Hello again, my dedicated readers! Something we’ve touched on before is how exercise can make you feel better not just physically, but emotionally as well. Today’s topic: the benefits of exercise for mental health.

Not too long ago I read an article entitled “What Makes Us Happy? The article reviews a study of a group of men that began before WWII and only recently concluded. The idea of the study was simple: to see what factors mattered most in making a man happy and healthy in old age.

The study found the following seven important factors: Employing mature adaptations, education, stable marriage, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, some exercise, and healthy weight.  Dr. Vaillant calls these variables “Defenses.”

Of these exercise is one of the seven most important things you can do to protect your physical and mental health into old age and directly contributes to another (healthy weight).

Beyond these seven defenses the next most important factor … the power of relationships.

“It is social aptitude,” he writes, “not intellectual brilliance or parental social class, that leads to successful aging.” Warm connections are necessary—and if not found in a mother or father, they can come from siblings, uncles, friends, mentors. The men’s relationships at age 47, he found, predicted late-life adjustment better than any other variable, except defenses. Good sibling relationships seem especially powerful: 93 percent of the men who were thriving at age 65 had been close to a brother or sister when younger.

This is actually worth noticing and pointing out, because it illustrates another way that exercise can help your mental and physical health: through building relationships and friendships with other positive people.

At AlaskaFit bootcamps exercise is a social experience where you meet and interact with other people, while getting a butt-kickin’ workout.  Many of our campers have made new friends there, and good ones at that.  So do yourself a favor and give your physical and mental health a double kickstart in the right direction: workout with friends.

Not sure where to start? Give us a call at 783-1241 and we’ll get you started?

Probably the most popular question I get from new boot campers…Why am I not losing weight?  When my clients begin working out they normally experience gains in their fitness and losses in their waistline pretty quickly.  It’s fun and exciting.  The initial euphoria wears off when after an initial loss they start to stabilize. There 3 big reasons for this, so I thought I’d one at a time.

 #1  Not eating enough or often enough

Clients are amazed to hear that the reason they may not be losing weight is that they aren’t eating enough. They’ve been so programmed by the media to starve themselves that it’s hard for them to understand.  It’s actually a very common problem. What they’re doing is either trying to stick to a diet that’s not designed for people in a fitness program or skipping meals (most often breakfast) they’re not giving their body the fuel it needs to work hard. So, it can’t. When they workout they’re routinely out of breath, unable to push hard, and aren’t seeing the results they want in fitness or weight loss.  They’re unable to push hard because there’s no “gas” in their tank.

When you are trying to lose fat you need to increase your metabolism so that your body will draw more energy from your fat stores.  Your body can’t burn hotter if it doesn’t have the fuel to start the fire!  Not eating enough hits you with a double whammy: You don’t have enough energy to workout so you can’t get the results you need, and you don’t have the energy to raise your metabolism even if you did somehow push through it. Not to mention you won’t be able to recover from your workout because there’s nothing for your body to use to do the repair work.

Solution:

Don’t skip meals, especially not breakfast; eat snacks–healthy ones!–; and make sure you’re eating enough with a calorie counting program or food diary.

 #2  Eating too much

When you start to work out you may also notice a growth in your appetite, and begin eating more to satisfy it. This is fine if your goal is maintaining your weight.  But if you’re going to lose weight you need to eat a little bit less than what your body needs to maintain it’s current weight.

I know what you’re thinking, “Great Chris, I’m hungry! What should I do?”

The easiest way to deal with this is to eat often and in smaller portions– six meals a day. You’ll keep your blood sugar up and feel hungry less often while keeping your energy up. It may seem like a bit of a hassle, but keeping a little bit of food around to munch on is easier than you think.

 Solution:

Eat smaller portions, eat more often and keep a food journal.

 #3 Alcohol

This is a sticky one. Most of us, myself included, enjoy a drink from time to time, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The trouble is when you enjoy it on a regular basis. Alcohol, even the distilled kind, is calories, and, even worse, it’s a depressant. That means it gives you more calories to digest and slows your metabolism! That’s like putting bricks in the trunk of your car and wondering where the speed is!

Add to that alcohol’s depressing of your inhibitions and you know what happens next, right?  You overindulge in junk food, fried food and high-fat foods after you’ve had a few drinks, undoing what you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

Solution:

There’s only one option here: reduce or eliminate the alcohol.  Ginny likes to say, “You have to give up the 6-pack to get the 6-pack.”

Personally, I only have alcohol on a irregular basis. At the most I have a drink or two a week, and I often go months without. For yourself, remember that alcohol is an indulgence, and there are plenty of other fluids that go nicely after a meal. One of our campers just told us about alcohol-free Merlot.  When you’re in a social situation, something like Cranberry juice with a splash of seltzer and a twist of lime is a great substitution…no one has to know it doesn’t have any alcohol.  Or even better, set the example for your friends…you never know who you’ll inspire.

 Conclusion:

In the end, it comes down to lifestyle change.  Being open to eating and living differently than what you’ve done in the past or may be doing now.  Many of us have inappropriate habits that we need to purge, but even habits that may have been appropriate a few months ago may be holding you back in your fitness and health goals.

So, don’t be afraid to try some new ways of eating, exercising, and living. You just might find out you like it!

If you need some help making that lifestyle change, give us a call at 783-1241 and get a free consultation.  Lifestyle change is what we do here at AlaskaFit.  Remember, “It’s not about getting into shape, it’s about getting into life!”

Many of us (myself included) use protein powders in various forms and for different reasons. Maybe it’s a quick meal replacement, maybe it’s a post-workout drink. And, you may think that they’re pretty interchangeable. You may not be very brand-loyal, going with what’s inexpensive and convenient. Consumer Reports recently took a look at some of the most popular protein powders on the market and, no surprise, they found some ingredients that aren’t listed on the label, all of which can be detrimental to your health.

They purchased 15 protein powders or ready-to-drink supplements either in local stores or online. What they found was elevated levels of heavy metals…specifically, lead, cadmium and mercury. They also found elevated levels of arsenic. Yup, arsenic.

What brands did they test? Muscle Milk, Jillian Michaels Natural Whey Protein, EAS Myoplex, GNC Lean Shake and Pro Performance, Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard, Muscle Tech Nitro-Tech Hardcore, Six Star Muscle and Solgar Whey to Go. You may have seen these and/or used them. Every one of them contained arsenic and most of them contained lead at levels at or near the FDA limits (Muscle Milk chocolate had 13.5 micrograms of lead, Muscle Milk Vanilla, had 12.2. The FDA limit is 5 micrograms.).

Now, while micrograms are tiny amounts, the problem is that these metals build up in our system. Doing something simple like avoiding known intake of these substances is a simple step towards optimum health.

This is the primary reason that I, personally, only use Shaklee products. They have a long, safe history. They test the raw ingredients that are going into their products BEFORE they begin production, and then the products are tested again once they are created to ensure that these kinds of ingredients are NOT in their product. They source the finest natural ingredients. Then they conduct over 350 tests on every single new botanical ingredient for heavy metals, pesticides, or any of hundreds of other harmful contaminants. And they continue to conduct over 80,000quality tests annually to guarantee the purity and safety of each and every product.

Prior to being introduced to Shaklee, I have NEVER recommended ANY supplement of any kind to any of my friends, family or clients, because of reports like the one in the latest Consumer Reports. I just didn’t know who to trust and I certainly wasn’t going to bring shakes and products to a local lab for testing. I now use Shaklee products daily and am 100% confident in recommending them to you.

Please take a moment to review the Consumer Reports article yourself. There are better, safer choices out there for you and your family. Click here to make the change now. Get a better, safer (and did I mention tastier?) product today. Do it for your health. Do it for your family.

Remember, it’s not about getting into shape, it’s about getting into life!

Here’s a nutrition tip we sent out to our boot campers this week.  

 Nuts…for a while, they were on the ”bad” foods list.  Well, they’re back to being an important  part of our diet.  Yes, they’re high in fat, but it’s good fat, the kind your body needs.  Did you know eating
nuts can help reduce your risk of diabetes and improve your blood sugar profile?

Click here to read all about it.

What’s your favorite nut? Post your answer below by clicking the Leave a Comment link above the photo of the nuts.