Is Fruit Juice Bad For You?
Just when you think you have the right drink to rehydrate, you read the next study that leaves you rethinking that decision. If you’ve switched from carbonated drinks to fruit drinks or fruit juice, you may need to do a little further investigation. Is fruit juice bad for you and should it be part of your diet? People on the go often opt for a glass of fresh juice to quickly get the nutrients they need in the morning. Others choose a fruit drink for their children or as a post workout option, while patting themselves on the back for making a wise decision.
Even if there is fresh fruit on the packaging, it doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll get.
Those little juice boxes certainly look healthy. They show vivid pictures of fresh fruit on the front, so you simply presume that’s what they contain. That’s why reading the label is so important. Many fruit drinks are really just flavored sugar water, but you can’t tell that by the artwork. They often go by names like “fruit beverage” or “fruit drink” in a weak attempt at full disclosure, but the label tells a different tale. Look for words like, “100 percent fruit juice” to get the real thing. Even then, it’s not necessarily a healthy choice.
Fruit juice is concentrated calories and a barrel of fructose to boost your sugar levels.
While there’s no denying it, fruit juice does have almost all the nutrients you’d get from eating the whole fruit, especially if you squeeze it fresh, but it also is loaded with sugar. Whether it’s natural fructose or added sugar or sweetener, it all plays havoc with your body. If you drink just one glass of orange juice in the morning, you’ll be getting eight teaspoons of sugar—four of which comes from the fructose in the juice. Compare that with the ten teaspoons you get from drinking a can of soda and the trade off isn’t nearly as perfect…but still better.
Eating the whole fruit is better than drinking the juice.
When you eat a whole fruit, as opposed to a glass of juice, you get all the fiber from the fruit and less concentrated sugar. For instance, an 8-oz glass of orange juice has 112 calories compared to 45 calories of a whole orange. The glass of juice also contains 2.5 times the sugar and only one third of the fiber contained in a whole orange. No matter which fruit you investigate, the statistics are about the same, far more sugar, far more calories and less fiber. Even home squeezed juice lacks the fiber necessary for good health.
- Fruit juice consumption is linked to increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. It’s also closely associated with childhood obesity, while eating its whole fruit counterpart isn’t.
- Whole fruit contains fiber that has polyphenols. Polyphenols are antioxidants that aid in preventing and fighting cancer and protecting your body. Adding back the fiber, as some juice companies do, doesn’t have the same effect as eating the whole fruit.
- The consumption of fructose, whether it comes from fruit juice or other source, is closely associated with the development of gout, heart disease, non-alcoholic liver disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, obesity and diabetes.
- Today, the average American diet contains approximately 135 grams of fructose. Compare that with the average consumption of approximately 15 grams found in the average diet 100 years ago and you can see why there’s a meteoric rise in obesity.
See Yourself As Better To Become The New You
If you start your fitness regimen, whether it’s just to get fitter or shed extra pounds, with the attitude that this will just become another failure in your long list of attempts, you will fail. You have to see yourself as better to become the new you. Mentally visualizing the new you will help you have the good health and body you want to see in the mirror. If your self-image is a positive one, you’ll get results. That’s why negative self-talk has no place in your fitness program, or in your life for that matter. You must believe in yourself first to get the best results.
Sometimes, it takes help for that self-belief.
If you’re like many people that I’ve coached, it’s hard to change the mental picture of being overweight or out of shape. You see it in the mirror every day. You may have to get help to change how you visualize yourself and that help can come from a personal trainer. Many of the people I train don’t believe in themselves, but they do believe that I can help them, which is a start. I believe so strongly, not only in my ability to help, but also in their ability to succeed, that it often takes them beyond their first hurdle and keeps them going until they see success at the gym.
The power of belief isn’t mumbo-jumbo, it works.
It’s not magic or new age smoke and mirrors, but logic. When you believe something is going to happen because of your actions, you go until you get those results. If you were cold, but you thought the furnace was broken, you probably wouldn’t try to turn up the heat. You might simply sit there cold and probably complaining. There are some people that would mess with the thermostat in an attempt to do something about their plight and a few that might even try to fix the furnace. Those that would get the best results would try it again and if they had the know-how, try to fix it, but when that didn’t work, call a specialist, like a heating and cooling repairman for the furnace, to get results.
Getting results in any endeavor requires you to try.
What type of person are you? Do you sit and complain about your weight or fitness without attempting to change anything? Do you try something easy, like the person who turned up thermostat or give it your best like the person who tried to fix it on their own? If those things don’t work, do you turn to experts for help? In the case of fitness, that’s a personal trainer. The person who knows they can make a change will do all these steps until they achieve success. If you don’t believe getting fit is possible, you’ll do nothing. You must be able to see yourself successful before you can be successful or you won’t even try.
- Listen to your self-talk. Do you constantly think of yourself as fat or out of shape or do you have a mental image of how you will look as you get fitter?
- Do you feel like working out is punishment for years of being inactive or do you look forward to the time at the gym, enjoying each minute of your transformation?
- Is being overweight or out of shape part of your identity? When you see yourself in a different light, you’ll realize that who you are has nothing to do with how you look. Looking and feeling good is a bonus.
- Give yourself a pat on the back when you achieve any step toward good health and fitness. The more you congratulate yourself for success, no matter how small, the more you’ll be successful.
Get Out Those Tank Tops And Show Those Arms
One of my clients loves the winter months. It’s not because she adores the colder weather or hates the sunshine. It’s that she gets to hide her batwings under long sleeves. Summer is a time to get out those tank tops and show those arms, but a lot of people shy away from doing that because they don’t have toned muscles. Arm flab, bat wings, whatever you want to call it is embarrassing for most women, but there’s a way to change it and have arms you’ll be proud to show the world.
You don’t have to win the genetic lottery to have toned arms.
If you’ve tried to tone your arms before and did all the exercises you thought would give you that dazzling look, but failed, you probably forgot to add weight to the equation. I see it all the time, women who are afraid that if they use weights to tone their arms, they’ll start to look like the Incredible Hulk, sans the green. It just doesn’t work that way. Women, unless they spend their life working out or take supplements to enhance muscle building, just don’t bulk up like men do, even if they’re super strong.
New moms start to see a change in both upper body strength and toning.
Many of the mothers I see note that after their child was born, especially if their weight was normal, started to notice their arms were more toned and looked great until their child was about three. That’s when they carried their child far less than previously. Little did they realize they were toning their arms every time they lifted the baby and as the baby put on more weight, the toning process became more intense. Many of these mothers also carried diaper bags, groceries and other things while carrying the baby. Take note if you don’t have a child yet, toning your arms now can get you into shape for motherhood.
You need to put effort and add weights to upper body exercises for toned arms.
If you want arm definition, use exercises like pushups, rows, presses and pulldowns combined with curls triceps and pressdowns. Both types of movements are important. One shapes your arms and the others build muscles to give you the strength to go heavier and press weights that will make a difference. You need to workout more than just your arms to get the results you want. Our workout will have you looking great and be proud to show off your arms.
- No matter how toned you are, if you have excess body fat, those great muscles won’t show. Add a healthy diet to your workout to get results faster.
- Your mix of exercises should include all muscles in the arm, not just biceps. You also need to work on triceps, rotary cuff (the muscles surrounding the shoulder joint- supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) and shoulder muscles, too.
- A total body workout or strength training can help you get those arms you wanted faster. You’ll have a program that helps you because it fits your goals.
- Try our one week free boot camp for more ideas on toning your arms and say good-bye to batwings forever.
Nutrition For Your First 5K
If you want to stay energized all the way to the end, you need the proper nutrition for your first 5K. It starts with good nutritional meals while you’re training that replace the vital nutrients and help your body repair after a tough workout. Get a good balance of carbs, protein and healthy fat with a daily amount of about 2.5 grams of carbs and 0.5 grams of protein for each pound you weight daily. Don’t forget the healthy fats, either. Nuts, salmon and butter from grass fed cows are good sources of Omega 3s, which help lower inflammation and speed your recovery time.
Get plenty of these specific nutrients.
While you need a well balanced diet containing all nutrients, three vitamins and minerals are particularly important. Iron is often lost when running, so add some extra lean red meat, lentils or leafy greens to your diet. If you want to maintain muscle function and bone health, eat foods high in calcium. Dairy, bone broth, sardines and leafy greens provide it. Don’t forget the vitamin B if you want to maintain your energy level. Snack on nuts to increase this nutrient.
Don’t worry about carbo-loading.
Eating a diet higher in carbohydrates, while you cut back on fats and protein may be good for races that take 90 minutes or longer. Unless you’re really, really slow (which is okay—at least you’re trying), you’ll finish the race a lot quicker. You won’t need the extra fuel from just eating healthy before the race. In fact, carbo-loading could actually make you feel sick and slow you down when the race starts.
Keep your breakfast light and make it a few hours before the race.
You want to eat something before a morning race, but not a heavy breakfast and not as you’re headed for the starting line. Eating a meal that contains200 to 300 calories, is low in hard to digest fiber and fat and comes from unprocessed carbs is best. Keep the fiber under ten grams and steer clear of spicy foods to avoid an upset stomach. If the race is later in the day or at night, follow the same protocol for lunch and dinner.
- Make sure you stay hydrated, drink about 20 ounces of fluids a few hours before the race and another ten ounces about 20 minutes before the race starts.
- Test drive some breakfasts before you go for training so you know what works the best. For example, you might find that a bagel, small apple and an 8-oz sports drink works better for you than a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. Try a few different combinations and go with the best one the day of the race.
- Take a snack along in case you’re hungry before the race. A small banana, some animal crackers or anything to curb the hunger that’s about 100 to 200 calories will do.
- Several weeks before the race, practice mock up races that start the same time as your first 5 K. Create sample diets to eat before the race and see what helps you feel and do your best. Not everyone reacts to specific foods in the same way, find out what works best for you.
Fitness Products You’ll Love
If you find giving yourself a special treat for accomplishing goals, here are some fitness products you’ll love as your reward. You’ll also find some are so low cost and helpful that you’ll want them to help you on the road to fitness. Apps for instance, can be free or very low cost. Clothing and gadgets are far more expensive. If you choose a more expensive item, start tucking away a small amount weekly to save for the time you reach your goal.
Fooducate provides a tool that lets you know the nutritional values of foods while shop.
Just scan the food item with your smartphone and it grades it from an A+ to D-. It averages the grades for your purchases and offers ideas for alternatives that are healthier. While this app is free, the free version doesn’t offer much, except how many calories you should eat daily. To get the best features you have to subscribe. Based on the version, it costs between $4 and $5 a month.
Get a home version of the TRX system.
This equipment at the gym is so popular and there’s a reason why. It’s more than just effective, it’s fun. Now you can get a home version to use on your days away from the gym and it’s portable enough to take on trips. You use body weight exercises like lunges and squats and will get maximum results with this tool. It’s great for those busy weeks when you don’t have time for a full workout at the gym. Just put in 20 to 30 minutes in the morning and you’re set. The price is about $150, so it might be best as a big reward for accomplishing your major goals.
Don’t wait for a reason, get this great sports bra before you start working out.
If you are well endowed and curvy or just want to make sure the girls stay in place, you need a top-notch sports bra, especially for high impact cardio. One of those recommended by some of my clients is the Enell Maximum Control Wire-Free Sports Bra. These bras have wider shoulder straps, easy and secure closure, a wide band to move with your body and a cross-strap design for back comfort and better posture. It also has fabric that wicks to keep moisture away from your skin. Good support, like good shoes, are a must when you first start working out.
- If you’re overweight and your inner thighs are painful and sore from chaffing when you walk or run, it’s easy to call it quits. Before you start working out, treat yourself to a pain free one with Body Glide Original Anti Chafe Balm.
- Get some equipment for your home. At about $40, you can get a great start on creating a six-pack. The Ab-Carver Pro Roller can be perfect for core workouts at home, regardless of your fitness level.
- Sure you pay special attention to your shoes, but have you considered special workout socks. Finding great socks that offer support and exceptional wicking ability doesn’t have to cost a fortune and could be your next great investment.
- Work out the kinks with a foam roller. Rollers cost less than $10 and will hurt like crazy while you roll out every stiff muscle, but leave you feeling fantastic.
Is It Time For New Workout Shoes?
You may have your favorite workout shoes that you’ve had for years. Even though you’ve used Gorilla glue to glue the sole back on or ignored the hole on top, that doesn’t mean they’re gymworthy. In fact, it’s probably time for new workout shoes, not because they’re really tattered but because they’re dangerous and can cause injury when you workout.
How can workout shoes cause injury?
There are a number of reasons. One is that they lose their spring. If the midsole is worn, they lose their ability to absorb shocks and also may lead to excess foot motion. The midsole can also change formation after months of use and change the way your foot aligns. That stresses parts of the foot that weren’t meant to be stressed and causes injuries that come from overuse.
There’s no specific amount of time or usage that you can use.
There’s a wide range of estimates on how long a shoe should last. If you have a high quality shoe, it’s going to last far longer than one that’s not as good, which in some cases translates to cost less. One constant is the ability to absorb shock when you jump. In other words, the shoe’s compression ability. The NSCA—National Strength and Conditioning Association—estimated that the average wear for running shoes is about 300 to 500 miles, approximately 6 months, before the compression capabilities are lost. If you’re doing floor pounding cardio, it could be before that. Working with weights and less intense floor pounding give the same shoes a longer lifespan.
The ball of the foot and the heel receive a pounding when you workout and show it.
If your heel is well worn and shows more wear on one side or the other, they’re no longer good for the gym. That means it’s broken down and allows more heel motion. Can you say injury waiting to happen? You can also tell if the heel compresses when you squeeze from side to side.
- Take a look at the shoe. If the ball of the foot shows a lot of wear, it’s time for new shoes.
- Shoes can wear without wearing them. If they’ve been with you for ages from that last failed attempt at getting fit, the materials might have dried out in the midsole, outsole and upper area. That affects their functionality, even though they may look great.
- If you find your feet or knees hurt after a workout, suspect wear on your shoes immediately.
- Give a good visual inspection. Check the shoe from the side, look at the underside and check the wear at the heel. You’ll notice excessive wear if they’re ready for retirement.
Pros And Cons To A Keto Diet
One of the latest diets being touted is actually quite old. It’s the Keto diet—which is short for ketogenic diet. Originally, it was used as a substitute for fasting to control epileptic seizures. For 1400 years there’s been a hypothesis that fasting helped control seizures, but you simply can’t fast away your life. In the 1920s, doctors at the Mayo clinic found that super low carbohydrate and high fat meals helped control seizures just like fasting did. By the 1980s, body builder’s latched onto the diet and it became their tool for boosting weight loss and building a great body, while still enjoying the once forbidden foods like bacon, cream and butter. Today, it’s a viable tool for weight loss, but it isn’t for everybody.
The keto diet contains 20% protein, 5% carbohydrates and 75% fat.
If you’ve been on a low carb diet, you’re close to a keto diet, but the protein and carbohydrate numbers are lower. Instead of 40% protein, 10% carbs and 50% fat, you’re cutting carbs and protein in half and throwing those calories into the fat category. That translates to approximately 10 or 15 grams of carbohydrates a day. If you translate that to food, it’s about 15 grapes or a fist-size serving of cooked carrots. That’s not just for one meal but for the entire day. The fat comes from nuts, coconut milk or oil, cheese and avocado. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure.
The body normally uses carbs for fuel but with this diet, it uses keytones.
That’s important because ketones come from breaking down fat. They’re formed in the liver and used as energy instead of glucose. In fact, you can even measure the amount of ketones by using urine and ketone strips. It burns ketones because there’s less glucose available. So basically, it reduces the body’s insulin levels and the inflammation that occurs when they’re high.
It helps you shed pounds and eliminate the sugar urge.
You’ll definitely feel fuller with the extra fat in your diet. A few weeks off sugar will also help you curb the sugar cravings, since you won’t have the blood sugar spikes and drops that occur with a high carb, high sugar diet. It also puts more healthy fat into your diet, something many people lack. Healthy fat, like avocados, can boost your mood and improve everything from your skin and hair to cholesterol, heart and brain functioning.
- One big problem with the keto diet is that it’s hard to follow. You have to carefully plan each meal to ensure you get the right proportions.
- People often don’t choose the healthiest fat content for their diet. Instead of turning to nuts and avocados, people often turn to bacon and animal fats that don’t come from organic, grass fed beef. That doesn’t promote good health.
- The weight you lose may not be significant or long lasting.
- There’s limited fiber. That can slow digestion. Just the very nature of the diet, low carb, can leave you feeling stuffy and out of sorts.
Fat Loss Mistakes
Shedding pounds isn’t easy and fat loss mistakes along the way make it even harder. You’ll often find diet advice on the internet that not only doesn’t work, but can be extremely bad for your health. For instance, fad diets like the cabbage soup diet or grapefruit diet, may take weight off initially, but as soon as you go back to normal eating, put it right back on again. These diets often cause you to lose water weight, rather than real weight or lose muscle mass over actual fat. Sometimes they’re such low calorie diets, that when used over a long period, not only leave you malnourished but put you in starvation mode, which slows metabolism.
Omitting specific types of food from your diet can be a problem.
While you definitely don’t want fried foods or sugary treats, you do need healthy carbohydrates and healthy fat. You notice the keyword is healthy. Vegetables are carbohydrates, just as fresh fruit is. Fruit also contains sugar. You should always have an abundance of fresh vegetables in your diet and at least some fresh fruit, even if they are carbs. Fat isn’t always bad, either. Healthy fat, such as that found in avocados or salmon, needs to be included in everyone’s diet for healthy weight loss.
Doing the same exercise routine will slow your progress.
The body is amazing. It’s not only self healing, it also finds ways to conserve energy and not work as hard. When you do the same routine repeatedly, the body becomes efficient at doing it. While efficiency is normally good, in this case it isn’t. It means the body burns fewer calories and makes weight loss more difficult. Varying your routine helps you keep the furnace at high and shed pounds faster.
Avoiding weights or strength building exercises could be your biggest mistake.
You may be a whiz at cardio and it may be quite fashionable to be a runner, but nothing helps you take pounds off quickly like strength building exercise. Many women avoid it because they worry about building bulging muscles, but that’s not going to happen unless you work very hard and supplement with the right type of nutrients or other substances. Even then, it’s doubtful. Strength building exercises also provide the benefit of helping to prevent osteoporosis.
- You may be surprised to find that working out longer than a half hour to 45 minutes may actually put on weight, according to one study. The conclusion was that the shorter time left enough energy for more activity following and less hunger.
- While exercise is a very important part of weight loss, you still need a healthy diet to shed those pounds. Eating healthy and not exercising or visa versa, is a huge mistake.
- Focusing just on the scales and not looking at inches lost is a big mistake. Muscle tissue is denser than fat tissue, so one cubic inch weighs more. You can lose inches by shedding fat and replacing it with muscle tissue. Your scales might not reflect the loss but your size will.
- Steer clear of “diet food.” Low fat foods will leave you feeling hungry and many times it may have more calories because of added sugar.
Balanced Nutrition For Digestion
Balanced nutrition for digestion should be a top priority, since many nutritionists believe that a healthy gut is the key to good health. Your body reaps the rewards of healthy eating in your digestive system. While some suggest you use probiotic foods, such as kimchi and yogurt to maintain the proper array of bacteria, eating healthy is also important. There are also foods called prebiotics, which encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria. A healthy digestive system allows your body to break down foods better and absorb the nutrients they contain. In other words, it’s both the manufacturing and delivery system for nutrition.
Eat fruits and vegetables, especially crucifers, for digestive health.
A broad colorful range of fruits and vegetables provide both vitamins and minerals, as well as phytonutrients that not only help with your digestive system, but also your overall health. Crucifers, which include broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage, are especially important. They contain glucosinolates that microbes break down that helps reduce inflammation and lower the risk of many ifferent types of cancer, including colorectal cancer and stomach cancer.
You may not believe it, but beans are good for your digestive system.
While this legume can cause gas, you can reduce that effect by soaking them overnight, draining and boiling with a little fennel seed or fresh ginger. They’re not only super beneficial to strengthening the cells of your intestine, while improving absorption, they also are a big aid in weight loss. They do that by making you feel fuller longer. They also provide fiber, folate, B vitamins and protein that help your digestive system and brain.
Get lots of fiber.
Fiber does more than act like scrubbing bubbles for your colon. They also help you regulate blood sugar levels and improve your heart health. They play a role in reducing cholesterol levels, which is why oatmeal is good for it. You’ll get fiber from many different types of plant sources. Apples, for instance contain a lot of fiber and that’s just one reason it keeps the doctor away. The phytonutrients in the skin also play a huge role in overall good health.
- Bananas contain potassium and magnesium to lower the risk of inflammation. They also make the beneficial bacteria in your stomach happy by restoring their health.
- Your body needs a wide variety of nutrients and all studies show they’re better when you get them from fresh fruits and vegetables rather than pills. That’s because pills don’t contain the phytonutrients fresh alternatives have.
- Don’t forget to drink adequate water. It’s necessary for good digestion.
- Consider adding fermented foods to your diet, such as miso, kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi. If you opt for yogurt, make sure it has live cultures in it.
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