If Not Now, When?

Fitness-After-50 - Thomas D. Manfredi, Publisher
tom@fitness-after-50.com
http://www.fitness-after-50.com
March 5, 2007; Vol. 3, Issue 3
Published the first Monday of every month

THIS ISSUE: 7 Important Pointers for Healthier Eating

Table of Contents:

1) Editor's Note
2) Food for Thought
3) Feature Article: 7 Important Pointers for Healthier Eating
4) Teleclasses
4) Question & Answer
5) Our Services

Editor's Note

Hi,

Well, it is now getting to be late winter early spring here in the central Arizona desert. In many parts of the country that still means there is a lot of nasty weather to look forward to. Chicago, my home town, has had several severe snow storms. I keep hearing the reports from my family of "snow days" off of school for the grand kids and long hours on the driveway for my brother-in-law with his mighty snow blower. Those stories just reinforce for me the reason I moved away from the Midwest. Here in Arizona our weather has been a little cooler than normal, but that still means daytime highs in the mid 60's. This coming week we're suppose to get into the low 80's.

February was an active month. I went back to see my orthopedic surgeon and he said my knee is healing very nicely from the surgery. I have about 70 – 80% mobility and it's getting better every day. I have been given the go ahead to get back to my martial arts training, which I really missed. I've also started working again as a volunteer docent at the Japanese Friendship Garden down in Phoenix and as an usher at the Webb Center for the Performing Arts. I have to ice my knee after any of these activities, but at least I'm active again. One of the reasons the doc says I'm doing so well is my adherence to my rehab program. I do a number of strengthening exercises everyday, and I spend an hour each day on my exercise bike. He says that not many people are as diligent about doing all the exercises as I am.

Some other activities for the month included my birthday (let's just say I'm more than 59.95 plus some shipping and handling). Our town also celebrated our "Gold Rush Days", which is an annual event of the town's western heritage. It includes a lot of different events including a shoot out, a parade with over 1,000 horses, a barbecue, and a really big arts and crafts show. Much to my wife's embarrassment, I dress up in full cowboy attire, including hat, boots, spurs, and six guns. She usually walks a few steps in front of or behind me and pretends like we're not together.

I have been interested in the Native American Flute for many years and have collected a number of them. Up to this point my playing has been self taught, but this past month I took my first official group lesson. It was great fun, and I learned some really good stuff. I don't think I'll ever become a professional, but at least I can play for my own enjoyment.

Looking ahead, I'm really looking forward to this coming week. I have a business trip to the East coast and I'll be working in a town where two of my oldest friends now live. I met Angelo the first day of high school , and he started dating his wife Pat in junior year. Angelo and I keep in touch through email pretty much every week, but it's not the same as seeing him in person. We have already made arrangements to get together for dinner a couple of times while I'm there.

In this issue I'm going to be talking about healthy eating. I hope you find it useful.

I'm also going to be adding a new section to the newsletter called "Other Services and Information". Over the past couple of years, as I've done research for this newsletter and my web site, I have found other information and services offered by different people that I think you might find useful. I'm going to use this section to introduce some of these items periodically.

Good luck, and keep exercising.

Best Wishes,

Tom Manfredi


Send any comments you may have to tom@fitness-after-50.com

My site fitness-after-50.com

Food for Thought

Feature Article - 7 Important Pointers for Healthier Eating

1.Understand Your Eating Habits - Do you like to snack on salty junk food? If so, don't eat directly from the large bag. Get the smaller individual snack bags or take out a handful from the big bag and put the rest away. If you think the microwave is a lifesaver, buy healthy foods that can be easily prepared in the microwave. Realizing your individual eating preferences and working with them will help you to eat healthier much more effectively than trying to force yourself to adapt to new ways of doing everything. Remember that humans are extremely resistant to change, and the bigger the change the more we resist. Keep the changes small and more comfortable and you will be much more successful.

2.Reduce Meat Consumption - Contrary to what most Americans think, meat should not be the main stay of your diet. In fact, a healthy diet should consist mainly of grains, nuts and seeds, and non starchy vegetables and fruits. Try to work more of these foods into your daily diet. Put some shelled sunflower seeds on a salad. Add a can of kidney beans to soup or your pasta dish. Have a bowl of brown rice mixed with three bean salad, some peanut butter, and a splash of low sodium soy sauce.

3.Experiment with Different Foods - Eat more vegetables. No one said you have to eat plain steamed broccoli. Try adding some unusual spices that you like to common vegetables. Some of your experiments might not turn out great, but you may surprise yourself with some interesting combinations. Or, you can add some left over vegetables to your omelet or scrambled eggs in the morning. A big benefit of increasing your vegetable consumption is that it increases the volume of a meal while reducing calories. Apparently people tend to eat the same weight of food, not the same amount of calories over a day. Since non starchy vegetables are usually lower in calories and higher in bulk, you can trick yourself into thinking you're eating as much as you always have.

4.Packaged Foods and Labels - The fact is that Americans ingest three-quarters of their sodium and almost all the trans fats and added sugar from packaged foods. Don't pay attention to all the fabulous claims on the fronts of packaged goods. Look for the nutrition facts section instead and pay close attention to the calories, saturated fats, trans fats, and sodium. Check other brands to see if the numbers on a competing brand may be lower. And don't forget that the numbers shown are for one serving. If you know you're going to eat more than one serving, make sure you multiply the numbers by the expected serving you'll be consuming.

5.Know Your Fats - Fats have almost twice the calories per gram than proteins or carbohydrates. If you want to maintain or lose weight, you need to limit the amount of fats you eat – both the "good"ones and the "bad" ones. Different fats affect the body in different ways. Polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats are the "good" fats found in vegetable oils and oily fish. They don't raise cholesterol levels and may even reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems. Saturated and trans fats are know as "bad" fats. These are found in dairy and beef products and many packaged and fast foods. The more you eat of these, the higher your risk of cardiovascular disease.

6.Watch What You Drink - Beverages can create a lot of unwanted calories. A twelve ounce can of regular soda contains 150 calories. If you drink just two of those every day, you could gain over 30 pounds in a year. And beverages don't fill you up the same way that foods do. Studies have shown that people eat the same amount whether they wash their food down with a 150 calorie drink or just plain water. If you think about it, for thousands of years, all people drank was water. And that's not a bad thing.

7.Portion Control Is Important - Restaurants these days cause us many problems when it comes to eating healthy. In addition to high calorie high fat dishes, they also serve us huge portions. The average human is usually in a state where they can say they are neither hungry nor full. Unfortunately, in that state, if something is put in front of us, we'll eat it. Remember that a serving of almost any food should be the amount that fits into the palm of your hand. If you're eating out, one strategy is to share an entree. That way you'll eat less, and save some money too. Another tactic is to ask your server for a "doggy bag" as soon as you get your food and put half of it in the bag before you start to eat.


(c)2005 - 2007 Thomas D. Manfredi, MS

Teleclasses

I will be announcing upcoming teleclasses in this section in the future.

If you have a topic that you would be interested in hearing about in a teleclass, send an e-mail to teleclasses@fitness-after-50.com

Questions and Answers

Trans fats can occur naturally. Most trans fats consumed today, however, are industrially created as a side effect of partial hydrogenation of plant oils. Partial hydrogenation changes a fat's molecular structure (raising its melting point and reducing rancidity), but this process also results in a portion of the changed fat becoming trans fat.

Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are generally considered to be more of a health risk than those occurring naturally. Unlike other fats, trans fats are neither required nor beneficial for health. Eating trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease. Trans fats are considered to be as bad, if not worse, than saturated fats. For these reasons, health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts.

When looking at food labels, check for trans fats. If there are any, see if you can find another brand that doesn’t have them, or at least one that has less of them. Also keep in mind that fast food companies like to use oils with a high amount of tran fats because they are more stable and work better for cooking many of their foods.


To get more information on various fitness and health issues, please go to my site – fitness-after-50.com


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If you have a fitness or nutrition question you would like me to consider answering here in the newsletter, just send your question, along with your first name and city, in an e-mail to quesandansw@fitness-after-50.com

Obviously, I can't answer every question submitted. I will choose one question each month to answer here.

About Our Services

Online fitness coach Tom Manfredi is the creator of the site "fitness-after-50". This site is designed with the mature adult in mind. There is a lot of information available on the site for anyone looking to start or restart a sensible exercise program. Learn more by going to fitness-after-50.com



Tom Manfredi, 1218 Easy St., Ste 101, Wickenburg, AZ 85390

Other Services and Information

Identity Theft

I don’t know about you, but with all the news coverage lately about identity theft and all the problems it can cause for people, my wife and I have become somewhat paranoid about shredding any mail we get with any kind of identifying info in it, and she freaks out any time I order something on the internet and give out info there.

Well, a woman I know here in Arizona recently sent me some info about a company that offers $1,000,000 coverage to help take care of the problem if someone steals your identity. The company is called LifeLock. You can get to their site by clicking on the banner below if it's visble, or by copying the following code into your browser –

They charge a very reasonable monthly fee and offer a number of included services (they also give discounts for paying annually). Go take a look and see what you think. I signed up. I think my peace of mind is worth that kind of money.