Healthy Snacks

I get asked all the time: what is a healthy snack? Is this bar OK? How about this drink? What about protein cookies?

RULES OF HEALTHY SNACKS:

1. Ask: is my snack real food?

2. Look at the ingredients, the fewer the better

3. Can you pronounce and/or do you know most of the ingredients?

4. Check the carb count. Many “healthy bars” may be too high in carbs (sugar, honey, oats, agave nectar, etc).

My Quick List:

Here is a quick list of healthy snacks that I would eat and recommend:

RX Bars

I like these bars because of their real food content. All real food.

Eden Seeds

Eden sells several different seeds and snacks. Very good and clean company. Buy these online.

RX Bar

Here is the breakfast version that is a little higher in carbs. You can cut it in half and enjoy it twice.

LARA

BAR

Here is another real food bar. Low ingredients. I Always cut these bars in half (high carb). Goes good with a few nuts.

Kind Bars

The original Kinds Bars are still a good choice for a bar. There sugar content is usually around 5 grams. Many of their new products are not so kind on the body however…..

Other Ideas:

1. Avocados

2. Dark Chocolate (70% or greater)

3. Apples, Oranges, Cherry Tomatoes, Berries, and more

4. Beef Jerky

5. Mixed Nuts and Seeds (please measure out portions)

6. Low carb or Keto Bars

7. Hard Cheeses (if you handle dairy)

8. Cottage Cheese

9. Lunch Meat (Turkey, Ham, etc)

What is your favorite healthy snack? I am always open to suggestions.

Ready to change your food choices and lose weight?  Contact Jason Cornish, Medical Fitness Specialist, Personal Trainer, and Health Coach in Auburn, AL today at 402-521-0314 or email at jason.a.cornish@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: Please consult your doctor before you begin any exercise program. The content of this blog is for educational purposes only. You are responsible for the outcomes for the use, misuse, or lack of use of the information presented in this blog.

Weight Loss That Works: Habit Change

After working as a trainer for about one month (I started way back in 2011) I realized that losing body fat was tough for most people. Simply telling clients to calculate their maro-nutrient needs (protein, carbs, and fat) and coming up with a number to stay under didn't work very well....it hardly ever worked.

Weight loss is not simply a calculation in the real world! Nor is weight loss mostly about getting on a new diet or reading the latest diet book.

If these tactics worked, the USA would be trending out of the obesity epidemic, but we are actually heading towards a WORSE national health status.

It turns out that mindset work and behavior change is how people can actually lose weight and keep it off. Habit change is the key!

Like boxing, habit change is a SKILL-BASED undertaking. People need to learn how to change habits. Otherwise, willpower alone is used, which does not work long term for most people.

Ready to lose weight a different way?

Step One:

Mindfulness Training:

The first step to changing habits in how you eat is gaining "mindfulness muscles". Through some very brief education and practice you can start to gain more control over food habits instead of being beaten again and again by typical patterns and food addictions. (Is food really addictive and habit forming?....YES!)

Studies show that only 12 minutes a day of this practice yields substantial benefits!

Step Two:

Goal Setting and Habit Change:

This step is simple to start and yields the best results with follow through. Write out your goals for weight loss and habit change. To do this, get out a piece of paper and write down your specific goals that you have (example: I want to lose weight). Next make it specific and time bound...(example: Ok getting real...I will lose 2 pounds in the next 7 days). Lastly, write down how you plan on doing this and what habits must be changed (example: I need to forgo buying packaged carbohydrates. No more cookies, chips, and crackers. I also need to donate or toss my stockpile of cookies). Want to make this step even more effective? Tell others, post it up on the fridge, or have an accountability partner (or coach).

Step Three:

Get on a Real Food Diet

Notice that this is step three, not step one. You have to get your habits and mindfulness training going before you change your shopping list. With any diet, you have to find a diet that gives you results, keeps you happy, and is full of real food. This can be low, medium, or high carb. Everyone is different. If you stick with real food your chances for success are high.

Step Four:

Eliminate the Two Great Killers

Yikes, death and diabetes…curtesy of food chemistry and big food USA

Out of all the various foods available 24/7, 365 days a year there are two that remain the most deadly and addictive:

1. Processed Carbohydrates

2. Liquid Calories (Especially Sugar)

If you want to live long and prosper (and actually make your weight loss goals) these two items have to be greatly reduced and reworked on your menu.

Step Five:

Exercise High and Low

What is the best kind of exercise to lose weight?

Move often, in many different ways, and for as long as possible. What I mean by this for most people is walk more. Low level cardio and movement is what I call "exercising low" or in low mode. The human body was made to walk miles everyday. Walking is required in order to stay healthy for any able body. When people do not live out this biological necessity in some way, weight gain is a natural result. If you are struggling to lose weight and are not walking daily start by adding a 10-15 minute daily walk. Also, remember to add distance in your weekly routines, like parking near away from the entrances of stores.

On the flip side, "exercising high" is when people go to a place like a gym. In order to flip the switch and work “high mode” people need to sprint (or do interval training), lift heavy weights, and train power (think medicine ball slams). This form of exercise is much different than the “low mode” mentioned above. Exercising in high mode works different parts of a person’s cellular machinery. This mode is great to keep your body biologically young and metabolism high.

If you lack one or both of these modes, add them in and weight loss will likely follow.

Step Six (Bonus Step)

Brain Retraining

Above is a picture of the BrainTap headset in play. It uses unique blue lights, sound, and several different audio/ visual modalities to retrain the brain.

If weight loss is really about habit change, it would be prudent to think about where habits are formed and maintained. The answer? The brain. Our brains are the formers and propagators of our ideas and habits, for better or worse. Therefore, if one changes both their ideas and way of doing things the brain will change. Due to the science of neuroplasticity it is now known that any brain (regardless of how young or old) can change if properly stimulated.

In order to help facilitate better brain health and increase the ease of habit change people can use various brain training methods. One of my favorite methods is an audio program called BrainTap. I won’t go into all the details on how it works (feel free to ask me or go to their website). The short story is this: through the power of beats, music, emotion, and guided visualization your thoughts and literal brain structures can change for the better. BrainTap has over 100 different programs designed to help people lose weight all through the power of neuroplasticity.

Here is their website if you want to learn more:

https://braintap.com/

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Ready to change your food choices and lose weight?  Contact Jason Cornish, Medical Fitness Specialist, Personal Trainer, and Health Coach in Auburn, AL today at 402-521-0314 or email at jason.a.cornish@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: Please consult your doctor before you begin any exercise program. The content of this blog is for educational purposes only. You are responsible for the outcomes for the use, misuse, or lack of use of the information presented in this blog.

Motivation and Mindset: The Best "Diet"

Social support and having humor is always important to stay on track with diet and lifestyle change.

Most people are on an ongoing quest to find the perfect diet. Weigh Watchers, Paleo, Atkins, Keto, Plant Paradox, Vegan are all common diets that people try. The variety of diets never ceases to amaze me.

Say, what causes people to consider and try a new diet? What makes a person push the go button on a diet change? The biggest factors are:

1. Knowing someone who had success on a diet

2. Successful Marketing,

3. People like the food list

Only around 40% of people stick with a diet after 6 months (New Year diet changes). At two years, 90% of people are back to their old habits. Any weight that has been lost is often gained back. Diets alone have a BAD record of getting people to a different state of health and an optimal body weight.

Why do people fail at diet/ lifestyle change and weight loss attempts? A lot of this has to do with False Hope Syndrome.

What’s that?

False Hope Syndrome goes like this: people get excited about reaching their goals. Their excitement is centered on trying something new and different….a new method. The chosen method may or may not be suited for them, but in either case most people tend to give up because they lose track of their purpose (why am I doing this?). When results do not come in quickly and a diet is “hard” to follow their mind says things like “screw it”, “this is too hard”, “I deserve to eat……” “all things in moderation”…….”this is not worth it”.

People then tend to go back to their old habits. Change is not sustained. Life and health status stays the same.

Is there a better way? I like research and science. The best research on change psychology and successful weight loss clearly says that in order for the majority of people to actually change and meet their goals they need to learn how to change.

In other words, the best “diet” that people can adopt is one that actually causes long term change to occur. Dealing with motivation and mindset is step one. Foods list, diet books, and weight loss apps do not get the job done.

In an effort to help people make their health, nutrition change, and weight loss goals before January (the new year resolution attempts) I have created on online program called the Nutrition Reboot.

The first part of this class happens to be called: Motivation and Mindset.

This class will lay the foundation for success that most weight loss and lifestyle change programs and diets are lacking.

Ready to change your food choices and lose weight?  Contact Jason Cornish, Medical Fitness Specialist, Personal Trainer, and Health Coach in Auburn, AL today at 402-521-0314 or email at jason.a.cornish@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: Please consult your doctor before you begin any exercise program. The content of this blog is for educational purposes only. You are responsible for the outcomes for the use, misuse, or lack of use of the information presented in this blog.

Sprouts 101 and Brain Health

I have been sprouting seeds for myself and my family for about two years now. After I learned of the fantastic health benefits of broccoli sprouts from Dr. Rhonda Patrick I was motivated to add sprouts of all sorts to our menu.

For anyone up for a deep dive on the research enjoy this video:

https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/sulforaphane

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Below is a video that captures the process of how I have been sprouting seeds for years. If you are interested in getting started all you need is some wide mouth mason jars, sprouting lids, and sprouts.

Want to buy the lids online? Type in “ stainless steel sprouting lids “ into a search engine. Several options should come up.

The best place to buy sprouts locally is Daysprings Natural Grocers. You can always try to look online as well.

Want some help with your menu and your body?  Contact Jason Cornish, Medical Fitness Specialist, Personal Trainer, and Health Coach in Auburn, AL today at 402-521-0314 or email at jason.a.cornish@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: Please consult your doctor before you begin any exercise program. The content of this blog is for educational purposes only. You are responsible for the outcomes for the use, misuse, or lack of use of the information presented in this blog.

Best Diet Tactics for 2020

Low Carb Holiday Cuisine= Almond Flour Cinnamon Roll Pizza

Last year at this time, I posted an article on the best diet strategies my clients used to lose weight in 2018. If you missed it, check it out here:

https://www.eightfoldfitness.net/blog/2019/1/20/diets-that-actually-work

For individual diets (low carb, keto, intermitted fasting) I still see clients succeed with many different diets depending on their body and situation. Some people do great on low carb diets, while others lost the most body fat on plant based diets with higher carbohydrate intake. It all depends on one’s life context, microbiome, hormone levels, and stress.

What diet is best for you? Short answer= It depends.

In 2019, more than ever before I worked with many of my clients on the none macro nutrient (protein, fats, carbs) aspects of diet. It turns outs that some nuts and bolts buying/ cooking/ awareness strategies got many people that were stuck to a better spot with their weight loss goals.

Here are some of the top tips and tricks from 2019.

1. Protein Turns Down Hunger

   Food high in protein is the best way to turn down hunger signals. Knowing this is especially important for late night snackers. Having a big salad with 4-6 ounces of protein for supper was the perfect solution for few of my clients that struggled with late night snacking. For others who struggled with snacking during the day, eating sufficient amounts of protein at every meal (which will turn down hunger) is the key to stop snacking so much.

2. Junk Food Exorcism

   Don’t buy junk food. Don’t let it in your house. Owning how you are in control of what is purchased at the store can be very powerful. If you can’t say no to ice cream, cookies, or a whole block of cheese with crackers know this: you don’t have to fight it IF you don’t buy it. Can spouses and children make this more difficult? Yes. Are you going to throw out this powerful tactic so easily because of others? I hope not. Flexibility and understanding should triumph bad food habits when it comes to family members and spouses. Try having a conversation with them about what you need. Are you the shopper? You are in complete control.

3. Habit Smack Down

   Speaking of habits….being aware of your food habits can often set people free from them…. eventually. Awareness is the first and most powerful step to change. Do you usually stop at Starbucks and consume 450 calories of a sugary coffee drink? Are you aware that your 3 “handfuls” of nuts a day equals 600 calories a day? You love drinking beer and wine. OK, but if you want to lose weight you need to realize that you are drinking 1800 calories a week in alcohol. Having this awareness along with repeated efforts to change is how progress is made. With enough energy (think about this word), old habits can fade away.

4. Processed Food Check

   Changing the type of processed foods a person or family buys can also yield great results. The “deadly” kind of processed foods that I am worried about are usually a combination of carbs, sugar, and vegetable oils (crackers, chips, cookies). For some people, changing from standard processed food to heathier versions produces good results. For example, switching from chips to roasted pumpkin seeds can be a healthy change with a similar flavor. Other people find that making their own “treats” is the best way to go. Adopting recipes made from almond or coconut flour instead of wheat flour can completely change how good or bad something like a cookie can be for a person.

5. Goal Setting

   Short and long term goal setting with accountability is one of the best ways to change one’s habits. Having a health coach on your side is helpful during this process. Clients often come up with goals, I help refine them, and then I help facilitate change. Just the act of writing out one’s goal on paper can provide a lot of energy to change.

Along with finding the right kind of diet, paying attention to habits and patterns is a great combination to actually lose weight and keep it off. There still is no quick fix to losing weight. Anyone who loses weight and intends to keep it off (along with lowering all risk factors for disease that comes with an unhealthy lifestyle) has to adopt a new life style for about 2 years to really make it stick (both habitually and metabolically). These are the facts. Two years may seem like a long time but this is NOT bad news. This is great news! I would challenge people to think this way: Just like a bad relationship with a person, why would you want to stay in a bad food relationship? Why would you ever want to go back to food habits that harm your body and shorten your life?

Diet and habit change is the best way to lose weight. Are you ready for results? Contact Jason Cornish, Medical Fitness Specialist, Personal Trainer, and Health Coach in Auburn, AL today at 402-521-0314 or email at jason.a.cornish@gmail.com.