10 Practical Suggestions for Health

Posted by Andy - 01/30/08 at 05:01:00 pm

If you are like most people, you’ve already forgotten about the resolutions that you made on January 1st. The simple fact is, it’s not easy to change habits, unless you’ve just had a heart attack or some other life-changing event. You may know how often you should exercise, when you should see a doctor for testing and what you should eat. Well, almost on what you should eat.

To make life easier, we came up with 10 practical suggestions for improving your diet. They’re backed by research, they’re specific (not just “eat less bad fat”), they go beyond the obvious (”switch from whole milk to nonfat milk”), and they are doable. How do we know? We do them daily.

 

1. Eat less meat or go meatless.

People who eat more red meat (beef, pork, and lamb) have a higher risk of cancer. Prevention is key. If you have a family history of colon cancer, please talk with your doctor about how often you should be eating red meat.

 

2. Eat bran cereal in place of other cereals.

Please don’t get us wrong, any 100% whole-grain cereal is good for you, but bran cereals appear to be better. Why? For starters, they are loaded with fiber. Without them, it’s tough to reach the new recommended amount: 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you eat per day. That works out to be about 38 grams for men 50 or younger. People often feel full longer when eating bran daily and it may help keep you trim. Instead of going with an ordinary whole-wheat cereal like Wheaties with only 3 grams of fiber per serving, try an all-bran cereal with 10 to 14 grams.

 

3. Don’t drink your Calories.

Studies show that the calories you drink are more likely to show up on your bathroom scale than the calories you chew. Most of the studies are geared towards soft drinks, but anything in excess that your body doesnâ’t need is stored as fat, which includes your Starbucks venti Double Chocolate Chip Cr’me (without the whipped cream) at 590 calories, eight-ounces of orange juice at 120 calories, or 12 ounces of beer at 150 calories. Instead, drink your 64 ounces water or stick to other calorie-free beverages like flavored seltzers or plain tea.

 

4. Hold the cheese please.

Cheese is everywhere these days… in or on soups, salads, steaks, sandwiches, breads, potatoes and eggs. Restaurants love to use cheese because it pumps up the flavor without requiring much skill from the kitchen. One ounce (the size of a ping pong ball) of cheddar cheese is 110 calories and 10 grams of saturated (bad) fat.

 

5. Let beans squeeze out starches.

“Eat at least three cups of legumes per week,” says the government’s Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Americans. What’s so special about beans? If nothing else, they are inexpensive, fiber packed and a good source of protein. Beans may also affect satiety. When adding more beans to your meal-plan, go slow to prevent too much gas buildup.

 

6. Make it salmon, not tuna.

“We recommend eating fish (particularly fatty fish) at least two times a week,” says the American Heart Association. Fish has less saturated fat than meat. Salmon contains omega-3 fats that appear to lower the risk of heart disease and has a lower mercury content than tuna.

 

7. Snack smart.

Since nationwide surveys (started in the 1970’s) say the average American eats three meals and two snacks a day, which is still true to this day. What has changed? The amounts of food eaten at snack time. Scones, muffins and danish pastries are often grabbed on the way to work or to the dinner show at 500 calories on average. Instead, trade those for fruits or vegetables, try 6-12 almonds for a healthy snack.

 

8. Roast vegetables, not potatoes.

Yes, potatoes are technically vegetables but a starchy one that acts more like a white flour grain in the body. Potatoes may be a complex carbohydrate, but they raise blood sugar as fast as actual sugar does. And don’t assume that potatoes are fine as long as they’re not French fries. Eating mashed or baked potatoes is not far from getting an intravenous load of glucose.

 

9. Sip soup, not salt.

Salt raises blood pressure which may increase the risk for stroke or heart attacks. High blood pressure or hypertension is an epidemic in the United States. It affects half of all people over the age of 60. Soup is one of the worst offenders - roughly 1,000 milligrams per serving for about 100 calories. How much salt, at maximum, should you be consuming per day? 2,400 milligrams per day. Just think, you may never truly know how much salt the kitchen from your favorite restaurant may be adding to your food.

 

10. Finish with fruit.

For many people, dessert is time to splurge. Many don’t know that the typical restaurant dessert is 1,000 calories and one or two days worth of saturated fat. Look for fruit on the menu or at home throw together balsamic vinegar and strawberries (Recipe: combine 1 cup quartered strawberries with 1 teaspoon sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Chill 1 hour before serving). This will impress your date or significant other and is perfect for Valentine’s Day. That’s not to say that you can never have another slice of cheesecake in this lifetime, but to save it for (really) rare occasions when you can afford an extra 1,000 calories.

Enjoy every bite of food with your new additions to your healthy meals!

Contact me at TerriBlairRD@mac.com for a complimentary 15-minute appointment today.

New Features: Graphs and more

Posted by Andy - 01/27/08 at 10:01:00 pm

Hello everyone! We continue to add new features and tweak Gyminee to make it better and better. Here is what we have added recently:

• Much Better Graphs - Your graphs in BodyTracker™ and nutrition/exercise progress are much improved. They have been modified to show time-based data more clearly and also support zooming. To zoom, just click-and-drag on your graph.
• Private Messages - You can send Gyminee members private messages via email if you don’t want your motivation to appear for everybody to see.
• More Accountability - Your GymBuddies will now get feed items if you are meeting your recurring goals, if you go overboard with your calories, or if you slack off at the gym. We want to motivate you to keep going towards those goals you set at the beginning of the year!

Please continue to provide us your feedback. Thanks for all of the positive comments you have been sending in. Your requests directly impact what we develop next, so keep them coming!

New PRO Trainer

Posted by Andy - 01/22/08 at 11:01:00 pm

Introducing Dee Nicovich

If you are a Gyminee PRO member, then you will be happy to know that we have just added a new trainer. Dee is a Personal Trainer, Aerobics Instructor (land and water), Swimming Instructor, and Health and Physical Education Instructor whose services are available in the Huntsville, AL area. Dee has provided 3 workout programs that are available to PRO users and are designed for a variety of skill-levels.

When asked why she pursued a career in the health field, Dee responded:

 

New PRO Programs!

PRO trainer Hugo Saner also created a new workout program that is available to all Gyminee PRO users. It is called Max Muscle Gain and is a great overall workout, incorporating cardio with intense strength training.

We’ll be adding even more new trainers and workout programs within the next month, so stay tuned!

Tips from Terri

Posted by Andy - 01/18/08 at 05:01:00 pm

What are you really hungry for?

Do you want a Snickers bar or do you really want a hug? The authors of Think Thin, Be Thin offer the following rules of thumb for whether you’re responding to physical hunger or feeding a deeper emotional need.

Physical Hunger	Emotional Hunger
Builds gradually Strikes below the neck (e.g., growling stomach) Occurs several hours after a meal Goes away when full Eating leads to feeling of satisfaction	Develops quickly Above the nextk (e.g., a “taste” for ice cream) Unrelated to time Persists despite to fullness Eating leads to guilt and shame

Adapted in part from Doris Wild Helmering and Diane Hales, Think Thin, Be Thin.

New iPhone Features! (Plus More)

Posted by Andy - 01/13/08 at 10:01:00 pm

Track Water Intake on your iPhone

This is a new feature that is available to all Gyminee users. Visit your Food Diary while using your iPhone and you will now see a water tracker that allows you to update your water intake with one tap of your finger.

Meal Plan on your iPhone

If you are a Gyminee PRO member and have been wanting to access your meal plan from your iPhone, then the wait is over. Now, you can have total control over your diet no matter where you are. You can view your meals and make progress updates, along with having your grocery list in your pocket at all times.

Improved Foods Search.

The Foods Search has been improved and will now return more accurate results that can be sorted! You should now be able to find the foods you eat much quicker. You can sort the search results by name, serving size, Calories, Total Fat, Carbs, or Protein.

Another small improvement that PRO users can enjoy is the ability to copy a full day’s worth of meals over to another day. This should make it much easier to plan out your meals if you tend to eat the same thing on a regular basis. This option can be accessed via the Calendar, and you will also see a link on the right side of the Meal Planner page.

Introducing Terri Blair

Posted by Andy - 01/09/08 at 10:01:00 pm

Terri Blair , RD, CD, is a Registered Dietitian and accomplished speaker with more than 12 years experience in the nutrition field. Terri will be writing some health and nutrition themed articles for Gyminee over the next few months. We are very excited to have Terri sharing some of her knowledge with us. Check back here for further updates.

About Terri

Terri is the owner of Nutrition & Wellness Works, Inc., which offers nutrition consultation for health clubs and conducts corporate wellness seminars that offer professional guidelines on healthy eating, exercise, and the latest, most up-to-date research on maintaining an optimal wellness program. Before starting her own business, she worked nine years at Pro Sports Club’s 20/20 Lifestyles program, helping more than 350 clients achieve their health goals.

Terri earned her bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University in Food & Nutritional Sciences and began her career at Swedish Medical Center working in the bone marrow transplant units for both adult and pediatric patients. Her expertise lies in the following.

• Weight loss and weight management
• Sports nutrition and increased performance
• Healthy eating with tips on dining out
• In-home pantry analysis
• Meal planning, grocery shopping and grocery tours
• Information on food labeling
• Vegetarian, post/prenatal and senior nutritional concerns
• Hypertension, Hypercholesterolemia and blood sugar issues
• Low-fat and low sugar recipes

Here is Terri’s philosophy in her own words.

Who has perfect nutrition? Certainly not me. I can help you take the “perfectionist attitude” out of your nutrition for a healthy understanding of what fuels your body.

Nutritional counseling is my passion. I love helping people understand their food concerns and creating programs for healthy change. In fact, I love everything about food! My favorite indulgences include Copper River salmon, an occasional glass of red wine, and low-fat baking with chocolate. I get a kick from talking about how proper food combinations and portions can help individuals feel great.

I have been successful with many clients, but one in particular stands out. Jay is a single 35-year-old male who has lost more than 110 pounds. With his newfound appreciation for his body, he now has the confidence to start dating. He thanks me constantly, even though I always remind him that he’s the one who did all the work.

Whenever you are ready for a healthy change, I can guide you on the path to a new life. Think about it for a few moments: You probably already know what you want to change about your eating habits. I can help you make the transition smoothly and, most importantly, deliciously.

Just a Quick Tip

Posted by Andy - 01/08/08 at 12:01:00 am

With all of the major updates that have been happening on Gyminee.com, I expect that a few of the smaller ones have sneaked under the radar. This is a minor feature, but one that was requested by a significant number of people.

Have you ever wanted to get rid of one of those messages from your Latest Activity? If you look closely at the image above, you will see a small gray “x” on the right side. This same button will appear next to your Latest Activity items when you visit your public profile page.

Enjoy!

Gyminee on O’Reilly Radar

Posted by Andy - 01/03/08 at 06:01:00 am

Brady Forrest wrote a very nice article on Gyminee for O’Reilly Radar. He found Gyminee in the Apple Webapps directory for iPhone applications. The iPhone is a great way to use Gyminee while at the gym or on-the-go to track your fitness and nutrition.

Brady says:

Gyminee at its heart is a capture and reporting site for my body’s metrics. These sites have been around for a while, but until now there was never a “sensor” or capture system in place that would work — for me at least. The iPhone that I have on me at all times (and listen to during workouts) combined with Gyminee’s mobile interface has tackled that hard problem.

 

Click here to read the full article.

Happy New Year!

Posted by Andy - 01/01/08 at 03:01:00 pm

It’s a brand new year and we are very excited about what’s coming down the road for Gyminee. As you may have noticed, things have been a little quiet on here, and that is because the entire Gyminee team has been working very hard on some new and exciting features. We know that a lot of you have made health-related new year’s resolutions, and we want to help you actually keep them this year.

Within the next few days a ton of new stuff will be appearing on Gyminee.com. It is so huge that we are tempted to call it Gyminee 2.0, but I guess we can’t really change our name. Below I give you a brief overview of the new features, but you should definitely check back in a few days to experience things first hand.

Gyminee PRO

The most exciting new feature is definitely Gyminee PRO. Gyminee PRO is an entirely new service offering that will give you access to professionally designed content and many other advanced features. For example, Gyminee has partnered with various fitness professionals across the country to bring you workout programs that have been designed by highly qualified personal trainers. Another great feature is the new Gyminee Meal Planner. If you are a Gyminee PRO member then you will be able to plan out your meals in advance using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Gyminee has consulted with multiple certified nutritionists while designing the Meal Planner, so it is a great way to set up and follow a healthy nutrition plan. Gyminee PRO will be priced at just $9/month $15 for 3 months.

Calorie Expenditure

Many of you have been tracking how many Calories you burn while doing cardio exercises. Now Gyminee automatically estimates how many Calories you burn for each and every exercise that you perform. There is also a new Fitness Report that pulls all of your Calorie information together. You will be able to see how many Calories you eat for a given day compared with how many you burned. This is a great tool for those of you wanting to either lose or gain weight.

There are many other new features and improvements that you will see on Gyminee.com. Just visit back in a few days and enjoy. Happy New Year!

Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe by email

Search