Manic Monday ~ The Pie Chart Test (part 2)
How many pieces of pie did you conquer last week? For those of you who are just joining this Monday madness, please catch up by reading last week's (September 11th) post. There were six questions to answer. These were the following questions:
Do you drink 64 or more ounces of water per day?
Do you take a nutritional rich supplement or multi-vitamin daily?
Do you eat 5-6 times a day, alternating meals with balanced snacks every 2-3 hours?
Do you consume an average of 10-20grams of protein along with a complex clean carbohydrate at each meal/snack?
Do you perform 45-60 minutes of (moderate to high HR) cardiovascular activity 4-5+ days per week?
Do you perform resistance or strength activities that condition the each part of the body 2 times per week?
Although these questions may seem very simple, there is a benefit to including these actions into your lifestyle. This week, I want to give you a reason for asking each of these questions.
Water! Water is ESSENTIAL for our bodies to survive. It's no wonder considering our body make up is comprised of good amounts of water! And actually, many of us are dehydrated and we don't even know it as our bodies try to adapt. Adequate intake of water will allow for better organ function, better mental focus, improved body pH levels, increased immunity, AND weight loss (there are many more benefits too).
Multi-Vitamin/ Supplements. Let's face it, our busy lives in this culture rob of us of whole, clean foods and careful meal preparation. In fact, our country is the king of convenience foods, fast food, and energy drinks! I will bet my money that 95% of our readers here are a part of the convenience food factor! The con to this convenience, is the lack of nutrients by a landslide. You are what you eat! It's true! Within in one year, your body will have a renewed every living cell in your living body! If you eat crud all of the time....guess what?- your cells are going to be fueled by crud. If you fuel your car with dirty gasoline or something other than gasoline, the engine is going to have some problems. Same here with our bodies. It may not be evident right away, but eventually it will catch up with you. Eat clean and supplement with proper essential vitamins/minerals.
Digestion burns calories. It's an action. Therefore, calories are used as fuel to digest foods. If you spread your meals and snacks out every 2-3 hours instead of skipping meals or sticking to 3 big meals, your metabolism will be elevated during the entirety of the day. Blood sugars will remain more evened out without the huge peaks and valleys that can occur if you eat the typical breakfast and four hours later-lunch, and five hours later-dinner. **
Along with point #3 ** comes an elevated metabolism that also is connected to what type of food you are consuming every 2-3 hours. Carbohydrates will empty out of the stomach in about 30 minutes or so. The type of carbohydrate matters!! A simple carb like refined crackers or refined bread will be quick to exit the stomach moving on to the intestines. A complex carb like whole grain bread or wild rice will take more like 40-45 minutes because of the dense fiber content. It's a little tougher to break down. A protein like lean meats, nuts, etc., will take 60 minutes or more to break down in the stomach. And that's just the stomach... There is still intestinal paths to go through. That means that during digestion, the longer it takes to digest, the higher the metabolism will be. So if you are only eating 350 as full simple carbs, you just ingested 350 calories and your metabolism will stay elevated for just a small bit of time as the simple carbs absorb quickly into the digestive system. However, if you eat 350 calories and it consists of a complex carb and a protein, it will take double the time to digest, therefore a prolonged higher metabolism. It's not about consuming more calorie per say, it's about swapping out the simple carbs.
Exercise is not only fantastic regarding the conditioning of the cardiac and pulmonary systems, but it also burns stored calories.... (Fat).... That is...AFTER you burn off surface calories that are readily available and waiting to be burned off (whatever calories aren't used....well they go into storage...fat stores). We always need enough calories to function our bodies in general (organ function, simple daily activities). So we need to sustain a daily amount of calories for survival, but most people consume too many calories. Couple that with sedentary or low activity lifestyles and you can bet that you are going to store up some calories. 3500 calories will add a pound to your body. So, exercising at least 4 days per week at a level that is somewhat challenging will help keep those stores at bay. But one should be mindful that the first 20-30 minutes of exercise will burn off surface calories. So to tap into fat stores, ideally 45-60 minutes will bring much better results!
Resistance training is fantastic for both strength and weight loss. Resistance training will challenge the muscles to become stronger and more capable to handle daily activities. A misperception of resistance training is that you will GAIN weight. Well, truth be told, you will gain lean muscle which does weigh more than fat. BUT, your body fat will lessen, so that means you will be losing fat weight. Lean muscle also increases metabolism. After you condition a muscle, the muscle will be in recovery mode for 24-48 hours and therefore will require more energy (calories) to recover the muscle. Imagine if you strengthened your entire body (all major muscle groups) two times per week! You will not only see toning results, but you will see the body fat decrease!
So, there it is-- the pie chart explanation! The pie chart is a neat visual to keep in mind. But most importantly, it's the effort or goal you have to make happen!
Please feel to connect with me if you would like more information or training regarding your lifestyle plan!
Have a GREAT week,
Rachel Zimmerman
