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Fitness  Together  Newsletter

  March 2010
Fitness Together Personal Training Newsletter
  In This Month's Issue:
      Client of the Month
      The Culture of Overeating
      What is the Glycemic Index?
      Meetup.com
      Recipe of the Month
 
  Holidays this month:
   Mar 14 - Daylight Saving Time Begins
   Mar 17 - St Patrick's Day
   Mar 20 - First Day of Spring
   Mar 28 - Palm Sunday
   Mar 30 - First Day of Passover
  March is National Nutrition Month
   
Client of the Month


Becky

Congratulations to Becky on earning our Client of the Month Award! Becky has been an outstanding client and has never missed a session in the six months she’s been training at Fitness Together. She has lost 24 ¼ inches and over 40 pounds and is still going strong!

Read her testimonial and see how training at Fitness Together has changed her life.

Great job Becky! (and enjoy your prize)

The Culture of Overeating

Certain foods are powerful.

They cast a spell over the most well-meaning dieter, and cause logical people to overeat until their sides hurt.

They occupy your thoughts to the point of obsession as you try to ignore a plate of cookies.

And when it's all said and done, they accumulate on your body in the most obtrusive way as a result of hundreds of unused calories.

Why does food hold such power? And, most importantly, how can you control your eating?

The End of Overeating
David A. Kessler, MD set out to answer these pressing questions in his instant bestseller, The End of Overeating. Despite being a pediatrician, a former FDA commissioner, and former dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Kessler struggles with his weight.

Observing the current obesity epidemic, he knew that he wasn't alone.

Dr. Kessler, with the insight of some of the brightest minds in medicine and science, discovered the following three reasons that most of us are compelled to overeat.

1. An Irresistible Combination Rewires Your Brain: Think of your favorite treat - most likely it can be broken down into the basic building blocks of sugar, fat and salt. This combination is known of as the ‘three points of the compass', a combination that has been shown to literally alter the biological circuitry of your brain.

Sugar, fat and salt give food a high hedonic value which gives you pleasure. This pleasure reinforces you to return to your favorite foods time and time again.

2. The Food Industry Targets You:
Everywhere you go you'll see the clever work of the food industry, tempting you with highly palatable creations. Food has become a science, and your taste preferences are the guiding light.

The food industry has one goal - to get you hooked. By constructing food items that are high in sugar, fat and salt, they know that you will come back time and time again.

3. Conditioned Hyper-eating Becomes a Way of Life: Humans are conditioned to seek more reward. When readily available, hyper palatable foods become our reward pattern, hyper-eating quickly emerges. Dr. Kessler describes the cycle:

"Foods high in sugar, fat, and salt, and the cues that signal them, promote more of everything: more arousal...more thoughts of food...more urge to pursue food...more dopamine-stimulated approach behavior...more consumption...more opioid-driven reward...more overeating to feel better...more delay in feeling full...more loss of control...more preoccupation with food...more habit-driven behavior...and ultimately, more and more weight gain."

Breaking the Cycle
The good news is that you don't have to remain trapped in a cycle of overeating. The following three tips will put you back in control.

1. Set Your Rules: In order to resist overeating in today's tempting food environment, you must eat by a set of self-imposed rules. Predetermined rules take away the need to make food decisions in vulnerable moments.

Dr. Kessler thinks these rules should be, "simple enough to fit with your busy life, but specific enough to remove uncertainty from the food equation."

For suggestions as to what rules you should adopt, let's turn to another authority on eating; bestselling author of ‘In Defense of Food', Michael Pollan:
  • Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
  • Pay more, eat less. Look for quality of food over quantity.
  • Eat meals. Cut out snacking, stick with structured meals.
  • Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. Gas stations are great for fueling your car, but the food they sell are not suited to fuel you.
  • Try not to eat alone. Eating can become mindless when alone, leading to overeating.
  • Eat slowly. Eat foods that have been prepared slowly – that means no fast food.
2. Make Negative Associations: When was the last time you peeled a lemon and ate it whole? Probably never. That's because your taste buds have a negative association with the sour taste.

Our taste buds have traditionally been our guide when it comes to food selection, but this must change for you to successfully avoid overeating. Since the food industry purposely crafts food items to please your taste buds (not your waistline), what tastes good can no longer dictate what you eat.

It's up to you to create negative associations with unhealthy food - despite their pleasing taste. Here are some negatives to focus on:
  • Those extra calories will accumulate around your waist.
  • Your health will suffer.
  • You will become more disappointed with your appearance.
  • You'll feel sluggish.
3. Give Yourself a Real Reward: The bottom line is that we eat unhealthy food as a reward, even though it causes more harm that good. It's time to give yourself a truly beneficial reward – exercise.

Exercise is a healthy reward that will not only release endorphins into your system, but will also give you the benefit of weight loss and improved health.

I truly believe that you can overcome your pattern of overeating with healthy eating and regular exercise. Call today to get started on a program that will truly change your life.

What is the Glycemic Index?

The glycemic index represents the speed in which a carbohydrate is absorbed into the blood stream. The higher the glycemic index for a
food, the faster it will raise blood sugar levels in the body, thus increasing insulin secretion. Slowly digested carbohydrates, those low on the
glycemic index, cause a smaller fluctuation in blood sugar and insulin levels.

Effects on Fat Loss: Elevated insulin levels brought on by the consumption of a large amount of carbohydrates prevent the body from using stored fats as fuel. Body fat can be thought of as the body’s energy reserve. By reducing the secretion of insulin through the consumption of
low to moderate glycemic carbohydrates, fat burning ability may be enhanced.

Muscle Maintenance: For muscle repair, growth and endurance, it is vital to maintain high levels of muscle glycogen. Anything causing
insulin levels to fall is detrimental to glycogen repletion. An intake of moderate to low glycemic carbohydrates can help stabilize insulin levels.

During exercise: The glycogen content of muscles always decreases rapidly during exercise. Use of high glycemic foods immediately before and after exercise aide in fast repletion of muscle glycogen.

See the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of some common foods here.

Meetup.com
If you would like to attend some free health and fitness activities, then check out the Fitness Together Meetup.com group.  It's free to join, and by joining, you will have access to our calendar of events, and be notified when new activities are scheduled.  Our last event was vegetarian lunch with all kinds of healthy, tasty goodies and recipes (especially that blueberry pie!).  It was a great lunch and a lot of fun!

March will have some more great meetups. Look for another bootcamp workout in the park, hikes and healthy lunches and more! 

Anyone can join at meetup.com. You don't have to be a Fitness Together client and there is no charge or fee. 

Recipe of the Month
Gourmet Open-Faced Salmon Sandwich
Open-faced sandwiches are great for cutting out extra calories while trying to lose weight. This recipe calls for sprouted grain bread, which is flourless bread that is densely packed with nutrients. Store your sprouted grain bread in the freezer, since it is made without preservatives or chemicals to promote shelf life. Yield: 2 servings

Here's what you need:
• 1 sprouted grain bun
• 2 Tablespoons hummus
• 1/2 cup arugula
• Half of an avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
• 6 oz smoked salmon
• 2 thin slices of onion
• 4 slices of heirloom tomato
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Spread each piece of the bun with 1 Tablespoon of hummus. Top each with half the arugula, avocado, salmon, onions, and tomato.
2. Season with freshly ground sea salt and pepper.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 267 calories, 9g fat, 25g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, and 22g protein.
FREE Personal Training Session and Consultation

 

Fitness Together   951-302-2995

Fitness Trainer Temecula
            Ed Ferrell

As owner, manager and head trainer of Fitness Together - Temecula, I have found that there is nothing more rewarding than helping my clients reach there personal fitness goals. It goes far beyond helping them to lose weight and feel better about themselves. I have seen lives completely changed when clients learn and apply proper nutrition and exercise to their lifestyles.
No one I know has ever regretted losing weight and getting in better shape. The improvements and enjoyment that clients experience in their daily lives as a result of their personal training is why I do this. I may work with each client less than an hour a day, but I known they are enjoying the benefits of their improved energy, health and fitness all day long -- and that's what its all about. Without your health, nothing else matters.


Contact Us

Fitness Together
31045 Temecula Pkwy. #103
Temecula, CA 92592

951-302-2995
www.fttemecula.com


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Holidays

Mar 14 - Daylight Saving
Mar 17 - St Patrick's Day
Mar 20 - First Day of Spring
Mar 28 - Palm Sunday
Mar 30 - Passover Begins


Quote of the Month

You are always free to choose what you do first, what you do second and what you do not do at all.
- Jim Rohn


Health Trivia

The number of fat cells in your body is determined at birth. A gain in body fat does not increase the number of fat cells, but rather the size of the existing fat cells


Healthy Humor

My doctor is really subtle. He suggested that I lend my body to someone who will exercise it.


Health Tip

When people on low-calorie diets ate two scrambled eggs with toast and jam for breakfast, they lost 65 percent more weight than the dieters who started their day with a bagel and cream cheese. The protein in eggs probably helps control appetite, so people eat less during the day.


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