Is McDonald’s Oatmeal really good for you?

These days every fast food restaurant is trying to make their menus more health conscious.

Unfortunately, some choices are still better than others.

Check this out:

Don’t be fooled by names and marketing.

If you want to eat better foods, you have to learn how to read the fine print, check labels and be careful what you eat.   Companies spend millions of dollars figuring out new ways to get us in their restaurants.

Stay alert and keep making good choices!

2012 is almost here, let’s make it the best year ever!!

Want more information about healthy eating?

Click here to download our FREE Fitness Tools!

Should you Buy Organic Fruits and Vegetables?

Ever found yourself at the market staring at the fuji apples and wondering if you should buy organic or not? Organic produce tends to be more expensive, often leading us to hesitate in its purchase. To help you the next time you’re shopping for produce, I’ve organized a list of fruits and veggies that are best to buy organic and those that are okay to buy non-organic.

These foods are most susceptible to pesticide residues and may be worth buying organic:

- Apples
- Peaches
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Grapes
- Pears
- Nectarines
- Sweet bell peppers
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Celery
- Carrots
- Potatoes

The following types of produce have been found to have the least amount of pesticide residue, and may not be worth the added expense of buying organic:

- Mango
- Pineapple
- Kiwi
- Bananas
- Papaya
- Avocado
- Asparagus
- Onion
- Broccoli
- Corn
- Sweet peas
- Cabbage

Whether or not you buy organic, always remember to thoroughly wash your vegetables and fruits before eating them.

Our Top 10 Fitness Articles of All Time!

#10 Top 10 places to get outside and workout in OC

#9 Hand and Forearm Strength

#8 Trail Running vs Road Running

#7 Is there a better way to get in shape?

#6 Should I focus on muscles or movements?

#5 3 keys to quick weight loss, gaining muscle and permanent fat loss

#4 11 simple tips to burn fat and boost your metabolism

#3 You’re never too old to get in amazing shape

#2 My 3 favorite battling ropes exercises

#1 I do crunches everyday, where are my abs?

Do you have a personal favorite?  If so, let us know whatcha like.

Also, if you have specific questions or topics you’d like us to cover, let us know and we will post a article just for you!

Looking for a healthy restaurant in Long Beach? Check out Roots Gourmet

Tired of chain restaurants, bland food and poor service?

Clients ask us all the time about where and what they should eat to stay healthy.  Unfortunately, dining out usually means unhealthy, calorie packed options, but we have found another great option for ya.  Long Beach restaurant, Roots Gourmet, provides creative, healthy, Latin inspired food that is incredible.

The menu has plenty of vegan and gluten-free options and the food is created from scratch with fresh, all-natural ingredients. Nothing is ever frozen. Local, sustainable and organic farming practices are supported whenever possible.

Forget Starbucks and Subway, when you could actually get something GOOD today!

So, if you are up in the Long Beach or Seal Beach area you should definitely swing by and check this place out.  You’ll be glad you did!

Roots Gourmet
6473 E. PCH, Long Beach, CA 90802
(562) 795-ROOT (7668)
http://www.rootsgourmet.com
Mon – Sun:    7:00 am    -    7:00 pm

Find them on Facebook: Roots Gourmet

5 Articles to Help you Look Better, Feel Healthier and Perform like a Champion!

I recently heard in a lecture that 90% of human movement involves rotation, but most strength exercises only involve the sagital plane of movement. Think about it, most bodybuilder type exercises are all forward backward or up and down, usually on a piece of equipment that guides you thru each movement. Here is a great article by Bret Contreras talking about the different ways we can include rotational work into our workouts.

Check out this article about Rotational Training

Joel Jameson has done a lot of research over the past few years working with elite mma fighters, which are chronically over training. Check out this article where he discusses over training, how to spot it, correct it and avoiding it in future training programs.

Are you Overtraining?

So many people, me included, stress out all week long in an attempt to strive, make progress and work towards our goals. It can be a positive and negative, depending on how much it consumes us. I thought this was a killer article on perceived control. How much do we actually have control over?

Great article on Control

Sometimes the gym gets old and we need a change of pace. Since, it is summer, I thought this was a cool article and series of videos giving us all a bunch of workout options using a playground. Nate Green has some cool ideas that help you get a killer workout using your local playground.

Check out this Playground Workout

It’s grill season and mearely throwing a bunch of hot dogs on the grill is laim. Here are a ton of cool recipes that will keep you and your party guests asking for more all summer long.

Here are Tons of Grill Recipes

100s of healthy recipes just for you…

One of the biggest challenges when people want to improve their eating habits is what to cook. Habits dominate and we make choices about what to buy and what to eat without thinking much. The good news is that dieting and eating healthier doesn’t involve eating salads all day.

Healthy food can be and is incredibly tasty, when you know what to do.

Whole Foods Market has done an incredible job and developed a killer recipe section on their website. You can find it here: Whole Foods Recipes

They have broken the recipes down by category, ingredients, food allergies and more. Hungry for steak? Gluten Intolerant? Want high fiber? They have got it all.

Click the link above and get creative this weekend!

Enjoy!

Looking for a Farmer’s Market in Orange County?

These days it can be difficult to translate what is good vs bad food.  One of the easiest ways is to buy locally grown, organic foods.  Typical mass produced foods are loaded with pesticides, chemicals and have added costs from manufacturing, distribution and marketing.  Plus, its always nice to support a local business owner, right?

Luckily, there are several Farmer’s Markets around Orange County.

Sunday

Laguna Niguel CFM
27241 La Paz Rd.

San Clemente Village CFM
Avenida Del Mar & Seville

Newport Beach CFM
3400 Block of Via Oporto

Local Harvest Garden Grove Farmer’s Mkt.
Main & Garden Grove Boulevard

Great Park Farmer’s Market
13042 Old Myford Road, Irvine

Tuesday

Downtown Brea CFM
Brea & Birch

Surf City Nights Downtown Street Fair
Main & Olive in Huntington Beach

Farmers’ Market at Irvine Historical  Park
Irvine Blvd. & Old Myford Road

Seal Beach Village CFM
Westminster Blvd & Seal Beach Blvd.

Wednesday

Fullerton CFM
Independance Park – Euclid & Valencia

Old Capistrano CFM
El Camino Real/Forester & Yorba St. in SJC

Tustin CFM
3rd & El Camino

Beckman Coulter Farmer’s Mkt.
250 South Kraemer Boulevard, Brea

Kaiser Permanente Garden Grove CFM
12100 Euclid Street

Thursday

Downtown Brea CFM
Brea & Birch

Surf City Nights Downtown Street Fair
Main & Olive in Huntington Beach

Farmers’ Market at Irvine Historical Park
Downtown Anaheim CFM
205 Center Street Promenade

Costa Mesa CFM
Orange County Fairgrounds (88 Fair Dr.)

Orange Certified Farmers Market
145 S. Lemon St.

Village of Orange Certified Farmers Mkt
1500 East Village Way

Fullerton Market CFM
Ful/Wilshire (open from 10/28/10-4/7/11)
301 N. Pomona

Friday

Huntington Beach CFM
Pier Plaza/6th & PCH

Kaiser Permanente Irvine CFM
6670 Alton Pkwy & Sand Canyon Ave in Irvine

Laguna Hills CFM
El Toro Road & Avenida De La Carlota

Anaheim Kaiser Permanente CFM
441 Lakeview Ave (Lakeview/Riverdale)

Santa Margarita Farmer’s Market
30151 Las Flores

Saturday

Laguna Beach
Lumberyard Parking Lot

Irvine
Irvine Center UCI

For more detailed information visit  Certified Farmers Market Locations

Have an awesome week!

Looking for Some Healthy Recipes? Here ya go…

One of the biggest obstacles people face when improving their eating habits, is coming up with tasty options for meals.  So many people think they have to survive on salads, but that is not the case.  There are lots of healthy cooking sites out there, but I stumbled across Cara’s Cravings last week and thought you may enjoy it.

Visit Cara’s Cravings Website

Enjoy!

Intuitive Eating – Part 2

How has your journey towards intuitive eating been going? The ride towards a healthy you is going to have it’s ups and downs and this style of eating is most likely the exact opposite to every diet you have ever tried before. It’s strange having permission to eat foods that you actually enjoy, it’s hard to focus on hunger and fullness all the time and it’s a downright struggle fighting the food police and rejecting the diet mentality. Just keep going it does get easier. In PART 1 we revealed the first 5 tips, here are the last few principles of Intuitive Eating. Enjoy!

Principle Six
DISCOVER THE SATISFACTION FACTOR
In the fury to be thin or healthy, we often overlook on of the most basic gifts of existence-the pleasure and satisfaction that comes with the eating experience! When you eat what you truly want in an inviting, conducive environment, the pleasure you derive is a powerful force to help you feel satisfied and content. You will find in this type of pleasure-filled environment you will find it takes much less food to decide that you’ve had enough.

Principle Seven
HONOR YOUR FEELINGS WITHOUT USING FOOD
Find ways to comfort, nurture, distract and resolve your issues without using food. Anxiety, loneliness, boredom and anger are emotions we all experience throughout life. Food will not fix any of these feelings. Eating for an emotional hunger will only make you feel worse in the long run. You ultimately have to deal with the source of the emotion as well as the discomfort of overeating.

Principle Eight
RESPECT YOUR BODY
Accept your genetic blueprint. It’s not realistic for someone with a shoe size 9 to fit into a size 6, but why do we expect that of the rest or our bodies? Respect your body so you can feel better about who YOU are. It’s hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.

Principle Nine
EXERCISE-FEEL THE DIFFERENCE
Forget the hours on the treadmill or pounds in the weight room. Just get active, and feel the difference. Shift your focus on how it feels to move your body, rather than purely the calorie burning effects of exercise. Feeling this difference can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm.

Principle Ten
HONOR YOUR HEALTH
Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds, while making you feel well. Remember you do not need to eat perfect to stay healthy. You will not get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, meal or day of eating. It is what you eat consistently over time that matters. Progress not perfection is what counts.

Any lifestyle change is hard. Adoption of Intuitive Eating takes an intentional focus on eating and your body. Like with any habit, the more you purposefully practice the thoughts/actions the easier they get and the less thinking you have to put into it each time. It’ encouraged to check out the book, Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch for more tips, support and answers. You will be truly shocked with what it feels like to make peace with food and actually connect mind, body and soul.

“Erin Cattolica is practicing as an intern to become a registered dietitian through California State University, Long Beach. Her rotations include working with patients/clients in clinical, community, school, and food service settings. Erin also works part-time with eating disorder patients. She wrote this article during a rotation working with Innovative Results RD, Amanda Brown.”

**Intuitive Eating cannot replace a medically prescribed diet. Talk with your doctor or dietitian with ideas on how to successfully bring Intuitive Eating into your life

Intuitive Eating – Part 1

Everyone wants to know the secret to being healthy. People spend their lifetime searching for the answer. The diet industry makes billions of dollars every year, each company with their own “revolutionary” idea for a quick fix. The search is now over, the answer is here! Two amazing dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, were able to put into words what so many of us Americans have forgotten. The answer for what is best for your body lies in YOU and it is called Intuitive Eating.

This approach teaches you how to create a healthy relationship with your food, mind and body-where YOU ultimately become the expert of your body. You learn how to distinguish between physical and emotional feelings and gain a sense of body wisdom. It’s also a process of making peace with food and decrease the constant “food guilt.” Your health and your worth are not solely based on what foods you eat. This may sound simplistic on the surface; “Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full” however when you have a long history of chronic dieting and rigid “health” rules it can be quite difficult. Intuitive Eating is the foundation to building a healthy relationship with your body and food. It will be impossible to successfully change your nutrition lifestyle without starting here.

The next 2 articles will focus on the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating directly excerpt from the book Intuitive Eating written by Evelyn Tribole, MS,RD and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA, 2nd ed, New York, New York: St Martin’s Press; 2003. (intuitive eating.org)

Principle One
REJECT THE DIET MENTALITY
Get rid of the diet books and magazine articles that offer false hope of losing weight quickly, easily and permanently. Get angry at the lies that made you feel you are a failure. Allowing a single hope to linger that a new, better diet is out there will keep you from staying free enough to rediscover “intuitive eating”

Principle Two
HONOR YOUR HUNGER
Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy. Otherwise, you will trigger a primal need to overeat. You may start with the best and “health conscious” intentions but getting overly hungry will cause you to throw those good intentions right out the window. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for rebuilding trust with yourself and food

Principle Three
MAKE PEACE WITH FOOD
Call a truce and stop the food fight. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. Telling yourself you cannot and should not have a particular food will only lead to intense feelings of deprivation and uncontrollable cravings. Then, when you finally “give-in” to the forbidden food it’s eaten with such intensity which leads to overeating and overwhelming guilt.

Principle Four
CHALLENGE THE FOOD POLICE
The food police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created. They tell you if you are “good” or “bad”. They shout negative, hopeless and guilt provoking thoughts. Scream a loud “No” to those thoughts in your head. Chasing away the food police is critical to return to intuitive eating.

Principle Five
RESPECT YOUR FULLNESS
Listen for your body’s signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show you are comfortably full. In the middle of your meal pause and ask yourself how the food tastes and what your current fullness levels are.

Stay tuned for part 2 of Intuitive Eating for the rest of the 10 principles!

“Erin Cattolica is practicing as an intern to become a registered dietitian through California State University, Long Beach. Her rotations include working with patients/clients in clinical, community, school, and food service settings. Erin also works part-time with eating disorder patients. She wrote this article during a rotation working with Innovative Results RD, Amanda Brown.”

**Intuitive Eating cannot replace a medically prescribed diet. Talk with your doctor or dietitian with ideas on how to successfully bring Intuitive Eating into your life