Fitness & Wellness

With prices rising, it’s hard to stretch the grocery dollar. One of the ways you can do it is by meal planning, to get maximum benefit from sales and coupons. Cutting out junk food that provides few, if any nutrients, is another. One question remains. Can you still get high quality protein on a budget. The answer is yes, but you might have to do a few food combinations to ensure you get all essential amino acids. Beans and rice combine to create a complete protein when eaten together. Eaten separately, each would lack some of the essential amino acids.

Protein is important in your diet.

Protein is a macronutrient that plays a role in every cell in your body. It is a messenger when used in hormones, while also building cells and doing tissue repair. Your body needs enzymes for digestion and protein is necessary to make those. It’s in your fingernails, skin, hair, bones, cartilage and muscles. Since you have a lot of protein, you need a lot for repair. The body doesn’t store protein, like it stores fat, so you have to get your supply from food.

While beans and rice are a good source of cheap plant protein, there is also inexpensive animal protein.

You may have passed the beef section of the meat department and noticed the high prices on quality steaks, particularly those that came from grass fed beef. Can you actually get high quality animal protein without paying a high price? The answer is yes. Think chicken or even eggs. Both are good sources of protein and both are quite versatile and inexpensive. Eggs don’t have to be boring. Pad thai is one of my favorite dishes and it uses eggs and other sources of protein, like peanuts, plus loads of veggies. You can dress it up with shrimp and other sources of protein as well. It only takes a little of the expensive protein, since the eggs and peanuts already make it an excellent source.

Make a tuna salad or salmon patties.

Canned fish like tuna and salmon are good sources of protein that won’t break the budget like steak does. You can stretch it out by making patties, which also includes eggs. Add it to casseroles or salads to stretch that budget even further. You’ll be surprised at how many ways you can use canned fish and also how other protein sources, like eggs, play a role in many of the recipes.

Yogurt and other milk products provide protein for your body without pinching your pocketbook. Think cottage cheese, regular cheese and even milk as a protein source.

Organ meats are often less expensive, but oh-so nutritious. While I’ve never tried some of the organ meats, like brains, liver is a power packed main dish I love. Beef and chicken heart are also good. You’ll get high quality nutrition, but at far less per serving.

Peanut butter, peanuts and other nuts and nut butter provide a good source of protein at a lower price. Opt for peanut butter that has one ingredient on the jar, peanuts. An apple and peanut butter is a good combination for a pre or post workout snack.

If you really want to stretch your budget, opt for lentils or quinoa. You can mix both with veggies for a protein packed meal that has a massive number of nutrients and can feed a whole group of people.

While you can’t control everything that happens to your body, you can control a lot with a healthy diet and regular exercise. Even your skin can be helped based on what you eat and what you need. There are diets for unique skin types that can aid those with oily skin and those with dry or combination skin. You can even help prevent or treat acne with the right diet. While diets can help you lose weight, they also can aid your skin, which is the biggest organ of your body.

It all starts by knowing your skin type.

Your beauty treatment should not necessarily be like your best friend’s or even your parents. Age, genetics and diet make a difference in what you need. No magic cream can offset the damage from a bad diet, since beautiful skin starts from the inside of your body. While good hygiene does play a role, without the right type of diet for your skin, all the creams and cosmetics in the world won’t give you the look you want. Is your skin oily? How do you know? Start with a clean face, washing it thoroughly and dry, but don’t use anything else. Wait for an hour or two then look at your skin. Does it feel tight and flaky with red patches? It’s most likely dry. If some areas are oil, such as around the nose, but other areas, like your cheeks are dry, it’s combination. If you put a tissue on your face and there’s oil left on the tissue or there are shiny signs of oil everywhere with visible pores, it’s oily.

Dry skin can occur for many reasons.

If you’re mildly dehydrated, it can be just one reason you have dry skin. Keep water with you and sip frequently. Shy away from alcohol and drinks with caffeine, which may add to the problem. Add more juicy, nutritious fruits and vegetables to your diet, such as oranges, melons and grapes. Sweet red peppers, broccoli and spinach are other options. Like the fruit, they add vitamin C and A. Eat more healthy oils. Try avocado or salmon to increase your omega 3 fatty acids and unsaturated fat.

Oily skin doesn’t necessarily come from oil in the diet.

Greasy fried food, like French fries and onion rings shouldn’t be part of your diet, but that doesn’t mean you have to ditch the healthy oils, such as flaxseed, avocado or salmon. The fats they contain are anti-inflammatory, which can help improve acne and other skin problems. Whole grains are another good option, choosing them over the refined grain. Some studies sow that cutting out milk products can also help with acne, while other studies show Greek yogurt may help. Also skip red meat or reduce it in your diet significantly.

• Those with combination skins fight a double battle. Healthy eating, avoiding sugar and including healthy fat is the best diet. Avoid foods that are highly processed, since they cause inflammation.
• If you have acne, you may or may not have oily skin. Bacteria and inflammation cause acne. To fight it, increase vitamin C and zinc in your diet. Citrus fruit, red bell peppers provide C and pumpkin seeds offer zinc.
• Oxidation causes dull looking skin. Choose red foods that contain lycopene to give your skin a boost. Are wrinkles a problem? Add collagen to your diet. Bone broth is one good example of how to increase it.
• We have meal plans that will help you. Most healthy diets will dramatically improve your skin as you lose weight. It’s often the additives, highly processed foods, low nutrition and foods that cause inflammation that are the cause. You won’t find them in a healthy diet.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness

It’s not only safe to exercise during pregnancy, it’s healthy. However, not all exercises are free from risk and not all situations are the same. If you’ve exercised on a regular basis before you became pregnant, your workout will be different than someone who has never exercised. Exercise can help prevent gestational diabetes, excessive weight gain and a cesarean birth. It can reduce the risk of low birth weight, postpartum depression and make recovery faster. The key is to find safe pregnancy exercises and that is created specifically for the expectant mother.

Were you physically active before you became pregnant.

In most cases, you can continue your activity. However, if you’re involved in contact sports or ones that could lead to falls like competitive skiing, you need to discontinue that activity. Other activities that shouldn’t be done are those that are extremely rigorous or ones where you lay on your back too long. Always consult your health care professional about your particular health and situation.

Whether you’ve exercised before or not, it’s safe to participate in moderate cardio workouts.

Whether you’re extremely fit or completely out of shape, moderate cardio, such as swimming, riding a stationary bike or walking is not only safe, but quite healthy. You need at least 150 minutes a week. Doing exercises that strengthen the abdominal muscles to help support your growing abdomen better and those that strengthen the pelvic floor are also important. During the early period of pregnancy, kneeling push-ups, pelvic curls and even squats can be done.

After the first trimester a lot of changes.

If you’re jumping rope, running or doing high impact exercises, stop. The second trimester and third are times to avoid high impact workouts or any workout that pushes you past exhaustion. You can still do some exercises, like those done in the first trimester, just not ones that make you bounce or jar your body. Stretching exercises can also be quite comforting and help your body adjust to the change in the center of gravity and new ways you have to move.

• The final trimester should focus on abdominal strength and mild cardio. Pelvic floor exercises, bodyweight workouts and walking or swimming are examples.
• Other examples of exercises for the third trimester and bicep curls, standing should press with light weights, bodyweight squats, modified planks and wall push-ups. It’s important to keep moving, but not to push too hard.
• If you’re exercising, always make sure you warm-up and cool-down. Warming up can help loosen the muscles so you don’t strain them and cooling down can help prevent dizziness and falls after exercising.
• Your center of gravity is changing throughout the pregnancy, which makes you more susceptible to falls. Be aware of that every time you workout. Always listen to your health care professional for guidance about the safety of certain exercise regimens.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness

Sweat is good. That’s one of our mottos at RC Fitness Houston, TX. When you sweat, it means you’re working hard and doing what it takes to get into shape. When your body is getting overheated, particularly if you’re in a tough workout, sweat comes to the rescue to cool it through evaporation. While people who sweat a lot may have an odor, it doesn’t come from the actual sweat. The odor comes when it mixes with the bacteria on the skin, clogged pores and dirt.

There are two to four million sweat glands in the body.

You have two types of sweat glands. Eccrine sweat glands are located on your palms, the soles of your feet, your forehead and armpits. The apocrine glands are larger and located in areas with more hair, such as armpits, groin and the breast area. The sweat from those glands is smellier. There’s more hair in those locations. The more hair there is in the area, the more potential for bacteria that can produce a more potent smell. There are also two types of sweat. The first is regular sweat to cool down, which is primarily water and salt, and the second is stress sweat which is thicker and evaporates more slowly, giving it time to combine with bacteria and produce odor.

Some people smell worse than others do.

Genetics plays a role in whether your sweat smells bad, so does your gender. How dirty you are, what you ate and your overall health, also affect the smell of your sweat. The sweat from apocrine glands starts out odorless, but when it hits the surface and mixes with the bacteria on the skin, the bacteria breaks down the sweat to produce an odor. People with diabetes, an overactive thyroid, kidney or liver dysfunction or genetic disorders may have a uniquely smellier sweat.

You can learn a lot about your body if you investigate your sweat.

If your sweat is far smellier, maybe you have clogged pores, need a shower or exfoliation. Profuse sweating can be an indication of hyperhidrosis, a medical condition causing a person to sweat as much as four times more than the average person. It’s embarrassing, but not normally dangerous. Hypohidrosis, also called anhidrosis, is characterized by too little sweat. That can be dangerous and come from conditions that are also dangerous, such as a metabolic disorder, connective tissue disorder, diabetic neuropathy, a central nervous disorder, such as a stroke or Parkinson’s or dehydration.

• A cold sweat leaving you feeling clammy may be caused by low blood sugar, low blood pressure or other serious condition such as heat exhaustion, a heart attack or a serious allergic reaction.
• If you suddenly start to sweat, even though you’re not anxious or too warm, and have a sudden increase in your heart rate, it may be an early indication of a heart attack.
• If your sweat is smellier than usual, check what you eat. Food high in choline, such as meat and eggs, secrete choline in their sweat and smell fishy. Low carb diets create a fruity smell, while sugary treats may increase yeast overgrowths to increase BO.
• Some medications can cause increased sweating and odor, such as Tylenol, meds for ADHD, birth control pills or allergy meds. A magnesium deficiency increases odor. Eating flax, sesame seed, raw almonds or dark chocolate can help.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, you need to work out at least 150 minutes a week for moderate exercise and a minimum of 75 minutes for vigorous workouts. How you divide that workout time depends on you. You won’t get the benefits if it’s done all in one day and it could even cause injury. Should you workout every day, or is every other day just as beneficial? There’s no real guidance on this but I have my own philosophy based on science.

Workout every day, but vary your workout.

Strength training should be part of your workout regimen. When it is, you need a day or two between workouts for the tiny microtears in the muscle to heal. Should you sit at home during those rest days? No! The days you aren’t strength training should be devoted to other types of exercise, such as flexibility training and endurance/cardio workouts. Remember, the 75 to 150 minutes is a minimum amount of exercise time.

Doing something every day is better than doing nothing.

While the minimum for moderate workouts is 150 minutes, I believe that between 240 and 300 minutes a week if far better, particularly if your goal is weight loss. You can also increase the intensity and reduce the amount of time spent every day. Vigorous exercise cuts the amount of time in half. If you do a half hour of exercise six days a week with three days of vigorous exercise and three days of moderate exercise, it’s like doing 270 minutes of moderate exercise for the week.

Exercise can include a number of activities.

You don’t have to do deep knee bends to get exercise. You can go for a walk, ride your bike or swim. If you’re running short on time, make your housework part of your regimen. Do it with vigor or turn on the music and dance your way through the tasks. Our programs can guide you with a program designed to help you get the right amount of all types of exercise and become your fittest quicker.

• One interesting study found that you could break your workout into sections, as long as each was at least ten minutes long. If you don’t have time to walk for a half hour, go for three ten minute walks throughout the day.
• As a general rule for those that want to lose weight, doing strength training two to three times a week, straight cardio two days a week and active resting–such as walking, is a good plan. I’ll create a plan designed specifically for you.
• You might think that more is better and do hours of exercise every day, including vigorous strength training. Exercising, particularly strength training, too much can actually negate your efforts to get fit and cause muscle loss.
• Make workouts fun and have a workout partner to share successes and goals. A workout partner will hold you accountable. Consistency and staying active are the keys to success.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness