The Fitness and Nutrition Grind - Tips to Staying on Track

You've started your new healthy regimen and you're excited to look and feel better. Now the key is sticking to it. Life can throw you a curve ball or two so staying on track can be harder than you planned for. Consistency to weight loss, energy gains and overall health is a key factor if you're going to see success. The guidelines below give you a basic set of tools to use in everyday life that will help keep you motivated and in your healthy mindset.

Set short and long term goals that are truly attainable. Don't be unrealistic with your goals. Failing will only send you on a path to destruction. Instead, set goals that you know you can achieve in a reasonable amount of time.

Chart your progress on a daily and weekly basis to help you understand what is working for you and what is not. This relates to both nutrition and fitness. Charting your progress will give you the opportunity to make small changes to your plan as you go. It's okay to adjust if you find that something may work better. Remember, keep this experience positive and don't place limitations on yourself.

Variety, balance, and moderation are key in your diet. If you want to indulge in your favorite meal it is OK every once in a while. You should incorporate all of the food groups into your meal plan for a healthy diet. Use a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains to provide different flavors in your meals to keep them interesting.

Add as much color to every single meal as you can. This ensures that you will get plenty of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Protein, carbohydrates, and fat should be included at every meal for a balance to keep you feeling full until your next meal. This will prevent mindless snacking or just choosing what ever is readily available from a vending machine.

Continue to use your food journal; this will allow you to be aware of any unnecessary calories putting a halt on your progress. Also, it will make you think twice before putting a particular food in your mouth, knowing you will have to record it later.

When eating out look for eating out restaurant guides online or preview the menu online first. This will allow you to pre-plan the meal you're going to order and ensure it is healthy and within your calorie range. Additionally, once you arrive, you could look for the healthiest menu item, most restaurants provide a salad with grilled chicken or shrimp that you can pair with other healthy options, or you could ask to have your meal prepared using a healthy cooking method, baking, grilling, poaching, or steaming.
Investing in a lunch box is ideal. Packing your lunch and snacks for work or traveling will ensure that you will always have portioned healthy food available.

Plan to move you body every single day. This doesn't mean you need to do 7 intense workouts in a week but try to plan some type of fitness each day. Your house, the park and the beach are all no or low cost places that can be turned into your personal gym. Exercise tapes, studios in your area, and personal trainers are great ways to make sure your workouts are what you love.

 Working with a partner holds you accountable and will make you work harder. You should continue to exercise for at least 30 minutes to one hour per day.
Most importantly, have fun with health and fitness. Make sure you are enjoying the process by eating foods that you love and not depriving yourself completely as well as involving yourself in fitness activities that inspire you and make you want to come back for more.

Margot Rutigliano is the owner of Vita Vie Retreat. She has been a fitness trainer, wellness coach and healthy living adviser since 1999. Vita Vie Retreat is a fitness retreat offering healthy lifestyle transformation programs for men and women of all ages and fitness levels. For more information or to contact Ms. Rutigliano, please visit http://www.bvretreat.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Margot_Rutigliano

The Building Blocks of Bodybuilding Nutrition

As with any fitness individual or athlete, nutrition is essential for the building of a healthy body. Proper nutrition can help to optimize performance, improve strength, increase memory, improve endurance, reduce the risk of injury, and build mass. Nutrition is a must in any body building program. A well balanced diet and good weight training program will result in the body you've always dreamt of.

The first aspect of a nutrition program for body builders is the frequency of meals. Eating frequent, smaller meals will increase your metabolism and allow your body to burn more fat throughout the day. Changing your personal eating habits from three large meals a day to five or six smaller ones will have an immediate affect on your body.

 Create a plan that allows you to eat at three hour intervals or around those marks. You will also find that your energy will remain more constant throughout the day by incorporating this strategy into your nutrition program.

Secondly, it is absolutely critical that each meal you consume throughout the day is balanced. A balanced diet should follow 40% carbohydrates, 40% protein and the remaining 20% should contain fats. Carbohydrates fuel your body.

 If you don't eat enough carbohydrates during each meal your energy levels will spike and then plummet within the hour, leaving you sluggish and hungry. While some protein is necessary for muscle growth, it can have the opposite effect if too much is consumed. To create a balanced meal all you have to do is match the servings of carbohydrates and proteins, then cut that in half for your fat intake.

Carbohydrates are essential in a nutrition program for body builders because it gives them sustained energy throughout the day and also allow protein to be absorbed into muscle tissue to promote recovery and growth. Diets that are high in carbohydrates and low in fat have the reverse effect.

This diet will essentially turn your body into a fat storing machine, completely reversing everything you have worked towards. A balanced proportion of carbohydrates should be divided between complex and simple carbohydrates.

 The complex carbohydrate is responsible for giving the body builder sustained energy and is found in foods like oatmeal, potatoes, and pasta. Simple carbohydrates are responsible for giving the body an instant burst of energy, and are found in foods like broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower.

Protein during each meal is responsible for healthy skin, hair, and nails. It can also aid in increasing your metabolism. Too much protein will result in a build-up of fat storage for body builders. A good rule of thumb for body builders to follow is to consume 1 to 1.5 grams of protein for every pound of lean body mass. Good sources of protein include eggs, turkey, chicken breast, tuna or a protein supplement.

Finally, a small amount of healthy fats in each meal will create a well rounded nutrition plan. By attempting to remove all fat from your diet, you will also be decreasing your metabolism and actually cause your body to store more fat. Good sources of fat come from peanut butter, olive oil, fish, and certain types of nuts.

Need help with supplementation in protein, weight loss or weight gain?
 Visit http://www.firehousefitnessnutrition.com for all of your nutrition and supplement needs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_C_Grant

Easy Vegan Nutrition Tips For Optimal Health

If you're new to the vegan diet or just considering making the lifestyle commitment, you may have questions about achieving optimal vegan nutrition. The most common concerns seem to be centered on protein, calcium, vitamin B12, and DHA. Obviously, you want to stick to your goals and beliefs without sacrificing your health - or your family's health - in the process. This brief guide should help clarify any confusion so that you can make ideal choices to support your vegan diet.

Protein
One of the biggest myths perpetuated by non-vegans is that vegans will suffer from some protein deficiency and eventually experience a failure to thrive. Not only do we not need animal protein, we don't need the huge amounts of protein typically found in the standard American diet. In fact, eating too much protein can cause significant damage to your health.

Vegans can easily get high quality protein from soy products, seitan (derived from wheat), legumes (beans and peas), nuts, grains (particularly quinoa), and even some vegetables such as artichokes are excellent sources of vegan protein.

Calcium
Calcium is one of the most misunderstood nutrients. Cow's milk is served in our public schools as a lunchroom requirement and is often pushed as the only way to have healthy teeth and strong bones. However, this is not entirely correct.

Leafy green vegetables (especially kale and collards), tempeh, broccoli, fortified nut or hemp milks, and blackstrap molasses are all high quality vegan options for calcium. One of the easiest ways to integrate blackstrap molasses is to make your own vegan barbecue sauce for spreading on grilled veggie burgers or dipping your chicken alternative nuggets.

Vitamin B12
Supplementation with vitamin B12 is widely accepted as necessary for vegans and vegetarians alike. If you eat meat, you may get enough vitamin B12 because grazing animals obtain theirs from the soil while munching on pasture grasses. However, we don't pull veggies out of the ground and eat them with the dirt still on them due to fears of bacterial contamination. Consequently, we need other methods to ensure adequate intake.

Fortunately, there are many fortified foods that offer vitamin B12. You can also find vegan sources of supplements that you can take orally or as a patch. Additionally, you can add fortified nutritional yeast to your diet in the form of sauces and gravies quite easily and it tastes good too! Adding just one tablespoon to your meal gets very close to the recommended daily allowance for vitamin B12.

DHA
DHA is an essential omega-3 fatty acid most commonly found in fish. The typical vegan diet does not contain enough of this critical nutrient and over time, you can end up with a deficiency. Even though walnuts, hemp seeds and flax seeds have adequate ALA that our bodies can convert to DHA, most vegans and vegetarians will require supplementation.

So if you can't take fish oil capsules, what do you do? DHA supplementation derived from microalgae is a natural vegan alternative. There are sources that are grown in laboratories instead of being derived from our seas and oceans for people who are concerned with the increase of toxins (namely mercury) in our water sources.

Living a healthy lifestyle utilizing vegan nutrition alternatives is not only possible, it's easy with just a little planning ahead.

Serena Li is a web content contributor with Basic-Natural LLC, a socially conscious company dedicated to providing consumers with up-to-date information on the sustainability industry. For news, information, and everyday green living tips, please visit the company blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Serena_Li