White rice or Brown rice... that is the question.

Ron, one of my clients asked me this question the other day and then deemed the answer blog-worthy, so here we go. When rice is harvested from the field it is brown rice, all of it. This rice is then taken and processed, polished, and stripped of nearly all fiber and nutrient value. The “fortified” rice is then covered in a nutrient powder to try and replace the vitamins lost during processing. The end result is a high glycemic product with only a fraction of the nutrients it started with. WAIT high gly-what??

 Time for a quick lesson on the physiology of nutrient metabolism. The Glycemic index or GI is a scale that nutritionists have created to determine a carbohydrates effect on blood sugar levels. It is no secret that foods that spike insulin levels are not going to be great for you and in the long run cause diabetes. A food item that is high on the GI will be quickly digested and realesed into the blood stream and since nutrients can only be absorbed at a gradual rate much of the calories will be wasted and stored, guess where they get stored. Adipose tissue or fat stores have the ability to rabidly absorb these extra sugars that got shot into the blood stream, how convenient. On the flip side foods low on the GI will take longer to digest and slowly release into the blood stream. In turn the body will use much more energy digesting it and gain more nutrients from the food.

Now how does all of this scientific crap relate to Ron’s question about rice? Simple. Brown rice is low on the GI scale where as white rice is high. The food companies take a perfectly good staple like brown rice and process the crap out of it till it is no longer of good use to the body. Your digestive systems job is to process food, if the food you take in is already processed then the body’s natural reaction is to get it through the system quickly as possible and store it. So the moral of the story is the more unrefined and natural a food item is, the better use your body can make of it. Generations of humans lived long healthy lives before processed foods, now obesity, heart problems, and diabetes kill more people than anything… coincidence? I think not. If you want help with your eating habits please feel free to contact me at jr.oliver@att.net for more information.

5 New Years Nutrition tips for weight loss

So the new year will be here before you know it and with that comes an opportunity to forge a healthy lifestyle. If your resolution is weight loss you will have to couple hitting the gym with some healthy eating. These five tips will help you get on the right track.

1. Eat Breakfast- If you are like most people you sleep for 6-8 hours then wake up to a day chocked full of things to do. Starting your day with a meal is important for a number of reasons. First of all by eating breakfast you are doing just that, breaking the 8 hour fast from sleeping. Your metabolism is what burns the calories in you take in. If you wake up and don't eat then your metabolism pretty much stays asleep. Make sure you are eating things like eggs and oatmeal with fruit. A pop tart does not really "jump start" your body in he morning.

2. Eat more- By more I mean more often. Since you got your metabolism started at breakfast you want to keep it going by eating every three hours or so. Now eating 5-6 meals a day may sound daunting but once you get in the habit of eating more, smaller meals your metabolism will stay roaring all day and increase calorie burn.

3. Don't Drink your Calories- since the average soda is packed with about 150 calories per 12 ounces I recommend nixing them from your diet completely. Water is one of the best things you can possibly put in your body. Do you get in your 8 cups a day? Not doing so will cause your body to retain water and make weight loss even harder.

4. Look out for Sugar- Fat doesn't make you fat, sugar makes you fat. The calories you get from the majority of sugars are of no use to the body, so they get stored, as fat. Now this isn't to say that you cant indulge in cheesecake(my favorite) every now and then but you really should keep sweets to a minimum. Oh and the fact that Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the country should motivate you as well.

5. Portion Size- I have personally witnessed someone lose 15 lbs by changing nothing but the portion sizes they ate. Now this isn't to say that that happens for everyone but if you are eating 5-6 times a day smaller portions shouldn't be an issue. Pay attention to the food labels, they are there for a reason!

Now that you have a better understanding of how to eat right, hit the gym and lets get rid of those extra pounds!!!

Please feel free to contact me at jr.oliver@att.net with questions or to set up a FREE consultation.

Setting Goals

"I want to get in shape!" This is probably the number one new years resolution in the country. The only problem is that "getting in shape" is a very vauge statement, how will you know when you have arrived? The soloution here is to set short terma attinable goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, and timely.

I always recommend to new clients that the sit down and make a six week and a six month goal. Now this goal can be any number of things from pounds/inches lost, to the number of push ups you can do. First the goal has to be specific, just saying "I want to lose weight." isnt. That brings us to measureable. In order to stay motivated you must me able to measure progress. Now we know the changes dont happen overnight but over the course of six weeks you can start to notice some changes in your body if you are working hard and following your program. Making your goals attainable is of equal importance. This is where thinking realisticly comes into play. Knowing that healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week, it would not be attainable to set a 20 lbs weight loss goal for 6 weeks. On the flip side of that make it timely, dont say i want to lose 5lbs over the next year or you will just procrastinate and ill see you again next January with a 10lbs goal.

No matter the goal, if your are smart about it you can get there. Whether you think you can or you cant your right.

Jeremy Oliver CPT
757.351.9587

Healthy Chili Recipie

"I dont have time to cook." That is no excuse to eat fast food every night. Didnt you see that SuperSize Me movie? The solution is to prepare food in bulk and have it ready. Do you have one hour a week you can dedicate to cooking a healthy meal that will last you all week? I made this chili tonight and it came out absoulutly delicious...

3 cans diced tomatoes
2 bell peppers
frozen corn
frozen spinach
3 carrots
3 white onions
fresh garlic
2 lbs ground turkey
cumin
black pepper
chili powder

1. Cut up all your veggies and set off to the side.
2. Add tomatoes, corn, and spinach to pot and start to simmer
3. Saute 2 onions and green peppers with some garlic till tender
4. Add sauted veggies to the pot and season to taste with spices.
5. Steam carrots by adding a little water covering and microwave for 3min. add to pot.
6. Put remaining onion and ground turkey in saute pan, cover and cook till meat is brown.
6. Add meat to pot and simmer stirring occasionally

Now I also made some brown rice to eat mine with but that part is up to you. This is a fun recipie to expiriment with and enjoy on a cold night.

Underage and Overweight: A larger problem than you think.

“If the trend of increasing childhood obesity rates continues, it is alarming that this generation of children could be the first to live fewer years on average than their parents.” – VA health commissioner Karen Remely, MD

                This is a topic I feel very strongly about. If you are an adult and you choose to live an unhealthy lifestyle then that is your choice to make. However it is your responsibility as a parent to teach your kids healthy eating habits. When teaching nutrition I often hear the objection “I try to eat healthy, but I have to cook for my kids so I eat what they eat.” Now last time I checked chicken fingers aren’t any better for your kids than they are for you. According to studies done at Eastern Virginia Medical School one in three children in this state are at an unhealthy weight, 4 out of 5 of them will go on to be obese adults. Knowing how much the current obesity rate is costing us in health care cost, not to mention lives, what chance are we giving the next generation by compounding the problem?

Obesity is not a “Dirty” word that we need to sugarcoat or consider hurtful. It is a lifestyle choice that the majority of Americans are making for themselves and passing onto their undeserving children. EVMS has found that 40% of fourth graders in this state are overweight or obese.  I think it is way past time for someone to stand up and say “HEY!!! You’re killing your children by feeding them crap!” An overweight child is 70% more likely to develop heart disease, asthma, sleep apnea, liver disease and depression; and that’s the short list. I’ll say it again, as a parent it is your RESPONSIBILITY to show your kids how to live a healthy lifestyle. Public Schools are feeding them fast food every day and thousands of fast food ads are aimed at children. So if we don’t educate our children at home then they will be left to fend for themselves in the battle against being obese.

The solution is to take charge of what hits the table at home. Getting children involved in sports is also a great way to increase activity levels. If we take action now then the likelihood of our children having a shorter life span than us will diminish greatly. If you are about to feed your child something that doesn’t fit in your diet, time to reconsider. Kids have become so accustomed to sweets and fatty fast foods that it would be out of the ordinary to go an entire week without them. What do you expect them to do with the rest of their lives?

For advice on how to make a change at home or for some healthy recipe ideas please feel free to contact me at 757.351.9587 or email at jr.oliver@att.net

LOSE WEIGHT FAST!!!

It didn’t get there overnight so losing weight the healthy way just isn’t going to happen in a short time frame. The diet industry is capitalizing on the fact that Americans love convenience, so they have come up with an arsenal of pills, shakes, books, and TV shows to show you how to drop pounds fast. After trying three or four of these “quick fixes” and ending up right back where they started, many people throw in the towel completely. The goal shouldn’t be to lose as much weight as fast as possible, but to keep you at a healthy weight long term through lifestyle change. That may sound like a tall order but when you try to do it the “easy way” you can do a lot more harm than good. Let me Explain.


A healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs. per week. I feel as if I should repeat that. Healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week. Any more than this and you are probably losing more than just fat. Low Carb diets have gained lots of popularity because it is easy to drop pounds fast by cutting out carbs. Consider this; Carbohydrates are your bodies preferred source of energy. Take them away and you literally force your body to feed on other less potent sources (ex. Proteins, fats) and tissue and muscle. So the weight your losing only partially comes from body fat, your muscle and tissue are getting cannibalized to sustain your body functions. Now that your body is in “survival mode” it wants to store any extra energy because it thinks that food is scarce. So it plays out something like this: First you cut out Carbs, Then you lose 15 lbs in no time. It is very hard to keep a diet without carbs because, let’s face it you’re not left with much. Now you are happy with the weight you have lost and start to eat carbs again and your body rapidly stores them as fat because it is still in survival mode and has been feeding on itself for energy. You gain all the weight back and sometimes more and now you are left back at square one.

A balanced diet, generally speaking of course, is going to consist of about 15-20 percent fat with the rest split up between carbs and protein. Now once again this is a very vague outline as to how you should structure your diet. Any diet or exercise program that promises “fast” weight loss is probably just going to work for you wallet. Remember once you get down to a healthy weight you want to stay there so a radical diet that is going to be impossible to stick too is not the answer. An all-around adaptation to a healthy lifestyle is what it is going to take to keep the weight down and increase your life expectancy. Keep in mind I am not a dietician so I can’t write out your diet for you, but in my experience just making better choices about what you eat can help drastically. If you have any questions or want to make a lifestyle change please contact me at jr.oliver@att.net

Failure of the fitness industry (inspired by Laura)

 
                The travel industry is here to help us take vacations from everyday life. Last year’s polls showed that 64% of Americans took a vacation away from home last year. Compare that with the 15% that belong to a health club and the seven out of ten that are at an unhealthy weight and I think it is fair to say the fitness industry needs to step their game up. Now granted an island get away sounds more appealing than working away at the gym I think we need to consider the fact that Fitness Pros are not doing their part to make the population aware of the need for exercise.
                The fact that most gym chains make their ridiculous profit margins off members who join and never use it is no secret. Call it a “Fat Tax” if you want to but at the end of the day any money spent on a membership that isn’t used is money wasted. When the consumer sees a monthly withdrawal from their account they are reminded of the smiling face that convinced them that this was the right thing to do. According to Medical News Today, 80 percent of 40 million Americans who have bought gym memberships are not using it. Now all they are going to do is either pay off the remaining contract or cancel the membership outright. Left right back where they started with nothing but a bad taste in their mouth for the industry as a whole. No wonder less than 15% of America will even consider it.
            How can the fitness industry as a whole turn these numbers around and save the life of our country? If we don’t do it then who will? It is time for a nationwide change of perspective on what it means to be an active gym member.
                The first step is to reach out to the communities that our clubs are in, not with a membership drive, but with information. We have to go to schools, places of work, churches, civic leauges and anywhere else that we can get a podium and educate. If everywhere you go you see a fitness representative ready and willing to answer your questions, it takes the fear out of it. It is time to throw all the inhibitions out the window and take charge. With a big push from all the fitness pros in the country I believe that we will make a difference.
Lets start now!! Contact me at jr.oliver@att.net and lets brainstorm on the best way jump start our industry.

Overweight Epidemic

As of last count nearly 7 out of 10 Americans are at an unhealthy weight. This staggering statistic is a testament to lack of activity, poor nutrition, and a generally uneducated public. The fact that the leading cause of death in this country is a preventable disease should really shake you up a bit. Let’s take a look at how we got to this place and then some ways to get back on track.




The way our body works, its systems, our general makeup has been the same for thousands of years. However in the last 50 years or so we as a culture have started behaving differently. Our bodies are used to an environment that requires physical activity in order to survive. Think about it, less than 100 years ago we had to walk anywhere we went. Also food was harder to come by, if you were going to eat you had to either grow it or catch it, a demanding task by itself. We have the same bodies now as we did then but exercise is very optional, and food is cheap, calorie dense, and on every corner. So it is no wonder why as a society we have started to pack on weight. We have put ourselves in the picture perfect environment to gain extra pounds, and then are completely shocked that we can’t fit into last year’s clothes.

Don’t think it is just adults either, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. Next time you child comes home from school ask them what they were given to eat that day at lunch. Pizza, sloppy joes, fried chicken sandwiches, French fries, FRITO pie… the list goes on. The public school system is responsible for teaching our kids the skills they need to function in society. From what I can see they are teaching not only math and history, but also that fast food is the way to go. How can we expect kids to be fed fast food every day when they go to school but then want them to adapt a healthy diet upon graduation? It does not work that way I am sorry to break the news. We need to pay a little more attention to what we are teaching in the cafeteria as well as the classroom.

So now that we are aware of the problem we are facing, what do we do to fix it? Well the simple answer to that is… education. Just like I am doing here on this blog we need to put the word out to everyone that wellness is slipping away. In schools, at home, in the workplace, we need to have programs aimed at showing people proper nutrition and exercise habits. I know it may seem like a tall order but consider the alternative. We owe it to our kids to stop this downward spiral and show them how to live healthier lives. If you decide that you want to change contact me at jr.oliver@att.net and I will show you how to get you and your loved ones on track to a healthy lifestyle.

Calories: not the enemy

100 calorie packs, low- calorie snacks, calorie counter, the list goes on. Everybody is worried to death about these evil little calories and how to get the least amount possible. Yet if asked the majority of folks have no earthly clue as to what a calorie is. If we are going to be so absorbed with watching calories let’s take a moment and figure out exactly what it is we are watching.


According to our friend Mr. Webster a calorie is defined as:

a. a unit equal to the kilocalorie, used to express the heat output of an organism and the fuel or energy value of food.

b. a quantity of food capable of producing such an amount of energy.



So break that down into layman’s terms and a calorie is a unit of energy or fuel for the body that it receives from food. This means that all the food that you eat is made up of calories that are necessary in order to survive the day. You need a certain amount of calories every day in order to lay flat on your back in bed. This number is referred to as your basal metabolic rate (BMR). There are numerous sources that can help you calculate your BMR the most credible of which being your physician. You can also seek out the help of an experienced Fitness Professional or dietician.



Once you figure out how many calories you need to survive add to that any physical activity you do during the day including work, errands, exercise ect. This is the number of calories you will require to get through your day. Now here is the tricky part, eat more than the requirement then you will gain weight, and vice versa. Also it is important to note where the majority of your calories come from. Mypyramid.gov is a great place to get started but generally speaking you want the majority of you calories to come from carbohydrates with the rest split between protein and healthy fats.



Calories are not the enemy here. The wrong kind of calories in improper amounts is the issue. It is worth your time to see exactly what your requirement is and put that up against what you are actually putting in your body. Once you have a better understanding of what you need it makes making good choices much easier. Feel free to contact me with questions at jr.oliver@att.net.

Abs

If I had a dollar for every time I was asked where the “abs” machine was, me and you could both retire. It would seem that having a flat stomach has become the obsession of the majority of Americans because of its aesthetically pleasing nature. I want to take a closer look at the muscles that make up the core and why they are so important.


First of all there is no machine, pill, belt, shake, or DVD that will make your abs show through a layer of body fat. The rectus abdominus is the long muscle on the front of the body that gives the “six-pack” look when body fat levels are low. It however serves a much more vital function supporting posture. When the Abs get weak the pelvis(hip bone) tilts forward causing an unnatural curvature in the back. This can cause serious damage along with back pain and discomfort.

Muscles attach to ligaments that then attach to bones. That makes it fair to say weak muscles will make you fall apart. If you do an MRI on a patient with a back injury 9 times out of 10 you will see extremely weak lower back muscles. If you bend down to pick something up and the muscle that attaches to your spine is too weak then bam! You have a slipped disc. Core exercises can very well be classified as preventative maintenance.

Now we understand that we need to exercise all the muscles in our core in order to function as we should. I have written up a routine that you can do at home with nothing but a stop watch.

Plank- Hold for 30 seconds (if you need to rest then drop your knees for a second but then get back into it)

6 inches- sit up strait with your hands on the floor beside you. With your feet together raise them off the ground 6 inches and hold it.

Knees in- in the same position as above just bring your knees to your chest and then extend them back out, do as many as you can with good form in 30 secounds.

Toe touches- lay on your back and point your heels to the ceiling. Now reach up for your toes and then lay back down, Repeat at your pace for 30 seconds.

Superman- lay face down and slowly raise your arms and legs off the mat at the same time. Return to the starting position. Repeat for 30 seconds at your pace.

Run through this circuit twice with minimal rest between exercises. Should take 12-15 minutes.

This article written by

Jeremy Oiver,CPT

Lifestyle and weight management coach

If you have questions about this workout or want to go more advanced contact me at jr.oliver@att.net

Excuse: I dont have time to workout

If ive heard it once I have heard it a million times that there are not enough hours in a day to work out. Well according to recent studies there is no different breed of person that wakes up in the morning with time out of their day to exercise. Using that logic all the cars you see outside your local gym belong to people that have no job, kids, or social responsibilities. When you start your exercise program and see the difference it makes in your quality of life then you start to prioritize it. Wake up an hour earlier, skip law and order SVU, or watch it on the screen attached to most treadmills these days. Get a group of friends together and have a good time with it. I find that actually scheduling your workouts just like you would any other activity works best. Take out your calendar and mark off two or three days that are going to work best for you. Then write in what time you you are going to work out that day and pick an alternate day in case something comes up. Now the tricky part… go, just like if it was a doctor’s appointment or your first day at a new job. Be there on time and ready to work out. If you have no idea where to start you should consult a fitness professional. Fifty percent of the people who start a fitness program without a solid plan of attack will drop it within 6 mos. Then you are right back where you started. Plan to succeed, lifestyle change doesn’t happen overnight but with a game plan you will be three steps ahead of the crowd.

Intro and Philosophy

My name is Jeremy Oliver and I have set out to change the way the world feels about health and wellness. The physical, mental, and emotional benefits that you receive from regular exercise you cannot put a price on. The problem is that there are so many sources telling you different ways to exercise and lose weight that it’s no wonder the majority of people just give up. As a manager at a major gym chain I watched people walk in the door seeking health and leave with a cheap gym bag, false hope, and a year’s membership that they got suckered into. I resigned from my position and made up my mind that I will show anyone who will listen that a healthy lifestyle is not out of reach, and that there are fitness professionals out there that genuinely care.