Monthly Client Spotlight!

SPOTLIGHT ON……  Nicole Blaschke!

February 2018

It’s Not Just About the Weight

My journey to fitness is 6 months in the making. Before this I had countless "failed" attempts to regain control; take my life back, get off medicine, be more active, eat healthier, and make better choices. WOW!!! That seems so overwhelming to read those words back to myself. So many of us know the steps and what it takes but still we continue to read numerous articles, pin way too many Pinterest diets, exercises and ways to plan for our fitness success but in the end we still choose to live the same way. Living the same way I had for the past 20 years. Man how time flies!!!! Looking back I see all the times I swore this time would be different and this would be the time the change would stick only to find weeks later and often times only days later, myself eating to numb the pain of another failure. Hi my name is Nicole. I'm 38, a wife, a mother, and in the process of being a healed emotional eater. 

The sting of failure, the fear of success dictated my life until May of 2017 when a switch was flipped. From May to July my fitness journey had nothing to do with physical fitness and everything to do with mental fitness. We talk ourselves out of so much in life and more quickly than we even realize. These 2 months were a reconditioning of the mind. Speaking words of encouragement and worthiness. All the things we say to our best friends, family and co-workers but never to ourselves. We are our own worst critics. We beat ourselves up. We are relentless and unforgiving. And ultimately ruin our chance of breaking the cycle without even being fully aware of the patterns. I knew if there was any chance of breaking the chains of emotional eating, this had to be addressed head on. The process was difficult, gut wrenching, empowering and very possible all at the same time. This “time” would end up being the best foundation and choice I could've made to prior to coming to Pumps Fitness. 

July 2017 I began working out with Ian. As any mom, I had guilt taking that time for myself, spending that money on myself. Until I realized I too was an investment! Taking that next step in my fitness journey was just as much about my kids, my husband, family, and friends as it was for me. It was the first time I made my health a priority. As I continue my journey I cannot say enough about the Pumps Fitness family and the unconditional support I have received and the healthy environment to process the raw and real emotion that comes with shedding not just the weight but also the baggage of the past that got me to where I was. I have achieved goals within the last 7 months that are beyond anything I could have imagined. 

Through all of this I've learned this journey is a mind set…an intentional choice. A mindset that must be in place from the moment you wake up, until the moment you close your eyes. We are truly remarkable beings. We are more capable of overcoming the challenges of life, our childhood, our past, and make it through the other side better for all of it.  What we see as a weakness in ourselves will become our strength when we accept and realize that those weaknesses do not define us, but actually serve a powerful purpose in fueling each of us to be better. Anything is possible!

Eat Well, Live Well….It’s Just That Simple!

If changing eating habits were easy, everyone would be fit and healthy. One key to making lasting improvements is to make changes in stages. Start with something simple and stick to it for a week. After your family has mastered one change, add another.

Some Ideas to Get You Started

• Eat breakfast.

• Substitute water for one sugary drink each day.

• Eat one to two more fruits or vegetables each day.

• Plan a healthy snack for each day of the week. Click here for a quick video tip.

• Switch to a low-fat version of a favorite food.

• Plan three meals and two snacks every day.

• Plan a home-cooked meal, which usually has fewer calories, more reasonable portions and costs less than typical meals eaten at restaurants. 

Set the Example

Parents play a big role in guiding their children’s eating habits by the examples they set, the foods they make available in the home and the mealtime experiences they create for their families.

Offer healthy snacks such as fruit, low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt, frozen juice bars, applesauce, celery or apples and peanut butter, raw vegetables, graham crackers, fig bars or whole wheat crackers and low-fat cheese. Large portions mean too many calories. A snack for a typical adult may be a container of yogurt, but for a preschooler, two or three tablespoons of yogurt is about right.

Make Eating an Enjoyable Activity for the Whole Family

Family meals can be a time to monitor what children are eating and reconnect with each other. Involve children in food preparation and clean-up, and sit down with children when they eat. The idea is to build healthy lifelong eating habits.

Some healthy eating tips include the following:

• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables – half your plate at each meal should be vegetables or fruit.

• Beware of sweetened drinks – sodas and sports drinks are high in calories. Keep in mind that too much juice can also quickly add calories to a child’s diet.

• Choose food sensibly when eating out.

More Healthy Food Tips When Eating Out

• Ask if you don’t know what is in a dish or the serving size.

• Eat the same portion size you would at home.

• Ask for sauces, gravy and dressings on the side – or avoid them altogether.

• Order foods that are not breaded or fried.

• Order fruit for dessert.

• Ask for substitutions: A vegetable instead of fries, or for the high-fat food to be left off the plate.

• Ask for low-calorie versions of food. Vinegar and oil or a squeeze of lemon is better than high-fat dressings or sauces.

Did You Know...?

Americans eat an average of 4.2 commercially prepared meals each week. Processed foods are likely to be higher in calories, fat, and salt and lower in fiber than meals prepared at home.

Creamy Low Fat Tuna Salad

Most recipes for tuna salad call for fat-filled mayonnaise, but this recipe uses fat free Greek yogurt instead. You get all the creaminess without added calories to set back your results.
Servings: 5 

Here's what you need...

• 2 (5oz) cans wild albacore tuna, packed in water
• 1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons champagne mustard
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed, plus more for garnish
• dash of freshly ground pepper
• 1 green apple, shredded
• 2 cups green cabbage, shredded
• 4 cups organic mixed greens

1. Drain the tuna and flake in a medium bowl. Add the yogurt, mustard, dill and pepper. Mix until creamy and well combined.
2. Add the shredded apple and cabbage. Mix well.
3. Arrange mixed greens on plates, then use an ice cream scooper to place the tuna mixture. Sprinkle with dill weed.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 140 calories, 1 fat, 210mg sodium, 13g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, and 20g protein. 

Call For Your Free Body Transformation Analysis 

(219)-548-3480

Pumpstrainigandpilates@gmail.com

Pumpsfitnessinc.com   

Stop eating so quickly – 6 tips to help you slow down

When you eat fast, you tend to eat more.  If you always finish your meal before everyone else, here are my top six tips to help you slow your eating habits.

“They call me the vacuum cleaner!” one of my clients told me recently.   He’s been a fast eater his entire life.  “I grew up with six brothers and sisters – so, counting my folks, there were nine of us at the dinner table,” he told me.  “As soon as mom put the food down, we’d all scramble to get our share, and then eat it up as fast as we could – because the fastest eater had the best chance of getting a second helping before it was all gone!”  Even though he no longer has nine people at his dinner table, those old eating habits die hard.  This guy can still demolish a plate of food in seconds flat.

I’ve asked clients like this to actually keep track of how long it takes them to eat, and I’m often astonished at how much food they can put away in just six or seven minutes.  Sometimes, like my client, the eating habit traces back to childhood.  But there are other reasons we eat fast, too.  When you get too hungry, or are presented with really enticing food, you tend to eat more quickly – and to eat more.   When you finally do get the chance to eat, you’re likely to shovel it in.   And, when you’re really hungry, you’re more likely to reach for the unhealthy, high-calorie stuff, too.

Your stomach needs time to send signals to your brain to let you know that you’re full – about 20 minutes or so.  And it is a matter of time, not how much food you eat. Eating more food won’t make the signals travel any faster – there will always be about a 20 minute delay.  So you can feel full on less food – as long as you can slow your pace enough to give your body time to figure it out.  Here are some tips to help you slow your eating habits.

Improve your eating habits by slowing down

Eat in courses

Rather than sitting down with a whole plate of food at one time, try eating in courses.  Have your salad or veggies first – which will allow you to start to fill up on the lowest calorie part of your meal – then dig into the main course.  If you have limited time to finish your meal all at one time (like on your lunch break at work), then eat the main portion of your meal at lunch and save the rest for a snack, so you don’t feel pressure to eat everything quickly and at once.

Take smaller bites

The larger the bite, the faster you’re going to finish your food.  When you take smaller bites, you can make the meal last longer, which gives your brain some time to catch up with your stomach.  If you’re eating food that has to be cut up first – like a piece of meat or chicken – cut it as you go.  If you cut it all up into bite-sized pieces and then dig in, it’s too easy to get it all down quickly.

Eat more high fiber foods

High fiber foods aren’t just more filling than low-fiber foods, they also take longer to eat. Crunchy raw fruits and vegetables and whole grains require more chewing than foods like snack crackers or cookies, which slows you down.

Swallow each bite before loading up your fork again

Fast eaters often have their fork loaded and ready to go while they’re still chewing the previous bite.  If you find yourself doing this, then make a point to change the sequence.  The next step after “chew and swallow” should be “reload fork”, not “shovel in the next bite”.

Put utensils and hand-held foods down in between bites

This is another habit that may take some time before it feels “natural”, but it really can help.  Once you’ve mastered the “swallow – load fork – take another bite” tactic above, you can add another couple of steps:  “swallow – put down fork – pick up fork – load fork – take another bite”.  And if you’re eating something that doesn’t require utensils, like a burger or a sandwich, try to resist the temptation to simply pick it up and gobble away.  Instead, practice putting it down between bites.

Sip on water throughout your meal

Train yourself to take sips of water frequently during your meal.  It not only slows your pace, it also allows you to consume more water with your meal, which – in combination with the food you’re eating – could help to fill you up.

Eating slower has been shown to lead to weight loss, but maintaining a slower pace is hard for people to do – and just as with other weight loss strategies, it takes a lot of practice.  Set aside time so you can have a leisurely pace to your meals, rather than trying to “work them in” to your already overscheduled day.  Because when it comes to race to the finish, this is one time when it’s good to finish last.

Clean Burrito

Here’s a healthy burrito recipe to sink your teeth into. Whole grains, lean protein and crunchy veggies make this a recipe that you’ll come back to time and again. Serve with a side of your favorite salsa. Servings: 1 

Here’s what you need…

• 1 sprouted grain, flourless tortilla
• 1 Tablespoon hummus
• 1/3 cup cooked brown rice
• ¼ cup cooked black beans
• ½ cup cooked chicken, chopped 
• 2 Tablespoons fresh corn kernels
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cucumber
• ¼ cup shredded arugula
• 3 cherry tomatoes, chopped

1. Warm the tortilla in a dry skillet. Spread the hummus evenly over the tortilla. 
2. Top the tortilla with rice, beans, chicken and veggies.
3. Fold the two sides of the tortilla in over the filling, then flip up the bottom edge and roll tightly. 

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 380 calories, 7.8g fat, 45g carbohydrate, 7g fiber, and 31g protein. 

Call For Your Free Body Transformation Analysis (219)-548-3480

Pumpstrainigandpilates@gmail.com

Pumpsfitnessinc.com  

How to put nutritional advice into practice

You know what you should be eating because you’ve heard most nutrition advice before – but you just can’t quite figure out how to apply that advice to make it part of your daily eating routine.  Here are some tips to help you put your nutrition knowledge into action.

First let me take you back to mid-April, which means one thing “tax time.”  Many dread it, and put it off to the last minute – in large part because completing your own tax return is difficult,  it’s  complicated, and just so…. well, taxing.  But as tough as it may be, it’s apparently not nearly as hard as figuring out how to eat well… in an online survey of more than 1,000 Americans that was released last year, 52% said that it was harder to figure out “what you should and shouldn’t eat to be healthier” than it is to figure out “how to do your own taxes.”

Choosing a healthy diet just shouldn’t be that hard.  And, it’s not for lack of knowledge.  In general, people seem to know what they should be doing – in the same survey, for instance, most people said they were trying to limit their intake of salt, fat and sugar and were trying to eat more fruits and vegetables.  [Maybe we should stop trying…… and start doing, but that is topic for another time.] We may be able to “talk the talk”, but we don’t seem to be “walking the walk” – the majority of Americans don’t get the recommended number of fruits and veggies every day,  intake of added fats and sugars is at an all-time high, and 44% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week.

So when people say it’s hard to figure out what to eat, the problem isn’t really that they don’t know what to do – it’s more that they just don’t know how.  (Of course, you also have to want  to do it, too…).  But the bottom line is this – all the knowledge in the world isn’t going to do you much good if you can’t figure out how to put it into practice.

How to put nutrition advice into practice

Nutrition advice:  Eat more fruits and vegetables

How to:

• Make it convenient to eat them – keep a bowl of fresh fruit on your kitchen counter and keep cut up veggies on a shelf in the refrigerator.  If preparing them is too time-consuming, you might opt for pre-cut fruits and veggies and ready-to-eat salad greens.

• Frozen fruits and vegetables are nutritious and convenient – you can add frozen fruits to a protein shake, or thaw and stir into yogurt, cottage cheese or hot cereals. 

•  Add extra veggies to mixed dishes, soups, stews, omelets .

•    At restaurants, skip the starch and order double veggies for your side dish, and start your meal off with a salad.

Nutrition advice:  Reduce fat intake

How to:

•   Fried foods are a big offender here – so that means that a good place to start would be limiting your intake of things like chips and French fries. 

• Choose low fat dairy products – milk, cottage cheese, yogurt – over the full-fat versions, and opt for fish and poultry more often than fattier red meat. 

• Added fats – sauces, dressings, mayonnaise, butter, margarine – add up quickly, too, so use sparingly or find lower fat alternatives.

• And watch for “hidden fats” – there’s plenty of fat lurking in foods like desserts, snack foods, breads and pastries. Watch this video for tips on snacking.

• When you’re cooking at home, use fats sparingly when you cook, search out low fat recipes.

Nutrition advice:  Reduce added sugar intake

How to:

•  A lot of the sugar we take in comes from beverages, so choose calorie-free water or tea as often as possible, and limit your intake of fruit juices.

• If plain water doesn’t appeal to you, add a slice of lemon or lime, a few pieces of fresh fruit, or a tiny splash of fruit juice to your water for a bit of flavor. 

•   Let fruit take the place of dessert, and limit the amount of pre-sweetened foods that you buy.

•  Pre-sweetened cereals and yogurt, for example, can have a lot of added sugar – you’ll take in much less if you buy plain yogurt or unsweetened whole grain cereals and sweeten it yourself – preferably with fresh fruit.  Don’t worry about the natural sugars in fruit, milk and dairy products – just focus on reducing the amount of sugar that’s added to everyday foods.

Nurition advice:  Eat more fiber

How to:

•  See item #1 above -  “eat more fruits and vegetables”.  Fruits and vegetables are great sources of fiber, and when you make a point to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal or snack, that can go a long way towards meeting your daily fiber goals.  

•   Beans and whole grains are also good sources of fiber – try adding some canned beans to soups and salads, or mashed into a hummus dip to eat with raw veggies. 

• Turn to whole grains – like brown rice, barley, quinoa, millet – and whole grain foods (100% whole grain breads, pasta, cereals) rather than the refined “white” versions to boost your fiber intake.

Nutrition advice:  Watch your sodium intake

How to:

•  Most people get much more salt from processed foods than they do from the salt shaker – so a good first step is to eat most of your foods as close as possible to their natural state. 

•  If you buy canned foods – like veggies, tuna or soups – look for reduced sodium versions.

• Cut back on processed meats which are often loaded with sodium (even the so-called low-sodium versions), and lean towards fresh meats and poultry which naturally contain very little.

•  You can also ‘dilute’ the sodium in convenience foods by adding extra veggies to canned soups or doubling the amount of grains when you prepare something like a packaged seasoned rice mix (and use brown rice when you do….). 

•  And find other ways to season foods rather than always relying on salt.  Herbs, spices, onions, garlic and citrus add flavor without sodium – and you get a nutrition boost, too.

Cinnamon Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Quick Apple Chutney

Dinners like this will help you quickly reach your fat loss goal. The shredded cauliflower, rice and onions in this recipe make an amazing substitution for grain-based pilaf. With the addition of lean, ground turkey and lettuce this comfort-food tasting meal is actually quite lean and green. Servings: 6 

Here's what you need:

• 12 large Romaine lettuce leaves

For the Cinnamon Ground Turkey Rice:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• dash of sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 lb ground, organic turkey
• 1 head cauliflower, shredded (To shred: cut into florets and run through a food processor with the grating attachment)
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup chicken broth
• dash of freshly ground pepper

For the Quick Apple Chutney:

• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 2 green apples, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon coconut crystals
• 1/2 cup apple juice or apple cider
• sprinkle of sea salt

1.    For the Cinnamon Ground Turkey Rice: In a large skillet place the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots and onions, cook for 3 minutes, until soft. Add salt, cinnamon and ground turkey. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Add the head of shredded cauliflower, raisins, broth and pepper. Cook for another 4 minutes, until heated through.

2.    For the Quick Apple Chutney: In a medium skillet place the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion and apples. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Uncover, add the cinnamon, coconut crystals, apple juice and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for another 4 minutes until apples are tender.

3.    Assemble Your Lettuce Wraps: Spread a generous spoonful of the turkey mixture along the center of a Romaine lettuce leaf, top with a spoonful of chutney. Enjoy!

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 248 calories, 9g fat, 156mg sodium, 25g carbohydrate, 5g fiber, and 17g protein 

CONGRATULATIONS to Mary Ann Chapman 

Our 6WK Body Transformation Challenge Winner!

Mary Ann lost 18.4lbs, 16.25 inches and 8.32% of her total body weight. Great job Mary Ann we are so proud of you! 

Call For Your Free Body Transformation Analysis (219)-548-3480

Pumpstrainigandpilates@gmail.com

Pumpsfitnessinc.com  

How to eat less overall … by eating more protein

Need a reason to eat protein at breakfas? Protein helps keep you full and satisfied until lunch – and a new study suggests it might even help curb snacking at night.

If you keep up with the latest in dietary advice, you can probably list a few reasons why protein is such an important nutrient.  It’s necessary, of course, to help you build and maintain your muscle mass, and it’s also known to be much better at filling you up than either fat or carbohydrate – which is why I suggest that people aim to have a good source of protein at each meal or snack.  The idea is simply this:  high carb meals don’t stay with you, while higher protein meals can help control hunger from one meal to the next.  But here’s something else recent studies suggest that a high protein breakfast not only helps control your appetite until the next meal, it might reduce unhealthy snacking in the evening.

Recognizing that adolescents are notorious breakfast-skippers – and that breakfast skipping is associated with weight gain – researchers at the University of Missouri studied the effects of different breakfast meals in 20 overweight teenaged girls (who typically ate breakfast no more than twice a week). The girls were asked to do the following – in no particular order.  One week, they skipped breakfast each day, one week they had a high protein breakfast every day (35 grams of protein) and one week they had a lower protein breakfast every day (13 grams of protein).  What the researchers wanted to know was how the different meals (or no meal) affected their appetite, hunger levels between meals, food cravings and evening snacking.

To measure all these things, the girls completed questionnaires about their level of hunger and satisfaction during the day, and they had brain scans done just before dinner.  The scans allowed the researchers to see how certain areas of the brain – in particular, those that are involved in food cravings – responded when the girls were shown pictures of appealing foods.  Then, the girls went home with a cooler full of goodies – a huge assortment of salty snacks, candy, ice cream, fruit, pizza, macaroni and cheese – and told they could eat as much as they wanted during the evening.

When all was said and done, the high protein breakfast had several advantages over the low protein one (and certainly, over no breakfast at all).  For one thing, the girls said the high protein breakfast was more filling – no surprise there.  But during the week they ate the high protein breakfast, their brain activity was different, too  – there was less “activity” in the areas of the brain responsible for food cravings – and the girls ate less high-fat, high-sugar foods after dinner.

This is an interesting twist on the protein story – suggesting that a high protein breakfast not only helps keep you full until lunch, but may even help curb your intake over the course of the day.   Getting in 35 grams of protein at one time – as they did in the study – might be a bit of a challenge, but you can get close – 25 grams is actually fairly easy to do.

Want to up your protein at breakfast?

Here are some meals to try – all of which will give you about 25 grams of protein.

• A protein shake with nonfat milk.  A portion of milk provides about 10 grams of protein, and you can adjust the protein powder in your shake to boost the protein up
• A portion of plain nonfat cottage cheese with fruit and a handful of almonds
• An omelet made with 2 whole eggs or 4 egg whites, filled with veggies and an ounce of low fat mozzarella cheese
• Cook rolled oats in nonfat milk then top then stir in protein powder after it’s cooked.  Top with a dab of almond butter
• Spread some nonfat cream cheese on 100% whole grain toast and top with 3 ounces smoked salmon

Chocolate Protein Pudding

Here is a protein packed snack that the whole family will love. It's important to enjoy snacks that are low in carbohydrates and sugar, and high in protein in order to shed body fat and develop healthy muscles. This recipe delivers on all fronts, without sacrificing flavor. 
Servings: 1 

Here's what you need...

• 6 oz Greek Yogurt, plain, fat free
• 1 scoop high quality chocolate protein powder
• Sprinkle of unsweetened cocoa powder

1. In a small bowl use a whisk to combine the yogurt and protein powder. Mix until all lumps have disappeared.
2. Garnish with a sprinkle of unsweetened cocoa powder.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 220 calories, 0g fat, 445mg sodium, 11g carbohydrate, 0g fiber, and 42g protein. 

Call For Your Free Body Transformation Analysis (219)-548-3480

Pumpstrainigandpilates@gmail.com

Pumpsfitnessinc.com