Be Fit Fitness Blog

What you should know about energy bars.

Personally, I do not buy energy bars. I do not like all the questionable ingredients that can be found in the energy bars and some of them I find to be very rubbery, gummy - very hard on my teeth! I prefer to use protein powders.

In the video below, Kim Lyons does an excellent job in talking about energy bars. She looks at what she does and does not like about energy bars. She does this in sometimes a very humorous way. She looks at all the ingredients on the packages of various energy bars including ingredients with long and complicated names, the high sugar content or the sugar alternatives and sneaky ingredients.

If you do like the convenience of energy bars, she does recommend a couple: Larabar Fruit
and Gnu Bar

She also discusses the natural ingredients that energy bars should contain.

A recent and new study has concluded that drinking water before your meals will help you to lose weight. The reasoning is that water will make you feel fuller and consequently you will not have to eat a lot. This is an obvious conclusion, but do we really need a study to tell us that? I mean whenever I feel hunger I’ll drink a cup of water and the hunger disappears for a while or a healthier way of satisfying your temporary hunger cravings is to eat an apple. An apple tends to make you feel full and for quite a long time.

After reading this article, you can try drinking water and see how much weight you will lose or a week, month… but I suggest a healthier and more nutritious alternative – Eat More Raw Vegetables. Vegetables tend to make you feel fuller because they are full of natural juices consequently filling you up faster and causing you to eat less. Along with the fullness effect of raw vegetables, you will consume more anti oxidants which are vital to your immune system and your overall health and well-being.

Forget about buying weight loss pills. They are manufactured artificially and a total waste of money. Plus you really don’t know what is in them, what long-term negative health benefits they will have! By eating more vegetables, especially the homegrown veggies, your body will benefit in the long-run.

Of course the same is true with fruits. Substitute empty calorie snacks with fruits.

To conclude, eating more raw vegetables during meals will help you to lose weight and benefit your long-term health. And I don’t need a study to prove this because it’s just common sense! Our ancestors subsisted on fruits, vegetables and meat for thousands of years and they did not have the same obesity problems that North American society faces today, but of course they also tended to be more active too! And herein is the key to effective and natural weight loss: proper nutrition and exercise!

For those of you who need help with a natural weight loss or healthy nutrition plan along with an exercise program, I recommend Kim Lyons’ Fast Track to Fat Loss Program.

Are you trying to get at least 25 grams of fiber a day? You’ve probably heard about all the health benefits of fiber from improving your heart to your digestive health, but did you know that fiber can help you lose also fat? Here’s how…

Fiber has the ability to expand up to 10 times its weight and size in the stomach making you feel full and satisfied for a longer period of time.

Fiber helps not only by satisfying your appetite, but also by slowing down calorie absorption and keeping your energy levels up.

Here are some easy, quick and nutritious ways to get more fiber into your diet:

Whole grain oatmeal is great sources of fiber and complex carbohydrates. If you haven’t had steel cut oats try adding this type of oatmeal for even more fiber.

Chili (vegetarian or turkey or lean beef), baked beans and lentil soup are excellent sources of fiber.

Add dried beans, such as kidney beans, in main dishes as well as soups and salads.

Use brown rice, millet or kashi instead of white rice. If have ever looked at the health benefits of white rice, it has virtually no vitamins or nutrients or any nutritious benefits other than filling you up.

Add vegetables to your meals whenever possible.

Try adding a little dried oatmeal or wheat germ to your protein shakes. It sounds strange, but it actually adds a good texture and it tastes just as good.

Of course there are also various fiber supplements and fiber supplements for weight loss, too.

Original article by Kim Lyons

Here is an article about what you should know about fats and how in moderation it is vital to your health.

Fat is a vital component for building body tissue and cells and it aids in the absorption of important vitamins and other nutrients. So we all need some fat in our diet.

The problem occurs when we eat too much fat because it is very calorie-dense. In fact, it has more than twice the number calories than protein or carbohydrates. Carbohydrates and protein have 4 calories per gram, whereas fat has 9 calories. So you consume a lot more calories per volume of food with foods that are high in fat.

For example, a tablespoon of peanut butter has almost 100 calories, whereas a tablespoon of low fat cottage cheese, which is also a great source of protein, has just 12 calories. Or, Protein Freeze, which is almost all protein, has just 20 calories!

Don’t get me wrong, nuts and peanut butter are healthy foods and they are excellent sources of good fat but as you now know, you must burn more calories than you consume to lose fat. And if you’re eating lots of foods that are high in fat, it’ll be tough to create this caloric deficit.

Like protein, dietary fat helps to slow down the digestion of carbohydrates, so there’s less of an affect on insulin (blood sugar) levels. 

For example, if you eat carbohydrates by themselves, they will cause spikes in your insulin, but like protein, if you combine some healthy fat with your carbs, such as peanut butter or sunflower seeds or almonds with your fruit, the fat will help minimize this adverse affect.

So, while fat does help slow down the insulin response when combined with carbohydrates, like protein does, it needs to be eaten in moderation so you can continue to burn more calories than you consume so you can lose fat.

So to summarize what you should remember… Healthy sources of fat are beneficial, but because they’re calorie-dense, be sure to eat them in moderation or it will be tough to create the necessary caloric deficit for fat loss.

By Kim Lyons

This article looks at the different types of fats found in food. It examines the fats that you want to limit, the fats that you should avoid altogether and the healthier fats to look for to include in your diet in small amounts.

Fats that you should avoid

Hydrogenated fats, also called trans fats, have been in the news a lot over the last few years. These are fats that have been chemically altered in such a way that your body cannot use them properly, so they’re terrible for you. They are found in solid margarines and many commercially baked goods, including cookies, crackers, doughnuts and pastries, chips and other snack foods, and many deep-fried foods.

Since these are mostly all processed carbohydrates as well, and contain the unhealthiest kinds of fat with no benefit, we recommend avoiding such foods as much as possible.

Fats to limit

Saturated fats come from animal products and you want to limit these. Animal sources offer some of the highest quality protein and even the leanest varieties will have some fat.

Stick with extra lean varieties of meat, low or non-fat dairy and just one egg yolk a day, for example, so that you get high-quality protein, but not too much saturated fat and not too many calories.

The fats to look for (in moderation)

For the fat your body needs, look for unsaturated fats which contain essential fatty acids (EFAs). Seeds, nuts, nut butters, olives, olive and flaxseed oil as well as avocados all are excellent sources. Some kinds of cold water fish, like salmon and anchovies, also contain unsaturated fats. In moderation, they’re a great choice too.

Remember, it’s good to have small portions of these types of foods each day, but because they’re so high in calories - 9 calories per gram - make sure that you eat only small amounts.

For example, a quarter cup of nuts and some fruits or raw veggies make a good snack. Protein Freeze is made with a little peanut butter so you get lots of high-quality protein and a little healthy fat as well. Or try some sunflower seeds or a few olives or a couple of avocado slices on your salad as a tasty way to add healthy fat to your diet.

Key points to remember

Limit saturated fats by choosing extra lean and low fat animal products.

Try to totally avoid hydrogenated fats (also called trans fats), those that have been chemically altered in commercially baked goods, margarine and other processed foods.

Choose unsaturated fats in small amounts, such as seeds, nuts, nut butters, olives, olive and flaxseed oil, and avocados.

Alright, I hope this clears up any confusion on what types of fats to limit and avoid and which types to look for.

Article by Kim Lyons of Fast Track to Fat Loss

Protein plays an important role in our body functions including primarily building and repairing muscle tissue, but it also plays an important role in fat loss. There are many sources of foods with high protein content including many cereals these days, so be sure to check the packaging and the protein content of the types of foods that you are eating.

This short article by Kim Lyons of Fast Track to Fat Loss will briefly explain how protein can aid in weight loss or the potential to gain weight. It’s very important to balance all meals and snacks with carbohydrate-rich and protein-rich foods together. A meal with carbohydrates alone is problematic because glucose levels shoot up and then crash down. This can leave you feeling tired, hungry and weak and it gives your body an easy opportunity to convert that meal to fat.

When protein is included, however, you will not only stay full longer, but glucose levels will stay more consistent, your metabolism will work more efficiently and you will feel energized for a longer period.

Carbohydrates are digested in about two hours, but proteins take much longer to digest. When the two are eaten together, protein slows down the digestion of the carbohydrates and the energy from carbs is released more slowly.

In addition, eating carbohydrates with protein means that more carbohydrates will now be used as energy, sparing the protein which can be used for their primary function to build and repair muscle tissues.

So, for maximum fat loss, make sure that you include a complete protein source at each snack and meal. All of these reasons above are exactly the Protein Freeze product was created. It contains 22 grams of very high quality protein with only 2 grams of fat and sugar! It tastes absolutely amazing and goes so well with oatmeal, fruit and a variety of other healthy carbohydrate foods.

I am going to discuss how often you should eat by looking at why eating 4 to 6 smaller meals more frequently (about 2.5 to 3 hours apart) is better than 3 large meals and why eating fewer calories at night is ideal.

Eating a large meal increases the opportunity for fat cells to extract fat from the blood and therefore, grow bigger. Fat cells can actually adapt to a pattern of large, infrequent meals by becoming more efficient at storing fat.

In addition, a 2 to 3 meal-a-day pattern causes the body to face long stretches without food. By the time lunch or dinner rolls around, you’re so hungry that you’re more likely to make unwise food choices and overeat. Eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day, not only prevents you from making unwise food choices, it helps you to feel more energized and satisfied and it keeps your metabolism revved up throughout the day.

I understand though that from time-to-time you might have a sweet tooth, and in this case we have the perfect solution – our product is called the “Protein Freeze.” It has a taste and texture similar to ice cream (it’s so good!), yet 5 times as much protein and very little fat, sugar and calories. It’s an amazing product and you can learn more about it at Protein Freeze.

Besides eating smaller meals more frequently, try to plan so that you don’t eat your largest meal late at night. The body’s metabolic rate has a natural cycle of highs and lows, peaking late in the day and dropping to its lowest level during sleep.

So it makes sense to avoid putting a large meal into your system 2 to 3 hours before bedtime when your metabolic rate is beginning to slow down. If you do feel hungry after this time, you don’t need to go to bed hungry, just eat something very low in calories and in a small portion. Protein and fibrous carbohydrates (vegetables) are the very best types of food to eat at night because they’re so low in calories and have almost no adverse affect on blood sugar levels.

It’s important to note, just because you eat at night, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll gain fat. If you’re still in a caloric deficit, whether you eat at night or not, you’ll still likely lose fat but eating less at night is an easy way to keep calories under control, especially since these extra calories aren’t needed at night before you go to bed because you’ll be inactive while you’re sleeping. Make sense?

Okay to summarize, here are my key points to remember:

1. Eat small, frequent meals (4 to 6 meals/day) about 2.5 to 3 hours apart.

2. Try to eat fewer calories later in the day which can easily be accomplished by focusing on protein and/or vegetables.

By Kim Lyons – Fast Track to Fat Loss, BS, CPT

By Kim Lyons

I want to spend a little time explaining how you can enjoy what I like to call ‘cheat meals’ without sabotaging your progress. I’ll be discussing caloric deficit, caloric intake, calorie balance, caloric budget with respect to eating and losing weight.

Junk food doesn’t automatically make you fat. It’s the extra calories in these junk foods that make you gain fat. For example, many people think eating pizza or a cheeseburger or chocolate equals getting fat. It doesn’t. There’s not a cause and effect relationship where ‘junk food’ automatically turns into fat. Eating too many calories equals gaining fat and because junk food is very high in calories it often leads to fat gain, but that’s the only correlation.

We suggest that you limit these types of high calorie foods, or at least make healthier changes to them such as asking the waiter to go light on the cheese or hold the mayo and substitute a salad for fries because they’re very high calorie foods and they make creating that ‘caloric deficit’ (burning more than you eat) a challenge.

But to say that when you eat one of these foods they’ll cause you to automatically gain fat or even prevent you from losing fat, that just isn’t true! The bottom line is that depriving yourself completely of your favorite foods is a great way to make yourself miserable and certainly cause you to fall off your diet progress very quickly.

And this is the reason so many diets fail. They don’t teach you how to strike a balance. We feel that you can allow yourself your favorite foods as long as you acknowledge that calories do count and you must obey the law of ‘calorie balance’ (calories in vs. calories out) and plan accordingly to consistently create this calorie deficit.

This means that if you really want to go out and have a cheese-burger with your friends, for example, then you should follow these 4 easy steps:

1. Take account for that in the rest of your meals that day and make a conscious effort to eat a little smaller portions and/or eat foods lower in calories, such as lean complete proteins and fibrous carbohydrates (veggies).

2. Be a little more active throughout the day as well. Whether it’s an extra 10 minutes of cardio or simply playing with your kids, the more calories you burn throughout the day, the better.

3. Make some simple changes to that meal so that you can still enjoy it, but don’t go so overboard that you sabotage your progress. An example of making simple changes to a traditionally high calorie meal is as follows: ordering a burger with no cheese and mayo, having a salad instead of fries, drinking water or diet soda instead of regular soda, and asking the waiter to box up half in advance. (We have lots of ideas like this for you at Fast Track to Fat Loss)

4. Get right back on track after that meal, right away. Allowing yourself a ‘cheat meal’ doesn’t mean that you can go crazy the rest of the weekend and then just start over on Monday.

Now, because you ate a few less calories than you normally do throughout the day and were a little more active … and because you made some simple, yet wise choices to your burger meal you may have ended up eating no more calories than you normally do.

So did that burger out with friends cause you to gain fat? Absolutely not because you planned wisely in advance and made wise choices to stay within your ‘caloric budget’ for the day. If you plan ahead and follow the above simple steps, you will achieve your weight loss goals, yet still enjoy yourself in life.

Speaking of cheating, did you know that your average glass of beer, wine or cocktail has more than 200 calories? That’s just one glass! You could eat 20 large bags of spinach and not consume that many calories!

Learn more about nutrition and effective weight loss at
Fast Track to Fat Loss.

Drinking caffeine-free Green Tea and exercising are the most effective ways to staying healthy, toning your body and losing weight. I find that by drinking 1 to 2 cups of Green Tea per day, it provides me with lots of extra energy, particularly useful when I am working out hard and recuperating after a workout. This is due to the fact that Green Tea boosts your immune system and your metabolism. A strong immune system ensures that your body is healthy and resilient. Some other health benefits are that it protects your teeth from tooth decay and it is supposed to prevent stomach and skin cancers.

With respect to weight loss, Green Tea along with regular exercise and proper nutrition, will help you to lose those extra pounds. It’s much cheaper than diet pills and just as effective!

You may be sceptical of the benefits of Green Tea, but even LL Cool J in his book: Platinum Workout
states: “Drink 2 cups of green tea every day. It gently boosts your metabolism and is loaded with cancer-fighting antioxidants. The most potent amont them has demonstrated 100 times the antioxidant power of Vitamin C and 25 times the power of Vitamin E.”

Just look at the results he has achieved by drinking green tea, exercising and eating properly.

LL Cool J

There are many foods and herbal teas that are beneficial to your health and that boost your immune system. Thus allowing you to achieve your peak fitness level. Fish is one of them.

I usually eat fish once a week. In the last couple of months I have tried something a little different. I have increased my fresh fish consumption to about 2 to 3 times per week.  Usually the day before exercising. I have found that I have a lot more energy and more energy during my workouts. Is this just coincidence?

This is most likely due to the fact that the Omega 3 boosts your immune system. In fact, there are many health benefits to consuming Omega 3 and various research studies indicating possible health benefits. Since your body also cannot manufacture Omega 3, it is a good idea to eat foods containing it. There are many foods containing Omega 3 and these days, many foods are fortified with it.

Try eating more fish for yourself and see if it does in fact boost your energy levels, boost your fitness level and makes you feel a lot healthier. I also suggest that you eat fresh fish or freeze it yourself since frozen fish from grocery stores tends to contain excess added salt, which your body really does not need! Also, be careful where the fish comes from and what type of fish you eat since some fish contains too many contaminants and could be detrimental to your health.

This is just my opinion and my experience. Try it for yourself to see what affect it has on your lifestyle and health.