Diet Archives - Grand Rapids Personal Trainer

DIETS Don’t Work

August 3rd, 2021 by Debbie Martilotta

D.I.E.T. Let’s break this word down to the 1st 3 letters DIE, not very motivating!

A diet typically involves avoidance, restriction, and often a time period, which, in the long run, is very difficult to maintain. Most diets are not even made for maintenance or long-term use, so why are so many of you doing them?

Most people who go on diets soon gain back any lost weight, a UCLA study suggests. Why don’t diets work? The first is that it’s just plain hard for people to change their eating behaviors. And the second reason is that even if you do succeed at a diet, the rule of diminishing returns comes into play.

Most who go on diets gain the weight back; lifestyle changes are needed

Lifestyle changes will work if you have realistic expectations, good support, and choose a plan that you can stick with — a plan that will give you moderate change over a long time. Most people who have a healthy weight have to work at it.

Elements of this lifestyle change include moderating food intake, increasing physical activity, managing stress without food, and getting treatment for depression and other illnesses that get in the way.

A healthy lifestyle is easier than you think

Changing your eating and physical activity habits can be difficult at first. But once you’ve started, it’s easy to sustain. Here are a few tips to help ease the transition:

Combine an active lifestyle with healthy eating.
Make small, achievable, lifelong changes to your lifestyle and eating habits.
Fill up on nutritious foods.
Keep portions moderate in size.
Eat until you have had enough – not until you are full.
Do your best to avoid eating when you are not hungry.
Recognize that on some days you might be hungrier than on other days.
Eat slowly and enjoy your food and put your fork down between bites.
Reduce the amount of ‘extra’ or ‘sometimes’ foods that you eat.
Be active with daily activity you enjoy, keep your body moving
Lift heavy! Our bodies want challenges. Hire a personal trainer to challenge you.
Recognize the difference between hunger and boredom.

Once a wide range of nutritious foods and physical activity becomes part of your everyday routine, the idea of “D.I.E.T.ing” will start to seem strange.

Food: What We Are Made From

July 27th, 2021 by Debbie Martilotta

Some advice is just so sound that I feel the need to share it. Your diet and nutrition are hugely important!

Every cell in our body turns over every 7 years. Some turn over daily, some weekly, and some take longer. Ever wonder how we make new cells, organs, tissues, skin, muscles, bone, and even brain cells? The raw materials all come from what we eat. Do you want to be made of Doritos or grass-fed steak? Coca-cola or wild blueberries?

Our structure, which determines our function, is dependent on what we eat. The building blocks—the proteins, fats, minerals, and more, make up who we are.

If you are a healthy, lean male, your body is made up of 62 percent water, 16 percent protein, 16 percent fat, 6 percent minerals, less than 1 percent carbohydrate, and small amounts of vitamins. The problem is that our processed diet is about 50 to 60 percent carbohydrate, mostly low-quality, refined starches and sugars that are the raw materials for processed food.

Funny enough, we are not actually made of carbohydrates and they are not considered an essential nutrient. If those carbs don’t become our structure, where do they go? We burn some, but most get turned into dangerous disease-causing belly fat.

Every part of you has a structure and function. If you are made out of poor-quality parts, you will create a poorly functioning body.

Muscle loss and bone loss are huge factors in aging and age-related diseases. Muscle is where our metabolism is (low muscle mass equals slow metabolism and worse). The effect of poor quality muscles is an increase in diabetes, inflammation, and aging.

Imagine building your house out of rotten wood or disintegrating bricks. Why would you build your body from defective ingredients? For example, we need the best quality fats—our brain is 60 percent fat, our nerve coverings are all made from fat, every one of your 10 trillion cells is wrapped in a little fatty membrane. Do you really want to make them from oxidized damaged refined oils in your French fries or KFC?

We also need the best quality protein. The body makes most of its important molecules from protein including muscle, cells, and immune molecules. Not all protein is the same. The best type of protein to build muscle is other muscle—animal protein. You can get protein from plant foods, but the quality is lower and it has lower levels of key amino acids needed to synthesize new muscle, especially the branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine, and also lysine and sulfur-based amino acids). And don’t forget all the vitamins and minerals we need to build tissues, muscles, and bones, including vitamin D, vitamin K, calcium, magnesium, and more.

Next time you chomp down on something, ask yourself if you are fine with it becoming part of you for the long term. If not, don’t eat it and find the best quality ingredients you can, ingredients that help you thrive!

by Mark Hyman MD

Cast Iron Whole Chicken

January 27th, 2020 by Debbie Martilotta

A simple and easy whole roasted chicken that is full of flavor, perfectly moist, and tender! This recipe is gluten-free, allergy-free, and paleo using a no-fail method for success. We think it’s just a fabulous way to up your protein and enjoy a home-cooked meal.

Ingredients:
•1 whole free-range, organic chicken, 4-5 lbs
•2 small Gala apples, chopped
•1 large shallot, chopped
•2 t oil (I use sunflower oil)
•1 1/2 t dried thyme
•1 t dried basil
•1/2 t garlic powder
•1/2 t onion powder
•1/2 t ground ginger
•1/4 t ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375oF
2. Rinse and pat dry the chicken, inside and outside
3. Place chicken in a large seasoned cast iron skillet and stuff with chopped apples and shallot in the cavity of the chicken, place any extra pieces around the chicken in the cast iron skillet
4. Rub the outside with the oil, herbs, and spices
5. Roast in the oven for about 1 hour and 40minutes (about 20 minutes per pound) or until the chicken reaches a safe 180F
6. Remove from oven, cover with foil, let rest for 15-20 minutes before carving

Recipe from Strength & Sunshine

Rev Up Your Metabolism

February 19th, 2019 by Debbie Martilotta

A recent article by Health.com (Jan/Feb 2019) has some great advice that I agree with as a personal trainer, here are the highlights.

Your muscles are in charge

A pound of muscle burns 7-10 calories/day compared to 1 lb of fat which burns only 2-3 calories/day. We all know that after you hit your 20’s, you lose muscle as you age. That muscle loss can slow your metabolism by 15% (your calorie burning power). While building new muscle can help counteract this trend, it is even more important to engage the muscle you already have. Every time you challenge your muscles by strength training, you burn calories by working out and continue to burn calories after you put your weights away.

Do 2 30-minute sessions of resistance training each week and in 3 months, your resting metabolism will be about 6% faster. When you exercise, focus on major muscle groups and do not shy away from heavy weights (60 – 75% of your maximum lift).

A lack of Protein can slow your metabolism

If you are not already on the protein bandwagon, get on board! Your body needs amino acids to stay functional. Without enough protein, your body will be forced to tap your muscles. When you lose valuable muscle, your resting metabolism slows.

Make sure you are putting protein in every meal and snack – starting your day with 15 grams (about 2 eggs) is a great idea. Don’t overlook whey, one of two proteins found in milk. Whey protein is rich in the amino acids muscles thirst for and can aid in recovery after workouts.

Dieting is the enemy

Any weight loss diet can leave your metabolism slower than when you started. We highly recommend a lifestyle diet of plants and proteins (no grains, sugar, highly processed foods or processed starches) and eat enough calories to satisfy your resting metabolism. The easiest way to do that is to multiply your body weight in lbs by 10.

Your metabolism likes sleep

Lack of sleep tends to slow your metabolism, in part because that’s when your body repairs itself (which burns calories). Sleep well, eat well and exercise hard for 2 30-minute sessions each week and your metabolism will thank you.

DOMS: Reducing Inflammation Through Diet and Recover Quicker

November 5th, 2018 by Debbie Martilotta

You know that moment. You wake up a few days after a workout and think to yourself, “Ah, now I feel it.” The technical term for this post-workout evidence of hard effort is delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS.

DOMS happens when you work your muscles harder
than they are used to working.

That’s the simple explanation, but on a biological level, there’s a lot more going on. When we work our bodies harder than they are used to, the response is inflammation. The next natural step is an immune response. When our bodies can’t deal with exercise-induced muscle damage, we experience DOMS. While the exact mechanisms are not well understood, DOMS appears to be a product of inflammation caused by microscopic tears in the connective tissue elements that sensitize nociceptors and thereby heighten the sensations of pain.

Smart recovery can prevent DOMS from derailing your training.

The best recovery foods to eat after an intense workout are raw, organic whole foods containing healthy amounts of carbs and protein
Some of the specific foods shown to soothe muscle soreness include bananas, cacao, coffee, eggs, salmon, spinach, sweet potatoes, and watermelon, as well as spices like cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric
Two substances you should avoid combining with exercise are alcohol and sugar, both of which cause inflammation