Holiday Gifts for Yourself: Part 1

December 6, 2011/in Fitness /by admin

Baby Thoughts The Holiday season brings opportunity for travel; do you have a fitness plan to navigate it in a happy and healthy manner? Plan to move your body and you will succeed when most people exercise the least – during the holidays and on the road. This blog will look at fitness strategies for the holidays. Part 2 will tackle strategies for travel.

Exercise is not a seasonal sport! Yet many people let their fitness regimes go by the wayside in late November and throughout December thinking that “the holidays are approaching and I am too busy, under pressure or distracted to work out.” What if we change this strategy to: “During this stressful time of year, I need my exercise more than ever.”

Next, pick and choose from the list of following strategies you feel you can best follow:

Pre-pay your December workouts. With a financial commitment, you may get to the gym more often.
Schedule something different or special during December. Take cross country ski or skating lessons. Plan and take an active vacation in early December and return home committed to continue a healthy focus into the holidays and New Year.
Plan a healthy holiday party. Focus on fitness and fun, not food. If there’s snow on the ground, meet friends and family for ice skating at a local outdoor rink, downhill skiing at a nearby ski resort or cross country skiing in a convenient park. In warmer climates meet at a park for a hike or walk or bike ride. If the weather is miserable move the party indoors for a ping pong tournament or dancing. Instead of post-party guilt and lethargy your guests will leave invigorated and thankful.
Practice healthy gift giving. Gift certificates for exercise equipment, clothes and footwear, massages, yoga classes, a day spa, a fitness club membership or a personal trainer all make thoughtful gifts. You may need to drop a few hints to your family and friends that you would love to receive fitness related presents.
Announce your healthy intentions ahead of time. Advise your relatives or friends of your plans to work out during their/your visit. They will be more understanding of your needs. Invite them join you!
Organize physically active outings for family and friends. Being Canadian, a game of shinny (pond hockey) comes to mind, or tobogganing or building a snowman or snow forts to have snowball fights. Plan a snowshoe trip to cut your own Christmas tree. In warmer climates schedule a walk along the seashore or an afternoon of horseback riding. Coordinate a leisurely bicycle ride. Besides benefiting everyone’s health, group exercise encourages talking, sharing and laughter.

It may be necessary to shift a date or two to accommodate everyone’s busy schedules, but do not skip your December exercise sessions entirely. They are likely to be the most necessary and most appreciated workouts of the year. With a little healthy planning, you can keep moving – and stay fit – 12 months a year.

Health and Happiness,

Cathy

The Silent Thief

November 30, 2011/in Fitness /by admin

You have heard it called “the silent thief”. You remember a friend whose mother or grandmother was never the same after breaking her hip because of it. You may even have been told that you are at risk yourself.

It is osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become thin and filled with holes (hence the “porous”), making them weaker and more prone to fracture. Osteoporosis is called the “silent thief” because bone is lost with no signs. You may not know that you have osteoporosis until a strain, bump, or fall causes a bone to break. Approximately one in four women and one in eight men are at risk of developing osteoporosis once they are over 50 years of age. More than 2 million Canadians are currently living with osteoporosis.

What to do? In the world of osteoporosis risk, there are things that you can change and things that you can’t. Know the risk factors: http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/bone/Osteoporosis/osteoporosis_ff.asp, address the things that you can change, don’t sweat the things you can’t and pursue a lifestyle that supports bone health.

One element of a lifestyle that supports bone health is physical activity just like we emphasis during our boot camp retreat here at Mountain Trek. Use it or loose it is our adage. Bone is living tissue that remodels itself continually. As we go about our day, our bones are being gradually broken down and rebuilt by our bodies. How strong a bone is built depends in part, on how strong it needs to be.

Bones that have to carry a load stay stronger, longer. If you do not subject your bones to the stress of weight-bearing activities, you will gradually lose bone mass. Just ask an astronaut. In the weightlessness of space, astronauts can lose as much bone density in one month as postmenopausal women lose in one year.

Rate of loss may be slower here on earth, but the same rule applies: if you don’t use your bones, they won’t stay strong.

So don’t let the thief in get our there and play. Seek activities that put stress on the bones; this encourages the body to lay down new bone during the remodeling process. Some of these activities include:

HIKING

RESISTANCE/WEIGHT TRAINING

YOGA

CIRCUIT TRAINING

DANCING

TENNIS

WALKING

CYCLING

Happy hiking….Cathy

Calorie Counting – why it’s so inaccurate

September 22, 2011/in Nutrition /by admin

Joanne Holden of the USDA’s Nutrient Data Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., reported to the Chicago Tribune that the USDA has the world’s largest database with information on 100 nutrients for over 7500 foods. The lab’s main purpose is to manage databases, including the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, the “gold standard” for nutritionists and the food industry. The USDA database of 100 nutrients is remarkably small compared to the thousands of nutrients, like antioxidants and phytochemicals, that we now know exist.

The sources of calorie counting

The caloric value of a food or a food component may be determined by measuring the heat of combustion of the food in a bomb calorimeter and then multiplying the heat of combustion by correction factors for incomplete digestion and incomplete oxidation of the food in the body. In about 1900, Wilbur Olin Atwater and his associates at the Connecticut (Storrs) Agriculture Experiment Station, used this approach to determine the caloric values of a number of food components (i.e., the protein, fat, and carbohydrate isolated from various foods). They determined factors appropriate for individual foods or groups of foods, and they proposed the general caloric values of 4, 9 and 4 kcal per gram of dietary protein, fat, and carbohydrate respectively for application to the mixed American diet.

The conversion factors determined by Atwater and his associates (from 1900) remain in use today, and caloric values of foods are calculated using these factors. The caloric values reported in food composition tables are commonly estimated by first determining the approximate composition of each food (i.e., the water, protein, fat, carbohydrate, and ash contents) and then by multiplication of the amount of each energy-yielding component by the appropriate conversion factor.

The correction factors for caloric values do not account for variation of individual absorption, for the influences of an individuals intestinal bacteria on absorption (these change depending on history of travel, antibiotics and present diet), for variation in nutrient density of today’s foods compared to foods from those used in the Atwater research of 1900, for the exclusion of the several thousand nutrients that were unknown in 1900 but that were inadvertently included in the absorbable calories formula and really should not have been.

Consider that the formula for determining calories in food was determined in 1900. Nutrition density of foods was higher in 1900, when food was certainly less processed, more organic and more local (the USDA itself reported in 1999 that the nutrient densities of foods in America was half that of the 1950’s). The number of known nutrients to science in 1900 was fewer than 16 (current science accepts several thousand nutrients and the USDA lab in Maryland is slowly increasing its nutrient database to just over 100). Recent metabolic studies and observations, largely supported by and stimulated by blood sugar measurements within the world’s diabetic population, show great variation in how humans absorb food energy, or calories. These combined factors lead to questioning how accurate, or more appropriately, how inaccurate the common calorie counts of food are.

Moreover, both meal timing and meal composition are steadily gaining in acceptance and validity in helping determine how efficiently (or inefficiently) calories are used by the body. Ultimately, the validity and usefulness of calorie counts is questionable and certainly individual when compared to other lifestyle factors.

Take Your Mind to the Gym

May 27, 2011/in Relaxation /by admin

Living a healthy and happy centered life doesn’t happen without reinforcing our beliefs. Take your mind to the gym by exercising the power of positive thinking. Here’s a simple exercise. Maybe you’ve tried it before. Maybe you’ve wondered if you should try it. Give it a try. We feel pretty confident about this method. Write a few inspirational quotes on sticky notes and place them on your bathroom mirror or car dashboard or around your computer monitor or office desk. Read these messages out loud to anchor them into both the Conscious and Unconscious parts of your Brain.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Kirk’s Detox Tips: Spring Clean Your Body

May 6, 2011/in Nutrition /by admin

Detoxing is the body’s way of spring cleaning. With winter well behind us, the sun warming our bodies and fresh food growing, the planet and our bodies are in line for renewal. The following are tips for supporting toxin release and making the most of a cleanse or just a great way to invigorate your body.

Deep Breathing

This helps release built up_CO2 and waste products. A simple and effective way to practice deep breathing is through cardio focused exercise like hiking or biking and doing yoga.

Liver Cleansing

Cleansing is all about detoxifying our bodies with special focus on the liver and fat soluble toxic chemicals. By upping our intake of bitter green leafy veggies like mustard greens, collard greens and kale. Cleansing is also supported by taking Vitamin E supplements and minimizing or eliminating alcohol.

Kidney Support

Fluids are tremendously important for detox. Offering the kidney support for cleansing water soluble chemicals can easily be done by consuming 10×8 oz. glasses of filtered water per day (minimum) as well as organic unsweetened cranberry juice which helps emulsify fats and is a powerful antioxidant.

Lymphatic Drainage

We can do things to help boost our immunity and shuttle fluids and fats through the lymphatic system. Remove bio waste products and support weight loss through massage, yoga, and dry brushing the skin.

Sweat

Sweating is a natural way to release toxins through the skin and can be accomplished by intense exercise, infra red sauna and relaxing soaks in mineral rich hot springs like Ainsworth Hot Springs located down the road from our main lodge!

Healthy Bowel Movements

Releasing waste is essential. Support this process by drinking lots of water, digesting fiber rich foods, and maintaining intestinal flora with probiotics.

By employing these simple practices on a regular basis you’ll quickly discover a shift in your overall health and feel your energy and vitality return.

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Hiking Tips & Techniques For Fitness

April 27, 2011/in Hiking /by admin

Working together Here are a few hiking techniques to practice in your new light hiking boots or trail runners…if you wish to prepare before joining us!

How to walk in the Woods at our hiking spa

It is said that ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’, but what if that step is a steep muddy trail or crossing a moss covered log fording a melt water creek? Hiking in the woods is not always as simple as it sounds. Sure, if you want to lace up the sneakers and hike around Central Park it may be that simple, but to truly define and refine hiking you need to start with your footwork. Proper walking techniques while on the trail can increase endurance, reduce fatigue, and lessen the chance of injury which over all will make that thousand miles quite a bit easier. When we walk on the sidewalks of our hometowns we generally travel over even concrete, reasonably graded hills, uniform staircases and level walkways; all clear of dirt, sand and mud. On the trail none of these ideals exist, so we need to change the way we approach trails and use our minds as well as our feet.

Hiking Tips

Steep uphill:

The biggest mistake people make when climbing the hills is to get up on their toes. Keep your heels down, this will stretch out your calf muscles and Achilles tendons, reducing cramping and strains and it will keep all or most of your boots soles on the ground where they belong and more sole = more traction. Slow your pace by shortening your steps, don’t try to race up the hill, you’ll just tire quicker. Think of it as dropping your car into low gear, more power to climb, for the steepest hills you almost want to walk heel to toe.

Steep downhill:

As with uphill, shorten your stride, slow the pace. Bend your knees slightly to lower your center of gravity downward but not back. Too much leaning back will see your feet sliding out because your weight will be behind you, not over your boots where it should be. Done correctly you’ll find the quadriceps or upper leg muscles taking the brunt of the load, big muscles = a stable balanced descent. Sometimes it seems turning your feet at an angle to the trail will help but this will only increase your chances of rolling over on your ankle. Keep your toes pointed down for the best grip and stability. Most hiking boots are designed to have dirt and mud build up behind ridges on the soles and thus work best pointing straight ahead.

Off-angle or Traverses:

Often a trail paralleling a slope or ridgeline will angle down on one side. Usually leaning the upper body a little more over the uphill foot can help but for some awkward sections it may be easier to turn the feet sideways so the toes point down the off angle and then sidestep the trail for a short distance. This extreme is rare and only for serious odd angles, washouts or more often foot bridges and boardwalks that may have settled on one side.

Rocky (uneven) Trail/ Crossings:

When rocks and tree roots stick up out of the trail it is once again time to slow down. A little more care and focus will see you through. Keep eyes focused a few feet ahead of you and look through or past obstacles, looking at them will usually promote walking into them. The same can be said for log and bridge crossings, focus on the log a few feet ahead and walk with an even pace, don’t look down into the water as it can cause disorientation. Lastly, cross one at a time, two or more people on a log can cause it to bounce or sway.

The Fun Theory

April 26, 2011/in Fitness /by admin

Volkswagen, that clever German car manufacturer who brought us the Bug, is now peddling straight up, joyous, no strings attached, fun. Their fun theory is a clever marketing campaign that has nothing to do with their cars, and rather focuses on ways that people can add more fun to their lives.

The fun theory is based on the simple premise that fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. As such, the peeps at Volkswagen made a video that pits taking the escalator against taking the stairs. By making the stairs a fun experience they were able to move people away from the escalator.

Now that kind of change of behaviour reinforces exactly what James Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minn, has based a study in obesity on. The study examines how much people move and how much they don’t.

Dr. Levine investigated why do some people who consume the same amount of food as others gain more weight? What he found out was that the people who didn’t gain weight were unconsciously moving around more. The study prevented participants from actually exercising but the participants found other ways to move their bodies like taking the stairs, trotting down the hall to the water cooler, doing chores at home or simply fidgeting. On average, the subjects who gained weight sat two more hours per day than those who hadn’t.

When sitting, electrical activity in the muscles drop — “the muscles go as silent as those of a dead horse, leading to a cascade of harmful metabolic effects. Your calorie-burning rate immediately plunges to about one per minute, a third of what it would be if you got up and walked.

Read the full study at the NY Times

So find your fun and go do it! Get up from your desk and go fill your water bottle, take the stairs instead of the elevator, get out and dig in the garden. Whatever it is, just get out of your chair and do it. And if you’re having fun doing it, it’s likely that you’ll keep doing it. A sure way to increase your vitality, lose weight and be happy.

Kick Your Cravings to the Curb

April 10, 2011/in Nutrition /by admin

Cravings. We all get them. Those insidious little visits from our brains to our stomachs that beg for… chips! Or chocolate! Or cheese and some of those tasty crackers that I know are in the cupboard. And those cravings can be responsible for a lot of the sugar and empty calories we consume throughout the day. They’re persistent when they come sneaking around demanding to be satisfied, but they can be beaten!

Trim & Slim

Sugar has been directly linked to weight gain for both men and women. It is also the hidden culprit behind cravings. As we consciously change our diets and lessen the amount of sugars we consume, cravings too will subside.

Relax

One of the often overlooked causes of anxiety, panic attacks, and mood problems is imbalanced blood sugar. As sugar levels swing high and low, the body blasts out adrenaline (epinephrine) and cortisol to balance blood sugar levels so the brain doesn’t starve of glucose. By balancing sugars levels, in this case by limiting the amount we consume, adrenal hormones adrenalin and cortisol levels don’t bounce us all over the map. This also allows the adrenals to rest and lessens anxiety due to high levels of adrenaline circulating the body.

Panic attacks and anxiety are very common especially when blood glucose (sugar) levels are low, since it’s the adrenaline and cortisol that raise levels to safe levels. As we eliminate sugar from our diets, we eliminate the spikes of adrenaline and cortisol that counter the sugar crash.

Educate

Sugar comes in the obvious form of refined sugar and hidden as fructose in many prepared foods and as starch in carbs like potatoes, pasta and bread. Even high carb grains and legumes possess starches that break down to sugar. Sugar is present in everything from ketchup (each tbsp packs about 1 tsp of sugar or 2 cubes worth) to tomato soup (the whole can contains the equivalent of 7.5 tsp or 15 cubes worth) and of course muffins (which pack on average, 10 tsp or 20 cubes worth). It’s important to read labels and educate yourself about where you’re getting your sugar. Maybe you’re not a junk food person, but maybe you’re picking up sugar from other sources you didn’t realize contained it.

You can find out more about sugar consumption and nutritional advice from Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD in her article Nutrition Guidelines: Are You Eating Too Much Sugar?

It takes a little bit of commitment and some preparedness to do battle with sugar and your cravings but they can be beaten. So here are a few tips to keep you on the road to healthy eating and kick those cravings to the curb once and for all.

Replace your cravings with healthier food. Gotta have a snack? Grab some baby carrots or an apple, maybe some strawberries. Fruits and veggies are low in fat and generally lower in calories than meat and junk food.

When you feel a craving coming on between meals, wait 10 minutes. Most cravings last only a few minutes and then fade.

Replace your craving with an activity to occupy your mind. We of course recommend a hike but take the dog for a walk, dig in the garden or just get out of the house and run some errands.

Just don’t buy that stuff! Don’t bring junk food or other sugary foods into your home. If you don’t have quick access to it, it’s likely you won’t eat it.

Read the label. Educate yourself about the food you’re consuming and what it contains. You’ll be surprised what you find!

Use alternative sweeteners. When cooking, baking or making coffee, replace refined sugar with natural sweeteners like agave syrup, maple syrup or honey.

The Good News Is…

March 17, 2011/in Fitness /by admin

As hikers it’s pretty obvious how important our knees are to us. Everything from proper hiking posture to using trekking poles to strength training, helps to keep knees healthy and ensures our ability to hike for many years to awe inspiring peaks and places.

It was affirming to read the article from the American Council of Sports Medicine, which provides strong evidence that physical activity is beneficial to knee joint health.

As it turns out, exercise affects each part of the knee differently, which helps explain why there have been conflicting reports for so long.

Happy knees like to move so keep getting those 10,000 steps in a day and do your strength training. Spring and hiking season are just around the corner!

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