GO HEALTHY GO FIT

Flaxseed Or Flaxseed Oil?

Andrew — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:13:31 +0000

The following post was written by Michelle Delaney, a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist (RD, LDN). Make sure to check out her last post on Acai Berry Allergies.

“Take this, take that. No, this one is better than that one.” I’m sure you have heard this plenty of times. With all of the information out there it’s no wonder why people get confused. As a Registered Dietitian I get a lot of these questions. So today, I am going to give you some information on one of the many frequently asked questions. What is the difference between flaxseed and flaxseed oil pills?

Flaxseed oil is derived from the seeds of the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum, L.). Flaxseed and flaxseed oil contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). ALA belongs to the group of omega-3 fatty acids and has been found to provide heart-healthy benefits such as lowering total cholesterol and low-density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (aka the “bad” cholesterol). ALA has also been found to lower triglycerides, lower blood pressure and help with other health conditions. Flaxseed and flaxseed oil also offer an omega-3 option for vegetarians instead of fish oil.

So which one is better? According to Healthcastle.com, the answer is flaxseed. The reason is that although flaxseed oil pills contain a concentrated amount of ALA, the pill form lacks fiber and lignan that can be found in the regular flaxseed. Lignan is a type of antioxidant phytoestrogen that may have cancer fighting abilities. Also, the high concentration of ALA may appear to be beneficial in flaxseed oil, but high intakes may be linked to prostate cancer (although more research is needed).

How much should you take? The exact amount of flaxseed to take in order to gain the benefits is unknown. Healthcastle.com states that “most studies investigated the doses between 10 to 50 grams of raw, ground flaxseed. Some studies reported that an intake of 45 g of flaxseed has laxative effects.” Dietary supplements including flaxseed are recommended as a part of an overall healthy lifestyle and should not replace any foods. Use caution when starting taking any dietary supplement and be sure to speak with your health care provider prior to consuming any supplement.

Michelle Delaney RD, LDN

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Link Love Mondays!!

Andrew — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:10:59 +0000

Mark’s Daily Apple shows us how to eat out healthy.

The Food Renegade knows that fat is where it’s at.

Cranky Fitness debates the idea of segregating fitness classes based on weight.

The New York Times asks if you can get fit in six minutes a week?

On a side note, I just wanted to let you all know that I will be scaling back the frequency of my blog posts to just a few a week. Not to worry though, I will continue to blog and answer questions/emails/comments, however I will be spending a bit more time doing other things so I appreciate your patience in waiting for my responses.

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Staying On Track During Wedding Season

Andrew — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:14:33 +0000

It is now June and wedding season is in full swing. When trying to explain the eating rituals at weddings, I find a striking similarity between the word ‘wedding’ and the word ‘person’. Let me explain. A person is a problem solving, free thinking entity capable of making judgment calls on the spot, all the while being aware of the outcome of those decisions. People, on the other hand, are driven by fear, doubt and ultimately make the wrong decision (but they do it together and therefore they take comfort in knowing their fate is shared). The same can be said about the word wedding.

A wedding is an event which brings much joy to a person. A single day when one can eat cake, drink alcohol and avoid nutritious things such as vegetables, fruits, etc. However, a wedding is only one day and therefore an attendee knows that these behaviors will only be for the day. Now, weddings are a different story altogether. As a group, or a season in this case, weddings resemble the poor judgment of a group of scared onlookers in the wake of a monster attack on the city. So what’s a person to do when their presence is required at multiple weddings in the same season?

Designate The “Cheat” Wedding

This may seem like you are micro-managing your life to pieces, but trust me when I say that if you are attending more than 5 weddings in one season, you’ll thank me for the advice! So how do you choose a “cheat wedding”? It’s simple. Out of all the weddings you will be going to, chances are you already know who the ostentatious couple is. They may not be as bad as Heidi an Spencer, but you get the picture. The couple who goes all out, leaves no stone unturned and will most likely have the best hors d’oeurves and cake. So pick that one!

Not only will you be allowing yourself to cheat to the fullest, you will also show the couple that the effort is appreciated. We all know how that classy boastfulness is contingent on seeing you enjoy every last morsel of the $5,000 cake, only to wash it down with a little Dom!

Be Strong During The Others

Here’s the tough part. For the other weddings, you’ll have to stay strong and avoid splurging on the good stuff at the wedding. I’m not saying you should pack a cooler filled with frozen broccoli and carrots, I’m just saying that you should limit it to the meal itself and one really small piece of cake for desert. And how can we avoid hurting the bride and groom’s feelings?

You’re gonna love this one. For once, I give you all permission to claim being on a ‘diet’ in the same way you’d plea the 5th in court! Just say something like, “I’m on the reverse-Metabolic Diet and that’s not on my meal plan”. The key to an outlandish lie is taking it to the next level, seeing as there is no reverse-metabolic diet. It will keep you strong and keep them confused, but understanding nonetheless.

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Why Picking Healthier Ice Cream May Be A Bad Decision In The Long Run

Andrew — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:10:45 +0000

Harnessing a whirlwind of scatter-brain incoherency that is my mind requires one essential behavior… taking notes. And in one of my more ancient notes, I saw an idea for a post that simply read “Healthiest ice cream”. Now, that’s not a bad idea for a post but it got me to thinking. How do I feel about the frequency of eating ice cream and what are the consequences of choosing a healthier ice cream product or a delicious ice cream product (because we all know that no matter how sophisticated the big ice cream companies get, the good stuff is action-packed with bad stats)?

The best way to illustrate my point occurs in application of my own life. Let’s introduce the players. My favorite healthy ice cream product would have to be those Skinny Cow Mint Ice Cream sandwiches while my favorite decadent delight ice cream is undoubtedly Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, cause I’m old school like that (neither of them get a link cause they’re not showing me the money!) So, why the intro you ask? Well, it has to do with how I end up eating them.

What Happens When You Go The Healthy Route

So you’ve got your six pack of those ice cream sandwiches (each one falls under the junior welterweight equivalent of 140 calories, if you’ll pardon the boxing analogy) in the freezer and you’re very proud of yourself. But then you go through them over the span of a week by eating one a day, procuring 840 calories of cheating goodness. The problem with this equation is that not only have you consumed those calories, you’ve also developed a habit. And you better believe that habit will become a routine, which spells disaster for your health and fitness because when situations arise and you have to cut out a meal, you know that the ice cream is the last to go!

What Happens When You Go The Satisfying Route

After careful consideration, you deem it a more prudent choice to enjoy your cheat thoroughly in one fell swoop. So you go for the Ben & Jerry’s (firmly falling under the Super-Cruiserweight equivalent of 250 calories, a bruiser by all accounts) and you think to yourself, “Okay, I’ll have to watch myself with this one”. And there’s the rub. Even though the total calorie count of a pint is around 1,000 (160 more calories than it’s Skinny Cow opponent), you recognize the fact that this ice cream cannot stand toe-to-toe with the healthy choice when it comes to nutrition, therefore you are wary of making it a habitual player in your nutritious stage of life.

So while both ice creams pack about the same amount of calories, picking the not-so-healthy one may in fact lead you to make better decisions on a daily basis than you would otherwise have done had you chosen the healthy brand. That way you can indulge on your cheat day, maybe take down half a pint of the Cherry Garcia, and after everything is said and done you will have enjoyed yourself more as well as ingested fewer calories on the weekly timeline!

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Yet Another Disease Linked With Obesity

Andrew — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:10:28 +0000

I know what you’re thinking…. “What could we possibly be adding to the list of diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, stroke, colon cancer, chronic renal failure, etc. caused by obesity?” To that, I say bravo for knowing your obesity causing diseases! And unfortunately, it looks as though we will be adding pancreatic cancer to the now very long list, according to a recent artilce in the LA Times:

Pancreatic cancer is now the fourth-leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, and the nation’s growing girth among all age groups could be playing a role.”

Here’s a little crash course on pancreatic cancer for those of us who aren’t familiar with this disease (Mayo Clinic):

Pancreatic cancer begins in the tissues of your pancreas — a large organ that lies horizontally behind the lower part of your stomach. Your pancreas secretes enzymes that aid digestion and hormones that help regulate the metabolism of sugars.

Pancreatic cancer often has a poor prognosis, even when diagnosed early. Pancreatic cancer typically spreads rapidly and is seldom detected in its early stages, which is a major reason why it’s a leading cause of cancer death. Signs and symptoms may not appear until pancreatic cancer is quite advanced and surgical removal isn’t possible.”

Did you catch the part that talks about how it’s the ‘leading cause of cancer death’? So what were the conclusions of the study referred to by the article in the Times?

A study examined 841 patients with pancreatic cancer and 754 healthy people of similar age, race and gender. It found that people ages 14 to 39 who who were overweight (a body mass index of 25 to 29.9) or people ages 20 to 49 who were obese (a BMI of 30 or greater) had an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. In the second age group, being overweight or obese was also linked to an earlier onset of pancreatic cancer by two to six years.”

While we all know that the Body Mass Index (BMI) isn’t the best indicator in the world, it can, nonetheless show a correlation between two factors. In this case, the presence of pancreatic cancer and obesity. So if the diseases you mentioned above weren’t enough reason to prevent obesity, maybe the number one killing cancer in the world will do the trick. I guess we’ll see.

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Reader Email: Diet Pointers For Visible Abs

Andrew — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:10:00 +0000

The following was an email received from one of Go Healthy Go Fit’s faithful, Ryan M:

I just need help fixing my diet to where I can slim down and show my abs. If you have any suggestions for some good workouts to supplement the diet and therefore help facilitate the weight loss process, I would love to have your advice and feedback.

Great question Ryan! First off, I’d like to commend you for identifying the most important part in reaching your goal… and that’s understanding that your diet plays the key role. Anytime you’re looking to get that ab definition, you should always make adjustments to your diet first and foremost.

Crunching The Numbers

With that said, one of the most simple approaches (assuming that you are making healthy choices with your food) is to gain a better understanding of how many calories you’re consuming as well as expending. Start with your caloric consumption since it’s easier to quantify. Write down what you eat any given day and then look up the calorie count for each item. Add up the total and save the number. (You can use the following sites to get a calorie count of different foods. Calorie Count, Calorie King, The Calorie Counter, etc.)

Once you’ve got that done, then you’ve got to figure out how many calories you are burning a day. This one is a little more tricky, seeing as there are many different sites which report different calorie counts for the same exercise. Also, it’s somewhat hard to gauge how the intensity of your workout effects the amount of calories you are burning. However, one thing is certain: if you can’t see your abs, you’re going to have to eat less! Don’t be afraid to take it down a few hundred calories. I have found that through simple trial and error, one can eventually land on the perfect number in order to attain their fitness goals.

Body-weight Exercises Keep Things In Proportion

You hit the gym on a mission to get rock hard abs and 9 times out of 10 you’ll get over zealous with weighted ab workouts. What most people don’t understand is that when you do ab exercises with too much weight, especially on your obliques, you can build the muscles out, making for an unflattering look. Also, as soon as you stop working out, that muscle will turn to love handles… with no reason to love them whatsoever.

Stick with body weight exercises such as the plank exercise, leg lifts and V-crunches. These exercises will build your abs without building them out. Also, understand that your core muscles consist of not only the front six-pack, but also the obliques, lower back as well as a section which envelopes your organs and goes all the way around your core. So make sure that you are doing ab exercises that hit these muscles as well (side raises, ball twists, lower back raises, etc.).

And last but not least, say no to junk food, processed carbs, and sugar in general. These types of foods will prevent your body from burning the fat on your lower abs, ergo no six pack. If you want that winning stomach, you gotta pay the price!

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Buff Or Normal - Which Shia LaBeouf Do You Prefer?

Andrew — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:10:00 +0000

When breaking down a Hollywood star’s diet and workout routine, we seem to be most interested when that star is going for the Ryan Reynolds or Christian Bale look (or the Jessica Biel look for the ladies). But these days it seems as though a more average look suits certain people better than a buff body. I mean, it just wouldn’t look right if Michael Cera showed up in his next movie weighing in at 210 pounds worth of muscle, right?

But then there are those actors that sort of fall in the middle, like Shia LaBeouf. He’s done the whole bulking up thing for movies, especially when he was training for his role in INDIANA JONES. Here’s what he had to say about his training regime leading up to that flick (People):

[Shia] is working out seven days a week for three hours a day. ‘I’ll run for an hour and then I’ll do two hours of weights,’ he says. ‘I have definitely not trained like this for anything in my life. I’m preparing like I’m going into battle…’”

Shia, rest those muscles man! Luckily, his upcoming role in the TRANSFORMERS sequel doesn’t require LaBeouf to bulk up. After all, he would be competing with the diesel machine bodies of Optimus Prime and Megatron (both jacked). But that begs the question: do you prefer the buff INDIANA JONES version or the Average-Joe-TRANSFORMERS version of LaBeouf?

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Link Love Mondays!!

Andrew — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:10:16 +0000

Joe Gigantino’s workout blog talks about expectations and how they affect our fitness.

The Fitness Black Book asks the question Why Do We Continue To Eat When We Are Full?

That’s Fit shows us just how easy it is to get our 9 servings of fruits and veggies a day.

Son Of Grok gives us a zesty BBQ Sauce that I’m going to put on my next rack of ribs.

And finally our friend Tom of Free Fitness Tips is back to blogging with a rundown on Protein.

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Sunday Funday And The Funny Weightlifting Moments

Andrew — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:43:22 +0000

Happy Father’s Day everyone! While I am not a dad, I do believe this to be one of the greater of the “Hallmark” holidays seeing as most dads don’t want gifts, just a simple recognition for their efforts as a father. So since they aren’t looking for gifts, how about giving them a few laughs?

That’s why today’s Sunday Funday is dedicated to funny weightlifting moments (PLEASE, PLEASE don’t try this at home). Enjoy!

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Why Does Finishing A Marathon Garnish More Praise Than A Lifelong Commitment To Fitness?

Andrew — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:06:29 +0000

Nothing is more rewarding than setting a difficult goal and accomplishing it. It is that underlying premise that has inspired pretty much every race on the planet, whether it’s a footrace down the block, a marathon, or an Indy 500. But when an endeavor such as a marathon is meant to showcase one’s fitness, is praise for accomplishing this feat warranted or is it simply another sign that we as a society tend to reward mediocrity? Let’s first look to the numbers:

Between the years 2000 and 2005, there have been 1,996,000 people who have finished a marathon in the United States alone… and 26% of those who finished a marathon in 2005 did so in a time greater than 7 hours (Marathon Guide).
There are over 230 recorded members of the 100 marathon club, whose membership requires that you have finished over 100 marathons in your life (100 Marathon Club).
The world record for completing a marathon is held by Haile Gebrselassie at a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds. Of those who completed a marathon in 2005, 71.2% of them finished in a time that was twice as long as Haile’s best time (Marathon Guide).
Over 300 individuals have completed a marathon in each of the 50 United States, some have even done it eight times (Wiki).
A 400 pound man has completed a marathon, a 64 year old man completed 105 in a single calendar year, and a 98 year old man has also completed a marathon.

An argument that I hear from those who consider a marathon to be a huge accomplishment revolves around the total percent of people who have run a marathon compared to those who have not. After all, it’s got a nice ring to it when someone brags that, “Only .1% of people have run a marathon”. However, we at Go Healthy Go Fit know that statistics can be misleading. So, sticking with the example of those who completed a marathon in the US in 2005, let’s try and get a better picture of what the competition looked like.

The U.S. population was 288.4 million in 2005 (Census).
Of that, “In 2005, among the total U.S. adult population surveyed, 60.5% were overweight, 23.9% were obese, and 3.0% were extremely obese.” (CDC).
While it is true that many have completed a marathon in spite of a disability, it is reported that, “An estimated 7,602,000 people, or 2.8% of the population 5 and over, have difficulty performing self-care activities, also known as Activities of Daily Living, such as dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home…” in the year 2005 (CPAS).

So, in essence, completing a marathon is something of an accomplishment. But why then, in conversation, does bringing up the fact that a person has completed a marathon have a better ring to it then describing a life long commitment to health and fitness? In fact, some would even go so far as to pigeon-toe the latter into an “obsessive” group of people who are commonly known as “gym rats”, “fitness freaks”, or what have you.

In my opinion, a dedication to health, fitness, and eating right serves as a much more selfless act than that of completing a marathon. While that’s not to say that you can’t do both, some find that level of dedication to be too time consuming and therefore strive for the one time glory of running a marathon. I’m here to say that if it comes down to a choice between the two, just take a look at the numbers and realize that you are REALLY not alone if you decide to run the marathon.