Anne Keckler, Personal Trainer in Tallahassee

146 Reasons Why Sugar Is Ruining Your Health _Not!

By Anne Keckler | March 26, 2009

Have you seen this email that is being forwarded around? 146 Reasons Why Sugar Is Ruining Your Health is one of the latest in a long line of messages designed to tell us that some common food is the epitome of evil and will cause every illness known to mankind. Well, I’m here to tell you it just isn’t so.

In the eighties we eschewed dietary fat. We were told by nutritionists and doctors, as well as all the magazine articles, that eating fat would make us fat! Why, it seemed so simple. If we would just quit eating fat, we’d all lose weight and be free of things like heart disease. Naturally, the only reason this didn’t work is because we simply didn’t have enough willpower, right?

For some people, meat is the sinful food that most people eat, and they believe that if we all just quit eating meat we’d all be thinner and healthier. We must deprive ourselves of this food that mankind has been eating for millennia, and we’ll be better off for it, right?

Dr. Atkins, many people believe, advised us to give up carbs (when he really just said to eat the amount that is right for your lifestyle).

Hmm… I’m seeing a trend. What is with the human idea of deprivation that makes us feel so holy?

And now it’s sugar. Well, to be fair, I remember the nutty Susan Power claiming that you would become instantly weaker as soon as sugar touched your tongue. Does anyone else remember her?

I’ve been meaning to write this article for a few days, ever since I first received that email about sugar, but I put it off until I saw that Tom Ziglar (yes, the son of Zig!) had written a blog post about his “Purity Diet.”

Again, someone is proposing that some foods are purer than others, that there are good foods and bad foods. In fact, Tom’s ideas about food sound a lot like those of the zany creators of the Hallelujah Acres Diet.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some foods that you could simply give up, and by doing so you’d be guaranteed weight loss, health, and longevity? That would be so simple.

But nutrition is a little bit more complicated than that. I’m sure it’s not too complicated for you to understand, but it’s more complicated than that.

But back to sugar.

All carbohydrates are made up of sugars. Table sugar (which I must assume is what the email author is talking about, but didn’t specify) is sucrose, which is a simple carbohydrate. It is converted to glucose in the body, the same as every other carbohydrate you consume! Carbohydrates are your body’s main source of fuel, and are especially important to proper brain function. How much carbohydrate you need in your diet depends a lot on your activity level.

I wrote much more about carbohydrates here: http://www.annekeckler.com/nutrition-carbohydrates/

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Topics: Nutrition, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Be Good to Yourself Day

By Anne Keckler | August 21, 2008

Deb suggested that she needs a “Be Good to Myself Day.” I suggest that you should be good to yourself every day!

How can you do that?

Eat a high protein breakfast to give you energy until lunch
Get some activity into each day
Drink water throughout the day
Moisturize your skin
Take your fish oil capsules
Go to bed at a reasonable time so that you’ll get enough rest

What can you add?

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Boring Blogging

By Anne Keckler | August 20, 2008

My daughter tells me that she doesn’t read my blog because it’s boring. Well, I guess to a teenager, it might be boring to read about carbohydrates and weight loss and fitness, unless you happen to really be into that stuff. She wants to improve her run time and increase her strength, but she just doesn’t find my writing interesting.

So now I’m pondering how to write about this stuff and make it interesting, maybe even entertaining, to the average person, while still giving good information backed up by science.

Any suggestions? Or am I doomed to be called boring by my kids?

By the way, I’m pretty much unreachable by email at the moment. I’ll be back next week and will answer emails then. I can see that I have them, but I cannot reply from here. I’ll have to change that before my next trip.

How Your Lifestyle Affects Your Fitness

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Traveling

By Anne Keckler | August 13, 2008

I lift heavy weights. Most hotels don’t offer the facilities I need to get a good workout. Even those that boast of “fitness facilities” usually only have some cardio equipment and maybe some dumbbells. That’s just not gonna cut it for me.

I’ll be leaving town for a couple of weeks. I have a list of things to do in preparation for my road trip. One of the most important things on my to-do list is to get a list of gyms where I can work out in my destination cities (Orlando, Jacksonville, and Atlanta). Then I look up the locations of the gyms and compare them with the location of where I’ll be staying in each city. I try to find a website for each one to compare their equipment and facilities, but if I can’t find a website, I’ll call each one to inquire. Finally, I choose a first, second, and third option for each city, and print out a map and directions to each one from where I’ll be staying.

Many gyms, even independent ones, are members of organizations that allow their members to use the facilities of other member gyms when they travel. Before you travel, you might want to ask your gym if they do this.

If they don’t participate in something like this, your other option is to ask the gym you are visiting for a trial membership. Many gyms give away a one week trial membership, and that’s probably all you need. If they don’t give it away, they’ll probably sell you one pretty cheap.

If you travel a lot, like I do, you can’t afford to miss all those days at the gym. You’ll never see good results that way. So find a gym with the equipment you need and get in there!

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Thinking About Food

By Anne Keckler | August 12, 2008

So I’m trying to lose the weight I put on during my absence from the gym. I’ve been reading up on nutrition and weight loss, and just trying to stay motivated to eat fewer calories than I burn. It’s never fun.

One thing you’ve gotta know about me is that I love food. I love the variety of tastes and textures. And I particularly like certain combinations of foods. So while I could have a low-fat veggie pizza and some water, I just wouldn’t be satisfied if I didn’t have soda with my pizza. Likewise, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just calls out for chocolate milk!

So right now I’m just limiting portion sizes, for the most part. And giving up dessert entirely. I know it’s not forever, and one day, when my weight is closer to where I’d like it to be, I can occasionally have a brownie.

But there’s no way I’d eat oatmeal and skinless chicken breast all day long. I don’t care how good it would make me look!

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Coming Back After a Long Layoff

By Anne Keckler | August 11, 2008

It happens to everyone at some point or another. You get sick or injured, or real life just interrupts your gym routine. For whatever reason, you’ve gotten out of the habit of working out, and now you face the harsh reality of getting back in shape.

If you are injured, see a doctor immediately. I cannot stress this enough. If you have been injured, do not decide for yourself whether you should just “work through it.” Get a doctor to look at it. Get x-rays and MRIs if necessary. Be sure you are not going to make things worse by working out.

Once you’ve been cleared to work out again, you’ll need to start off slowly. Don’t be too hard on yourself those first few weeks. Use light weights and perhaps fewer sets. Just get back into the routine of working out regularly, without being so sore that you can’t walk the next day.

I started back to the gym a couple of weeks ago, after a layoff of several months. I was still somewhat active, but that’s not the same thing as lifting heavy iron several times a week. So now I’m paying the price by having to lift lighter weights, but I won’t make the mistake of lifting too much too soon, risking an injury or simply getting so sore that I can’t work out on my next scheduled day. An injury will only set you back even further, and some injuries cause permanent limitations.

In reality, this layoff put me back to lifting what I was lifting a year ago. I had wanted to be bench pressing my bodyweight by now, but it will probably be at least six months, and maybe a year, before I’ll be doing that. Still, the worst thing I could do right now would be to push myself too hard.

If you are coming back from an injury, be sure you get professional advice and assistance in rehabilitating the injured body part. If you are just coming back from a long layoff for personal reasons or illness that doesn’t effect your training directly, just take it easy for a while and work back up to where you were gradually.

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Sleep!

By Anne Keckler | May 8, 2008

I’ve been horrible about writing lately. I’ve been so busy with my sons’ activities!

But here is a post you might enjoy about how to get a better night’s sleep.

Sleep is so important to your health, your weight, your energy levels, and everything else. J.D. has dug up some good information that might help you.

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Are You Bored With Your Fitness Routine?

By Anne Keckler | April 22, 2008

This is the time of year when many of the New Years’ Resolutioners have already given up and quit going to the gym, exercising, or dieting. Maybe you’re thinking of doing the same, or you haven’t been to the gym for a couple of weeks, and you’re wondering how the rest of us keep going week after week, year after year.

Here are some tips to keep yourself motivated and interested in your fitness improvement program:

Change what you’re doing
Set a specific goal
Train for an event
Keep a journal
Look at your “before” photos
Look at before and after photos of others
Watch videos of others doing physical things that impress you
Remember how great you felt the last time you worked out
Think about how you want to look three to six months from now and concentrate on what it will take to get there
Hire a trainer, or find a training partner
Make it easy to stick to your guns. Keep your gym bag packed and ready to go and keep healthy, easy-to-prepare foods in the house.
Just do it!

What do you do to fight boredom? How do you keep going when you want to give up?

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Topics: Exercise, Motivation, Nutrition | 3 Comments »

Film Festivals!

By Anne Keckler | April 8, 2008

My son, Patrick, was in an FSU Masters Thesis Film last year, called Cosmos. It has been accepted to the Sarasota Film Festival, as well as the Atlanta Film Festival. So last weekend we were in the Sarasota area, attending parties and film screenings. Tomorrow we leave again to go to Atlanta.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll get periodic updates from me about these things. I thought I’d let the rest of you know why I haven’t posted anything in a while.

I’ll be back!

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Is Obesity Linked to Disease?

By Anne Keckler | April 3, 2008

My cousin, who is just a few years younger than I, was just diagnosed with diabetes a couple of days ago. When I mentioned this on another forum, one dedicated to combating fat discrimination, I was told that obesity does not lead to disease, and that thin people get diabetes, too. Now, I realize that thin people get diabetes. I also realize that there are two types of diabetes, and that there are other factors involved. But do overweight people get certain diseases more than thin people, regardless of other lifestyle factors?

I decided to investigate.

I’m a skeptic at heart. We constantly hear that obesity is linked to various diseases, including heart disease and diabetes, and I had to learn this information to pass my personal trainer certification exam. But I never stopped to question the evidence. Could it be that there is a correlation, but that no causation has been found? And if this is the case, how strong of a correlation is there? Are there other factors to consider?

I am currently researching this, and I’ll be back with some information soon.

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