Diet

I have taken up “snacking at night”.  I would like to stop this habit.  Any suggestions?

Keeping your blood sugar controlled is important in reducing food cravings and nighttime snacking.  Be consistent with your eating patterns.  Eat 3 healthy meals each day along with 2 snacks between to control your appetite and boost your metabolism.

If you find this doesn’t work, consider this:  wait 20 minutes to see if the urge goes away before you give in; take a brisk walk; brush your teeth; drink water (cues for hunger and thirst are the same, so make sure it isn’t water your body is asking for); try a sugar free mint; drink a cup of herbal tea.  Set your mind to it and break the habit!

I want to feel healthy and have tried different exercises and diet plans for years but find it hard to stick to something. Why is that?

Changing your attitude about your commitments is the first step. You need to think about your new endeavor as a lifestyle change and make only changes you know you can live with for a lifetime. Don’t try to change too much at one time.

Pick one behavior you want to change and work on it until it becomes a habit. Always remember how long it took you to get where you are today. You can’t change that in a few weeks!

Easy behaviors to start with that will pave the way

• Drink 8 cups of water each day
• Don’t eat after 7:30 pm
• Get no less than 7 hrs of sleep each night
• Reduce (but don’t completely eliminate) intake of:
  
  • Cookies
  • Candy
  • Pop
  • Chips
• Eat LOTS of fruits and veggies
• Walk for 20 minutes 5 times per week

Your body will begin to reap the rewards of your healthy attitude and everything else will fall into place.

What can you do to get rid of arm flab?

First, you must reduce the amount of fat that sits on top of the muscles. To do this, you need to examine your current diet to make sure that your calories in are less than your calories out. This will take some dedication on your part and a good start would be to document what you eat and talk with an expert in nutrition to find out where unwanted calories are coming from.

Next, you need to tone the muscles underneath the fat. This includes working your arm muscles (i.e. biceps, triceps, shoulder complex, etc.) in many different planes of movement through weight training to be sure you’re hitting all the angles of the muscle for proper toning/definition. This may require some personal training, even just instructional based, so you can be sure you’re getting the most benefit from your work-out.

Remember: this won’t happen overnight and will take hard work and dedication on your part. But it can be done and we can help, so call for more information.

Body fat is important for determining fitness. The human body is composed of a variety of different types of tissues including lean tissue (muscles, bones and organs) that are metabolically active and fat (adipose) tissue that is not.  Body weight does not distinguish between pounds that come from fat and pounds that come from lean tissue (muscle) and therefore is not a clear indicator of health.

What is the best method for testing?

Having your body fat tested allows you to determine how much of your composition is made up of fat and this is a better indicator of your overall health. There are several methods to choose from and each has its advantages and disadvantages. The best bet is to pick one method and stick with it, use the same technician for each test performed, watch trends rather than specific numbers and your results will be accurate for you. At Fit for Life we choose skinfold caliper testing because it works for all populations of people.

Our Exercise Physiologists and Personal Trainers have over 30 years of combined experience in body fat testing, we are confident in our analyses and we can design a program specifically for you!

Are there certain foods that will help increase metabolism?

The answer is YES!

The types of foods that boost metabolism are known as negative calorie foods. This means that you burn more calories from digesting the food than the food is actually worth.

For example, if you eat a food containing 100 calories and you find out that the food will burn 120 calories, you have burned a net of 20 calories just by eating that food. AWESOME!

Negative Calorie Foods

Foods that are capable of producing negative calorie results include:

Fruits

• apples
• blueberries
• raspberries
• strawberries
• grapefruit
• lemons
• mangos
• pineapple
• oranges
• tangerines

Vegetables

• carrots
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• lettuce
• cabbage
• asparagus
• beets
• spinach
• onions
• celery
• zucchini

Warning: Avoid “empty calories” (junk food) or calories from foods with poor vitamin and nutrient content. These types of foods have a reverse effect on our metabolism; they add more to our body fat because they require fewer calories to digest than the amount of calories they contain. End result - slower metabolism.

The best way to jumpstart your Metabolism is Exercise!

Sheila Rolling, Personal Fitness Trainer and Owner of Fit for Life - Fitness Club in Faribault, MN.