Category: Diet

Diet, Exercise, Fitness Goals

Planning to go on a diet and exercise plan after Passover?

Kayla Goldwag

Consider the following things a personal trainer can do:

  1. Improve Your Overall Fitness by monitoring your progress and fine-tune your program as you go, helping you work your way off plateaus.
  2. Reach or Maintain a Healthy Weight by helping you set realistic goals and determine safe strategies, all while providing the encouragement you need.
  3. Learn to Stick to It by helping you overcome your biggest obstacles to exercise.
  4. Focus on Your Unique Health Concerns such as low-back pain, rehabilitation from injury and pre/postnatal training.
  5. Find the Right Way to Work Out, by learning  the correct way to use equipment, and appropriate form and technique for cardiovascular work and free-weight training.
  6. Stop Wasting Time. Get maximum results in minimum time with a program designed specifically for you.
  7. Learn New Skills.
  8. Enhance Your Mind, Body and Spirit by showing you potential you didn’t realize you had.
  9. Benefit From the Buddy System, individualized attention and support.
  10. Finally find the exercise program that works best for you.
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Diet, Fitness Goals

Cleansing for Passover

Kayla Goldwag

You have probably heard all the gossip about the latest fad diet or juice cleanse or whatever and at this point the only thing you really matzo deserves a good cleanse is the back of your refrigerator from any chometz.

Some of us, fear that Passover with all of the matzo balls or macaroons, oddly timed meals and family stressors will ruin the waistline we worked so hard to achieve.  I think Passover can be a great time to institute some good nutrition for yourself and your family. The market shelves are already brimming with boxed specialty latke mixes for Passover, Passover candies, Matzos of every variety and we are carefully checking labels to insure they meet our high standards. We may also start getting concerned about the higher costs of all of these specialty items.

I’d like to invite you to also use this time of preparation to take a look at the junk we puff ourselves up with on the outside and begin fresh this spring by taking the holiday as an opportunity to simplify, and cleanse the body with un-packaged, simpler and self-made goodies that nourish us on the inside in ways that will make us glow as well on the outside.  You can choose to “simplify with ore packaged foods and mixes..or you can choose to simplify and actually save money by using more fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables.  You can make your own convenience foods such as carrot and celery sticks, or melon slices pre-portioned and ready to go in baggies in the fridge. You can even nibble on these while you clean. Soups can be a wonderful addition to your meals because they make you feel more full and (assuming you aren’t using bullion) contain no artificial colorings, flavorings, unhealthful oils either. You can even be your own sous chef and slice all the veggies and separate them into portions all on the same day for different uses-for sides or soups or for steaming all at the same time to economize on time.  Salads are another great option with a lean protein like a poached chicken breast makes a great lunch to keep your blood sugar stable (and your mood) while you are preparing and during the holiday as well.

If there is one area–besides the Matzo not to spare expense–it would be oil. Grapeseed, Walnut oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Coconut are all better choices for your health than the cottonseed and palm oils which will be readily and more cheaply available. These more healthful oils are worth the extra expense!

Make sure to stay hydrated while you are scrubbing and organizing too and re-charge your emotional and physical battery as you prepare to leave Egypt! Take time to tune in to how you are feeling. Do you need a break? Do you need some you-time. Maybe as we get closer you can’t get to the gym or class because of the time crunch but can you do some bodyweight exercise at home or a video? Maybe try to do 3 burpees or pushups between cleaning each shelf of the fridge or turn on some music and dance each time you finish cleaning an appliance.

If you are already using free software like MyFitnessPal.com to track your calories, Do Not vacation from that during Passover. Continue to log- before or after Yom Tov too. Just the act of logging keeps you on track to staying within your caloric requirements.

Finally, choose Chol HaMoed activities which allow you to enjoy the great outdoors and get some exercise. Plan a family hike, take a tour, go vegetable picking at a farm but stay active. You should be blessed to come out more free and energized with your cleaning.

Those are my tips. Do you have tips for thriving and using this prep time to tune up your nutritional cleansing and pantry cleansing?

Diet

Veggetti

Kayla Goldwag

1455987_743692369040441_7586790813147492486_nMy friends give me a sly look when I tell them I bought myself a veggetti at Bed Bath n Beyond..I’m not saying it won’t help in the bedroom but its for the kitchen..to make spaghetti spirals out of your zucchini. Just top with sauce and you should be good to go…(minus all the extra calories and refined white flour in regular high-gylcemic pasta.) Now everyone can be happy. Sshhh..don’t tell the marketing folks who wrote “without the carbs” on the package that vegetables are carbs.

Diet

How To Skinny Up That Latte

Kayla Goldwag

Now that the coffee shops are brimming with holiday treats…This article has some great tips on how to skinny it up at Starbucks. All good to know, but you still can’t out-train a bad diet! (Organic coffee and milk or nut-milks are also healthier options because of fewer pesticides. Also drip coffee won’t raise your cholesterol the way espresso can-yes u read that right). Also, let’s skip the NSA crap. Studies show it slows your weight-loss efforts. Keep it real. http://www.starbucks.com/blog/how-to-skinny-your-beverage

Diet

Do you ever CHEAT?

Kayla Goldwag

chocolatecakeMy newest client this week was having a really productive session.  She was working hard, breaking through mental barriers about what she could physically do and doing great.   Then she looked at me incredulously and asked, “Do you ever cheat?”  I was taken aback.  I have found people share all kinds of personal info during a good sweaty workout, and not wanting to make any assumptions, I asked her to clarify what exactly she meant by cheat.

“I mean, eat cookies, cake, ice cream, chips, things like that…You know, cheat on your diet.”  Totally relieved she wasn’t confiding about her married life,  I answered “Oh, of course I eat cookies, cake and ice cream sometimes. In fact, I ate so much vanilla ice cream with each child, my husband exclaimed how astonished he was each one was born without a cone.”  “It was just about the only thing I could tolerate without gagging from morning sickness,” I confided.  We chuckled.  Then I got serious.

The thing is, I don’t consider it cheating.  I don’t even like the term “cheat food.”   If you live life on and off of a diet all the time then you have to make these kinds of black and white, good and bad distinctions and call eating high calorie nutrient-poor foods “cheating.”   The goal though is to make a healthy lifestyle, where you can incorporate all kinds of foods without having to feel like a bad person.  You simply work the food into your calorie allowance…and it can be done even if you don’t like to count calories.
For instance, I try to fill my days with a combination of proteins and carbs at each meal to keep my blood sugar stable throughout the day so I don’t crave sugary, salty high calorie foods.  When I want to eat a high calorie food like a piece of cake, I go ahead and enjoy some; a reasonable portion and I eat lower calorie more nutrient dense foods the other days.  For instance, a kale salad and tuna for lunch, instead of pizza on that day…and I do a little more exercise.  I try to keep it in balance.
That said, I’m not trying to look like a swimsuit model.  If I had to do that for my career, I would need to be a little more stringent in my diet and probably need to cultivate the ability to live with more deprivation.  For me and most of my current clients, we just need to live life in balance is all.  No cheating.
Diet, Exercise, General Health

Are You Skinny Fat?

Kayla Goldwag

fatIt has been a colorful 2 weeks since I last posted.

I have been substitute teaching PE at an all-girls private High School.  When I took the 9th graders, split them into groups to do resistance exercises circuit-style, one group assigned to do sit-ups couldn’t execute a single sit-up with proper form.  One pretty young thing just lifted her head up and down while laying on her back. It was so sad.

I explained to them the many health benefits of exercise.  I don’t think they were incredibly impressed.

I explained how 65%+ of Americans are overweight – which puts them at all kinds of health risks from diabetes to heart attacks and cancer.  They could even quote back the statistics to me…and nobody seemed to think these numbers had anything to do with them.  If you look around, its usually like a carnival house of mirrors with all kinds of distorted bodies peering back at you – distended bellies and all, but this group was actually relatively thin looking.  From all outward appearances, you would assume they are a healthy bunch.  So I think the girls figured they don’t really need to exercise.

That’s simply not true!  There’s something called Skinny Fat – medically, the term is metabolically obese, normal weight (‘MONW’).  Not enough lean muscle.  Or your ratio of muscle to fat is off-kilter.  For instance, a body-fat of 24-39% is high by medical and health standards, but with good genes and bone structure you might appear thin.  Yes, its also true that if you fit into a size 2, but you still jiggle while you wiggle and your skin feels spongy…there’s a good chance you fit the definition of skinny fat.

Actually, a Skinny Fat person can have the same health risks as someone overweight/obese—or worse.  The shocking news published in the Journal of the American Medical Association is that nearly 1 in 4 skinny people have pre-diabetes and are metabolically obese.   Skinny people diagnosed with diabetes have twice the risk of death than heavy people with it.  Could be that having some extra muscle from lugging around that extra weight is protective?

In other words, a heavy fat person with a good amount of muscle might be healthier than you, Miss String-Bean!  Yeah, fit people come in all shapes and sizes is what I am saying.

Why am I so passionate about this subject?  Because I have been Skinny Fat myself.

Thanks to genetics and bone structure, I appear taller and slimmer than I actually am.  Many years ago, after the birth of my second child, I went for my annual physical.  The doctor looked at the results of my blood tests and asked what I did for exercise.  I told him “I chase toddlers. ” He went on to tell me that although I was active and exhausted from all the chasing of my kids all day long, I was actually 33% body-fat.  I was obese.  I gasped – but I’m not that heavy according to the scale!  He said if I were older, he would have put me on a statin drug because of my cholesterol numbers and that I should start an exercise program (I had not done regular exercise since High School) and eat oatmeal for breakfast.  I joined a gym and attended classes religiously, ate my oatmeal for breakfast, backed off on the fancy coffee dessert-drinks, and within 3-6 months I had lowered my cholesterol 13 points.  This was the start to my journey of becoming a fitness professional.

There are a number of tests your Doc can run to see if you are Skinny Fat, including a fasting glucose tolerance test, HDL, triglycerides, blood pressure, NMR lipid particle test.

So how to fix it when you are Skinny Fat?  Pair a lean protein with a healthy low GI carb at every meal in order to keep blood glucose levels steady.  For instance, an apple with some almonds, a hard boiled egg and oatmeal, celery and peanut butter, rice and beans, chicken breast and bell pepper.  Don’t drink your calories.  Get enough sleep.  Do resistance training with cardiovascular intervals…just like I have been doing with all of the classes I have been teaching at school this week.

Don’t worry – if you lift more than 2 lbs you aren’t necessarily gonna bulk up and look like a female version of the Hulk!  If you would like more help finding a fitness program to help you avoid being Skinny Fat, drop me a line or take one of my classes this week!

Diet, Q&A

Juicing – Good or Bad?

Kayla Goldwag

I was asked this question 3 three times last week in more or less the same form:juicing

“Kayla, I have some weight to lose and I was thinking about juicing, you know, drinking lots of fresh fruits and veggies all day. What do you think of that? Is it safe and effective?”

ADVANTAGES
It’s easy to see the benefits of juicing.

Most of our diets are too high in fat and lacking in necessary nutrients.

We don’t consume enough fruits and vegetables.  Some proponents claim the antioxidant vitamins, chlorophyll and enzymes, as well as the water content of fresh fruit and vegetable juices help keep us strong, healthy and more resistant to disease.

If you don’t enjoy eating fruits or vegetables, juicing can make eating them more pleasant.

When sweetened with beets or apples or bananas and oranges, you hardly notice the bitterness of vegetables such as collard greens and kale.

You can also get creative with your combinations.  It can also be convenient – you can have it on the go, in your car or at your desk.

It’s also an excellent way to boost your fluid levels since fruits and veggies are water-rich and it is a far better choice for hydration than coffee or soft drinks.

Fresh juices also don’t contain any preservatives or chemicals like factory processed drinks can.  It can be good for those who have difficulties digesting fiber to get their nutrients.

DISADVANTAGES
There are some drawbacks however.

Many fruits are high on the glycemic index, meaning they contain a lot of sugar and the impact on your bloodstream is higher than if you had consumed the whole fruit with all of its fiber, which can slow down the impact of those sugars.

When the body has to cope with an high increase of blood sugar, the pancreas has to release insulin.  The yo-yo effect it has on your system can give you spikes of energy followed by feelings of sluggishness and lethargy.

It can also make you store fat.

Further, for diabetics and those who need to limit their sugar intake, its not always the best choice.

Fruit juices can pack a lot of calories.

Juicing can take out the fiber of the fruit and vegetables and we need that fiber, not just to slow down the absorption of the sugar, but for aiding the absorption of nutrients, for the health of our colon (fiber keeps us regular and reduces the risk of colon cancer).  Fiber helps you feel fuller longer too.

Some vegetables are actually better for you when cooked!

It can also be time consuming and expensive.  Juice tastes best freshly made. It loses some of its nutritional value as it oxidizes in the fridge and can taste less appetizing. Juices are best consumed within a day to keep all the enzymes.  Not everyone has time to do all the cutting and peeling daily.  Plus, juicers can cost $200+ and you need a lot of fruits and veggies to produce a lot of juice.

Cleaning out that juicer is also time-consuming. (Of course you could purchase juices at the store and give up some of the nutritional value for the convenience.)

What about protein??  You need to consume certain number of grams of protein per day and I’m pretty sure if you are consuming fruit and vegetable juices for every meal you won’t get it.  (To get the number of grams of protein your body needs, take your weight in kg and multiply that by .8 to get the number of grams of protein you must consume daily).

BOTTOM LINE
So are you for it or against it Kayla?

Well, I’m for it and against it.

If you are struggling with your weight, the sugar calories in all the fruit juices might not help you out.   If you want to have a cup of juice and weight is your concern, make it a cup of juice that’s mostly veggies – or at a minimum, include some veggies you wouldn’t otherwise eat if they weren’t covered in fruit juice.  And make it a snack, not every
meal for the whole day or you will be missing out on important protein and fiber and necessary fats.

Another option is to use a blender – so you get the fiber as well as the juice..and add in some Greek yogurt for protein, or a protein powder, to make it a meal.

Consume the same day or freeze for maximum freshness.

Overall juicing, can be a good thing but please use the rule of moderation and eat real food, not just juice all day long for every meal and consult with your doctor or Registered Dietitian for specific meal plans — (I work with two Registered Dietitians whom I trust and would be happy to refer you).

Remember, do not drop your calories below 1200 for women and 1400 for men or you run the risk of metabolizing your own muscle tissue for fuel.  While you will lose weight at these dangerously low calorie levels, you will be slowing down your metabolism and when you do finally eat normally, you will pack on weight that much more readily and likely have more difficulty getting it off.

Eating healthy is important, but don’t delude yourself into thinking you can skip your workouts because you had some juice. You need a sensible diet and exercise for sustained weight loss.

Diet, Exercise, Q&A

FAQ – Diet Without Exercise?

Kayla Goldwag

Dear Kayla,4803786_s

Ever since I learned that 80% of fat loss has to do with diet, I think I lost my will to exercise. I kind of know its good for me and every time I see you, I think to myself I should do it, but I don’t really feel motivated.—M. from Los Angeles

———

Dear M,

It’s great that you are becoming educated about your body.  Its true that diet, including what you eat, when you eat it and in what quantity has so much to do with weight loss.  Trainers like me can only help you maximize the other 20% of the picture when it comes to getting you to your ideal body weight.

But there’s more to life and more to being healthy than simply being thin!  You can be thin and not necessarily be healthy.  I’d like to think I help people do more than look hot in their skinny jeans–we are talking about quality of life and possibly the duration of your life as well!

So, you mean you are dieting, but you aren’t exercising?  Ouch.  You could be losing muscle, too…That’s not pretty.  There are so many benefits to regular exercise:

Exercise decreases your risk of some cancers:

Cardiovascular activities have been shown to reduce cardio vascular disease risks because they:

  • Decrease triglycerides
  • Increase HDL cholesterol
  • Reduce resting blood pressure
  • Reduce insulin needs
  • Reduce blood platelet adhesiveness
  • Increase stamina, endurance and energy
  • Strengthen the heart
  • Decrease heart rate and blood pressure at sub maximal levels
  • Increase maximal oxygen uptake
  • Improve immune function
  • Improve sleep

Strength Training Benefits Include:

  • Increased functional ability/ability to perform the activities of daily living. (Being more fit means you can do more with less effort)
  • Increased bone density
  • Decreased sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss)
  • Potentially increased metabolism (making it easier for you maintain a healthy weight)
  • Decreased risk of injury
  • Increased strength of connective tissue
  • Increased motor performance
  • Improved feelings of well-being and self-confidence

Additionally, circuit weight training (where one resistance exercise is performed one after the other without rest for 20 minutes or more) may result in:

  • Reduction in blood pressure at rest
  • Improved lipid profile
  • Improved glucose tolerance

Just stretching alone can provide the following benefits:

  • Decreased stress
  • Relief of muscle soreness
  • Decreased muscle tension
  • Improved posture
  • Decreased low-back pain
  • Improved ability to perform daily activities

It’s a choice, really. You have to make the time for exercise and you have to choose to make exercise a priority or it won’t happen.

There are lots of things we know we should do in life that we don’t necessarily want to – change diapers, pay taxes etc. but we get through it. Maybe you haven’t been able to find something fun?  If you can’t–just do it anyway!

Ideally for optimal health, we want 3-4 days a week of cardio and 2-3 days of strength training.  Flexibility training could take place 2-3 days a week, but ideally 5-7 days/week.  If you have been sedentary, you will need to start slowly and work up to this ..for example start walking maybe with just a 10 minute walk a few times a week and increase the duration and/or distance as you build your strength.

Both a sensible diet and exercise are needed to achieve optimal health.

Hope to see you Monday for cardio kickboxing!

Diet

Survival Strategies for Taming The Halloween Binge Monster Beast

Kayla Goldwag
  1. Outta sight, outta mind. Keep those goodies where your hot little hands can’t get them – put them in the freezer, have hubby hide them in the basement, donate them. For the sake of your waistline don’t leave them in a bowl where you can get at them..Just 1-2 pieces of candy (an extra 300-500 calories per day) can put a pound on you in a week if you’re not careful! That’s pretty scary.
  2. Prioritize and sort. #1 rule in dieting = Everything in moderation.  Lay it all out and decide which ones are really important to you – choose those and make a plan for when to eat them (not all in 1 sitting).  Maybe 1 snack size treat can be worked into your calorie allowance once or twice a week…if you compensate with exercise and otherwise clean diet. I like to save my treats for the weekend, sit at the table and eat it slowly and mindfully and royally.  Also dark chocolate has some antioxidant properties so that’s a high priority for me..in fact, I’ll indulge in 70% dark organic chocolate over nearly any other packaged treat. Pretzels, popped corn are also great swaps. Have a taste test with the kids – have a little sampling and decide which aren’t that great and you’re willing to part with..
  3. Bribery! Some dentists even offer a buy-back program. You can trade your kids some of their stash for cash — to go to the toy store or on an outing of their choice…Same for you – reward yourself for your self-control maybe with a new workout outfit.
  4. Chew gum/ brush your teeth while handing out the goods! Its will distract you from putting something more calorie dense and nutrient poor in your mouth!
  5. Lift weights Halloween morning! It will help even out/suppress your blood sugar and help you resist cravings.
  6. Don’t skip dinner…If you’re starving and/or sleep deprived you will find it harder to resist temptation
  7. Read this post from Shape magazine about what’s actually in your Halloween candy:http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/whats-really-halloween-candy…took my cravings away faster than you can say polybutelatedwhashamakailt.

    Deprivation can set you up for binging. Candy and other less-healthy choices can be worked into an otherwise healthy lifestyle in moderation. Be a role model and have a conversation with your kids about how to incorporate treat foods into their diet appropriately.. It’s a skill that enables you to tame the beast.