Cancer-Fighting Sprinkles

We’ve all heard of antioxidants; they’re those wonderful substances that help prevent and repair damage to our cells to ward off premature aging and cancer, among other maladies.  Antioxidants such as vitamins A, C & E, lutein, beta carotene, selenium and lycopene are found in abundance in a healthy diet rich in whole grains, vibrant fruits and vegetables and… herbs and spices?

That’s right.  Those wonderful flavouring agents growing stale next to your stove are, in fact, superfoods with the ability to help you lose weight & stay healthy! Spices are a dieter’s best friend as they add flavour and richness with virtually no calories.  The spiciest of them – cayenne, hot curry powder or plain old chili flakes – force us to slow down as we eat and, statistically, to actually eat less as a result.

Here’s one more reason to add some oregano to your whole wheat pasta or some cinnamon to your oatmeal: the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found in the largest-ever antioxidant study that ground cinnamon, cloves and oregano are some of the most potent sources of antioxidants, rivaling even blueberries and cranberries.  In fact, just one teaspoon of cinnamon provides the same quantity of antioxidants as a half cup of blueberries!

The bottom line: eat more vegetables, fruits and grains.  But when blueberries rise to $8 a pint in the dead of winter, grab that cinnamon shaker and add some spice to your oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, even your coffee, and savour the flavour.

Here are the top four antioxidant herbs/spices to add to tonight’s dinner:

• cloves have the highest level of antioxidants among spices and also reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels

• cinnamon comes in just below cloves on the antioxidant index and also helps control blood sugar following a meal

• oregano is not just an antioxidant powerhouse, it’s renowned for its antibacterial properties

• turmeric packs antioxidants and is believed to have anti-inflammatory properties that can mean major cancer prevention benefits

the truth about breastfeeding & fat loss

You’ve heard it before, probably even from your OB-GYN or your midwife when she was listing the benefits of breastfeeding to you.  Your mom, sister, aunt, girlfriend or coworker might have told you.  Maybe you googled “baby weight” or “benefits of breastfeeding” and read it there.

hello baby, bye-bye treadmill?

Breastfeeding an infant burns about 500 calories per day. Wow!  500 calories a day!  That’s like jogging an entire hour.  Or doing two back-to-back bootcamp classes!

Only… it doesn’t quite work that way.  It’s true that maintaining a supply of breastmilk requires a woman to eat approximately 500 calories more than she normally would to maintain her own healthy bodyweight.  BUT… that’s the key – it requires you to EAT those calories.  If you don’t eat enough calories, you might not make the same quantity or quality of breastmilk.  So dieting is not really an option when you’re breastfeeding.  The LaLeche League recommends you consume a minimum of 1500-1800 calories per day in order to safely lose a healthy amount of baby weight while still providing quality milk for your little one.

The female body is an enigma.  No matter how much we learn about dieting, fitness and fat loss, we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature.

healthy baby, chubby mommy... fair trade.

I breastfed my first child for 23 months.  That’s right.  When I found out I was pregnant with #2 I was concerned about being active, nursing my toddler and providing enough calories for my growing baby, so I decided to wean my toddler.  After weaning, I actually LOST about 5 pounds that had, despite all my efforts and all my knowledge about fitness and weight loss, been clinging to me for 2 years since giving birth.  Now I’m nursing my second and, almost 5 months in, I am reigning in my expectations, settling in for a long chubby period and expecting to lose those last few pounds with some hard work once I’ve finished breastfeeding for once and for all.  And it’s not just me.  Friends, clients, acquaintances have all told me they’ve experienced the same sudden weight loss during and after weaning.

So what gives?  If nursing burns calories, why do you LOSE weight when you wean?  Shouldn’t the weight melt off while you’re nursing instead?

The truth is that a breastfeeding body is in many ways like a pregnant body.  Hormones produced during the breastfeeding stages help a woman (without asking her opinion, mind you…) maintain fat stores to help feed her and baby in the event of a famine.  Once baby is weaned, many women see a weight loss as hormone levels return to normal.

The best formula for losing that baby weight is to eat according to your hunger (read: not your cravings, your hunger), drink according to your thirst and exercise at least 3-4 days per week with a combination of strength training to boost your metabolism and cardiovascular exercise to burn off extra calories.

And patience.  The other part of that formula is patience.

How have your postpartum weight loss efforts worked?  Did you find you lost weight at certain stages more easily than others?  Share with us!



the cure for stretch marks

personal trainer diary

If you have them, you know.  Whether 100 pounds or 300 pounds, 18 years old or postmenopausal, we are united by our stretch marks.

Some women, like myself, are doomed from the beginning.  My stretch marks began in my teens.  I grew so fast over my fourteenth year that I even have stretch marks on my knees!  I am used to my stretch marks.  They have faded to slim, silvery reminders of my adolescence and I barely notice them unless they happen to catch the light on a bright summer day…  I thought I would be prepared to deal with the mother of all stretches – the postpartum stretch.  “How bad can they get?”  I thought…

Not bad at all if your dream is to resemble a purple zebra.  For those of us who aim for a more human look, they’re pretty bad.  But maybe “bad” is the wrong word.  They’re pretty “extreme.”  But they’re a more-than-fair price to pay for the wonderful little person who gave them to me.

My stretch marks are now collapsed in on themselves, as only my fellow mothers will understand, into an ultimately even less appealing lump of crepey skin not unlike the back of my great grandmother’s nearly century-old hands.

How’s that for imagery?

As my husband, J, and I begin planning our first child-free getaway in more than two years, I feel myself becoming unusually preoccupied with my stretch marks.  This will be the first time I appear in public, stretched, as it were, and half-nude.  It’s a rite of passage of sorts.  My first inclination was to run out and snap up every decent one-piece swimsuit in a fifty-mile radius but, as I vowed aloud never again to wear a two-piece, my husband’s horrified look started to change my mind.  If he was so horrified at the prospect of my moratorium on bikinis, maybe I didn’t look quite so awful as I thought.  Sure, I don’t look the way I did five years ago, but I’ve worked hard in the last year to lose 40 pounds of baby weight and I am more motivated than ever to stay active and healthy.

I’m in the business of making people look good and – more importantly – feel good about the way they look.  Sometimes, in my own life, it helps to imagine my own problems are the problems of a client and imagine how I would respond as their coach and confidante.

I would definitely not let my client self resign herself to a bikini-free life.

Next week I will book a date with my most trusted advisor (my sister) and begin the search for a new bikini.  Wish me luck!