Tag Archive for: Long Beach Nutritional Coach

Foods to Avoid During Pregnancy

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Pregnancy is a time when most mothers to be are concerned about their health, and about how what they eat, will affect their unborn baby. Public health agencies make many recommendations and one of those, in fact the most important one, is for women to avoid foods that have a high potential for disease causing bacteria or that are dangerous to the fetus.

Here’s a list of foods that public health agencies recommend you avoid during your pregnancy.

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  • Alcohol – It is recommended that you completely stop drinking alcohol during your pregnancy as it is directly linked to fetal alcohol syndrome and other conditions.

  • Caffeine – You should limit your consumption of coffee, tea or cola to no more than 0-1 per day. Caffeine is linked to low birth weight as well as miscarriage.

  • Freshly caught fish – this includes tuna, swordfish, shark, marlin, etc., which may contain unsafe mercury levels. You should limit your intake to 150 grams per month. Canned white tuna and albacore tuna contain some mercury, so you should limit your consumption to no more than 300 grams per week.

  • Herbal tea, such as sage tea, Chamomile tea, pennyroyal, parsley tea, lobelia, coltsfoot, teas with aloe, juniper berries, comfrey, Labrador tea, buckthorn bark, and sassafras should all be avoided during pregnancy. There are others so make sure to read the packaging before purchasing.

  • Liver

  • Non-dried deli meats – cold cuts, refrigerated pate, hot dogs, refrigerated smoked seafood and fish, and meat spreads

  • Raw fish – clams, oysters and sushi. Avoid smoked fish that is kept in the fridge such as smoked salmon.

  • Raw or undercooked eggs – this includes foods that are made with raw eggs like Caesar salad dressing. Raw eggs can potentially contain salmonella and therefore should be avoided throughout your pregnancy.

  • Raw sprouts – especially alfalfa sprouts

  • Undercooked meat or rare meat, seafood and poultry

  • Unpasteurized juices

  • Unpasteurized milk products – also foods that are made from using raw milk cheese, especially soft and/or semi-soft cheeses. This includes Bria and Camembert. All unpasteurized cheeses have the potential to be infected with Listeria bacteria, which can be harmful to your baby.

If you are unsure about a certain food, it is best to avoid that food until you can find information regarding it. You should feel free to ask your doctor about any nutritional concerns you might have.

How to Stay Motivated and Achieve your Fitness Goals

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Success mostly comes through hard work and determination. A lot of people begin fitness programs and then fall off mid-way through the journey. Even with a fitness tracker that monitors your progress, it is difficult to realize your goals if your are not prepared to go the whole distance. How can you stay motivated and maintain a robust exercise routine?

This is the question that a lot of people grapple with when they start exercising and realize that it is not some walk in the park. Results will only come through consistent hard work. These are some of the ways in which you can stick to your fitness goals in order to achieve any meaningful results.

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Set Fitness goals that mean something

Why do you want to keep fit? Do you want to have the ability to choose your clothes from a huge selection? Is it because you want to have the strength to play with your kids? Establish a fitness goal that actually means something to you and work towards achieving it. Some people simply want to stay healthy for their loved ones. What matters most is that you set goals that have great meaning in your life. This will help you push yourself even when the going gets tough.

Have a source of motivation

You can be motivated to exercise by the possible end results. Think of how much your life will change for the better when you stay fit. Use this to push yourself in order to achieve meaningful results. Your source of motivation can also be your fitness goals. What is it that offers you encouragement or makes you want to succeed whenever you feel like giving up on your fitness regimen? Answering that question will help you stay focused and achieve your fitness goals.

Consequences of not exercising

What are the consequences of not exercising? Think of all the health complications that may arise as a result of not living a healthy lifestyle. The concern for your health should be enough to help you maintain fidelity to your fitness routine. There are many health complications that come with staying unfit and that should be enough to make you want to exercise.

Find a support group

Having a strong support system is very important in your quest to exercise on a regular basis. Your family members, colleagues and friends can provide a strong support network that would come in handy when you feel like giving up or deviating from your set goals and objectives. Lean on them for support and find the strength and motivation to carry on. Training in a group and competing against one another can also give you a strong support network.

These are some of the ways in which you can stay focused and maintain a regular fitness program. It’s never easy to exercise, quite honestly most people hate it but the benefits of staying fit are many and very important. With time it becomes fun and a normal part of your every day life. Living a healthy life is very fulfilling and joyous.

First Trimester Pregnancy Nutrition

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The first trimester can be one of great change in many aspects of your life and that includes pregnancy nutrition. Many moms-to-be want to immediately change how they eat. The trouble is making drastic changes too quickly can really backfire on you and land up causing too much stress. It is much better to incorporate changes slowly. We are going to look at the four basic areas of your first trimester nutrition to get you started on making dietary adjustments without the stress.

It would be wonderful if we knew in advance that we were to become pregnant. Sure, some pregnancies are planned but others are not. It would be great because then we could switch to a whole food diet that was organic before we became pregnant. Since this isn’t going to happen too often the best we can do is make the switch as soon as we know we are pregnant.

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Work towards the elimination of all processed foods and as many non-organic foods as possible. That is because processed foods along with non-organic foods that contain pesticides and other toxins are directly linked to numerous health concerns that can affect your baby. However, don’t look at this as an all or nothing situation. Do your best and remember every little change is a positive change for your baby. A good way to start is to remove processed foods from one meal a day and then take baby steps from there.

You should also eliminate sugar, artificial sweeteners, and caffeine from your diet. Experts agree it is safe for a pregnant woman to have 150 mg of caffeine a day so that’s a good starting point to cut back to. Once there you can try to cut it out completely. For anyone with a sweet tooth there are a number of natural sweeteners that you can use such as agave syrup, stevia, or raw honey.

Morning sickness can be a real problem during the first trimester of your pregnancy. As your body is trying to adjust to hormonal changes, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to deal with the nausea that is not always just in the mornings. For nausea that is incapacitating you need to talk to your doctor. However, there are some things that can calm nausea for many including ginger, eating protein, a handful of nuts, or crackers.

There you have it – a good start to nutrition for your first trimester to keep you and baby healthy.

Benefits of Using Fitness Trackers

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There is no doubt whatsoever that inactivity can lead to a lot of health related issues. Fitness trackers
monitor your level of activity and display the information on your smartphone. You not only have to stay
fit but also track your progress as you go about your fitness regimens to see whether you are on course
or you need to push yourself further.

Fitness trackers are smart devices that are highly functional and will help you keep healthy while staying true to your fitness goals. What are some of the benefits of having these devices?

Monitoring your progress

This is the most basic function of these devices because they can greatly help you to keep track of your
fitness goals. They monitor your general physical activity, heartbeat rate and other factors like quality of
sleep. If you like to jog, or even run in order to lose weight, you can check your progress and determine
whether your are making gains or lagging behind. The trackers have a smart way of displaying
information which is very much beneficial to you. It’s always hard to gauge yourself but with trackers
you can self-evaluate quite easily.

Motivation

By knowing how further away you are from realizing your goals, you can be motivated to work even
harder to achieve them. Some employers are also using the fitness trackers to motivate staff to keep fit.
They set targets and reward those that achieve them. It’s always great to exercise when you have
people pushing or competing against you. The device allows you to see how much progress you are
making which can be quite encouraging. There are many psychological advantages to this, the most
significant being that people are generally motivated to work harder when there is some progress made.

Ability to personalize your exercises

Fitness trackers allow you to set your own goals. They are connected to your smartphones and tablets
which means that you can very much personalize their functionality. There are people who hate going to
the gym because it makes them uncomfortable. These devices can act as substitutes to gym instructors
and help you keep track of your fitness exercises. You can monitor your progress and make the
necessary adjustments if need be.

An up to date weight loss tool

Most people join fitness activities primarily to lose weight and fitness trackers use forward technology to
help you achieve your weight-loss goals. You can check your heartbeat rate and see whether you are on
course by using the monitoring tools that measure your activity levels.

Great fashion pieces

This is not a health benefit but still nonetheless a benefit that comes with fitness trackers. They are
sometimes worn as digital watches and can be very ideal pieces of fashion accessories. They come in
different sizes, colors and shapes and you can therefore make your pick based on what will compliment
your personal style.

Workouts Programs For Beginners

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If you say you can’t work out appropriately because you are a neophyte in the journey called fitness, better re-think. Beginners like you can get hold of fitness routines that are just simple to execute. It doesn’t take any experience for you to go the gym to start your resistance and strength training.

Usually, fitness gurus will accommodate and provide you a specific program that comprises with warm-up, cardio, resistance training and cools down routines to complete every single gym session.

beginners

Your goal is to manage your weight for sure. But beyond that, the exercises you are going to do will also improve your blood circulation, increase your heart performance, enhance your resistance, and firm your muscles groups. The more lean muscles you develop, the higher your capacity to burn fat is.

Toning your muscles will also calm your whole system down, that’s why it’s important to finish your session with toning. Learn from the steps below so you can choose which areas to focus on. By doing one set of each, you will be able to experience a total body workout that toughens your shoulders, arms, chest, back, legs, abdomen, and hips.

1.Triceps Pushdown. You will need a pair of dumbbells to do some arms curl that targets to toughen and increase the muscles on your triceps. Do 16 repetitions in each arm.

2.Arm Curl Machine. Most fitness clubs have this machine that targets the arm muscles. You can do two sets of 16 for this one.

3.Lying Leg Raise and Press. For leg raise, you won’t need any equipment. You just have to lie down the floor on your back and raise your legs up and down. To do the leg press, you can use a specific machine wherein you just sit and extend your legs and start pushing the weight against you.

4.Shoulder Press Machine. You can stand up in front of the machine and grab the two grips. Start pressing up and down to feel the contraction on your shoulder and arms.

5.Seated Row Machine. Sit on the machine and place your feet on the metal steps. Grab the weight and pull it back with your shoulder blades together. Halt when your elbows are aligned and reverse the step.

6.Lying Leg Curl. Using a lever lying leg curl machine, you lean your upper body on the bench and insert your legs over the lever pads. Grab the handles and start flexing your knees. Lift the lever pads up and down repeatedly. You can do 16 or 32 counts of this.

For beginners, you can settle for machines that allow you to carry on your fitness programs more easily. As you get the hang of it, you can increase the intensity of your executions

A Pregnancy Diet Plan That Works

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Congratulations on your pregnancy! Of course, the first thing that’s on your mind is staying healthy throughout your pregnancy. Part of staying healthy is ensuring you have a pregnancy diet plan that works.

There are a number of reasons why moms who are expecting need to understand healthy nutrition but the most important is because of the impact what you eat has on your baby. A healthy diet is good for both you and your baby.

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Weight gain goes with being pregnant. In fact, it is a positive thing for both mom and baby. This is how nature begins to prepare your body for what is to come. A healthy diet is an excellent way to provide the nutrient for proper weight gain rather than excessive weight gain. When you gain the right amount of weight it will be much easier to lose after the baby is born.

There has also been a direct connection established between your nutritional health and how the effect it has on children later in their life. It’s been established that everything you do in those nine months from your physical activity to the fluids you drink will affect your child’s current growth and the child’s future growth. What you eat while you are pregnancy has the potential to prevent future health problems with your child and you. And of course, the food you eat now will affect your weight gain throughout your pregnancy.

During the first trimester, it is important that you make sure to limit any excess calorie intake. After the first 12 weeks pass, you can add an additional 300 calories per day in addition to your regular calorie intake.

If you are of normal weight, you should expect to gain 25 to 35 pounds during your pregnancy. You should limit your weight gain to no more than 5-10 pounds in the first 20 weeks, and then following that a pound per week. Doctors advise that you lose some weight before becoming pregnant if you are overweight. This will make it easier for you to keep extra weight off during your pregnancy and to lose it after the birth. Statistically women who are overweight have a significantly higher emergency cesarean rate, miscarriage rate, more incidents of gestational diabetes and suffer from high blood pressure more often.

To significantly increase the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy make sure that you eat a nutritional diet, high in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and protein, while avoiding processed foods.

Why is it important to keep fit?

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It is very important to keep fit and stay healthy. A lot of people fail to acknowledge the numerous
benefits of exercise routines and only begin to do so when health complications arise.

Why then is it important to stay fit?

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Burning of excess fat

Regular exercises will help you burn excess body fat and keep your body lean. There are many health
complications associated with having too much body fat. Heart diseases that are often very fatal are
mostly as a result of excess body fat. The fats can clog arteries and overwork the heart which can then
result into a lot of health complications. Stroke and heart attack are just some of the health risks that
arise as a result of excess body fat.

Great physique

A lot of overweight people struggle with issues of body image yet they are not willing to do anything
about it. Sometimes you see very nice clothes and you can’t fit into them because of your body size.
Fitness exercises will help you develop a great physique by shedding excess fat and gaining a great body.
Exercising will help you get rid of cellulite and have a flat tummy. Weightlifting, a part of fitness exercise
routines, is ideal for gaining muscles and molding a great body.

Mental strength

Exercising keeps you sharp and alert at all times. It’s very ideal for developing your mental strength and
increasing your level of awareness. Keeping your body active also improves the functioning of the brain.
There is a reason why most athletes are usually happy. Exercising improves clarity of mind and through
the release of dopamine, it changes your mood for the better. Maybe the reason why you stay grumpy
all the time is due to lack of exercise. Run around the blocks each morning, jog or lift weights and see
how much good it does to your mind.

Building of physical strength

Fitness exercises are ideal for strength building. Regular exercise routines will build body muscles and
improve your physical strength. They are also important in strengthening your back for good postures.
People generally become less active as they grow older. This can be a very big challenge especially when
you have small kids that expect you to play with them. Fitness routines will help you gain the much
needed strength and agility to keep up with the youthful exuberance of your children. Exercising also
slows down the aging process by tightening your skin and increasing your body’s metabolic rate.

These are just some of the benefits of having a robust fitness routine. A lot of people ignore them only
to start developing lifestyle diseases later in life. Exercising is very important and some of the
consequences of not engaging in fitness routines are catastrophic. How can you drive yourself to
exercise and maintain a disciplined fitness schedule?

Having fitness goals that actually mean something to you will help you develop a disciplined fitness routine and achieve your desired result. Using fitness trackers, you can monitor your general physical activity and evaluate your progress.

3 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight Fast

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Are you obese? Have you attempted almost everything to lose weight with little success? Well, losing weight can prove to be a difficult task especially if you don’t know where to start from, or you lack an experienced hand to guide you through the process.

In this post, we’ll delve into 3 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight no matter how hard you try. To learn more, please read on.

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– You don’t exercise regularly

If you intend to lose weight exercise is a must. Health experts recommend that you work out for at least thirty minutes daily. Regular exercise will help you burn extra calories and regulate the production of a hormone named cortisol produced when you are stressed. Cortisol is closely associated with obesity since when your body is recovering from stress it increases your appetite to compensate for the carbohydrates and fat that was used to prepare your body for fight or flight.

– You are not eating healthy

What you eat will determine your body weight. If you intend to lose weight, and you still eat processed foods that are rich in trans fats, salt, and sugars, you are doing more harm than good to your body. These substances tamper with your digestion as well as metabolism. Besides, processed foods lack nutrients and won’t satisfy you, meaning that you will have to eat more to deal with your cravings. Modify your diet by including more fruits, vegetables, and proteins that contain nutrients that promote weight loss. And that is not all, also ensure that you drink enough water to improve your digestion and catalyze reactions that result in burning off extra calories.

– You are not sleeping well

Lastly, to achieve your weight loss goals, you can’t overlook getting enough sleep. Sleep is crucial in promoting your overall health as well as weight loss. Studies have shown that those who don’t get enough sleep have a tendency of consuming high-calorie foods the next day. Yes, you heard me right! Besides, lack of enough sleep also affects your appetite hormones namely leptin and ghrelin increasing your appetite. So, if you are not sleeping well, start sleeping for about seven to eight hours to lose weight without much hassle.

Wrap Up:

There you have it-3 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight. Getting the body that you have always desired can be so hard sometimes. However if you exercise, eat healthily and sleep well, then you will be in a better position to lose weight fast within the shortest time possible.

5 Key Principles to Pregnancy Nutrition

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If you already eat a healthy diet before pregnancy, there may only be small adjustments you need to make to your diet to ensure you are eating right for the next night months.

These five key principles will ensure that you remain fit and healthy, and that baby gets all the nutrients he or she needs to grow to be strong and healthy.

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#1 Drink Plenty of Water

For a healthy pregnancy, it is critical that you drink enough water, as it will help to flush the toxins from your body and fight water retention. Water will also help with constipation and headaches associated with pregnancy.

#2 Avoid Processed Foods

The best way to begin your pregnancy is with proper nutrition. That includes the elimination of processed foods that are high in fillers, sodium, salt, and preservatives, which could potentially pose a risk to baby. In addition, you are far more likely to gain extra water and suffer with fluid retention when your diet contains processed foods. Instead, opt for healthy, whole food choices that are good for you and baby.

#3 Buy Organic

Organic foods are becoming more readily available and they are also becoming more affordable. Therefore, your goal should be to buy organic whenever possible. This is especially true when it comes to dairy products, meats, and eggs. Organic foods are higher in amino acids and fatty acids than the non-organic version. When it comes to fruits and vegetables at least make sure that those with the highest pesticide concentrations are organic. These are peaches, celery, apples, strawberries, blueberries, spinach, bell peppers, kale, cherries, grapes, and potatoes.

#4 Eat Vegetable With Every Meal

As you get further along in your pregnancy it becomes even more important to make sure that you eat vegetables with every meal. They are high in fiber and that will help with constipation associated with pregnancy. You’ll also feel fuller and you’ll obtain tons of nutrients.

#5 Every Meal Should Include Healthy Fats 

Healthy fats include olive oil, organic butter, coconut oil, raw nuts, nut butters, and avocado. These fats will help you to feel full while providing you with nutrients, and they provide the kind of healthy fats that help with your baby’s cognitive development.

Include these five key principles in your pregnancy nutrition and you’ll be on your way to well balanced nutrition throughout your pregnancy. Of course, you should always follow your doctor’s orders when it comes to nutrition.

 

What Is A Fitness Tracker?

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Technological advancement has given rise to many smart applications that not only improve efficiency
but also make tracking and monitoring of different activities easier. It’s always important to monitor
your progress as far as your health and fitness regimen is concerned. A fitness tracker is therefore that
application or device used in tracking and monitoring fitness goals.

It measures metrics such as distance run or walked, rate of heartbeat, calories consumed and sometimes even the quality of your sleep. Most of these tracking devices are wirelessly synchronized to a smartphone or computer for the purposes of regular data tracking and reporting.

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In many cases, people have fitness goals or targets, whether monthly or on a daily basis, that they hope
to achieve. Monitoring the progress of your fitness regimen can be a challenge especially if you are not a
certified fitness trainer or health practitioner. Fitness tracking devices give you the capability to monitor
your progress and determine how far you are from meeting your targets, or if indeed you achieved or
exceeded them.

Most of them are wearable and can also serve as regular digital watches. Some people wear them as accessories because of their fashion forward designs. These devices have become so main stream that some firms have decided to use them in encouraging consumers to live healthily.

The electronic fitness trackers are basically an advanced version of pedometers. Apart from counting
steps, they also use accelerometers to determine distance covered, graph general physical activity and
calculate calorie usage. In some cases they also keep track of and graph quality of sleep and heart rate.

As you go about your fitness routines, there are various activities that you engage in such as walking,
running, swimming, jogging, bike rides and normal house chores. It is important that you stay true to
your goals and monitor your progress because that is the only way you’ll be able to achieve your
objectives.

A fitness tracker is an ideal way to easily monitor your activity with great accuracy. You can imagine it to
be an electronic finger on your pulse, measuring your vitals on a regular basis. These trackers have made
use of the latest technology to enable fitness enthusiasts monitor their activities and keep track of their
progress. Most people spend so much time on their smartphones or tablets which is why fitness trackers
are synchronized with these devices for report displays.

Trackers can also be connected to social media apps like Facebook but one has to be careful since there are some instances when private information has ended up in the internet and public domain. There are different trackers available in the market and people can therefore make buying decisions based on prices, functionality and personal style.