The Celebrity Guide to Weight Yo-Yo'ing!

Every year millions of people tune in to watch the Oscars to see how many golden statues our favourite movies win, but many people tune in to gawk at the all the celebrities- what they are wearing, how their makeup and hair looks, and who was able to muster up enough glamour for one evening to drown out a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol. 


For some mystifying reason, we love comparing ourselves to celebrities, and finding out what they do to look so good.  Among these, diet and exercise is a big topic. There are countless of sites and articles telling us how famous people lost weight and what they do to look so fit, waiting for us to try out the next big fad. We have heard of every type of diet known to humankind from Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers, Cleansing Diets, the Tracy Anderson Method, the 5 Factor Diet, Kirstie Alley Weight Loss to Jenny Craig, and many more. 

Many of these "diets" work mainly because they unhealthily restrict your calorie intake, and of course if you consume less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. However, most people who go on diets cannot maintain this type of eating for very long, thus gain all that lost weight back. Not to mention that it is very unhealthy to cut out any of the macronutrients (like carbohydrates) or starving yourself. 
There is no easy solution or quick fix to a weight problem, and we all know it! If there was, the person who came up with it would be the richest person alive. 


The way I see it, short-term fad diets are only as effective as their brevity. Change your lifestyle in a way that the food that you eat is wholesome (whole grains and unprocessed), filled with vegetables and fruits, lean proteins and balanced. With that, find an activity that makes you feel good and happy and incorporate it into your life. It is not an easy feat, but one that will change your life for the better! 

Tap or Bottle?

From your sink since 1900

Most people think that water bottles have cleaner water than what you would get from tap water, but is this really true? 

Tap water is definitely not the safest choice due to possible contaminants such as various microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, and parasites); disinfectants; inorganic chemicals such as heavy metals, asbestos, nitrates, and nitrites; organic chemicals such as pesticides and plastic; and radionucleotides, such as radium and uranium. Even though tap water is being watched for these contaminants, many cities and communities have been tested for their water safety and tests came back with scary results. Thus, it's understandable why people are choosing to drink non-tap water. But before running to the store and buying enough water bottles to last a lifetime, it's important to know more about water bottles.

Water in plastic bottles is not necessarily pure, as advertised. "The Natural Resources Defense Council recently tested 1,000 bottles of water and discovered that about 22 percent of the brands in the study contained chemical contaminants at levels above state health limits. And in 2011, California State University researchers tested six brands of bottled water and found that while none contained more than the legal level of contaminates, all six exceeded California public health goals for arsenic. There’s also substantial research showing that when certain plastic bottles are heated at high temperatures, chemicals from the plastic can leach into a container’s contents" (read the full article here).

Not to mention that these plastic bottles are not very "environmentally friendly" for a few reasons, but mainly that most of us don't actually recycle them so they end up in the trash and the plastic used to make these bottles (PET) requires 400-1000 years to decompose!

Maybe it's best to buy a filter for your home and fill reusable bottles with free clean water! (Although, it's best to do some research before buying a filter to decide what's best for you and your home).

Whatever you choose, water is still far healthier for you than soda or sugary drinks. Make sure you drink 6-8 cups of water a day to keep hydrated and healthy!

Soon to come a post about the health benefits of water, so keep reading!

Shawarma-Alarma! (Yes, I went there)

There is a reason why I don't like eating out at restaurants too often, mainly because I have NO idea how they prepare the food, where the ingredients come from, and how many calories/grams of fat/other additives the meal will contain. Thus, I opt for cooking my own food (which I love doing), knowing full well what I put into my body. 

Some restaurants will disclose such information like calorie count and amount of fat, or even ingredients, but how often do people check, nor do they care?

I just read an article about Me Va Me's Shawarma in a pita, which a couple thought that by eating it, they were making a healthy choice (as opposed to eating at McDonald's, for example). Well, as you probably have guessed, they were wrong! Read here to find out just how wrong were they. 

Although the pita has many more calories and fat a person should be consuming a day, it does contain more natural ingredients than a big mac, and you do get more vegetables. It is important to be aware that foods that seem healthy, are not necessarily so, thus we either need to limit those to a minimum, or cook at home! (which could be really fun if you find the right recipes)

Comment below if you have ever experienced a similar thing, where you found out a food you were eating turned out to be much worse than you initially thought.

How To Make REAL Vegetable Chips:

Have you ever found yourself standing in the snack isle right in front of the many varieties of potato chips, contemplating whether you can "afford" (whether in terms of money or calories) to buy a bag, knowing full well the whole bag will end up in your stomach? If you have answered no, then most likely you have never tasted potato chips in your life! What if you didn't have to give up chips? What if you could make them at home and enjoy the crispiness guiltless? Well, actually you can! Eat vegetable chips! And no, I'm not talking about those sold in the stores under the impression of being healthy and "guilt-free", which are a far cry from what the truth. Even though there are some products that are quite "clean" in terms of ingredients and can be quite healthy, most vegetable chips are full of fat, additives, and very little real vegetables.

So, it's time to turn on your oven, bring out the cutting board and knife and spend  only 5 minutes preparing your own healthy and natural vegetable chips! You can use most root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots, beets, and even kale!

Potato Chips:

Ingredients: 2 potatoes, salt, 1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Wash potatoes (no need to peel). Slice them thinly and put in a bowl. Mix with olive oil and salt until evenly distributed.

3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pans once halfway through the baking process. Potatoes are finished when completely golden brown and resemble chips. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on the pan. Chips will crisp up as they cool down.

Sweet Potato Chips:

Follow the recipe above substituting potatoes with sweet potatoes, as well as changing the baking time to 22-27 minutes.

Parsnip Chips:

Follow the recipe above substituting potatoes with parsnips, baking at 375 degrees F for about 15-45 minutes, checking often to avoid burning.

Turnip Chips:

Follow the recipe above substituting potatoes with turnips, baking at 375 degrees F for about 15-45 minutes, checking often to avoid burning.

 

Carrot Chips:

Follow the recipe above substituting potatoes with carrots, 

as well as changing the oven temperature to 275 degrees F 

for about 30-35 minutes, checking often to make sure they don't burn.

Beet Chips:

Follow the recipe above substituting potatoes with carrots, as well as changing the oven temperature to 325 degrees F for about 40 minutes.

Kale Chips:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Wash and thoroughly dry 1 bunch kale (this might seem like a lot of kale but it shrinks quite a bit in the oven). Pluck the leaves from the stems. Discard stems and tear the leaves into bite-size pieces and place them in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and garlic and liberally sprinkle with salt. Toss to evenly coat all pieces. Lay the kale in a single layer on baking sheets.

3. Bake for 10-15 minutes, and check often to make sure they don't burn.

Enjoy! P.S if you feel adventurous and decide to try making chips from other vegetables not listed here please comment below with the recipe so that we could also try!

Smart Shopping

I found an interesting article that I wanted to share with you. It has to do about being knowledgeable and warry about health claims of certain products and ingredients like salt, sugar, and fruits. Read it here.
In later posts I will try to give a more comprehensible "manual" or tips on how to shop for groceries without being swayed by many health claims.
Happy reading!

More calcium please!

I've just come across a really nicely written, interesting article about calcium sources, especially non-dairy ones. I couldn't have written it better myself! . Read here.

I will post recipes incorporating these foods, so you can enjoy a dairy-free calcium boost!

Hot Yoga: Hot or Not?

I love trying new things, especially when given the opportunity to do so with friends, and this how I got acquainted with hot yoga. Most times, I do a little research before I try something new and unknown, but in this case, I just went for it. To tell you the truth, I loved my first experience! I love the heat and so if you put me in a room at 38 C, I'll be happy as a clam!

Even though I thought I found my new home, dreamt of living in a hot yoga room forever, I had the opposite experience in my second visit. I felt sick, weak, dizzy, and overheated (I couldn't believe it either!). As disappointed as I was, I decided to find out what hot yoga was all about, and went to my trusted source, the Google. I have found lots of interesting things, which I have summarized for you (although I do encourage you to research on your own and make your own judgment):

1. Yoga is originated from India, where it is practiced anywhere, anytime. Because of the climate, yoga is almost always practiced in hot conditions and this is how hot yoga became popular (although, interestingly, many people in India do yoga in the early hours of the morning to avoid the heat).

2. A guy named Bikram Choudhury set up three hot yoga studios in the U.S in 1972. Since then, hot yoga (or bikram yoga) has become widely popular in North America. According to him, yoga should be practiced in a room of 105 degrees F, posing 26 different postures. Did you know that Choudhury gave the name of "torture chamber" to his studio? I found that quite interesting...

3. For those who are interested in becoming Bikram yoga instructors, Choudhury's yoga college of India offers certificates teaching you the techniques. The college claims that the 26 poses practiced in the class "give all the internal organs, all the veins, all the ligaments, and all the muscles everything they need to maintain optimum health and maximum function." The high temperature softens up the body and provides flexibility. They also claim that by sweating, the body clears itself of all toxins (Read here).

4. The main claimed benefits of hot yoga are: losing weight by sweating; detoxification by sweating out toxins; improving cardiovascular health; enhance concentration, clarity, and mental focus; de-stressing; and much more (Read more here). 

5. Drawbacks: you are probably thinking: "drawbacks? what drawback? did you see the benefits?!" Well, let's further explore those so called benefits. First of all, hot yoga helps to lose weight-this is technically true, however you are losing precious water weight (through perspiration and your body's working hard to maintain homeostasis) which is not the way you want to go about shedding pounds. Second, sweating allows the removal of toxins-while this may be true, most toxins are filtered by the liver and kidneys and removed from the body by bodily excretions, and only about 1% of toxins are actually removed by sweating. Thus, as a professor of environmental toxicology put it: "you'll do far more detoxifying in the bathroom than you ever could in a sauna" (read more here).

Third, yoga improves heart health; since hot yoga is quite a new trend, there are not many studies done on its effects on the body so we are lacking information on which conclusions can be made. I couldn't find much information about cardiovascular health and hot yoga, except that people suffering from heart problems, low or high blood pressure, and pregnant women should not practice hot yoga. Lastly, yoga will help with concentration, mood, etc.  A few months ago I read a book called "Spark" by John J. Ratey, which is about the benefits of exercising, outlining how exercising can affect our learning abilities and mood; So hot yoga, as any other form of exercise can also do wonders in that department.

I hope I didn't come across as a hot-yoga-hater, I will definitely try it again, with a huge bottle of water and a towel!

Just to conclude, I found that as with pretty much everything in life, there are those who claim that hot yoga is godsend, and there are those who say that it can be quite dangerous. I would suggest try it out (if I didn't scare you) and see for yourself whether it's for you. Otherwise, find another form of exercise that will get you excited. There is no point of forcing yourself to play tennis if you are scared of green bouncing balls. Try different things until you find what's right for you! 

Bright Sunshining Day!

Days like today don't come often enough in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter. It's finally a beautiful sunny day, but is the sun in the north strong enough to be beneficial? I ask because today, I read an article about a study done on pregnant women looking at the effects of insufficient Vitamin D intake and the unborn child's development, mainly its language development. You can read more about it here : Vitamin D study.

I'm not sure how strong the effect of Vitamin D is on language development (and I say that because many other factors can apply, like mother's education level or socioeconomic status, because the mothers were observed, thus some mothers decided to supplement and some didn't) but it is definitely important for pregnant women (and breastfeeding women) to supplement with Vitamin D, especially if seeing the sun is a rare event. 

What is known about the Vitamin is that it is not found in many foods (mainly in oily fish like salmon and tuna, as well as some fortified products); helps the absorption of calcium thus leading to stronger bones; and Vitamin D can be produced in the skin with the help of UV rays from the sun. 

So whether you are expecting, breastfeeding little ones or just don't like the taste of fish, talk to a health professional about Vitamin D supplementation.


Hope you have enjoyed the nutribit of the day, keep coming back for more, and please comment if you have any questions!
Have a great sunny day (that is if you are in Toronto, or lucky enough to see the sun shining today :) ) 

Welcome to Nutribit of the Day!

Hello fellow people!

I'm excited to announce the start of a new blog that will take you on a journey like no other! On this quest, you will join me and together we will learn a bit more everyday about what it means to eat, drink, sleep, and live healthily! 

I'm passionate about healthy food and fitness and will try to clear up some misconceptions, bring to you the latest  nutrition news, provide some tips and maybe fun recipes I find, one nutribit at a time!

I welcome any tips, questions, comments from you and hope to brighten up your day, every day!