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12 High-Carb Foods That Are Actually Super Healthy
By Adda Bjarnadottir, MSc |
Here’s some great information to help show that not only do you need to eat carbs but what foods you should include as part of your weekly shop.
Carbs have been unfairly blamed for causing the obesity epidemic. However, the truth is that not all carbs are created equal. Processed junk foods high in sugar and refined grains are definitely unhealthy and fattening. But this has no relevance to whole, fiber-rich foods that also happen to contain carbohydrates. Although low-carb diets can be beneficial for some people, this does not mean that all high-carb foods are “bad.”

Here is a list of 12 high-carb foods that also happen to be incredibly healthy.
Unless you are on a low-carb diet for health reasons, then there is absolutely no reason to avoid these delicious foods.

1. Quinoa
Quinoa is a nutritious seed that has become incredibly popular in the natural health community. It is classified as a pseudocereal, a seed that is prepared and eaten like a grain.
Cooked quinoa is 21.3% carbs, making it a high-carb food. However, it is also a good source of protein and fiber. Quinoa is rich in many minerals and plant compounds. It has been linked to health benefits like improved blood sugar control. It does not contain any gluten, making it a popular alternative to wheat on a gluten free diet. Quinoa is also very filling since it is relatively high in fiber and protein. For this reason, it may be an excellent addition to an effective weight loss diet.
Bottom Line: Quinoa is highly nutritious. It may have numerous health benefits, including improved blood sugar control. Quinoa is also high in protein and fiber, so it may be useful for weight loss.

2. Oats

Oats may be the healthiest whole grain food on the planet.
They are a great source of many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
Raw oats contain 66% carbs, and nearly 11% of that is fiber. They are particularly high in a powerful soluble fibre called beta-glucan. Oats are also a relatively good source of protein, containing more than most other grains. Many studies have shown that oats may reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. Eating oats may also lower blood sugar levels, especially in diabetics. Furthermore, oats are very filling and may help you lose weight .
Bottom Line: Oats contain many beneficial nutrients, including fiber and protein. Oats have been shown to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

3. Buckwheat

Buckwheat is also a pseudocereal. Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat in any way, and does not contain gluten. Raw buckwheat contains 71.5% carbs, and cooked buckwheat groats contain about 20% carbs. Buckwheat is very nutritious, containing both protein and fiber. It also has more minerals and antioxidants than most grains. Eating buckwheat may be particularly beneficial for heart health and blood sugar control, especially in people with diabetes.
Bottom Line: Buckwheat is highly nutritious and contains more antioxidants and minerals than most grains. Eating buckwheat may have benefits for heart health and blood sugar control.

4. Bananas

Bananas are among the world’s most popular fruits. They are made up of about 23% carbs, either in the form of starches or sugars. Unripe (green) bananas are higher in starches, which transform into natural sugars as the bananas ripen (turn yellow). Bananas are high in potassium, vitamin B6 and vitamin C. They also contain several beneficial plant compounds. Due to their potassium content, bananas may help lower blood pressure and improve heart health. Unripe bananas also contain decent amounts of resistant starch and pectin. Both of these support digestive health and feed the friendly gut bacteria.
Bottom Line: Bananas are high in potassium, which may help regulate blood pressure. Unripe bananas also contain resistant starch and pectin, which can improve digestive health.

5. Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a delicious, nutritious tuber. Cooked sweet potatoes contain about 18–21% carbs. This carb content consists of starch, sugar and fiber. Sweet potatoes are a rich source of vitamin A (from beta-carotene), vitamin C and potassium. They are very rich in antioxidants, and may help reduce oxidative damage and the risk of several diseases.
Bottom Line: Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A (from beta-carotene), as well as several other vitamins and antioxidants.

6. Beetroots

Beetroots are a purple-colored root vegetable, commonly referred to as beets. Raw and cooked beets contain about 8–10% carbs, made up of sugar and fiber. They are packed with vitamins, minerals, potent antioxidants and plant compounds. Beets are also high in inorganic nitrates, which transform into nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide helps to lower blood pressure and may decrease the risk of several diseases. Beet juice is also very high in inorganic nitrates, and is often used to enhance physical performance during endurance exercises.
Bottom Line: Beets are loaded with vitamins, minerals and plant compounds. They contain high amounts of inorganic nitrates, which can improve health and boost physical performance.

7. Oranges

Oranges are among the most popular fruits in the world. They are mainly composed of water and contain 11.8% carbs. Oranges are also a good source of fiber. Oranges are especially rich in vitamin C, potassium and some B-vitamins. They also contain citric acid, as well as several very potent plant compounds and antioxidants. Eating oranges may improve heart health and help prevent kidney stones. They may also increase the uptake of iron from food, reducing the risk of anemia.
Bottom Line: Oranges are a good source of fiber. They also contain very high amounts of vitamin C and plant compounds. Eating oranges may have benefits for heart health and help prevent anemia.

8. Blueberries
Blueberries are incredibly delicious. They have often been referred to as a “superfood” due to their powerful plant compounds and antioxidants. They consist mostly of water, as well as about 14.5% carbs. Blueberries also contain high amounts of many vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, vitamin K and manganese. Studies have shown that blueberries help protect the body from oxidative damage. They may also improve memory in older people.
Bottom Line: Blueberries are incredibly healthy. They contain many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and protect the body from oxidative damage.

9. Grapefruit

Grapefruit is a citrus fruit with a sweet, bitter and sour flavor. It contains about 9% carbs and has high amounts of several vitamins, minerals and plant compounds. Eating grapefruit can aid weight loss and reduce insulin resistance. Furthermore, eating grapefruit may help prevent kidney stones, lower cholesterol levels and protect against colon cancer.
Bottom Line: Grapefruit contains various vitamins, minerals and plant compounds. It may help with weight loss and provide numerous health benefits.

10. Apples
Apples are a popular fruit with a sweet flavor and distinctive crunch. They are available in many colors, sizes and flavors, but generally contain about 13–15% carbs. Apples contain many vitamins and minerals, but usually only in small amounts. However, they are a decent source of vitamin C, antioxidants and healthy plant compounds. Eating apples may benefit health in several ways, such as improving blood sugar control and reducing the risk of heart disease. Apples may also decrease the risk of some types of cancer.
Bottom Line: Apples contain a decent amount of vitamin C, antioxidants and plant compounds. Eating apples may improve blood sugar control, as well as reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers.

11. Kidney Beans
Kidney beans are a variety of the common bean. They are part of the legume family. Cooked kidney beans contain 22.8% carbs, in the form of starches and fiber. They are also high in protein. Kidney beans are rich in many vitamins, minerals and plant compounds. They also contain high amounts of antioxidants like anthocyanins and isoflavones. They may have numerous health benefits, such as improved blood sugar control and reduced risk of colon cancer. Just make sure to never eat them raw, because raw or improperly cooked kidney beans are toxic.
Bottom Line: Kidney beans contain many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Cooked kidney beans are also a good source of protein and have been linked with several health benefits.

12. Chickpeas
Also known as garbanzo beans, chickpeas are part of the legume family as well. Cooked chickpeas contain 27.4% carbs, of which 8% are fiber. They are also a good source of plant-based protein. Chickpeas contain many vitamins and minerals, including iron, phosphorus and B-vitamins. Eating chickpeas has been linked with improved heart and digestive health. They may also help prevent cancer.
Bottom Line: Chickpeas are an excellent source of plant-based protein and contain many vitamins and minerals. Eating chickpeas has been linked to benefits for heart and digestive health, as well as cancer prevention.

Take Home Message

“Carbs” are not unhealthy. That is a myth. The truth is that some of the world’s healthies foods are high in carbohydrates. Although they should not be eaten in large amounts if you’re on a low-carb diet, they can be important nutrient sources for others. Refined carbs are bad, but whole food sources of carbs are extremely healthy for most people.

In the last couple of articles we have given you information on the types of food you can eat and their benefits, so this time we thought we would look at some of the popular ideas that are out there about how you can plan to create your weight loss journey.

1. Going vegan is a healthy way to lose weight.
“While various research shows that vegetarians and vegans, on average, consume fewer calories and less fat than omnivores (a 2009 Oxford study found that vegetarians weigh 3 to 20 percent less than their meat-eating counterparts, and a National Cancer Institute study found that subjects who consumed four ounces or more of red meat weekly were 30 percent more likely to die of any cause than those who ate less), these numbers may be misleading,” says Rania Batayneh, MPH, a certified nutritionist and owner of Essential Nutrition for You.
Going vegan solely for weight loss can backfire, big time. If you aren’t vigilant with a vegan diet, it’s easy to lack in vital nutrients, vitamins, and proteins, which give you energy and help keep your metabolism stoked. Many first-time vegans may also find themselves reaching for more processed foods like vegan cookies, chips, or even ‘ice cream’ more often with such a restricted diet, and many end up packing on the pounds instead.
If you do decide to adopt a vegan diet, be sure to keep the ‘treats’ to a minimum and plan balanced meals. “Aim to get about 10 to 20 percent of your calories from protein (or about 1 gram per kilogram of body weight), replacing animal protein with healthy plant proteins, like those found in beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy products,” Batayneh says. “And, whether you are vegan or not, eating more green, leafy vegetables are great for your health and your waistline.”
2. Cut all carbs to shed pounds.
Your body needs ‘carbs’ for energy, and many carbohydrate foods are rich in essential vitamins, nutrients, and dietary fibre that help you stay full and fuel your workouts. “Eliminating carbohydrates not only reduces whole grains, B vitamins, and a good source of fibre, but it also reduces your body’s feel-good capacity (it’s no wonder that most comfort foods are carbohydrate based),” Batayneh says.
Plus, cutting out food groups may only make you crave them more, and you may find yourself finishing off an entire bag of chips in a moment of weakness. “Starches and carbs are actually an important tool in weight management,” Batayneh says. “They provide belly-filling fibre, complex carbohydrates to keep your engine running all day, and they stimulate the production of serotonin, the feel-good neurotransmitter that regulates mood.”
Stay healthy, full, and happy while dropping the lbs. by swapping out processed carbs for fibre- and nutrition-filled foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
3. Diet drinks are a good way to cut calories.
You may think you’re doing yourself a favour by sipping artificially sweetened drinks, but recent research says you may just be setting yourself up to crave sweets even more. ‘Fake’ sugar can trick our bodies, since we aren’t actually providing it with any calories to back up the sweetness, causing a vicious cycle of cravings. “Artificial sweeteners tend to trigger your appetite, making you want more and more sugar, but without actually satisfying a desire for sweets like normal sugar does,” Batayneh says. “Diet soda-drinkers may end up eating tons of sugary and fatty snacks in order to satisfy their cravings.”
Case in point: One University of Texas study found that people who drink diet soda regularly (more than two per day) had a 70 percent greater waist circumference than those that don’t. Not to mention, diet sodas are also often loaded with additives, including caramel colouring, which is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulphites, resulting in two compounds that have been found to cause lung, liver, and thyroid cancers in mice, Batayneh says.
4. Fat-free snacks are better for your waistline.
“Reduced-fat versions of snacks typically have been stripped of one quarter of their original healthy monounsaturated fats, and to replace that flavour, the brand adds in fillings, additives, and sugar — all for the same amount of calories,” Batayneh says. “Picking reduced-fat products may even end up hurting your waistline: in one study, average-weight participants ate 22 percent more calories if the food was labelled ‘low fat’ and overweight participants ate up to 50 percent more.”
Your body needs fat to absorb vitamins, and it may also help you shed pounds — a recent Stanford University study found that people on a moderate-fat diet lost twice as much weight as subjects eating a low fat diet. So skip the highly processed, fat-free snacks that are basically empty calories and fill up on healthy, whole foods that will help you stay satisfied on a lower-calorie diet such as avocados, nuts, and coconuts.
5. Fruit has too much sugar to be healthy for weight loss.
With all the sugar that is added to processed foods, the sugar in fruit is the least of your worries. Getting rid of fruit means you are losing out on valuable vitamins and nutrients that your body absorbs easily since they’re found in their natural, whole state.
“Eliminating fruit from your diet when trying to lose weight makes no sense,” Batayneh says. You’ll miss out on a whole lot of filling fibre, which studies have directly linked to long-term weight loss, and you may be more likely to reach for other processed, empty food items instead.
6. Protein shakes will help you lose weight.
Drinking protein shakes alone can’t help you lose weight, but replacing a meal with them could. The trouble is, many would-be dieters make the mistake of adding in a shake to their current daily intake, which can pack on the pounds (this is why bodybuilders trying to gain size use them often). If you want to add protein shakes to your diet, look for a mix that is low in sugar and has a short ingredient list. Depending on the calorie count, and what you add to it (Batayneh recommends whey protein, milk, and fruit), you can substitute a shake for a snack or a meal to help move the scale down, not up.
7. A high-protein diet is the best way to shed fat.
While protein is important for weight loss, eliminating other food groups (like carbs) for the sake of eating more protein could be setting you up for a carbo-loading binge later. Plus, you may be missing out on the fibre, vitamins, and minerals found in unprocessed carbohydrates, and you run the risk of eating too much fat in your diet, which can lead to high cholesterol and triglycerides, Batayneh says.
Skip the yo-yo cycle and round out your meals with a healthy balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. “When you have all three macro-nutrients in your diet, you are less likely to feel deprived and may experience less cravings.”
8. Swear off all your favourite fattening foods to lose weight.
Anyone who has ever sworn off pizza, chocolate, or chips knows that as soon as you tell yourself you can’t have them, you start dreaming of swimming in gooey, cheesy pizza or rich, dark chocolate cake. “Moderation is key. We tend to be in ‘all or nothing’ mode when we diet. And while you can’t have pizza, french fries, and chocolate cake all in the same day, with careful planning, you can still enjoy them in moderation,” Batayneh says. Have your cake, and eat it too — just share it with a friend or save the other half for another day.
9. Eating after 8 p.m. makes you fat.
Eating after a certain hour won’t necessarily mean you’ll pack on pounds, just as staying out after midnight won’t turn you into a pumpkin. This Cinderella-esque fat fairy tale continues to exist, but the bottom line is that your metabolism doesn’t know what time it is, Batayneh says.
Skip the mad rush to consume as much food as you can before the clock strikes 8:00.
“Calories are calories, no matter when you eat them, but what does matter is what and how much of it you eat. Late-night snacking gets a bad rap because often the foods that are consumed late at night are calorie-dense foods (chips, ice cream, pizza, and other junk food) and may be in excess calories to your daily caloric needs, which translates to weight gain.”
10. You’ll burn more fat if you don’t eat before a workout.
Exercise normally burns away your glycogen (carbohydrate) reserves, and when you’re done burning those, you’ll start dipping into your fat stores for energy. It’s true that when you’re already running on empty, you burn fat right away, but you’ll likely run out of steam before your workout is over or end up ravenous and grabbing whatever food you can find in an attempt to refuel afterwards, Batayneh says.
“Energy comes from calories. A study from the University of Birmingham compared two groups of cyclists — some ate before their workout and the others fasted. While the group who fasted did end up burning more fat, the group who ate cycled at a much higher intensity than the fasting group, and burned more calories. A person needs fuel to run, just like a car, so find the foods that give you the energy to work out at your hardest.”
11. You can eat whatever you want on weekends.
If you do the math, eating ‘whatever you want’ Friday-Sunday adds up to 12 days, or almost half of a 30-day month! Not exactly the recipe for weight loss success. “When you throw caution to the wind on the weekends it can actually offset the consistency and success you had all week,” Batayneh says. Instead of taking a no-holds-barred approach to your weekends, Batayneh recommends trying to scale back the little things that really add up like the bread basket and having a few extra glasses of wine during dinners out, along with mindless munching out of boredom

When you decide to make healthy lifestyle changes, people are often ready to offer their advice on what changes you should make (I did this; oh, this worked for me etc. etc.). But beware—some of the most common advice can actually end up doing you more harm than good. Here we look at some thoughts on the “everything in moderation” mentality and cleansing/detox/fasting programs and, then at two more common lifestyle habits that simply don’t work. Lifestyle habits that don’t work suffer from two main problems.

First, they come from a desire for things to be really simple. Simple is attractive, but it has a dark side. If you are made to believe getting healthy is simple, and you struggle with it, the only conclusion you are left with is that something must be wrong with you. And this kind of thinking is negative and ultimately harmful to your motivation, self-image and confidence.

Second, they often carry a theme of extremism—if you were to eliminate or add this one thing to your life (we’ve all seen the adverts!!), superior levels of fitness, health and vitality are easily yours and in just one easy step….. And underneath it all, the major problem is an altered, dysfunctional perception of what our relationship to food and our own bodies should be. We treat food as if it is to be guarded and our bodies as though they must be beat into submission or we cannot make any progress.

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION…DELUSION IN ABUNDANCE
• This flawed idea usually goes hand-in-hand with the equally flawed “there is no such thing as a bad food.” There are some “edible food-like products” which have no business going in your body. They are not made of the stuff that sustains life. The major problem is that there are all kinds of weird “food” products with distorted chemicals that can disrupt your physiology. And the resulting dietary imbalances rapidly generate inflammation and a kind of hormonal static that can take weeks or months to clear. Eating a healthy food doesn’t work miracles in a positive direction—that’s just normal. That’s what your body expects—the only dramatic reaction that occurs is to unhealthy foods. A single dose of healthy food is one step forward. But a single dose of unhealthy food is more than one step back—it’s more like 10 big steps back.

• The other problem is how do you define “moderation.” I have big hands so does 1 ‘palm sized’ serving of bad food mean the same for me as a person with smaller palms? Having any type of junk food once a day isn’t moderation; it’s a habit. That’s your lifestyle. The other flaw is in people who eat ice cream once a week, but also eat a white bread once a week and fries once a week, etc. Because each item is eaten once a week, this is interpreted as moderation. Add them all up across the week and what have you got?? No, it’s not moderation.

• And lastly, keeping unnatural, unhealthy foods as a part of your life on a “moderate” basis keeps your taste buds and your brain’s reward system craving them. When you only have these foods occasionally, they don’t create the same intense cravings for more. This makes your life harder because you must walk around resisting temptation at every turn instead of no longer feeling a temptation.

• We are unhealthier as a society than we have ever been, which clearly suggests that this “everything in moderation” idea isn’t working out so well.

CLEANSING/DETOX/FASTING PROGRAMS
• It is a shame these programs continue to be so popular as they tend to be a lot of fiction without the science. Your liver continually works to detoxify the body. It starts working the moment you are born, and doesn’t stop until you die. Your body doesn’t need a “rest from digestion,” and it doesn’t need help from magical supplements or juices. These programs have been debunked so many times and in so many ways, but they are still big sellers because of the promise of a quick fix. As a result, the intense marketing around them continues to overwhelm obvious truth and common sense.

• Anyone recommending one of these programs to you is either selling them or is emotionally invested in their benefit. We make almost all decisions based on emotion—despite telling ourselves how rational we are—and once someone has decided to spend their money on a cleansing program, they must believe they work to avoid feeling duped and like they made a poor decision.

• If you don’t put toxins into your body in higher-than-average amounts, there is no need for special detox routines. Don’t “tox,” and there is no need to “detox.”

• An exception to this is for people with medical conditions such as a liver dis-function or someone with fatty liver disease (the result of too much sugar, alcohol or degraded fats in their diet.)

COUNTING CALORIES (AND THE “CALORIES IN VS. CALORIES OUT” MYTH)
Food is not our enemy, and we do not need to protect ourselves from its dangers by tracking every calorie or scrap of it. To do so is to disconnect ourselves from the value of food in the worst possible way. It treats food like nothing more than fuel and that is just the incorrect view of food. We are meant to enjoy food and we are meant to eat healthy food. These two are not mutually exclusive. Counting calories is tedious, time-consuming and a sure-fire way to never enjoy eating. “But don’t I need to make sure I don’t eat more than I burn?” No. And strictly speaking, it is impossible to measure accurately even if you did need to do this.

The laws of thermodynamics make the premise that “calories in vs. calories out” look true to people who don’t understand thermodynamics in biology. The problem is that we humans are self-aware. This seemingly small psychological truth has massive implications for our biology. In 2011, Yale University demonstrated that your belief about the healthfulness (or lack of it) of a food affected your body’s hormonal response to that food. Groups of people all fed the same amount of calories (actually, the exact same food), had significantly altered appetite-hormone responses due to what they read on fake food labels the researchers had made up. The “healthy/low-calorie” version left subjects hungry sooner after eating than the “unhealthy/high-calorie” version.

This would be impossible in the simplistic worldview of the energy balance equation where “a calorie is a calorie.” If you believe you ate something healthy, you will get hungry again sooner. When we study thermodynamics in nature and in the lab, this doesn’t happen. We humans are unique in our ability to consciously contemplate our world and the food we eat. And our thoughts about what we eat can affect our body’s reaction to it. It can be helpful to track what you eat to look for patterns of habits, but it is futile to track calories. Always choose real, quality foods first. This will give your body accurate chemical signals. It is apparent that 100 calories of sugar does not have the same affect on the body as 100 calories of broccoli so why do we continue to promote this flawed idea that it’s all about calories when it is really all about quality?

WEIGHING YOURSELF EVERY DAY
Because this is often a standard recommendation of people who have successfully kept weight off, it might seem like an odd choice for a lifestyle habit that doesn’t work. But while it might work for a short period of time in the very early stages of behaviour change, it tends to backfire beyond that time period. People who weigh themselves daily after keeping weight off rarely achieve high levels of health, because they are stuck in a flawed mindset about weight.

If you have kids, you don’t measure their height every day. You don’t really need to track the daily fluctuations in your pension plan. The value of weight as a measure of health is limited. Sure at 130 kilo’s, some weight needs to come off—that amount of weight is never healthy and obesity always promotes disease in a body. A daily change to weight just does not have a major implication on the direction of your health. The emotional reaction to the daily measurement, however, is often very significant. An emotional high or a low that has no real significance physically is of little value in developing a healthy mindset.

The other major problem is that weighing yourself daily disconnects you from how you physically feel on a daily basis. And this is essential for making permanent lifestyle change. In the years I’ve been a fitness professional working with clients who want weight loss, every person I’ve ever worked with who has a weight-loss goal is really seeking a better experience in their body. The exact form of that experience differs from one person to the next. But a number on a scale is not the real motivator—even if it appears an individual is heavily focused on it.
When you know what the real motivator is—usually it’s wanting to feel and look healthier and it’s liked to our emotions of how we feel—then that can provide lasting motivation. Unfortunately, we usually just assume this will be gained by lowering the numbers on the weighing scales however, a number fixed goal can never provide lasting motivation, especially when a challenge to your daily routine strikes. Daily weigh-ins over-emphasise the importance of something that just doesn’t matter all that much, especially when you’ve arrived at a healthier place. Do you feel a little better than you did yesterday? That would be a much better question to ask yourself on a daily basis.

WRAP-UP
A permanent shift toward a healthy lifestyle is only possible when we stop beating ourselves up—mentally and physically—and cease using ineffective, flawed, simplistic approaches to health. At Kiwifit we want everyone to live the best life they can live, and the only way to do that is turn away from negative and destructive practices, even if they are popular. Many of the lifestyle habits mentioned in our blogs are popular because they appear easy (we all want that quick fix) or are highly profitable to those who sell them. Popular isn’t the same as being healthy or effective when we are trying to change our health.

Do you have a plan to reach your fitness goal? If you listen to the weight loss industry, you’ve been told over and over how easy it is to lose weight–just take this pill, follow that diet or buy this piece of equipment and everything will melt away in a flash. Just imagine how much is spent each year on weight loss products and services and yet we’re still overweight.
If you struggle with weight loss, as most of us do, you’ve figured out just how hard it is to lose weight. The question is why is it so hard and is there anything you can do about it? There’s no short cut to weight loss, but you can make the process easier with a plan that allows you to make a few simple changes but deliver big results.

Complex Problems, Simple Solutions

The idea behind weight loss is simple–burn more calories than you eat.
This can be accomplished by replacing a couple of sodas with water and adding at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Sounds simple…and it is. If it’s that simple, why can’t we seem to do it? There are a number of factors that contribute to our weight gain that you already know. But it’s not just about finding time to exercise or choosing the salad over the burger–it’s about genuine commitment to make healthy decisions every day….regardless of what’s happening in your life. If you’re not ready to make some changes, losing weight will be hard. Below are 10 things you’ll need to look at in order to get yourself on a healthy track.

1. Your Attitude. If you’re only on a health kick to lose weight or look a certain way, it will be hard to lose weight permanently. Why? Because, what happens if you don’t see results quickly enough? You give up. Weight loss is a great goal, but unless you have something else to motivate you, what’s to keep you going if the scale doesn’t budge? It takes time to lose weight–how will you motivate yourself in the meantime?
Find more reasons to be healthy–having more energy, dealing with health problems or just feeling stronger and more energetic. Keep an exercise log and write down every single success, whether you’re losing weight or not. This is one of the reasons our trainers will use a program card to record your weekly workouts; you can then look back at how far you have progressed!!

2. Each of your workouts. If you don’t workout consistently enough, it’s hard to lose weight. Yes, it’s possible to lose weight through diet alone, but you’ll likely hit a plateau. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym; you only need to set up a reasonable workout schedule that you can follow each week. It’s not about killing yourself with workouts–it’s about finding something you like and that you’ll continue with for the rest of your life. You have to be willing to be more active on a regular basis–not just for a week here and there.

3. Your Eating. Changing the way you eat is another thing you’re going to have to do for long-lasting weight loss. You need to be willing to replace unhealthy foods with healthier choices most of the time. That means:
• Keeping a food diary
• Spending more time in the grocery store reading food labels
• Spending more time preparing your own meals
• Understanding proper portion control
• Making conscious choices about what you put in your mouth.
For permanent weight loss, you need to pay attention to what you eat and make good choices more often than not. Usually a structured diet eventually ends, but healthy eating never stops…there will never be a time when you’re done eating healthy. You might feel you’re sacrificing the good stuff (pizza, fast food, etc.) and your life won’t be fun if you can’t have those foods. Guess what? You can still have them…just not whenever you want. Are you really ready to make these changes? Are you ready to stop giving your body the most convenient thing available (and often the most fatty) and, instead, spend time planning what and when you’ll eat? Because that’s what it takes to really lose weight and keep it off.

4. Your Lifestyle. If you want a healthy life, you have to be willing to change how you live. It doesn’t mean changing everything overnight, but simply being open to new ways of doing things. Some things you might need to change for a healthy life are:
• Daily Routines. You may need to get up earlier to prepare your lunch or squeeze in a workout, use your lunch hour for exercise or go for a walk after work instead of watching TV. Exercising on a daily basis changes your entire day, so sitting down with your schedule to see where those changes need to happen is your first step in establishing an exercise habit.
• Limits. You might need to set new rules for yourself limiting how much TV you watch or how long you sit at the computer, how many glasses of wine you have. You’ll need to pay attention to how you spend your time and where you’re out of balance so you can add more movement.
• Your Cupboards. I’m the kind of person who will eat an entire bag of crisps if they’re in the house. That means I don’t keep them in the house and if someone (your other half…) brings them home, re-locate them elsewhere. If you want to be healthy, you may need to get rid of those foods you just can’t resist.
• Your Schedule. If you’re not willing to sit down and change the way you live each day to include exercise, time to prepare meals and time to nurture yourself with sleep, it’s hard to lose weight. People use busy schedules as an excuse not to be healthy…are you one of them? If you’re not ready to take responsibility for the schedule you’ve created, it will be hard to lose weight.

5. Your Surroundings. Sometimes, you can’t control the things around you. At work, you may be surrounded by temptations–sweets, vending machines and the like. That’s just one thing you have to deal with, but what about your home? Surround yourself with things that will support you in your efforts to get healthy. Set up an environment that encourages those healthy choices and reminds you of them–just walking into my kitchen and seeing that bowl of fresh fruit is often enough to remind me of all the healthy choices I’ll need to make that day.

6. Your Support System. While getting healthy may be something you’re doing on your own, it’s a big help to have a support system. At the very least, family members who understand what you’re doing and maybe willing to participate or help; If you have a spouse who wants to continue eating the kinds of foods that tempt you, you need a plan to deal with that so you can still reach your goals and keep your relationship together. Try to surround yourself with like-minded friends people who support what you’re doing and avoid those people (like that co-worker who always offers you a donut even though you refuse on a daily basis) who don’t. A workout buddy or training in a small group is also an excellent idea for support.

7. Your Spiritual and Mental Health. If you have other reasons for being overweight–past hurts that you’ve used food to deal with, depression or other problems, it’s hard to lose weight. For many of us, food is a comfort and something we’ve relied on all of our lives to help us deal with emotional problems. If that’s the case for you; pinpointing those behaviours and what drives them is important for becoming aware of what you’re doing and why. Be willing to learn why you make the choices you make and to confront them.

8. Your Goals. If you’ve set impossible goals, you are guaranteed to fail. Weight loss becomes hard to achieve if you feel like a constant failure…who wants to feel like that? If that’s how your weight loss experience is, it’s no wonder you keep quitting. The key is to set small, reasonable goals. So what is reasonable? That’s going to be different for each person depending on your genetics, eating habits, exercise, and metabolism to name a few. You’re better off setting a long-term goal (whether it’s to lose weight or compete in a race) and then focusing your attention on daily or weekly goals. Your weekly goal might be to get in 3 cardio workouts, minimum. Pick things you KNOW you’ll stand a realistic chance of achieving so you’re always successful. It can be as small as you like, as long as it’s reachable.

9. Your Flexibility. You hear a lot about lifestyle changes, but it’s daily choices that really test you. What happens if you have to work late and you can’t get to the gym? Or what if you get stuck in traffic and miss your fitness class? Any number of things can happen in a day that may throw you off track. The trick is to be flexible. It helps if you’re always prepared–keep some runners in the car so you can stop off at the park for a quick walk. Keep some food handy so if you get stuck in traffic, you get a snack in before your workout. Often people skip workouts because something comes up and they simply aren’t ready for it or they aren’t willing to give themselves other options–can’t do 45 minutes? Why not just do 10 minutes? Something is always better than nothing.

10. Your Willingness to Fail. You will not be perfect every day. This is a frustrating concept for most but, the truth is, everyone (even perfectionists) has good days and bad days. On the good days, you’ll eat all your fruits and veggies, say no to that pizza and do your workout even though you’re tired. On the bad days, you’ll wake up late, forget to bring your lunch, have an extra piece of cake at your friend’s birthday party and skip your workout. The bad days will happen if you’re a human being. The trick is to never give up, even when you mess up. Work on overcoming your fear of failure and remember that you’re not a loser just because you make some mistakes…you’re simply a person trying his or her best to make good decisions.

In theory, a Health or Fitness resolution is a great idea (Think January!!) to re-evaluate and make changes in your health, fitness and lifestyle. In practice, many ambitious fitness goals made dissolve into self-defeating thinking and disappointment. But that doesn’t mean that all need to end in frustration and failure. The trick is making the right ones.

Before you can even get that far, you need to take a long, hard look at where you currently stand in terms of your health goals. Honestly acknowledge where you are currently in terms of your health and fitness level, so often people establish goals without being realistic about where they are starting from. Even if perhaps your current level of fitness is not where you want it to be, being honest with yourself about where you are presently and using that information as a baseline from which to work will help you to establish realistic, attainable goals for the new you. How many times can you exercise? for how long? Does feeding the kids impact on your own food? Work full time and no ‘spare time?’

We have listed a handful of ideas for realistic resolutions that will make a difference without feeling like a total overhaul. Here are a few of our favourite ideas and the kind of things we discuss with our clients:

Hold A Plank

A very manageable fitness resolution that most people can stick to is holding a plank every morning, first thing out of bed. If you can spend one minute brushing your teeth, you can definitely find one minute to hold a plank. Planks are truly one of the best exercises to work your core and your entire body. Start with 30 seconds and build up to one minute. By doing this first thing you are reminding yourself to stay active all day and will start to build more active habits.

Find The Middle Ground

Shift your mind set from the very common ‘all or nothing’ mentality. For many people, the start of the fitness regime entails going from zero to 100% almost overnight … If you are currently not exercising or are exercising very sporadically, it’s not very realistic to expect that you’ll overnight commit to exercising for one or two hours per day, six days per week. Same with your diet; how many times do you see people change everything on Monday but are bored by Friday and ‘normal’ service resumes for the weekend? Often when individuals establish these ‘all or nothing’ goals, if they are not able to stick with the unrealistic expectations, they end up doing nothing at all.

Touch Your Toes

Go on, TRY IT!! Setting a performance goal (even a small one) may help you stay more motivated compared to a weight-loss goal (60 second plank anyone?). For example, a goal of 10 push-ups, or touching your toes, can create a healthy shift from focusing purely on a visual goal to a performance one. You need to remember that in order for your body to move fluidly and efficiently, your joints need sufficient range of motion, which is why flexibility is so important. As the body performs better, the aesthetics typically follow; again look at active healthy & fit people you know seem to be. Think of a performance goal that can start to really motivate you, and a goal that you can enjoy the process as you strive for it. The more you can move, the better your chances of burning calories, getting stronger, being more active.

Keep A Journal
‘I’m actually a big fan of keeping a journal. Do you work in a routine environment? Or have a structured day? (make breakfast, kids to school, shopping, etc.) How do you track your progress when you start improving your fitness, how do you plan to make changes?
We talk to our clients about recording workouts, how hard they are each week and what changes they make. Likewise, create a food journal, pick one thing to change, change it then pick another. Why? There are a couple of good reasons for keeping journals; Later, in the evening, re-open your journal and answer the questions ‘What amazing changes happened today?’ and Look back over a week or two and count the number of changes you have made since you began. When you are struggling for motivation, look at your journal and see how far you have travelled on your journey and, let this inspire you to get through the day. It may sound silly, but these practices can keep you laser-focused on your goals and on what you want to accomplish each day.

Find A Partner To Train With

Working out with a friend or partner allows for a little friendly competition, motivation, fun and increased accountability. Choose goals together and get to work! This might be joining a small training group of 3 or 4 as it means you’re not alone in the gym, can train with like-minded people and won’t feel embarrassed by all the super fit individuals in front of the mirrors. It’s always a little easier when you know someone is waiting for you at the gym and who knows, maybe you’ll meet some new friends.

Pick A Precise Number

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is weight loss or fat or body weight composition changes. It helps if people determine a very specific amount of weight that they want to lose. Weight is easy to measure, as it requires a scale. The weight loss goal should be realistic. Too often people have unrealistic expectations for how much weight it is that they want to lose. Remember, you need to give yourself a very specific time table in which you want to accomplish this goal. From a physiology standpoint, there are a lot of factors that go into actually changing your body weight. We are not as simple as cars with a gas in/miles out function. People can get hung up on reducing calories by a very specific amount and not get the predicted weight-loss outcomes that they want. We encourage people to create goals that they can definitely accomplish, like: ‘Today I will go to the gym and I’ll try hard to do exercises appropriately and with effort’ or ‘the next meal I eat will be made up from healthy food choices and the portions will be appropriate.’ Those are steps toward reaching a goal of losing 2 kilos in 30 days. You have to be very clear about factors that you can control and factors that you can’t control.

Don’t Stress About It
Don’t stress about it being an hour workout, but keep consistent. Five to 10 minutes of morning practice can set you up for feeling great so you make great choices all day long that can help you continue cultivating a healthier you. Be realistic in your plans and don’t let one set back or bad day put you off, as part of your plan make sure you build in some down time for yourself. Relaxing the mind can help you keep focus and motivation to overcome any setbacks.

Find The Fun

Many people can get easily discouraged and give up when there’s too much emphasis on weight loss. Focus on the joys of exercise and movement instead. Take pride in your body getting stronger. Think about the boost in energy you get after a workout. Think about what you will feel like when you reach your goal. Do set goals, but make them about making fitness fun: Commit to joining a class three days a week or to signing up for a race. Just find something you consider fun!