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Michelle Obama Takes On Childhood Obesity

Thursday, February 11th, 2010


Michelle Obama gets healthy with Elmo.

Our first lady has been striking harmonious tunes in my choir!

First, she announced that she was turning the White House garden into an organic vegetable garden and sent the message to Americans to eat locally and organically grown fruits and vegetables. Besides Sesame Street appearances, she challenged her executive chef, Cristeta Comerford (who, teamed up with Bobby Flay, won the challenge, by the way), and Food Network Iron Chefs to create delicious and creative dishes from the produce that was grown in their garden.

Now, she is empowering families to take on childhood obesity. I have said many times before, on and off  my soapbox, being healthy can be easy:

  • Take the more physically active option throughout the day–walking to work, taking the stairs, standing while talking on the phone, go to the park with the family instead of watching television.
  • Eat your fruits, instead of drinking them.
  • Drink more water.
  • And very simply put, move more.

In Mrs. Obama’s words, when speaking at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, she wants “to put in place common-sense initiatives and solutions that empower families and communities to make healthy decisions for their kids.”

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Stay Moving and Live Longer!

Monday, January 18th, 2010

couch potato

It’s not news that daily cardiovascular exercise is good for our health. Those of you who get in, at the minimum, 30 minutes per day/5 times per week, are on track to living a long and healthy existence.

However, some morbid news came from Australian researchers after following 8,800 individuals’ lifestyle habits. When comparing people who watch two hours or less television, daily, and those who watch more, “those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk for CVD-related death. This association held regardless of other independent and common cardiovascular disease risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, unhealthy diet, excessive waist circumference, and leisure-time exercises.” In fact, these results apply not only to couch potatoes but translate to people who spend their days mostly sedentary–sitting without moving for hours at a time. What’s a busy, bread-winning, adult to do?

I have four letters for you: M, O, V,  E. Four tips for incorporating more movement into your busy, yet physically stagnant work day and TV watching marathon:

  1. Fidget! As long as it isn’t noisy fidgeting, you are moving without disrupting work. By staying constantly moving, not only will you be extending your life, according to Australian researchers, but you will prevent some chronic pains.
  2. Drink lots of water, so you will make more bathroom runs. While you are getting up to use the restroom, you may as well use the one on a different floor or across the building to get in a little extra exercise.
  3. Change positions at least every 30 minutes. For example, stand for a minute or two, stretch, or pace.
  4. Sit on a stability ball instead of a chair, or put a balance cushion on your seat pan, so that you are forced to move and change positions throughout your day.

Freebie: 5. Join V4Fitness.com, a site presented by yours truly, Balanced Strength Inc., where we help you create long-lasting healthy living habits, and the exercise of the day is something you can do from where you are sitting!

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Balanced Strength’s New Year’s Fitness Tips Featured in Crave-Los Angeles

Friday, January 15th, 2010

The Crave Company is a resource present in cities around the world. They feature locals who “innovatively connect urban gals to the sassiest, gutsiest, most inspiring people they need to know in town. Soirees, gatherings and online networking—your guide to everything you CRAVE in your city.”

Crave-Los Angeles
See what I had to say about starting a successful journey to optimal health & fitness. You can also see other featured fitness professionals had to say, as well!

http://thecravecompany.com/la/2010/01/13/best-of-fitness-tips-for-the-new-year/

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Workout Anywhere!

Friday, June 12th, 2009

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Some of you may have already experienced my training on the TRX system, or you may have heard me rave about this piece of equipment. In 2005, I attended the trade show at the IDEA conference. This was one of the very few products I was excited about. You can get an amazing, full-body, heart-pounding (sorry if that sounds cliche), functional strength training workout with this one piece of equipment. The great thing is that you can use it ANYWHERE!!! That’s why you can find their information at www.fitnessanywhere.com. Check out the video above, where a man works out on BART (San Francisco Bay Area’s mass transit system).

TRX for the Military

TRX for the Military

These simple straps can travel with you to the office, business trips, vacation–locations are endless. I have used it in my hotel room, using the over-the-door attachment. A regular strength routine is very important for any person who is looking to lose weight, “tone” or “sculpt” their muscles, wants to look and feel sexier, perform better in their sport of choice, prevent or reduce chronic pain, prevent osteoporosis. Using the TRX makes a regular routine simple, in that it may go where you go, without having to lug cumbersome and heavy pieces of equipment around. Click the below link if you are interested in learning more about their products, which include instructional DVDs, and/or want to make a purchase.

TRX Suspension Trainer: Train Like the Pros.

Contact me if you are interested in a TRX workout. You can also find exercises on their website.

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Recipe – Mint Lemonade

Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Image found on www.simplystated.realsimple.com

Image found on www.simplystated.realsimple.com

The first day of Spring was Friday, so I thought I’d post one of my favorite beverage recipes: mint lemonade. Although most of us are awaiting Spring weather, this will be a refreshment to anticipate as the climate warms up again.

5 medium lemons, juiced

3 small limes, juiced

1 bunch of organic mint leaves with stems

organic raw agave or honey

carbonated water

Boil approximately 12 ounces of water. Steep the mint leaves in the hot water for 3-5 minutes, making a mint tea.

As the mint steeps, juice the lemons and limes into a pitcher.

Add cold water to the brewed to mint liquid to bring the tea temperature down. Pour into the pitcher to combine the mint tea and lemon-lime juice. Add agave to taste, approximately 1/2-2/3 cup, and stir. Pour your mixture into a glass of ice, approximately 1/3 to the top. Add cold spritzer water to the glass, garnish with mint leaves, if desired, and enjoy! (You can add more agave for extra sweetness.)

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Posted in Uncategorized, nutrition, recipe | 4 Comments »

To Diet or Not Diet…

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

From www.tasteofpace.blogspot.comRecently, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a study examining which diet is best for one’s weight loss goals. 811 participants were put on four different diets. These diets for each individual consisted of the same amount of calories, with varying ratios of carbohydrate, protein, and fat content. All participants consumed a minimum of 1200 calories daily and exercised, conservatively, 90 minutes per week. At the end of the six-month study, all participants, regardless of diet, lost an average of 13 pounds. After two years, all kept off an average of nine pounds. The take-home message from this study is that no fad diet is better than good-old lifestyle change–incorporating portion control and regular physical activity and leisure time exercise.

One week after the above study was published, the Journal of Nutrition published a study done by Donald Layman of the University of Illinois. This study followed 130 people, separated into two groups–one consumed a moderate protein diet (40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, 30% fat) and the other consumed a diet based on the USDA’s food guide pyramid (65% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 20% fat). Total caloric consumption were identical amongst both groups. The result–both groups lost the same amount of weight. However, the higher protein dieters lost a greater percentage of fat, thus improving their overall body composition.

Are you confused as to what to do? Simply, if your goals is to lose scale weight, you must reduce your caloric intake and adopt a regular exercise routine. If your goals are to look more “sculpted” and improve/maintain athletic performance, a moderate protein (good quality protein from lean meat, egg whites, whey, etc.) diet is advised, which ensures that most of the weight that is lost is fat weight and not weight from your muscle.

In addition to the above studies’ findings, I recommend including regular strength training in your exercise routine, which will further ensure your prevent osteoporosis, maintain muscle mass, and improve ratio of fat:lean mass weight loss.

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Posted in Uncategorized, fitness, nutrition | 3 Comments »

What’s Wrong With My Workout?

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

Last week, my husband sent me a link to an article that Shape magazine published, titled “3 Reasons Your Workout Isn’t Working.” At the heart of this article is that you need to be crosstraining, which is something that my clients are familiar with hearing from me. Simply, crosstraining means changing up your workout routine. It is good to “shake things up” with various activities, including changing up your strength training exercises.

Here are my five flubs that keep the flab on:

  1. Overeating. Your workout does not give you a green light to eat whatever you want, unless your goal is to gain weight (even then you need to make conscientious food choices). An easy estimate of how many calories you ought to be consuming daily, to support your life function, is multiply your body weight in pounds by 10. Add approximately 400 calories per hour of moderate intensity exercise.
  2. Undereating. You already realize that you should be at negative calorie intake, consuming less than you burn, so you eat just 1200 calories per day. Unless you are a 120 pound, sedentary woman, that is not enough for you. If your do not consume enough calories throughout your day to sustain your body’s organ function, your body will go into famine mode, conserving your fat stores and burning your lean tissue-muscle.
  3. Overtraining. Yes, you can workout too hard. Intersperse your highly intense workouts (the ones that leave your body exhausted until the next day) with medium and low intensity workouts. You should not do more than two high intensity workouts per week. Appropriate recovery is just as important as your workouts in attaining your athletic performance and weight loss goals.
  4. Not crosstraining. Just as your mind gets bored when performing the same activities over and over again, so does your body. When your body gets bored with your workouts, it stops responding. To continue on a path of fitness improvement, mix up your workout routine by varying the mode of exercise (running, biking, stairclimbing, swimming, etc.), the types of strength exercises (strength training machines, cables, dumbbells, body weight, etc.), and pace (slow, medium, fast-only when you have mastered the exercise at slower speeds).
  5. Underhydrating. There is scientific research reporting that drinking more water promotes weight loss by altering your metabolism, helping it work more efficiently.
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Got Back Pain???

Monday, February 9th, 2009

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 70-85% of adults suffer from lower back pain during some time in their lives. It is also the most frequent cause of activity limitation in people over the age of 45.

For many Americans, lower back pain is a result of being in a seated posture for most our days, without changing our body positions. The following are a few tips to prevent lower back pain:

  • Change positions at least, every 30 minutes, during your workday. Cross one ankle over one knee and lean forward to stretch your glut. Stand up. Walk to the water cooler or copy machine. Take a phone call standing up.
  • Stay well hydrated. Sufficient fluid in your body keeps your joints “lubricated and padded”. (This also will induce more frequent restroom breaks, which will force you to be more active during your day, and utilize your muscles.)
  • Exercise regularly. This will increase circulation to those muscles that were “turned off” while your were seated throughout the day. This will also help you manage your weight.
  • Maintain a healthy weight. Too much weight on your body can stress your body’s frame to the point of strain, causing back pain.
  • Keep a well-balanced strength workout between the muscles of your back and abdominals.

You can also find exercises that you can do at your desk and at home that will keep your core strong and help you prevent lower back pain at the new online health club, V4 Fitness, launched by my company, Balanced Strength. You can still register for a free account through this Friday, February 13. Log on at http://v4fitness.com to set up your account. You can find the exercises by going to the Exercise Library and entering “core” in the search field.

See you there!

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Our President, The New Face of Fitness

Monday, January 26th, 2009
//punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com

Image found at http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com

The majority of us Americans have not-so-fond memories of the Presidential Fitness test. In our youth, some may have asked, “Who wrote these tests?” Even Junior Seau jokes about how he dreads doing pull-ups, on Insider Training with Gabby Reece, because they remind him of those days of old. Now, we have a President who sets a fantastic example of healthy and fit living.

However, I have read that our President has been accused of being workout obsessed because he spent two hours working out, one day during his campaign. Exercise has been proven to alleviate one’s stress. President Obama is going into the White House with a healthy, low blood pressure level, healthy BMI, and body composition, with one of the most stressful jobs in the world today. I tip my imaginary hat to the man for keeping up his daily fitness routine, so that he can remain our healthy Commander-in-Chief for the term of his presidency. In fact, 2/3 of the American population (yes, that’s how many Americans do not get the recommended amount of physical activity) have lost the excuse that “I am too busy/too stressed to exercise.” If the President can do it, yes, you can you, too! “Yes we can.” (Sorry, that is not getting old for me anytime soon.)

I was going to finish this post here, but I am sure that single parents are saying that they don’t have help at home with their kids, thus restricting exercise options. My solution: visit your local YMCA or Boys & Girls Club (if necessary, they also offer financial assitance for families who qualify), parents can workout while the kids get to participate in various programs. Some locations even offer childcare for the kids who are not yet old enough to participate in the art and fitness classes that they provide. For those of us in California, where there isn’t snow or sleet, take your kids out on a walk with you. Getting/staying fit is easy, if you let it be.

In addition to the above suggestion, the next one applies to each and everyone of us: Make a daily appointment with yourself to exercise, and keep it. Your date can be with the well-lit stairwell at your office for 15 minutes per day.

If you would like more guidance, feel free to contact me offline, comment, our visit my website~www.balancedstrength.com. Also, register for a V4 Fitness account for free through January 31, 2009. It is an online health club, complete with daily exercises, fitness tips, and interaction with our total fitness coaching staff of nutritionists, personal trainers, and life coaches.

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Create New, Healthy Habits While at Your Desk!

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
V4 Fitness Preview Photo, www.balancedstrength.com/v4fitness/

V4 Fitness Preview Photo, www.balancedstrength.com/v4fitness/

Most of us have set health & fitness-themed New Year’s resolutions, as we have in years past. Many of us have had difficulty meeting those goals…

I’m plugging a little shameless self-promotion in this blog post, since a project that I have been working on for nearly 6 months will finally go live this week–just in time to give you tools to achieve success in conquering those pesky resolutions!

Balanced Strength, Inc. presents V4 Fitness…a members-only, one-stop, total fitness community that provides you with resources and expert advice on exercise, clinical and integrative nutrition, Habit Reprogramming™, weight loss, injury prevention, and stress management.

We strive to help the busy working professional learn how to get and stay healthy and fit when time is your endangered resource. Your membership entitles you to:

  • Communicate with experts in fitness & wellness at your convenience.
  • Interact with others in the private blog, “Coaches Corner”.
  • Access the comprehensive Exercise Library.
  • Receive daily exercises that you can do in your office and at your desk.
  • Receive healthy lifestyle tips.
  • Be accountable for a daily healthy habits checklist.
  • Track your wellness progress.
  • Register for online fitness competitions that help you get fit fast.

Sign up on our preview list at http://balancedstrength.com/v4fitness/ before January 1, 2009, and you will receive a free one-month membership upon our launch!

For more information about V4 Fitness and your membership benefits, visit http://balancedstrength.com/v4fitness/.

For the month of January, I am also offering my workshop, “Ready, Set, Fit” free to your corporations! After attending this workshop, you will have the tools to overcoming the obstacles that keep you from meeting your health & fitness goals and set milestones toward achieving your successes. Contact christine.kwok@balancedstrength.com for more information and to book your event.

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