Jonny Bowden's Blog, page 24

Study Finds Less Exercise Increases Metabolic Syndrome

A study in the journal Preventive Medicine found women don’t get as much exercise as men, which increases their risk for metabolic syndrome.

You’ve probably heard about metabolic syndrome, which includes conditions like high cholesterol, hypertension, and obesity. These disorders act like road signs that warn, “Danger ahead!” and give you a chance to turn back before you fall fate to diabetes, heart disease, or stroke.

I always love studies where researchers start with one idea but evidence guides them in a different direction.

In this case, researchers began looking at the correlation between physical activity, depression, and metabolic syndrome. They looked at over 1,000 people selected from a nationally represented sample.

But their research gradually evolved into a gender study as researchers stumbled upon an interesting observation:  whereas men clocked in about 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise every day, women averaged 18 minutes.

Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. If it’s any consolation, women performed better in other health measures here. For instance, they were less likely to smoke than men.

Also worth noting: this was the first study to objectively measure physical activity. More specifically, participants here used accelerometers that measured physical activity. In other words, they weren’t just guessing how many minutes they exercised.

The study concluded that less than 30 minutes a day of daily exercise increases your risk for insulin resistance, depression, and weight gain.

Still, researchers remained optimistic. They recommended small physical efforts throughout your day to meet that quota. Take the stairs rather than the elevator, for instance, and park further away from the mall entrance.

I get it: exercise requires time. And with your ever-expanding work hours and to-do list, finding even an hour at the gym can seem impossible. Heck, finding a parking place alone can take 15 minutes.

The good news is that you don’t need to spend hours at spin classes to get exercise’s numerous benefits.

You can burn fat, build muscle, and boost your metabolism in just minutes a day. And burst training is your ticket.

If that sounds like a dubious infomercial, I’ve got studies to show just how effective it is.

They show, for instance, that compared to treadmills and hour-long aerobics classes, burst training helps you more efficiently and quickly burn fat.

Another study found moderately active women burned more fat burst training in just two weeks.

Several studies show burst training also proves effective to reduce your risk for metabolic syndrome, including insulin resistance and diabetes.

My favorite way to burst train is with the Xiser »

This well-built, portable machine provides a full-body workout in just four minutes, three times a week. No kidding.

While the Xiser makes it easier to burst train, you really don’t need any equipment, and you can even do it outdoors.

For instance, run at full pace up to one minute (you should be breathless), walk fast for a few minutes, and repeat.

You can also do this run-walk-repeat routine on your treadmill. Ironically, you’ll get more benefits doing this for five minutes than the person next to you huffing away for an hour while watching The View.

Or if you have a hill at your park, you can full-blast run up the hill, then walk steadily down, and repeat.

Want to make burst training even more effective? Combine it with weight resistance.

I know what you’re thinking: too much time.

Guess again. My friend, fitness expert JJ Virgin, has a fabulous 15-minute workout, appropriately called the 4 x 4 Workout (four repetitions of four exercises) which effectively combines burst training and weight resistance in, yes, just 15 minutes a day »

You might doubt right now you can get amazing results in that short a time period. But I promise you: it will kick your butt.

Four Minutes to Fitness? Seriously?

Is squeezing even ten minutes for exercise out of your busy schedule too hard to manage? Well guess what. I’ve got just the program for you! With a mere four minutes a day, you can get a jolt of energy while helping to burn fat, increase endurance, improve balance, lower blood pressure, stabilize your core, and strengthen your muscles. Sound too good to be true?

I sure thought it was. (Remember, I come from the “gym” culture, where guys the size of barn doors spent entire mornings just doing “lats”.) So convincing me you could get anything done at all in four minutes was, let’s say, a bit of a stretch.

And then I tried Burst Training.

Burst Training is one minute of high-intensity exercise, performed four times a day, three times a week—using an amazing multi-tasking piece of machinery invented by exercise physiologist Mark J. Smith, Ph.D. It’s called the X-iser, and it’s a hands-free step machine. Since Burst Training has no rest period, you perform what amounts to a series of one-legged squats, which means you’re simultaneously challenging your aerobic and anaerobic systems. I use the machine regularly and I can tell you it’s without question, one of the hardest and most effective workouts you can do. It gives a whole new meaning to energy efficiency.

Now I know you’re probably skeptical. What can one minute of exercise, even if you do it four times a day, possibly accomplish? Well, think about it. You know that iconic scene in the first Rocky movie where Sylvester Stallone runs the steps of the stadium in Philly? Suppose you did that exhausting, mind-numbingly difficult run every single day. Think you’d get better at it? Think you’d improve your aerobic fitness? Your endurance? Your energy? Let me save you the thinking time: The answer is “yes”. In spades.

In fact, running up stairs is one of the best ways to burn calories, improve cardio conditioning and coordination and increase energy. In the “olden” days when I was a musical director living in the famous Artists Complex in New York City called Manhattan Plaza (where my neighbors included Tennessee Williams, Larry David of Seinfeld fame and the “real” Kramer), I used to run the 45 flights of stairs from bottom to top floor a few times a week. It took less than a minute or two and it was one of the most intense, energizing exercises I ever did. Stair running is the bomb. Problem is, most of us don’t live in 45 flight buildings or near the Rocky stadium in Philly. The Xiser gives you the ability to essentially do the same thing in your living room.

And it doesn’t stop there. Burst training- which is really just a series of short bursts of very high intensity exercise- is one of the most effective ways to exercise for weight loss, health, performance, endurance and energy. And the research backs me up on this. One study in the Feb 10 2005 Journal of Applied Physiology founded that a mere two weeks of as little as 8 minutes a week of burst training doubled the endurance and energy of participants. And a study at Colorado State showed that four minutes on the Xiser burned the same number of calories as twenty minutes of traditional aerobic exercise. Burst training also burns fat for 24 hours after exercise. It basically teaches the body to burn fat more efficiently.

The Xiser allows you to do a number of other exercises besides the standard (and brutal) burst of one minute stair climbing. You can hold weights in your hands. You can do push ups on the steps. You can do all sorts of things, all of which basically come under the heading of “interval training” which I now believe is the most effective way to get in shape, lose fat and increase energy.

The only down side? You’ll have to say goodbye to a lot of excuses that revolve around time.

Find out more about the X-iser here.

Healthy for the Holidays With Fit Chef Katy

The following are are some great tips from my friend Fit Chef Katy on healthy holiday habits.

 

Healthy Holiday Tips

1.     Why wait for January?  Get your holiday present early and get a trainer now.

2.    Always have a snack in your purse, car, bag…pre-measured nuts, beef jerky or an apple.

3.    Look at the buffet table first.  Decide what you can’t live without and find what is the healthiest choice.  Search for protein and veggie options like meatballs, Carpaccio, crudités. Then ask yourself what is my good better and best healthy choice.  Fill half your plate with the best healthy choice and no more than 1/4 of your plate with the “I cant live without” item.

4.    Dessert – Take the THREE BITES pledge. On those amazing full fat desserts, treat yourself to one three bites total!  So you can have one bite of three or vice versa.

5.    Liquor makes you thicker.  Make a pledge to have a glass of water in between each drink.  Don’t drink standing up.  Sit down, enjoy the moment and the glass of wine etc.

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Turkey Chopped Lettuce Cups

A Post-Turkey Snack by Fit Chef Katy

 

Ingredients

2 cups of cubed Turkey

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

1/2 cup of chopped green apple

1/2 cup of chopped celery

1/2 cup of chopped carrots

1/2 cup of walnuts

1/2 cup of chopped parsley

1- 2 cups of Greek yogurt

Zest of one lemon

1 Tablespoon dried Thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Butter lettuce leaves.

 

Instructions

Mix all ingredients and put on top of lettuce leaves.  Serve chilled.

 

Fit Chef Katy is a culinary & fitness expert, educator, motivator, mentor and a happily busy mom of 3. Please visit her website and social media sites to learn more about her – you will be glad you did!

Website: https://www.fitchefkaty.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitchefkatyinc

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fitchefkaty

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitchefkaty

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

The following is a recipe from Penny Anderson, the third and final winner in our Healthy Holiday Recipe Contest.

 

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Roasted vegetables are a staple in my kitchen. Beets, carrots, potatoes, yams, parsnips, brussel sprouts…anything and everything ends up roasted for supper. Leftovers make great additions to a salad too. Using water and covering the brussel sprouts for the first part of the time in the oven helps your veggies cook through while reducing the likelihood of scorching.

Ingredients

1lb or more fresh brussel sprouts, trimmed and cleaned

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup water

Salt & pepper to taste

 

Instructions

Toss brussel sprouts with oil, seasonings, and water. Place on rimmed baking sheet (lined with parchment paper, aluminum foil, or a silicone liner.  Cover tightly with foil and bake in a 450 F oven for 20 minutes.  Remove the foil, and bake uncovered for 10-15 more minutes, until the sprouts are fork tender and browning.  Serve as is, or topped with crushed garlic, lemon zest, and/or balsamic vinegar.

Roasted vegetables taste great hot or cold, so save your leftovers for tomorrow’s salad or snack.

My Video Interview With Fit Chef Katy

Recently i caught up with my friend Katy Clark, better known as Fit Chef Katy, a single mom with three kids who was voted one of the 50  hottest trainers in America. We talked about tips for staying on track during the holidays. Enjoy!

 

To find out more about Fit Chef Katy…

Website: https://www.fitchefkaty.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitchefkatyinc

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fitchefkaty

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitchefkaty

Giving Thanks Roasted Veggie Soup

The following is a recipe from Kimberly Aguilar, the second winner in our Healthy Holiday Recipe Contest.

 

Giving Thanks Roasted Veggie Soup

When the weather turns chilly my family loves a warm cup-o-soup. I accidentally discovered this soup when I had some leftover veggie kabobs and some leftover turkey broth. While it works with any type of broth my family loves this soup made with turkey broth.

Ingredients

1 Zucchini cut into 3/8” slices

1 Cucumber cut into 3/8” slices

1 Red Bell Pepper cut into 1” pieces

1 Small Red Onion wedge cut into 1” pieces

2 Celery sticks cut into 1” pieces

½ lb whole Mushrooms

1 c. Broccoli flowerets

3-4 Roma Tomatoes (roast whole then cut)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Fajita Seasoning

3 Cups Turkey broth (can substitute chicken)

4 Pop & Cook flavor Cubes – [1 frozen cube of each flavor: Garlic, Cilantro, Basil, Mild Chili]

Sea Salt to taste

Kabob Skewers

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425* F. and then foil line 2 sheet pans. This makes cleanup much easier.

2. Wash the vegetables then slice/cut into bite size pieces. Place veggies on one sheet pan and then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on the seasoning. Rub to coat evenly and then sprinkle on the Fajita Season. Coat as evenly as possible.

4. Place the Veggies on the kabob skewers (don’t overcrowd) and place the kabobs on the second sheet pan. Bake the kabobs for 20-22 minutes to get the fire/oven roasted look. Do not over bake as you want the veggies slightly crisp and not soft or burnt. Remove when done and let cool slightly.

5. While Veggies are roasting, start pepping the broth. Pour broth into a stock pan. Heat on low/med heat. Now add all of the Pop and Cook Cubes Heat thoroughly. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer. Cover.

6. After veggies slightly cool, cut them into bit size pieces and add to broth. Simmer 5 more minutes then turn off the heat and let rest 2 minutes covered. Season with the sea salt to taste. Serve and enjoy.

Serving size: 1 cup

Makes: 6-8 servings

This is a great appetizer on Thanksgiving day or a light meal any day.

Quinoa Stuffed French Onions on a bed of Green Beans

The following is a recipe from Elena Blume, the first winner in our Healthy Holiday Recipe Contest.

 

Quinoa Stuffed French Onions on a bed of Green Beans by Elena Blume

This recipe will make an excellent vegetarian meal ideal for two people, be it for Thanksgiving or any other delectable evening.

Ingredients:

1 Can Campbell’s French Onion Soup

½ Cup Quinoa

1 Portabella Mushroom (peeled, and chopped)

1 Cup Green Onions (chopped)

1 Yellow Bell Pepper (de-seeded and chopped)

1 Cup French’s Fried Onions

4 Onions (hollowed for stuffing)

1 Tbsp. Garlic Olive Oil

2 Cups Green String Beans

 

Instructions:

Preheat Oven to 375F.

In saucepan, bring Campbell’s French Onion Soup with 1/2 cup quinoa to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes covered. Add cooked quinoa into skillet with garlic olive oil (or regular olive oil), chopped mushroom, green onions, chopped yellow bell pepper, and ½ cup French’s Fried Onions. Stir for about 10 minutes.

Hollow out 4 onions. Add spooned out onion centers to skillet mixture. Stuff skillet mixture into each hollowed onion. layer bottom of glass Pyrex dish (pre-grease with olive oil) with green string beans and excess mixture. Add onions to the top of the mixture.

Cook at 375F for 30 minutes, cover with aluminum foil and cook another 20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle ½ cup French’s Fried Onions on top of stuffed onions and excess. Cook additional 5 minutes.

Serves 2 People.

For more recipes by Elena, please visit her Pinterest page: http://www.pinterest.com/elenablume/

5 Ways To Health Up Your Holiday

Holiday season is generally joyous– but it has a dark side.

Any time you have an abundance of high calorie food mixed with a high number of festive gatherings and an equally high amount of stress, you’re looking at a perfect recipe for disaster.

Following are five general tips for making sure your holiday season remains both healthy and happy.

 

Fight stress

Stress makes you fat, lowers immunity and screws up your thinking. It can depress immunity (so that you’re more likely to get sick in the first place) and slow recovery. Take a short break from your routine, sit quietly, close your eyes and do some deep breathing—even four to five minutes will calm you down and lower blood pressure. And take extra helpings of vitamin C and B-complex, both of which are eaten up by stress. Consider some herbal adaptagens (like ashwaganda, rhodiola and schisandra). Adaptagens work in the body like a thermostat, turning down the heat when you’re too hot (stressed), and warming it up when you’re too cold (fatigued).

 

Don’t Neglect Your Immune System

Here’s where supplements can really come in handy. Though extra vitamin C is always a good idea, zinc is equally important- take 15-50 mg a day. Probiotics give the immune system a charge by producing enzymes that promote health, keeping the gut healthy and preventing bad microbes from growing and causing disease. Sambucol® is a unique black elderberry extract rich in immune supporting flavonoids. An Israeli study showed that it shortened the duration of flu symptoms. L-theanine is a wonderfully relaxing amino acid found in green tea that stimulates alpha wave activity in the brain associated with a relaxed yet alert mental state. (Make sure to buy products formulated with SunTheanine, as it’s the most clinically studied and purest form of theanine available.) Olive leaf complex is effective against a host of microbes. (I personally take Barlean’s Olive Leaf Complex on a daily basis both for its ability to goose the immune system and for its ability to lower blood pressure.

And curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory; since inflammation can drag down the immune system anything that reduces inflammation is going to be beneficial. (My personal recommendation: CuraMed by Terry Naturally.)

 

Fit in Fitness

In the time crunch of the holidays one of the first things we tend to neglect is fitness. But fitness doesn’t have to mean a trip to the gym, or even a 3 mile run. The latest research on high intensity training shows that you can get a lot of fitness (and fat burning) in much less time than you might imagine. (Think Rocky running those stairs in Philadelphia—probably less than 90 seconds!) You can devise a “mini-circuit” that lasts less than five minutes and you can do almost anywhere. Example: Run in place for a minute, do 20 jumping jacks, drop down for 10 push-ups and follow up with 20 chair squats. Two sets like that and you’ll be breathing like you ran the marathon. Variations are endless. Even a brisk five-minute walk will clear your head, get your heart rate up and improve your mood! For more of a challenge, run full out for a minute, slow down and walk for another minute then repeat. End with a one-minute cool-down. Total time investment: five minutes. If you’re ambitious, throw in some push-ups!

 

Eat Protein

In case you hadn’t noticed, holiday food is carb and sugar heavy. Sugar depresses the immune system, and high carb meals can cause a precipitous drop in blood sugar leading to a huge decrease in energy and a huge increase in cravings (usually for more high sugar food!) Protein speeds up the metabolism, has far less of an effect on blood sugar than carbs, and is needed to make virtually everything in the body from muscles to neurotransmitters. Eat it at every meal and snack.

 

Use this trick to prevent weight gain

In a number of studies, Penn State researcher Barbara Rolls, PhD, found that folks who ate a small green salad or a cup of non-creamy soup (about 100 calories worth of either) spontaneously consumed about 12% less calories during the main meal.

If you follow these five suggestions you’ll go a long way towards preventing the holiday season from being all about expanded waistlines and diminished vitality. And you’ll be doing yourself—and your health—a huge favor.

Eating On the Road

It’s a fact: In today’s highly mobile world, less and less meals are eaten at an actual table, much less at home.  Street food stands do a brisk business and fast food and “take-out” shops are as common as monosyllables in an Adam Sandler flick. In America alone, the amount of money spent on food eaten in the car, walking on city streets, in airports, hotels and at work could easily rival the total annual Gross National Product of more than half the countries in the world.

For better or worse, we live a Tasmanian devil of an existence that’s exciting, maddening and frustrating all at the same time, and, for those trying to eat well, a veritable mine field of potential disaster.

To make matters as bad as they could be, there seems to be an unwritten law which I call “the law of inverse quality”. It states that the quality of food goes down as portability and accessibility go up. In other words: there ain’t no organic fruits and vegetables at the food court, folks. What we have on the menu instead is a cornucopia of sugar laden “pick-me-up” treats, processed meat sandwiches, stagnant salad bars, office snack machines, bad deli food, coffee and donut stands, fast food take out, hot dogs, burgers, pretzels, bagels and other standard “take me with you as you travel” food.

So what to do? Unless you’ve got access to a time machine, eating on the run, or at least on the move, is likely to remain a fact of life. The opportunity here is to become master of the circumstances rather than victimized by them. Like the great martial artists who learn to make lethal weapons out of such found objects as a paper clip or pencil, we need to learn to create healthy, nurturing meals out of commonly available “porta-foods”. This food needs to be stuff that travels well, is available everywhere, and still passes nutritional muster.

Here’s my top ten tips for how to do just that:

Think Proactive. Most of the trouble comes from waiting till you’re in the middle of an emergency hunger situation before taking action (like being without food all afternoon and coming face to face with a convenient snack machine). A little planning in advance goes a long way. If you know you’re going to be stuck in a meeting, take along something you can eat quickly and discretely that will keep your blood sugar from plummeting and your cravings at bay.

Lettuce is a great container. You can wrap some leftover chicken in a lettuce leaf and eat it in the car, or anywhere else a sandwich would work. Throw on some tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil and you’ve got a decent mini-meal. A couple of leaves of red-leaf lettuce make a great “wrap” and the contents are limited only by your imagination.

Find healthy food that travels well. Some suggestions: cottage cheese, yogurt, celery, peppers, carrots and apples. Throw some berries into a Tupperware with some cottage cheese and nuts and take it in the car with you.

Make it the night before. (This is the corollary of “think proactively”). Try cooking a weeks worth of sweet potatoes on a Sunday, and take them with you as snacks during the week. They’re as portable as you can get, they taste great cold and are a veritable vitamin store.

Think unusual foods. Sally Fallon, the great exponent of traditional nourishing foods, says that the best “energy bar” is a homemade, nitrous-free, lean-meat sausage. If you can find a local butcher who still makes sausage like this, grab it.

Think outside the box. One person’s “unusual” is another person’s delicious. Experiment. I’ve found cutting up an apple and eating it with a single serving of tuna adds crunchiness and sweetness to the tuna that makes it a taste treat. Ditto with celery. A single serving can of tuna can be gotten almost anywhere and also goes great with that baked sweet potato you made last Sunday. Or discover your own combinations. You can always find nuts, cheese, fruit and seeds. Use them creatively, or eat them right out of the package. Hint: String cheese is a really easy snack to take on the run and is available everywhere.

Use your blender. Many office-bound people forget that a blender is an easy accessory to keep in a desk or in the company kitchen. In a pinch, packaged meal replacements and protein drinks can be made quickly and are way better for you than most of the stuff at the food court.

Ditto for the microwave. It only takes about four minutes to make real oatmeal (not the packaged kind), and you can add some berries or pomegranate juice and take it with you anywhere in a plain take-out coffee cup. Plus if you sweeten it a little with a good maple syrup and then let it get cold, it almost tastes like desert.

Make a list: Until you get good at this, don’t try to think on your feet. Make a list in advance of possible combinations that might be available while you’re traveling, or that you could easily take with you . One of my favorites is celery with almond butter. There’s got to be at least a half dozen others just as good. Discover them.

Vegetable juice is a lifesaver. When all else fails, have a V-8. Fresh vegetable juice is always better, and possibly one of the best things you can put in your body, but in a pinch there’s always canned tomato juice and V-8. It takes the edge off your appetite and quenches cravings like nothing else around, and you can get it anywhere. Add celery, leave out the vodka, and you’ll almost feel like it’s happy hour.

Finally, when you’re eating out, try ordering unconventionally. Restaurant portions are obscenely large and every study has shown that the more you eat out, the greater the risk of being overweight. Try ordering just an appetizer and a salad, or a salad and soup. Or if you get an entrée, immediately pack up half of it to take home. Stick with lean protein and vegetables, send the bread back immediately, and don’t order the starch. You’ll be just fine.

Luscious Leanest Lamb Chops

Lamb is not only an excellent source of high-quality protein, but it’s also a good source of iron and B vitamins.

Lamb also provides about 45% of the daily requirement for zinc, essential for growth, healing, and a healthy immune system. Half the fat and lamb is unsaturated, and most of that is monounsaturated, the same kind found in olive oil and so prominent in the Mediterranean diet. The loin chop is the leanest, and in this recipe, the slow cooker blends the flavors of the onion and the fresh herbs beautifully with the rich taste of the meat. This dish also has a lovely finishing kick of balsamic vinegar.

 

Ingredients

1 large yellow onion, sliced and separated into rings

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons chicken broth or water

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried)

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon each salt and freshly ground pepper

8 lion lamb chops

Fresh mint leaves, for garnish (optional)

 

Instructions

Layer the onion rings in the bottom of the slow cooker. Pour the vinegar, broth, and butter over all. In a small bowl, combine the mustard, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Rub the mixture evenly over the lamb chops and lay the chops over the onions. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours, until the lamb is cooked to the desired doneness. Remove the chops and stir the onions and juices before serving. Garnish with the mint if using

*If desired you can transfer the onions and juices to a large skillet and cook over medium high heat for a few minutes until the sauce is slightly reduced and thickened before serving.

 

Luscious Leanest Lamb Chops recipe from The 150 Healthiest Slow Cooker Recipes on Earth Cookbook by Dr. Jonny Bowden, PhD, C.N.S and Jeannette Bessinger, C.H.H.C.

On sale now for $2.99 when you purchase the Amazon Kindle edition. Sale ends 11/30/14.