The key to good health and fitness isnt in newfound whacky diet and workout plans. Its simpler than you think. Nutrition and wellness coach Marissa Parry debunks wellness myths and breaks down the formula for a healthy lifestyle.

Determine the right diet plan

We are all unique and diets are not a one size fits all were referring to textbook diets out there. You need to take into consideration any health issues, activity level, the type of food available, and what your likes and dislikes are, which are often overlooked if youre eyeing a quick solution. Speak to a professional who can take out the guesswork and design your diet for you.

Workout woes

Figure out what your goal is, whether its weight loss, maintenance, increasing muscle mass or sport-specific. This will help narrow down what is suitable for you. Set aside some key factors to find the right workout regime; find one that is fun for you because if you dont enjoy what you do, then it wont last.

When a diet plan goes bust

When a diet rules your life and you feel stressed about eating, you will tend to count every calorie and your macros obsessively, thus turning every meal into a calorie counting mission. Its good to use some of these tools to obtain a better understanding of food, but once it becomes an obsession and you dont enjoy eating, then the diet has ruled your life.

Steer clear of diet fads

All the keto, low carb, Whole 30 diets out there may seem effective but any meal plan that claims you can lose more than two kilos a week should be avoided. Healthy weight loss is between half a kilo to a kilo per week. It shows you are making sustainable changes and that the weight you are losing will most likely stay off.

Create that diet plan

Whether youre fulfilling long term or short goals, its best to design a diet that is unique to you and suits your lifestyle. Pushing fad diets aside, cutting out processed sugar and white carbs, filling half your plate with vegetables and the other half with protein (plant-based and animal protein) and carbs such as potatoes, pumpkin, quinoa and cauliflower rice and eating good fats such as avocado, nuts, olive oil and coconut oil, is key to fuelling your body with nutritious food at every meal.

Detox drink benefits debunked

Detox drink plans are a big no-no. Many people do it to lose weight, and thats the wrong way. Of course the weight will drop off when you cut your calories drastically but the same can be achieved by consuming only 500 calories a day. There are no juice plans that have been proven to detox and many of them make their own claims. However, reducing what you eat and cleaning up your diet can certainly help the body to work better.

Should we buddy up?

When it comes to working out, it helps to have a workout buddy or a community as this adds to the fun element. It becomes more of a social activity as youre killing two birds with one stone hanging out with friends and burning calories! As for a diet partner, being part of a diet such as keto or intermittent fasting has helped people lose weight as the community support helps them power through.

Is no pain, no gain a legit mantra?

Lets be sensible. If youre referring to workouts, there is an element of pain that needs to be felt for progress. If you are constantly working out and feel no discomfort, then there will be little improvement.

Stick to your guns

When you have found the perfect diet plan and workout routine, it will automatically become a lifestyle instead of a short-term routine. Youll find it easy to prepare your own food, and make good choices when you are out. That way you can include foods that are usually restricted into your diet without feeling guilty or calling it a treat.

I exercise a lot so I can eat more

Your entire days food should focus on preparing for and recovering from exercise. Reduce your calorie consumption on days you dont work out, and increase it on the days you do. Hunger is the bodys way of asking to be refuelled, so dont ignore a rumbling stomach.

Stronger cravings might be signs of your body and brain adapting to a new set of physical challenges, but craving lots of treats may also be the minds way of asking for rewards and comfort food. Try to distinguish between physical hunger and the emotional desire to eat.

This is an exceprt from UNRESERVEDs March Issue from the article Surviving Fad Diets and Workout Trends

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10 Tips to Survive Fad Diets and Workout Trends - Unreserved Media

Edited by Kate Findley, The Great Courses DailyBy Roberta H. Anding, M.S., Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Childrens HospitalAs Americans have turned from television and magazines to the internet for health and nutrition information, they still seek credible sources and want to avoid fraudulent claims. Photo by HQuality / ShutterstockWhere Do We Get Our Information?

Americans have a love affair with food. We all love food, so theres no need to deprive ourselves in order to be healthy. Instead, were going to work on undoing the confusion by finding reliable sources of health information.

In an ideal world, wed get our information from our physician, healthcare provider, or registered dietician, but thats generally not where Americans get their information.

An American Dietetic Association trend study suggests that since 2002, television has actually decreased in popularity as a source of information on nutrition, from 72 percent to 63 percent. Overall, perceived credibility of television is about 14 percent.

Im the media spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, and one of the challenges is that when someone wants to interview you on television, they want you to say their sound bites, Professor Anding said. I think the challenge is that the information that we often get on television is snippets of nutritionsomething thats quick and easynot something thats going to be necessarily factually true.

Magazines represent another source, and theyre down in popularity from about 58 percent to 45 percent. The perceived credibility of magazine nutrition information is about 25 percent. Its actually greater than TV because that includes some of the national news magazines that do in-depth explorations on nutrition topics.

Newspapers have suffered the most significant decline in popularity, from 33 percent to 19 percent.However, this doesnt include online newspaper subscriptions.

Finally, the internet has increased in popularity from 13 percent in 2002 to 24 percent today, so therein lies the challenge. In this electronic age, were going to the internet to get nutrition information.

In fact, for adolescents, their number one source of nutrition information is the internet. This proves that traditional media outlets are losing popularity in favor of their electronic counterparts.

Perceived credibility is approximately 22 percent, a similar percentage to magazines, but in reality, the internet has the widest variability of information, from excellent to flat-out fraudulent. This variability makes it challenging to evaluate the information.

Thankfully, credible websites and sources of nutritional education do exist. One great resource is the American Dietetic Association. It provides nutrition tips of the day as well as handouts and information on functional foods and dieting tips.

Additionally, this website provides reviews of diet books. These reviews help you to separate the legitimate diets from unsustainable (and sometimes, even harmful) fad diets, and some of them might surprise you.

When it comes to fitness information, check out the American College of Sports Medicine. If you want to find out whether or not the latest trend that a trainer is telling you about is valid, you can often find reviews. Furthermore, you can learn what exercise precautions you need to follow if you take multiple medications for a chronic condition.

The federal government also has a host of nutrition and activity websites. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides solid, reliable information for managing conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, and obesity. They also have a BMI calculator, which is a way of measuring your height in relation to your weight and determining whether or not your weight is healthy.

The Food and Drug Administration gives you the latest updates on recall information in contaminated food outbreaks. You can also find consumer warnings about nutrition supplements, diet products, and more.

Finally, the food and nutrition information center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides dietary guidelines for Americans and general information on the current state of the science related to food and nutrition. This website also provides information on government-sponsored nutrition programs for low-income families.

You can turn to any of these websites when looking for reliable sources of health information. Please keep in mind, though, that you should always consult with your physician before starting any new diet or exercise program.

Professor Roberta H. Anding is a registered dietitian and Director of Sports Nutrition and a clinical dietitian at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Childrens Hospital. She also teaches and lectures in the Baylor College of Medicines Department of Pediatrics, Section of Adolescent Medicine and Sports Medicine, and in the Department of Kinesiology at Rice University. In addition, she is a registered dietitian with the American Dietetic Association and a dietitian for the Houston Texans NFL franchise.

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Not All Information Is Created Equal When It Comes to Your Health - The Great Courses Daily News

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Committing to a healthier diet is one thing, but man can only stand so much raw kale and undressed tofu before he starts demanding some flavor. True, we live in the golden age of recipe-sharing. But who can be bothered to scroll through a drugstore-receipt-length saga about some home-cooks husbands lactose intolerancejust to find a healthy-ish meal idea thats two hours and 12 ingredients too complicated? Somebody, maybe, but not you. Rather than struggle through overhauling your diet, you could just start making a few simple, everyday swaps thatll help you eat more mindfully, without sacrificing taste. Here are five of them.

Theres no denying the magic of a fried buffalo wing, but theres also no denying the health consequences of treating every day like it's Sunday when it comes to inhaling breaded, deep fried meats. Enter the air fryer, which works sort of like a convection oven to cook food with superheated air instead of boiling oil. More importantly, it takes a bunch of the work out of cooking.

Some experts suggest swapping traditionally fried foods for air-fried can cut your calorie intake by up to 80 percent. Note: That math won't be on your side if you swap all the foods you eat for air-fried ones. But its a good starting point for making chicken cutlet night a little healthier. Air fryers also cook faster than lard or oil does, so the hot-right-now method also gives you more time to savor the flavor.

In the Venn diagram of healthy and tasty, there aren't many beers that land in the middle. Deschutes Brewery, which hails from the craft-beer haven of Oregon, has managed to stick the landing on this trick, with low-calorie brews that are more than just fizzy, vaguely hoppy water. Their signature Wowza! hazy pale ale is packed with citrus flavor yet infinitely crushable, with just 100 calories and 4g of carbs. The light and crispy Da Shootz! is a summer pilsner thatll quench your thirst all year round. For something hoppier, their gluten-reduced Lil Squeezy Juicy Ale is a lighter alternative to the typically calorie-heavy IPA, at 145 calories per 12 ounces. All three make great replacements for the same old high-cal lagers. And yeah, the names are just really fun to say.

They say you cant have your cake and eat it, but nobody mentioned ice cream. Maybe thats because the frozen-treat landscape is ever expanding with improved, better-for-you recipes with more nutritious, novel ingredients. Now, when your streaming service asks you if you're still watching, at least the pint in your hand can be a more virtuous optionwhether lower calorie, familiar, or not even milk-based.

What's more, you might be doing your health a favor by sprinkling in dessert. A study published by the Journal of Consumer Psychology argues that goals that require extended inhibition of desires, such as weight loss and financial saving, can benefit from including planned hedonic deviations in the goal-striving plan. So as long as those moments of hedonism dont involve chain-smoking or competitive hot-dog eating, giving yourself planned cheat days can actually help you get healthier.

Recent research suggests that cooking at home is a smart way to cut down on excess fat, unhealthy additives, and harmful chemicals in your food. But did those researchers have the week you just had? When you just cant be bothered to cook, by all means, eat out. Just remember to dine out smartly.

This is easier to do today than ever, with so many restauranteurs taking a mindful approach to diners dietary restrictions and health priorities. Which is to say, go ahead and customize your meal within reason (without worrying about what your co-diners or your server thinks; it's 2020, it's cool). Get rid of unnecessary add-ons like extra cheese or sour cream. Given the option, sub white rice for the healthier side or base du jour.

When ordering a salad, pay attention to the nutrition content of the dressing, says registered dietician Ayla Gentiletti. Just two tablespoons of certain creamy dressings can add as much as 300 extra calories to your salad, she notes. When in doubt, choose a vinaigrette or cut your dressing use by adding fresh lemon or lime juice, Gentiletti says.

Or sweet potato-spiral it, or rice up your favorite vegetable. We've reached peak veggie swap: Zucchini got in early for being crazy low in calories and carbs, in addition to being packed with potassium, fiber, and vitamins A and C. But when youre craving a big bowl of your favorite carbonara or Mom's Sunday gravy, you can also swap starchy pastas for prepackaged sweet potato noodles or riced cauliflower or broccoli, which deliver plenty of fiber, iron, and vitamins while remaining a fun-to-eat delivery system for sauce, protein, and flavor. Pour some turkey meatballs with teriyaki sauce over some riced veggies and youll be jet-skiing off to flavor country in no time.

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5 Easy Healthy Food Swaps That Still Taste Great - Esquire

In the last couple of years, many new weight loss tips and diets have emerged as trendy ways to lose fat. The keto diet or the ketogenic diet is one amongst such diets. The keto diet comprises eating foods that are high in fat, moderate in protein and low in carbs. Its purpose is to help your body achieve ketosis. When in ketosis, you burn fat faster.

But does it really work? Adv. Ajinkya Madhukar Mirgal tells us that it certainly helped his case. At my highest, I weighed 105 kg, he shares. These numbers on the weighing scale compelled him to join Golds Gym, where he commenced his fat loss journey, and lost 41 kg, with the help of a personal trainer and a cheat meal-free keto diet plan.

QUICK READ: What is the ketogenic diet and how it helps you lose weight

I weigh 64.7 kg now, and the below weight loss plan helped me achieve my target weight loss goal.

I started following a very strict keto diet plan, and did not indulge in a single cheat meal. I cooked my own meals and carried them in tiffins wherever I went. I also started working out 5 days a week.

Monday: Back and Biceps

Tuesday: Cardio and Abs

Wednesday: Chest and Triceps

Thursday: Cardio and Abs

Friday: Legs and Shoulders

Saturday: Cardio and Abs

This was mostly a weight training routine, wherein I did 3 sets of 10-12-15 reps. My cardio sessions included walking/running on the treadmill for 20 minutes, followed by 20 and 10 minutes on the elliptical and rowing machines.

For abs, Id do 3 sets (of 25 reps) of flat floor crunches, 3 sets (of 25 reps) of reverse crunches, 3 minutes plank x 3 sets.

QUICK READ: 5 best home ab workouts to build six-pack abs worth grating cheese on

We also reached out to Mirgals trainer to understand more about his keto diet, and he broke down the nuance of the keto diet for us below.

Says Sumeet Zore, Golds Gym, nutritional ketosis is a state of health in which your body efficiently utilizes fat as its primary source of fuel instead of glucose. This only happens by reducing the consumption of carbohydrates, increasing the intake of fat and consuming only an adequate amount of protein to meet your bodys needs. In ketosis, fatty acid catabolism takes place and ketone bodies are produced as byproducts instead of glucose as in the normal case.

Basically, in ketosis, the stored fat of the body is broken down for energy and hence the body loses fat. Along with keto, exercising is also important to lose weight. You need to burn more calories than you consume. Exercising daily can help you achieve this by burning off some extra calories, he adds.

Mirgal says his keto diet plan comprised all the things he liked, and breaks down his exact keto diet plan below.

7 am: Lemon + ginger water

8 am: A cup of black coffee without any sugar

8 am to 9:30 am: Workout

10 am: 1 boiled eggs, 1 glass buttermilk, 1 cheese cube

1 pm-: 150 gms boiled chicken, 130 gms of green leafy vegetables (boiled), 1 cheese cube

5 pm: 30 gms of almonds and a cup of black coffee

8 pm- 4 boiled eggs, 1 cheese cube

I also consumed certain protein supplements and fish oil tablets, as prescribed by my dietician to support this diet plan.

- "Stay disciplined in all aspects of your journey - diet, exercising, everything!

- Cook your own meals, because only then you will know what is going inside your body and stay motivated.

Disclaimer: The fitness journey, diet and workout routines shared by the respondents are purely for inspirational purposes and in no way intend to propagate a specific body type. Please consult an authorised medical professional before following any specific diet or workout routine mentioned above.

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With all the concern around the coronavirus, many want to optimize our immune systems to keep ourselves healthy and less at-risk. There are 3 primary ways we can vitalize ourselves nutrition, rest, and relationship to stress.

Nutrition is a critical determinant of immune response like anything else, immunity functions better when its well-nourished and has the building blocks it need to do its job.

Protein malnutrition is associated with significant impairment of immunity, especially for healing and recovery. Eat a variety of protein foods including seafood, lean meat, poultry, eggs, beans and peas, raw nuts and seeds or other plant-based proteins.

Vitamin A helps regulate the immune system and protect against infections by keeping skin and tissues in the mouth, stomach, intestines and respiratory system healthy. Get this immune-boosting vitamin from foods such as sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, spinach, red bell peppers, apricots and eggs.

Vitamin C helps protect you from infection by stimulating the formation of antibodies and boosting immunity. Include more sources of this healthy vitamin by choosing citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, or red bell pepper, papaya, strawberries or tomato juice. If you buy the effervescent packets of C, make sure you get the ones with no added sugar most of those packets have a teaspoon or more of sugar each.

Vitamin E works as an antioxidant, neutralizes free radicals and may improve immune function. Include vitamin E in your diet with fortified cereals, sunflower seeds, almonds, vegetable oils, hazelnuts and peanut butter.

Zinc helps the immune system work properly and may help wounds heal. Zinc can be found in lean meat, poultry, seafood, milk, whole grain products, beans, seeds and nuts.

Other nutrients, including vitamin B6, folate, selenium, iron, as well as prebiotics and probiotics, also influence immune response, even when the deficiency is mild.

Fats or lipids are substances that exert a profound effect in the modulation of the immune system. The fatty acid composition of lymphocytes, and other immune cells, is altered according to the fatty acid composition of the diet which can modulate immune response. Healthy fats are found in deep sea fishes, salmon, grass-fed beef, eggs, raw nuts and seeds, avocado, coconut, and olive and other oils.

Sugar is a food that works directly against the immune system. For each teaspoon of refined sugar consumed, immunity is lowered for 6 hours. It is best to avoid added sugar in general, especially if youre trying to fight or avoid infection.

Dairy is mucous-forming even for those without sensitivity, so is best to be avoided during illness or for prevention.

When we get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep that starts by 10 p.m., we are allowing our bodies to rest and repair from the days efforts. If we are going to bed late or not getting adequate sleep, we are setting ourselves up to have lowered defenses. Studies show that while moderate exercise enhances immune function, high-intensity physical activity and periods of heavy training can suppress various immune response parameters.

We also know that cortisol, the primary stress hormone, has two primary jobs: to manage inflammation and to respond to physiological or emotional stress. Because the flight, fight or freeze response is more related to survival, our bodies will preferentially push cortisol down the stress pathway if given the choice. (It matters less if you have a cold if youve been eaten by a saber-toothed tiger!) The inflammation cascade is part of the immune system thats why you get achey with the flu. If stress and worry are a constant part of our day, we have less physiological tools for a healthy immune response.

Fear is a natural response to something threatening like the coronavirus itself, not to mention the global response and media coverage. There are probably many people who have had it or will get it and have a more mild response, not dissimilar to the annual flu. Germs and viruses are always around us; there is constant exposure. It is not the bug that determines if we get sick its our milieu that contributes to that probability. By eating healthy foods, getting rest, and relating to stress in whatever way works for you, you are supporting your internal environment to do what it does best: protect you with a balanced immune response.

Nicola Dehlinger is a naturopathic doctor at Pura Vida Natural Healthcare in Durango. She can be reached at 426-1684 or http://www.puravidahealthcare.com.

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Boost your immunity with diet, rest - The Durango Herald