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Fun Fitness Activities To Do With The Kids

Fun Fitness Activities To Do With The Kids

Published by on October 10, 2023 | Leave a response

Every parent wants what’s best for their kids. They want them to have all the advantages they didn’t have growing up. Unfortunately, many fun activities for children today revolve around a sedentary lifestyle. While it might be fun, it doesn’t encourage fitness. Studies show that children perform better in school when they’re fit. It can benefit your child to search for ways to keep them active while having fun.

Start making exercise fun when they’re young.

Young children love special time with Mom or Dad. It doesn’t matter whether it’s sitting on their lap, playing peek-a-boo, or holding hands and walking. Why not include them in your exercise routine? You can make your crunches more fun by sitting your little one on your belly and leaning back on your legs. As you lift your head, blow a kiss, say boo, or do whatever it takes to get them to laugh. They can join you in exercise the older they get. They may not have the perfect form for windmills or jumping jacks, but it’s fun and active. It lets you get in exercise time and spend time with them.

Make family time active time.

Go for walks together and discover nature. It helps boost their mental and physical abilities. Take bike rides in safe areas as a family. Stop and have lunch along the way. Visit a park to hike and swim. All these are active ways to enjoy life. Keep the computers at home and cell phones in the backpack and not in use. Don’t allow electronic gadgets to spoil your fun. Use them only for calls or to find directions.

Involve the neighborhood or other parents in the quest for fitness.

Have a neighborhood hula-hoop challenge or get together with other parents and walk your kids to school when the weather is nice. You’ll be surprised at how many other parents love the idea but don’t want to be the only ones to do it. Your kids will appreciate they’re not the only family doing it, especially if they’re older. Whether it’s hanging a basketball hoop or creating an obstacle path to run, making it easier to stay active helps keep children moving.

  • Focus gifts on things that keep you and your child active. Make Christmas a time for giving all family members bikes or choose an active family vacation. Use the trip as an incentive to exercise and get into shape.
  • Turn up the music and dance with the kids. Impromptu dance time can be fun. It doesn’t have to be any particular time. Do it when the mood strikes. Use the same song and act out the song with exaggerated movement.
  • Even chores can be fun. Raking the leaves together and letting the children jump in the big pile of leaves can be fun. Do speed cleaning and make it a race to see who gets finished first.
  • Studies show that too much computer time is unhealthy. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests only an hour or two daily on electronics. Too much time can cause stress. Staying active boosts brain power and keeps your child healthy.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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How Can I Tell If I’m Dehydrated?

Published by on September 25, 2023 | Leave a response

You’ll be more prepared for the summer heat and exercise when you can identify that you’re dehydrated. The best way to fight dehydration is to avoid it in the first place. Drink water before you exercise. Sip on it during exercise and finish your session with a bottle of water if you’re perspiring heavily. Dehydration can have many signs which may vary by age. Seniors, who dehydrate faster, often show signs that resemble dementia, while infants may become lethargic.

Dry cracked lips and lack of skin turgor are signs.

One of the first signs of dehydration is thirst and a dry mouth. If you ignore those signs, your lips will become dry and cracked. That suggests you need to take action quickly. You can also test for dehydration the way doctors and veterinarians do, by skin turgor. For humans, it’s a simple pinch of skin on the forearm or abdomen. After the skin is released, if it returns to normal quickly, there’s not a problem, but if it remains tented, it’s a sign of dehydration. With animals, the vet pinches the back of the neck.

A simple test is the color of your urine.

Urine should be a light yellow. If it’s clear, you’re overhydrated. However, if it’s a dark yellow to almost brown, it’s not diluted with enough fluid, an easy sign that dehydration has occurred. Scant urine is also a sign of dehydration, particularly in babies. If your child doesn’t require normal changing frequency, they may be dehydrated. Headaches and exhaustion are also signs. Your brain and heart are mostly fluid. If you don’t have adequate fluid in your body due to dehydration, you can get headaches, brain fog, and cardio functioning problems causing exhaustion.

Your blood pressure is an indicator of dehydration.

Changes in blood pressure vary. Some people experience an increase in blood pressure when they’re dehydrated, while others experience a decrease in it. Dehydration causes low blood volume. Low blood volume can cause blood pressure to drop. It can also cause the body to produce more vasopressin to cause blood vessels to constrict to increase adequate blood flow. The vessels and thicker blood cause an increase in blood pressure. If your blood pressure is abnormally low or high, it’s a sign of dehydration.

  • Dehydration can lead to an interruption of your normal sleep-wake cycle. Scientists discovered that dehydration caused a shorter sleep cycle, which leaves you tired the following day.
  • Your heart won’t function as well if you’re dehydrated. It reduces the functioning of the left ventricle. That change can leave you exhausted and diminish the effectiveness of your workout.
  • Besides a headache from dehydration, it can cause mood changes, lack of focus, poor memory, and interrupted concentration.
  • Dizziness is another indicator of dehydration. Blood thickens from dehydration, causing blood channels in the brain to expand, creating a headache.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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Can "Cheat Days" Ruin Your Fitness Journey?

Can “Cheat Days” Ruin Your Fitness Journey?

Published by on September 10, 2023 | Leave a response

The latest diet talks in Fort Lee, NJ, revolves around cheat days for dieters. Some people say it’s an effective way to ensure you stick with weight loss plans, while other professionals believe it may harm your chances. Who is right? First, let’s look at what cheat days are. They’re not days you eat pints of ice cream, cookies, and cake until you’re semi-conscious of all the sugar. Cheat days are days you permit yourself to indulge in a couple of pieces of pizza or a dessert after dinner.

Cheat days are part of a healthy eating strategy.

If you’re eating healthy food, you’re not dieting, but you probably are losing weight. When you choose healthy eating as your road to weight loss, sometimes you eat a piece of cake or sample a cookie. It’s not the end of your focus on eating healthier, but part of it. Healthy eating means focusing more on whole foods and reducing the amount of highly processed food and food with added sugar. It’s all about moderation.

Theoretically, cheat days should boost your metabolism.

Your body is hardwired to survive. When food is scarce, the body slows metabolism to ensure there are enough calories for vital functions. That makes it harder to lose weight. Planned cheat days increase caloric intake periodically to keep the metabolic fires burning high. Short-term results indicate that a cheat day can boost metabolic functioning by up to 10% for up to 24 hours.

You might slow your progress with planned cheat days.

If you’re increasing your calories by an extra 500 for one day a week, it will slow weight loss progress. It’s mathematical. It takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose one pound. If you cut your caloric intake by 500 calories a day, you’ll lose a pound in one week. If you have a cheat day that week, it will take you 8 days, not seven, to lose a pound. However, you’ll be less likely to feel deprived and more likely to stick with your healthy eating plan the rest of the time. If food with added sugar is your weakness, cheat days may make it harder. It feeds the sugar addiction, keeping it alive.

  • Cheat days don’t mean you eat everything in sight. It means you permit yourself to consume an otherwise forbidden high-calorie food. Focus on portion control, too.
  • If you’ve given up food with added sugar, don’t include those types of food for a while. Wait a month before you do and you’ll probably find the food tastes way too sweet. It’s because you’ve retrained your sense of taste.
  • People who never seem to have a problem with their weight and can eat everything tend to eat more like people who diet and include cheat days. They eat healthy most of the time, but when they want a specific food, they eat it. It never becomes an issue.
  • Plan cheat meals around special occasions so you can join in the fun. On the cheat day, eat slowly and savor the food, allowing your stomach to tell the brain it’s full, so you’ll eat less.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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Fitness And Its Effect On Well-Being

Fitness And Its Effect On Well-Being

Published by on August 25, 2023 | Leave a response

There are psychological and physiological reasons that fitness improves your feeling of well-being. When you stay active, it keeps your body and your mind younger. It helps fight inflammation while boosting circulation. That makes you feel better physically and emotionally. A direct correlation exists between a lack of exercise and depression or anxiety. Many therapists use it as an adjunct therapy since it works better than some medications and has no side effects.

When everything goes wrong, take a deep breath and walk for a while.

You can lift that funk with a little exercise. It doesn’t take much to do it. Getting up and moving around can help clear your head and aid in putting some perspective on your problems. The increased circulation increases oxygen and nutrients to the entire body, including the brain. Walking improves memory and focus. It builds more brain neural connections and helps maintain healthy brain tissue. Walking can clear away the cobwebs, calm your nerves, and leave you feeling rejuvenated.

Stress causes you to feel bad.

The same thing that helped the caveman to survive is now killing millions of people. It’s the fight-or-flight response—the body’s way of dealing with stress. It causes changes in the body to prepare it to fight or run like the wind to avoid danger. In caveman days, it was vital for survival. By diverting blood flow to the limbs, the caveman could run faster and further, or fight for survival better. Stress can occur in many situations today. A traffic jam, an angry customer, and noisy neighbors can cause stress but fighting or running isn’t a good resolution, so you don’t reverse the changes and end up with physical and mental issues.

Lack of self-esteem and confidence is a breeding ground for depression.

When you lack self-esteem, your feeling of inadequacy automatically makes you feel bad. It leads to a lack of confidence that shows in your body language. Regular exercise can help you lose weight, get fitter, and in general, feel better about yourself. Studies show that just starting an exercise program improves people’s self-image in a few sessions, even before you can see any results. Exercise improves your posture, one of the mirrors to view self-confidence. When you have good posture, you’ll look more confident to others, who treat you that way. Their response to you builds your inner belief.

  • Exercise improves the production of serotonin. Serotonin is most known for its regulation of sleep, but it also helps improve your mood. Exercise also slows the production of chemicals that affect your body negatively and cause you to feel depressed.
  • When you workout regularly, it helps take your mind off your problems, even if it’s for a short time. After exercising, you’ll have a feeling of accomplishment that transfers to other areas of your life.
  • Put on some happy music and dance like nobody’s looking. When you combine the movements of dancing with happy music, you’ll improve your mental health in several ways. The lyrics, the upbeat melody, and the physical activity of dance.
  • At VIP Fitness, you’ll get all the benefits of exercise, plus a welcoming, friendly environment. We’ll help you reach your fitness goals and provide nutritional tips. Eating healthy and exercising both improve your mood.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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Foods That Help Reduce Inflammation And Promote Recovery

Foods That Help Reduce Inflammation And Promote Recovery

Published by on August 10, 2023 | Leave a response

Whether it’s rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, or sore muscles, inflammation contributes to the problem. One way to reduce inflammation and promote recovery is to change your diet. The food you eat can increase or reduce inflammation and prevent pain. People in Fort Lee, NJ, have learned how adopting a new diet makes a difference in their health. It’s a matter of eating less inflammation-causing food and more food that helps reduce the problem.

There are two types of inflammation.

The food you eat affects both types. Acute inflammation is good. The swelling around a wound helps fight infection. It occurs due to disease, injury, or infection. Once the problem is resolved, it dissipates. Chronic inflammation lingers. It can occur due to hypersensitivity, being exposed to chronic irritants, a disorder of your autoimmune system, or experiencing persistent acute inflammation. If you’re older, obese, have an unhealthy diet, smoke, or are under stress, experiencing chronic inflammation is more likely. Acute inflammation is protective, while chronic inflammation can cause a host of diseases, which include asthma, periodontitis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Start by including foods that fight inflammation.

You may already be eating many of these foods if you have a healthy diet. Leafy greens like spinach, tomatoes, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, and oranges are at the top of the inflammation-fighting food list. They’re high in antioxidants and nutrients that reduce the problem. Snack on tree nuts to fight inflammation. Some of my favorites are walnuts and almonds. The type of oil you use and the type of fat in your diet also make a difference. Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids fight inflammation. They include fatty fish and products from pastured animals.

Add spices to your food to increase anti-inflammatory properties.

Whether you consume chai tea or sprinkle turmeric in your rice with lemon juice for a golden treat, you’re consuming anti-inflammatories. Turmeric is one of the best inflammation fighters. There are small, limited studies that show that turmeric may even help Alzheimer’s and dementia. While the evidence is limited, there’s no harm in adding it to your diet to enhance the flavor of your food. Ginger is another long-used anti-inflammatory. It contains shogaols and gingerols. It can help relieve gas and stomach pain. For centuries, mothers have used ginger ale for stomach aches. Cinnamon, rosemary, cloves, sage, and cayenne pepper are all anti-inflammatories.

  • Your fight against inflammation will be easier if you avoid anti-inflammatories. Cut out foods with added sugar and highly processed food. Red meat, a diet high in omega-6 fatty acids, and artificial sweeteners also trigger it.
  • Eat food with soluble fiber. Obesity is a leading cause of inflammation and eating food high in fiber helps you lose weight. It also feeds the beneficial bacteria that help lower inflammation in your body.
  • Include pineapple in your diet. The bromelain in pineapples not only aids digestion, but also helps reduce inflammation throughout the body. Studies show it benefited people with arthritis.
  • Adequate sleep and regular exercise can boost the effects of a healthy diet that cuts inflammation. Include vegetables in a rainbow of colors that represent different phytonutrients. For instance, anthocyanin is blue. Each phytonutrient fights inflammation differently.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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Develop A New Healthy Habit This Summer

Develop A New Healthy Habit This Summer

Published by on July 25, 2023 | Leave a response

Good health isn’t about eating one nutritious meal or doing one push-up. It’s about consistently doing things that make you healthy by creating healthy habits. Everyone has at least one area of their life they could change to become healthier. Change can be overwhelming, but making one change at a time makes it easier. If you are a member of VIP Fitness in Fort Lee, NJ, you will have a head start.

Habits aren’t bad, they make life easier.

If you’re learning something new, you probably constantly repeat the steps in your head as you do them because they aren’t yet a habit. Imagine what it would be like if you had to do that with everything in your life. You’d have to remind yourself what to do next every minute. Habits put your body is on autopilot. Habits aren’t all beneficial. Mindlessly eating the last few bites before you clean the casserole dish is a habit that adds calories.

It takes time to develop a new habit.

You can make this summer the start of a new healthier lifestyle. Having a plan of action helps, but you can do it by changing just one thing. Do you need to exercise? Does your diet need some attention? Start small and work toward a bigger goal or find one goal and give it your all. The key is consistency. Some habits are easier to form, while others take longer. People used to think new habits only took 21 days to develop, but it all depends on the person and habit they’re forming. The average time is approximately 66 days, so you’ll have a new healthier habit by the end of summer.

Find what works for you.

Some people dive into the waters of change and immerse themselves in it. Others poke their toe in first and slowly enter. No matter what your goal is, you can approach it two ways. You can change everything at once or take it in steps. If exercise is the habit you want, you can start with a program with a trainer or by slowly increasing your activity, walking an additional 30 minutes a day and building from there.

  • Creating a habit requires consistency and dedication. If regular exercise is your goal, put it on your calendar as an appointment that’s as important as a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment.
  • If you don’t have time to exercise 30 to 45 minutes at one time, you can break the workout into two or three shorter sessions throughout the day. Just do them at the same time each day.
  • Trade a bad habit for a good one. If you want to give up smoking, start working out. It can help relieve some of the stress from quitting and is a much healthier option. Doing a set of burpees every time you want a cigarette can diminish your urge quickly.
  • You have to identify the new healthy habit you want and how you’re going to achieve it. Having an action plan can help you stick with your program. It eliminates wondering what to do next.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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The Science Behind Food Cravings

The Science Behind Food Cravings

Published by on July 10, 2023 | Leave a response

Food cravings are more than just hunger. They have different origins, although being hungry increases cravings. Cravings begin in the reward system. The brain’s reward area is in various regions of the brain’s center. The hunger area is in the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, near the pituitary gland. It controls other rudimentary needs like hunger, thirst, blood pressure, and sleep. The center of the brain’s reward system functions to keep us alive and continue the species. It controls eating, sleeping, sex, and even response to the fight-or-flight response. It rewards the body with a feel-good neurotransmitter called dopamine.

The reward is the carrot, and the craving leads you to it.

You get a dopamine reward for doing activities necessary for your or the species’ survival. It can occur when you’re hungry and eat, even if the food isn’t healthy. It can occur when you’re consuming food while doing something you enjoy. Both examples create a memory since the reward system is also associated with the brain’s memory area. If you enjoyed something associated with a specific food or the food itself, you’re on the pathway of creating a craving. The desire for that dopamine rush leads people to eat certain foods even though they’re not hungry.

Many things cause cravings.

Not all cravings are about memories, emotions, or how food tastes. Some come from fluctuations in hormones. That accounts for pregnancy cravings and children who have pica—a craving to eat something that isn’t food, such as dirt, coins, burnt matches, and more. Each type of pica has a different name and cause. For instance, pregnant women’s pica cravings for ice may be due to iron deficiency. They can also come from hormonal fluctuations, similar to cravings during the menstrual cycle.

There are selective cravings and nonselective ones.

Cravings for a specific food, like cake, snacks, or ice cream, are selective cravings. Nonselective cravings relate to wanting anything to eat. They can occur because a person has true hunger or caused by dehydration and thirst. Sometimes, when people are thirsty, the signals mix in the brain and it’s mistaken for hunger. It’s why juicy watermelon looks so yummy, even if you’re not hungry for anything else. That craving is easy to solve. Drink a glass of water before eating something. If the desire disappears, it was thirst.

  • Stress can cause cravings. When people are under stress, they often want relief and crave good feelings that can come from comfort foods. Studies show that increased stress led to more cravings.
  • Getting more sleep can help control cravings. When you don’t have adequate sleep, your body produces more ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and less leptin, the satiety hormone. It increases nonselective cravings.
  • Reduce cravings by eating more protein, exercising, chewing gum, and drinking more water. Planning healthy snacks and preventing hunger can help curb cravings for high-calorie junk food.
  • You can develop cravings for both healthy and unhealthy food. Noticing how good you feel when you are eating healthier can trigger new memories and new cravings. It can create a new pleasure link to more nutritious food.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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Trans Fat Vs Saturated Fat

Trans Fat Vs Saturated Fat

Published by on June 25, 2023 | Leave a response

Both trans-fat and saturated fat occur naturally. Only small amounts of natural trans fats exist in the meat and dairy products of cows and other ruminant animals. The trans fats that are the troublemakers are man-made and come from hydrogenating oils. Saturated fat is natural. It’s solid at room temperature. The biggest difference between saturated fat and trans fats is that your body needs saturated fat, but man-made trans fats can harm it.

The trans-fat in most people’s diet isn’t natural, but man-made.

A German Chemist named Wilhelm Normann treated liquid vegetable oil and fish oils with hydrogen. In 1911 Proctor & Gamble hydrogenated cottonseed oil and Crisco entered the market. It wasn’t until the Depression and WWII that the shortage of butter increased the demand for hydrogenated oil, such as margarine. It had a longer shelf life, was cheaper, and was easier to access so the public loved it. It took over 100 years for the FDA to ban trans fats, but they did it in 2018.

Just because it’s banned, it doesn’t mean it still isn’t in food.

You would think a ban would mean that it couldn’t be in food, but that’s not true. It’s the processing method that creates that issue. It’s hard to tell when you read the label. The FDA allows manufacturers to list the trans fats in food as 0 on the label if it has less than 0 grams per serving. If the serving size is smaller than you consume, you could be eating more than you think. Eating food from other countries, where trans fats aren’t banned, is also a problem. Trans fats are in many snack foods and fast foods. Heating oil at high temperatures naturally creates trans fats, so foods fried in oil repeatedly heated probably are high in trans fats.

We know that trans fats are bad, but why are saturated fats bad?

While there are few studies on the effects of natural trans fats on the body, the evidence is pretty solid that man-made trans fats are unhealthy and have no redeeming qualities. It’s different when you’re speaking of saturated fats. Recent studies show that decreasing saturated fat showed no health benefits. Your body needs saturated fat to build cell membranes. Some saturated fats boost the immune system and aid in fighting tumors. Others help reduce body fat and aid in fat-soluble vitamin absorption.

  • Fat can aid in burning body fat. Your body needs fat. It’s all about the amount and type of fat. Between 20 and 35% of your calories should come from fat. 10% should come from saturated fat and 0% from trans fats.
  • If you’re trying to lower your intake of saturated fats, don’t choose fat-free options. Choose monounsaturated or polyunsaturated as a substitute.
  • Trans fats cause inflammation, which can lead to diabetes, some forms of cancer, arthritis, and heart disease. While butter contains natural trans fats and margarine contains artificially created trans fats, only margarine increases inflammatory markers.
  • The food source of saturated fat makes a difference. Saturated fat from red meat and butter increased the risk of heart disease, while saturated fat from yogurt or cheese reduced the risk.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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Healthy Snacks To Always Have Handy

Healthy Snacks To Always Have Handy

Published by on June 10, 2023 | Leave a response

Many people in Fort Lee, NJ, make healthy snacks ahead, so they’re ready when hunger hits. It can happen when you’re driving, at work, or home. Having them ready allows you to snack while sticking with a good nutrition program. Some people may think snacking is bad, but that’s not true. It’s an important part of any weight loss program. It helps you feel satisfied throughout the day so you aren’t tempted to eat junk food and won’t overeat at the next meal.

Have easy options in your refrigerator.

Fruit is an easy option that can be refrigerated or stored outside the refrigerator. Watermelon and cantaloupe are two examples of fruit you can prepare ahead and have ready. Just cube them and store them in the fridge for a cool treat that will satisfy both your need for a snack and your sweet tooth. Keeping berries, cherries, and grapes ready to eat is another option. You can even layer small mason jars in a parfait style with Greek yogurt, berries, bananas, and nuts. When you’re ready for a snack, they’re ready for you.

Of course, you can’t forget veggies and dip or popcorn.

You can make microwave popcorn from scratch. A microwave container with a lid you put on loosely and a bag of popcorn kernels are all you need. It’s healthier than the commercial microwave and far less expensive. Air-popped corn is the best option. Add flavor with seasonings. Having fresh veggies ready to eat can help provide snacks and ingredients ready for meal preparation. Use hummus or seasoned Greek yogurt for the dip.

Make trail mix and control ingredients while lowering the cost.

Trail mix can contain almost anything from nuts to M&Ms. Most of the trail mix you purchase contain lower-cost ingredients or ones that aren’t healthy. Create your own style of trail mix with nuts as the primary ingredient. Add in seeds, like shelled sunflower or pumpkin seeds, and dried fruit. You can add small amounts of dark chocolate, popcorn, peanut butter chips, or a few pretzels. If you want to add a little spice, salt, nutmeg, or cinnamon.

  • Peanut butter is a delicious topping for fruit. Slice apples and put on some peanut butter. You can also combine sliced cheese with fruit for another easy-to-make snack.
  • Cottage cheese and unsweetened applesauce make a good go-to snack. You can also top the cottage cheese with fresh fruit like berries, pineapple, or strawberries.
  • Having a cold treat ready in the summer is important. Frozen grapes are a delight. You can also blend fruit and pour it into ice pop molds. Just blend, freeze, and when you’re ready for a cold treat, eat.
  • If you need more fiber in your diet, make overnight oats and have them ready for those snacking emergencies. Top it with fruit or flavoring as a filling, but delicious snack.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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Do Carbs Make You Fat?

Do Carbs Make You Fat?

Published by on May 25, 2023 | Leave a response

Low carbohydrate diets play an important role in weight loss. While healthy low-carbohydrate diets are effective and nutritious when based on scientific principles, cutting out all carbs doesn’t follow the rules of good nutrition and can be dangerous. Not all carbs make you fat. Some carbs can help you lose weight while providing important nutrients.

There are good carbs, and there are bad carbs.

Carbohydrates are macronutrients and are primarily considered a source of energy. There are three categories of carbohydrates, simple, complex, and fiber. Simple carbs include sugar. They digest quickly and cause blood sugar levels to spike. Complex carbs are starchy carbs. They are harder to digest and include most vegetables, legumes, and grains. Fiber is the third type of carbohydrate. It slows the absorption of sugar, adds bulk, and feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Sugar, simple carbs, provide little nutrition.

Simple carbs tend to be bad carbs. Simple carbs deliver an energy high quickly, but just as quickly as it spikes, it also drops because of a big increase in insulin levels. That can lead to insulin resistance, and ultimately to weight gain, and if left untreated, type 2 diabetes. Most simple carbs have little or no nutritional value, but plenty of calories that increase weight. These are the bad carbs and include highly processed foods, sugar, and food with added sugar.

Healthy carbs get a bad rap.

Complex carbs and fiber are often clumped with bad sources of carbs. That’s a mistake. You need these for both a healthy body and weight loss management. Complex carbs are loaded with nutrients, which include vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. They slow digestion so you’ll feel fuller longer. The fiber in good carbs slows the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber mixes with water to create a gel that softens stools and feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut. Insoluble fiber isn’t digested but adds bulk to the stool to make it easier to pass. Studies show a diet high in soluble fiber can promote heart health and lower the risk of developing high cholesterol.

  • Good carbs are found in the produce section since fruits and vegetables contain them and are in whole-grain products. Bad carbs are located in areas that sell baked goods, cookies, refined wheat products, and white rice.
  • Eating healthy doesn’t mean eliminating any of the macronutrients, protein, fats, or carbohydrates. It means choosing the healthiest option in each category.
  • If you’re trying to reduce the bad carbs in your diet, start by cutting out food with added sugar. It’s hard to do since sugar is addictive. It stimulates the opioid receptors in the brain that bring pleasure, similar to addictive drugs.
  • Healthy carbs can become unhealthy if they’re highly processed or cooked in an unhealthy manner. While onions, cauliflower, eggplant, broccoli, and peppers are healthy, the deep-fried counterparts of these vegetables aren’t.

For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center

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