Download Personally Fit Health Tip #7 Hello everyone! This is Coach Sean

Personally Fit Health Tip #7
Hello everyone! This is Coach Sean from Personally Fit with this week’s Health Tip! How are you?
I trust this message finds you well and experiencing the benefits of your new Personally Fit
lifestyle!
How was the week? Last week, I asked you to focus on eating intentionally. We talked about
Two of the four steps to eating intentionally:
Step 1: Intentionally fueling our bodies more frequently throughout the day
Step 2: Consciously slowing your eating speed.
This week we are going to look at the next two steps to becoming an intentional eater.
Specifically we are going to look at “How to fuel our bodies with Power Foods!” as well as “How
to enjoy pleasurable food without feeling guilty!”
Let’s begin by discussing How to continue to intentionally choose foods that fuel our
bodies with needed power!
Step #3. Eat more muscle food!
How should one eat to maximize their personal potential? Study after study links diets high in
fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein with less cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and
osteoporosis as well as reduced body fat.
Food is medicine! If you desire to get well, stay well and live a life filled with energy, you must
expose your body to food because of what’s in food, natural healing agents, mood enhances, and
energy boosters!
Until recently, it was believed that the most important factor in reducing body fat was controlling
the quantity of calories consumed. Research now shows that although the quantity of calories is
important, it’s the quality or thermal ability of calories that really count. To help simplify this:
Personally Fit classifies food into two categories:
Fat supporting foods and Muscle supporting foods
Muscle supporting foods are nutrients that the body readily burns for energy supporting the
conversion of food to muscle, bone, internal organs and essential body fluids. These are foods
our body needs to operate at its optimum level. Foods such: Whole grains: such as brown rice,
Vegetables: such as Broccoli and spinach, Legumes: such as Lima Beans and kidney beans,
Fruits: such as apples, mangos and oranges. Lean Protein: such as chicken, fish, lean meat and
Nutriway Protein are all essential for optimal energy!
Think of muscle supporting foods as high-octane nutrients that helps replenish, repair and fuel
you’re body and your mind!
Muscle supporting foods
Complex Carbohydrates: Grains, Starchy vegetables
Simple Carbohydrates: Fruits, non-starchy vegetables
Lean Protein: Chicken, Fish, and Lean Meat
Water!
Whole Grains:
Whole grain carbohydrates not only give you energy they supply much needed B6, selenium, and
magnesium, which activate your immune troops within. Power proteins provide vital Vitamin D,
iron and zinc. Essential vitamins and minerals keep your immune system humming, so eat lots of
brightly colored fruits and vegetables. They are loaded with nutraceuticals like beta carotene,
flavanoids, vitamin a, folic acid, vitamin c and b vitamins that help to keep natural energy
flowing.
Some carbohydrates are digested and absorbed quite easily, allowing them to be quick burning
forms of energy. These are simple carbohydrates found in fruit, unsweetened juices, and crunchy
vegetables. The closer the food is to how it is grown the slower will be the release of its sugars
into the blood stream.
Complex carbohydrates found in root veggie’s, legumes and grains that have been processed and
refined, require more time to convert into a usable form of energy; they are digested more slowly
and absorbed more evenly into the system as fuel. An eating plan high in whole food forms of
carbohydrates is your best bet for living long and well!
Quality proteins:
Protein is made up of amino acids, sometimes called the building blocks of protein. There are 20
different naturally occurring amino acids that are used by the human body. Of the 20 amino acids
required by the body, 8 are considered essential for adults (9 for infants—Histidine), meaning
they must be consumed regularly The remaining amino acids can be made by the body and are
thus called non-essential.
Chicken and turkey breasts are whole proteins. They are low in fat (once you get rid of the
skin) high in protein and are available practically anywhere anytime.
Fish/shellfish: great sources of complete proteins.
Lean meat: top round cut, top sirloin, shank, round or flank
Low fat cottage cheese: High in glutamine: helps support muscle metabolism.
Egg whites: A+ rating/BV
Proteins are the vital building blocks for the body. Carbohydrates are 100 percent pure energy—
your body’s fuel, designed to burn fast, clean and pure. When carbohydrates are eaten alone, the
body uses them like kindling in a fire. It burns brightly and quickly, but the body building
functions of protein do not take place. While protein can be used as an energy source, it has
another much more vital function—which is why carbohydrates should be eaten with a protein to
protect this building nutrient from being wasted as a less efficient source of energy. This allows
protein to be used for building new cells, boosting your metabolism, building new muscle,
keeping the body fluids in balance, healing and fighting infections, and making skin, hair and
nails beautiful. (Pamela Smith, Registered Dietician)
One of the drawbacks of eating more protein is that many popular choices are also high in fat,
that is why we suggest consuming protein that is low fat and high in nutrients. Items such as the
Nutriway Protein Powder is an excellent choice to provide your body with needed protein to help
regulate appetite as well as increase the building of new cells and muscle.
Fruits & Vegetable Tips:
*If practical, shop for fresh produce weekly, since many vegetables lose nutrients during
prolonged refrigeration.
*Fresh fruits provide better nutrition than canned fruits, due to the canning process
causing vital nutrients to be lost.
*Frozen fruit generally does not have added sugar and is a better choice than canned
fruit.
*Like fruit, fresh vegetables contain more nutrients. In general, the deeper the color,
the more nutritious.
*Frozen vegetables are more nutritious than canned vegetables, but beware of
vegetables packaged in cheese sauces.
Personally Fit Smart supermarket strategies:
Remember to...
1. Never shop when you are hungry!
2. Prepare a food-shopping list.
3. Have a mental map of your store.
4. Leave your cart at the end of the isle when shopping down a "fat supporting"
isle!
5. Compare ingredients on food labels and check the amount of fats and sugar.
6. Check expiration and "sell" dates on perishable foods like dairy products,
cereals and breads. Always buy the product with the most distant date.
7. Follow Personally Fit shopping lists for best choices:
Fat supporting foods are not the preferred energy source for our body to function at it’s most
efficient capacity but are generally very pleasurable and desirable. Foods such as ice cream,
chocolate, beer, cheese and potato chips are all good examples of fat supporting foods and
should not be considered bad foods! But the quantity and frequency of these foods obviously will
effect our ability to lose body fat as well as our energy level and health. (Note: A muscle
supporting food, such as lean chicken can become a fat supporting food by preparation such as
frying, or a vegetable rich salad can be smothered with high fat dressing to effect its caloric
content and nutritive value).
Tips for Cutting the fat :
A study published in Archives of Internal Medicine showed that 184 women
aged 45 to 69 successfully cut their fat intake in half (from 40%-20%!!)
after a two year follow up by eating ordinary foods but making smarter
choices like:
1. Choosing skinless white meat poultry breast, fish and legumes as primary sources of
animal protein.
2. Decreasing fried foods; using nonstick pans, employing fat reducing cooking
methods, such as broiling, grilling, roasting, steaming and poaching.
3. Choosing non-fat or low fat dairy products over those made with whole milk.
4. Reducing all fats and oils in cooking and adding to foods.
5. Centering their nutritional choices on fiber rich low-fat foods such as: dark
green and orange vegetables and fruits, whole grain cereals and breads, pasta,
brown rice, barley, potatoes and legumes and lentils.
6. Making smart choices in restaurants, such as a lean roast beef sandwich or chicken
sandwich (hold the mayonnaise extra mustard) over a triple cheeseburger in fatty
“special sauce."
7. Making smart choices with convenience foods: comparing the labels on similar
"lite" frozen meals to find out which are lower in fat.
8. Knowing how to read food labels to understand true fat content; knowing how to
judge legitimately low fat packaged foods: no more than 3 grams per 100 calories.
9. Understanding that it is not the fat content of any one food that is of greatest
importance, but how all foods chosen together to produce a meal (and a day) in
which fat constitutes less than 30% of total fat calories.
10. Eat more muscle foods and less fat foods and you too will decrease your fat intake
and excess body fat!!
(Source: Piscaletta, Fat Tooth, pg.229)
Step #4: Intentionally enjoy your food!
Learning to enjoy your food without unneeded guilt and shame is crucial for healthy balanced
eating and eating intentionally! For many of us we have spent our lives avoiding pleasurable
foods and labeling them as “bad” but all the while realizing that many of these foods are
enjoyable and pleasurable! Frequently we may find ourselves feeling deprived and at the mercy
of any tempting favorite dish! Often times we may even find ourselves controlled by food to the
extent of feeling manipulated to overeat and feeling shameful and guilty about our
overindulgence!
Well, learning how to eat intentionally involves allowing yourself to eat for pleasure--that is, eat
precisely what, when and as much as you want for no other reason than that you really need it.
That's right it's ok to eat for the pure pleasure of it!
According to Laurel Mellin, best selling author of the book, The Solution, she states that
“Intentional eating for pleasure is neither careless or unconscious. Food is one of the chief
sources of gratification in life, but it is also the most powerful way we chemically regulate our
bodies, and even to some extent, our thoughts and emotions. If we fail to recognize the power of
food chemicals, we give up much of our power over our own health. When you are deciding
whether to eat for pleasure or for health ask yourself....
"What can I eat to get the pleasure that I want while minimizing the effect of that indulgence on
my health and weight."
Tips for Intentionally eating for pleasure
1. Allow yourself to eat foods that you truly enjoy!
2. Choose pleasurable fat supporting foods actively not passively.
Make a conscious decision before you eat to:
1. Eat foods you truly enjoy!
2. Ask yourself, Do I really need this food?
3. Ask yourself, Is this food honoring and nurturing to myself?
For example, eating a small amount of chocolate verses a bag full of rice cakes is a much
healthier decision.
4. Also ask yourself “By not having this food would I feel deprived and less
honoring to myself?
If the answer to these questions is yes, then by all means have the food and enjoy it!
Next week we will continue to discuss how we can nurture our bodies!
So this week focus on eating more muscle/power foods and also intentionally enjoying food!
Remember you don’t have to eat perfectly to be Personally Fit! So have fun this week!
I want to encourage you to check in with us at A2k and Personallyfit.com and let us know how
you are doing! The results continue to poor in! Keep going everyone! If you haven’t already,
remember to sign up for your free monthly e-zine newsletter, “The Source” at personallyfit.com.
Let us know how we can assist you in reaching your desired health and wellness goals!
I am looking forward to sharing with you all next week. Remember to take time this week to eat
more muscle foods as well as planning to enjoy some pleasurable foods this week! Continue to
focus on your fitness and health by nurturing your body, your mind and your soul. Have great
week everyone!
To your health!
Coach Sean