According to Wansink, overeating can be greatly reduced simply by removing the cues in your environment that cause you to overeat. He goes on to explain the top 5 Diet Danger Zones and the solutions for each:

1. The Meal Stuffer: At mealtime you really stuff yourself. You clean everything off your plate, eat quickly and often go back for seconds. You consider yourself to have a “healthy appetite” and often feel uncomfortably full after eating.

• Use the Half-Plate Rule: fill half of your plate with vegetables and the other half with protein and starch.
• Use smaller plates and wait 20 minutes before deciding if you want seconds.
• Eat slower so your appetite can catch up with what you’ve already eaten.
• Don’t place serving dishes on the table. Pre-plate your food and then put the rest out of reach.

• Chew gum throughout your day to avoid mindless munching.
• Keep tempting snack foods out of sight and out of mind.
• Never eat directly from a package. Portion out your snack into a dish.
• Don’t purchase tempting snack foods for future snacking. Keep a wide variety of fruits and vegetables on hand instead.

• Stay more than an arm’s length away from the buffet or snack bowls.
• Put only two food items on your plate during each trip to the table.
• Make yourself feel full by eating the big healthy stuff first, like broccoli and carrots.
• Remind yourself why you are at the party: first to socialize or to conduct business and secondarily to eat.

• Ask your waiter to remove the bread basket from the table.
• Before you eat, ask your waiter to box half of your entrée to take home.
• Decide to either share an appetizer or a dessert, never have both.
• Skip the appetizer menu and instead start your meal with a side salad.

• Pack a healthy lunch and bring it with you.
• Stock your work area with healthy protein-filled snacks.
• Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
• Turn off the computer or pull your car over while you eat.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 fillet of fresh Salmon
• 1 cup Lite Soy Sauce
• 2 tablespoons fresh minced Ginger
• 1/2 cup Agave Nectar (or Honey)

1. Combine the Soy Sauce, Ginger and Agave nectar. Place the Salmon in a pan and cover with the Soy marinade for 1 hour in the fridge.
2. Prepare your grill. If desired, soak a cedar plank to barbecue the Salmon on.
3. Grill over medium heat until cooked through and flaky.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 300 calories, 12g fat, 8g carbohydrate, .5g fiber, and 40g protein.

At least that’s what they tell themselves .

I know we are all busy. Between getting to and from work, balancing responsibilities and having time for yourself, there’s little left over for workouts.

With the holiday season fast approaching your busy schedule is sure to get even busier. There will be parties, shopping, decorating, cooking and family gatherings. It’s no wonder that exercise quickly takes a backseat to holiday activities.

You don’t have to succumb to weight gain this holiday season. Escape the time crunch excuse in three easy steps:

Step One: Schedule Your Workouts: You’ve heard this before, and it makes so much sense. If you treat your exercise time with the importance of a work meeting then you’d never skip a workout and you’d be in amazing shape.

While the scheduling concept is brilliant in its simplicity, you have to put it into practice to reap the benefits. Pull out your calendar and a pen. Don’t laugh, I’m serious! Just do it. If you want to get into shape it starts with committing to a revised
schedule with a set exercise time.

Identify three 40-minute time slots and mark them on your calendar. That is when you’ll exercise.

Remember this: if the thought that you should exercise this week is floating around in your head, but you haven’t anchored it down to a specific time and date, then it will quickly disappear.

Step Two: Get the Most from Each Minute: The days of endless, mind numbing cardio are over. A great workout can take place in under an hour, when done correctly. The idea is to burn more calories each minute. This is done through short, intense bursts of exercise.

Use the following three tips to bring your routine up to the next level:

1. Be Unstable: Use your entire body, and target your core, by performing exercises that engage stabilizing muscles. To do this use an exercise ball, a balance board, a balance disk, or you could simply stand on one leg.
2. Add Resistance: The more resistance that you incorporate with your routine translates into higher intensity and more calories burned. Some ideas for adding resistance include: carrying dumbbells while doing lunges, wearing a weighted vest while walking or jogging, or putting a weight between your feet while doing leg raises.
3. Use Intervals: Interval training is an amazing tool for creating short yet effective workouts. Don’t worry, it’s not complicated. Interval training is simply alternating between different short bursts of activity.

   Here’s an example: Let’s say you want to focus on your legs and abs and to also get an effective cardiovascular workout. This would be a great interval routine for your goals:

• Lunge while curling dumbbells, 15-20 repetitions
• 30 seconds of intense cardio: sprint, jump rope, or jumping jacks
• Squat while pressing dumbbells overhead, 15-20 repetitions
• 30 seconds of intense cardio: sprint, jump rope, or jumping jacks
• Crunches on an exercise ball, 15-20 repetitions
• 30 seconds of intense cardio: sprint, jump rope, or jumping jacks
• Leg raises off the end of an exercise bench, 15-20 repetitions

Step Three: Twice the Results in Half the Time: What if I told you that I have a proven way to deliver twice the fitness results in half the time? It’s simple really…

When you attempt to lose weight or meet a fitness goal on your own, the odds are stacked against you. Sure, you could do it over time – but it’s a long and lonely road. A road lined with detours that threaten to undermine your progress.

When you start a program with me, you suddenly have the upper hand on weight loss. You have me in your corner, coaching you each step of the way, keeping you accountable to workouts and giving you that dose of encouragement went the going gets tough.

And I’ll be the one congratulating you when your goal is met.

Call or email today to get started on a fitness program that will put exercise firmly on your calendar, and results squarely in your future.

Kevin Hensel, Owner Fit-4-Life, Inc.

Cherry Hill Personal Training Studio located just minutes from Voorhees, NJ

Here’s what you need…

• 7 cups water
• 2 1/2 cup dried red lentils
• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• Large pinch of cayenne pepper
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt and pepper

1. Combine water, lentils, onion, turmeric, and cayenne pepper in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer until lentils have disintegrated, about 30 minutes.
2. Stir in lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 148 calories, .8g fat, 25g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, and 11g protein.

Here’s what you need…

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 Tablespoon agave nectar
• 12 figs, sliced in half

1. Heat a large non-stick saute pan and spray with cooking spray. Add the agave nectar.
2. Place the figs, sliced side down in the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes over medium heat. The figs will become slightly sticky and golden around the edges.
3. Remove from pan and place sliced side up on a plate. Drizzle with remaining juice from the pan.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 70 calories, .2g fat, 18g carbohydrate, 2.4g fiber, and .6g protein.

Kevin Hensel

Fit-4-Life, Inc just minutes from Voorhees, NJ

856-751-0033

For most people reckless snacking derails their healthy diet, leaving them frustrated and overweight.

Do you eat a healthy lunch only to succumb to the vending machine an hour later?

I’ve got good news for you, if you do.

With just a few adjustments to your diet, you can effortlessly kick your snacking habit to the curb.

You see, the urge to snack happens when your blood sugar levels drop—giving your body the message that you need more fuel. (Enter the vending machine.) This happens after eating meals that are low in fiber, low in calories, and high in sugar.

The solution?

Eat meals that are filled with fiber and you’ll stabilize your blood sugar levels, and feel full longer.

The Case for High Fiber

Researchers have done their homework on fiber, and the results spell easy weight loss for all who listen. By consuming an extra 14 grams of fiber each day you can cut your calorie intake by a full 10 percent.

People who consume more fiber (as low as 20 grams per day) weigh an average of 8 pounds lighter than people who consume low fiber (closer to 10 grams per day).

There are two main reasons that high fiber leads to weight loss:

1. Fiber fills you up and stabilizes blood sugar for hours. This tames your appetite and protects you from needless snacking.
2. Foods that are high in fiber aren’t as calorie dense. When you fill up on high fiber foods you eat just as much but take in fewer calories.

Breaking it Down

It’s always easier to understand a concept like this when real life examples are given. So here’s a review of a low fiber, high sugar diet that ‘Jane’ was eating, and then we’ll see the small changes made to increase her fiber content and stabilize blood sugar.

• Breakfast: Jane would typically eat a packet of instant oatmeal made with low fat milk and topped with banana and brown sugar. On the way to work she would also grab a mocha or latte.
• Snack: Without fail by 10am Jane’s stomach would growl, sending her to the vending machine. She would end up with a small bag of chips, crackers or candy to hold her over until lunch.
• Lunch: By noon Jane was starving again, and would inhale her packed lunch of a medium sized bagel with low fat cream cheese and deli slices, and a small container of yogurt.
• Snack: At 3pm Jane’s appetite would soar and she would scavenge the office for a small snack to hold her over until dinner. She usually found part of a leftover pastry or cookies, and if all else failed she would once again turn to the vending machine.
• Dinner: Most nights Jane would make a dinner of chicken breast, instant rice and a small salad, some nights she would substitute pasta for the rice.
• Snack: Every night at 10pm Jane would find herself back in the kitchen in search of something sweet. Most often she would have a bowl of low fat ice cream or sorbet before going to bed.

Did you notice a trend in Jane’s diet? While she kept her selections fairly low in fat, she hardly ate any fiber which left her battling hunger all day. Her meals were also very high in sugar, which caused her blood sugar levels to jump up and plunge down throughout the day.

Here’s the revised version of Jane’s meals:

• Breakfast: Instead of the instant oatmeal Jane switched to using old fashion -steel cut (intact) oats. She then topped it with broken walnut pieces and banana. Instead of drinking a high-sugar mocha or latte, she started drinking hot tea.
• Snack: Apple and 20 raw almonds 
• Lunch: For lunch Jane had a cup of lentil soup, a slice of rye bread and a cup of steamed veggies.
• Snack: Shaklee snack bar, 4 grams of fiber and 10 grams of protein 
• Dinner: This meal didn’t change much for Jane. Instead of instant rice she made brown or wild rice, and instead of white pasta she made whole wheat. She also added a vegetable dish to dinner, in addition to the salad.
• Snack: Most nights Jane skips her late night snack since she just doesn’t feel hungry. On those nights that she does want a sweet treat she enjoys sliced fruit.

That didn’t look hard, did it?

As you probably noticed, Jane’s daily calories dropped dramatically after adding fiber to each meal. Also her percentage of calories from fat also dropped, since her snack foods were high in fat.

This means that Jane is effortlessly losing weight simply by consuming more fiber.

You can follow Jane’s lead by evolving your diet to include higher levels of fiber.

To expedite your weight loss be sure to include a consistent and challenging exercise routine. I’m here to help with that – simply call or email today to get started.

Studies show that a journal doesn’t just aid weight loss – it turbo-charges it. When researchers from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research followed more than 2,000 dieters who were encouraged to record meals and snacks, they found that the single best predictor of whether a participant would drop weight was whether the person kept a food diary. It trumped exercise habits, age, and body mass index. The number of pounds people lost was directly related to the number of days they wrote in their log.  I have attached a blank food journal entry

How your food journal is an essential tool to achieving your fitness goals: 

1.  Awareness:  Instead of mindlessly consuming meals, your diet journal will help you become conscious of what you are eating, how much, and how often

2.  Reality: Once you realize where the majority of calories are coming from, you can make healthier, low calorie changes and eliminate excess foods with little nutritional value.

3.  Accountability: By writing down all of the foods you eat and calculating the daily calorie and nutritional value for all your meals, you are forced to consider how an extra serving of pasta or a dessert will factor into
your diet.

4.   Routine: When you start a diet journal, you establish a routine.  This routine helps you to maintain a stable, steady progression  towards your goals even if you have a bad day.

How to use your food journal:

Begin by writing down all of the foods and beverages you eat on a daily basis broken down in to Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, & Snacks.  It might be a little annoying as you measure out your food for the first few days, but make sure you are paying close attention to portion size (Click here to measure proper portions portion_distortion1 ). Record the time you eat each meal as well as all the items in your meal, including dressing, condiments, and beverages. 

Calculate your nutritional totals for calories, fat , carbohydrates, protein, and fiber (calories are the most important).  You can find the values for the most popular food items located online (www.calorieking.com), nutrition facts label on the container, or a calorie counting book.  To find out exactly how many calories you need to eat visit www.CherryHillBodyIQ.com to find out more info.    If weight loss is your primary goal, deduct 300-400 calories per day for 3-4 weeks.  Deduct another 300-400 calories the following month if further weight loss is desired.  Never go below 1200-1300 calories per day.

Be as accurate as possible and try not to miss a day for the first 3-4 weeks, but don’t beat yourself up over it if you forget a day or two.  The more accurate your food journal the better your results will be it’s that simple.   You need to see the good and the bad, everything in moderation.  You will not need to keep a food journal indefinitely , but it is an invaluable tool to reaching your initial goals.

Committed to your success,

Kevin Hensel

Cherry Hill Personal Training Trainer, Just Minutes from Voorhees, NJ