Things to Remember: Losing Weight

It’s becoming beach season and everyone is getting excited about being outside. As my friends always say, “sun’s out, guns out!” or “sky’s out, thighs out!”

It’s pretty popular to start losing weight at this point in the year. Coming off of a pretty brutal winter can make starting a new diet much more difficult. This post aims to prepare you to properly make decisions on how you want to feel, eat, look, and be this Summer.

The first component to losing weight (no surprise here) is the diet. Most will change the contents of their grocery carts while others will simply cut back on what they are eating. My honest opinion to diet’s role in weight loss is that it is used best when it is a maintenance tool. Having a healthy diet that incorporates fruits and vegetables whenever possible (it’s not hard to eat fruit for breakfast and incorporate a salad into lunch or dinner!) is what I’d recommend. Without question, this diet will have more fiber and less calories just by incorporating as many fruits and veggies as possible. Technically, eating less calories, regardless of source, can lead to weight loss. I’ve talked to enough friends and family to understand that diet alone can only get weight down to a certain point. It can become really difficult to lose weight without an exercise component.

So exercise, how do you balance it with diet? The biggest mistake I see with those who are ready to make habitual changes to lose weight is that they feel great about their exercising and reward it with…more food. The excess calories consumed, even though you exercised and got all sweaty, could still cancel out all the calories burned and still lead to weight gains. It’s smart to eat after exercise because your body will need to refuel, but make that food you eat post-work out a well portioned, protein and carbohydrate containing food (like a PB&J or glass of milk).

The gimmicks out on the internet and the pills that claim to help weight loss need to be questioned. What do I mean by that? Ask questions! Do not just read their product or listen to their spokespeople and determine if the product will work. Here’s an example: many “lose weight fast” pills contain a multitude of interesting vitamins, minerals, oils, or anything else they feel (raspberry ketones?!?). Wouldn’t it make sense for a pill like this to also have something like caffeine in it? That caffeine gives you a nice bolt in mood and energy but with all these other things you don’t need driving up the price. So why not try having a cup of coffee before throwing non-regulated marketing schemes down the throat? Always remember, a regular diet including fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains in proper proportions will provide you with all the nutrients you need at the cheapest cost.

So remember, losing weight is simple, make the little changes you know you need to make and pretty soon you'll be seeing results!

Battling Early Satiety

Can't finish more than 50% of your meals at a time? Does eating food cause frequent indigestion? Do you find it hard to eat after a long run? You may be experiencing early satiety or feeling full sooner than you'd like.

Many people deal with early satiety for different reasons. For some, their stomach hurts after a good exercise. For others, they battle having an upset stomach due to conditions like GERD or acid reflux that leads to a poor appetite at meals. There are even more reasons, like gastric motility disorders and acute illnesses and infections, but I don't think I need to explain anymore that some people get full sooner than others!

In order to get the required energy and nutrients we need in one day, dietitians recommend eating 3 moderate sized meals with variation in food items. When eating three meals is so traditional in eating patterns around the world, it can be difficult to arrange comfortable eating times when they are different from the usual breakfast, lunch, and dinner times. Instead of changing timing of meals, change the size of meals and spread them out.

Eating 5-6 small meals per day can be very beneficial to an appetite that struggles to get enough food. At the normal meals, make less food, or purchase less food, and plan to eat more in 2-3 hours. These smaller meals do not need to attempt to cover all food groups. For example, a lunch that consists of a grilled chicken breast, a side of half a cup of steamed green beans, and a glass of milk could be a perfect small meal. Another smaller meal in about 2-3 hours could be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple. The key here is to spread out the meals, or split them in half, in order to still obtain a balanced day of food intake.

Eating more spread out can take some practice. It helps to have non-perishable foods on hand often. Put a bunch of bananas in the car and have one as a snack. Putting trail mix or granola bars in your backpack or work bag can work perfectly, just take a handful out and only go for another handful if your appetite allows. Packing work lunches to be accessible throughout the day at any time is very beneficial. Try packing things like individual bags of chips, single serving yogurts, sandwiches cut in half, and baby carrots. Packing things like microwavable meals can be too much at once and cannot be saved for later.

There are some foods to avoid when early satiety is a problem. These include greasy, fried, or rich foods. These foods take longer to digest and can feel like a lump in your stomach. Fiber can become problematic too as this can slow down digestion as well. The plethora of fruits and vegetables contain not only beneficial vitamins and minerals, but are typically high in fiber. I don’t want you to miss out on these foods! Just be careful in having too many at one time. Don’t eat a salad, an apple, and lentil soup for lunch; the very high fiber content could result in bloating, long term satiety, and uncomfortable gas. Some of the worst offenders in the fiber category are broccoli, cauliflower and beans as these vegetables tend to create more gas than others in digestion.

So try it out! Spreading out meals and eating food throughout the day can be very beneficial to those fighting consistent poor appetite at meals and problems feeling full quickly. By using 5-6 small meals per day, carrying around snacks, and avoiding greasy and fibrous, gassy foods, you’ll be able to get your nutrition needs and avoid early satiety.

Update

Hello all,

I wanted to just quickly update my loyal fans on what's going on with my life.

I am still in my dietetic internship, and things have really started to pick-up! This week I start my staff relief rotation where I assume the role as a dietitian on a ward at the hospital. I'm nervous and excited at the same time! My training so far has prepared me well for this moment, so I'm hoping things go swimmingly.

I've really wanted to get back into writing posts for my blog, but I've truly gotten tied down with assignments, studying, and other projects. I will do my best to post when ideas come to mind, but unfortunately a lot of the information running through my brain concerns acutely ill patients. I don't think you all need to know about that!

My internship ends at the last weekend of May, and I can't wait! I'm so close to being the registered dietitian I dreamed of being. Wish me luck, and thanks for always tuning in!

Side note: shout out to USA sled hockey on winning gold with their win over Russia! Proud to know some members! USA!

Tom

Why Salt Isn't Bad For You

For whatever reason, salt has become a "naughty word" in the realm of nutrition. I'm not really sure why; we actually need to get it from our diets, and it is incredibly important in bodily function and homeostasis.

The reason why salt is so incredible important for you, especially as athletes, is because we lose it so easily through exercise. Ever taste your sweat? It's pretty salty isn't it? That's because salt escapes your body through sweat. You also lose sodium through visiting the bathroom too. 

The key to understand here is this: water follows salt. I've talked before about the importance of hydration in athletes. I don't need to tell you that people get thirsty after eating salty snacks. The reason is because water follows salt. Now, let's walk through it. You exercise a lot. You lose a lot of water through sweat, you also are losing salt too. What does all this lead to? Dehydration. How do you reverse it? Obviously hydrate, but now you understand that salt is essential as well to help hold on to that water.

Muscle cramps are associated with lack of salt and potassium in the body, which can be lost during intense exercise. If you are working out for over 1 hour, it is important to replenish salt after. This can be accomplished a number of ways. Drink a gatorade, there's salt in there. Eat a salty snack after exercise like pretzels or beef jerky. Add table salt or sea salt to your meal. For those of you doing long marathon style training, I've heard you can carry around soy sauce packets (like you get from chinese to-go restaurants) and just pop one of those when feeling exhausted.

Just remember, hydration is what we are trying to accomplish. Having salt in our diet helps accomplish that fluid status. I'm not endorsing a high sodium diet by any means, I just don't want athletes to be scared of salt when a lot of media sources portray it as an enemy. The only reason to avoid salt in general is if you have heart complications or hypertension. When it comes down to those two health concerns, exercise is your greatest medicine anyway.

Carb Loading

Carbohydrate loading has been deemed a "staple" in sports when preparing for a big competition. Many teams will have dinners together as a way to provide ample carbohydrates the day before games.

I'm here to tell you that it doesn't work for everyone. Our bodies take carbs, or glucose, and turn it into glycogen, the storage form of carbs, so that we can use it later when the body demands it. This glycogen stays in our muscle is provides some of the most immediate energy for our bodies when we are exercising. When the glycogen runs out, our body looks to other sources for energy like fat for energy. It's also possible to get energy immediately through eating or drinking carbs in the moment.

What I learned in my sports seminar is that carbohydrate loading is really only meant for high intensity activities lasting longer than 90 minutes. Sciencey translation? You run out of glycogen stores normally around 90 minutes.

For this reason, it is important to prepare appropriately for big events. You have a lot of training tomorrow? Have an extra portion of pasta for dinner. This will boost glycogen stores more and get that much more energy into your system in preparation.

Carbohydrate loading can backfire. Did you know, when you eat carbs, for every 1 gram you eat, you need 3 grams of water to hold it in the body? That means it can easily make you feel bloated. This is not ideal for game time. Be careful when preparing for big games. Also, those who are not reaching that intense level of activity or are not exercising for 90 minutes, are simply not taking advantage of more energy. This can lead to weight gain, bloating, and the same uncomfortable feelings.

Not everyone has the ability to cram a large amount of carbs in at one meal. The alternative to carbohydrate loading would be a more consistent intake of carbs through out the exercise. Making sure you have a Gatorade or similar sports drink is a great idea. If your day is demanding that much more out of you, you can try eating gummy bears with your Gatorade (seriously!). One of my mentors taught me to mix 1:1 ratio of peanut butter to honey in a plastic bag, then when needing more energy, cut the corner and squeeze out to eat. Talk about an easy and effective way of getting quick carbohydrate energy with some protein to promote muscle health!

Make sure your carb loading is warranted. This can be helpful to guys looking to have more energy for their practices. Next week's topic? Salt: Should you be worried? Depending on circumstance, probably not! Stay tuned...

Building Mass: My Recommendations

I just had a sports nutrition seminar this Friday, and boy was it thought provoking. One of the things I can't help but do is listen to all kinds of nutritional evidence or advice and relate it to individuals with disabilities. There is not a ton of research based information out there for persons with disabilities, especially when it comes to athletic performance. Most of the time athletes with disabilities get told what everyone else gets told. I find this unacceptable and look to give my best judgement when it comes to nutritional advice!

Building muscles mass...we all want those muscles. The most common answer I get from the ordinary athletes with not much nutritional education about what is most important to get muscles is protein. Strike one. When ask these same kinds of people what they try to do in order to build muscle mass, a lot like to go after fad diets, which right now one of them is the Paleo Diet. Strike two. Finally, these same people will come to me saying "what supplements, vitamins, and minerals do I need to take?" Strike three.

When it comes to building muscle it comes down to one idea: More energy in than energy out. The largest part of anyone's diet (percentage wise) should be carbohydrate. I've said it before but using a ratio of at least 3 gram of carbohydrate per 1 gram of protein is ideal. Protein is great at repairing and rebuilding muscle, but it still needs material to work with! That material should be increased calories in general without avoiding carbohydrate (I'm looking at you Paleo!). The upper limit to protein that doesn't show any positive results when it comes to body function is 2 grams of protein per kg weight. I would recommend about 1.5 grams of protein per kg daily, or about 110 grams of protein for a 160 lb athlete.

What I learned at my seminar is that adding mass starts at calculating calorie needs to be 45 calories per kg for the able-bodied athlete in season. (If you need a quick conversion factor: 2.2 lbs = 1 kg; divide your weight by 2.2 to get your weight in kg) So if you weigh 160 lbs, you're looking at beginning to building muscle mass at about 3300 calories per day. For athlete's with disabilities, we are using on average maybe 60% of our body's muscles when exercising. For this reason, I would suggest that our calorie needs in order to begin mass building starts at 40 calories per kg. This is my best estimate given it is not research based. This would put that 160 lb athlete at needing at least 2900 calories a day to start mass building.

Finally, to cover my strike three, of you are getting about 3000 calories a day into your body, you will find that you will more than cover all the vitamins and minerals you need. Most supplements are expensive and, let's not forget, unregulated which makes them unnecessary and dangerous. For a quick boost in energy before working out, I prefer coffee and a granola bar or fruit along with a Gatorade for during practice.

So take these numbers and try to track yourself for a couple days to see where you lie in getting your calorie needs. Don't get frustrated when you "plateau" in weight. Regardless of how this mass building works, you don't put it on your frame! Lastly, the registered dietitian in me must say, keep the diet varied and wholesome to the best of your ability and you'll see maximum improvement!

Mindful Eating

What is mindful eating? Channel your inner zen, because this technique really works! I've hinted at this in a couple of my posts from a while back, so now I want to focus on just mindful eating.

Mindful eating is when you completely dedicate your focus to the food you are about to eat, are eating, or have eaten. To help explain, think of the senses: sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste. Have you ever thought about all these things while eating? Most people keep it simple and just think about how the food tastes and smells (I realize this is almost impossible to not do while eating). Take it a step further and get an idea of how the food feels in your mouth. See if you can't pull different flavors from the food just by letting it sit in your mouth, chewing it further, or combining it with other foods.

One thing that can fog your mind while eating is media. If you're reading this blog while eating, stop! Really take the effort to turn the TV off at dinner time, put the newspaper away, and leave your phone to charge in the corner.

The next step in mindful eating is thinking about where food comes from. This will give you more respect for the food leading you to appreciate every bite that much more. The process of making cheese is long and tedious: I know; I'm from Wisconsin. Try thinking about the grass the cow eats and the milk it produces before even taking a bite.

Finally, when done with the food, let it settle. The mind truly doesn't know it's full for about 20 minutes after finishing eating. This is one thing that leads us to eat too much and get that sick feeling in our gut after meals! Question why you would eat another portion, is it because you need that same taste yet again? Are you really still hungry and think you will be in 20 minutes? Maybe you're just eating because there are leftovers and you don't want to be wasteful. Have reason for your actions when eating, and you'll see it does your body good.

There have been studies that show when people use this technique of mindful eating, they will consume less overall and lose weight. I don't have to reason with you on how powerful the brain is. For those who have trouble with portion control, this is a must-try technique. Having a whole bag of potato chips just doesn't make sense if you slow down and think about what you're doing. Does that chip satisfy you that much more after 25 previous chips, or are you eating just to eat?

I've used this idea before in order to stop binge snacking, and my successes lead me to recommend it. Give it a try! Remember, If you give the time, respect, and focus to food, it will give back even more.