Snacking-More Important than you think
After recently starting my first full-time job, I realized how hungry I am throughout the day. I usually eat breakfast at 7 a.m. and I am starving by 10 a.m. Sometimes I hold off and eat lunch at noon, but sometimes I pick something out of my lunchbox and dig in.
My problem is that I don’t snack enough. I’m not talking about grabbing a bag of 
potato chips from the vending machine, I mean two small snacks throughout the day– healthy foods. Such as nuts, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, etc.
I also started paying for my own gym membership, which is pretty expensive, particularly in a metropolitan area. However, I did have the perk of meeting with a personal trainer. She said I must eat a small snack before lunch and also one before dinner, especially if I work-out before dinner.
My point here, is that everyone basically needs to eat (something) five times a day. Three regular meals and then two small meals, or snacks.
Self Magazine featured a great article outlining five snacking tips to health you slip down.
I have highlighted a few here:
1. Prepare for snack attacks: Keep something in your briefcase or pocketbook. This will help you avoid the dreaded vending machine.
2. Nutritious nibbles: Try an apple with peanut butter or squash and hummus.
3. Liquid calories: Soft drinks and coffees are snacks too. Opt for water instead.
Check the whole article here.
Giving YOU the skinny on health and fitness- one post at a time. -Emily
Lift that rear: Four key moves to help
1. Heel Slides:
For hamstrings, butt, abs
A. Lie face-up with knees bent and right heel on a towel. Extend hands by sides, and reach left leg straight up from hip. Pressing down with your right heel, lift your hips and lower back a few inches off the floor
B. Keeping hips raised, slide right foot out until knee is almost straight. Slide heel back to starting position. Do 10–12 reps, then switch sides and repeat.
Trainer tip: Take this exercise down a notch by placing both heels on towel, hip-width apart, then sliding legs in and out together.
2. Dancer’s Rear Strengthener
For outer thighs and butt
Sit with knees bent to 90 degrees and soles of feet together; move bent right leg behind you. Rock forward, placing hands on either side of left knee and lifting right leg 1–2 inches off floor. Press right heel back, then return to bent-knee position, keeping leg lifted. Do 10–15 reps, then switch sides and repeat.
3. Sliding Side Lunges 
For inner thighs, hamstrings, butt
Stand on towel with right foot turned out to side; place left heel in front of arch of right foot. Keeping weight over left leg, bend left knee to 90 degrees and slide right leg out along the side-back diagonal. Straighten left knee, and slide right leg back to starting position. Do 12–15 reps, then switch sides and repeat.
4. Clean Sweep Lunges 
For hamstrings, butt, thighs
A. Start with feet together and right foot on towel. Bend left knee to 90 degrees, and slide right leg back to a shallow lunge. Sweep right leg across the body behind you to the left, keeping toes on the floor.
B. Sweep leg right. Lift foot a few inches off floor, then lower it again and sweep back to center. Return to starting position. Do 12–15 reps, then switch sides and repeat.
Trainer tip: To add a challenge, hold a 5–8 pound dumbbell in each hand.
tight jeans don’t fit by Monday morning? Could be the weekend festivities to blame
Do you know that being lazy about what you eat and drink even for two days out of the week can add up to a nine-pound weight gain over the course of a year (Obesity Journal)? That’s huge! Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that people were eating well over 2,200 calories just on a Saturday, while Monday through Friday’s intake estimated to be 2,000 calories or less – about .17 pounds a week.
This could be due to the types of foods people are eating (high-calorie on-the-go options), the lack of structure in their days, or the laid-back mind-set that many of us adopt on our days off. Whatever the explanation, one study done suggests that one reason why people who go on diets often don’t lose weight as fast or as easily as they first predicted is due to overeating on the weekends.
Suggestions to help you control weekend cravings and wiggle into those skinny jeans come Monday morning:
- Weigh yourself twice a week—either Friday and Monday a.m. or Thursday and Monday a.m. There’s nothing better to keep you on track than knowing that you have to face the scale come Monday morning.
- Try to stick with the same meal patterns you follow midweek on the weekend.
- “Bank” calories: If you know you are going out for dinner and will overeat, cut back even more the day before and after to compensate.
- Limit your alcohol consumption. (I know this is a hard one in college, but just like you would bank calories for a saturday night dinner, bank alcohol calories as well, or indulge Friday night a little, but not Saturday) Alcohol is a diet double-whammy; it’s not only rich in calories itself, but it also reduces inhibitions and increases appetite.
- If you exercise, don’t give in to your raging appetite afterward; it’ll erase the calorie burn (and then some) of your workout. Instead, fill up with lean protein and whole grains.
- Pack fruit and healthy snacks or lunches if you’re going to be out of the house all day, so you don’t have to rely on food-court and concession-stand choices.
- If you need to cheat on the weekend, plan what and when you’re going to cheat, enjoy it, then get back on track. One indiscretion won’t set you back—but a weekend of multiple indulgences will
Bring on the potatoes
Ready to hear the newest weight loss buzz? And guess what, it’s NOT low-carb. You’re probably not going to believe me, but it’s pretty much the opposite. This diet (i hate using that word) allows you to stuff your face with foods like rice, corn AND potatoes! That’s my kind of diet right there. Alright maybe not stuffing, but these foods contain resistant starch, a unique kind of fiber that has researchers from all over, including Leslie Bonci, author of the American Dietetic Association’s Guide to Better Digestion, raving about.
What is it? It’s actually something that has been part of your diet all of your life, you just didn’t know it! Resistant starch is a type of dietary fiber naturally found in any carbohydrate-rich foods such as, potatoes, grains, and beans, especially when they are cooked and cooled.
How’d it get its name? Resistant starch RESISTS digestion in the body. It is bulky so it takes up space in your digestive system. Because you can’t digest or absorb it, the starch never enters your bloodstream, which means it bypasses the fate of most carbohydrates. Most carbohydrates get stocked away as body fat when you eat more than you burn.
Benefits:
- Increase the body’s ability to burn fat
- Fills you up and reduces hunger
- Improves blood sugar control: “Because it skips routine digestion, we see lower blood sugar and insulin levels following a resistant starch-rich meal” — Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, CDE, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Blood sugar control = more energy, long-term heart protection (because chronic high levels of blood sugar and insulin cause arteries to become clogged and harden)
- boosts immune system: Boosts the growth of probiotics, the same kind of healthy bacteria found in yogurt that keeps bad bacteria in control
- Reduces cancer risk: may protect lining of the colon, making it less vulnerable to the DNA damage that triggers disease. It can create a pH drop inside the colon, boosting the absorption of calcium and blocking the absorption of cancer-causing substances
How can resistant starch help you shed those extra unwanted pounds?
1. It increases your calorie burn: Unlike some types of fiber, resistant starch gets fermented when it reaches the large intestine. This process creates beneficial fatty acids, including BUTYRATE, which blocks the body’s ability to burn carbohydrates.
“This can prevent the liver from using carbs as fuel and, instead, stored body fat and recently consumed far are burned.” — Janine Higgins, PhD, nutrition research director for University of Colorado’s Adult and Pediatric General Clinic Research Center
We all know that carbohydrates are the body’s preferred use of fuel, correct? Butyrate prevents the carbs from getting into your system and then turns to fat as an alternative.
RESEARCH SHOWS: Replacing 5.4% of total carbohydrate intake with resistant starch creates a 20-30% increase in fat burning after a meal
2. It shuts down hunger hormones: Studies have shown that resistant starch prompts the body to pump out more satiety-inducing hormones. A meal full of resistant starch triggers a hormonal response to turn off hunger, so you eat less.
**Research shows that you don’t benefit from other fiber like you do with resistant starch.
6 Best Fat-Burning Foods (Prevention.com)
- Beans
- Bananas (slightly green)
- Potatoes and yams
- Barley
- Brown Rice
- Corn
Visit Prevention Magazine for more information about resistant starch, and ideas on how to incorporate these foods into a meal/snack. For more delicious recipes including deserts and holiday specials, visit here.
See other related articles for more on this up-and-coming trend. The video below is a GREAT resource to help you get a better understanding of how resistant starch really works and why it’s so beneficial.
- Los Angeles Times
- **VIDEO: Lose Weight, Not Carbs
- SLIDESHOW: Nature’s Fat-Burner
- Daily Herald
- Tulsa World
back up to speed!
Alright guys & gals, just letting you know that Emily and I are back and ready to post 
As many of you know, we graduated in May and things are JUST settling down for us. You know the whole move back home/wherever, coupled with job hunting and interviews galore…it can get pretty hectic. But now we’re back in business and will be posting a lot more and a lot more frequently.
Apologies for the slump. I know you are all very happy to hear this
