Fiber & Your Heart

You hear a lot today about fiber. What is fiber? Dietary fiber is the part of the plant food source that your body cannot break down - it is not digested. There are many health benefits associated with eating a diet rich in fiber. This article will focus on the benefits associated with heart disease prevention.

Diet & Blood Cholesterol --
How you eat greatly affects your blood cholesterol. A diet low in cholesterol and saturated fat is one nutritional change you should make. Another important change to make is to eat foods high in fiber.

Types of Dietary Fiber --
There are two kinds of dietary fiber: (1) soluble fiber, and (2) insoluble fiber.

Insoluble fiber (also known as "roughage"):
Found in whole grains, vegetables, wheat bran, nuts, and beans. This type of fiber is not absorbed by the body. Insoluble fiber's health benefits include aiding digestion and promoting regularity by adding bulk. The "bulk" keeps other foods moving through the digestive tract.

Soluble fiber:
Offers the real heart disease benefit by reducing blood cholesterol levels. Food sources include oats, barley, beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds, apples and other types of fruits, and vegetables. Soluble fiber helps lower blood cholesterol by binding to cholesterol in the digestive tract. Basically, it locks up the cholesterol causing it to be eliminated from the body naturally.

How much fiber should you be getting through your diet?
Try to eat between 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day. On average, most of us eat less than half the fiber we should be eating - 10 to 15 grams per day.

How can you increase your fiber intake?
* Substitute high-fiber foods such as whole-grain bread, brown rice, fruits, and vegetables for low-fiber foods such as white bread, white rice, candy, and chips.
* Eat more vegetables and fruits WITH their skins on, when appropriate. The skins are a good source of fiber.
* For breakfast, eat cereal made from whole grains, bran, or oats. Include a tasty fruit with your morning cereal.
* Include 2 servings of vegetables at lunch and dinner, again with skins on when appropriate.
* Consider eating cooked oatmeal. Eating just 1-1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal (about 3/4 cup uncooked) per day has shown to help reduce blood cholesterol levels.
* All the above, of course, is best when also eating a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

One final note on adding fiber into your diet: Do it GRADUALLY!! Too much too soon can cause bloating and abdominal cramps. Try adding about one serving of a fiber-rich food source every 3 days. AND, be sure to drink plenty of WATER!!
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Written by: Laura S. Garrett, RD -- Registered Dietitian & ACE Certified Personal Trainer --Keep Laura's advice at your fingertips, wherever you and your cell phone go with"Text ur R.D." -- Learn more at: http://www.NutrActive.com

The Nutty Truth About Nuts

Did You Know ... The number one killer of American women is heart disease. Heart disease is not isolated to men. Women need to be just as careful with their lifestyle to reduce their risk of developing heart disease. This is especially true if you are post-menopausal.

Did You Know ... Eating nuts a few times per week may significantly lower risk for developing heart disease. Eating nuts 5 times per week or more may reduce risk by over 50% when compared to those who don't consume nuts!

What makes nuts so special?
* Usaturated fat-- While the total fat content of nuts is high (48-74% by weight), the type of fat is mostly unsaturated. Importantly, most nuts are rich in oleic acid (a monounsaturated fat).
* Fiber -- Nuts are high in dietary fiber.
*Vitamin E -- Nuts are an excellent source of vitamin E which is known to be beneficial to heart health. In fact, nuts contain more vitamin E than any other food apart from extracted vegetable oils. The best nuts for vitamin E content are almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans.
* Minerals -- Nuts are a rich source of copper and magnesium. These two minerals have positive effects on the level of blood serum lipids.

Caution --
It should be noted that nuts are still high in fat, thus, calories. If you struggle with weight problems, be sure to substitute nuts for foods you would normally eat. Do not include them in addition to your diet, else, you are very likely to gain weight.

Here's a list of nut serving sizes --
Note: For each serving of nuts, there are 45 calories and 5 grams of fat (the "good" kind!). The serving sizes are not very big!

Type of nuts....................Amount
Almonds...........................6 nuts
Cashews...........................6 nuts
Mixed nuts(50% peanuts)...6 nuts
Peanuts............................10 nuts
Pecans..............................4 halves

If you do not like to eat nuts plain, add them to foods. You can add them to salads, yogurt, vegetable dishes, or try blending them in as part of a milk shake. Enjoy something nutty today!

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Written by: Laura S. Garrett, RD -- Registered Dietitian & ACE Certified Personal Trainer --Keep Laura's advice at your fingertips, wherever you and your cell phone go with"Text ur R.D." -- Learn more at: http://www.NutrActive.com

Burn More Calories -- Faster!

Have you ever wondered how you can make your body burn calories faster? Can that really be done? Yes! With a long term commitment, you can actually speed up the rate at which your body burns calories (known as metabolism). In fact, there are many factors that affect your metabolic rate.

The 3 Basic Aspects of Metabolism (or total energy expenditure):

(1) Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) -
RMR is the amount of energy (calories) needed to run the vital functions of your body (i.e. breathing, heart beating). RMR is believed to account for about 65 to 75% of the calories your body burns in a day. Consider this -- As the percent of body fat increases, the RMR decreases, or you burn fewer calories at rest. Additionally, muscle deterioration will also decrease the RMR. Muscles deteriorate when you don't challenge them! To ultimately combat a decrease in RMR, build more muscle and shrink those fat stores.

(2) Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) -
TEF involves the work associated with digesting the food you eat. Yes, your body is actually burning calories as you eat them. Don't get too excited -- The amount of energy used here ranges from just 5 to 15%. Wondering how to burn more calories just by eating? The composition of your diet has an effect on this part of metabolism. When the ratio of carbohydrate to fat is high, metabolism is higher. The body has work harder to convert carbohydrates to fat than it does dietary fat which is already in a storable form. Thus, eating a diet low in fat is not only heart healthy, but will help you burn a few extra calories.

(3) Effect of Physical Activity -
This is the energy your body burns while performing daily activities, exercise, play, etc. On average, physical activity accounts for 20 to 40% of the calories burned by your body in one day. It is the component of metabolism that you have the most control over. It should be obvious that a person who is sedentary (inactive) versus a very active person will burn far fewer calories. Factors that affect calories burned, or metabolism, include the intensity of the activity, how long the activity is performed, and the frequency (or how often the activity is performed). This is probably a no-brainer, but the more intense the activity, the more calories are burned; the longer you do the activity, the more calories you are burning; and the more often you do the activity, the more calories are used up.

Unfortunately for us women, we tend to have less muscle mass than men. This is the way we are made, (no, guys, this is not an excuse, just the facts). Thus, women typically have a lower RMR than men. People under the age of 30 usually have a faster metabolic rate for the same reason - higher muscle mass. However, this does not have to hold true. Maintain your muscle mass by lifting weights three days a week. Studies have shown that in as little as three months of moderate weight training, RMR increases. Remember, that's your RESTING calorie burn!


The Effects of Food on Metabolism:

* Anything that speeds up the heart rate, such as stimulants, will temporarily increase your RMR. Examples of food stimulants include caffeine and spicy chili peppers (the key being spicy).

* Complex carbohydrates (i.e. bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, beans, lentils, fruits and vegetables) contain about half the calories by weight of fat. Plus, it is more work for the body to convert carbohydrates to body fat.

* Alcohol is a concentrated calorie source and contains few nutrients. It actually reduces the body's ability to burn fat.

* The soluble fiber in oat products not only lowers cholesterol but enhances weight loss.

BONUS: Walking within 10 minutes of eating can actually boost your TEF helping your body burn 10% more calories than normal. Eating every 3 to 4 hours (6 to 7 small meals per day) will increase your TEF, thus your metabolism.


Power List of Ways to Increase Metabolism:

* Never ever skip meals, especially breakfast.
* After lunch and dinner, take a brief walk (10 to 15 minutes).
* Do NOT eat LESS than 1200 calories per day.
* Eat 50 to 60% of your calories from carbohydrates.
* Train with weights at least 3 days a week.
* Perform some form of aerobic exercise most days of the week.
* Drink plenty of water.
* Get Plenty of Sleep.
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Written by: Laura S. Garrett, RD -- Registered Dietitian & ACE Certified Personal Trainer --Keep Laura's advice at your fingertips, wherever you and your cell phone go with"Text ur R.D." -- Learn more at: http://www.NutrActive.com