Sweet Truth about Sweeteners
Sweet Truth about Sweeteners
- Becky Wibbenmeyer, EBF Fitness Coach
Whether you are cutting your sugar intake or looking for alternatives and deciding between natural or artificial sweeteners, there are many choices out there these days. So let’s take a look at a few, all of which have been tried and tested by your EBF coaches.
SUGAR:
Pros: Whatever form it is in, the body “knows” it is sugar and therefore can break it down accordingly.
Cons: 15 calories per 1 tsp, calorie-for-calorie, sugar, in all forms, is just empty calories when compared to veggies, fruit, meat, and nuts. Also, an influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body’s blood sugar balance causing the release of insulin. Insulin regulates blood sugar levels and promotes storage of fat, so if you consume high amounts of sugar you are making way for weight gain.
NATURAL SWEETENERS:
Among the growing list of natural sweeteners in your grocery store are Stevia, Truvia, and Agave Nectar. When these sweeteners are consumed there is no spike in blood sugar levels similar to regular table sugar.
STEVIA
- Pros: 0 Calories. This South American herb is 200-300x sweeter than sugar so only a little is needed.
- Cons: Stevia may have a bitter aftertaste to some.
TRUVIA - (EBF Coach Becky’s pick!)
- Pros: 0 Calories. Truvia, which is made from the leaves of the Stevia plant has a similar texture and sweetness as regular sugar.
- Cons: Some say it has a slight after taste, milder than Stevia, but I personally don’t think it does.
*Truvia is made of rebiana (part of the stevia plant), erythritol (a sugar alcohol), and other natural flavors. Erythritol, which occurs naturally in low levels in grapes, pears, and melons, gives Truvia the sugar-like taste and granular appearance. It is classified as a sugar alcohol but it is neither a sugar nor an alcohol. Its chemical structure only resembles sugar and alcohol but because of its’ natural status, calorie content, and high digestive tolerance, erythritol is unlike other sugar alcohols.
AGAVE NECTAR
- Pros: Agave Nectar (also called Agave Syrup or Agave Sweetener) has a taste and appearance similar to honey. It is Kosher, nearly always organic and raw, and has a low glycemic index. It can be easily used as a substitute for honey or maple syrup in just about any recipe as well. Agave Nectar also has 1 gram of fiber per serving.
- Cons: The higher calorie count, 60 calories/serving of 21g, as well as 15g of sugar per serving.
(Next Artificial Sweeteners)
5 Keys to Perfect Exercise Form
September 25, 2008 · Posted in Five Keys to Perfect Form · CommentWhile seeing results often requires leaving your physical, and sometime psychological “comfort zone”, we must first work to develop our personal comfort zone, both within our fitness program and more importantly, our body. This may mean becoming comfortable with your new habits, walking into an oft intimidating fitness center each day, and in this case, improving your body awareness when performing exercises.
While EveryBodyFIT strives to create an “environment of success” by providing external motivation, education, and accountability, our ultimate goal is to develop in each of us a body awareness, internal drive, and overall confidence that can enhance any particular aspect of our lives.
This includes having the confidence to safely and effectively perform a wide variety of exercises without always needing a personal trainer. This can be accomplished by following these5 Keys to Perfect Form:
1. Comfortable & Safe - before beginning the exercise, make sure you are comfortably in position, safe from losing your balance, and operating the exercise equipment correctly to avoid injury. If on a machine, check out the picture to make sure you are in the correct position.
2. Posture - train the way we want to live, stand, and sit. If we exercse with bad posture, we’ll walk into a room and stand with bad posture. Whether seated or standing, keep your chest up, neck neutral, and your shoulders back but relaxed. Read more
Five Keys to an Effective Fitness Program
September 25, 2008 · Posted in Five Keys to Fitness Program · CommentWe should all be “working out”, or following some sort of fitness program. So, whether you are new to fitness, your doctor has asked you to increase your activity, but has given you little guidance, or you just want to make sure you have a well balanced plan of attack for maintaining (or improving) your fitness level, here is a check list of 5 factors required for an effective fitness program.Compare your current plan, in the context of a week, to the ideas below, and maybe you will discover why you may not be seeing results. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Using these ideas, we hope you can develop a weekly and daily routine of specific exercises to keep your time and your effort on track.
5 Keys to an Effective Fitness Program:
To remain motivated, we must keep in mind the first key to any program: PURPOSE.
1. Purpose - A key to remaining motivated with exercise is to understand exactly why we are doing this stuff in the first place. “Functional fitness” is the idea that both our fitness plan and the specific exercises within the plan serve a purpose, or a function. Consider each exercise you perform, are they specific to improving your posture, helping you get up off a low chair, improve your golf game, allowing you to pick up your children, or manage your weight?
2. Frequency - this is the number of days per week you are physically active. Whether walking the dog, (at a decent pace), or coming to the fitness center, you want to find activity you enjoy, one that keeps your heart rate elevated for 30 minutes or more, and do this activity more than 3 times per week. Read more
Starting Out in a Fitness Center
September 25, 2008 · Posted in Starting Out in a Fitness Center · CommentGet the Most Bang for you Fitness Buck at Your Local Fitness Center
When you talked to the health club salesperson about the center you have now joined, they probably told you all about their Olympic length swimming pool and locker room amenities. And now, you are standing here in the weight room with an “elliptical cardio trainer” and a weight bench staring right back up at you wondering what in the heck to do next. Well we’re not talking center square footage and brand names of treadmills anymore ladies and gentlemen. Hold on to your water bottles and grab a towel as we break down the simplest, most effective ways to get the most calorie burning, health and fitness improving bang for your fitness buck in your health club or fitness facility.Doing “Cardio”
To walk the walk, it helps to talk the talk, so get familiar with gym lingo. “Cardio” refers to any physical activity that challenges the cardiovascular system, that is, your heart and lungs, along with all the veins and arteries running to and fro. When you hop on a “cardio machine” like the treadmill and walk 4 mph for 30 minutes, you are doing a ½ hour “cardio workout”.
Getting this treadmill workout is as simple as standing on the sides of the treadmill (or carefully on the pedals of an elliptical, or sitting on a stationary bike) and hitting the green START button. All of the pieces have a quick start and an emergency STOP button.
Hold on to the handles first on the treadmill, and don’t worry, it will begin you at 0.5 mph, (very slow), and bump up the speed button one point at a time until you are walking closer to 3.0 mph. Your goal is to walk a sustained 2.6 - 4.2 mph.
Performing 20-40 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at about 60-80% intensity (effort level should be 6-8 out of 10), 3-5 times per week should be enough to keep the rust off and heart pumping good and strong.
Strength / Resistance Training
Mother Nature is only trying to strip us of our muscle mass and bone density, therefore, strength training is A MUST! The best way to get used to the strength training equipment is to put 10 lbs or less on a machine, sit down, and check out the convenient little picture located on the machine. Slowly attempt to do what the picture depicts. Read more
