Dear Community,
We love what we see! The weather is cooling, grass is greening, the Cavs are having another amazing season and the first issue of our community newsletter on health, well-being and nutrition was a huge success. Thank you! Many of your ideas and suggestions have been incorporated in issue #2.
Lake Travis Family Fitness presented a free foam rolling/muscle balancing workshop and we want to thank our friends at Hill Country Fitness for sharing their space with us! Stay tuned and check us out on Facebook @ Lake Travis Fitness, for news of upcoming workshops, boot camps and training events.
This month we are turning our attention towards the holidays. It’s an exciting time to celebrate family and friends, but without question, the holidays put life in high gear. Extra activities, visitors, travel plans and playoff games can pile on stress which spells disaster for weight loss and eating habits. Putting your health and your workout first makes this exciting time easier to handle. Life is huge and we all need to be on top of our game, so train for it!
In July of this year, the CDC hosted it’s first annual obesity prevention and control conference in Washington, D.C. With significantly more than a quarter of the population now officially obese (a body mass index of +30) the government seems to be giving a major heads up to weight loss, if for no other reason than the fact that obesity is expensive! Recent figures suggest that more than 10% of all medical spending (upwards of $147 billion dollars a year) goes directly to battle obesity-related disease. 2008 State Obesity Data has Texas pulling in at a hefty 28.3 % of its population being obese and when that study is focused on our youth, the statistics are alarming. In all age groups, obesity rates among the young have nearly tripled in the last decade.
I’m not going to mince words here. As a nation, we’re fat. People who are fat get sick. They lead less productive lives. They earn less money. They suffer feelings of hopelessness that are related to their condition. The changes necessary to dramatically alter our weight (and our lives) take major commitment, but I find comfort in the fact that these changes only have to be made one day at a time. I can do anything for 24 hours. When we stop beating around the bush we will begin to address obesity head on for what it really is: a result of eating too much of the wrong foods, spending more time than is healthy in front of the television (or the computer, or video games) and less time than is suggested exercising the very bodies that we demand so much from. Most of us run our bodies like they’re Porsches and feed them like they’re Pintos.
Obesity is a community problem and many experts believe that it will most successfully respond to a community solution. Stay tuned for upcoming news of how you can be a part of the Lake Travis community solution.
Ask The Trainer!
Q: I have 20 lbs. to lose and I’ve been really regular about hitting the gym and getting my cardio in but I keep hearing that I need to add resistance training to my workouts in order to really see the weight come off. Is this true? I’m afraid that if I start lifting weights it’s going to make my body bulky. Help!
A: Don’t be afraid! Throw some resistance training into your weekly cardio routine because training with weights a few days a week will burn a bunch of extra calories. In the days after your resistance training your body is still burning calories while it repairs the muscles you have broken down. You will drop pounds faster and you’ll be sculpting the slimmer you. Stick to less weight and more repetitions to avoid bulking up and remember that exercising with weights is progressive; start slowly and concentrate on form.
Q. I’ve hit a wall. I’ve been doing a great routine for a few months, but I’m just not seeing the results the same way I was before, Why not?
A: OK, a great routine is important, but you should change things up every 4 to 6 weeks. Your body is going to adapt to the stress of the exercise and then boom, plateau! Mix things up to keep your body guessing. Try adding a workout partner or scheduling a few sessions with a trainer to keep things fresh.
If you’re looking for value you may want to consider that Vitamin D3 acts not only as a nutritional supplement but also takes on hormonal properties in the human body when converted by the marvelous workings of our liver and kidneys. Vitamin D3 is the only vitamin manufactured by the body from sunlight, in fact, 15-20 minutes a day in the sun is more than enough to coax our bodies into producing 10,000-12,000 IUs, which is the amount that medical experts suggest we need to enjoy its healthful properties. At these levels D3 serves to guard against depression, aid with back pain, fight cancer, macular degeneration, secrete appropriate amounts of insulin as well as a host of other benefits. The problem is, most of us are deficient. Though manufacturers have recently begun to supplement our food with D3, the quantities are not sufficient to see any real benefit. In fact, Dr. Ruth Vieth (a leading expert on vitamin D supplementation) stated in a recent article published in the Journal of Nutrition,
Inappropriately low UL [upper limit] values, or guidance values, for Vitamin D have hindered objective clinical research on Vitamin D nutrition; they have hindered our understanding of its role in disease prevention, and restricted the amount of Vitamin D in multivitamins and foods to doses (that are) too low to benefit public health.
D3 deficiency springs from our careful guarding against skin cancer. Most of us spend less time in the sun and when we are in the sun, we douse ourselves with sunscreen. Voila! Deficient. But there are ways to up our intake of vitamin D. In addition to using a supplement, we can also make sure our diet is rich in cold water fish like Sockeye Salmon, mackerel and shrimp, and we shouldn’t be afraid to get a little sun (do not burn!) on a fairly regular basis. Keep in mind that only the real thing will do. Vitamin D3 cannot be gotten from a tanning bed.
2c cooked brown rice
1/4c orange juice
1 lime, juiced
2 tlbl. Olive oil
1/4c cilantro, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tilapia filets, rinsed and patted dry
1c tomato salsa
1 can black beans
1 c diced pineapple
This is an Ingrid Hoffman recipe pulled from the Food Network. It’s easy, healthy and delicious. Whisk together OJ, lime juice, olive oil, 2tbl. cilantro and garlic; salt and pepper to taste. Marinate tilapia for 20 minutes in the fridge turning once or twice.
Mix rice, salsa, beans, pineapple and remaining cilantro. Place in a baking dish and lay tilapia filets on top. Pour reserved marinade over the fish and bake at 400 degrees F until it’s flaking easily (about 30-35 minutes); Garnish with fresh lime slices and cilantro before serving.
