Healthy Eating Tips From The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun

Advice from The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun and Pittsburgh Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), Independent Beachbody Coach, TurboKick Instructor, and life coach, Jackie Omotalade:

(1)Replace refined breads and pastas made from white flour w/ ones made from whole grains.

(2) If you are an omnivore buy meat that comes from grass-fed cattle and eggs from pasture-raised chicken.

(3) Eliminate corn oil and soda from your pantry – both are heavily processed and your body doesn’t NEED them.

(4) Eat only until you are 80%  full. Avoid overeating, by eating only until you are satisfied.

(5) Get enough sleep.  Your body can’t function properly if it is not well rested.  If you don’t get enough sleep, you will find that the pounds stay on your body.

(6) Do workouts that you enjoy.  There is no point in doing work outs that you don’t like, you won’t stick with them.  Remember, fitness is a journey which you must commit to long-term.  COMMIT TO WORKOUTS YOU ENJOY!

(7) Wear workout clothes that make you feel confident. . Just because you are working out doesn’t mean you have to look a mess!

(8) Eat raw fruits and vegetables with every meal.  Start every meal with some sort of raw fruit and/or vegetable. . .your waistline will thank you.

(9) Smile and laugh more often.  Smiles and laughter are powerful and you should attempt to laugh and smile as many times as possible throughout the day.

(10) Start each day by looking in the mirror and saying a positive affirmation.  Mine for this week is: I choose love, joy and freedom, open my heart and allow wonderful things to flow into my life.

All About Fiber and Why You Need it in Your Diet

Dietary fiber is a complex carbohydrate and is the part of the plant material that cannot be digested and absorbed in the bloodstream. Fiber is mostly polysaccharides composed of glucose units, but human digestive enzymes cannot break the bonding of these units. We can think of fiber as non-starch polysaccharides. These include cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and some other types of fiber. That might sound like Greek to you, but fiber is an important part of our daily diet, and a high fiber diet might be perfect for your body.

Depending on their solubility in water, there are of two main types of fiber: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Both of these types are important for optimum health. Fiber has a number of health benefits and hence is highly recommended in daily food. Some of its health benefits are:

• It promotes the feelings of fullness and reduces energy consumption.
• It prevents constipation, hemorrhoids, and other intestinal problems.
• Fiber helps prevent bacterial infection of the appendix.
• It reduces the risk of colon cancer.
• It stimulates the muscles of the digestive tract and helps them retain their health and tone.

To keep the digestive tract healthy and prevent other disorders like hemorrhoids and intestinal problems, people normally need 20 to 35 grams of fiber daily. These can be obtained from a variety of plants, vegetables and fruits. Fibers are especially abundant in whole foods. Good sources of soluble fiber include oatmeal, oat bran, barley, dried beans and legumes, and citrus fruits. All fruits are rich in fiber. For just 2 grams of fiber, you could eat 1 small apple, 1 peach, 1 small banana, 2 prunes, 16 large cherries, or a number of other fruits. Grains also contain fiber. For 2 grams of fiber, simply try 1 slice of whole wheat bread, 2 slices of cracked wheat bread, 1 cup of cooked oatmeal, 2 cups of popped popcorn, or ¼ of a cup of corn bran.

If you are on a low-carb diet, you can try eating cooked vegetables to provide your body with adequate fiber. For 2 grams of fiber, eat ½ of a cup of broccoli, 1 cup of celery, ½ of a cup of carrots, 1 small potato, 1 large tomato, or a variety of beans. Beans, or any type of legume, are the real powerhouses for fiber. By only eating ½ of a cup of kidney beans, 1 cup of dried peas or lentils, or ½ of a cup of canned baked beans, you can provide your body with a whopping 8 grams of fiber. If all else fails, small amounts of fiber can also be found in peanuts, walnuts, and pickles, so there is really no excuse for not getting enough fiber in your diet!

The Basics of Eating – The Food Pyramid

Food Pyramid

An overwhelming amount of both natural and highly processed foods are available at the market and grocery stores. The choices can be overwhelming! To guide people in picking healthy food items, the US Department of Agriculture has designed the food pyramid. It is a labeled illustration, shaped like a pyramid, which demonstrates groups of essential food types and the quantity in which a normal individual requires each of these foods.

At the base of the food pyramid are such food items are ready sources of energy. These foods are rich in starch, low in fat, and include cereals, pasta, bread, and different types of grains. By the specifications of the food pyramid, a normal adult individual needs 6 to 11 servings of these items daily. Whole grains are the best and healthiest food of this group. In a single serving of these foods you can include a slice of bread, a cup of cereal flakes, one flat tortilla, and one ounce of rice or pasta.

As the geometry of the food pyramid shows, vegetables and fruits are required in less quantity than carbohydrates. Normally, a grown person would need 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 4 servings of fruits daily. The high fiber content of vegetables and fruits make them ideal food items as fiber keeps the bowel movements in order. In addition, they are both rich in vitamins (required for immunity and general health) and minerals, which ensure the proper functioning of various body organs. Among vegetables, go for more dark green vegetables and try to pick fresh fruits instead of fruit juices.

Next upper chamber in the food pyramid is occupied by proteins and dairy products. You need 2 to 3 servings daily of each of these foods. Protein comes from lean meat, eggs, fish, beans, and nuts. It is advisable to remove the visible fat on the meat so as to make it a low fat item. Be moderate in using nuts, since they also hold fats. Among the dairy products, milk is the complete diet with most of the required vitamins and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Cheese and yogurt are also recommended dairy foods. Try to abstain from high intake of ice cream and cheese that is high in fat.

Lastly, at the top of the food pyramid lie fats, including oils, and sweets. The recommended quantity of these items is limited to sparing use. Butter, cream, oils, candies, margarines etc., are all foods that are not easy to digest and hence should be used in minimal amounts. However, it is an important part of our diet, just as all the other parts of the food pyramid are important as well.

Trans Fat – Do You Know What Foods Not To Eat?

Advice from Pittsburgh personal trainer and life coach, Jackie Omotalade, The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun:

Did you know that according to a recent report, 92 percent of Americans know they should avoid trans fat, but only 21 percent can name three sources?

Trans fat is the common name for a type of unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acid(s). Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.

In a nutshell, trans fat is made when a manufacturer adds hydrogen to vegetable oil–a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats.

Trans fat can be found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods, and other foods made with or fried in partially hydrogenated oils. Unlike other fats, the majority of trans fat is formed when food manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats like shortening and hard margarine. A small amount of trans fat is found naturally, primarily in some animal-based foods.

Trans fat, like saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, raises the LDL cholesterol (Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is known as “bad” cholesterol) that increases your risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). Americans consume on average 4 to 5 times as much saturated fat as trans fat in their diets.

Although saturated fat is the main dietary culprit that raises LDL, trans fat and dietary cholesterol also contribute significantly.

Major Food Sources of Trans Fat for American Adults

(Average Daily Trans Fat Intake is 5.8 Grams or 2.6 Percent of Calories)
40%

cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread, etc.
21%

animal products
17%

margarine
8%

fried potatoes
5%

potato chips, corn chips, popcorn
4%

household shortening
3%

salad dressing
1%

breakfast cereal
1%

candy

Data based on FDA’s economic analysis for the final trans fatty acid labeling rule, “Trans Fatty Acids in Nutrition Labeling, Nutrient Content Claims, and Health Claims” (July 11, 2003)

An Indoor Hydroponic Garden Can Help You Stay Healthy

Fitness and Health tips from Pittsburgh personal trainer, life coach, and Independent Beachbody Coach, Jackie Omotalade, The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun:

Indoor gardens are crucial to keeping you and your family healthy! A growing body of research shows that fruits and vegetables are critical to promoting good health. Fruits and vegetables contain essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber that may help protect you from chronic diseases. Substituting fruits and vegetables for higher-calorie foods can be part of a weight loss strategy. However, fruits and vegetables can be expensive and many of us do not have the time nor the space to grow our own fruits and vegetables. Also, many of us do not live in climates suitable for growing year-round!

Imagine having fresh vegetable EVERY day at a fraction of the cost!

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Jackie Omotalade’s Fitness Pointers

Fitness and Health tips from Pittsburgh personal trainer, life coach, and Independent Beachbody Coach, Jackie Omotalade, The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun:

(1) Set Aside Time to Exercise - Keep that time as sacred! I manage to squeeze in three daily workouts while running multiple successful businesses. You can at least squeeze in three workouts a week! Pick a workout length and program that works for your lifestyle. One of the reasons that I became a Independent Beachbody Coach is because there are a variety of workouts to suit every fitness level and constricted time concerns.

(2) Do a warm up and a cool down!

(3) Workout with Friends
Why not invite your girlfriends to go hiking or a brisk walk in the park? Working out with others can keep you from getting bored and also motivate you to continue working out.

(4) Don’t use a crash diet to lose weight! Usually, you only end up losing water weight and NOT fat, so you gain the weight back very quickly.

(5) Eliminate Soda from you diet, because just two cans of soda can add up to 380 calories, instead drink water or tea.

(6) Never SAY Never! Portion control is key! You don’t have to eliminate your favorite foods from your diet. MODERATION is the key, just having smaller portions of the unhealthier foods that you like!

A Food Journal – A Excellent Tool To Lose Weight

Advice from The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun and Pittsburgh personal trainer, Independent Beachbody Coach, and life coach, Jackie Omotalade:
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Eating Healthy for your Heart

Eating Healthy for your Heart

Advice from Pittsburgh personal trainer and life coach, Jackie Omotalade, “The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun:

Your heart is one of the most important organs in the body, and the foods you put into your mouth effect how your heart operates. If you want your heart to be strong and able to pump blood effectively and efficiently all over your body, it is important for you to eat a healthy diet. Heart-healthy foods are readily available in the supermarket, so choose some that work for your personal likes and you should be able to help prevent heart disease in your own body.

Heart disease is the number 1 killer and stroke is the number 3 killer of American women and men.

In the main type of heart disease, a fatty substance called plaque builds up in the arteries that bring oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Over time, this buildup causes the arteries to narrow and harden. When this happens, the heart does not get all the blood it needs to work properly, which can result in chest pain or a heart attack.

Cholesterol is the most important thing when it comes to eating heart-healthy foods, there are both good cholesterols and bad cholesterols. Good cholesterols are called HDL, and their job in the body is to take excess bad cholesterol (LDL) to the liver, where it can be broken down and then will leave the body. LDL is actually not needed by your body at all from foods. Our bodies make enough of this kind of cholesterol on its own. It is the LDL cholesterol that hurts our hearts, not the HDL cholesterol, which actually helps our hearts be reducing the amount of LDL cholesterol in the body.

LDL stands for low-density lipoproteins. Because this substance has a low density, it does not flow through the blood stream as readily as it should. The red blood cells easily release the LDL cholesterol and it sticks to the walls of your blood vessels, especially in the arteries leading to your heart. This is bad for a number of reasons.

First, when the LDL cholesterol builds up on your arteries, it reduces the amount of blood that can fit through at a time, since the artery becomes smaller. That means your heart has to pump harder and faster in order to allow the same amount of blood to flow through your body. Over time, this makes your heart tired and not as strong. In the worst-case scenario, the blood vessel becomes so built up with LDL cholesterol that your artery could close completely. When this happens, your heart essentially panics because it is not getting the blood it needs and it starts beating rapidly to try to pump the blood. This causes a heart attack.

You can also have a heart attack from LDL cholesterol build up if a piece of the build-up, called plaque, breaks off and floats down the blood stream. When it reaches a smaller part of the blood vessel, it will get stuck and block the blood, which again causes a heart attack. If the piece of plaque travels to the brain instead of the heart, it will cause a blockage in this area of the body, which in turn causes a stroke. Therefore, it is simply important to cut out of your diet the foods high in cholesterol so that you can prevent heart disease and other problems in the body.

If you want to have a healthy heart, you have to learn how to eat a healthy heart diet. All of the food you eat effects the health of your heart. You should reduce the saturated and trans fats in your diet by limiting the amount of solid fats like butter, margarine and shortening you add to food when cooking and serving. Your diet should consist mainly of the following:

* fruits and vegetables
* grains (at least half of your grains should be whole grains, such as whole wheat, whole oats, oatmeal, whole-grain corn, brown rice, wild rice, whole rye, whole-grain barley, buckwheat, bulgur, millet, quinoa, and sorghum)
* fat-free or low-fat versions of milk, cheese, yogurt, and other milk products
* fish, skinless poultry, lean meats, dry beans, eggs, and nuts
* polyunsaturated (pol-ee-uhn-SACH-uh-ray-tid) and monounsaturated (mon-oh-uhn-SACH-uh-ray-tid) fats (found in fish, nuts, and vegetable oils)

The American Heart Association offers these guidelines for how much fat and cholesterol to include in a heart-healthy diet:

Type of fat Recommendation

Saturated fat Less than 7 percent of your total daily calories
Trans fat Less than 1 percent of your total daily calories
Cholesterol Less than 300 milligrams a day for healthy adults; less than 200 milligrams a day for adults with high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad,” cholesterol or those who are taking cholesterol-lowering medication

If you’re not sure which fats or oils to use when cooking or baking, use this guide:

Choose

* Olive oil
* Canola oil
* Margarine labeled “trans fat-free”
* Cholesterol-lowering margarine, such as Benecol, Promise activ or Smart Balance

Avoid

* Butter
* Lard
* Bacon
* Gravy
* Cream sauce
* Nondairy creamers
* Hydrogenated margarine and shortening
* Cocoa butter, found in chocolate
* Coconut, palm, cottonseed and palm-kernel oils

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Advice from The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun and Pittsburgh fitness trainer and life coach, Jackie Omotalade:

You are what you eat! Have you ever heard this saying? In some sense, this is true, because if you eat unhealthy foods you are prone to be an unhealthy person. The foods we ingest are extremely important to our ability to grow, maintain function, and prevent illness. Eating healthy foods is one of the greatest ways you can live healthy and combat developing a disease. Some diseases are genetic and there’s not much you can do about that. But others like Diabetes 2, Lung Cancer, and Heart Disease and may be prevented with the proper diet.

Healthy eating is important from the day we are born. As a child, we grow quite rapidly and this is due in part to the foods we eat. Foods all contain nutrients that provide us not only with fuel to live our daily lives, but also with the very substances that build our bones, muscles, and organ tissues. Not getting enough of one nutrient or another can cause a variety of problems, including stunting our growth. For mothers who are nursing, nutrition is important because breast milk contains the nutrients a child needs to grow and develop properly. As we grow older, these nutrients are then found in food, but don’t think that healthy eating isn’t important for growth after you’ve gone through puberty. Cells continuous break down and rebuild, so healthy eating for growth continues to be important until the day we die.

We need a healthy diet to function. In out daily lives, we use energy to think, walk, talk, breathe, and perform any other action. The energy it takes our body to do these things comes from two places: fat reserves in the body or our daily food intake. If you don’t eat healthy foods, you will find that you are storing more fat that necessary or that you aren’t getting enough and you feel sluggish or weak. Along with energy-providing nutrients, like fats and carbohydrates, we also need the right nutrients to allow our organs to do their jobs. Hormones and other substances in the body make sure that everything is working properly. If you don’t eat the right nutrients, your body cannot produce these hormones and, as a result, cannot function properly.

Lastly, healthy eating is important in order to prevent illness. When we do not get the right nutrients, or body’s natural defense system against diseases weakens, allowing viruses and bacteria to attack the body. It’s like a well-trained army—if the army doesn’t have enough to eat, it will not do well in battle. Without healthy foods and plenty of water, our bodies simply could not operate on a day-to-day basis. Learning how to eat healthy foods is therefore and important lesson, and one which we should begin learning as children.

EAT RIGHT

Advice from The First Lady of Fitness, Fashion, and Fun and Pittsburgh fitness trainer and life coach, Jackie Omotalade:

Healthy eating requires you to eat a number of nutrients every day. Nutrients are any substance that can be metabolized by an human/animal to give energy and build tissue. There are 40 different nutrients your body needs to ingest in order to stay healthy.

40 may seem like a lot of nutrients to know about, but luckily, you can break down all of these nutrients into smaller categories in order to keep them organized in your mind and make sure you get all of the foods you need.

First and foremost, everyone needs water in order to live a healthy life. Without water, we become dehydrated, and eventually die. You lose water when you sweat and through daily bodily functions, so water must be replenished. Drinking about 8 glasses a day is recommended. Of course, water is found in food as well as in drinks. Most foods have some amount of water in them. You can easily get about 20% of your daily fluid need from the foods you eat. Fruits, like watermelon tend to have more water and something dry like toast would have much less. The other 80% of fluid you need comes from the beverages you drink.

Of course, we need much more than water every day to survive. Another group of nutrients we can’t do without is proteins. Unlike fats or carbohydrates, which can be good for you or bad for you based on their natural biochemistry, all dietary proteins are about equal. The quality of a protein for the most part depends on how the food source is prepared or what fats naturally accompany the protein.

It may help to understand a little protein biochemistry first. Proteins are made up of different combinations of 20 tiny building blocks called amino acids. Of those 20 amino acids, your body manufactures 11 of them. The other nine amino acids need to come directly from your diet, so they are called essential amino acids.

When you eat, your digestive system breaks down the proteins into the individual amino acids, absorbs, them and your body uses them to make new proteins that you need for muscles, organs and components of your immune system. Proteins are found in foods such as meat, eggs, and soy products. They provide the amino acids needed to build muscle tissue as well as help make some of the hormones in our bodies. Red blood cells and hair is also made from protein.

Along with proteins, a body also needs adequate amounts of fats and carbohydrates in order for us to have enough energy during the day. Fats are primarily used for energy during intense activity, like exercising, while carbohydrates are primarily used for energy during less intense activities, like standing, sitting, and other movements. The American Heart Association recommends that you get less than 30% of your total calories from fat.

A good carbohydrate is (complex carbohydrate with lots of fiber) verses a bad carbohydrate (table sugar or high fructose corn syrup). And bad fats (saturated fats and trans fats) verses good fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats). Fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains are healthier choices for carbohydrates than candy, sodas and pastries. Both the fats and the carbohydrates that we eat in a day can be stored for later use as fat, so it is important to eat enough for energy, but also important to regulate intake in order to stay slim and healthy. In the event that you are not eating enough fats and carbohydrates, your body can also provide itself with fuel from proteins.

Vitamins and minerals are also important nutrients for our daily lives. We get these from fruits, vegetables, milk, and most natural sources of food. Some of our foods, such as bread products, can even be enriched so that we get more vitamins and minerals in our bodies. There are dozens that you need to ingest regularly, such as iron, thiamine, vitamin C, and vitamin D. If you are eating a healthy diet, you can most likely get enough vitamins and minerals from your foods, but you can also take vitamin supplements to make sure that you are getting the right amounts you need to maintain body function. Supplements may also be available to help with other nutrients as well, so if you are worried, talk to your doctor about how you can be sure to be eating a healthy amount of nutrients.

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