Is Intermittent Fasting a Good Idea?

Is Intermittent Fasting a Good Idea?

Back to Health of Anthem
2024-02-13
Low-carb, Keto, Paleo, Low-fat, Vegetarian, Vegan, No bananas, Just bananas…
There is an ever-growing list of newest diets you ‘should’ follow and the latest trend to hit the scene is Intermittent Fasting (IF). It’s biggest claim to fame is the idea that IF can help you lose weight faster than run-of-the-mill calorie restriction diets and also touts it can reduce inflammation and other risks of heart disease.
WHAT IS INTERMITTENT FASTING?

Very simply, Intermittent Fasting restricts your calories based on the time you eat, rather than by what you eat. Instead of the traditional calorie reduction diets (such as lowering your calories by 25% every day), Intermittent Fasting says you can eat pretty much whatever you want but only at certain times. Some variations include limiting the amount of hours you eat every day (say 1-9pm) or fasting 24 hours twice a week. While others will strictly reduce their calories on fasting days (only eating between 300-500 calories) but have “feasting” days, allowing for any and all foods on days you choose to eat.


PROS

There are a few reasons why people are drawn to Intermittent Fasting. At first glance, it can appear easier to put into practice than a standard diet. No calorie counting most days, not having to figure out what foods you can and cannot eat. The only thing you have to think about is when you eat. Much simpler to keep track of than calories or macros.
There is also some research that says during a time of fasting, our stored fat cells become more “accessible” which basically means they will burn more easily.
All good things for those looking to shed some weight.


CONS

It would be pretty easy to look at some of the reasons why people choose to head down the path of Intermittent Fasting and think that it could be the end-all-be-all breakthrough diet that could finally push you over the edge when it comes to weight loss and overall health. But, I’ve got several reasons I believe it’s not actually something you should run towards.

First, the research around Intermittent Fasting is VERY limited. Because it’s the newest push in weight loss, it hasn’t been thoroughly looked at for the long-term. While you definitely can see correlation between fasting and weight loss and even more dramatic things like shrinking cancer cells, the medical field still hasn’t had the time to look at the long-term effects. Just because it means you can have substantial weight loss within a few weeks doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for your body in 10 years.

Second, while on the surface level it seems easier to put in to practice, it can actually be very difficult to maintain (and the best nutrition practice for your body is certainly not one that you can’t do for longer than a few weeks.) Here’s why: even if it seems like you won’t have to pay attention to what you’re eating, which is obviously easier than counting calories, your body will still be hungry in those times of fasting. And before you know it, you can become consumed with the idea of your next meal.

“Only two hours until I get to eat. Only 1 hour and 52 minutes until I get to eat.”

So once it’s time to break your fast, which are you more likely to choose? A sensible lean protein and veggies or the closest fast-food joint and stuff your face?

Intermittent fasting can lead to over-eating when you’re on your “feasting hours.”

When you’re deprived of food for any reason, the hormones that control your appetite and the part of your brain that controls hunger kick into high gear, which can lead to poor food choices when left unchecked. And truthfully, it can also lead to really unhealthy thought patterns around food, especially in those who don’t have a healthy relationship with food in the first place.

Third, I don’t believe it gets the job done any better, faster, or can achieve longer-lasting results than the classic combo of clean eating and exercise. "One hypothesis is that fasting can activate cellular mechanisms that help boost immune function and reduce inflammation associated with chronic disease," says Dr. Frank Hu, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “While it's true that getting rid of excess body fat will improve a person's metabolic profile and lower cardiovascular risk,” he says, “there's no strong evidence that fasting adds health benefits beyond any other weight-loss strategy.”

Finally, the biggest reason I don’t recommend Intermittent Fasting is because it takes away our power and ability to listen to our body. Our bodies tell us what they need if we’re really tuned in. And we can eat intuitively in order to fuel our body healthily--all while still being able to lose weight. But if we’re shutting out that voice, and saying no to any cues it might give us, we’re unable to take an active part in the process.

While Intermittent Fasting might look like a great way to quickly shed body weight, I do not recommend it as a healthy practice to get the results you want.

Harvard Medical School: Harvard Health Publishing




How Can I Manage Healthy Eating Intuitively?

How Can I Manage Healthy Eating Intuitively?

Back to Health of Anthem
2024-02-13
A quick google search for “diets” will give you endless results. Everyone wants to tell you what foods you should eat, how much to eat, and what foods you should avoid all together. But when you think about it, who knows best what your body needs? YOU! No other human is present in your body for a single moment. All the nutritional education in the world can’t actually compete with the knowledge you naturally have about the needs and wants of your body.

Enter intuitive eating.Intuitive eating doesn’t involve counting calories, macros, “good” or “bad” foods, or even telling you when to eat like intermittent fasting does. It removes all of that and focuses more on your relationship with food, how it makes you feel, and really honing in on being able to identify and honor your body’s true hunger needs.


It might seem daunting. What if I wake up one morning and really feel like my body could use some chocolate cake? Well, it’s possible it does. But more likely, if you’re really in tune with your body and its signals for hunger, you’ll be able to dig deeper and see if what you’re actually feeling isn’t true hunger for chocolate cake but perhaps boredom, sadness, loneliness, or fear. OR simply wanting a piece of chocolate cake because it sounds delicious (no good or bad foods, remember?)

This type of relationship with your body won’t happen overnight. Psychologist and author of, When Your Teen Has an Eating Disorder: Practical Strategies to Help Your Teen Recover from Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating, Lauren Muhlheim says, “As with any relationship, it takes time to build your body's trust that it can really have what it wants and needs." You’ve got to trust the process.



So how does it work?


In their primer on rejecting traditional diet mentality and following our bodies (apply named Intuitive Eating) registered dietitian nurses Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch outline the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating to help give you a place to start.


1. Reject the Diet Mentality

Realize that any diet, whether scientifically sound for weight loss and health or not, is nowhere near as personalized for you as your own knowledge of your body. You have to completely reject the idea that there’s going to be some magic set of rules that will bring you life-long results.

2. Honor Your Hunger

Find the signals your body naturally produces when it is beginning to be hungry and eat then. Don’t wait until you’re starving, because you will mostly likely overeat. Pay attention to what kind of hunger you’re feeling--emotional or physical. One can be quenched by food, the other will probably only make you feel worse when you eat because of it.

3. Make Peace with Food

No list of forbidden foods. No “good” or “bad” that you can give in to. No depriving yourself of certain foods. This leads to overeating every single time. Tribole and Resch say, “Give yourself unconditional permission to eat.”

4. Challenge the Food Police

This one is similar to #3 but really emphasizes the emotions that come with food. Kick “food guilt” to the curb. It’s not serving you. Acknowledge how eating something made you feel in the long run and decide if you want to feel like that again.

5. Discover the Satisfaction Factor
I can’t say it better than the authors. “In our compulsion to comply with diet culture, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence—the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want...the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes just the right amount of food for you to decide you’ve had ‘enough.’ “Take your time and enjoy what you eat.

6. Feel Your Fullness

Similarly to honoring your hunger, you’ve got to honor your fullness as well. Trusting that you’ve given your body the fuel it needs with the flavors you desire, leads you to trust your body to show you when you’re comfortably full. When you don’t deprive yourself of the foods you really want, you don’t feel the need to eat until you’re stuffed because you know you can eat it again whenever you want.

7. Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness

Going back to why you’re hungry in the first place--is it based out of a physical need? Then eat up. Is it based on an emotional need? Then survey what you’re feeling and why and realize that no food will change or heal those emotions in the long run

8. Respect Your Body

We were all created differently. Two people could eat the same foods and do the same workouts for their entire life and they a) won’t feel the same after doing either activity and b) still won’t have the same physical make up. 20% body fat may be the healthiest one person can realistically ever get down to while another might be feeling extremely sluggish in their body if it ever gets over 15%. We’re all different and need to treat ourselves as such. Every body deserves dignity.

9. Movement—Feel the Difference

This one is my favorite. Exercising for the sake of how it makes you FEEL rather than how it makes you look. For the sake of what it does to your mindset instead of how many calories it burns. We should use food to fuel our body for all the movement we want to do, rather than using exercise to punish our body for the food we ate.
10. Honor Your Health—Gentle Nutrition

Essentially, give yourself grace. One meal, day, or week of less than optimal eating isn’t going to ruin your life. But small habits every day will build the routine and mindset you need to hit your goals and have a life full of healthy choices.
References: What to do when intuitive eating just isn’t working10 Principles of intuitive eating


How to stay motivated to hydrate as the weather heats up

How to stay motivated to hydrate as the weather heats up

Back to Health of Anthem
2024-02-13
It’s important to keep your body hydrated no matter what the weather looks like, but as it gets warmer outside (and here in AZ it gets HOT) it’s vital to stay on top of hydration because your body is going to use that water even faster than normal as you sweat it out. One of the easiest ways to gauge your hydration level is the color of your urine. Before you flush, you should see clear to pale yellow. Anything darker than cheap lemonade is a sign you need to grab a bottle (of water!) and drink up.
It’s a widely accepted recommendation that you should drink half your body weight, in ounces, in water every day. This doesn’t mean you have to reach back into your brain to do some 5th grade math to find the right conversion table. All it means is that you take your body weight, divide by 2, and instead of pounds, swap it for ounces of water. For example, someone who weighs 120 pounds would need to drink 60 ounces of water every day (120/2 = 60. BOOM.)
So how can you make it easier on yourself to get your H2O in and not turn it into drudgery? Here are a few pretty simple ideas:

1. Figure out if you’re a guzzler or a sipper.

There are some people that genuinely dislike drinking water, so the idea of drinking it throughout the day really seems like a terrible idea. To these people, I say, “CHUG CHUG CHUG!” When your reminder hits (more on that in a minute) don’t be dainty. Drink that water like a college frat boy and get’r’done. There’s not a huge difference in benefits to drinking your ounces of water slowly throughout the day or bigger amounts at a few different times. So if you’d rather get it done and over with, go for it.

2. Make it hard to forget.

Just like you would set your kid’s favorite blankie in front of the door to the garage so you don’t forget it on a long trip, make your water habit one you can’t forget about. You can set a reminder on your phone to go off every hour or make post-its throughout your house or work space that remind you to drink up. There are even apps that you can use to keep track of your water in-take and that will remind you if you’re behind. That’s where the guzzler vs sipper comes into play. Guzzlers would see or hear the reminder and quickly drink their next 20 ounces of water. Sippers would take that reminder and know that before their next one goes off in a few hours, they need to have completed their bottle.

3. Find the perfect fit.

Head to Target and you will find literal aisles of different kinds of water bottles. Finding one that fits in your cupholders, has the perfect straw (or no straw!) or is even your favorite color will actually make it much easier to keep yourself hydrated. Kind of like your favorite coffee mug in the morning, it IS possible to have your water bottle put a smile on your face.

4. Variety is the spice of (the hydrated) life.

Let’s face it. Water can get boring. Especially if you really are drinking the appropriate amount every day. To avoid water monotony, don’t be afraid to change it up. See if you like ice water over room temperature. Does an occasional sparkling water make you feel indulgent? Can you add some flavor to it? With both sparkling water and flavors, definitely avoid those with artificial flavors and sweeteners. 

We have a great supplement line that has a great clean electrolyte supplement that makes staying hydrated easy! There are a variety of flavors to choose from to help you stay hydrated.

Staying hydrated doesn’t have to be hard. You’ve just got to add in a few simple tweaks and you’re set to go.


Functional Fitness, What Does That Even Mean?

Functional Fitness, What Does That Even Mean?

Back to Health of Anthem
2024-02-13
Winston Churchill once famously stated that “Americans always do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.” For those of us who work in preventative care, it has been painfully obvious for quite some time now that we’ve tried “everything else” in regards to our health and wellness. That approach has most notably gotten us to two distinct places, more sick and near the brink of bankruptcy.

This statement is founded in the fact that as a country, we spend nearly $2.3 trillion, (yes trillion, with a ‘T’) on health care annually, which is leaps and bounds ahead of any other country, yet according to the World Health Organization, U.S. health care ranks 37th among other nations. We spend twice the amount on health care per capita as European countries, yet we are twice as sick with chronic diseases. 

Why are these numbers so imbalanced? The problem can largely be attributed to the fact that nearly 100% of every dollar allotted towards health care is spent on treating the current issue as opposed to trying to prevent the issue from happening in the first place. Literally about 75% of current health care costs can be accounted for by the big five; breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, prostate cancer and obesity. And what’s maddening about these statistics is the fact that all five of these are largely preventable and in a lot of cases, reversible given some pointed and intentional lifestyle changes in terms of diet and exercise.

Now I do not claim to know how to fix the problem however, being a fitness professional throughout the last decade, I have seen some pretty great results along the way simply by instilling in people the importance of making healthy deposits. Because let's be honest, everything is important. That is, until you are sick, that’s when you realize there was only ever one thing that was important; your health. But nonetheless so many of us borrow from the bank of our health, taking loans on stress and sleepless nights to pay for something that at the end of the day doesn’t matter. And for quite a few individuals, it takes a decline in health to realize what actually matters the most. 

So what does “making healthy deposits” mean? Aside from taking a good hard look at what you are consuming (including but not limited to food), today we are going to chat a little bit more about functional fitness. No, it’s not the newest ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ trend, it’s a way to train that teaches you how to move properly outside of the gym using exercises inside the gym. It’s learning how to properly move that couch that you don’t want to move. It’s learning how to put luggage in the overhead compartment without throwing out your back or dislocating your shoulder. It’s the act of engaging in everyday movements, properly

The foundational movements we’re going to get into are universal however, depending on where you train or who you train with, there will probably be variations in lingo that’s used as well as different levels of importance placed on each movement. Technically, there are seven foundational movements: squat, lunge, push, pull, hinge, twist and walk. For the sake of simplicity, I am going to put them in three main categories and expand from there.
  • Squats (which includes lunging)
  • Floor Lifts (often referred to as a “pull”, helps us engage in hinging)
  • Overhead Lifts (often referred to as a “push”)
Squats! In my professional opinion squats are one of, if not the most important functional move there ever was. A squat, even though typically seen incorporated on leg days, does a fantastic job of utilizing nearly every muscle in your body and becomes increasingly important as we age. Through the aging process, we gradually lose our ability to stand unassisted, it becomes harder and harder to pick things up off the floor and our own body weight can be difficult to carry around freely. To maintain our quality of life as we age, we need to focus on strengthening our hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, core and low back as well as ensure close to a full range of motion and squats helps us do this.

Pressing movements such as an overhead lift allow you to bring objects up overhead in a safe and efficient way. Similarly to a squat, overhead movements also do a great job of recruiting more muscles than just your arms and shoulders. In order to protect your low back while sustaining said load overhead, your core, glutes, quads and hamstrings need to be engaged as well. Shoulder injuries are nearly as prominent as low back injuries so the importance of not only strengthening the muscles involved with pressing movements but doing them properly is integral to your overall health and wellness and quality of life. 
Lastly we have floor lifts, commonly referred to as pulls. You can think of this in terms of a deadlift or as I previously mentioned, moving a couch. These types of movements do a great job of strengthening your posterior chain as well as incorporating hinge movements which help strengthen your hips and hip flexors. Low back pain costs Americans at least $50 billion in health care costs each year, add to that lost wages, as it’s also one of the most common reasons people miss work, that figure easily doubles. Knowing this, it’s incredibly important to engage in activities (such as functional fitness) in order to strengthen your low back and the surrounding musculature so you don’t fall victim to simply being another statistic. Beyond the clear health benefits, learning and being able to perform each of these foundational movements allows you to feel more confident in your everyday life as well as expand on these and learn other important and fun movements to incorporate into your day to day routine. 


Recipe Box

Recipe Box

Back to Health of Anthem
February 1, 2024
You can click HERE to view our Recipe Box, filled with delicious and nutritious recipes for you and your family!