Healthy snacks that taste good too:)

By request from my friend... Here are some healthy snacks that are easy to make, yummy to eat and can get you on the right track with you diet and keep up your energy through the day.

First of all, the story about eating snacks. After you have breakfast (and you must eat breakfast, it's the most important meal of the day and will keep your metabolism revved), you should have something to eat every 2.5 - 3 hours after. This will also keep your metabolism going and you won't have the urge to gorge at the major meals (such as lunch and dinner). Ok, eat every 2.5-3 hours, CHECK!

Secondly, you want to aim for you snacks to have a mixture of protein, carbs, and fat. It's key to try and get protein in your snack because protein helps to keep you full and feel full.

Here we go...

* Natural Peanut butter (yes the kind you have to stir) with celery, apples, bananas. Using natural peanut butter is better for you because there are no added oils, which helps to keep it blended.

* Oatmeal (not the packaged kind with tons of sugar) with berries, bananas, chopped apples, dried raisins or cranberries. Adding cinnamon or Stevia helps to sweeten it up just a bit. Oatmeal has 5 grams of protein per half cup and is rich in soluable fiber.

* Low-fat or fat free greek yogurt or cottage cheese with berries, or any fruit that you like. Half a cup of Greek yogurt has 10 grams of protein!!! wow! and you can add so many different things in it to make it taste so good!

* Hummas with crackers, sliced veggies (carrots, celery, peppers). Hummas is made from chickpeas which are high in protein. Also, there are so many different flavors of hummas that I am sure you can find one you like:)

* Low-fat string cheese with a fruit

* Handful of almonds

So here are just a few yummy and healthy snacks that can be easily packed in your lunch box so you can eat them between meals. One more thing, please keep the sugar low. If you eat something with a lot of sugar you eventually get the "crash" that everyone talks about, and doesn't like. You want to maintain your blood sugar levels so your energy is maintained all day.

I hope this helped and please let me know if you have any questions or want advice about the snacks that you like to eat.

Smoking... what it does to your body

To everyone who smokes out there... I hope this can give you some useful information as to why you should quit the nasty habit...

Have you noticed that when you smoke, it's hard for you to get oxygen into you body too? Well this is why. In your red blood cells there is a molecule called hemoglobin, which carries around oxygen to all the parts of your body. Oxygen likes to bind to hemoglobin. But there is something that likes to bind even better... carbon monoxide! Carbon monoxide is found in cigarette smoke. That is why it's hard to breath when you are a smoker, your hemoglobin are full of toxic chemicals and your body is not getting the adequate amount of oxygen. Ponder that...

Smoking also affects your cholesterol. There are different lipoproteins found in your body that deal with cholesterol. Most of you know or have heard of LDL and HDL cholesterol. What do they do exactly? LDL is the bad cholesterol. LDL take fat from your liver and delivers it to your body. HDL on the other hand, takes the fat from around your body, brings it back to the liver so it can be disposed of. We want that don't we? YES! we want high HDL and low LDL. If you smoke, your HDL levels will decrease! NOT GOOD! that means that there is more cholesterol hanging out in your body and has the potential to cause some damage, including heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

There is some good new though. Once you stop smoking, your HDL levels rise :) also, if you quit, after one year, your chance of getting heart disease decreases almost by half, and after 15 years, your chance of getting heart disease will be the same as a non-smoker. Although the internal damage cannot be reversed, the chance of getting heart disease goes down drastically. We do not want heart disease because right now, it's the #1 killer in the US, with cancer a close second.

So please, for those who smoke, please take these notes into consideration and really think about what is important in your life. If you quit, it's all uphill from here. Please let me know if you need any guidance on how to start the quitting process. I can help:)

Sorry it's been so long...

As you may know, I am in my first semester in graduate school. And guess what? It's finals week. So naturally, I am going crazy with studying so I apologize for not having put up a post in a few days. Trust me, during my three week break, I will have plenty of time to write about awesome food and fitness topics. Don't be discouraged, keep up the good work and see you in a few days! Last final is on Thursday!

Diets don't work! Call it a Lifestyle Change

I hear tons of people all the time saying that they are "on a diet". What does that mean? That you are eating like rabbits and working out in the gym until you pass out? When I hear the word "diet" all I think of is the Yo-Yo Diet. Because this is what the majority of people do when on a "diet". When you hit your target weight, for whatever occasion you are going to, then after the event, you go back to the weight you were at before.

If a person is really committed to losing weight and eating healthier, I believe the better term to use is a "lifestyle change". This commitment that you are giving to yourself can never stop. The thing with a lifestyle change is starting slow. I know that society today is very rushed, people want results NOW! We need to realize that these changes will happen over time. We want to start a new habit in your life. These habits start with performing an activity one step at a time. At the same time, we must have a positive attitude about this change. Albert Bandura would call it "self-efficacy". You have to believe in yourself and your capabilities for you to reach your goal.

So I challenge all of you... if you have a goal that you want to accomplish, let's work together to make that happen. Whether big or small, we can break it down and over time, we will make it! Confidence in yourself is key! Bring people into your life that will help with your goal. Having a support group or person is vital in your road to meet your goal.

Let's go out there and make a lifestyle change!!!! Keep me posted....:)

25 Days til Christmas... To be or Not to be Stressed!

As this holiday season is now in full swing, many of us find ourselves stressing over many things. For students, its with finals (which I am working on now). For other people, its trying to find a parking spot at the local mall to do our holiday shopping. Along with this stress, many of us also find that we don't have the time to exercise or eat healthy because we are too busy. But is it coincidence that many of us get sick around the holdiays too?

I guarantee that stress in a major factor in this. It makes sense though. I know that if I have a huge project that is due, I will not go to the gym or maybe I will grab something easy to eat, which doesn't happen to be good for me. It's just the nature of life. Then of course, when I settle down during my break between semesters, I sometimes get sick. Eating well and exercising can help to fight off the cold!

For me, going to the gym and eating well helps me beat stress! This can work for everyone too! Let's say you are shopping at the mall. Us women, we usually carry large purses. And guess what can fit in that large purse? A HEALTHY SNACK!!! Instead of going to the food court, bring along your own food. Also, taking the stairs at the mall instead of the escalator can help burn off some calories too. And people, don't wait for the very front parking spot! Walking is a great form of exercise!

Being conscience of what you eat and how much activity you get can really help to minimize the stress that comes with the season. Saying "no" to sweets may be hard but to keep that girlish figure, you may just have to say NO! People with respect your wish.  Maybe host your own party and include healthy and delicious foods :)

Hope everyone has a great holiday season and keep up the good work!!!!

Are you getting enought omega 3 fatty acids?

As everyone know, there is a major craze about Omega 3 fatty acids. But do people really know the benefits of this long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid? How do we get more of this?

First of all, the majority of us don't get as much as we need. American's normal diet will include more the the Omega 6 fatty acids. Interesting enough, these two fatty acids can not be made in the body, which mean we HAVE to get it from our diet. That is opposed to Omega 9, your body makes that naturally.

Second, the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids compete for the same enzymes to elongate. For our body to use these fatty acids, they have to elongate to be 20 carbons in length. These enzymes will favor elongating the omega 3 over the omega 6 and omega 9. The big concern with not getting enough omega 3 is that from the elongation of omega 3, we get specific eicosanoids (20 carbon chains) that will be converted to other molecules that can greatly help our body.

These molecules can then help with lowering our risk of heart disease (the #1 killer in the US), lowering triglyceride levels in the blood, and is anti-atherosclerotic (meaning that less plaque will accumulate in your arteries). These are some major advantages of increasing the omega 3 fatty acid content in your diet.

You may ask, "How do I do that?" It can be very easy! Some of the foods/oils that contain omega 3 include:
- flaxseeds and flaxseed oils
- fish oils or eating cold water fish (salmon, cod, etc)
- walnuts
- avocados
- canola oil

These are just to name a few

So the next meal that you eat, keep in mind how you can incorporate some omega 3 fatty acids. In the long run, your body and heart will thank you.

P.S. this will help also with adding exercise to your everyday routine :)

After Thanksgiving Burn up!

Everyone knows how hard the holidays are on a diet and exercise routine. All I have to say is "Give yourself a break every once in a while." There will be times that you slip up and others where you are right on target. You can't let that discourage you from your end goal. 

Start small with a goal and increase its worth a little bit at a time. This can help to ensure that it becomes more of a "habit" instead of a burden.

Encourage friends to join you. Moral support can go a long way in helping reach your goal.

The biggest of all, you have to have the DESIRE to change. Its very unhealthy doing the "yo-yo" dieting thing. You get down to a size you like and then you gain it all back. Your body, on the inside, is probably wondering what you are doing! That puts a lot of strain on your body. We only get one, so why not make sure it works properly? 

Diary of a Nutrition Student

This is my first blog ever! I am currently a Master's Student in Sports Nutrition at Florida State University. I am in my first semester in the nutrition program. Starting over in school is a bit difficult at age 26. I currently have my BS in Biology and then after 4 years I decided to go back because I didn't like my job. I always had a passion for exercising and then I competed in my first figure competition and realized how IMPORTANT nutrition is to losing weight. That is when I decided fully that I wanted to commit to going back to school and continue my education in nutrition.


So here I am, moving across the country (lived in Cali for 8 years) to go to school and I am one of the older people in the program :) I guess its better late than never! As my first semester comes to a close there are a few things that I have learned...
1. Nutrition people LOVE food!!!! I know we are supposed to be the ideal models for healthy eating but we love to eat!
2. We love food but in moderation
3. If people don't want to lose weight, they aren't going to... it's only the people that have the drive to lose weight that will
4. So this has nothing to do with nutrition but people in the south LOVE their football!!!! they go crazy! its awesome!

There has been more that I learned this past semester but I don't want to flood the blog with everything and i would like to calm my brain before the big push of finals is over!

So if anyone has questions relating to nutrition, don't hesitate to ask!