Eating Tips for the Holidays

Ah, Thanksgiving. A holiday filled with family, gratitude, and food, food, food! An interesting statistic about the day: an average plate of Thanksgiving classics contains anywhere from 1,600-3,000 calories — that's over most people's recommended daily allowance. While I am not trying to deter anyone from enjoying a great meal that can take hours, even days, to make, there are ways to make sitting down at the Thanksgiving table healthier.

• Don't skip breakfast. Whatever the day, whatever the occasion — don't skip breakfast. Missing the first meal of the day slows down your metabolism, which causes your body to store more calories later, and you may end up gorging at dinner because you're extra hungry. Besides a hungry person is a grumpy person, which is no fun on a holiday!

New Class starting in January

This week as we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday, I challenge you to ask yourself one very important question. “Who is in control?” God or Me? Are you putting Christ first in your life. Maybe you want to learn how. We can help you get your life back. It’s about a fresh start, A New Beginning. Does that sound like something you want? Let us know and we will begin working on a date and time for our new January meetings. Our Christ First groups have lost a combined total of over 500 lbs this year.

Expect a Miracle

 

E-mail kevin.eckert@comcast.net for more info.

or call the church office at 815-235-2824

Workout at a High Intensity Level

 

Creating Weight-Loss

Weight loss is achieved by creating a negative caloric balance in your body. You need to eat fewer calories than you burn through exercise and metabolic processes. Your body will then turn to stored energy or body fat to fuel itself and your body weight will decrease. According to Dr. Len Kravitz, assistant professor of exercise at the University of New Mexico, research shows that significant weight loss is created by moderate to vigorous exercise and not low intensity exercise.

Fuel Contribution

When you exercise, your body needs to fuel itself from stores of carbohydrates and fat. It is a mix of fuel types and not just one or the other. The contribution percentages are what varies depending on the intensity or effort of exercise. When you exercise at a lower intensity, it is burning a higher percentage of fat and lower percentage of carbohydrates. As your intensity increases, this shifts so that you burn more carbohydrates and less fat, according to the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Intensity and Caloric Burn

In theory, low-intensity exercise does sound like the answer because you are burning a higher percentage of calories from fat. However, it is calories in versus calories out that determines weight loss not where it comes from. Higher intensity exercise burns more calories so contributes to better weight loss results. Consider that you might burn 100 calories during a 20 minute, low-intensity walk. It is possible that 60 calories are from fat and 40 are from carbohydrates. Now increase this to a 20 minute, high-intensity run and you may burn 200 calories. If only 40 percent is from fat, you have burned 80 fat calories compared to 60 at low-intensity exercise.

Exercise Recommendations

To lose a significant amount of weight, which is defined as 5 percent or more of your total body weight, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends an accumulation of 225 to 420 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise each week. This should be a combination of cardiovascular and resistance exercise for the most health and weight-loss benefit. Choose activities that you enjoy as well as challenge you to stay motivated.

Considerations

None of this means that low-intensity exercise is bad. If you are new to exercise or have a chronic medical condition, it might be the best choice for you. Discuss limitations with your doctor so you have guidelines to follow. Low-intensity exercise is also a good way to let your body recover from higher levels of physical activity or a way to ease back in after a break. Listen to your body and adjust your exercise intensity accordingly.