As I’ve mentioned many times before at this blog, there is a lot of garbage out there when it comes to supplements.  Until about 2 years ago, I didn’t even recommend a particular brand of supplement to my San Jose personal training and boot camp clients, because I just couldn’t trust what was in the bottle–not to mention the outrageous claims some companies make.  You can’t really miss it on the Internet these days. Seems like everywhere you look there’s another company promoting the nutritious Acai Berry as a weight loss miracle.

That’s why I thought it was critical to write you today. I want to make sure you know my opinion on the subject.

First, you know better than to believe you’re going to pop some pills – ANY pills – and have the pounds and inches melt off like magic. Pleeeeease give that notion up.

If you’ve been listening to any fitness expert for any length of time you know true fat loss comes from a variety of factors, including exercise and proper nutrition.

Second, any fitness expert worth their fees will tell you that any diet that promotes you eat any one food all day long and then eat a sensible dinner, well, don’t bother. Yes, you will lose some weight short-term (due to taking in fewer calories), but as soon as you go back to your old eating habits – and you know you will – you know exactly what happens.

Third, the Acai Berry actually does contain VERY powerful antioxidants and it is getting a lot of good press for that very reason. Antioxidants are extraordinary nutrients that help fight the free radicals associated with aging, cancer risk and other degenerative diseases.  Just keep in mind, acai berry alone is not a miracle cure.

Research has shown that there are a number of powerful antioxidants found in nature, and we should be getting them in our diet. Did you know that the coffee berry (the berry that covers the coffee bean) is one of the most powerful antioxidants on the planet? It’s something researchers have just discovered in recent years.

What’s really cool is that Prograde Nutrition (the only nutrition company I have promoted in my 25 years in business!) has created a Whole Foods based Anti-Aging formula called Prograde Longevity that includes both Acai Berry and Coffee Berry.   It also utilizes Green Tea, Pomegranate, Wolf Berry and Biovin Grape (Red Wine extract).

Just to give you an idea of how powerful this formula is, well, you’d have to eat an entire POUND of raspberries to get the same ORAC value. And in case you’re not familiar with the term, ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.

Prograde creates their own forumulations based on scientific research.  No phony baloney hyped up claims here.

Here’s the great news:  You can now try Prograde Longevity for free! You simply pay a tiny shipping and handling fee. Just go to Prograde Nutrition to order your FREE bottle today.

But you really do need to hurry. I’m not sure how long they’re going to be able to make such an incredible FREE offer.

Yours in health,

Becky

PS – Remember, Prograde Longevity is NOT some silly weight loss pill. It is a powerful combination of anti-oxidants specifically designed to give you extraordinary protection against dangerous free radicals.

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A couple of posts ago, I let you in on something I do with my “Fit and Fabulous for Boomer Women” FitCamp that I run here in San Jose. Each month I have a theme for the camp–and I mention it a lot in class.

I guess I’m really just a teacher at heart. I’m continually trying to send them away with “take home” messages (as well as take home workouts, healthy snack ideas, etc. I guess I kind of go overboard with the teaching thing!). It’s my way of trying to help my campers get the results that they’re after. I talked about “Focus”, this month’s theme in an earlier post, but I wanted to share with you our previous themes as well, as I’m hoping they will help you as you work toward better health and fitness in your boomer years.

Last month’s them was CONSISTENCY. Whether we’re talking eating behaviors or exercise–consistency matters. Exercising for three days and then putting it off for three weeks won’t get you noticable results. Eating well for two days and then eating poorly for the next 5 won’t get your belly to flatten. What you do consistently (whether it’s good for you or not!) shapes your body.

My campers who are more consistent outside of class with healthy behavior changes are the ones that enjoy the best results. Consistency is key whether we’re talking weight loss, muscle development, or decreasing back pain. You have to do your exercises regularly, you also have to make consistent behavior changes. Consistency will pay off for you BIG TIME with lifetime results.

Notice I didn’t say perfection. I said consistency. You need to consistently work on this stuff (”stuff” being eating well most of the time,and sticking to some sort of exercise routine). I’m not a big fan of quick weight loss schemes, as they usually have you eating things or doing things that are hard to maintain over time (think: The Biggest Loser). However if you can consistently work towards better eating habits and exercising regularly instead of trying the next hair brained scheme to lose 25 pounds in 15 days, you’re going to have long lasting results. I believe consistency wins over “all or nothing” types of behaviors every time.

I use this theme of “consistency” to drive home the concept of a fitness lifestyle. It’s the choices that you make MOST OF THE TIME that are dictating how you look right now as you read this. If you’re not where you want to be physically right now, it’s due to consistently making poor choices with regard to your health and weight.

So, I ask you now, what can you begin to do consistently over the next few weeks to bring yourself to a higher level of fitness, or a lower level of body fat?? I’d love you to leave a comment so other boomers can read what their peers are going to do to take their fitness to the next level.

Committed to your success,

Becky

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After my last post about Vitamin D, I received a comment from a reader that I wanted to share with you.

I don’t know how many of you click on the comments area, so I asked permission to re-print her comments here. Here is her story…

I had an experience with Vitamin D deficiency that I wanted to share with you. I was struggling to get my blood pressure under control. It was consistently too high in spite of eliminating salt, losing some weight and consistently exercising. My doctor tested me for Vitamin D deficiency and we found it was quite low. Four days after I started supplementing with Vitamin D-3, my blood pressure was in the normal range and consistently remains there without blood pressure medication. I was thrilled!

Debbie S.

Wow. Powerful stuff, huh?

Now, please don’t run out to your health food store and starting swallowing large amounts of Vitamin D supplements just yet. That’s not the point of my bringing this topic up. In fact, you need to be careful with Vitamin D, or any fat soluble vitamin for the matter, because ingesting too much could be harmful. Unlike water soluble vitamins which will be excreted in your urine if you ingest too much, excess fat soluble vitamins are stored in your body. So, you always want to be careful when adjusting your supplement intake. That is why I recommend you talk with your health care practictioner to see if adding additional Vitamin D to your supplement regimen makes sense. My point with this post and my previous post is simply to make you aware that there is research out there that is indicating additional Vitamin D may be beneficial. It’s a good conversation starter at your next check up!

So, to recap, these are the take home messages about Vitamin D:
-It’s hard to get enough from food.
-Current RDA for Vitamin D is 400 IU, but most experts are recommending it be raised to 1,000 IU.
-Research shows there are significant health benefits of Vitamin D supplementation in some populations.
-Many individuals may be deficient in Vitamin A and they don’t even know it. A simple blood test can detect whether you are.

Thanks again to Debbie S. for sharing her story!

Have a great weekend,

Becky

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I’ve been reading so much about this lately, that I think we’ll see a change in the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin D within the next few years. Currently the RDA is set at 400 International Units (IU). This is probably the amount in your multivitamin. Some researchers are calling for the level to be increased to 1,000 IU.

Why? They’re finding that increasing blood levels of Vitamin D can have very positive health benefits. Boomers, take note, as many of the health benefits concern things that those of us “north of 40″ deal with!

More notable health benefits:

-Decreased discomfort in arthritic joints
-Better cognitive function
-Improved function of your immune systems
-Decreased risk for Type 2 diabetes
-Improved bone health
-Decreased risk for breast, colorectal and ovarian cancers

Studies suggest that up to 58% of us may be deficient in Vitamin D. How do you know if you’re deficient? Ask to be tested the next time you visit your health care practitioner.

It’s hard to get enough Vitamin D from food (often dairy and cereal products are fortified with it though). Your body can synthesize it’s own Vitamin D if you get enough exposure to sunlight, but that isn’t possible for all of us all year around. Supplements will most likely come into play for individuals wishing to increase blood levels of Vitamin D. Most researchers suggest supplementing in the form of Vitamin D3.

It’s never safe to add large doses of supplements without first consulting your doctor, but I’d recommend you do ask about whether supplementation would be beneficial for you at your next office visit. The benefits look mighty encouraging and well studied.

I’ve already talked to my internist and have started adding additional Vitamin D3 to my supplementation program.

Yours in health,

Becky

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I believe that most women fail to maintain weight loss when they go on a diet for one main reason:

Diets are temporary

Some last a few days, some last a few months. At some point the diet ends, and you go back to eating the way you did before.

Healthy eating habits, on the other hand, can continue on for a lifetime. What’s more……….

-They don’t involve deprivation
-They don’t require you to be hungry all the time
-They don’t require complete elimination of certain food groups

Healthy eating habits can be developed over time. Small changes over time (as opposed to drastic measures taken all at once) turn into long term habits. Long term habits are what create long term weight maintenance.

It really is that simple.

Change your eating habits over time—-change your body for life.

Or…..

Change your eating habits temporarily—-change your body temporarily.

Which would you rather have????

Before you decide to try yet another diet, try this approach:

-List a few areas in which you think your eating habits could be improved. Pick just one area and list several things you could do over the next few weeks to improve upon this poor habit. Work on doing these things as consistently as you can for the next 3-4 weeks. At the end of the 3-4 weeks, pick another item from your list, and go through the same exercise.

Work on one thing at a time………..and you may never have to “diet” again.

Committed to your success,

Becky

P.S. An exception to my rule about diets is the “Dress Size Reduction Diet” by Registered Dietician, Jayson Hunter. Although he has included the word “diet” in his book, it really is a program that you can stick with in some form for the rest of your life. If you need a “program” to follow in your weight loss effort, please click on the book cover over there on the right. Jayson has written an excellent book that teaches you how to eat whole, nutritious food and get the junk out of your eating plan.

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You may be wondering why a baby boomer weight loss and fitness expert would even mention chocolate at her blog. Am I a hypocrite? No, just a confirmed chocaholic who enjoys small amounts of good quality chocolate several times a week.

So, if you love dark chocolate like I do, I have a very big Valentine’s Day present for you. Seriously.

One of my favorite chocolate-y snacks is the Prograde Craver.

You’ve got to try these things. The taste is out of this world good. And the neat thing is, they’re much healthier for you than a candy bar. They have no preservatives or high fructose corn syrup in them and they’re covered in 100% organic dark chocolate (perhaps this is why I like them so much!).

Each little bar is 180 calories—the perfect amount for a mid-afternoon snack. They’ll also supply you with 3 grams of heart healthy fiber. They come in three delicious flavors: peanut butter, almond butter and spirulina.

They are on sale all this week for Valentine’s Day! Woo Hoo! I’m stocking up!

Here’s everything you need to know:

- You can get 14% off all purchases of Prograde Cravers

- When you check out you will need to enter this coupon code to save the 14%: vday0909

- Shipping will take 3-5 days, so while I HIGHLY recommend you jump all over this sale, don’t purchase these as a gift expecting them to be there for Valentine’s Day itself. Buy them as a healthy gift for yourself or others.

( Sorry, Prograde Cravers are not available overseas)

- The offer cannot be combined with others from Prograde and it ends this Saturday, February 14th at 11:59pm EST.

- Prograde Cravers are NOT available in stores anywhere. You can only find them online here: Prograde Cravers

I’m not kidding about how great they taste. Cravers are the EXACT opposite of the bars you are used to that taste like cardboard and chemicals.

In fact, if you go to the Cravers page at the Prograde website and watch the video of a real life taste test, well, I know you will be blown away.

I even sent the company a testimonial about how good their snack bars were. This speaks volumes as it’s not always easy to impress a confirmed chocaholic!

Good quality chocolate, eaten in moderation as part of a healthy, balanced diet, is a wonderful treat for a boomer gal (or guy) wishing for an occasional indulgence.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yours in health,

Becky

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Impact! Yes. IMPACT. Now, please understand I’m not suggesting that every baby boomer woman run outside right now and jump off her back porch or run for an hour straight.

However, every woman who wishes to remain healthy and maintain her bone mass as she ages needs to consider whether her current exercise program is placing enough demand on her bones. You boomer gals who are avid swimmers, walkers or “spinning” enthusiasts–take note!

At this point in our lives, our bodies aren’t making any more bone. We “banked” it in our youth, up until we were about 30 years old. It’s imperative that we KEEP what we currently have. We can do this by making sure we get enough calcium** and by doing weight bearing cardiovascular exercise and full body strength training.

Back when I was in graduate school, we were taught that walking produced enough of a “stress” on the bones, but recent research has shown this is not the case. Cardiovascular activities that provide a little impact (not necessarily throughout the whole workout) are proving to be the best choices for helping women maintain bone mass. Weight training, especially exercises that target the back and hips, has also been shown to help maintain bone mass in women.

Again, it’s not necessary for your whole cardio workout to be impactful. Studies show that just a few jumps or hops here and there can make a big difference over time. As with any significant change in your workout program, you should always check with your primary health care provider to see if adding a little impact to your exercise program is safe for your particular situation.

For my female baby boomer customers here in San Jose, I include in their workouts strength exercises for the hips and back (like dead lifts and squats) and I add just a little impact to their cardio routines. For instance, I suggest they simply jump rope, do jumping jacks or jump up on a porch step a few times after their cardio workout. We start with 5 jumps and work up from there (over time) to about 10 or 15 jumps 3 times per week.

One need only look at an elderly osteoporotic woman to see the devastating effects of severe bone loss. We can’t control the hormonal changes that happen to us over time, but we can control the amount of impact our bones get and the type of bone building nutrients we put in our bodies.

Are YOU getting a little impact in your workout?

Leave me a comment here and share how you challenge your bones each week.

Let’s learn from each other!

Yours in health,

Becky

**Nutrition experts recommend 1,000 mg. of calcium a day for pre-menopausal women, and 1,200 mg. a day for post -menopausal women. Check with your primary health care provider to find out the ideal amount of calcium intake for your situation.

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Well, there is nothing I know of that will maintain our youth forever, but as far as anti-aging nutrition goes, fish oil is at the top of the list!

Study after study shows that fish oil (and, more specifically the long-chain omega-3 fats DHA and EPA) can benefit us in so many ways. Based on scientific evidence, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports that the ingestion of fish and/or fish oil supplements can benefit us in the following ways:

-Reduce blood pressure
-Reduce triglyceride levels
-Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease
-Reduce inflammation
-Reduce the incidence of macular degeneration (an eye disorder)

These are only the top four benefits the AHA mentions as having “strong scientific evidence”. It’s the tip of the iceberg–the list of potential benefits from fish oil is several pages long!

We boomers are right smack in “mid-life” where a lot of life’s pains the rear (heart disease, high blood pressure, etc) start showing up. The evidence-based argument favoring fish oil in reducing the risk for these conditions is just too strong to ignore.

If you aren’t taking fish oil, I suggest you talk to your doctor about adding it in to your supplement regime. One word of caution: Folks who are allergic to fish or shellfish should not take fish oil capsules.

If you like fish, the best way to get omega-3 fatty acids is to eat fattier fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel. Trout is also high in both DHA and EPA.

If you don’t eat fish several times a week, a fish oil supplement may be in order.

What should you look for in a fish oil supplement?
-Look for a product containing Neptune Krill Oil. Neptune Krill Oil doesn’t give you “fish burp” or a fishy aftertaste, and reportedly has a higher antioxidant rating than other types of fish oil used for supplements.
-Look for a product that contains both EPA and DHA.
-Talk to your health care provider about the proper dosage of fish oil for your situation.

I use and recommend EFA-Icon from Prograde Nutrition for my Omega-3 supplement.

You can pick up some EFA icon at a discount right now!

Click here to get to the Prograde site. Once you’ve placed your order, put in the coupon code 012009 at checkout. You’ll save 10.9% off your entire Prograde order from now through midnight EST on Thursday, January 15th!

Yours in health,

Becky

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Today’s weight loss tip for boomers is…….

Avoid drinking too many calories

This is actually the very first tip I give to my personal training clients in San Jose when I begin to work with them. I saved it for tip #5 here on my blog, as I wanted it to appear as we approach all the holiday parties. This tip is really timely for these next few weeks.

I won’t begrudge anyone the occasional glass of wine, juice, a non-fat latte or mocha–or whatever drink floats your boat. However, many of us drink waaaaaayyyyy too many calories. I will put out this challenge to anyone reading this blog post: If you currently struggle with your weight, write down everything you eat and drink for the next 4-5 days. Everything. Extract out the liquid calories. You might be surprised. Research shows that some folks drink more than 800 calories a day in the form of liquid beverages. Yikes. Not good for a boomer waistline. How does this happen? The juice smoothies, the full fat mochas, the tall glass of orange juice, the mixed drinks or wine here and there. They add up.

The tricky part with liquid calories is that they don’t really “register” in our brain. We don’t eat less to compensate for the higher calorie beverages we drink. Therefore, those of us who drink a lot of calories are probably battling excess weight.

The good news is, this is a pretty easy fix. Stop drinking so many calorie filled beverages!

It’s a lot easier to drink fewer calories than it is to eat fewer calories. It’s a challenge at this time of year with lots of holiday gatherings and festivities. Some traditional holiday drinks (eggnog, hot buttered rum) can really pack on the calories. If you’re going to enjoy extra liquid calories this month, it’s best to accommodate somewhere else in the energy balance equation. Just remember that if you accommodate too much, you’ll wind up with lots of empty calories from non-nutritious beverages, and your overall nutrition will suffer. I guarantee you’ll feel worse and have lower energy levels, too! This will affect your exercise efforts.

The moral of this weight loss tip: Always be mindful, especially at this time of the year, of the calories you drink. They often sabotage the best laid weight loss plans.

Yours in health,

Becky

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I saved this weight loss tip for right now–the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Weight loss tip #4 is:

PLAN YOUR MEALS

For those of you who are in charge of cooking all or most of a Thanksgiving meal, my guess is you’ve made some sort of a plan: what you’ll be serving, when to shop for your food, when certain things must go into the oven, and what time you’ll eat.

Now if we could only be this organized EVERY week! Show me a woman working on weight loss who plans her meals and shops for them ahead of time, and I’ll show you a woman who is WAAAAAYYYYY more likely to be steadily losing weight. Why? Because she probably isn’t going to the store at 6pm famished and trolling for food. She probably has healthy snacks with her during the day. She probably doesn’t eat out 4-5 times per week. She probably isn’t grabbing a Snickers bar in between meetings several times a week. Interestingly, her food bill is probably a lot less than the non-planner’s food bill too.

Bottom line: planners will have smaller waists and fatter bank accounts!

Planning doesn’t have to take a lot of time. If you’re serious about weight loss, here are a few ideas to get you started being more pro-active with your food planning.

-Sit down once a week and look at the next 3-5 days. When can you eat at home? When will you need to catch a meal on the fly?
-Write out some breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks that work with your schedule in those 3-5 days. Even if you don’t cook–you can do this! Ever heard of rotisserie chicken? How about frozen (unfried, unbreaded) fish fillets? There are a TON of healthy options for non-cooks at all grocery stores.
-Write out a grocery list for your meals.
-Shop for your meals.
-When you get home, spend an hour or so prepping anything that will save you time with your upcoming meals (shred rotisserie chicken, make veggie sticks, chop nuts, shred cheese for salads or quesadillas)
-Put your menu plan up in the kitchen where you can see it.

That’s it! I do this every Sunday, and my menu plan reflects nights when I have time to cook and nights when it has to be fast, or even take-out because I’m running between high school sports activities. Works like a charm.

If you want to be a successful “loser”, you’ve GOT to have a PLAN.

I’ve just purchased a month’s worth of a new meal planning service from a Registered Dietician I really admire. I’m going to test it out for a few weeks and report back to you what I think. For those of you who have a hard time planning out your own nutritious meals, this just may be the ticket to weight loss for you! I’ll try it out first and be the guinea pig for you.

Are you a successful loser who uses a plan? Share it here so we can learn from your success!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Becky

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