All MFN blog Archives - Page 102 of 142

Talking About Food

Nancy Clark, RD/11 September 2017/ All MFN blog/

Food is fuel and food is medicine. Food brings people together and is supposed to be one of life’s pleasures. Shared meals are a vehicle for building relationships, enjoying conversations, and nourishing the soul.

Unfortunately in today’s society, too many athletes and fitness exercisers alike report they have no time to enjoy meals. Sports parents struggle to gather their student athletes for a family dinner; practices and games inevitably interrupt the dinner hour. And even when seated at the same table, some family members may be eating just salad while the rest of the family enjoys steak. So much for eating out of the same pot.

Today’s food conversations commonly refer to good food, bad food, clean food, fattening food. We all know athletes who don’t do sugar, gluten, white flour, or red meat, to say nothing of cake on birthdays, ice cream cones in summer, or apple pie on Thanksgiving. We live with abundant food, but we have created a fearful eating environment with our words. This article invites you to pay attention to how you think and talk about food. Perhaps it is time to watch your mouth, so you can start to change the current culture that makes food a source of fear for many athletes.

Good food vs. Bad Food

“I eat only healthy foods —lots of fresh fruits and vegetables—and I stay away from stuff in wrappers with ingredients I can’t pronounce.“ While this may seem like a noble stance towards being a responsible caretaker for your body, it raises a few red flags for me.

One, a diet of only healthy foods can be a very unhealthy diet. For example, apples are a healthy food, but a diet of all apples is a very unhealthy diet.
Two, a diet with only unprocessed food eliminates refined or lightly processed grains that are enriched with vitamins and iron, nutrients of importance for athletes. For instance, “all natural” breakfast cereals like Puffins and Kashi offer only 4% to 10% of the Daily Value for iron, as compared to iron-enriched cereals like Wheaties, GrapeNuts, and Bran Flakes and that offer 45% to 100% of the recommended intake. If you eat very little red meat (a rich source of dietary iron), do not cook in a cast iron skillet (a meat-free source of iron), and eat only “all natural” grain foods, you could easily have an iron-deficient diet. This shows up in anemia and needless fatigue. A survey of female runners (ages 18-22) reports 50% had anemia, often undiagnosed.

Yes, many hard-to-pronounce and unfamiliar words like niacinamide, ferrous sulfate, and ascorbic acid are listed among the ingredients of many grain foods. These are the scientific names for the same vitamins in pills. There’s a reason why they were added to foods in the first place. Adding folic acid to grains has reduced the risk of having a baby with a birth defect. B-12 is important for vegans. Will the trend to avoid enriched and fortified foods come back to bite us? How about choosing the best of both?

Bad food vs. Fun Food

When athletes feel compelled to confess their nutritional sins to me (“I eat too many bad foods—chips, French fries, nachos… “), I quickly remind them there is no such thing as a bad food (or a good food, for that matter). Is birthday cake really a bad food? Is a hot dog at a baseball game going to ruin your health forever? Should you not make cookies with your children on a snowy day?

Those so-called bad foods are actually fun foods that taste yummy and can fit into an overall balanced diet. Rather than critiquing a single food, please judge your diet by the whole week, month, and year. Halloween candy is a fun treat in the midst of a steady intake of fruits, vegetables, lean meats and wholesome grains. So is pumpkin pie with ice cream.

Depriving yourself of fun foods creates good and bad foods, as well as a really bad relationship with food. Eating a fun food is not cheating. The problem arises when you restrict fun foods, only to succumb to devouring not just one cookie but all 24 of them. Binge-eating burdens you with not only excess body fat, but also (self-imposed) guilt for having broken your food rules, and disgust with yourself for having pigged out.

Eating the whole thing means you like that food and should actually eat it more often, rather than try to stay away from it. Contrary to what you may believe, you are not addicted to cookies. You are simply doing “last chance” eating. Last chance to have cookies (or so you tell yourself) because they are a bad food and I shouldn’t eat them at all.

There’s a more peaceful way to live. Try balancing a cookie or two into your daily menu. After all, you need not have a perfect diet to have an excellent diet. A reasonable goal is 85-90% quality foods; 10-15% “whatever.”

Healthy diet vs. A single ingredient

Salt, sugar, and saturated fat seem to be today’s food demons. Rather than look at each ingredient, I cannot encourage you enough to look at the entire food (and your entire diet). Take sugar, for example. Are the 3 grams of sugar in Skippy peanut butter really a source of evil? What about the 10 grams of refined sugar in chocolate milk? That (“evil”) sugar quickly refuels muscles after a hard workout. That’s why chocolate milk is an effective recovery food. After a hard workout, when you are tired and thirsty, but not yet hungry, the sugar in chocolate milk offers a quick energy boost that normalizes your low blood glucose and replenishes depleted muscle glycogen. While some athletes focus on chocolate milk’s 10 grams (40 calories) of added sugar, I invite you to welcome its high quality protein (needed to repair muscles) and abundant vitamins and minerals that invest in your good health. The fit bodies of athletes can metabolize sugar much better than the unfit bodies of couch potatoes.

The bottom line

You want to enjoy an excellent diet, and not strive for a “perfect” (but very strict) diet. You can win good health and perform well with a balanced diet, filled with a variety of foods, and enjoyed in moderation.

Sports nutritionist Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD has a private practice in the Boston-area (Newton; 617-795-1875), where she helps both fitness exercisers and competitive athletes create winning food plans. Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook, and food guides for marathoners, cyclists and soccer are available at nancyclarkrd.com. For online workshops, see www.NutritionSportsExerciseCEUs.com.

Pregnant woman doing yoga with a personal trainer

Prenatal Exercise Program Design: Exercise Duration

Catherine Cram/8 September 2017/ All MFN blog/

Exercise duration during pregnancy should reflect a woman’s current level of fitness and the type of activity she is doing. If you’re working with someone who’s just starting a prenatal exercise program the duration will be shorter (15-20 minutes) and progress slowly over time to 30-60 minutes. A pregnant woman who is already taking part in a fitness routine can continue with her current duration level, but exercise duration should be modified as needed to enable her to achieve a moderate to somewhat hard level of intensity without discomfort or undue fatigue.

Some exercise activities, such as swimming, may require a longer duration in order to achieve a moderate to somewhat hard intensity, so close monitoring of exercise intensity will help determine whether a longer bout is needed. As pregnancy progresses, pregnant women may find that they are able to tolerate a longer duration, lower intensity exercise bout better than a higher intensity, shorter bout, but avoid taking the intensity below the targeted zone of 12 to 14 on the 20-point scale or 3 to 4 on the 10-point scale.

In the case where a pregnant woman is having difficulty maintaining her normal exercise duration, try dividing the workout into two shorter sessions during the day. This is a helpful tool for enabling women to continue to exercise when she’s experiencing more fatigue in later pregnancy.

Want to learn more about how to develop a safe and effective maternal fitness program? The CE correspondence course “Prenatal and Postpartum Exercise Design” is available ppfconsulting.com

Catherine Cram, MS, is the owner of Comprehensive Fitness Consulting, a company that provides pre- and postnatal fitness certifications and information to hospitals, health & wellness organizations and the military.

Article reprinted from her blog with permission.

Health Trackers & Apps are Dangerous… Scientists Say What?

Dr. Steve Feyrer-Melk/7 September 2017/ All MFN blog/

With over 165,000 health-related apps in the App Store and Millions of wearables in the hands of the general public, scientists are wondering if they are “doing more harm than good”? One expert commented that the field can be “likened to the snake oil salesmen of the 1860s.” Is this true?

Question: What is the danger of health-related technologies in the hands of the general public?

Answer: Because health-related technology is often “one size fits all” with the data it provides mistakenly seen as the “holy grail” that leads to improved health, it can lead individuals down a path that does not correlate with improved behaviors. This should not be a shock to health professionals as it is certainly unfair to expect the average technology user to be a “health expert” who is able to accurately analyze health data and implement the proper behavior change.

Therefore, the real question should be . . . How can the power of health-related technologies that is already in the hands of the pubic, be appropriately leveraged? Well my friends, that answer lies square in the hands of the Health Professional who fills the significant gap between the individual and technology they use. I call this the Technology-Behavior Change Triad© (Details in the next article in this series).

Where the Rubber Meets the Road: While working with clients and patients for over 5 years we have successfully integrated health-related technologies with our patients and clients. During this time we have found them to be the key tool for providing patient-matched, actionable feedback related to long-term behavior change. Think about it, how else can we get “real-time”, individualized information from clients or patients when they are not with us? What’s more, smartphones and wearables are already in the hands in just about ALL of our current and potential clients and patients so as professionals we are remiss if we disregarded the use of this technology.

The Take Home Message: Health-Related technology provides valuable information to the end user. Can this be harmful? Well, the question really should be . . . How can this technology be most impactful for improved health? Simply put, the Health Professional can harness the power of Health-Related technology when it is integrated within the client or patient relationship. In the end, not only do these tools allow the creation of the best individualized motivational environment for each person, but they also take your business to the next level as you optimize your service offering with more efficient and effective engagement!

Reprinted with permission from Dr. Steve Feyrer-Melk.

Steve Feyrer-Melk, MEd, PhD, is a powerful, passionate, and trusted authority in Lifestyle Medicine who is bringing an innovative, refreshing, and successful approach to proactive health care. Dr. Steve co-founded the Optimal Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center where he crafts and hones real-world programs for immediate impact. Dr. Steve also serves as the Chief Science Officer of Nudge, LLC, a lifestyle medical technology company.

The Complete Guide for Exercising During Menopause

M Pimentel/6 September 2017/ All MFN blog/

“Grab those hand weights and get ready to go into a squat position,” a popular exercise guru cheerily calls out in her exercise video. So a group of women, ages 16 to 52, dutifully get their weights and huff and puff their way through the routine for 20 minutes three times a week. The oldest of them, Maria, has been doing aerobics for a year. She firmly believes that the workouts have helped her avoid the hot flashes, headaches, mood swings, sleeplessness and depression that is commonly experienced by women as they go into their pre-menopause stage — and she may be right.

Why Exercise is Good

Numerous studies have shown that exercise can be an effective antidote to the rough days caused by the hormonal changes when women hit their late forties or early fifties.

The most common symptoms, like hot flashes and sleeplessness, are associated with weight gain. Exercising also helps prevent weight gain and loss of muscle mass that goes with menopause.

The many benefits of regular exercise may also include boosting your mood, strengthening your heart, and even promoting bone density.

While many women opt for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a way to cope with the oftentimes debilitating physical and mental challenges of menopause, HRT often puts women at risk for blood clots, heart disease, breast cancer, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, loss of muscle strength and dementia. Those push-ups and crunches are looking better by the minute, aren’t they?

So, it’s on with the sweat pants and off to the gym we go!

What are the Best Exercises?

Dr. Alexis Abrahams, a gerontologist (a doctor specializing in the elderly), advises that exercising consistently is the key to getting the best out the exercises rather than the kind of exercise. Women in their 40s, 50s and 60s should aim to do any of these three forms of exercises:

Aerobic/cardiovascular – these exercises strengthen the heart and lungs and can burn calories to help with weight management. If you’re a beginner, start with 10 minutes a day and gradually increase as you get stronger.

Walking
Jogging
Tennis
Cycling
Working out on the elliptical machine, StairMaster
Dancing – ballroom, zumba, salsa

Strengthening – When menopause hits, estrogen levels go down along with muscle mass. Working out on machines can help strengthen muscles and bones, burn body fat and rev up your metabolism. Choose a weight or resistance level that will tire your muscles after 12 repetitions.

Hand weights
Dumbbells
Resistance bands
Exercise machines that strengthen muscles and bones and help manage weight

Flexibility/stretching/range of motion – exercises that keep our aging bodies more flexible and helpful for improving (and maintaining) joint function if you have arthritis.

Stretching exercises
Yoga, taichi
Pilates

Before You Start

Always check with your doctor before you consider any strenuous activity. Ask what kind of exercises are safe and how much you can do without causing additional harm to your body. If you have bad knees, avoid running or jogging or jumping which will put additional stress on the knees. For women with osteoporosis, don’t do activities like biking or any sport that would put you at risk of impact that could break a bone. Better scratch those judo classes from your list!

Whatever the activity, choose exercises that you enjoy and chances are you’ll continue doing them regularly.

How Much Should You Do?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, women younger than 65 should spend at least 150 minutes a week on moderate-intensity aerobic exercises, like walking or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercises. This can be broken down into 30 minutes, five times a week or smaller increments such as 15 minutes daily.

Do strength training at least twice a week, making sure to rest for at least one day between these sessions. Do balance and stability exercises for 5 minutes every day, along with 1 to 3 minutes of stretching twice a day. If you choose to include yoga and meditation in your exercise regimen, do them on an as-desired basis, especially when you’re stressed and need something to keep you from throwing a brick at your loud next-door neighbor. Or your boss.

Here’s a sample workout schedule from the excellent book “The Ultimate Guide to Taking Control of Your Health and Beauty During Menopause” by Staness Jonekos.

Monday: Warm-up/Stretch, strength training, cardio
Tuesday: Warm-up/Stretch, cardio
Wednesday: Warm-up/Stretch, strength training, cardio
Thursday: Warm-up/Stretch, cardio
Friday: Warm-up/Stretch, strength training, cardio
Saturday: Warm-up/Stretch, cardio
Sunday: Rest

Doing your exercises right

Getting on the exercise bike or walking everyday just doesn’t cut it. To reduce injury and to make the most of exercising, make sure you steer clear of these 6 common mistakes.

You only do cardio

Sure, you’re sweating after a thirty-minute power walk, but as menopause kicks in, you also need strength training to maintain your muscles and burn the calories. Edna Levitt of 50+ Fitness recommends master squats and lunges to keep the big leg muscles strong and help people stay independent and active longer.

Focusing on low-impact exercises like swimming to walking or running

Yes, your muscles might be moving but your bones get left behind. Keeping your skeleton strong and healthy requires bone-jarring exercises like running and weightlifting to help ward off osteoporosis. For postmenopausal women, brisk walking four times a week may be enough to lower the risk of hip fractures compared to women who didn’t walk as much.

You take it easy

You can still do the exercises you did when you were in your 40s, says a JAMA Oncology study. Postmenopausal women who did 5 hours of vigorous aerobic exercises per week lost more body fat in a year than women who exercised less.

You eat the same

You were already eating healthy before, but when your metabolism slows down during menopause, you need to eat 200 calories less than you did during your 30s and 40s. Choose protein sources from fish, chicken, and turkey and lots and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

You forget to warm-up

Skipping the warm-up leads to injuries. A 10-minute warm-up like arm circles, high knees or neck rotations can get the old bones and muscles ready.

You think you can do it on your own

As always, check with your doctor about any of the intensive exercises you plan to do. Get a therapist or a personal trainer for proper guidance especially with the strength training and vigorous exercises.

To keep yourself motivated, get your pals and family to exercise with you. The more the merrier!

M is a happily married Filipino mother to three wonderful little daughters, ages: 8 years, 5 years, and 4 months old. Her daily life is a struggle between being the Executive Content Director for Project Female and deciding who gets to watch television next. She specializes in creating and editing content for female empowerment, parenting, beauty, health/nutrition, and lifestyle. As the daughter of two very hardworking people, she was brought up with strict traditional Asian values and yet embraces modern trends like Facebook, vegan cupcakes, and the occasional singing cat video.

Healthy Aging by the Decades: Your 60s

Nicholas Prukop/5 September 2017/ All MFN blog/

In this last part of the series I will share with you what it has meant to me to train for my 70s – and look forward to training for my 80s. The notion of living well today – and creating a healthy and happy tomorrow – is one I am living by everyday in the present. We ARE powerful – if we are conscious of our potential in the present moment. In fact, I have saved the best for last: the issue isn’t getting older – it is getting old.

The state of the medical arts

My daily observations confirm that people are indeed “aging badly” and it is only getting worse with the rise of sedentary lifestyles, the ever increasing obesity epidemic, and the growing attachment to our “devices” – those things that continue to rob us of precious time in the present. Medication and drugs now play a crucial role in the world of healthcare. Joint replacement surgeries are on the rise and only increasing in number with each passing day. Our reliance and dependence upon technology to solve our health issues and challenges is a key ingredient in how we are treating “what ails us” today. Specialization has increased throughout the medical profession to the point that we no longer see “our doctor” – we see many doctors. This is the reality of the 21st century and these trends are creating a world that I hardly recognize. I am convinced that the individual is slowly being removed from the process of truly being a partner in his own health decisions and the “system” is becoming overwhelming for all of us.

So what are we to do about this problem of aging healthfully in a world that doesn’t yet recognize the concept of personal wellness while promising “cures” and “quick fixes” through drugs, surgeries, and diets? The internet is full of answers that can now come to us in “the blink of an eye”. Is this the right path to health?

The answer in my mind is ‘NO’, but the truth DOES rest in becoming personally responsible – and accountable – for our own health and lifestyle choices. This power I recognize comes from within not from without, from relying on our ‘self’ instead of others. By taking responsibility and remaining present TODAY, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to determine our own health and fitness futures. This is becoming increasingly difficult in the world of the 21st century and is creating a significant roadblock to progress. Training mentally, physically and spiritually represents our best hope for a healthy future.

Back in 1988, when I “bet on myself” after losing my health insurance and chose the path of the fitness professional, I was not sure what was going to happen to me in the years ahead. I only knew that since I could not afford health insurance on my own, I was going to have to be responsible enough, smart enough, and finally lucky enough to do “it alone” and “take care of myself”. My continuing education in the fitness profession – and commitment to my own health and fitness needs – gave me strength and confidence.

Obviously it worked out for me and the idea that “we are all more powerful than we realize” is one I am willing to “bet on” as well. The notion that we don’t control our health outcomes is false. We are – through our choices – powerful beings, but if we don’t believe it for ourselves then we ARE powerless to change. Changing our minds – and attitudes about our potential – is critical to any positive outcome.

What I learned from my 60s

The decade of my 60s started evolving from the moment I finished writing my book Healthy Aging and You in 2006. Everything I have done, learned, and applied in my life since that special moment has gone toward becoming the “example of the change I wish to see in the world”. My example is similar to the one Jack Lalanne spent his entire life perfecting and sharing with the world over the course of his 96 years on earth. I see the benefits of healthy aging in my own experience now because I cared to look at the possibilities of my own “inner” power, and at the same time, I acted upon the principles of healthy aging as I understood them in my own life.

My running program, my spiritual practices, and my weight training programs were designed for me to find the message in my own life and be able to crystallize it in my consciousness so that I could share it with the world. I have been training my mind, body, and spirit every day with the hope of making a difference in the world – and bring meaning into my own life. I have been attempting to recognize the potential that resides within me – and embrace the belief that we are indeed the “captains of our own ships”. It is up to each of us to decide the direction our lives will take – and it all begins with choice.

The decade of my 60s has shown me that I am capable of far more than I ever dreamed possible. This message was driven home to me through my running program. By taking a “leap of faith” one day in the fall of 2015 I found out that I am fully capable of running at a 5 minute per mile pace on the treadmill and am able to sustain that pace over time. The goal of running a 6 minute mile on my 80th birthday is now REAL in my consciousness because I learned I CAN run faster than that as demonstrated in my training runs in my 60s.

I could never have learned this important lesson about myself had I continued to run outside on the roads – it would not have been possible for me to achieve. BELIEF in oneself is CRUCIAL to any positive growth in life and this is true regardless of the form it takes. I now believe in my potential for great things because I finally believe I am not only capable of great things – but I deserve them as well. I get to live the best life has to offer now as I approach my 70s – and beyond – because I wanted to be an example of what is possible so badly. I never gave up on my vision. You too can have this – but you have to first believe – and then ACT upon your belief.

Some suggestions for your 60s

You are NEVER too old to start again.
You are never “out of the game” unless you choose to remove yourself from it first. (Quitters never win and winners never quit)
It is never over until you say it is over.
How LONG we live is irrelevant as long as we get to live the life we choose.
Life is precious and cannot be “replaced” with something better because there is NOTHING better than being truly ALIVE.
We each count and it matters what we do, believe, feel, think, and dream. Dreaming and thinking ARE life in action.
I am convinced Jack Lalanne was right. Through his example – and the example of others I truly respect and admire such as John Wooden, Vin Scully, Chick Hearn, Bob Hope and Nelson Mandela, I have realized that we are truly unlimited in our potential because our minds are unlimited in their potential. It is in remaining committed to our own purpose – and our own health and fitness needs – that we not only survive – but THRIVE.
Training mentally, physically and spiritually every day is the only REAL answer to our health challenges – including the obesity crisis.
Being conscious – and learning to remain conscious every day – is our responsibility and obligation – if we are to age healthfully. This is now my own belief.
The world of modern technologically driven medicine is going to have to “catch up” to the world of wellness but I believe it is possible – if the conversation is established – and maintained – by those who truly care about improving health outcomes in the world of the 21st century. I am committed to being a part of this conversation for the remainder of my life.

In summary

This series has attempted to shine the “light of truth” on a very complex and puzzling challenge – the issue of healthy aging in the 21st century. In a technologically driven world we are constantly being asked to believe in ourselves and yet are given precious little confirmation of the real value of this idea. We are sitting our way to ill health and are being overloaded with information in a world that is increasingly becoming angrier and more frustrated and frightened with each passing day. Where is the hope in this picture?

It is my hope that through changing ourselves FIRST we can ALL become examples of the change we wish to see in the world. This is purpose and hope enough for me. I do not want to argue about my thoughts on this subject – I simply want to share them and let others decide if they are worthy of consideration. It is my own personal goal to continue what I started in my 50s and 60s: to develop and perfect the idea of what it means to me to age healthfully and continue to share what I have learned with others until my life ends. The rest is not in my hands. The world will change – or not.

Take time today to consider your own path in life and remember to be patient and loving toward your ‘self’ – and grateful and forgiving as well. The two cornerstones of my life – gratitude and forgiveness (and of course love) – are always guiding me in my choices for the day. I do not know what tomorrow will bring – I only know that today well lived is its own reward. Sail well!

You can read the previous articles in this series by clicking on the links below:

Healthy aging by the decades: Your youth
Healthy aging by the decades:Your 30s & 40s
Healthy aging by the decades: Your 50s

Originally printed on HealthyNewAge.com. Reprinted with permission from Nicholas Prukop.

Nicholas Prukop is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer & a Health Coach, a fitness professional with over 25 years of experience whose passion for health and fitness comes from his boyhood in Hawaii where he grew up a swimmer on Maui. He found his calling in writing his first book “Healthy Aging & You: Your Journey to Becoming Happy, Healthy & Fit” and since then he has dedicated himself to empowering, inspiring and enabling people of all ages to reach for the best that is within them and become who they are meant to be – happy, healthy and fit – and be a part of a world where each person can contribute their own unique gifts to life.

Super Food! 5 Rules That Make Food Super

Ashley Koff, RD/4 September 2017/ All MFN blog/

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a Super Food! Like the arrival of super heroes to save the day, super foods landed upon us in the last decade and now we are all supposed to load up on them to save our days. But are they really so super? Let’s get better Super Food nutrition, simplified and see!

Super Food Rule #1

ORGANIC FOOD is SUPER, chemistry lab projects are not. No bells and whistles required, no need to be found or able to leap tall plants in the Amazon or Balinese jungle, no need to grow where no one else grows… just need to be food, from a seed or having eaten the plant, whole or minimally processed, grown without excess of harmful pesticides. So while chemistry is a SUPER fun class (or can be), and is SUPER awesome at helping us test and learn things, let’s focus on consuming more organic food, most often.

Super Food Rule #2

Better Nutrition is SUPER. When your body gets what it needs, wants, and recognizes most easily it functions most efficiently and effectively to deliver you the better health you seek. Whether it’s better energy, better skin, better heart health, better immune health, better all of the above health – you get it, your body will too when it gets better nutrition. So check out the Better Nutrition Simplified plan and assess how SUPER your nutrition is today to fuel better health tomorrow.

Super Food Rule #3

Nutrient balance, not calorie counting, is SUPER. Your body doesn’t need fuel, it needs the right fuel for the right parts and activities. That means carbs for quick energy including brain fuel, fats to promote healthy inflammatory response and sustainable energy, proteins for muscles, hormones, and enzymes and all your non-starchy vegetables for routine and deep clean up and removal of unwanted “dirt.” So make any nutrition pit stop SUPER by balancing your nutrients.

Super Food Rule #4

SUPER is as much about what a food is free from as it is about what it contains. Plenty of super food products and ingredients being sold may be full of a high amount of an antioxidant but also full of binders, highly processed and even artificial ingredients. Conversely, some may be isolates of the “super” ingredient but it is not so super without its comrades from the whole food form. For example, if your gluten free cereal is made from refined flour and then has added isolated ingredients like a vitamin or mineral (not even in the same form as found in the food) then there’s nothing SUPER about it. Instead get an organic gluten free cereal with whole or minimally processed ingredients and if you need it, take a quality organic multi as a supplement (not sure if you need it a supplement, that’s what I am here for, fill out the supplement evaluation form here and send it to me so I can help you)

Super Food Rule #5

DIY is SUPER, but so is Some Assemble Required (thanks IKEA for that phrase). When you buy ready to eat food, it may be ready and fast but it likely has ingredients that keep it ready and fast and as such make it a little less super. For example, instead of buying a ready to eat yogurt parfait, try adding Nature’s Path Qi’a coconut chia super flakes to your plain almond yogurt (or make my cashew cream and top it with the super flakes) for a delicious, better nutrition pit stop because you control the quality, quantity, and nutrient balance making it a SUPER FOOD version of your desired eats or sips (same goes for your lattes and your smoothies, see the Better Liquid Nutrition Simplified quick start guide).

If you know me, you know that I believe in Better, not superlatives like Super or Healthiest and certainly not Perfect. I am in the business of helping you have more, better days and that begins with better nutrition. But I get that we may want things to feel SUPER, so I hope this helped you sort the SUPER from the Not So. Got more questions? I have Answers, so send them my way for an #AskAshley answer to help you have another better day fueled by better nutrition.

Originally printed on ashleykoffapproved.com. Reprinted with permission.

Ashley Koff RD is your better health enabler. For decades, Koff has helped thousands get and keep better health by learning to make their better not perfect nutrition choices more often. A go-to nutrition expert for the country’s leading doctors, media, companies and non-profit organizations, Koff regularly shares her Better Nutrition message with millions on national and local television, magazines and newspapers. Visit her website at ashleykoffapproved.com.

If Exercise is Medicine for People with Parkinson’s, Why Isn’t Everyone Doing It?

Carisa Campanella/1 September 2017/ All MFN blog/

The three national thought leaders presenting at the Annual Parkinson’s Symposium in 2015 were all in passionate agreement: exercise is imperative in treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. We have cultivated and grown many Parkinson’s-specific exercise programs in Sarasota County, from spin classes to yoga, at levels appropriate for all stages of the disease. In addition, exercise is the only know treatment modality with 100% positive side effects!

So why isn’t everyone doing it?

As a Care Advisor and Health Coach, I am continually striving to understand what motivates or inhibits people from exercising. Why are some in our Parkinson’s community committed exercise enthusiasts, while others seem to come up with innumerable reasons why they can’t participate in physical activities?

I believe a core reason may be what the American Council of Exercise refers to as the concern for “psychological safety.” If someone has Parkinson’s, that person may believe that participating in exercise is dangerous. A fear of falling, freezing of gait, or muscle stiffness preventing completion of an exercise class may prevent a potential exerciser from starting a program that could help reduce all these symptoms.

People with Parkinson’s may also have heightened feelings of self-consciousness, and may fear embarrassment while participating in a class setting. Gyms can be intimidating, and often it is difficult to know where to start. Even the most structured and supervised exercise classes have some levels of unpredictability.

Another concern people with neuro-degenerative diseases face is coming to terms with diminished physical abilities. If a person with Parkinson’s has had an active and athletic past, it may be difficult to acknowledge what the body can no longer do. Seeing others at later stages of Parkinson’s may dissuade someone from attending an exercise group that could slow down the progression of the disease.

So how can we address these concerns? Those with Parkinson’s first need to know that they are not alone, that there are many people fighting this disease with exercise and are having fun doing it. Finding a safe and effective exercise class with qualified professionals in a supportive environment is the next step. Often times it is less intimidating to attend an exercise class with a spouse or friend, and always know that if you are new to exercise, you will always be encouraged to go at your own pace until you become more confident in your abilities. Finally, not only do regular exercisers have fun and empower themselves with the ability to help diminish their Parkinson’s symptoms – they become stronger in body, attitude and spirit. Be a Parkinson’s fighter.

Carisa Campanella, BA, AS, is an ACE Health Coach and ACSM Personal Trainer. She is the Program Manager at the Neuro Challenge Foundation for Parkinson’s. Neuro Challenge provides ongoing monthly support groups and educational programs, individualized care advising and community resource referrals to help empower people with Parkinson’s and their caregivers.

From Primal to Bipedal: Why we need to get off the ground and walk more!

Dr. Emily Splichal/30 August 2017/ All MFN blog/

Before you start throwing stones at me assuming that I’m bashing or discrediting any of the primal movement programs out there – please hear me out. Anything I’m about to say does not mean I do not value the role primal movements and ground work has on restoring optimal movement patterns. However, where these programs fall short is that ultimately we need to GET UP and being able to navigate the world of ground and gravity. We need to be able to optimize the coordination required to load and unload impact forces, stabilize on a single leg and get from point A to point B.

When we look at the evolution of the human neuromuscular system, fascial lines and the skeleton we can see that the primary purpose behind human movement is WALKING.

From the medial rotation of the ilium creating the lateral fascial line and allowing single leg stance to the abduction of the foot’s 1st ray creating the spiral fascial line and lateral fascial line allowing the stability for a rigid lever – everything – I repeat everything favors locomotion – and we need to train the body as such.

When was the last time you walked? I mean REALLY walked?

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to evaluate the gait of thousands of people from all over the world and there are a few key compensations that I see in too many people. So many people have lost the rotational element of gait. I’m talking locked up t-spines, restricted triplanar motion of the pelvis, tight ankles and even tighter subtalar joints.

Rotational loading and unloading of the fascial system is how we transfer impact forces and the potential energy of gait. If we lose this rotational element of gait the entire movement efficiency pattern breaks down and restrictions, compensations and connective tissue fatigue results.

So what’s causing this restriction in rotation?

Sitting, a sedentary lifestyle, driving, injury, compensation – there’s a lot of things that cause a restriction in rotation. However there is a KEY one that is missed so often and cannot be addressed through rolling, crawling and being on the ground.

This driver of restricted rotation is so important that it is what leads me to say GET OFF OF THE GROUND AND JUST WALK! What is it? Short strides!

The impact of shortened stride length!

Think of the type of walking you, your clients, your family does in a typical day. You walk around your home. You walk around the office. You walk around the store. This type of walking is not the walking EVOLUTION intended.

These small stacotic steps are insufficient to optimally 1) hydrate your fascia 2) load rotational forces in the body 3) stimulate the neuromuscular system.

To maintain an optimal gait you need to STIMULATE your gait. You need to tap into all the fascial systems with each step you take – a process that can only be achieved and a long enough stride length.

The Optimal Stride for Fascial Fitness

To better understand this let’s take a look at the point in gait in which the optimal stride is happening.

One foot is initiated heel contact with the ankle dorsiflexed, hip flexed, pelvis medially rotated and posteriorly tilted. With the foot, leg and pelvis in this position the posterior fascial line is tightened, locking the SI joint and preparing for ground contact.

Meanwhile the opposite leg is in 1st MPJ dorsiflexion ankle plantarflexion, hip extension, pelvis lateral rotation and anteriorly tilted. With the foot, leg and pelvis in this position the psoas, plantar fascia and functional fascial lines are primed to release elastic energy upon swing phase.

Now the SHORTER the stride you take you tighten your rotations of the t-spine, pelvis and foot eventually leading to fascial tightness and compensations.

Since walking is THE most functional movement we do every day with the average adult taking 5,000 – 8,000 steps per day – improper stride length is what’s f’ing up your body.

These small steps we take to our cars, around the office or at home are killing our fascial system. It is a cycle that can only be temporarily alleviated by rolling and crawling on the ground.

Imagine this. You take your client through all the rolling patterns, dynamic bodyweight movements, foam rolling – all which are so great for the body – and then they leave the session and go back to waking small steps and in insufficient stride length. They just REVERSED all the work you did.

The solution?

Walk. And I mean really walk. Put on your favorite shoes, grab your earbuds and walk. Do not go on the treadmill, I need you to walk outside. Find the pace that feeds into a momentous state. You will feel when your body has switched and is now flowing in your fascial. It is an effortless gait that is working WITH the ground and impact forces, not against it.

And then just walk.

Originally printed on the Barefoot Strong Blog. Reprinted with permission from Dr. Splichal.

Dr. Emily Splichal, Podiatrist and Human Movement Specialist, is the Founder of the Evidence Based Fitness Academy and Creator of the Barefoot Training Specialist®, Barefoot Rehab Specialist® and BARE® Workout Certifications for health and wellness professionals. With over 13 years in the fitness industry, Dr. Splichal has dedicated her medical career towards studying postural alignment and human movement as it relates to foot function and barefoot training.

Member Spotlight: Certified Health Coach & Trainer with Expertise in Senior Fitness

MFN/28 August 2017/ All MFN blog/

Name: Barry Bassin
Location: Long Beach, CA
Website: BarryTheTrainer.com
Occupation: Fitness Professional

How did you hear about MFN?

As a certified health coach, I am always researching various health and medical conditions, especially with respect to applicable exercise guidelines. The Medical Fitness Network came up during one of my searches. I visited the MFN website and was instantly hooked.

How do you or your business help those with chronic disease/medical conditions or who need pre & postnatal care?

My job is to design an exercise and fitness program that is specific to each person as an individual. Exercise selection is a result of that process. And, of course, any exercise program must be safe and goal-specific. This includes lifestyle and self-exercise advice as well.

What makes you different from all the other fitness professionals out there?

It’s not for me to say that I am different from other fitness professionals; that’s for other people to say, if that’s what they believe, and if they have a basis for making comparisons.

But, I can say what kind of fitness professional I try to be, and to be that kind of fitness professional with each client, and with every member of each client’s health team with whom I may interact, and with all of my fitness colleagues.

There’s a joke about what dogs think about physicians: they’re like veterinarians, but only qualified to treat one kind of animal.

I work exclusively with older adults (age 60 through 90s), and people with health issues, ranging from musculoskeletal problems (arthritis, low-back pain, etc.) through chronic diseases and metabolic conditions (diabetes, insulin resistance, etc.). I have earned seven fitness certifications, including personal trainer, health coach, corrective exercise specialist, senior fitness specialist, orthopedic exercise specialist, and weight management specialist.

A quality certification says that there is something to know, and that you know it. This allows me to design exercise-based fitness programs that consider each client’s health and fitness issues and integrate them into each client’s fitness program without exceeding my scope of practice boundaries.

This is especially important when clients:

have just been released by their physical therapist following a joint replacement or rotator cuff repair;
or when clients need to reestablish or preserve bone mineral density via weight-bearing exercise;
or proper exercise modalities and intensities to help with blood glucose regulation;
or when muscles around arthritic joints need strengthening so that there is less stress on those joints;
or when clients need to lose weight to reduce the load on their knees;
or strengthen and condition all of the core muscles (not just the front of the abs) to help manage low-back pain;
or when clients just want to look and feel better

While there are many serious, well trained and highly qualified fitness professionals, it is a sad fact that the explosive growth of the fitness industry has also created too many certification mills that are nothing more than weekend seminars or dumbed-down correspondence courses, churning out minimally qualified trainers.

What is your favorite activity or class to participate in?

Two things:

1. Train your body the way you use your body.

Oher than swimming, there really isn’t much you do in a supine or prone position (i.e., lying down) that requires strength, endurance, and flexibility. Conversely, everything you do that requires strength, endurance, and flexibility, you do while standing, bending, stooping, gaiting, or rotating.

Except for clients who need to be seated during exercise, I train all my clients in a standing position. I call this vertical training, and it is the essence of true functional training, as not only are the targeted muscles for each exercise challenged, the synergistic and stabilizing muscles are involved as well. (Imagine swinging a golf club or throwing a ball if all you could use was your arms, while the rest of your body remained in a fixed position. You need your body to work as a whole integrated unit through its interconnected parts, known as the kinetic chain.) So, get your core off the floor, and train your body the way you use it.

2. I only use resistance bands and tubes.

Your muscles are stupid; they don’t know the difference between a dumbbell, a barbell, a resistance band, or a strength machine. They only know that a strength exercise has a degree of difficulty to perform it, regardless of the equipment. When the degree of difficulty for a specific muscle is the same across different kinds of equipment, the result of the training will be the same.

I use a combination of:

41-inch continuous loop bands (11 different resistance levels)
72-inch flat bands (4 different resistance levels)
Bodylastics resistance tubes (7 different resistance levels)

There is not a single exercise that can be done with free weights or machines that cannot be done with bands and tubes, whether it’s at the lightest resistance appropriate for a frail elderly client, to a maximum resistance that would be challenging for even hardcore weightlifters. And all while allowing natural body movement patterns, and without joint trauma. So, while your muscles won’t know the difference between regular gym equipment and resistance bands, your joints will.

What is one piece of advice that you would give other fitness professionals about working with special populations or those who need pre-& postnatal care?

Be a great trainer. To be a great trainer, start by being a good trainer; to be a good trainer, never stop becoming that trainer.

Always stay within your scope of practice boundaries, while expanding your core competencies as a trainer. For instance, my interest is senior fitness. Complementary certifications that enhance my ability to work effectively with older adults includes senior fitness specialist and orthopedic exercise specialist, both of which take into account issues that are common with older adults. My ACE personal trainer certification is my foundation competency, and my other certifications expand my qualifications.

And as important as anything, never forget that what your gym or studio calls members, and we trainers call clients, are really customers. And as with customers for any product or service, people expect to be treated honestly, competently, and feeling like they’re getting what they’re paying for. Forget this, and no matter what you call them, you can put the word former before the other word.

What type of community activities are you involved in?

I would love to tell you about all the great community activities I do, but, alas, I don’t do them. I regularly train 21 clients two or more times a week. At the end of the day, I’m tired, and weekends are family time.

What is one of your favorite memories involving working with someone who has a health challenge or disability?

I’m like most fitness professionals: I like helping people and I feel rewarded when positive changes occur.

But I do have one client who is my personal hero. She was born with more than one congenital health issue, including cerebral palsy, and she also has lupus disease, scoliosis, and no ligament in her right foot. She had been told her whole life that there were physical things she would never do. We’ve been working together for more than three years. There are now no exercises that she can’t do, and last year she went sky diving. Wow!

What would you like to see change/develop/emerge in the future of healthcare and the fitness industry?

I’ve always been opposed to regulating qualifications for personal trainers. Whenever the topic comes up, there is no clarity as to how it would be done, who would do it, would it be influenced by commercial interests, and would it be standardized amongst the states. But, now I think it’s time. There are too many minimally qualified so-called personal trainers who over-promise and under-deliver, all to the detriment of the people who hire them, and to the detriment of serious, well qualified professional trainers whose image as industry members suffers.

Hats off to the Medical Fitness Network, who carefully screen fitness professionals before accepting them in their professional network.

And what are you doing to make this happen?

Other than advocating for a workable and credible system for establishing an industry-wide certification recognition system, it’s really up to the best certification agencies like ACE, ACSM, and NASM to take the lead. They, and a few others, are in the best position to work amongst themselves to speak in a unified voice regarding standards.

What is your favorite fitness/inspirational/motivational quote?

There are two:

1. Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do. Not a punishment for what you ate.

I don’t know who to ascribe that quote to, but I love it. While it’s off the mark for a medical fitness discussion, too many people exercise to reverse the effects of how they eat. So, let me appropriate that quote and restate it as “Exercise is a celebration of how we make our bodies healthier today, not . . . (fill in the blank).

2. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Satchel Paige (1906-1982), baseball Hall of Fame pitcher.

Anything else we should know about you?

As an older adult, senior fitness isn’t just what I do, it’s who I am. My plan is to live forever, and so far, so good.

Visit Barry’s MFN profile >