Putting On Healthy Weight

The desire to shed extra baggage and firm up is a goal for lots of folks, but not everyone.  If you’re underweight for

your body structure and have started your program to PUT ON healthy weight, or if your current weight is in good range, but you want to transform it into healthy proportions of skeletal, muscle, and fat; this tip is for you.

 

In addition to building your major and skeletal muscle groups through your fitness program, developing healthy eating habits (including what you eat and how you eat it) are essential.  Here’s why:

 

If you’re significantly underweight, chances are you may have a weak digestive system.  A healthy digestive system is what makes absorbing and using the nutrients in the foods you eat possible.  Being at a healthy weight doesn’t guarantee that your major organs are working well, but getting up in the normal range does improve your chances of regulating blood sugar and insulin levels and avoiding osteoporosis – and this means a lot for your overall health and longevity.

 

Building and maintaining healthy cells (including muscle cells), means supplying them with a steady stream of healthy nutrients. And you need all your organ systems, including your digestive tract and liver to function at a high level in order to achieve this.  Nourishing cells for growth and maintenance begins in the digestive tract.

 

Here are a few simple things you can do to ensure optimal digestion:

 

1.       Chew your foods until liquid.

Especially if you are underweight and your digestive system is weak, by chewing your foods until liquid, you take burden off of your digestive organs and increase the likelihood that most of the nutrients in the foods that you eat make their way into your bloodstream.

 

2.       Eat at rest, not on the go.

Being physically active or emotionally upset while you eat diverts blood away from your digestive organs and to your skeletal muscles and nervous system. Optimal blood supply to your digestive organs is crucial to keep them functioning well.

 

3.       Ensure regular exposure to friendly bacteria.

Having healthy colonies of friendly bacteria in your digestive tract is critical to optimally break down and extract nutrients from the foods you eat. Easy fix?  Eat yogurt every day.

 

To keep your liver healthy, avoid regular consumption of alcohol, deep-fried and sugary foods, and acetaminophen (Tylenol).  Regular exposure to these substances can impede liver function and even cause injury to your liver cells over time.

 

In addition to doing simple things to maximize digestive tract and liver health, gaining healthy weight means getting those extra calories from healthy, nutrient-rich foods. 

 

Foods like sweet potatoes, organic eggs, avocados, olives, and yummy smoothies made with nut or soy milk are all good choices for promoting growth and providing your cells with health-promoting nutrients. Raw, organic nuts are also good choices, but it's best to eat only about a handful of nuts per day since eating more than that on a regular basis can lead to a decrease in digestive efficiency.

 

Adding extra protein to your diet does help build skeletal muscle mass, but you don’t want to overdo it.  Aim to consume about half your body weight in grams of protein.  So, that means if you weigh 150 lbs, consuming 75 grams of healthy protein per day is right on track.

Letting Go & Accepting Change

Experiencing the grief process is a natural reaction to losses of many kinds. Loss on any number of different levels is a part of life we all face. Most of us associate grief with the death of a loved one, but the truth is we each go through a similar process when facing any number of losses, whether it’s a job, when a relationship ends or if we receive a medical diagnosis which threatens our health.  Even events on grander scales can trigger a grieving process, including natural disasters or terrorist attacks which can instill a feeling of loss of safety and/or security. Basically, any time we feel a sense of loss of any kind, we grieve and the grieving process affects us in ways that can be confusing, complicated, and overwhelming.

 

Each person’s grief is unique and your grieving process will be different, even from people who are experiencing the same loss you are.  Most people who are experiencing grief go through one or more of the same general reactions including physical, emotional and behavioral changes while they’re working through a loss.  Knowing the common grief responses and what to expect may help you feel more at ease in the process as you or someone else you care about goes through it.

 

Normal grief symptoms span the physical, emotional and behavioral and can include things like crying, low energy, changes in sleep or eating patterns, feelings of numbness, sadness, anger, guilt or anxiety.  While in the grieving process, people sometimes become withdrawn and unproductive or fidgety and restless, concentration may be difficult and even visual or auditory hallucinations can take place. Typically, symptoms are most intense and frequent shortly after a loss is experienced and should gradually subside over time. Keep in mind that it can take anywhere from months to a couple of years before a person fully comes to terms with a loss.  If this sense of closure never happens, daily functioning can be difficult and the risk of physical and/or mental illness increases.

 

Working through a loss is a complex process.  Expect ups and downs and even two steps forward, one step back kinds of progress along the way toward closure.  There is no one “right” or “wrong” way to grieve, but ultimately the sense of loss and grief will subside toward resolution over time. If the road gets rocker and never seems to smooth out or if you feel stuck and despaired at any time, seeking assistance from a grief counselor or other mental health professional who is knowledgeable about grief issues can help you better understand your grief and assist you in moving forward in the healing process. 

You may be wondering what this has to do with eating right and exercise and I'm here to tell you that the main reason why so many people can't maintain a fit and healthy physique for a lifetime is because they're not willing to let go of that person in the day 1 photo. Intellectually you know that the new you is a better you, but the person you were at the beginning of this process is a dear old friend that's hard to abandon. There are memories, experiences and pleasures that make up who you were and it's hard to wrap your arms around the idea that this part of you is gone forever.

There must be a grieving period or process to break through to the other side. It's normal, it's weird and uncomfortable and it's part of life. Going from unfit & unhealthy to fit and healthy in a relatively short period of time is daunting and traumatic. Nobody talks about it because there's no clear cut way to understand it or deal with it. Some folks make the transition easily while others still see themselves as the overweight, unhappy person they were on day 1. The thoughts and memories in your mind that cause profound emotions from your past don't go away just because you lost weight and got strong. Day 90 of Power 90 and P90X is often a very sad and depressing day for many many people. While it's an amazing accomplishment it also signifies the death of an old friend and the start of a difficult new beginning. The old me is dead, now what?   

The loss of the old you can be as scary, confusing, complicated and overwhelming as the loss of a loved one. You have transformed yourself physically and with that comes emotional and behavioral changes as well. There's nothing on the website or guild book that helps you with that, so just by talking about it here is a step. Just like with any traumatic event or change it helps to know that there will be bumps in the road alone the way. A place of understanding and acceptance comes with time. This is why this community is so important. We are here to listen. We are here to understand. We are all here to help each other get through the good times and the bad. If you keep asking questions, keep pushing play and stay accountable to like-minded people in your life then the grieving period will be short and a healthy and fit lifestyle is yours forever.    

Burger-Be-Gone

Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich Recipe (4 Servings)

Ahhhh… grilling season.  If you love burgers but you’re trying to stay away from red meat, you are gonna love this tasty recipe for thick and juicy grilled Portobello mushroom burgers.

To make this recipe even yummier, don’t skip on the basil-lemon pesto sauce that will add a tangy zip to these already super-delicious sandwiches.

Ingredients:

4 large Portobello mushroom heads (caps)
Whole grain bread or rolls
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Organic baby spinach leaves

Ingredients for Basil-Lemon Pesto Sauce:

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Sea salt, to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

 

Directions:

For the basil-lemon pesto sauce - combine basil, garlic, and salt in a food processor or blender and process until finely chopped. Add extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Process until smooth. Leftovers, if you’ve got them, will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

To make the Portobello burgers -

Brush each mushroom on rounded underside and rim with about half a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, season with sea salt. Place the mushroom heads, under sides down, on grill over medium-high heat. Grill for 3 minutes. Turn mushroom heads over and grill for another 3 to 4 minutes, rotating each mushroom about half a turn after 2 minutes; until the bottoms are browned nicely.

Brush whole grain roll with extra virgin olive oil and place on the grill during the last 1-2 minutes of cooking.

Place a grilled mushroom, under side up, on the bottom half of your whole grain sandwich bread or roll. Fill each cap with about 3-4 teaspoons of the basil-lemon pesto and top with organic baby spinach leaves.

Serve alone or with a mixed salad and balsamic vinaigrette.