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Showing posts from March, 2013

Common Challenges: Weight Maintenance

Weight maintenance takes work. This is true whether you are hoping to maintain a recent weight loss or to ensure your weight stays on track as you age. Calories In vs. Calories Out Maintaining your weight is more complicated than maintaining the ratio of calories eaten vs. calories burned. Why? Because there are so many variables that affect this ratio, such as metabolic efficiency (is your body burning the right types of energy appropriately) timing of meals, and type of exercise (anaerobic vs. aerobic). Be sure to take into account your energy needs (for daily living plus exercise), nutritional needs, and exercise regimen. These are different for every person and vary according to age, sex, weight, co-morbidities, and fitness level. Loss vs. Maintenance Be flexible in your approach to weight maintenance. What works to lose weight does not always work for maintenance. If you’ve lost weight through calorie restriction and/or by eliminating groups of foods, weight maintena

Food Trends: Eating Like a Caveman? (The Paleo Diet)

Everywhere you turn, people are talking Paleo! Here at Kindred Nutrition, Paleo is the eating plan clients ask about most. What is Paleo? Websites, magazines, even entire books are devoted to Paleo. The diet is especially popular among people advocating the Crossfit exercise plan. But what, exactly, is Paleo? Well, descriptions vary depending on who you ask. But most advocates generally define the Paleo diet as those foods eaten by our hunter-gatherer (Paleolithic) ancestors. This translates to lots of animal protein and lots of plants (veggies and fruits). The rationale for the Paleo diet, loosely explained, is that we should eat those foods humans evolved eating, as opposed to the grain-heavy, processed diet of more modern times. The argument seems logical enough, and lots of fresh produce is a no-brainer, right? Let’s take a closer look. Paleo Basics To “eat Paleo,” avoid all processed foods and sugar, and limit (but do not eliminate) carbohydrates. Specifically, avo