For many, the mind-set behind meal time is to merely just fill the belly or to tide the hunger over until the next meal time. A mere shift in perception for those who eat to feel full can make a large difference in the health, well-being and energy levels of their lives. Awareness and a change in mind-set, from eating to feel full to eating to fuel and nourish the body, will have you noticing great benefits in no time! Eating to fuel and nourish the body does not need to be difficult! Ensure that your meals contain balance between the following:

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Complex Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of fuel.  These carbs make you feel full for longer! They include whole grains, fruits, vegetables and beans. Whole grains, including whole-wheat bread or whole-grain pasta, have staying power because you digest them more slowly than refined grains, and they also keep blood sugar levels stabilized so you don’t feel like you’re losing your energy. Get your carbs in during breakfast or lunch to sustain your energy throughout the day!

Protein

Protein is necessary to help fuel the building of new cells.  Protein also helps regulate body processes, such as keeping blood vessels open, and it supplies energy if you aren’t eating enough carbohydrates. A typical adult needs between 0.6 and 0.8 grams of protein per 2.2 pounds of body weight. If you weigh 140 pounds, that means you need about 44 grams a day; if you weigh 200 pounds, you need about 63 grams a day. A serving of chicken or beef (which is approximately the size of a deck of cards) contains roughly 21 grams of protein. A cup of yogurt contains approximately 11 grams, and an egg contains about seven.

Essential Iron

Iron is a mineral that we literally can’t live without. Iron’s main job is to carry oxygen in the hemoglobin of red blood cells. In turn, the hemoglobin takes oxygen to all the cells in your body. That’s why if you’re not getting enough iron, you feel weak and fatigued. Iron from animal sources (called heme iron) is better absorbed by the body than iron from plant sources (nonheme iron). Some good nonheme iron sources are: seeds, soybean nuts, leafy greens such as kale, prune juice and bran; many varieties of beans are also good sources of iron.

Good Fats

The best sources of the fats we need are fish (salmon, anchovies and sardines are especially good) and oils such as olive, canola, sunflower and safflower, avocado and nuts. The recommended daily limit for fat, is 30 percent of our daily calories.

Like all else, organization and being accountable to change are the most important factors to a healthier mind-set and implementation of meals. Shop with healthy meals in mind, cook extra portions for the following day's lunch, be creative and spend time packing your food for the following day! A few simple steps to get you into a balanced meal time routine so that no last minute food grabs will alter your healthier meals that have you eating to fuel your body for long lasting energy and nutrition.

If you have any questions, comments or training enquires contact Kasie at kasie@profilefitnesstraining.com

Implementing the “mind-muscle connection” into your workouts will give you the upper hand in the performance and results of your training! Mind-muscle connection is simply the use of the mind to voluntarily control muscles to contract or relax. By learning to relax the muscles that are not needed to perform the exercise, you can focus all your attention on the muscles required and therefore greatly improve your performance at will!

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While performing exercises when less conscious of the muscle activation, at the point the exercise becomes heavy or challenging, there is a temptation to cheat - to use poor form to recruit other muscle groups to assist in the effort of the load. This will shift the effort to weaker muscle groups that cannot handle the load, causing unnecessary stress to those muscles, in turn taking the muscle contraction away from the desired muscle group, making for a less effective exercise.

Mind-muscle connection may be a challenge for some, understanding how to feel your muscles as activation is happening and knowing. With patience, practice and awareness, this brilliant technique can benefit all who put the time and effort in as the more you can "feel" the muscle working, is an example of the increased "mind-muscle" connection .

These simple techniques to help you implement this new awareness into your workouts, sports or activities and can easily become a part of your training and consciousness.

1. Take a look and overview the anatomy of our bodies, online or in an anatomy book! Familiarize yourself with all of the muscle groups as well as the shapes and sizes of each muscle. Having the visual of the muscles can help you stay connected to the specific muscles while being worked.
2. Lying on the floor, or standing, go through each muscle group one at a time, activating each muscle (example: calf, quadriceps, hamstring, gluteal, core, pecs, biceps, triceps, back). Get a good feeling of how you are able to activate them while focusing with no other incorporated movements. Implement the visualization of each muscle group - feel its mass, shape and size!
3. Incorporate the same contractions while adding movement - contract bicep while focusing on a bicep curl, find different exercises for each muscle group and notice the difference in effectiveness.

Mind-body connection, is not just meant for working out in the gym! Apply it to absolutely any sport or activity you are doing, even walking! Lifting up at the knee caps and contracting the gluteal can add a new intensity to your walk or hike or tennis game!

Contact Kasie at 250-859-2431 or profile_fitness@hotmail.com if you have any questions, training inquiries or column suggestions.

This spring has given us much opportunity to get outside and take advantage of a fresh new approach towards our physical activities, sports and achievements with all of the additional forms of exercise from hiking, biking, sports, running, paddle boarding and much more!  If you are finding that the incorporation of a healthy fitness routine is still not a part of your regimen, now is the perfect opportunity to reassess your goals, fitness schedule, fitness activities and healthy meal planning!  After all, the summer heat wave is just around the corner and it may prove to be more of a challenge to stick with a balanced fitness routine!

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A fitness and health plan are most successful when looked at and adjusted seasonally….. So reset your fitness schedule to work for these beautiful longer, warmer and busier days ensuring that you hit no plateaus or burn outs! Taking the time to set a game plan of your personal fitness and health expectations for yourself during the hot spring and summer months ahead can make a significant difference in your achievements! Take a look at the list below and answer these questions that will help you to design your summer health and fitness schedule!  

1.    How many days of the week can I regularly incorporate fitness into my schedule?

1  2  3  4  5  6  7

2.    What days of the week will I be implementing these activities into my schedule?

Monday   Tuesday   Wednesday   Thursday   Friday   Saturday   Sunday

3.    What times work best for each of the days selected above? (before/ after work work, lunch break?)

4.    What activities will I be doing on each day?  

Team Sport, gym workout, outdoor workout…hike, run, bike, rollerblade, golf, paddleboard

5.    Who are my committed and motivated workout/ activity buddies I can plan my workouts with?

6.    How will I make up for any missed activities?

7.    What are my summer goals?

• June
• July
• August
• September

8.    How do I plan on incorporating a healthier meal plan into my routine?

9.    When can I plan to clean out my cupboards and start fresh with healthy BBQ friendly meal items and snack options?

Answering these simple questions for yourself will give you a huge push in the right direction if you are for the first time trying to incorporate a fitness routine into your schedule.  If you are a motivated intermediate or advanced exerciser this is still a great format to use to raise awareness and make more positive changes in your scheduled routine!  Don’t forget to incorporate this set routine into your day timer!

If you have any questions, comments, topic ideas or training inquiries, please contact Kasie at 250-859-2431 or profile_fitness@hotmail.com

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Having a well balanced routine incorporating fitness and a healthy meal plan can and will do wonders for your health and well-being. However, the implementation of the essential vitamins and nutrients that you may not be receiving the adequate amounts of, will give you the upper hand with achieving optimum health!

With a regular appearance of new “latest and greatest” products and supplements making their way onto the nutritional store shelves, all with many different benefits, it’s hard to know which would most support your health needs for necessary supplementation. It can be overwhelming when thinking about what you might need. Here are two, in my opinion, MUST HAVES!

Spirulina:

Its advocates claim it's a nutritional powerhouse, Spirulina one of many blue-green algae, is a microorganism that grows on the surface of lakes in warmer climates, such as Latin America and Africa. Believed to be highly nutritious, spirulina is approved by the World Health Organization as a health food.

A nutritional analysis of spirulina showed that it is 55% to 77% protein by dry weight, and as such, is considered a complete protein superior to all other plant proteins, including legumes. It contains all the essential amino acids and a study from Kansas State University in 2005 confirms that it is a source of five essential amino acids, which the human body cannot make. It is rich in potassium and also contains calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, sodium, and zinc. It contains vitamin B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (nicotinamide), B6 (pyridoxine), B9 (folic acid), and B12 (cyanocobalamin); additionally, spirulina is rich in essential fatty acids and contains vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin E. Given its high antioxidant content, spirulina has often been praised as an immune system booster.

Probiotic Supplements:

Age, poor diet, antibiotics and stress can deplete our bodies of billions of the good bacteria living in our intestines, upsetting the delicate balance of our intestinal terrain that help us digest and produce nutrients, restore digestive balance, and support our immune system.

Probiotics are the healthy cultures or “friendly bacteria” that are needed to restore and rebalance these microbes within our intestines. Incorporating a good quality probiotic helps aid digestion and nutrient absorption and contributes to immune function, female urogenital problems such as bacterial vaginosis, yeast infection, and urinary tract infection. Probiotic therapy is also known to help people with Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis.

Ensure that you hit up the nutritional store and speak with their well-educated staff members to enquire about what supplements would best suite you and your unique needs! As it’s so important to ensure that your body is properly being enriched, with the necessary products to make for a healthy, well balanced system.

If you have any questions, topic ideas or personal training inquiries, contact Kasie at 250-859-2431.