by Primelife Admin | Jan 2, 2020 | Featured, Fitness, News
In 2017, 2018, 2019, AND 2020, the top 3 New Year’s resolutions were to eat healthy, get more exercise, and save more money with the fourth runner up being not having a resolution at all (⅓ of population). Why do you think this is? Why do we always put so much pressure on ourselves to be a healthier person just because a new year is starting?
I thought 2020 would mean flying cars, ready-made meals with the snap of our fingers, and teleporting to anywhere in the world. Although we’ve had A LOT of ingenuity and progress in the world, we’re not quite that far yet. So thinking about what 2020 means to you is how you should reflect on this year and see where you want to go in the next decade. What will you bring to 2020? How do you want to change your life for this “new year”? There are a lot of things to put into practice to make sure you reach your goals, but new year’s resolutions are NOT one of them. Here are 5 quick reasons why…
- We think more on a short-term basis
It all comes down to goal setting. When we set goals it’s important to make goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-related). We often think either too big or too small. If you say you’d like to lose 50 pounds, are you thinking within the next couple of months or, more realistically, in the next year? In order to make a concrete plan to meet that big goal, start setting small ones first. Set a goal to drink more water, get outside and walk for 30 minutes, anything that you know you can handle on a daily basis that will ultimately allow for consistent and steady weight loss.
2. We never make them realistic and often go too big
Making a resolution of “exercising more” when you haven’t been to a gym in the last year or even last few years, is only going to make you feel like it’s that much more of an arduous task. When you try to incorporate something that you’ve never really had as a part of your routine and all of a sudden, it’s a new goal, you need to figure out how this is actually going to work. How are you going to work it into your day? Are you even going to be able to? What will you do if your day goes to shit and you have absolutely NO time during the week to get there? Be realistic, because those small goals you’re reaching will ultimately lead you to that big goal you have in mind.
3. We never figure out our WHY
If a “new year” is the only time you think about wanting to eat healthier and move more, you’re probably not doing it for the right reasons. A healthy lifestyle isn’t something that you can just start all of a sudden, it takes months, years, even decades of nourishment to truly live a consistent, healthy life. Setting one or two goals at the beginning of the year isn’t going to change your life as a whole. It’s a commitment to yourself in LIFE, not just in January. Figure out the exact reason why you want to change. How badly do you want it? How much are you willing to commit? Nothing worth having ever comes easy, so you still need to be able to put work and effort into it.
4. They inevitably give us a sense of failure
The moment we stop and realize we’re not living up to our expectations, we give up and throw the rest of the year away. “Well, I guess I’ll just next week, or next year” and those years never actually come. Making a resolution just because you know it’s what you should do, doesn’t mean you’re going to do it. So making a goal that isn’t relevant to what you actually want to achieve, is only going to give you the sensation of failing yourself and that you’re not good or strong enough to stick with something. The last thing we need is feeling like we failed, we’re hard enough on ourselves as it is!
5. Why wait?
There’s never a “good” time to start taking an initiative towards your health, but the time is always now. Waiting for a new year gives you a false sense of hope that just because we’re writing a new date on things, means you’re going to change everything else in your life. If I were you, I’d start thinking more along the lines of the ⅓ of the population that doesn’t make a resolution at all. Stop giving yourself restrictions, rules and regulations. Live your life to the fullest and you won’t have the need to make resolutions. Start today! Not because it’s January, but because you WANT to change.
by Primelife Admin | Oct 30, 2019 | Food Science, News
The new superfood? The new weight loss fix? What is apple
cider vinegar and why is everyone all about it?! I get a lot of questions from
patients asking “If I drink apple cider vinegar, will it help me lose weight?”
I always answer this question on the side of caution, only because it’s been
shown to help people lose weight in studies, but isn’t really studied enough to
say one or the other that it will do the trick. So if you want to know more
about apple cider vinegar (what it is, why it’s useful and how to consume it),
read on! I’ll be explaining all that and more to put the rumors to rest!
So first thing’s first; what the heck is apple cider
vinegar? Vinegar is made by converting sugars to alcohol with yeast, and then
converting the alcohol to acetic acid using bacteria. By bacteria, I mean the
good, gut-health inducing bacteria. In addition to the good bacteria, the
vinegar that’s made has high phenolic and flavonoid content which helps fight
free radicals (lowers cancer risk). Just to show it’s age, apple cider vinegar
was used as far back as 400BC as an antibiotic, a healing solution to treat
scurvy and pneumonia, upset stomach, and wound healing. It’s got A LOT of
health benefits, as long as you use it right!
Speaking of health benefits, why are people all of a sudden consuming
apple cider vinegar? Well of course there’s health benefits, but what are they
really? The first benefit is that it’s an antioxidant. Antioxidants help with
many things, one of them being cancer. Apple cider vinegar contains phytochemicals,
polyphenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids which are all antioxidants. They
can have positive affects on diseases such as cancer because they prevent free
radical formation (the cancer-causing cells). Not only does apple cider vinegar
provide you with great antioxidants, it can help with blood sugar as well.
In previous studies, consuming apple cider vinegar has been
shown to lower blood sugar levels after eating because it blocks some of the
starch digestion after a meal. Having less starch absorbed into the bloodstream
will keep blood sugar levels lower and also improve insulin sensitivity in
those with Diabetes. Not only does it help with blood sugar, but it’s also been
shown to help with lowering total cholesterol, LDL (bad cholesterol), and your
triglyceride levels. So not only can it help with blood sugar stability, but
also with heart health as well.
While health is obviously important, a lot of people have
been correlating apple cider vinegar to weight loss. I wasn’t sure why, so I
did the research to see what the hype was all about. The reason apple cider
vinegar has been linked with weight loss is because many people who would drink
it daily would start to lose weight. The most common speculation as to why is
because consuming it before a meal will promote satiety with meals and increase
the acetic acid level in your body (causing you to get fuller quicker).
I have to say this with emphasis: There is NOT enough
evidence out there to say that apple cider vinegar will make you lose weight!!
There has only been ONE study done in Japan to test this
theory. Participants in this study were split up into two groups; one that
would drink apple cider vinegar before each meal and the other group drank
water before each meal. The group that was drinking the vinegar did indeed lose
1-3 pounds over the course of the study, but as soon as they stopped the study
they gained their weight back. It did seem to help with fat utilization in the
body which is why people were losing weight. However, even with this study in
place, apple cider vinegar still isn’t the answer to weight loss. Is it
beneficial? Absolutely. But it’s not an answer for weight loss without also
increasing exercise and eating right in general.
Still interested in trying it out? I encourage you to! As I
said, it’s not a weight loss method, but still has many health benefits.
Something to consider is you want to make sure you’re getting the right type of
apple cider vinegar. There are many forms out there and you want to make sure
you’re using the right one. If you haven’t heard already, Bragg’s apple cider
vinegar is the most natural and best for you. It contains “the mother” which is
a murky, cloudy blob that sits in the bottle. The “mother” is beneficial
because it’s made up of strands of proteins, enzymes, probiotics and good
bacteria for your gut health. It can also help with immune support and
constipation. So when in doubt, always get an apple cider vinegar with “the
mother” in it. Otherwise, you won’t be getting all the benefits from it!
So you found the right stuff, but how do you consume it how
often? You need to be careful with apple cider vinegar because it’s extremely
acidic. If you take a straight shot of it, you can really do damage to your
esophagus and intestines. It can also break down the enamel on your teeth and
lower potassium levels ultimately affecting bone mineral density. It’s also
important to note that if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, it’s not
recommended to take it only because there is not enough evidence to be deemed
safe.
In order to ingest apple cider vinegar without compromising
your insides, you always want to dilute it into water. You might have heard
that people drink it with water, lemon, and cayenne or make their own cocktail
every morning. You can make up whatever fancy cocktail you want, but for every
ounce of apple cider vinegar, be sure to dilute it with 8oz water. Try this out
1-2x a day and see how you feel! Again, this may not be something you
necessarily “feel” but it’s promoting heart health, blood sugar stability,
lowering cancer risk, and satiety with meals which are all bonuses in my book!
As always, consult a doctor if you have any pre-existing
medical condition and you’re not sure if this is something you may benefit
from. While it may not be the new “superfood”, apple cider vinegar is
definitely something that can help us with gut health, heart health, and
overall health in general. Is it something I would suggest everyone do
immediately? Not necessarily, but I also wouldn’t rule it out. Everyone
benefits from things differently. My goal with this blog entry was to provide
more information on this topic and hopefully get people more educated about it!
I hope you enjoyed and now know more about apple cider vinegar than you did
yesterday!
