Tag Archives: #weightloss

Can You Live Off of Soup Alone?

Posted on by

There are so many different soup “diets” talked about, and people make claims of losing tons of weight and maintaining the weight loss by basically only eating soup. I’ve been asked if this is healthy, and if you truly can live off of a diet like this without missing any key nutrients and vitamins.

The Scoop on Soup:

Honestly? My first thought was, no way can you hit all of your nutritional needs by eating solely soup. But then I actually started reading up on a few of these diets, the soups they suggest for all meals, and many of them suggest different soups for fast weight loss, and then maintenance. The theory is that you are getting nutrients and electrolytes from various vegetables, proteins in the form of meats, tofu, etc., along with fiber from the veggies and grains (that you can add once you get to the maintenance phase). And you are taking in fluids, so part of your daily water intake, while you are getting your nutrition from food; their theory is that soup is “one stop shopping” for nutrition in a bowl, which it can be.  But, you need to remember that just like any foods, soups can be healthy because they can be filled with vegetables and lean proteins…but they can also be really high in sodium (salt) content, have heavy fats and creams in them, and be light on vegetables.

The key to a healthy diet is getting varied vitamins and nutrients through your food, and as much as I hate to admit it, humans are creatures of habit, so if we like something (i.e. a certain food) we will tend to eat it more frequently….if you do that with this soup diet, like eating chicken soup morning for every meal, you could be missing some major parts of your diet.

Fresh ramen made from scratch

Fresh ramen made from scratch

You really need to make you own soups; store-bought tend to be high in sodium and fats (from butter or dairy), and if you make your own from scratch, you can control the ingredients and know exactly how healthy and fresh your ingredients are. For example, I don’t eat pre-prepared soups with meat in them, I have no idea where that meat came from, but I can pretty much guarantee that it is not antibiotic and hormone free, so in making your own soup, you will know the source of all your ingredients, which is a great feeling. We made some amazing ramen from scratch incorporating spinach, mushrooms, corn, bamboo, bean sprouts, garlic, fresh noodles, poached eggs, and non-GMO non-MSG Miso (soy paste); we hit most of our major food groups, so it was a pretty well-rounded meal, low on sodium, and literally 1/10th the fat and calories of the ramen in a package! I could eat that every day, but you need to remember to change-up your diet and the soups so that you are getting varied veggies (for different vitamins and nutrients), proteins, grains, and fruits.

It is tough to get key nutrients like calcium and vitamin D through soups, plus many of the other nutrients in the fruits and veggies can cook off when making the soups. I would get bored with eating soup three times a day (seriously, soup for breakfast too? I think putting my morning smoothie in a bowl could count as breakfast soup, right?); wouldn’t you want to just bite into a sandwich or chew on some roughage at some point? But hey, that’s just me!

If you are able to change-up your diet, learn what your nutritional needs are, meet them, and you don’t get bored, I think that it is a valid diet option for someone who might normally not eat a well-balanced, healthy diet. It is labor intensive (making soups all the time), and I would have a tough time sticking to it, but if you really love soup, and are committed to hitting all of your dietary needs by switching up your soup bases (veggies, proteins, and grains), then have at it!

Yours in Good Health

B

December Exercise Challenge: Beat the Holiday Weight Gain!

Posted on by

This exercise challenge was created to beat the holiday bulge, strengthen your core muscles, keep working and improving leg strength, and increase upper body strength.  It is a mixture of exercises that will help us ladies feel good and look good! And every time you want to swear at me for making you do a push up, think about the fact that you are tightening your pecs and helping to keep your upper body nice and toned and perky!!  Join me, get mad at me, and show me up by getting fit and healthy and preventing the holiday weight gain!!

The main exercises we will focus on are:

Squats: Strengthen your lower body and core muscles such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, calf muscles, gluteals, lower abs, and lower back muscles. To perform a squat appropriately, you want to squat straight down (feet hips width apart) as if you are about to sit in a chair (think butt out) as far down as you can go keeping your balance and posture, then stand back up straight.

Planks: Strengthen your upper, middle, and lower core such as the rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, oblique muscles, pectoralis, serratus, and the quadriceps muscles. You can perform a plank from your knees OR resting on your elbows with your forearms resting on the ground (modified) OR from a high plank position with your hands shoulder width apart, straight body, and on the balls of your feet. Hold steady keeping your back straight and butt in!Plank view 1

Push-Ups: Strengthen and tone abdominals, pectoralis, triceps, and bicep muscles. You can perform a push up from your knees (modified) or from a high plank position (hands shoulder width apart, straight body, and on the balls of your feet), with a straight body, in a controlled motion, lower your body to 6” off the ground, and push back to the top position.

Top (starting and ending) Position

Top (starting and ending) Position

 

 

Bottom Position

Bottom Position

Reverse Crunches: strengthen and tone the lower abs, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Perform laying flat on the ground (with hands under your lower back from comfort, if necessary), pull your knees into your abdomen, then push out to straight legs with pointed toes 6” off the ground, and pull them back in.

Oblique Crunches: Strengthen and tone the external oblique abdominal muscles. Perform with your legs at a 45 degree angle raised 6” off the floor and your upper torso also 6-8” off the floor, either with a medicine ball or pretending to hold one, twist to the left with your upper torso and keep your legs in the same position, then go back to center and repeat on the right side. Each side is considered one “crunch”.

Straight Crunches: Strengthen and tone your core abdominal muscles. Perform with your hands interlaced behind your head, not pulling on your head or neck, and with your knees bent and back flat on the floor, pull up using our core abdominal muscles to a 45 degree angle and release, in a controlled fashion.

The Challenge (should you choose to accept it): 

Day 1:  50 Squats & 2 minute Plank

Day 2:  75 Squats & 3 minute Plank

Day 3:  85 Squats & 25 Push-ups

Day 4:  100 Squats & 40 Push-ups

Day 5:  50 Push-ups & 3 minute Plank

Day 6:  4 minute Plank & 100 Squats

Day 7:  Rest Day

Day 8:  5 minute plank

Day 9:  40 Reverse Crunches & 110 Squats

Day 10: 50 Reverse Crunches & 6 minute Plank

Day 11: 60 Reverse Crunches & 50 Push Ups

Day 12: 50 Oblique Crunches & 50 Reverse Crunches

Day 13:  7 minute Plank

Day 14: Rest Day

Day 15: 50 Push Ups & 80 Oblique Crunches

Day 16: 120 Squats & 8 minute Plank

Day 17: 140 Squats & 60 Oblique Crunches & 60 Reverse Crunches

Day 18: 100 Straight Crunches

Day 19: 60 Push Ups & 60 Straight Crunches & 60 Oblique Crunches

Day 20: 8 minute Plank

Day 21: Rest Day

Day 22: 100 Reverse Crunches & 75 Push Ups

Day 23: 160 Squats & 120 Straight Crunches

Day 24: 170 Squats & 80 Oblique Crunches & 80 Reverse Crunches

Day 25: 80 Push Ups & 140 Straight Crunches

Day 26: 200 Squats & 100 Oblique Crunches & 100 Reverse Crunches

Day 27: 9 minute Plank

Day 28: Rest Day

Day 29: 90 Push Ups & 150 Crunches

Day 30: 100 Push Ups & 230 Squats

Day 31: 10 minute Plank

And as always, if you have any medical problems, please speak to your HCP before starting the challenge, and you can always modify the exercises to prevent any injury!

Yours in Good Health

B

 

Get your Sprout on!

Posted on by

Bean sprouts have all sorts of benefits as a source of food, and a food you can really feel good about eating! There are all sorts of sprouts too: mung, sunflower, lentil, alfalfa, etc. which are all equally healthy for you, and really should be a mainstay of your diet. I try to get them into my diet as much as possible, and eat full sprout salads a few times a week because of their amino acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals.

My favorite mix of Bean Sprouts

My favorite mix of Bean Sprouts

Why are Sprouts so good for you?

They are low in calories, around 31 calories in 1 whole cup of raw sprouted beans (one serving size), and very low in fat, almost 0.2g.  With 3.2g of protein, which is 11% of your recommended daily amount (RDA), available and around 2g of fiber (8% RDA),they have a decent potassium content (4% RDA) , while being low in sodium, and contain 22% of your RDA of Vitamin C. These sprouts are truly a dieters dream; they fill you up with their fiber content, and you stay full longer because they have protein in them to keep you satiated.

Putting a few different types of bean sprouts together in a salad is awesome because you can get such a great mix of flavors, and power packed with nutrition. They can have more crunch, if you want to eat them raw, or softer if you want to steam or cook them, and you can also mix raw and cooked together, along with adding some other veggies to mix up flavors and add even more nutrition.  My favorites? A mix of alfalfa, sunflower, garbanzos, red lentils, green lentils, radish, peas, and azuki. I love the mixture of flavors, and I eat them sprouted raw!

They are versatile, filled with flavor, and packed with nutrition, all while low on fat and calories, and I see no downside to adding more to your diet….and I bet you will see some benefits and feel better!

Yours in Good Health

B

 

Not enough sleep? Weight gain will become a problem.

Posted on by

You hear it all the time: If you don’t get enough sleep, you will gain weight. When I think about it, it doesn’t totally make sense because you aren’t sleeping, so you are being more active, right? Then I think about those days after I work a night shift, when I am getting things done in a haze, my brain is not fully functioning, and thinks happen a little bit slower, I feel miserable, and when I have a chance to stop and rest, I take it…so I begin to understand a bit more the whole weight gain portion.

sleep and weight gainWhy exactly does sleep make me gain weight?

When you do not get enough sleep, you are feeling tired and energy levels are low, leading to the use of caffeine and/or sugar to boost your energy levels to help you get through the day, which leads to energy crashes later in the day.  For those of you who exercise in the afternoon, it usually means that it doesn’t happen, because your energy is zapped. And if you are a morning exerciser, you tend to feel to exhausted to get to your workout; a lack of energy leads to a lack of drive.  And when you become dependent upon stimulants to get through the day, it can become a cycle, as sometimes you can overdo it with the caffeine and then have trouble shutting it down, even if you do have time to sleep. When you are tired and sluggish, you also tend to be more lazy; you don’t shop for healthy foods and/or cook for yourself, so you tend to eat what is available and easy.  None of these things are particularly good for your waistline.

There are two main hormones that regulate your eating cycle: ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells you when you are hungry and you should eat, and it is at much higher levels when you are sleep deprived. Leptin is the hormone that tells you to stop eating because you are full, and unfortunately it is in lower levels when you are without sleep. A lack of exercise, high ghrelin, and low leptin levels is basically the trifecta for weight gain.

Add on top of that, your body is not functioning optimally with a lack of sleep, so it’s not just your brain that feels fuzzy, so do the cells in your metabolism, so they aren’t working at their best either. It’s not as if one night with a lack of sleep is going to make you gain 15lbs immediately, but when it becomes a cycle of sleeping less than 7-8 hours per night, and we are frequently reaching for comfort foods, eating more than we normally do, skipping on our exercise, and relying on stimulants to get through the day, it’s not healthy, and you will gain weight.

What can I do?

Cut back on the stimulants and don’t have any after 12pm, and start making a bedtime routine (essentially set a bedtime for yourself) to try to break the cycle.  Also, forcing yourself to get some exercise, even though you already feel exhausted, even if it is just a long walk, really will exhaust your body….in a good way!  It will help to relax your muscles when you are done, and get your brain ready to shut down and get a better sleep/rest. Also try to avoid heavy meals and alcohol right before bed, it can make you have troubled sleep and increase the risk of heartburn. Also, maybe a soothing lavender bath/shower before bed, to help calm your system and ready yourself for sleep.

Once you start sleeping regularly, you will feel a boost in energy, be more efficient, and be healthier.  You can get into a health and wellness cycle by getting regular exercise, and eating healthier, which will lead to a really easy drop in weight…all by making one lifestyle change!

If you DO get 7-8 hours of sleep at night but it is troubled sleep or you always still feel exhausted in the morning you should see your Healthcare Practitioner (HCP) because you may have Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) or another process going on that requires a sleep study or more in-depth review.

Try to set a routine, and breaking the habit of caffeine can be miserable (I used to be a complete caffeine addict and have sleeping issues, so I KNOW how hard this is) but it is so worth it to be able to cut the cord and feel yourself without relying on caffeine and starting to be healthy again.  It seems impossible sometimes, but, I promise, it isn’t!

Yours in Good Health

B

Have a guilt-free Thanksgiving Feast

Posted on by

So everyone who knows me, knows that I am not going to tell you that you need to cut out butter, trans fats, dairy, or anything that makes food taste decadent and delicious.  I suppose, if I was Super Nurse Bridgid, I might, but I’m a very realistic gal, I love food, and I think that there are very few times a year that you totally rock out with eating decadent food, having your family and friends at your side, so live it up! That being said, if you have severe cardiac disease, diabetes, congestive heart failure, or a few other chronic diseases, let’s not go completely bonkers and send yourself into distress requiring an emergency room visit, please? There are a few ways to keep the holiday fun, and keep/maintain you weight loss goals that you have in mind….because no matter how much you think that you will be maintaining your diet, you won’t. I am not just being negative, but friends and relatives will make dishes that you have no idea how much butter (or even straight up lard) was used to make that delicious crust, or how much extra cheese was added to dishes.  Unless you have a very health conscious family or group of friends, most likely your Thanksgiving meals will have some unexpected fat and calories added….but it’s one day a year, right?

How to I stay healthy and fit?

– Remember it is just one meal: it may be a really yummy and highly commercialized meal, but it is just one meal, so don’t eat the same amount that you would in a week!  Keep your head about you, and eat normal servings. There is no need to fill your plate until the point that it is over-flowing with food. There will be leftovers, so grab some of them, and have some of that meal the next day too….that would make it better than eating to the point you feel like you will explode, right?

–Fill your exercise bank: I hear all the time when people eat some decadent dessert or huge meal, that they will “run 10 miles tomorrow”.  Most likely you won’t.  I’m not being mean, but most people say that and then they don’t and then they have food guilt.  What do I do?  I know that I will be eating more, so before my body is slow and laden down from extra fat and alcohol in my diet (from a fun family meal), I have a long workout.  I also tend to keep in mind all week with my workouts that I will be having a huge “cheat day” from my normal diet.  That way, I have already done the hard work, and I can eat with pure pleasure and no guilt!

–Don’t starve! One thing people do frequently is that they know they are going to eat a big meal, so they don’t eat all day.  BAD move!! Then you are starving, so when you finally see appetizers and the meal, you will for sure overindulge! Eat a breakfast high in fiber and protein (after you get in that workout, of course, right?!?!) It will keep you filled up and regulate your blood sugar so your body feels satiated, and you have a better chance of just eating normally….not until you think you will explode if you don’t unbutton your pants.

–Take a walk post meal: Because of the tryptophan in turkey (along with the traveling and stress of planning/cooking for holidays) and all of our blood rushing to our stomachs to help digest that huge meal, we finish our meal, and people want to hang out and watch football, relax, nap, etc.  My suggestion? Go out and walk for 30 minutes.  Get your blood pumping, help digest faster, ramp up your metabolism, and then tackle those dishes.  Depending on the number of dishes and how vigorous you are, you can burn up to 100 calories in 1 hour of dish washing….it’s a start!

–If you really are concerned: if you really are worried about eating too much, go slow.  Take small helpings, small enough that nothing on your plate touches (and if you can handle the ridicule, just use a salad plate- it gives the illusion or more food!) and eat slowly. It takes about 20 minutes from the time food hits your lips and gets into your stomach for your brain to get the memo that you are satiated and don’t need to eat any more (that’s why starving yourself can really backfire on you- you eat like a glutton for 20 minutes then want to die from feeling so stuffed.) And drink lots of water, along with the fiber in all of the veggies, and the protein it will help to fill you up faster.

–Alcohol can be a caloric nightmare: Not all alcohol, but wine is usually around 200 calories per glass, so if you have a few of those, you’ve just taken in all of your days calories almost, just on drinks alone! so for those of you really, looking to keep it “skinny” this year, I wouldn’t jump towards the wine, or keep it to 1 to 2 glasses.

–Ditch the guilt: All this being said, don’t feel guilty about having a good time, giving thanks for all of the wonderful things we have in our lives, being with friends and family, and eating good food.  THAT is what Thanksgiving is about, not your caloric intake!  Everyone is allowed a “cheat day” and on Thanksgiving, you just really live it up!

Really?  Have a great day, enjoy yourself, and appreciate your life, your friends and family, and have an awesome day.  Don’t focus on the calories or feel guilty for having a good time, just get back right on track the next day….as long as this is a once in a while thing for you, your body will bounce back! Don’t et one day let you lose focus on being healthy and fit, but as I said, ramp up your exercise before, if you are really concerned, have that fitness bank filled, and make a withdrawal on Thanksgiving!  Enjoy your days, be safe, and have an amazing time.

For all of the healthcare, emergency service workers, military, and everyone else that is working through the holiday to help others, thank you for all that you are doing; your hard work and sacrifice is greatly appreciated!!

Yours in Good Health

B