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Top 3 Reasons America is FAT

Posted on February 1, 2022August 10, 2022 by Frank Miller

I am sure that by now it is no new news that America has an obesity problem. A staggering 35.7% of American adults are obese and 17% of children and adolescents ages 2-19 are obese. This is almost DOUBLE that of what is was in 1990 where states only had obesity rates no higher than 14%. Check it out HERE. In light of this trend over the past 20 years it is a potential that the obesity problem can become an epidemic in this country. I have narrowed down a list of the Top 3 reasons for the obesity problem in America…

#3 Massive Advertising and Marketing

Corporate companies spend millions of dollars every year in an attempt to sell you their “superior health product”. They put fancy, colorful labeling and big bold catch words that immediately catch your eye. ORGANIC AND LOW-FAT. 8 WHOLE GRAINS PER SERVING! I mean, it sounds pretty good right? The problem is, you as the consumer may not know any better, and corporate companies capitalize on this (check out my article on LOW FAT). Furthermore, the healthy foods that these companies usually are marketing are highly processed foods such as cereals, candies, snack foods, microwave dinners, frozen pizzas, deli meats… the list goes on. The advertising of less expensive, “healthy” foods is usually the sales point for most people. Save money and be healhty, perfect! However, you will be shelling out a lot more money on medical bills in the future if you had just spent a few more bucks on lean meat and veggies in the past.

#2 Fast Food

This has become one of the most prominent and visible food attractions in America. If you think corporate companies are spending millions on cereal boxes, then they are spending even more to get you to go through their drive-thru for dinner and call it a night! Fast food is visible, easy, cheap, and convenient. I mean, they have everything you can want if you are on the go. Hell of a marketing tactic. But the truth remains; by eating fast food, you are just doing an extraordinary disservice to your body and health. Fast food contains little to no nutritional value, a ton of added salt (sodium) and preservatives, trans fat, sugars and refined flours. These foods are heavy in poor calories, and by that I mean the protein, fat, and carbohydrates are of poor quality. The food is also so inexpensive because it is very cheap to massively produce. You think that’s chicken in your nuggets?! Guess again. All of the said things are detrimental to your health over time and not limited to heart problems, diabetes, high cholesterol, and to top the cake…obesity, which actually leads to the previous problems. Too many people just opt for the easy way out with food and are just… what seems to be lazy. Whether it is due to mass advertising or fast food being extremely visible, it comes down to my #1 reason. . .

#1 Misinformation

We have become a society and leaders of disinformation. Sure, there is always great information on TV and in magazines and even websites like this one! The problem is, the average person knows so little about correct eating habits, it is very difficult to apply the most basic parts of nutrition to day to day life. It is due the above reasons of your favorite and “trusted” enterprises giving you what you think is the correct path for health and nutrition, and you FOLLOW IT; because you simply don’t know any other way. The average person in this country would think that if they have to start dieting, it means they have to follow some sort on name brand diet (Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers) when in reality the term diet just mean the foods you are consuming. Go ask someone to tell you to name 5 individual foods that are high in fat; you’ll probably be surprised to hear the answers. I mean, that is if YOU know the answers yourself! It seems that our nutritional knowledge has become so skewed and misguided that it has lead the country to having an obesity problem. In the end, the real culprit is the individual. We all have minds of our own and need to learn to be conscious of our habits and decisions when it comes to dieting and health. The real question to ask now is, what if we had or were given the truth and real knowledge about nutrition and the food we eat? Would we follow this golden advice or just continue with our ways? I would hope we follow it, but still most people would just opt for the easy fix of fast food, frozen pizza, or 32oz sodas. And when its all said and done, it is just sheer laziness to not try and make a change.

Pre and Post Workout Nutrition

Posted on January 22, 2022August 10, 2022 by Frank Miller

Time your meals After being in the industry for quite some time, I have noticed that a lot of people miss out on a very critical part of nutrition in correlation to their workouts.

‘Nutrient Timing’.

This would refer to timing your meals with your workouts so that you get the most energy that you can going into your workout.

Have you ever had a big meal 30 min before your workout and just felt extremely exhausted? Or did you have an amazing workout and didn’t eat anything afterwards and just like you were going to collapse after about and hour or two?

You are most likely guilty of not timing your nutrients correctly. Proper Pre and Post workout meals are extremely important to ensure maximal energy going into the workout, and enhanced nutrients for fat loss coming out of the workout.

Try timing your workout so that it is in between meals with a high protein and higher than normal carbohydrate content. There is a key 90 minute period in which you want to work out after eating a meal. For some, this may be different depending on your own ability to digest food quickly. Remember, the point of your pre-workout meal or snack is to provide your body with the materials it needs to fuel your workout. Don’t be fooled by weight-loss theories that focus on how many calories you’ll burn exercising. Any time you are increasing strength and building up your body, you need to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to carry it through the workout– otherwise, your body will consume reserve resources in the body, which are much harder to replace.

Post workout, you should be having a protein shake to ensure no loss of hard earned muscle tissue. The point of eating after your workout is to provide your muscles with the materials that they need to build themselves back up. When you do any kind of weight training, your muscles actually break themselves down in the form of small tears in the muscle fibers and then rebuild themselves even stronger in the hours and days that follow your workout. In order to successfully rebuild themselves, your muscles must replenish their resources. Providing your body with the raw materials it needs to rebuild and refuel itself is the entire point of your post-nutrition meals.

Learn to Love working out

Posted on January 15, 2022August 10, 2022 by Frank Miller

accolades fitness When you make fitness enjoyable, you are more likely to continue doing it far a long time.

Study after study has shown that regular physical activity — even at moderate levels — enhances physical and mental conditioning, while reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes. . . The list of benefits goes on.

But unfortunately, many Americans still choose a life on the couch. The good news is you can jump start your health with a few quick “shifts”.

Find something you enjoy. Keep experimenting until you find an activity that you take a liking to, both mentally and physically. If you don’t like what you’re doing, you won’t be motivated to keep it up. If you’re not sure what you like, explore: there are numerous styles of fitness training you can try, go for a jog on the beach, try a spinning class, or even take up martial arts.
Set goals. Write down your goals. Believe me; everything becomes that much more real when it is on paper. But be realistic. If you’ve started out jogging for 15 min, don’t aim to run a marathon by next week. Set goals that are specific, quantifiable, and time restrictive to encourage progressive changes towards your main goals.
Challanage Yourself. Look, if you dont challange your abilites, you’ll end up in the same place you are right now. If your idea of a workout is to walk on the treadmill…thats fine. However, if you do the same speed, and same pace everytime, your body never has the ability to get stronger. Same thing with lifting weights. If everytime you go into the gym and lift the same 10lb dumbbells for months, you will never enhance your strnegth…You’ll just be really good at lifting 10lb, and nothing more. Try increasing what you do in small increments over time. Every workout, walk 1 mile faster, and do it for 5 min longer. Lift 15lbs and do about 5 more reps than you did with 10s. You’ll see how much faster your body changes vs. doing the same EXACT thing over and over.
Schedule your workouts. Make exercise as high priority as a doctor’s appointment or a business lunch. After all, your health is most important in reality. Don’t let other “important” things diminish the importance of your physical fitness and health. Take the time to sit down with you calendar and plan all your workouts accordingly. Keep the schedule as with anything else.
Reward yourself. “All this suffering has to be for something right?!”, a client once said to me. Reward yourself as you complete smaller goals to motivate you to stay on track toward larger goals. When you can complete a successful 5 mile run or do 100 push-ups, for example, reward yourself with a new shirt or go buy something you like. It is the essence of positive reinforcement. Reach a goal, get a reward.
Forget about the all-or-nothing approach. Don’t have an hour to exercise? Try 30 minutes. It’s better than nothing, and your body will still reap the rewards of a shorter workout. It is here where a lot of excuses come up. “oh man, I missed Monday’s workout, and Wednesday it looks like I can only do 30 min. I guess ill just skip Wednesday and probably Friday as well since I missed the other day… I’ll just start fresh next Monday.” KNOCK IT OFF! Before you know it, it is 6 months down the road, you haven’t started, and you are 12 pounds heavier. Less is more!

And finally, If you “fall off the wagon” of good workout habits, don’t beat yourself up about it. Simply get back to your routine without further procrastination. Remember: it’s about progress over time, not perfection.