Fitness Together WOODBURY

THE EIGHT DEADLY PITFALLS
OF EXERCISE AND EATING RIGHT
By Bob Mittleman and Joe Riccardi (F.T.– St. James)
Part 1 of 2

We all know the secret to health, fitness and longevity. It isn’t magic brought back form the ancient tribesmen of Peru. It isn’t an incredible new invention discovered by a mad genius trying to splice DNA. It isn’t even a pill that magically makes fat go away while you sit on the couch and watch television. The secret, as we’re all aware, is to exercise and “eat right,” and in that lies the mystery.

The question is, if we all know that, if the secret is out…why don’t we all “do” that? That is only the first question of many that arise. Why, while the “eat right and exercise” idea works for so many, does it appear to fail so many others? Why might your friend, next -door neighbor or cousin workout with you and achieve much more dramatic results than you do?

Despite people’s willingness to blame themselves, to blame their genetics, or to blame their hectic schedules, in every case, when fitness or weight loss failure manifests, it’s the result of some flawed information destroying achievement potential. Yes, it’s the result of a pitfall swallowing up the fitness hopes of somebody with good intentions that is unfortunately plagued by misguided direction.

There are eight primary pitfalls, common mistakes when attempting to find the balance between eating right and exercising, and with recognition and eliminating of these mistakes, you’ll find yourself in total control. I’m calling the eight pitfalls “the 8 Deadly Pitfalls,” not for desired results. They are deadly to your potential to improve.

Most of the pitfalls involve actions (or lack of action) that neglect, the importance of the synergistic relationship between eating supportively, exercising aerobically in moderation, and challenging muscle. All three elements are vital if the goal is long term positive physical change. Once you learn to apply this vital synergy in a manner that fits comfortably into your life, you’ll find the payoff for the time you invest in exercise to be significant and extremely rewarding. Let’s get on to the pitfalls. With all eight packed tightly into your brain, fitness failure will no longer be and option!

Pitfall # 1: Consuming to much sugar (or refined carbohydrates) on a fat loss program

For years people have learned to shop for food by responding to buying signals listed in large print on the front of food labels. The words “fat free “have compelled Americans to feast on cookies, cakes, ice creams, and pastries and Americans grew fatter. The number one ingredient in cookies, cakes, ice creams, and pastries is sugar and regular sugar ingestion is an excellent way to sabotage attempts at fat reduction. If you understand how your body reacts to simple sugar ingestion, it becomes relatively simple to put a “sweet tooth” to rest.
When you put a simple sugar in your digestive tract, even if it’s in a fat free cookie, all of that sugar gets absorbed into the bloodstream at once. For that moment, you have high blood sugar. Assuming the pancreas is functioning well, it responds to the blood sugar spike beginning to produce more insulin. There is a sensitive balance between the pancreas production of two hormones, insulin and glucagons, thus when you are forced up to insulin production, your pancreas has no choice but to back off on its production of glucagons. Insulin is a “storage hormone” as it transports sugars through the wall of the digestive tract and into the muscles and the liver. Glucagon is a “release hormone” and allows you to mobilize stored fat. When you eat a simple sugar and glucagons production declines, you are crippling your fat burning ability.

The refined carbohydrates, such as foods made with bleached and refined flour, are not much better. Normally your body does a fair amount of calorie burning work to digest complex carbs, but if those carbs have been bleached and processed, it’s sort of like a machine did much of the work your body was going to do. The process also robs grains of vital micronutrients making them “empty calories” that, in addition to spiking blood sugar, are easily converted into triglycerides and stored as fat.

Pitfall #2: Failing to provide adequate challenge to the working muscles

In every health club there is what I’ve learned to call the “chatters.” These men and women who pick up some very light dumbbells and carry on in depth conversations while they use gravity and momentum to go through the motions of propelling the weights up and down. Positive physical change is the result of the body’s propensity for adaptation and the willingness to continue to find a new stimulus to provide progressive challenge. In other words, if your body is fully capable of handling any given workload, you’re not going to see progress.

If you perform 10 repetitions of curls, for example, every single day with 15 pounds, and you are absolutely certain you’re going to get 10 reps without breaking a sweat, that set will do little to stimulate metabolic or strength improvements. Conversely, if you start with 15-pound dumbbells and they are initially challenging, and as the workload becomes easier you gradually increase the poundage’s, you can facilitate quite impressive change.

Pitfall #3: Neglecting protein intake

Healthy foods are certainly important to consume on any fitness program, but there’s a distinctive difference between “eating healthy foods,” and “eating in a manner that’s going to help you develop a lean body.” When most people think of healthy foods they think of fruits and vegetables. Next they’ll think of grains. While vegetable based foods certainly have their place, there must also be a concern for adequate intake of protein. The question of “how many grams of protein do we need” has been asked for decades without anyone coming up with a clearly definitive answer. The reason, I believe, the answer has not emerged, is...there isn’t any answer! We are all individual and in that we have individual metabolisms, lifestyles, and body compositions. A pro football player with 180 pounds of lean body mass would probably need far higher protein intake to preserve muscle tissue than someone with half his weight.

What happens if you don’t take in enough protein? Well, your body may have greater need for amino acids than is being supplied by your diet. In the absence of sufficient dietary protein, it can turn to muscle mass, begin catabolizing or breaking down muscle tissue to free up stored amino acids. This loss of muscle, while it may reflect as pounds lost on the scale, is a detriment to metabolism and in the long run can act to program the body to become more efficient at storing fat.