benefits to our health and our bodies. 

Let's first look at just how much water is needed for us to function! Check out the picture below! WOW! 

Looking at the picture above, you can see how important water is to our diets. It helps us in many ways:

1. Helps brain function

2. Helps lubricate joints

3. Helps keep the digestive tract moving smoothly

4. Helps flush out toxins

5. Helps our skin look youthful and beautiful

6. Helps us stay alert and not so sleepy

7. Keeps us full so we don't eat as much

8. Helps you feel happier

And the list goes on. To see a longer, more complete list, CLICK HERE

Just how much water should we be consuming each day? Well, that is up for debate, and there are many different schools of thought on that. Here are a few quick and easy guides to help you.

The second picture encourages a larger amount of water consumption each day, but they are not too far off from each other. Which ever one you want to use a s a gauge, it will only benefit your body and health. 

I have gotten into the habit of bringing a water bottle around with me everywhere. This is a great tip to ensure you are drinking enough water. Here are a few more tips as well.

One important thing to remember is that drinking water when you are thirsty is good, but when your body has gotten to the point of being thirsty, that's not a good thing. You want to keep yourself  hydrated throughout the day so you do not get to the point of thirst. With the hot summer days upon us, keep water on your brains, stay hydrated, and remember all of the important benefits water has on your body's health! Drink up!

Strong is Sexy

Ladies, this entry is especially for you. Though much of the information transcends gender, women tend to have a hang up about lifting weights. 

How many ladies out there are guilty of thinking the exact thing in the picture above? I hope by now, you realize that strength training will not turn you into a she-hulk any time in the near future! This is such a bad myth! Strength training will get you the muscle you want that will burn fat while you sit at your desk all day, it will help build bone density, help your metabolic rates, help with your cardiovascular health, and the list goes on and on and on! Get ready to transform  your mentality and your bodies as well!

 

Now that was a lot of thumbnails to get my points across quickly and easily! There are so many benefits to lifting weights. The basic break down is that it does these AMAZING things for you:

1. It builds muscle and burns fat. Who wouldn't love that?!?!

2. It burns calories and boosts your metabolic rate! NICE!

3. Muscle burns lots of calories while you're resting! At your desk, on the couch, muscle will be burning that fat away!

4. Being stronger will help you in your everyday life!

5. Your body burns calories even after you're done working out!

6. Stronger bones!

7. Metabolism slows with age, but you can help that by strength training!

8. It helps with your posture

9. Lowers blood pressure

10. Helps prevent injuries. If you're strong, you're less likely to get injured doing something silly

11. Increases balance and coordination. Who doesn't need help in this department as we get older?

12. Keeps diabetes away!

13. Improves your heart health. We need healthy hearts to live longer!

14. Strengthens your joints, tendons and ligaments. 

15. Releases endorphins and makes you feel HAPPY! 

16. Keeps you mentally alert 

17. Boosts your energy

This is the short and to the point list, but there is some amazing information in the full list I got this from. CLICK HERE to see the full article! As if those reasons weren't enough, lets delve in deeper!

People of all ages can pick up some weights and get started. You don't have to go into the gym and surround yourself with the beefcake men that seem to have inflated their arms and chests before coming to the gym that day. You can do these things in the comfort of your own home, or even better, with a friend! Having a friend to workout with will help keep you on track, hold you accountable, and is also way more fun! You don't have to start out with heavy weights, but taking that step to get started will only benefit you and your overall health. Here are two sources that will help out my beginner readers. CHECK ME and CLICK HERE for two great beginning resources. These will also help those who have been out of the game for a bit!

Now hopefully we've kicked the whole lifting weights is just for boys mentality and we are embracing the opportunity to improve your health! Another bit of information that I found interesting is this:

Lifting weights can even count as cardio. "The idea that you have to separate the two is an old-school notion," says Jill Coleman, MS, former figure competitor "The new way is faster, more intense workouts that combine weight training and cardio." In other words, you can lift weights faster to build strength and get breathless at the same time.

CLICK HERE for the rest of this AMAZING article! It is WELL worth the read!!!!!!!

I was even of that old school mentality that you have to have the cardio too. I do go to the gym and work out pretty hard, and I definitely work up a sweat, and get my heart rate up. Doing separate cardio seems silly. Separate cardio has its benefits as well, but it isn't going to make or break you. Another important thing to note, is that cardio alone will not get you the benefits you are dreaming of. Cardio, as it states in it's name is great for your heart. Movement  is obviously good for your muscles, but strength training will give you that overall health boost you've been looking for. 

When I started back really working out, I was working out with a trainer. I was so out of shape! WOW! I would get done working out and have to almost crawl back to the car! In the beginning, I was only using light weights. I think I took 5lb weights to that first class. As time went on, and I got stronger, I bumped up my dumb bell weights, and was up to 20 pounds on many exercises. I took the large amounts of knowledge with me, and continue to utilize the things I learned in my everyday workouts. I do go to the gym, and am sometimes surrounded by beefcakes, but I don't really care. They don't really intimidate me because I know I will not look like them, nor do I want to! I know that as I continue to lift and work hard, I am building muscle and that is benefiting so many aspects of my health. I shoot the meat heads a "hello" glance, and go about my business. When it boils down to it, we are all there for the same thing; to be healthy. The first day I went back to the gym, I saw this petite girl sit down on the leg press. I was interested to see how much weight she would stack on there. I couldn't believe my eyes when she put four 45 pound weights on either side of the bar (that's 360lbs for anyone counting!) There was no way she was going to lift that! I could see she had pretty toned legs, but that weight was insane! She jumped on that thing and busted out 4 sets at that weight! I was impressed! Seeing someone of normal stature, who had nice tone to her physique only solidified the fact that women can be strong and sexy and lift a lot of weight! It was something that inspired me to work my butt off in the gym each day. I have even actually recently found my bicep! I wasn't sure it was in there, but after scratching my arm in the middle of teaching the other day, it is indeed there! Showing itself to the world! I kind of stopped mid-sentence in the middle of a science lesson because I was so surprised that my bicep was showing itself!  :) Thanks strength training! I am seeing my results after a couple months and couldn't be happier. The key is to not give up when you don't see immediate results. In a world of instant gratification, we find it hard to wait for things. This my friends is worth the wait. Keep up the hard work, and the results will come (not only externally, but internally as well!)

There are so many resources out there to help you get started on  your strength training journey! I have learned so much by talking to trainers, talking to other people working out, and doing my research. 

Throw those absurd fears of lifting weights out the window ladies, and lets get our bodies in tip top shape!

All About That Fat

In my last post I said I would talk about avocados. I am going to touch on my new favorite fruit, but what I really want to talk about is fats in our food. As some are aware, there are good fats and bad fats. Now even if we are aware of this fact, we are not always sure which ones we need to keep in our diets and which ones we need to get rid of or seriously cut down on. 

Now, if you walk down one of the middle aisles in the grocery store (which I avoid like the plague), you'll see hundreds of products that boast that their product is "low-fat" or "fat free". Wow! As it would appear, we have a lot of healthy food options! Look at all of these processed foods that somehow magically were able to make the fat disappear! Impressive! Guess what consumer? They're duping you! Now, these products may seem to have "less fat" but look at the sugar content....it's through the roof isn't it? Check out the carbohydrate column on the nutrition facts....it's pretty high too isn't it? These companies take out the "fat" but add in refined sugar and lots of carbs. Since this boom of "less fat" products has saturated the market, has our nation thinned out? Have we become more healthy? Has heart disease gone down on the list of highest cause of death in the USA? The answer to all three of those questions is NO! "Low fat" and "no fat" foods are just as unhealthy for you as they were before they "took out the fat"! We are not benefiting from these labels, or these foods. Take a good look at what you're putting in your body! 

Now, to be fair, not all fats are bad. We have been told time and time again to keep fat out of our diets. This is only partially true. There are good fats and bad fats. There are four main groups of fat. Two are yucky and should be limited in your diet, and two are heart healthy and should continue to be in your daily regimen. There are many places to find the good stuff, and unfortunately more places to find the not so good stuff. 

The two good ones are:

Monounsaturated fats and Polyunsaturated fats- These fats are good for your heart, cholesterol and overall health

The ones to limit are:

Saturated fats and Trans fats- these are not good for your heart, cholesterol or your overall health!

Here are some tables that I found helpful!

I got a large amount of this information, and these tables from a great article CLICK HERE to read the article in it's entirety! It is worth the read!

This article also helps break down the two bad guys. Read below!

The one thing in this table that is up for debate is the eggs. They have more recently been proven to not have a negative affect on your heart or cholesterol so keep eating those delicious cage free, organic eggs!...but avoid these....

Now that you have had knowledge dropped on you, hopefully you can shop with your eyes a little more open to the trickery going on around you in those dreaded middle aisles!

I found an article that outlines 10 wonderful foods that have great fats in them that you should also CHECK OUT! Avocados (my obsession) are right at the top of the eat me list. Though they may be a tricky fruit.....

They are super good for you for many reasons! One trick I've found is that when checking to see if they are ripe or not in the store, avoid squeezing them. I know this is the natural avocado check, but a better way is to pull on the little "stem" piece that is there and see how easily you can pull it out. If it comes out more easily, it's ripe! Buy that bad boy and eat it up! Avocados are good on everything! For more reasons avocados are awesome, check out this article by CLICKING HERE!

I hope this information on fats will help you with you and your family's health! The more knowledge you hold, the better choices you can make!

Next week we'll delve into the topic of women and strength training.... strong is the new sexy!

Poop Talks...You Should Really Listen

The human body is fascinating. There are so many intricate things happening inside us every second of every day. One basic rule we learn as kids is you eat, then some hours later, you poop out what your body doesn't want or need. The conversation about bowel movements becomes awkward at some point and no teen or adult wants to face the poop facts! "Your bowel movements are the only real marker you have about what your G.I. health is like," says gastroenterologist Anish Sheth, MD, author of What's Your Poo Telling You? (7 Things Your Poops Says About You) 

Now when Jen told me to take a peek in the toilet to see what was going on in there, I thought...EEW. But after listening to her, and doing some more research; what your body gets rid of is a very good indicator of what is happening inside of your G.I. tract. Here are a couple of the things you need to look for. 

Color

The color of your emission gives you hints into your health. You want a nice brown BM. Any other color could possibly indicate troubles in GI land. 

There are a few possible problems that could be happening if your poop is consistently one of these other colors. The gallbladder disease one is more yellowish. This picture doesn't do the color justice. Yellow shows that there is too much fat in your diet, and that you aren't processing it well. Hence the gallbladder issues. Since I do not have a gallbladder anymore, it would be bad for me to have yellow! Now, of course your poop color can be altered by the food you are eating, so don't get all nervous if you have one green BM; it doesn't mean you have Crohn's Disease! Just keep an eye on the color because there are many things it indicates. Mama Natural has a pretty informative video about this topic! Check it out! 

Texture

The video above touches on the textures and what those could mean. You want your BM to be in the middle range. That's the sweet, healthy spot. Here is the Bristol Chart for reference. Aim for those beautiful type 4s! 

Ok, so this chart is the most looked to chart to gauge your BMs, BUT Jen sent me a really awesome one that I would rather check out! It's way more fun, and less technical! 

Smell

Ok, this one is gross. Obviously no poop really smells great, but there is a difference between normal poo smell, and something being wrong. Consistent foul smelling BMs could indicate a variety of GI problems. CLICK HERE to read a great article that outlines in more detail what those smells could be stemming from!  

When Jen was telling me to check my poop for color, texture, and smell, I wasn't sure what I was really looking for. One of the things she told me to specifically look for was if my poop was floating or not. Floating poops aren't good. They indicate too much fat as well. For many reasons, including the fact that I don't have a gallbladder, I need to be sure I don't have too much bad fat in my diet. I need those good fats that come from things like avocados, but that bad fat needs to stay out of my system! 

My challenge to everyone is to keep a better eye on your toilet. What is going on internally speaks to you through your poop. When it talks, take the time to inspect, reflect, and listen! 

For good measure.....be sure you're also taking a poop the right way! No one ever talks about this either! Take notes!

As the last one says, elevate your heels! Check out Mama Natural's companion video on why this is so important!

Hopefully you've learned something about what your poo is trying to tell you! I hope what it's trying to tell you is that it is healthy and so is your GI health! Happy poopin'!

I mentioned avocados, and I will be talking more about those next week!