Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

This blog was written by Lisa Larkin. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

It’s okay to eat breakfast food for dinner, but is it okay to eat non-breakfast foods in the morning? I don’t think it matters what you eat, as long as you eat something healthy to get the body and brain ready to start your day. Breakfast is the most skipped meal of the day, but the most important!

Skipping Breakfast Makes You Gain Weight

Eating breakfast helps to control weight gain. Some people skip breakfast thinking it’s going to help them lose weight, but it could cause you to overeat later in the day. It is very important to at least eat some low-fat yogurt and fruit in the morning to get your metabolism started. Breakfast will also help you to concentrate better at work and help with memory.

Make Time for Breakfast

Another reason people skip breakfast is that they don’t have enough time in the morning. It’s better to get out of bed and have five extra minutes to eat breakfast than hitting the snooze button. Make something quick (for example, a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter) you can eat on the way out the door. Or, pack a few things for breakfast the night before to have it ready to go in the morning.

Try to avoid eating such a large dinner that you’re not hungry in the morning. Eating an earlier dinner and avoiding late-night snacks will help to increase your appetite in the mornings, and help to prevent weight gain. We all know preventing weight gain also protects you from heart disease and other health issues. So try it tomorrow morning: Eat a healthy breakfast to start your day!

This blog was written by Angie Scheetz, RD. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

I love what I do. Seeing people succeed with their weight-loss goals is one of the most rewarding feelings as a dietitian. However, it can also be very challenging when I see clients revert back to old habits and struggle to keep off the weight that they worked so hard to remove.

After checking out some research of highly successful dieters, I have found the best things that can be done to keep off the weight for good:

• Keep a food journal. Individuals who keep food logs tend to eat 40 percent less because they are writing it down. Also, a recent study found women who kept a food journal lost 6 pounds more than those who didn’t. Some excellent online food tracker sites include My Daily Plate and Choose My Plate. Free apps for your smartphone that are highly rated include My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
• Practice portion control. As a society we are terrible at eyeballing portions! The secret to success is consistently measuring food items to make sure you are eating the same amount you are journaling. The simplest way to do this is to use measuring utensils to dish out your meals and to associate common items to certain portions. For example, a serving of meat should be the size of a deck of cards, a baked potato should be the size of a computer mouse, a half-cup of pasta is the size of a tennis ball, and a teaspoon of oil is the size of one dice.
• Don’t skip meals. Lots of people think if they skip a meal they will be decreasing the total calories they are taking in for the day. In reality, the opposite usually happens. When someone skips a meal they typically end up overeating at a different time of day to compensate for missing out on the food that their body needed. Also, whenever you skip a meal it makes your metabolism work at a slower rate and, therefore, makes it harder to lose weight. Eating balanced meals and snacks throughout the day is the best way to stay on track!

The more you follow these rules, the higher chance of success you will have in keeping off the weight. For more information or to set up an individualized nutrition appointment, contact me at ascheetz@nifs.org.

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

As corporate health/fitness specialists, we see our clients giving it their all in the gym Monday through Friday. Then, something called the weekend happens.

Generally speaking, most people take a break from exercising in their corporate fitness center on the weekends. While it can be a good idea to devote two days to recovering from a week of hard workouts and busy work schedules, weekends also present several opportunities for unhealthy eating. Talk about a double whammy!

Keep Up Your Exercise Momentum

Remind your corporate wellness clients that while they should rightfully enjoy their weekends, they should also practice moderation, so that when Monday morning rolls around, they don’t feel like their fitness levels are back at square one. For those with weight-loss goals, in particular, the lack of exercise Saturday through Sunday combined with the increase of calories can do enough damage to negate all the calorie burning done Monday through Friday. 

Watch Your Sodium Intake

Aside from the high-fat and high-sugar foods and beverages that are consumed on weekends, this article from the Men's Health blog points out that sodium is also the culprit of weekend weight gain. Pizza, nachos, candy, sodas, and other junk food or restaurant selections often include loads of sodium, causing bloating and water retention that reflects on the scale.

Tips for Staying Fit on the Weekends

Here are tips to keep the weekends guilt-free and the scale happy:

• Rather than indulge in everything, pick one to three of your favorite “splurge” foods to eat during the weekend (in reasonable portions), while keeping the rest of the diet in check.
• Use Saturday and Sunday for recreational activities with family members or friends, such as gardening, softball, or hiking.
• If you do plan on exercising on the weekend, do it first thing on Saturday morning before excuses or other plans ruin good intentions.

This blog was written by Lori Griffin. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

“Exercise is boring…,” “I don’t have the time…,” or “I don’t know where to start” are words many have used as excuses at some point or another in regard to a fitness routine or lifestyle change. With the emergence of Slim It to Win It in 2011, NIFS sought to squash not one, but all three of those excuses. With the guidance of health and fitness professionals two hours a week, members teamed up to conquer fun, limit-pushing workouts.

After experiencing personal successes the first year, members anxiously awaited the return of Slim It to Win It, and the second run of the program proved to be life-changing once again. Slim It is a chance for people to step outside their comfort zones and into a new way of life. With a total weight loss of 635 pounds and 1.6 percent body fat lost on average, coaches and participants alike celebrated forming new exercise habits and breaking old eating habits.

Slim It Helps Participants Achieve New Fitness Levels

While the empirical evidence demonstrates the physical success, it is the individual stories that explain the true victories. Participants accomplished fitness feats they never thought possible. From kicking their walking pace up to a jog to finally tackling a box jump, participants used the team atmosphere as fuel in their quest to shed some weight.

Nutrition and Healthy Eating Benefits

Not only did Slim It provide stellar exercise sessions, the program also spurred participants toward healthier eating habits. One participant in particular completely shifted his mindset regarding food. Rather than look for convenience at the last minute during lunch breaks, he learned to plan ahead for healthier, more satisfying options. Another member lost 26 pounds in the 10 weeks and attests to a true change in her body composition. “I am wearing jeans I have not worn in months! Not only did the numbers on the scale change, but I can really see a difference in myself.”

The Fun of Working Out as a Group

In addition to encouraging participants to challenge their fitness boundaries and reset their food mentalities, the program also instills a unique camaraderie among team members. Members exchanged numbers and worked out together outside of the team time. Even as the program ends each year, participants still connect to keep up their fitness.

With Slim It, people discover the fun in working out as a group. For example, coaches encouraged participants to log into a calorie-tracking website and when teammates noticed it had been awhile since someone had tracked his or her food intake, teammates made it a point to razz the individual a bit to get back on track. Each year with Slim It, “teammates” quickly turns into strong friendships rooted in a common lifestyle.

A Lifetime of Fitness Results

At the start of Slim It to Win It, 155 people began a 10-week program that took each of them to a new health and fitness level. With the challenging and encouraging group atmosphere, participants conquered their weight-loss goals. Coaches worked to instill new habits so that weight-loss goals were not only achieved, but also maintained. 

One member comments as to why he chose NIFS’s Slim It program two years in a row: “I’ve been able to maintain the weight loss. In the past the weight would reappear.” Combining raw statistics and personal success stories, it is safe to say Slim It to Win It creates a lifetime of results for NIFS members.

This blog was written by Lisa Larkin. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Other than supposedly helping you go the bathroom, do you know the importance of adding fiber to your diet? Our bodies can’t digest it, so why eat it?

Benefits of Getting More Fiber

Fiber is actually considered a carbohydrate. It has many health benefits, and helps to regulate digestion. It also helps you to feel full longer, which could help you cut back on total daily calories, helping you to lose weight. When you lose a few extra pounds, you also decrease your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and heart attack; you also lower cholesterol levels and decrease joint pain. Adding fiber to your diet can also help to lower the risk of several forms of cancer.

How Much Fiber Do You Need?

Shoot for getting 20 to 35 grams of fiber per day, which most of us are not even close to getting. And here's a very important side note: Add fiber to your diet slowly, over two to three weeks. If you add too much too fast, you may have stomach issues! Also, drink plenty of water when taking in more fiber to help keep things moving through your system.

How to Get More Fiber

Are you wondering how to add more fiber to your diet? Here are some tips:

• Increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat.
• Add more whole-wheat products into your diet.
• Eat popcorn instead of potato chips.
• Snack on fruit instead of candy.
• Keep some nuts at your desk or in your car for when you need something to hold you over.
• Eat oatmeal for breakfast.
• Try more recipes with beans and lentils.
• Purchase unprocessed foods.

This blog was written by Angie Scheetz, Wellness Coordinator and Registered Dietitian at NIFS. 

One of my favorite things to do in Indiana is to visit the various farmers’ markets around town.  As a dietitian I am a sucker for the fresh fruits and veggies but I also love the homemade desserts, candles, pasta, kettle corn, fresh flowers, and other wonderful items you can find.  Here are my top five reasons why visiting your local farmer’s market is a must.

1.  Support for the local community – Since the produce is grown and purchased locally, the money remains in the community and stimulates the local economy.   Also, when you shop at the farmers’ market you are cutting out the middle man and the product is generally less expensive than if you purchased it in the grocery store. 

2.  Eating foods that are in season – Farmers’ market produce is picked ripe and sold soon after picking. Supermarket produce, on the other hand, can take up to two weeks to travel from the farm to the store, even when it is in season.   The produce tastes richer and more flavorful and the nutrients are better retained.  Check out the downtown City Market website for what products are available during the months the market is open.

3.  It is good for you – The average American eats 4.4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.  The current recommendations are 9 servings per day.  Picking up multiple servings of fruits and veggies and incorporating them into recipes, meals, and snacks is a great way to get closer to the 9 serving per day goal.  This will guarantee you are meeting your recommended vitamin and mineral requirements, increasing your daily fiber intake, and acquiring cancer fighting antioxidants too.  Locally grown produce is lower in pesticides and chemicals also.

4.  You can talk to the farmers who grew the food you are about to eat - You can meet the farmers who grew your food, ask when it was picked, how it was grown, and ways to prepare it.  When else do you get the opportunity to learn so much about what you are putting in your mouth?

5. There is certain to be one that fits your location and schedule – I love being able to go to the City Market farmers’ market on my lunch break downtown and sampling the hot, fresh kettle corn, picking up sweet corn, and getting homemade cookies on Wednesday afternoons.  Saturday mornings it is off to the Carmel farmers’ market to purchase bon bons from Holy Cow Cupcakes, homemade pasta, and a whole assortment of fruits and veggies for the week.  To find out where the location of a farmers’ market is close to you check out this website .

Whether you are picking up items for dinner or for the whole week, the local farmers’ market is an inexpensive, healthy alternative to the grocery store.  Try to get there early to get the best variety and options.  Not all vendors accept credit cards so be sure to have cash on hand.  Finally, bring along your own reusable grocery bag to put all of your goodies in so it is easier to carry home your fresh, delicious finds.

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

As corporate health and fitness professionals, we are often the first people our members come to with questions about new diets they come across. We all know that fad diets don’t work, plain and simple, but sometimes these new diet trends are disguised just enough to be appealing to even the most health-conscious people.

Recently, a corporate fitness center member asked for my thoughts on the Paleo Diet. While this is not a brand new diet, it has recently become more trendy. The basis of the Paleo Diet (also referred to as the Caveman Diet) is that the most beneficial foods for the human body are the ones that our Stone Age ancestors would have hunted and gathered. Vegetables, fruits, meat, and seafood are the staples of this eating regimen.

At first glance, it looks okay. It includes all-natural foods rather than pushing any premade meal plans or supplements. However, this program recommends a much different meat-to-plant ratio than what we’ve all been taught in our basic nutrition classes. It suggests that up to 68 percent of our diets should be meat, or calories from animals.

Many metabolic functions can be compromised with an extremely high protein intake. A diet consisting of more than 30 percent protein can be linked to kidney problems and dehydration.

Remind your corporate fitness center members that the word “diet” usually indicates that there is some form of restriction. The healthiest mindset towards food is one that acknowledges all foods are permissible. Our main priority should be filling our bodies with nutrients while leaving room to enjoy treats in moderation. When an eating plan makes claims like “Lose weight!,” or the “World’s Healthiest Diet!,” chances are, it isn’t a lifestyle plan that will stick.

This blog was written by Jenna Pearson. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

You probably know that eating fruits and vegetables is part of a healthy lifestyle, but did you know that eating sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables can reduce your risk for heart disease, certain cancers, and type-2 diabetes? The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables at every meal. The actual amount of fruits and vegetables a person needs varies by age and gender. Use the table below to find out how much you should be eating, and visit http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ for more information.

From http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

If you consider yourself to be a picky eater, or don’t particularly like fruits or vegetables, try using these tips to help boost your consumption:

• Add extra vegetables to sauces and soups. You can even grate them in so they go undetected!
• Top your pizza with extra veggies, not extra cheese.
• Add grated carrots or zucchini to muffins and homemade bread.
• Serve up a smoothie for a nutritious snack or dessert! Use fresh or frozen fruits as your main ingredient.
• Top your cereal with fruit, not sugar. You will get the same sweetness, and a lot more nutrients!
• Grate or dice vegetables to add them to main dishes such as chili, lasagna, or casseroles. You can even puree cauliflower, carrots, and squash and add them to macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes.
• For more ideas and recipes, visit sneakychef.com. 

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

The advertising world has come a long way. Think back many years ago when cigarette ads could be found in magazines or on television. Many studies have concluded that banning cigarette ads led to less demand for cigarettes. Most recently, various groups are calling for junk food ads to be banned from media. You might wonder if advertising is really powerful enough to influence these lifestyle factors, but a study done in Quebec showed that when junk food ads were banned, fast-food expenditures dropped by 13% each week!

The shift I’ve notice the most when it comes to food advertisements is that certain unhealthy products have realized they can’t compete with the health benefits of some more nutritious items. So, to market their products, they’ve chosen to highlight the “fun” aspect of eating their foods. Take Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts, for example, with their taglines, “Made for Fun” and “Joylicious.” Their commercials depict cartoon kids frolicking around with rainbows and hearts. What child watching that commercial wouldn’t want a Pop-Tart? Same with Frito-Lay and their tagline “Good Fun.”

Our job as corporate wellness professionals should be to educate our clients to look past creative marketing techniques and realize that eating isn’t simply a fun hobby. Eating should be enjoyable, yes, but also nutritious enough to fuel the body.

When it comes to advertisements, look for phrases like “100% whole grain,” “fiber,” “heart healthy,” and others that signify a product is more nutritionally dense. Still, be careful, and don’t believe everything you see or hear!

This blog was written by Anna Hiple. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Snacking before bedtime has long been a hotly debated subject. Although we’ve learned that weight control is largely dependent on the balance between calorie consumption and calorie expenditure, late-night eating must be done with care. Otherwise it may damage your weight loss or maintenance efforts. Follow these simple tips for nighttime eating.

Nighttime eating is a DON’T if…

• You eat out of boredom or habit; not because you are hungry.
• It leads to mindless consumption of excessive calories, especially of foods void of nutritional value such as potato chips, candy, cookies, ice cream, etc.
• You tend to suffer from nighttime heartburn, indigestion, or acid reflux.
• You tend to reach for foods that contain caffeine, such as chocolate.
• You wake up feeling too full in the morning to eat breakfast.

Nighttime eating can be a DO if…

• Heavy, greasy foods with a high fat content are avoided.
• It has been several hours since your last meal.
• The snack is light and nutritious and contains a mix of carbs and protein (examples: whole-grain cereal and milk, a piece of fruit with cottage cheese, low- or non-fat dairy, popcorn, a small turkey sandwich, whole-grain crackers and cheese or hummus, etc.).