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Optimum health: Eat your fat, ladies

shannon — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 13:45:05 +0000

Fitness expert Richelle Melde
(Photo courtesy of Hollye Schumacher Photography)

BY RICHELLE MELDE
Lesbian.com

Most people associate dietary fat with stored body fat, so it’s tough to convince people to eat it, so let’s talk about fat.

First of all, eating dietary fat, which comes from animal and plant sources, does not turn into stored body fat because fats do not stimulate insulin release. Fat cannot be stored without insulin.

You obtain two essential fatty acids from eating fat: linoleic acid and linolenic acid.

These two fatty acids are critical to building hormones called eicosanoids. Without linoleic and linolenic acid, you will not have balanced eicosanoid production, which can lead to more allergies, joint pain, reflux, asthma and other illness.

In an ideal diet, you will eat about 40-50 percent of your calories each day from fat.

1 gram fat = 9 calories
1 gram protein = 4 calories
1 gram of carb = 4 calories

See? Fat is practically magic. Eat it, but eat good fats.

Richelle Melde is the Fitness Expert for News Channel 12 EVB Live show (Phoenix, Ariz.) and has been seen on Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC, as well as in the AZ Republic and Business Journal. She has a B.S. in Psychology, Sociology and Women’s Studies and is a CHEK Practitioner and Holistic Life Coach.

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Optimum health: Low fat kills metabolism

shannon — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 13:45:47 +0000

Fitness expert Richelle Melde
(Photo courtesy of Hollye Schumacher Photography)

BY RICHELLE MELDE
Lesbian.com

First of all, when fat is pulled out of food, it tastes terrible. So, what do you think gets added in to make it taste better? EXACTLY! SUGAR! Eating low-fat, reduced-fat, no-fat, fat-free or skim products actually increases your triglycerides levels and stores more fat because of the sugar load.

You have to remember that your liver stores about 1,200 calories or a 12-hour supply of glycogen, which is energy that can be readily used. When you reduce your caloric load, your body will release this stored energy to be used because blood-sugar levels are not balanced for your brain to function. Your muscles also store glycogen for just-in-case-moments. They release gylcogen in order to keep you moving.

Now, you might tell me that you’ve lost weight when you’ve reduced your calories. This is probably true, but unfortunately, it’s just water weight that you’re losing. Glycogen is stored with water, so when you release those stores, you release that water, which is heavy, thus creating a quick weight loss that will not last.

Once the liver is depleted of sugar stores, it will use proteins to make sugar for brain function, thus reducing your muscle mass. Because you aren’t consuming enough dietary fat, your body has to steal necessary building components from your bones and muscles to keep up. This is like building a house without having enough material to complete the house, so you build one room and then have to use the materials from that room to build the next one. Doesn’t make sense, right?

Now, it is true that your body will burn some fat during this time of undernourishment; however, the fat loss you will experience is not worth the damage you are doing by leaching nutrients from your bones and muscles. In reality, you are losing more weight from using your muscles and bones than you are from fat loss.

Your body cannot continue to eat itself and keep you functional, so your systems will begin to slow down. The first to slow is the metabolic process.

We have been so scared into not eating fat that this is a big nutrition myth to overcome. When I explore the eating habits of a new client during the initial consultation, there is always fat-free this and low-fat that, egg whites only, no butter and they dare not eat red meat!

So what exactly does cholesterol do in our bodies?

Essential for brain function

Forms membranes inside cells

Helps form cellular structure

Keeps cells permeable

Keeps mood level by stabilizing neurotransmitters

Maintains healthy immune function

Makes important hormones. It is the precursor to forming pregnenolone, which produces DHEA, cortisol, testosterone and estradiol.

When you deprive yourself of cholesterol by avoiding butter, meat, eggs and shellfish, you compromise the production of necessary hormones for reproductive health (infertility issues), the ability for your body to repair damaged cell membranes (increase in cancer risk) and the stabilization of neurotransmitters (mood disorders).

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Optimum health: No need to add sugar

shannon — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 13:45:29 +0000

Fitness expert Richelle Melde
(Photo courtesy of Hollye Schumacher Photography)

BY RICHELLE MELDE
Lesbian.com

To fully understand how carbs affect us, we must first understand what carbs are.

Carbohydrates are chains of sugar molecules.

There are simple carbs (monosaccharide or disaccharide) and complex carbs (polysaccharide). Think of a polysaccharide as a stack of poker chips. A monosaccharide is a single poker chip. Therefore, a complex carb is a chain of several simple carbs.

The point here is to recognize that all carbs, whether from a real or processed source of food, break down into a sugar molecule, therefore ALL CARBS ARE SUGAR!

INSULIN AND GLUCAGON
Insulin is a hormone responsible for storing energy, fat and nutrients.

Glucagon is a hormone for mobilizing sugar (energy), fat and nutrients. Excess sugar is stored in the liver, and when necessary, glucagon tells the liver to release that sugar for energy needs.

The most important point about understand these two hormones is creating balance with them. When blood sugar is low, glucagon will be mobilized to release more sugar to increase the sugar in your blood for energy, just as when blood sugars are too high, insulin will be mobilized to reduce the blood sugar by storing the excess sugar.

What effects will the food you eat have on your hormones? Will you store the food as fat or will it help to build muscle or will it be immediately used as energy? If you eat high sugar foods, you will increase your insulin levels and thus create more fat storage. If, on the other hand, you eat proteins that will mobilize glucagon to release stored sugar and fat. Consuming fat (such as avocado, coconut oil, grass-fed butter) does not create a response for either hormone.

This does not mean that you should simply go on a high protein diet (that can actually be very harmful to your kidneys), instead it gives you an opportunity to recognize how to balance your meals to optimize your hormone function and create balance in your blood sugar levels.

The most effective way to combat a high insulin response is to eat carbs and sugars, such as fruit, with protein or fat. You will minimize the fat storing insulin effect by increasing your glycogen response. Eating a balanced meal will create a balanced insulin-glucagon response, which is our goal.

5 TIPS TO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT AND INCREASE ENERGY

Eat 25 grams or less of sugar each day.
When eating food that has a lot of sugar or a carb (there is a distinction between sugars and carbs on food labels), eat with protein or fat.
Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water every day. This will help with digestion and energy.
Eat high quality foods — organic, grass-fed beef, grass-fed butter, pastured proteins, free-ranch eggs and chicken, etc. This will minimize the toxic load you put on your body with the food that you eat.
Keep a food journal and calculate sugars.

See the article Fats Don’t Make You Fat to learn more about sugar.

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Eat yourself healthy: Apple cinnamon protein muffins

Sidney — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 16:30:55 +0000

BY JESSICA ROTHSCHILD
Cake to Kale

It’s the first in Cake to Kale‘s recipe series! My goal in this series is to provide macronutrient-friendly (meaning, optimal ratio of protein, carbs and fats) recipes that are perfect as post-workout meals or snacks. I will be writing more about macronutrients (“macros”) in an upcoming post. But for now, I present these warm and delicious (I made them the other night) apple cinnamon protein muffins!

Ingredients:

1 diced apple
2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder (I used Trutein’s Cinnabun flavor to bring out the cinnamon!)
1/2 cup fat-free greek yogurt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup stevia or splenda
1.5 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 egg whites, 1 whole egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Place ingredients into bowl and stir. Spray non-stick cooking spray on muffin pan. Pour batter evenly into muffin holes. Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 12 servings. Per Serving:
Macros: 100 calories. Carbs: 15g Protein: 8g Fat 1g

Jessica Rothschild (caketokale.com) offers private coaching which specializes in kickstarting metabolism, deconstructing cravings and personal training. Her mission is to inspire, educate and empower people to become rock stars in their bodies and minds.

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How to eat your way out of PMS

Sidney — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 14:00:39 +0000

BY JESSICA ROTHSCHILD
Lesbian.com

Some girls are naturally blessed enough to not have their periods ruin their lives on a monthly basis. Meaning, these fortunate women have no need for a vibrating hot water bottle while curled up in the fetal position for the monthly 5-7. I am not one of these women. The headaches, cramping, cravings, bloating, feelings and “period brain” are all common experiences in our menstrual culture today and seemingly come OUT OF NOWHERE every month. Well, I have come to enlighten you with the news that this is all preventable! In fact, the single most significant factor contributing to your PMS is the food you put in your mouth. Our diet has a direct correlation to our hormone imbalances and it turns out that all of these symptoms are NOT natural — we aren’t supposed to feel this way! All we need to do is gravitate toward the right foods and vitamins and these symptoms will drastically decrease, if not disappear altogether and balance your hormones naturally. I KNOW.

Here we have it: foods to swear by, especially the week before and during your period.

+ Magnesium relieves physical symptoms of PMS like water retention, weight gain and bloating (what to eat: leafy greens, nuts, pumpkin seeds, beans/lentils, fish, brown rice)
+ Vitamin B6 for cramp relief (what to eat: fish, bananas and walnuts)
+ Vitamin E to relieve inflammation (what to eat: kale, leafy greens, nuts and seeds)
+ Increase fiber to help absorb the excess estrogen from going into the blood and causing inflammation (what to eat: fruit, veggies, legumes, seeds and grains).
+ Start adding flaxmeal in your oatmeal, smoothies, cereal and wholegrain pancakes. My favorite brand is Bob’s Red Mill Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal.
+ Warm tea with raw honey relaxes the muscles and is a natural pain reliever.
+ Calcium helps prevent PMS (what to eat: broccoli, kale, figs, oranges)
+ Pineapples contain proteolytic enzymes which aid in muscle relaxation
+ Beets to reduce pain. Fun fact: Beets are fantastic to prevent against heart disease, so get them in your diet! They will help reduce your pain and protect your <3.
+ Dark chocolate (look for cacao content of 85% or higher) contains less sugar and no milk. Even better is RAW unsweetened dark chocolate for a ton of antioxidants and essential vitamins.

Also! Be sure to try what I like to call Magical Cramp Relieving Juice:
2 medium beets (not the greens)
1 small lemon with peel
3 – 4 leaves of kale
1/2 green apple
2 stalks celery
1 inch cube of ginger
Water + ice

Foods to avoid during PMS because they will actually make your symptoms worse:

+ Sugar
+ Foods high in sodium
+ Milk or white chocolate
+ Flour-based food
+ French fries
+ Caffeine
+ Breads and pastas
+ Rich foods like aged cheese
+ Alcohol
+ Anything with preservatives

And finally, skipping meals triggers symptoms such as headaches and fatigue due to a drop in blood sugar level. So be sure to eat three square meals (all with protein) plus snacks. A full tummy will also help curb sudden emotional food cravings (a topic we will cover in an upcoming blog post). If you’ve made it this far on the period train, do not miss My Period Takes Me Shopping.

Please share your own food-as-medicine remedies for preventing cramps and PMS in the comments below!

Jessica Rothschild is a Holistic Nutrition + Fitness Coach helping people create a completely personalized roadmap to health that suits their unique body, lifestyle and goals. Jess offers private coaching specializing in deconstructing cravings, disordered eating and personal training. Her mission is to inspire, educate and empower people to become rockstars in their bodies and minds. Check out her work at www.facebook.com/caketokale.com.

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How I found my passion through my fight with food

Sidney — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:00:20 +0000

BY JESSICA ROTHSCHILD
Lesbian.com

Back in 2004, at 21 years old, I literally woke up one day, changed everything about the way I ate and joined the gym a few blocks from my New York City apartment. And, over the last 9 years, I never once reverted to my previous daily diet of greasy take-out and fast food (though I’m sure McDonald’s chicken nuggets and Pizza Hut breadsticks are still delish). See, living on my own post-college finally provided me the space I needed to embrace the fact that I was gay and begin dating. My aforementioned diet (and its effects on my body) wasn’t exactly helping my confidence when I was already self-conscious about my sexuality. So, I decided to make a change — something I could control — and altered my mind-set. This whole idea of “eating clean” and working out was surprisingly simple and I saw instant, affirming results.

And then it got complicated. Throughout my twenties, I inched closer to the “disordered eating” lifestyle which is basically a wide range of irregular eating behaviors that do not warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia. I became increasingly restrictive (read: obsessed) with what foods I deemed “clean enough to eat” and began exhibiting some of the physiological symptoms of under-eating/nutrient deficiency, like thinning hair and disruption in my menstrual cycle. There were birthday parties and weddings I spent avoiding the catering, convincing myself I wasn’t hungry and setting myself up for the inevitable binge on the sugary sweet foods I absolutely loved. Trust me, the body is a lot smarter than the mind and it will get the calories it needs one way or another! Interestingly, my relationship with the gym has been nothing but productive and I was never an obsessive cardio bunny (you know, the girl you see on the same elliptical year after year, her body never changing). I fell in love with a bodybuilding-esque training style and am proud to say I never spend more than 30 minutes at a time doing cardio.

In action at the gym. (Photo courtesy Jessica Rothschild)

Desperately searching for answers and a way to end the perpetual rollercoaster (that was now affecting my relationship with the woman I loved), I was innately drawn to holistic nutrition and training blogs, coaches and YouTube channels. Using the knowledge I gained, I slowly reverse-dieted my way into metabolic repair and am currently eating more food on a daily basis than I have in the last 10 years(!), surging my metabolism and feeling more at home in my own body than ever before. I realized that food is medicine and if I got myself into this mess with food, I could absolutely heal with energetic, wholesome superfoods in quantities that would eliminate my cravings and calm my mind. Finally free from the metaphorical chase from my own body, I decided to follow my ignited passion for nutrition and fitness and become certified as a Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach and guide the countless women (and men) out there who struggle with various permutations of my own story.

I received my cutting-edge nutrition training through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I studied the major dietary theories from East to West, including Ayurveda, Macrobiotics and Blood Type as well as a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods and now help people create a completely personalized roadmap to health that suits their unique body, lifestyle and goals.

My mission with this new column is to inspire, educate and empower you to become a rockstar in your body and mind.

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