The Best Workout for Every Age

In your 30's:
Maybe you used to stay slim doing sporadic workouts, but now it's time to establish a regular routine to fend off loss of bone density and flexibility.

In your 40's:
Ramp up cardio to tackle the creep of belly fat that starts this decade.

In your 50's & beyond:
It's important to dd strength training to your cardio routine to fight the dreaded "flat butt" and keep muscles firm.

(excerpted from the September 2011 issue of Health Magazine)

Why not make Stroller Strides classes or our 5K Training Program part of your routine? And bring your mom so she can avoid getting the dreaded "flat butt" :) !

Understanding Artificial Sweeteners

It’s understandable that you might be drawn to diet foods or artificial sweeteners when trying to keep your weight down. Unfortunately, those foods may be doing you more harm than good.

Most of these are chemicals that replace the sweetness of sugar without the calories. Think about this: with real foods when you eat something that’s very sweet it’s also usually high in calories. Your brain knows this and does its best to use those calories efficiently. When you eat something that is sweet and does not have calories, your brain is confused and your body will not metabolize those calories as it should. Basically, if you eat something that tastes like it should have calories and doesn’t, it will have a negative impact on your body!

TIPS

1. “Sugar Free” does not always mean low in calories.
2. Recent studies have shown artificial sweeteners can actually increase your appetite.
3. Artificial sweeteners can still spike your blood sugar and lead to additional cravings

Just because it’s on the market does not mean it’s safe. Saccharin has been linked to cancer. Sucralose (also known as Splenda) is associated with both liver and kidney enlargement. It can also cause skin rashes, headaches and stomach pains. Aspartame (also known as NutraSweet, Equal and others) has been associated with everything from hallucinations to brain tumors.

Turn to natural sweeteners when you need something sweet. This can be honey, maple syrup and date sugar. As with any sugar, keep it in moderation as it has no health benefit. Sugar is sugar, regardless of color.

Natural Minimally Refined Sweeteners (the best for you)

•Fruit juice

•Unrefined maple syrup

•Raw honey

•Date sugar

•Molasses (blackstrap or barbados)

•Sucanat

•Brown rice syrup

•Barley malt

Refined Sweeteners (second best)

•White sugar

•Brown sugar

•Refined maple syrup

•Corn syrup

•Fructose

•Glucose

•Dextrin

•Dextrose

•Processed honey

•Maltodextrin

Artificial Sweeteners (avoid!)

•Aspartame (a.k.a. NutraSweet)

•Saccharin

•Mannitol

•Sorbitol

•Xylitol

(Originally posted on www.strollerstrides.com by Lisa Druxman 7/2011)

Understanding Sugar

No doubt about it, sugar is a hot topic for anyone wanting to lose weight. Unlike fat or sodium, you don’t actually have a physical need to eat sugar. It has zero nutritional value. However, your body naturally turns food into sugars (glucose) to fuel the body and brain. The challenge is that sweet foods tend to make us overeat. Plus, artificial sweeteners trick our body about how food should be metabolized.

We know that foods, like candy and ice cream, are high in sugar. But you may be surprised at the high amount of sugar in foods that you wouldn’t expect. It’s added to most processed foods and beverages. Sugar is added because of flavor but also because it can help preserve foods, fuel fermentation (like in bread) and serves as a bulking agent. Sugar occurs naturally in foods like fruit, milk, vegetables and even some grains. Remember sugar has n0 nutritional benefit!

Why you want to stay away from added sugars:

- Tooth decay - Sugar allows bacteria to grow in your mouth

- Poor nutrition - You fill up and then don’t eat the healthy foods

- Weight gain - It adds calories but no nutrition to foods and usually causes overeating

- Higher triglycerides - Eating too many sugars can increase triglyceride levels which can increase risk of heart disease.

The American Heart Association suggests no more than 100 calories/day (or about 30 grams) for women from added sugar. That is about 5 teaspoons per day. Most Americans are eating closer to 31 teaspoons per day! Eye opener: One soda has 9 teaspoons of sugar!

Sugar Surprise- These foods are all high in sugar:

- 1 Package Oatmeal – 15 grams

- 1 Protein Bar – 15 grams

- 1 Tbl. Salad Dressing – 6 grams

- 1 Cup Granola – 24 grams

- ½ Cup Tomato Sauce – 10 grams

- 1 20 oz. Bottle Ice Tea – 56 grams

- 1 oz. Ketchup – 6 grams

- 12 oz. Sport Drink – 42 grams

- 8 oz. Fruit-flavored yogurt – 26 to 39 grams

Eliminate Hidden Sugars

You don’t have to worry about naturally occurring sugars in fruit and milk, for example, for your health. It is the added sugars that cause the problem. Read labels and stay away from: Fructose, Maltose, Sorbitol, Evaporated cane juice, Syrups, Xylotol and sugars ending in "ol" or "ose".

More to come on artificial sweeteners later this week!

(Originally written and posted on www.strollerstrides.com by Lisa Druxman 7/2011)

9 Months On, 9 Months Off

Written by Farel Hruska,
Rebounding from labor and delivery is a process. You think that you should lose the baby weight and be back where you were before. Here is the reality of the postpartum woman: It took nine months to gain the weight, allow at least that long on the way back.

In addition to your body housing a growing baby and the extra weight it took on for the job, many other changes occurred. The hormone relaxin was released in your body to loosen your joints. This hormone helped your pelvis adjust for your growing baby. Just because you delivered your beautiful bundle of joy, doesn't mean your skeletal structure returns to its previous position. Your hips bones may be wider, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Muscular changes are also apparent; a lengthened Trapezius, hand-in-hand with tightened pectorals, lead to forward shoulders. The weight of the breasts can cause discomfort as milk production begins, as well. The energy needed to care for a newborn can lead to fatigue and muscle pain. All that being said, go easy on yourself.

Beginning a workout after giving birth can be intimidating, but as you get in to a regular routine, you will start to see some very profound strides towards lean muscle mass and the reduction of fat. In addition, you will lower your resting heart rate, expand your cardiovascular threshold, sculpt your muscles and gain more energy along the way.

You may, in fact, be healthier now versus pre-pregnancy! How about that? So, you don't fit in your old jeans? So, the number on the scale isn't what it was when you were single? Great! Celebrate this change in life. Enjoy the beautiful and glorious gift of being able to bring a child into the world. Enjoy your health, your energy, your everyday victories and the moment by moment, overwhelming joy of being "Mom". Above all, go easy on yourself. It is about the journey!

Nine Months Off

Here are some month-by-month tips for getting back into shape after baby:

Month 1
Focus on reconditioning your core--abdominals and pelvic floor muscles--with gentle pelvic rocks and kegels. The pelvic floor can actually drop up to one inch just from pregnancy. These exercises can begin in the hospital bed (barring pain).

Month 2
Start gentle walking. Start with a 5 to 15 minute gentle walk and slowly increase time and intensity. Exercise at this point should be stress relieving not stress producing.

Month 3
Take baby out for a stroller workout. Include hills, intervals with changing your speed, and focus on good posture. Good stroller walking form includes leading with your chest, keeping hips close to the stroller handles, shoulder blades pulled back and down, abdominals engaged and wrists in neutral alignment with the arm.

Month 4
Use your baby as a weight and work out with baby. Try crunches with baby on your belly or hip bridge with he/she on your stomach as resistance. Even wearing the front carrier can be a workout. Try scapular retractions--pulling shoulder blades toward spine--with the weight of the carrier as resistance!

Month 5
Even if you're not nursing, continue to eat as if your food fuels your baby. Chances are you'll make better choices for your baby then for yourself. Remember to choose whole foods, fruits and vegetables

Month 6
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. You should be drinking eight 8 oz glasses of water a day. Add another glass for each hour of activity.

Month 7
Make sure you're eating often enough...instead of a few big meals a day, try to eat five to six mini meals throughout the day.

Month 8
Consistency is key. You should be working out 30 to 60 minutes on most, if not all, days of the week. It doesn't have to be a traditional workout to count as activity.

Month 9
You're a role model mom. Focus on health and wellness instead of a size or a number on the scale. Children understand sooner than you think!

Farel Hruska has over 16 years experience as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. She is the National Fitness Director for Stroller Strides holding Stroller Strides certifications throughout the country and supporting hundreds of instructors nationwide.

Hruska is a national educator and presenter in pre/postnatal fitness education. She is also a CEC provider for the American Council on Exercise and Aerobics (ACE) and The Fitness Association of America (AFAA). farel@strollerstrides.com

Habits Are The Answer

How many calories should I eat?

How long should I workout?

What workouts are most effective?

What should my percent of fat to protein be?

These are the questions I get daily. But I think there's something more imporant than those answers. We all really know that we should be exercising more and eating better quality foods. And while it's good to be better educated on nutrition and exercise, I think it's more important to figure out how to make healthy habits part of your life. I know that I "should" eat more vegetables, take my vitamins and drink enough water. But my habits sometimes disconnect knowledge with action.

It doesn't matter if you know that a pound of fat is 3,500 calories if that doesn't translate in to daily habits to reduce calories. Instead, think about one thing you can work on each week and keep doing it until it becomes a habit. The definition of habit is that it is a settled regular tendency or practice, one that is hard to give up. That is key! We have bad habits that we need to give up and we have new ones that we need to add in to our life.

What habits do you have right now without even thinking about it? Setting the coffee maker, brushing your teeth, buckling your seat belt? Some have said that it takes 21 days to create a habit. That may not be magic, but commit to a certain number of days. Make it a daily habit and start with a small step. Write it down and set a trigger to remind yourself whether it's a note or an alarm for example.

Let's just say that it does take 21 days to create a new habit. If you chose just one thing to focus on every 21 days, you could add 17 new habits this year! Let's face it, we would be happy with just a few healthy new habits that truly stick! Break that insanity that comes from trying the same things over and over just to wind up with old results. Instead, focus on daily actions that can lead to the results you want.

(This post was written by Lisa Druxman and originally appeared on the Stroller Strides blog on 6/6/11)

Tips for Making Healthy Choices During Holiday Meals

The holidays are just around the corner... the first feast is just days away. Are you ready to make this year a healthy season? Here are some tips from our Stroller Strides Founding Mother, Lisa Druxman, that can help you get through the party season without putting on weight:

1. Know what types of foods will be there and what you are going to choose to eat. Let’s face it; in general, you know what types of foods are on the holiday dinner table. Plan ahead of time which foods are important to you and which you could do without. Choose your favorites but pass on those that are not special to you.
2. Don’t go to the table telling people you’re “eating healthy this holiday season”. There’s no need to bring attention to your food choices. People will feel that you are not enjoying yourself or that they should feel guilty about what they are eating. Your host (especially your mom) will be disappointed if you’re not sampling all that she labored over in the kitchen. You’re more likely to have success if you keep it low-key.
3. Fill your plate heavily with vegetables, fruits and lower-fat fare. Start your eating with these foods and than eat your favorites. This way you won’t be so hungry for the calorie dense foods. Besides, your relatives and the people around you are only going to draw attention to your food choices if you have an empty plate or are picking at food. This way you are eating, your plate is full, and you are enjoying the foods you’ve chosen. No one should feel sorry for you, including you!
4. Don’t say yes to all that is before you. You don’t need to pick at every gift basket that’s left at your desk at work or eat your way through the holiday party buffets. Choose wisely and carefully.
5. If you’re cooking, try not to nibble throughout the day. All those little bites add up.
6. If you’re cooking, try some new lighter recipes. Use high quality, fresh ingredients and the foods will taste great. You just don’t want to tell your guests that they’re lighter until after they’ve already enjoyed it. We’re predetermined to think that healthy food can’t be good.
7. If you’re not cooking, offer to bring a dish. Bring something that you know you can fill up on without the guilt. This Thanksgiving I'm bringing teriyaki green beans... no cream of mushroom soup here!
8. Moderate your alcohol consumption because it most often leads to the worst choices. Alcohol will slow down your metabolism and your good judgment. Try a wine spritzer instead of champagne or just try to limit yourself so you can enjoy your holiday fully!
9. Have a healthy snack before you go to a holiday meal. Don’t go to a party on an empty stomach. When you get to the party and you’re already satisfied, you’re less likely to eat as a reaction to hunger.
10. Get your exercise. Take a walk before or after the holiday meals to get your metabolism going. When you take care of yourself regularly with exercise your desire for unhealthy foods tends to decrease.
11. If at first you don’t succeed, don’t throw in the towel. Most of us tend to eat out of control after we give in to that initial temptation. Don’t assume that because you ate a piece of pumpkin cheesecake that you now have to try every type of pie on the table. Accept your choice and than move on.
    

Overall, remember the meaning of the holidays and that they can be enjoyed without indulging in mass quantities of food. Make sure to focus on the meals you can control. Get plenty of nourishing foods in throughout the holiday season to make up for some of the not so good choices at parties. The key to overall health is to eat healthy overall. A few meals with less than healthy choices will not lead to your downfall.

This year, make your focus on giving and not what you’re taking in. Happy Thanksgiving from Stroller Strides of Midtown Raleigh!

How to breeze through cough & cold season without a sniffle...

Have you noticed that the most physically active and fit people you know never seem to get sick? They appear to breeze healthily through cough and cold season with nary a sniffle, and what's worse, they tell you it's because they're so darn fit.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/03/how-to-lower-your-risk-of-catching-a-cold-work-out/#ixzz14MSPeB8X