Are you suffering from holiday food guilt?

Black Friday. Not only is it the single biggest shopping day of the year, it's also one of the busiest days at Flatiron Athletic Club, the gym I work at in Boulder. There was a line to get in at 8 a.m.,class attendance was approximately 150% higher than normal, and I had clients begging me for personal training appointments.

These are all classic signs of "food guilt." The gastronomical crimes of yesterday must be avenged! The weight room seemed to transform into a confessional booth as I overheard members fess up to glutunous consumptionstory of pie, bottomless glasses of wine, and eating to the point of feeling ill. There was a sense of desparation in the air as people frantically moved from one exercise to the next, hoping to reach the end of the exercise rosary by noon.

So how can we deal with the inevitable food guilt of the holiday season? The obvious answer is to avoid over-eating in the first place, and here are some quick tips for how to accomplish this:

1. Limit your alcohol intake. The true dietary downfall of booze is not so much the booze themselves (though mixed drinks can really pack a big calorie punch) but the poor food choices we make after a few drinks. Let's face it, you're much more likely to justify three desserts when you're tipsy.

2. Drink water. Be sure your body is not mistaking thirst for hunger.

3. Make a date with your family to go on a walk after dinner. Studies have shown that when people know they have to move after eating, they are much less likely to overeat.

4. Don't eat dishes you don't like. It sounds like a no-brainer, but somehow we always feel like we just have to eat Aunt Mary's sweet potato casserole or else she'll be offended. Politely decline the dishes you aren't interested in, and allocate your calories towards treats you really enjoy.

5. Eat slowly and enjoy your food! Don't be the human garbage disposal. You'll miss out on all the great flavor, and you're more likely to overeat if you haven't been paying attention to what's going into your mouth.

Stay happy and healthy during the holidays!

The best winter cardio workout is.....

Snowshoeing. That's right, the simple act of walking through snow while wearing funny shoes can actually burn lots of calories. For a 150 pound person, snowshoeing burns approximately 500 calories an hour. That comes close to running, which burns about 600 calories an hour. If you add in the intangible joy of swishing through fresh snow, soaking up the gorgeous bucolic surroundings, and chatting it up with a few friends while walking through snow.....well, snowshoeing ranks right up there with the "best of" list of winter cardio exercises.

A good pair of snowshoes can be purchased at a pretty economical price. Amazon.com offers some great options- Tubbs, Atlas, Redfeather, and TSL are all great brands to look at. If you aren't quite up for the investment of snowshoes this season, start with a $20 pair of Yaktrax. These nifty little devices fit directly over your running shoes and give you great traction through the snow. They are not, however, water proof nor nearly as durable as snowshoes.

If you happen to live near a mountainous area, check out active.com for some great snowshoeing events. Nothing will get your heart rate pounding faster than the exhilaration of a 5k or 10k running through fresh powder!

Happy Winter!

Sneak preview of my book "Gluten Free Fitness"!

Many of you know that I've been working on a book titled Gluten Free Fitness (or The Gluten Free Athlete...I can't decide) and I've spent the past 4 days on retreat in Keystone with the express purpose of writing, writing, writing. And while mucho writing has indeed transpired, so has mucho recipe experimentation. The process of spending hours in the kitchen has actually been quite restorative, though I must admit that the results have not always been superior. I've tried several different recipes from different cookbooks, and tweeked them here and there to make them my own, all with varying degrees of success.

Here is one of the home runs:

Gluten free, dairy free pizza with grape tomatoes, fresh basil, and pepperoni


Preheat oven to 350.

For the crust:

1 1/2 C almond flour (I use hulled almond meal/flour by Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Stir these ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk together 1 T grapeseed oil and 1 large egg in a smaller bowl.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a chewy-looking dough is formed.

Allow to sit for 10 minutes (this is ESSENTIAL!).

Spread 1 T margarine (I use Earth Balance, it's dairy free and vegan)on a cookie sheet and then place dough mixture on top of it. Using your hands, press the mixture into a thin pizza crust approx 10" in diameter and 1/4" thick.

Top with a pre-made pizza sauce of your choice (I use MuirNew pizza sauce and it was delicious), then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese (Try Daiya brand. It's dairy free and melts just like real cheese)

Finally, place 5-6 slices of Applegate Farms pepperoni slices in concentric circles, then top with 6-7 leaves of fresh basil and 8-10 chopped grape tomatoes.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serves 2-4, depending on how hungry you are.

I had friends over for dinner tonight, and they loved this crust recipe.
Hopefully you will love it too!

Getting a beach bod while boozing- is it possible?

Happy Memorial Day! We spend this national holiday honoring those who have come and gone, and we do it by taking the day off work, eating City Market potato salad, and drinking way too many beers. Makes perfect sense to me.

As I was completing my 6 mile jog through the city park this morning, I marveled at the number of fellow runners (way to be motivated on your day off!) out and about, and I also marveled at the fact that the park was packed at 9 a.m. with groups of people firing up the community grills and cracking open 40 ounce cans of beer. At 9 a.m.
This, my fellow patriots, is truly the American way.

The juxtaposition really struck me: I was running, they were drinking. I was burning calories, they were consuming. But wait! I drink alcohol, so far be it from me to judge or throw stones. The true debate that arose in my head was not "to drink or not to drink", but rather "can you still have a rockin bod while throwin back the booze?". Alcohol consumption really has the potential to derail a diet. After all, that enormous piece of chocolate cake seems like a REALLY good idea after two martinis. Right? And sleeping in the morning after a night of boozing instead of going to the gym seems like an even better idea. You can see where this is going...it's a self-perpetuating cycle of consuming too many empty calories from booze, making poor food choices as a result, and then feeling like crap the next day and not working off the extra calories you just consumed.

So what's a wine-loving, cosmo-appreciating fitness fanatic to do? The answer is simple: count your booze calories, and stop after one drink. How do I know this works? Because I do it on a regular basis. I love wine, and I'm not talking about a school girl crush here. Red wine and I have a long-standing, devoted relationship based on mutual respect and a sharp awareness of each others weaknesses. We co-exist, and each party remains happy in the end.

My best advice for how to enjoy a tasty beverage without paying for it in pounds can be summarized as follows:

1. Avoid fruity, complicated drinks. Anything that has 1 shot of liquor and 5 other mixers is an absolutely no-no. This includes margs.
2. Drink at least 20 ounces of water before your first glass of alcohol. Often times people make the mistake of trying to hydrate with wine. This never works.
3. Eat a handful of nuts or a few slices of avocado before you start drinking. The fats will help stabilize your blood sugar, which usually spikes sharply with alcohol intake.
4. Stop drinking early. Set a cut-off time for yourself and stick to it. If your last glass of beer is at 9 p.m., you're much more likely to actually make that 7 a.m. workout the next morning.

And finally....count your calories!!! Here is a link to a great article called "The Skinny on Alcohol" and it includes a detailed chart of how many calories are in drinks.

http://www.lifescript.com/Body/Diet/Lose-weight/The_Skinny_on_Alcohol.aspx

Cheers!
Allison

It's getting hot out there...tips for staying hydrated during outdoor summer activities.

Do you drink enough water? There's a strong likelihood that the answer is no. In fact, chronic dehydration is something I observe in about 70% of my clients. It's easy to see why, since most people who are chronically dehydrated don't even feel thirsty, yet their bodies are literally dying of thirst. Lack of water in the body can cause or exacerbate all kinds of nasty conditions: insomnia, allergies, headaches, lethargy, mood swings, and even the dreaded inability to lose weight. For those of you concerned with athletic performance, dehydration has been shown to drastically decrease both performance during an event, and recovery time afterwards.

So here's the big question: how much water should you be drinking? Most medical books recommend the equivalent of half your body weight in ounces. Example: you weigh 150 lbs, therefore you should drink 75 ounces of water daily. However, this is the recommendation for SEDENTARY people. If you exercise at all, you'll need to replace the additional fluid lost through perspiration. Figuring out how much water to drink during exercise is a bit more complicated...it depends on how hot the air temp is, how humid it is, and most importantly how much you tend to sweat. Some people just aren't heavy sweaters, while others practically spray sweat from their pores simply walking up stairs.

The American College of Sports Medicine has published a very informative position paper on nutrition and hydration needs for athletes. Here is the link to the full article:
http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&SECTION=Media_Referral_Network&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=8811

And here is the paragraph on fluids:

"Athletes should drink enough fluid to balance their fluid losses. Two hours before
exercise 400 to 600 mL (14 to 22 oz) of fluid should be consumed, and during exercise 150 to 350 mL (6 to 12 oz)of fluid should be consumed every 15 to 20 min depending on tolerance. After exercise the athlete should drink adequate
fluids to replace sweat losses during exercise. The athlete needs to drink at least 450 to 675 mL (16 to 24 oz)of fluid for every pound (0.5 kg) of body weight lost during exercise."

For all of you Boulder/Denver people reading this, keep in mind that higher altitudes also require additional fluids, so add a few more ounces to the recommendations above. Bottom line is this: it's going to be a hot one this summer, and you want to perform your best and feel good during your outdoor activities. Do your body a favor and make sure it's well-hydrated.

Happy drinking!

P.S. My personal recommendation for a great electrolyte replacement drink is "Heed" made by Hammer. Buy it online at www.hammer-nutrition.com

My super secret absolutely incredible recipe for vegan black bean burgers!

I've shared this recipe with a few clients over the past 2 weeks, and the feedback has been resoundingly positive. My carnivorous husband has requested them on nights his guy friends come to visit- they MUST be good!

Vegan black bean burgers:

1 C black beans (cooked and drained)
1 C garbanzo beans (cooked and drained)
2 C cooked rice
1/4 C applesauce (can sub 2 egg whites if desired)
1 T olive oil
1 T soy sauce
1 T dried thyme
1 T fresh parsley
1/4 C grated carrots
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a blender until it looks like chunky slop. Form into cookie-size patties (I scoop them directly into the pan with a spoon) in a greased skillet and cook for 4-5 min on each side. Add a slice of rice cheese during the final 30 seconds, put it on a toasted bun and you have perfection. I like to add sauteed onions and mushrooms and a dollop of guac.

Makes about 8 burgers. Approx 150 cal per burger.

Enjoy!

If I workout a lot, I don't have to watch my diet, right?

Boy, I wish I had a dime for every time I heard this question. I'd probably be close to retirement. Unfortunately, the answer to this question is a loud and resounding "No".

Diet and nutrition are a critical part of any wellness program, regardless of how much you may be working out. Your diet not only fuels your workouts, but it also repairs your sore muscles and helps you recover quickly so that you can workout again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.....But most importantly, your diet nurishes your body and provides micro and macronutrients that are absolutely vital to health and well-being. Bad fuel=bad performance. You wouldn't put sand in the gas tank of your BMW would you?

Additionally, your diet is a key component to weight loss, even if you're working out at a high intensity level. It's a simple mathematic equation: calories in vs. calories out. Let me give you a common example.

*You are a 40 year old female weighing 150 lbs. Weight loss goal is 10 lbs. Your approximated daily caloric burn without exercise is 1,600 calories. You work out at a high intensity level for 1 hour, burning approximately 600-700 calories. Before your workout, you have a Lunabar for 180 cal. After the workout you down a protein shake at the gym that has protein powder, skim milk, fruit concentrate, and peanut butter. Approximate calories=600. You then continue to eat your normal diet of 1,600 calories a day. That brings your total calorie consumption to 2,380. Total caloric burn = 2,300 (1,600 baseline plus 700 extra burned during exercise). The net result? You just consumed 30 extra calories DESPITE your hard-earned calorie burning workout.

It's easy to see how we can all make honest mistakes with caloric consumption. The hard truth, however, is that calories DO matter. If you consume more than you burn, you won't reach your weight loss goals. End of discussion, no exceptions.

The take home lesson is simply this:

Yes, workout is very important for both your physical and mental health, but your diet is just as important when you're looking at the bigger picture of fitness.

Welcome to the Athletic Edge blog!

Welcome to the inaugural blog of The Athletic Edge. As many of you know, The Athletic Edge is one person, me, Allison Westfahl. You can read my complete bio on the "About" section of my website: www.athletic-edge.com. My goal for creating a blogspot is two-fold:

1. To share new knowledge and information about the vast world of health and fitness with my clients, friends, family, and anyone interested in learning about wellness.

2. To provide a forum in which to share successes, struggles, questions, and comments that arise in the field of personal training.

The format will be fairly loose, so please feel free to comment, ask questions, make requests for topics, or just send out a friendly "good job" to everyone who is involved in the relentless pursuit of health and happiness!

To good health,

Allison