Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday?

Good morning!  :)  I hope you all are making it a beautiful day.  So, pulling from Lance's comment yesterday that the more knowledge you have concerning your challenges, the more successful you'll be at pulling yourself through them with flying colors, here's a little Nutrition 101 for you that I've spent some time looking up.  Some may be common sense, some may be news, and ALL of it definitely needs your input, knowledge, and help to complete b/c I am no expert.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Water 101: Drink LOTS of water. The old addage is 8 glasses (one glass being commonly defined as 8 ounces).  A newer article that I found interesting has a calculator for determining the right amount of water for you to aim for each day, dependent upon gender and weight.  I think we'd all be doing just fine to aim for somewhere between the two.  Just do the best you can :)  Benefits of cold water drinking include:

• Revving up your metabolism to burn more calories,
• Eleviating/preventing headaches, migraines, chronic fatigue, and depression,
• Lessening the burden on our kidneys to flush out body toxins,
• Decreasing the risk of heart attacks,
• Maintainnig good digestion for better utilization of the nutrients you consume resulting in more energy,
• Relaxing and invigorating the body,
• Easing joint pain,
• and Preventing overeating when we subconsciously are driven to eat more to gain the necessary water supply (b/c we can confuse the thirst feeling with the hunger feeling).

How do you get in your water each day?

Protein 101:  Eat LOTS of it.  According to this runners' diet article, if you want to lose weight, about 25% of the calories you consume each day should be from protein sources, and furthermore clumped to just after your workout.  Benefits of getting in your daily protein include:

• Making you feel fuller for longer,
• Helping to build and maintain lean muscle mass,
• and Repairing your micro-tears in your muscles following a workout.

How do you get in your protein each day?

Fiber 101:  According to a different runners' diet article, fiber is important to keep in your diet.  It's found mostly in veggies, beans, and whole grains.  Having fiber too close to a workout, though, might cause side stitches or a bloated feeling.  It's best to have it during restful periods of your day.  Benefits of getting in your daily fiber include:

• Making you feel fuller for longer by slowing your digestive process, which also gives your body a steadier stream of nutrient absorption,
• Filling you up with few calories,
• Taking longer to eat,
• and Keeping your colon healthy and thus preventing colon cancer and digestive disorders.

How do you get in your fiber each day?

Carbohydrates 101:  Carbs are the biggest source of fuel for our bodies.  But as much as I'd like to have 100% of my food be carbs, according to this runners' diet article, if you want to lose weight, about 50% of the calories you consume each day should be from carbs, and furthermore clumped to right around the time you're going to be active. Benefits of getting your carbs include:

• Giving you the energy to sustain you during your workouts

Fats 101:  Losing weight doesn't mean cutting all fats.  Again, supposedly up to 25% of your calories should be from healthy fat sources, but they're best consumed during your restful times of the day.  Benefits of fats include:

• Slowing your digestion down to make you feel fuller longer

Sodium 101:  We've been warned to watch our sodium/salt intake, keep it minimal.  There are some good things and some bad things to sodium.   It seems that many processed foods that are low-calorie are also high in sodium b/c the put the sodium in there to compensate for the lack of natural flavor.  Sodium does these things:

• Increases water weight gain, a.k.a. feeling & looking bloated,
• Increases your chances of high blood pressure which leads to a whole host of other problems including increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke, and
• Increases urinary calcium, a.k.a. calcium leaving your body instead of benefiting your bones.

But don't write sodium out completely, because a light amount of sodium is still important for high-intensity workouts and preventing dehydration.  Here are a couple of articles: 1 & 2.

Now I'm very excited to hear all your knowledge, tips, tricks, snacks, & meals you've been preparing this week!!!!  Share away :)