Food and Exercise- A Balancing Act

We all know food and physical fitness are a balancing act.  Change your exercise level and you must change your fuel level.  But how can you tell what is right for you?  My specific nutrition and fitness needs are different from your specific needs.  The only way to know what is right for you is to experiment and watch your reactions.  You must be sensitive to your body and listen to what it is saying.  So where do we begin?


As it turns out, we all start in the same place: we commit.  A successful exercise program will vary day to day, so your nutritional needs may vary day to day. The fine tuning takes practice and learning to listen to your body.   Can you tell when you are hungry versus when you are starved?  Do you feel tired and sluggish throughout the day?  Are you eating because you are bored or sad?


I'm a big fan of writing down your daily food intake when starting a new program.  It helps you commit on a different level and what you are eating can provide valuable information how to best help you reach your goal.  Writing everything down is an extra step in a new process so it may feel like a bigger bother than you bargained for but in the end the results are worth it. Research shows that people who commit to writing down their food intake have a greater success rate than people who skip this step.


There are several sites available free of charge that make logging your food intake easy and efficient.  I use a calorie counter that breaks down my daily food intake so I can see how many calories, proteins, or carbs (or whatever I am trying to count) I have eaten.  Some sites take it a step farther and include an exercise counter also.  You can log in 30 minutes of jogging at 4.5 mph and get a calorie count that can be used to help formulate your day.  These are wonderful tools.


Of course just writing things down on paper works just as well.  Any book with nutrition and calorie counts could give you the same information.  And you could have a chart with physical activity and calories burned handy nearby.


Remember, nothing is perfect.  Your calorie counter will only be as accurate as the information you choose to log onto it.  Was it 4 oz of chicken or 6?  Did you run 35 minutes at 4.5 mph or 45 minutes at 3.5?  Does it matter if you get it wrong?  Probably not much.  It is more important that you are aware of your food intake and amount of exercise than getting your numbers exactly right!  (OK, if you forget to write down the gallon of ice cream on a daily basis there might be a problem, but try to be honest with yourself.) Over time you will get more and more accurate with your daily history.


Here are a few calorie counters worth looking at:


http://www.everydayhealth.com/my-calorie-counter.aspx?xid=MCC_GSEK&s_kwcid=TC|17841|calorie%20counter||S||4602130103&gclid=CMfik73F9aQCFdJL


http://www.myfooddiary.com/?source=g_cs_counter&OVKEY=calorie%20counter&gclid=CM_V-6XH9aQCFU465QoddH2miA


And if you use Google homepage, there is an app for adding a calorie counter to your page:
http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=www.labpixies.com/campaigns/calories/calories.xml&mkhp=1&source=clhahttp://www.google.co


Here are some charts for physical activity:
http://www.drgily.com/exercise-calorie-counter.php


(printable) http://www.everydayhealth.com/blogs/doityourselfdieter/calories-burned-in-physical-activity


Take the first step.  Commit to helping yourself.  Read all you can.  Write down your goals.  Join support groups.  Just commit.


For more information about Valley Boot Camp visit our website at http://www.valleybootcamp.com or join us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ValleyBootCamp

Quintessential Quinoa

Health enthusiasts love quinoa (pronounced keenwa)  because it is one of the highest protein grains around. According to Self magazine quinoa is amongst the top foods that runners should consider including in their diets.  Oxygen magazine reports that if you want flat abs you should make sure that quinoa is a regular in your meal plans.  Quinoa, a wheat free grain with ancient origins from South America, has been named a superfood.  I enjoy it simply because it  tastes good.  


You don't need to be a good cook to make a great tasting quinoa dish.  It cooks up similar to rice with two cups of water to one cup of quinoa and it is done in 15 minutes.  It's easy to make and everyone seems to love it. Best of all it is becoming so popular that there are tons of quinoa recipes.  People are making quinoa for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  


At one point you had to go to a health food store to purchase quinoa, but recently I was able to purchase a large bag of Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa at a great price from Costco.  Bob's Red Mill Organic Grain Quinoa and Nature's Path Organic Heritage O's are two other brands available in most supermarkets.  Quinoa looks a bit like couscous but it is lighter and fluffier.  You can substitute quinoa in any recipe that calls for rice or couscous or you can follow any of the recipes here:


http://www.quinoa.net/181.html
http://www.cookingquinoa.net/quinoa-cooking-tips/
http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/basic-quinoa.php


Have a great quinoa recipe?  Feel free to share it in the comment box below.


For more nutrition information you can visit our website at www.valleybootcamp.com or follow us on Facebook at .http://www.facebook.com/ValleyBootCamp