I'm back....but I've moved :) fitforeating.com

It's been a little while since I posted, partly because I've been wanting to switch to a regular .com website. You can now find me at fitforeating.com!! You should be able to comment, follow, etc. without having to have an account. See you there!!

A little more on carbs

So we've established carbs are necessary for any eating plan. That being said, you can definitely OD and cause your body to retain water (aka being bloated). To figure out the number of carbs you need, you just need a simple math equation. The government and other health experts recommend that at least 45% of your daily calories come from carbs. Each gram of carbohydrate is 4 calories. So to figure out your daily carb intake goal, take 45% of your daily calories and then divide that number by 4 to get the grams of carbs you should be eating. Here's an example:

1500 calories per day total
45% of 1500= 675 calories from carbs
675/4= 168 grams of carbs per day

Once you know where you want to be, familiarize yourself with how many carbs are in your favorite foods. For instance, a big bowl (2 servings) of Honey Nut Cheerios has 46 grams of carbs. I was surprised to find that out.  Add 1/2 cup of 1% milk and you're up over 50 grams. If you eat that for breakfast every morning, you're already close to 1/3 of your carb needs for the day and you've barely hit 300 calories.

So if you're wondering why you're holding on to "water weight," take a closer look at how many carbs you're taking in. It doesn't mean you have to excessively document it, but it doesn't hurt to have a general idea of what you're eating and how it affects your body.

Decent pasta sauce option

You would think pasta/spaghetti sauce would be a no brainer when you go to the grocery store. It's all made from tomatoes right? But alas, very little in the canned/dry part of the grocery store is an easy health choice. After checking out the labels, pasta sauces have a good amount of sodium and many actually have added sugars. For any tomato based sauce (or juice for that matter), you will get a few grams of sugar on the nutrition label that can be attributed to the natural sugars in the tomato. The trick is looking at the ingredient list to see if they've put in the un-natural sugars. Why put a few teaspoons of sugar into your system when you don't have to? Save it for the occasional cookie or brownie! :)

Over the last few months I've been experimenting with making my own versions of sauces in an attempt to make something as natural as possible. I actually have fair amount of time on my hands, but I know not everyone does. So, I actually found a decent pasta sauce on the shelves that will work when you just need something quick or when you want to have something on hand to make mini pizzas, etc.

Classico "Spicy Red Pepper" is actually very tasty! The red peppers give it that extra (natural) sweetness and it's seasoned pretty nicely. Best of all, the ingredients are pretty straightforward and the nutrition stats are good. This is based on a half cup serving:

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 125g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 60g Calories from Fat 25g
	% Daily Value *
Total Fat 3g	4%
Saturated Fat 1g	2%
Trans Fat 0g
Sodium 300mg	13%
Total Carbohydrates 8g
Dietary Fiber 2g	8%
Sugars 5g
Protein 1g
Vitamin A	10%
Vitamin C	2%
Calcium	4%
Iron	2%
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Dr. Oz's "Best Times" show

Since I'm home during the day, I try to be on the lookout for interesting topics on "Dr. Oz" or "The Doctors" (word is Jillian Michaels is joining the cast this fall). The other day, I came across a repeat of Dr. Oz that was focused on the best times to do certain activities based on the body's natural rhythms. While I'm not quite sure it will make the difference between losing weight or not losing weight, it doesn't hurt to try it out.

The first "best" was the best time to weigh yourself. Not so surprisingly, it's in the morning right when you get up (after you've gone to the bathroom). Your body has burned calories throughout the night without you eating or drinking, so this is probably the lightest you'll be all day. What was a little surprising to me was that the best time to work out is right after you wake up as well---before you've had breakfast. The theory here is that working out before you've eaten means you'll burn fat rather than whatever food you've just taken in. To me, this goes a little against what I've been told, which is that you should eat 30-60 min before working out. Maybe this doesn't apply because it's first thing in the morning? I'll need to do some more investigating, but if it's true--sounds good to me!  Of course, the old rule of eating breakfast within 60-90 minutes of waking still applies, so I guess this means you'd need to keep your workout to around an hour or less in order to meet that deadline.  Seems like a pretty tight schedule in the AM!

There are a few  more bests in the link below, including best times to eat (not sure I agree with that one) and best times to grocery shop, etc.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/best-time-lose-weight-pt-1?hs317=billboard_2

Cheap "Super Foods"

I was so excited to see this article! One of the biggest misconceptions about eating healthy is that it costs a ton. Not so! I recently helped a friend re-tool his grocery shopping to be healthier and it actually saved him a ton of money. Part of the reason people think it's expensive is because of the packaged "diet foods," which in reality you should probably be avoiding anyway. Stick to fruits and veggies (frozen of fresh), lean poultry, dry beans and whole grains (rice, pasta, oats) as your staples, and you can easily come in under your food budget. The bulk section is a great place to look for some of these. Of course that will mean cooking more at home and committing more time, but you know exactly what you're getting as opposed to a packaged diet meal. Check out a few budget friendly health items:
http://www.ivillage.com/10-cheap-superfoods/4-b-359572?nlcid=dt|07-06-2011|

Water alternative and possible calorie burner

I saw this in Health magazine a few months as part of a "healthy cleanse" plan. The claim is that burns an additional 80 calories per day (drinking the whole pitcher), but either way green tea and citrus is great for you and it's a great way to change it up from water:

-Brew 64 oz of green tea (6-8 tea bags) and cool, either by placing in fridge or ice cubes.
-Wash and slice an orange, a lemon, and a lime and add to tea.
-Drink!

(Warning: Boring subject ahead) All about water!

I was trying to think of a clever title for this post, but there isn't much you can do with water. As per most things I post about, there are varying opinions on how much water you should be drinking per day. The old rule is 8 glasses (8 oz.) per day, and that's still probably okay. However, if you're working out you definitely need more. My book gives me the following guidelines:

17-20 oz 1-2 hours before you work out (body needs time to circulate it)
7-10 oz every 20 minutes while working out
16-24 oz after working out

So, potentially an additional 64 oz for a 40 minute workout. Sounds a little excessive to me, unless you are sprinting that entire 40 minutes. It's true that you need to stay hydrated, but it also depends on what you're doing and a whole bunch of other factors. Listen to your body. If you feel thirsty, drink. But what you can take from these guidelines is that you do need water before, during, and after a workout. When you sweat, that's water leaving your body that needs to be replaced (our bodies are something like 70% water!). Too little water can cause cramping during physical activities as well as other more serious symptoms. As necessary as water is for life, you can also have too much. When you're getting into the 150 oz range, you will likely start to retain some of it on your body (bloating), especially if you've been eating higher amounts of carbs and sodium, two things that hold on to water for dear life. And in super extreme cases, too much water can lead to hospitalization and worse.

What if you've grown bored of water? I certainly do! Some of your water intake can be replaced by tea (hot or cold), preferably unsweetened and fresh brewed. I've heard different things on whether or not coffee counts. On one hand, it's water based. But it's also a huge diuretic, which is the opposite of what you want when you are trying to hydrate. I personally don't count it, and I actually drink a glass of water in the morning with my coffee to counteract that effect. Fruit is also a good way to get some water in a tastier form. Watermelon, tomatoes, berries, and apples have a high water content and also have some fiber to fill you up.

Bottom line: I try to stay around the 80 oz mark for water per day when I do either no workout or a light one. If I'm doing something more intense, it goes to about 100. Your body will usually let you know if you need it, you just have to look for the signals. There are some times during the day when you think you're hungry, but in fact it's water you need. Another good reason to drink throughout the day--you'll likely eat less!