Answer Fitness®: Practical Fitness Advice for Everyone

How To Build A Healthy Pantry … For Busy People! | Healthy Eating

Think you’re just too busy to eat healthy? Use this list of five healthy pantry foods to make sure you always have the right ingredients on hand to eat smart — even when time is scarce.

By Talli van Sunder, DPT, Host of Being Healthy for Busy People 

We’re all busy, so making healthy choices with the many activities that stake claims to our time can be a challenge.

We’re told to exercise, get enough sleep, eat healthy and minimize stress. With all the responsibilities we have, attempting to do all that can be daunting, but it can be done.  The trick to conquering these key areas of health is to focus on one area at a time.  Right now, we’re going to focus on healthy eating — specifically, building a healthy “starter” pantry specifically for people who are busy because of family, career or both.

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What’s The Best Time to Drink Protein Shakes? Ask The Fitness Nerd

When should you drink a protein shake? Today we tackle the question of what’s the best time to reach for that protein shake.

Dear Fitness Nerd:

I’ve read a lot about the benefits of protein shakes, especially when it comes to building muscle and becoming leaner. But I’ve seen conflicting advice on when the best time is to drink protein shakes, and how often I should be consuming them. Some people say right before you workout, others say immediately following your workout, and some people seem to drink them 3-4 times a day or more. I’m confused. Can you help clear this up? Thanks. Sarah M. (Albany, NY)

Sarah,

This is a great question.  

The first thing to realize is that protein shakes are intended to be supplemental to your regular whole meals — not replacements for whole meals. So if you view it that way, you should typically be consuming no more than 2-3 shakes a day on your workout days, and 1-2 (if any) protein shakes on your non-workout days.

In general, the two most critical times for drinking a protein shake are:

1. First thing in the morning
2. Immediately following your resistance or weight training workout.

Why first thing in the morning?

Well, when you wake up, you have essentially been in a fasted state for the past seven to eight hours. That means you’ve had no protein during this time and you are at risk for becoming catabolic (meaning you’ll start to break down muscle for fuel.) By drinking a protein shake with some simple carbs (like orange juice or a banana blended in) as soon as you wake up, you can stop this muscle breakdown dead in its tracks and put yourself back in “positive nitrogen balance” — a fancy term that simply means you have more protein available for your body than what it is using for fuel or excreting.

The second key window of opportunity for drinking a protein shake is immediately following your resistance or weight training workout.

During this 30-60 minute post-workout window, your muscles are like sponges and take up nutrients — including protein — very quickly as part of the repair and recovery process. Your body also utilizes carbohydrates more efficiently during this period, due to increased insulin sensitivity, so drinking your protein shake with some simple carbs can help the body more efficient absorb amino acids and utilize them for ongoing tissue repair and growth.

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The Portfolio Diet: Lower Cholesterol Without Statin Drugs?

Find out whether the Portfolio Diet can help you lower cholesterol naturally through diet  … without Statin drugs.

Could dramatically lowering your cholesterol simply be a matter of eating the right combination of foods?

Dr. David J.A. Jenkins thinks so.  And if his research is right, it might actually be possible to cut cholesterol significantly just by eating the right foods, in the right combinations.

Jenkins, a nutrition and metabolism expert at the University of Toronto and the “Father” of the gylycemic index, calls it the “The Portfolio Diet” and the concept is actually quite straightforward: By combining a variety of foods that have been shown to lower cholesterol on their own, it may be possible to lower serum cholesterol naturally without resorting to prescription statin drugs.   

Besides having profound public health consequences, this approach to eating and cholesterol control also promises to lower the cost of treating high cholesterol, potentially saving millions in prescription drug costs and health issues that arise from the side-effects of prescription statin drugs.

The Portfolio Diet: The Sum Is Greater Than The Parts?

For more than a decade, researchers have known that certain foods like oatmeal and soy can help lower blood cholesterol levels. However, until recently these foods have been viewed more or less independently of each other.

Dr. Jenkins decided to take a look at how combining a variety of foods that have been shown to reduce cholesterol might collectively work together, providing more bang for your buck.  

Jenkins’ study took a look at forty-six healthy, middle-aged adults who had high cholesterol. The subjects were divided into three groups:

1.  One group was placed on a whole-grain and low-fat dairy diet that was low in saturated fats;
2.  The second group followed the same diet, but also took a lovastatin, a cholesterol-reducing statin drug;
3.  The third group ate a diet high in plant sterols, ”sticky” fiber, soy and almonds.   

All groups experienced a reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and not surprisingly, the statin group experienced the most dramatic drop — a 30.9 percent reduction.

However, what did surprise researchers was the reductions seen in the porfolio diet group, which experienced a 28.9 percent reduction in fasting blood cholesterol levels, making it nearly as effective at cutting cholesterol as prescription statin drugs.

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Oatmeal, Oats & Oat Bran | Healthy Food of the Day

Learn How Including Oats, Oatmeal and Oat Bran In Your Diet Can Help You Lose Weight and Have a Healthier Heart

When it comes to healthy fitness foods, oatmeal and oats are the undisputed champions of whole grains.

Inexpensive, loaded with healthy soluble fiber, and incredibly versatile as an ingredient in everything from meat loaf to protein shakes, oats and oatmeal are a staple in the diet of nearly every bodybuilder, fitness model, athlete or healthy person.

But what makes this humble grain that usually found its way into horse and cattle feed such a nutritional powerhouse? And what if you don’t like eating oatmeal? Can you still get the benefits without the mush?

Believe it or not, oats don’t have to be served hot in bowl with cinnamon and raisins. I said this grain was versatile, remember. Read on to find out why you need to include oats in your diet, if you already aren’t.  And if a bowl of oatmeal isn’t doing it for you, we’ll look at some alternative ways of preparing them that can let you have your oats and eat them too.

A (Very) Brief History of Oats

Oats are the harvested seeds of the common oat plant (Avena Sativa).

As I mentioned earlier, oats have historically been used as an inexpensive source of feed for horses and livestock. However, humans have been eating oats as well for centuries, especially in Northern Europe, where the cool, wet weather is perfect for growing oats. The Scottish, in particular, have made oats a staple of their national diet – even lending their name to a particular form of oats known as “Scottish Oats” or “Scottish Oatmeal” (more on this later.)
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The Special K Diet - Does It Work? | Diet Reviews

Can Eating Special K® Cereal Really Help You Lose Weight?

I’ve noticed lately on Yahoo Answers a lot of questions around the Special K diet.  Does it work? Can it help me lose body fat or weight? And more importantly, is it sustainable?

So I decided to dig a little deeper on this particular diet, since it seems to be gaining in popularity.

First, it’s important to understand that to be successful at hitting your fat loss and overall fitness goals, you have to stop thinking about “a diet” as something you do before your vacation to the Caribbean.  Your “diet” is a combination of your choices in food and your lifestyle, not something you do for a few weeks. In other words, it’s a long term commitment to eating more healthy.

That said, can eating Special K cereal help you lose body fat or weight?

What Is The Special K Diet?

According to Kellogg’s website, the Special K Diet has you eating a serving of Special K cereal for breakfast with 2/3 cup skim milk and some form of fresh fruit, or a Special K waffle with light syrup. 

You then replace another meal with a serving of Special K Cereal, or one of their “meal replacement” products, which is typically a Special K Protein Bar.  You then eat your third meal (dinner?) as you normally would.

The Special K diet then allows you two snacks during the day, but they need to be Special K products — either Special K cereal or their pre-packaged snacks like Special K Protein Snack Bars,  Protein Water and Mixes, Special K Cereal Bars, or Special K Snack Bites. You are also encouraged to eat fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the day.

With this diet plan, they tell you that you can lose up to “1 inch from your waist in two weeks.”

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Five Healthy Breakfast Ideas from Answer Fitness®

A healthy breakfast can help you stay energized during the day and keep the pounds off. Try one of these healthy breakfast ideas to jump start your day.

Why make time to eat breakfast?

Because it makes good fitness sense.

Research indicates that people who regularly eat breakfast may have less body fat and are less likely to overeat during the rest of the day. More importantly, when they lose weight, they tend to keep it off longer. 

Two studies in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association support this.

While they were funded by cereal companies, the science has been peer reviewed and seems solid: People who it breakfast have more success with weight loss over the long haul.

If the thought of trying to wrangle up a healthy meal in the morning causes you to shudder, relax. Regardless of your schedule or prowess in the kitchen, try one or more of these five breakfast ideas to get your morning off to a healthy start:

Healthy Breakfast Idea #1: Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a power food that belongs in every healthy pantry.

Inexpensive (a large container of oats will cost you less than $3), loaded with heart-healthy soluble fiber and plenty of complex carbs, oats are one of your best breakfast bets.  On their own, they can be bland, but dressed up with cinnamon, a touch of honey, dried or fresh fruit, or even a scoop of whey protein powder, they become something that transcends their humble reputation.

If you don’t care for the consistency, try Scottish Oats (which are grainier and have more texture) or provide a little crunch by adding chopped walnuts, pecans or sliced almonds.

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