Category: Gut Health

I first met Roger and Diane at the Air Base.  They attended a class I teach there with some friends who eventually moved to Vegas.  I was extremely happy when they decided to join Boot Camp because I knew I would be gaining two super encouraging people.  I’ve watched Diane completely heal and get stronger after almost losing a leg to a horse mishap.  In addition, no one questions her toughness, she returned to Boot Camp three days after hand surgery.  Roger continues to get stronger and is tough as well never missing a day after a rupturing a Baker’s Cyst in the back of his knee and watching his calf swell to twice its size.  These two bring energy to any class they attend and this is their fitness story!

How long have you been exercising consistently?

We have always been the active type, but have been fairly consistent for the last 4 years.

What influenced your decision to get dedicated and be consistently active?

After watching family members and friends struggle with bad health, we knew we had to try to stay healthy and more mobile as we aged.   Roger has needed more cardio, while Diane has always been more weight management minded.  More recently, Diane has been steadfast in her determination to recover from her accident of a year ago.

How much stronger are you and what are the changes you’ve seen in yourself?

Diane says “I couldn’t even do a push-up when I first started, but now I challenge myself to do more and lift heavier”.  When Roger started joining Diane in her classes, he was surprised to see Diane barely breaking a sweat while he was totally exhausted.  He is strong enough now to almost keep up with her.

What is your favorite thing about Boot Camp?  What Exercise most scared you at first?

The people!  Everyone is so friendly and supportive.  Diane was very apprehensive about dead lifts, while Roger was not too sure about boxing/sparring.

Can you briefly tell me Why You continue to do Boot Camp?

We had progressed to the point that we needed a more strenuous exercise routine.  The exercises are challenging and fun, and the instructor is awesome!

What are some of your biggest barriers to staying active and how do you overcome those barriers?

Staying motivated is the biggest barrier, but having a workout partner and interesting and challenging classes keep us going.

Since becoming consistent with your exercise, what’s the biggest change you see in yourself physically and mentally?

More energy and getting stronger.

How would you classify your current eating habits?  (Great, Good, Bad, or Ugly)

Good.

Do you have a specific diet/eating strategy that you follow?

Diane counts carbs.  Roger tries to cut back on sugar, and eats whatever Diane won’t.

Do you have a favorite go to healthy meal or food?

Diane goes for breakfast, eggs and bacon.  Roger prefers steak and protein.

Do you have advice for someone contemplating starting a fitness/weight loss journey or advice for someone struggling to stay motivated?

Having a supportive and motivated partner has really been a key factor for us.  Start with setting realistic goals, be consistent and be patient. You will be surprised by the results.

These two are incredible and have an amazing relationship.  Three things we can learn from Roger and Diane.  Maintaining a strong healthy body is all the difference.  If Diane had not been in such great shape before her accident she might have lost her leg or worse.  In addition, her strength and health helped speed her recovery.  You never know when an accident may occur.  Second, it’s important to have and exercise partner that pushes you.  Diane and Roger push each other and both thrive as a result.  Last, it’s ok to have different eating habits as long as you both support each other’s goals.  I want to thank Roger and Diane for sharing their story and I hope it inspires you and your family!

Hey,

I know you’re probably tired of hearing me say this, but diet is the most important piece of weight loss.  The thing you must remember, small things matter.  What do I mean by this?  Small things can make a difference both ways.  Drink a soda and your blood sugar rises rapidly increasing insulin levels and all but eliminating your chance of losing fat.  One small soda can sabotage your diet.  On the other hand, making better choices at a restaurant like choosing Hot Wings instead of pizza can actually maintain lower sugar and insulin levels and aid in weight loss.  Who would have thought Hot Wings could be on a weight loss diet?

Today I want to talk about a favorite restaurant for me and my daughter, Buffalo Wild Wings.  I love wings more than any other food and Buffalo Wild Wings is a favorite of mine.  As usual potato wedges are off the menu.  As good as they are a regular order of potato wedges contain 362 calories and 72 grams of carbs.  A recipe for disaster.

However, wings are a go.  A 6 count Chicken Wings with the Blazin Sauce provide 430 calories with just 1 gram of carbs.  At this point I don’t even care about the calorie count because the carbs are ridiculously low.  Eat up.  If you prefer Boneless Wings you have to be careful because it can bite you.  6 Boneless Wings with Honey BBQ sauce contain 565 calories and 27 grams of carbs which exceeds my 20 grams of carb rule.  However, you can get the 6 piece sauceless Boneless Wings for 530 calories and only 18 grams of carbs.  Remember it’s all about the right choice.

Choose your salads carefully at BWW.  The Asian Zing Chicken Salad and Chicken Tender Chicken Salad both go way over on the carb count at 80 grams of carbs.  However, the Chicken Caesar with dressing contains 756 calories mostly from fat from the dressing and 35 grams of good wholesome carbs.  Lose the dressing and lose the calories.  The Grilled Blackened Chicken Salad is the best choice with 660 calories, only 23 grams of good carbs and 55 grams of protein.  Split these salads with a friend and you are on your way to fat loss, eat the whole salad by yourself and the overall calories become a problem.

I think this goes without saying but beer will kill your weight loss plan faster than anything.  The alcohol in beer contains usable calories which can add up fast.  However, the biggest problem with beer are the carbs.  Even if you drink light beer if you don’t limit it to one the carbs will add up fast increasing your insulin levels and impacting your fat gains and your ability to burn fat.  The best choice is always no beer and more water.

Diet is the key to losing weight, but making good choices doesn’t mean bad food.  Choose wisely always picking protein and fat over simple carbs.  In addition, always ask yourself how many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants the food provides.  That should always be goal number one.

Helping you make great food choices,
Jeff

Hey,

Weight loss and getting fit are great, but the whole reason for losing weight and getting fit is to improve your overall health.  I want to help all my clients and people who read my newsletters and blog improve their overall health.  I spoke to one of my neighbors a few months ago about the importance of probiotics and adding fermented sauerkraut to his diet.  He stopped me today to tell me what a difference it’s made for him and his wife and their auto-immune issues.  They take turmeric as well.

Everyone should eat sauerkraut or some other fermented vegetable every day.  Why?  Most Americans don’t have enough good gut bacteria and as a result sits us up for a health problem called leaky gut syndrome.   What you need to know is leaky gut syndrome can cause a host of autoimmune diseases to include arthritis, psoriasis, IBS, and others.  Improving your good gut bacteria is the first step to re-taking your health.

Fermented sauerkraut contains about 20 times more probiotics than pills and works far more efficient at restoring gut health.  Make sure the sauerkraut you eat is fermented and don’t cook it.  Cooking it will kill the bacteria that help you.

Below are just a few other reasons sauerkraut should be a part of your diet.

Sauerkraut
• Contains Vitamin A which is assist with healthy vision, teeth, skeletal tissue and skin
• Contains Vitamin C which contributes to immune health, is an antioxidant, and assist with wound healing
• Uncooked/Unpasteurized sauerkraut contain probiotics that’s extremely beneficial to the digestive tract replacing good bacteria
• Helps synthesize B vitamins for use
• Great source of fiber that protects the body from heart disease and cancer
• Good source of Vitamin K; needed for blood clotting, helps build strong bones, potentially lowers risk for heart disease and cancer
• Contains iron which increase O2 carrying capacity, increases energy, brain function and muscle function

Helping You Get Healthy,

Jeff

Hey,

Did you know that up to 70% of your immune system resides in your digestive tract?  In addition, an unhealthy digestive tract may play a role many of the chronic diseases Americans suffer from today.  An old Ayurvedic Proverb states, “When diet is wrong medicine is of no use, when diet is correct medicine is of no need.”  Truer words have never been written because what you eat determines the health of your digestive system and the health of your digestive tract plays a huge role on your total health.

The healthy gut is made up of trillions of bacteria called “flora” that assist in the digestive process among other things.  When you truly begin to study the digestive system and the impact it has on total health it can be a bit over whelming.  A healthy digestive tract protects the body from infection, regulates metabolism, and promotes immune health.  However, an unhealthy digestive system does just the opposite and is increasingly being linked to many of the chronic and autoimmune diseases plaguing America’s health.

The digestive system is designed to be a highly selective closed system.  This means the digestive tract contains and maintains sensors that should only allow useful nutrients to exit the intestinal walls and enter the blood stream.  However, research is telling us that certain foods and medicines increase the intestinal wall permeability allowing foreign matter to enter the blood stream and cause the immune system to act causing inflammation and potentially disease states.  This increased permeability is often referred to as “leaky gut syndrome.”

While the medical community does not fully understand the causes or cures for leaky gut syndrome, they do know that certain things have the potential to improve and cause dysfunction in the digestive tract.  The below information has the potential to improve your digestive tract and health.  In the case of medications mentioned we do not suggest you stop using the medication but do encourage you to do some research and have a conversation with your doctor about possible alternatives.

1. Eliminate or reduce refined and processed foods in your diet. Many of these foods contain chemicals that have the potential to damage the intestinal lining.
2. Eat fermented foods like sauerkraut, kefir, kim chi, and yogurt or learn how to make your own fermented vegetables. Fermented foods increase the good bacteria in your gut and work exponentially better than probiotics.
3. However, if fermented food is not an option probiotics is the next best choice and will also increase good bacteria in the digestive tract increasing the health of the digestive system.
4. Eliminate or greatly reduce refined sugar in your diet. Sugar can cause an overgrowth in yeast which is linked to increased permeability in the intestinal lining.
5. Eat foods high in fermentable fiber like sweet potato, yams and yucca.
6. Eliminate or decrease gluten in your diet. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley and is linked to causing damage to the lining of the intestines.
7. Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) have the potential to damage the lining of your intestines and cause leaky gut.
8. Increase the amount of Vitamin D in your diet by getting out in the sun or eating more eggs.
9. Increase the amount of zinc in your diet, eating pumpkin seed, dark chocolate, and ribs.
10. Decrease stress. Make a worry list and determine everything that’s causing stress in your life.  Take care of the things that can be solved easily and develop a plan for those things that will take time.
11. Antibiotics can kill off too many good bacteria causing a shift in the good/bad ratio causing dysfunction within the digestive tract. Fermented foods and/or probiotics are needed reverse damage done by antibiotics.

If you would like more fitness and health information to include a FREE Super Foods e-book e-mail expectresultsfitness@yahoo.com

Helping You Improve Your Health,

Jeff