Shop Smart

You signed up for boot camp and have made the commitment to give it your all every day. But is that enough? Some of you might think that is a crazy question. Of course that is enough, right? Well, maybe not. Getting in shape and being healthy takes more then just exercise. Yes, you have made the first step in the right direction. You have signed up for a hardcore program that is going to kick your butt! Now it’s time to learn how to change your eating so that you get the most out of boot camp.

If you don’t have healthy and nutritious foods at home, it is going to be easier to slip up and “cheat.” That is why this article “Healthy Eating Begins at the Supermarket” makes sense. Think about it. If you are at the store and you are buying Twinkies and Oreos, then obviously when you get home, you are not going to have healthy foods to eat. But if you make the right choices while you are shopping, eating healthy will become a natural occurrence. If you surround yourself with the “right” foods, you won’t even have to think about what to eat.

So here are a few tips from this article that we thought were particularly important. One of the most important tips for healthy eating is to shop the perimeter of the store. The perimeter of the store is where you find all of the fresh foods. Your fruits, veggies, meats and seafood are all around the outside of the store. Are there exceptions to this rule? Yes, canned tomatoes are great to use while cooking, as are frozen veggies, but in general you can avoid the majority of the aisles in a grocery store.

Another great tip is to shop with a list. Plan out your meals and snacks for a few days and write down what you need. Shopping with a list will make you focus on the foods you really need and not the foods that you want. Making a list also cuts down the time you spend at the grocery store and can help save money since you won’t be buying all the unnecessary foods.

We hear a lot from our campers (especially the single ones) that they don’t like to cook at home because the food goes to waste. If you buy your fruits and vegetables a few days before they are ripe, there is less chance of them going bad. Then once you cook the foods, split the meal out into individual Tupperware containers. You can freeze these containers and have meals for the future when you don’t have time to cook.

When you are looking through the produce section, focus on the fruits and vegetables that are in season. Foods that are in season will often cost less and will always taste better. So do yourself a favor and stick to in season fruits and veggies.

There are a lot of other tips in this article. So check it out here. For our veteran campers, we know you have heard a lot of these tips before in one way or another. What changes did you make to your shopping habits that have helped you the most?

Miss Us Yet?

The Rialto Wellness Staff knows how much you must be missing camp this week. So we put together a couple of workouts you can do at home...you can thank us later...

1) I'm So Excited!!

30 - 20 - 10

Vertical Jumps

Xtreme Jacks

Vertical Leg Scissors

Do 30 of each, then 20 of each, then 10. Not enough? Build it back up! Do 10 of each, then 20, then 30.

2) Jump Rope

Grab a rope and see how many skips you can get in a minutes. Take 3/4 of that number and skip that many times each minute for 20 minutes.

So if you can skip 100 times in 1 minute. Then for each minute for 20 minutes, you need to try and skip 75 times. Try to complete each minute as fast as possible and use the remaining seconds as rest.

3) Grind it Out

Push ups on the wall

Wall Jumps

20+1

19+2

18+3

all the way down until 1+20

So start with 20 push ups on the wall and 1 wall jump. Then 19 push ups and 2 wall jumps.

4) Lunge Walk 400 meters (1 loop around a track)

"Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin" - ...Sans Proper Diet!

TIME Magazine recently published a very controversial article on the effects of exercise on weight loss.

The article was called “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” (to read the article in full: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857-1,00.html)

Not exactly a sweeping promotion for fitness!

Though there were a lot of things within the article that I found misleading or flat out incorrect, the article does bring to light some very important concepts that are critical for the general population to understand:

1.) Exercise WILL make you hungrier

There is no question here. Exercise, especially intensive exercise, ramps up metabolism and our body’s natural response to energy expenditure (calories burnt from activity) is to increase energy consumption (food intake).
However, being hungrier from exercise is not the culprit- choosing the wrong type of food following exercise is!

In other words, if our diets focus on lots of lean protein, healthy fats, and high-fiber fruits and veggies every 2-4 hours, then we will be able to squash our exercise-induced hunger and build muscle and burn fat from exercise like we intend to. These foods are proven to promote optimal health, performance, and body composition.

However, if you are are a carb addict (think lots of refined grains and sugars), exercise will only make you crave more carbs leading to intense feelings of insatiability throughout the day due to unstable blood sugar levels. Make no mistake about it- in this case, exercise will not only cause you to NOT lose weight, but most likely will cause weight gain.

Here’s the line we tell most people who come to us to lose weight for them to understand they key to the success they crave:

“If you want to bulk up, add size, and gain weight, be sure to eat plenty of starches and sugars. But if you want to be lean and muscular, swap the starches and sugars for high fiber fruits and vegetables, with a special emphasis on green veggies.”

It’s really that simple, which brings us to point #2…

2.) Exercise sans proper nutrition WILL NOT cause significant weight loss

Nutrition is without a doubt 80-90+% of the equation when it comes to weight management. Hormones govern fat loss and both exercise and nutrition impact your body’s hormone levels- positively or negatively depending on what type of exercise and diet plan you follow.

However, you can never wipe out poor nutritional habits with exercise- NEVER! In terms of diet, the hormone we must be most concerned about is insulin, a storage hormone that’s released in large amounts when consuming refined starches and sugars.

Not matter how hard you workout, if you are releasing insulin through the day with a high carb diet, you will be helpless to its fat-storing effects.

On the other hand, lean proteins, healthy fats, and high-fiber fruits and veggies do not significantly impact your insulin levels thus allowing you to preferentially burn fat and build muscle in conjunction with the right exercise plan, which brings me to point#3…

3.) Not all exercise is created equal

The aforementioned article failed to distinguish between different forms of exercise. It misleadingly uses the word “exercise” to refer to aerobic activity or any form of exercise of low to moderate intensity.

Well, we already know that aerobic training has zero effect on fat loss over dieting alone- many studies support this.

So this article should not be using aerobics as the marker for “exercise” and it’s impact on weight loss… it’s like taking a dull knife to a gun fight!

Furthermore, we know that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) burns 9x more fat than ordinary exercise (aerobic training) and actually builds lean muscle and elevates metabolism for up to 24-48 post-workout (please reference our most recent blog posts for a ton of interval workouts that fit the bill here)

In conclusion, study after study proves that when it comes to exercise for fat loss:

CARDIO SUCKS AND INTERVALS ROCK!

So this TIME magazine article missed the ball on the big picture here: When it comes to being lean, muscular, and healthy, the key is an integrated and research based diet AND exercise regimen- exercise alone simply doesn’t cut it!


PS- What are your thoughts about this article? Does this hurt or help the weight loss cause? Please share your mind by making a comment to this blog post below, thanks!

Locally Grown/Raised...Grassfed...These Things Just Taste Better?!

If you were in Denver this weekend, you know that Saturday morning was an amazing 70 something degrees, sunny, idyllic. The perfect kind of day to be outside, for sure. Some bootcampers may have headed on over to the Local Farmer’s Market to do some research...and of course buy a few items not currently available in our garden;-) There were vendors hocking their sauces, veggies, meats, pottery – Some vendors may have been demonstrating a culinary cooking utensils, etc. There is nothing quite like getting out and going to see what’s local and in season – with the "people watching" which provids added entertainment.

Anyhoo, onto the point of this blog. The place was hopping at 9am, with vendors passing out samples of homemade bacon, locally grown organic tomatoes, and of course the bread people were there, with the longest line, passing out their samples too.

Why are we such proponents of grass fed meats? Well, in case you don’t remember, check out these links: Grassfed basics, you are what your animals eat, choose grassfed! And YES, we are realists, and know darn well it’s not always available or accessible or even affordable to go grassfed, in which case just do the best you can.

Now the BEST part?

If you have not heard the buzz on the street about the incredible new fruits and veggie mart let us be the first. It's called Blazer Street market, located at 15550 E. 6th Avenue, Aurora CO 80011. Located off of 6th and Chambers in the old Cub Foods store. One bootcamper states, "I was able to purchase 27 of our Fathers most divine earthly pleasures for under $25.00: The juiciest of juicy heart shape black cherries only $.99 a pound...gtfoh!!! 3 pink lady apples for $1.00, WHAT! And 2 bunches of spinach for $1.00, mustard greens for $.69 a bundle....SHUT UP! So check it out my fine friends in fitness. It's only open from Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 8pm-it's what's up!!!"

Next weekend we strongly encourage you to go check out these Farmer's Markets - the assortment of locally grown veggies they have available this time of year is fantastic (that is of course if you aren't harvesting such things from your own garden source!)...

PS - There are markets all over the metro Denver area. (i.e. near Cherry Creek Mall, Tiffany Plaza Parking Lot.) If you know of more locations, list them in the comments section of the blog for all to enjoy!

Got Goals?

So, around 5:00 or 5:15 this morning you heard an obnoxious noise and couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then you remember the noise is your alarm and that this is your first day with Rialto Wellness Boot Camp! After those thoughts of “what was I thinking?” left your head, you got up, got dressed and headed out to the location of choice. You have now become one of those weird people who roll around in the dirt for fun! Was it everything you expected? Were you pushed beyond your comfort zone? For those of you with Montclair/Lowry & DTC Locations, are you excited for your first workout?

Here at Rialto Wellness we really want you to succeed. But how do you define success? It is different for everyone. Do you measure success by fitting into those “skinny jeans” that we all have? Do you want to run a 5k? Win a 5k?! Improve your PT results? Lose a few pounds? Whatever your goal, Rialto Wellness Boot Camp is a great way to get started or move to the next level.

Have you set a goal for yourself? We want to hear about them! Our instructors are here to help hold you accountable. They hold you accountable for what you eat and for making it to camp. Now they want to help you to attain your goals. Setting a goal and determining how you are going to achieve that goal is an important part of any fitness routine. You have already started working out and have probably heard some success stories from other boot campers. Now it is time to write your success story.

When setting your goals it helps to determine what results you expect. If you want to lose 10 pounds, losing the weight is the end result you are expecting. But it won't happen if you don't do the right things with exercise and nutrition, so you have to break it into actions that support that goal, such as making it to boot camp every day, writing down everything you eat (and not listing wine as "grapes"), and watching your portions. All these little action steps are necessary to get you to that end goal!

The same goes if your goal is to get faster. If you want to decrease your run time by 45 seconds during the month, you should push yourself every time you run, whether it be hills, sprints or just running from point to point. Set a goal of passing someone in front of you every time, or of remaining at the front of the pack. Those little bursts of speed throughout the month will get your body accustomed to the higher level of effort.

This article about setting a fitness goal reminds us that our goals need to be achievable. Setting short term goals like making it to boot camp every day gives us a sense of accomplishment before we reach the end result of losing 10 pounds. The sense of accomplishment you feel with the short term goals makes staying on track to reach the long-term goals easier.

The article also mentions that keeping a record of your goals is important…so instead of keeping it to yourself, blog about your goal!

How Much Calcium Is Too Much?

Getting to the heart of claims about calcium supplements

By Harvard Health

We seem to get more mail about calcium than any other nutrient. The questions and comments vary, but many reflect the same exasperation. On the one hand, we've been told to take calcium pills to keep bones strong, prevent osteoporosis and reduce the risk of fracture.

On the other, information seems to keep popping up that calls into question the value of calcium — and even suggests that large amounts might be counterproductive. Throw in the occasional query about calcium absorption and which calcium pills to take, and the mailbag — or, more literally, the e-mail inbox — gets full.

Here are some of the questions we get most often:

Q:How much calcium should I be getting?

A: The official recommendation is 1,000 milligrams (mg) a day for adults ages 19 to 50 and 1,200 mg for those past the half- century mark. Those amounts include calcium from all sources: dairy products, other food and drinks, and calcium supplements. But there's a dissenting point of view that 600 mg to 1,000 mg a day is sufficient, perhaps even more healthful. Dr. Walter C. Willett, chair of the Harvard School of Public Health and a member of the Health Letter's editorial board, is a leading voice among the dissidents.

Q: How much calcium am I getting if I don't take a supplement?

A: A reasonably good diet that includes some fruit and vegetables provides about 200 mg to 300 mg daily — and that's without any dairy products. A cup of milk adds another 300 mg, and the typical serving of many dairy products provides 150 mg or more (cheese lovers should go for the hard stuff — it has more calcium). So a well-rounded diet with some servings of milk and dairy products puts you well into the neighborhood of 600 mg to 800 mg a day.

Q: And what about the supplements — which type should I take?

A: This presupposes you should be taking a calcium supplement, but we'll deal with that question below.

Most calcium supplements are made with either calcium carbonate or calcium citrate. Calcium carbonate needs stomach acid to be absorbed, so if it is the source of calcium in your supplement (you may need to read the fine print) it's best to take it just after a meal. Calcium citrate isn't as dependent on stomach acid, so it can be taken any time. People taking medications that reduce stomach acid — such as the proton-pump inhibitors (Prevacid, Prilosec) or the H2 blockers (Tagamet, Zantac) — should take a calcium citrate supplement because lower amounts of stomach acid mean they won't absorb calcium carbonate properly.

The big advantage of calcium carbonate over calcium citrate is that it contains twice as much calcium. The labels on the bottles sometimes make it seem like both kinds of tablets provide the same amount of calcium, usually 500 mg to 600 mg. But that's the amount of calcium per "serving" and if you read the label you'll see that the serving size for the calcium citrate supplements is usually two tablets, but for the calcium carbonate supplements, it's just one.

It's a waste to double the serving size. The body can absorb a 500- or 600-mg dose, but more than that and absorption becomes inefficient. You'll get about the same amount of calcium by taking 1,000 mg as you would if you stuck with the 500 mg or 600 mg.

Harvard Health Letter: mailto:healthletter@hms.harvard.edu.

Michael Jackson & Rialto Wellness

Like many of you, we are in a state of shock and confusion about the tragic passing of the legendary Michael Jackson.

At the end of the day, no matter what anybody says about MJ- NOBODY put on a better performance than him… NOBODY!

And nobody had more hits… he was truly the greatest entertainer of all time.

Thanks for the memories Michael and rest in peace…

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Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the Farrah Fawcett & Ed McMann Families for their loss.