Pray It Off Guest Speaker 5/13/10 Personal Trainer Q&A & Quick Chicken Recipe

How much protein do you need for good health?

“As a general rule, between 10 percent and 15 percent of your total calories should come from protein. So, if you consume 2,000 calories per day, at least 200 should come from protein, or about 50 grams. You should try to eat around one gram of protein per one kilogram of body weight, or around 0.4 grams per pound. An easier way to figure this out in your head is to take your weight, divide it in half, and subtract 10. The total will be the number of grams of protein you should consume each day. So, if you weigh 120 pounds, you should eat about 50 grams of protein.”
Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/14563169/#ixzz0oHM7tfkY

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=980 - 15 minute office/desk workout

Two great web sites for nutrition and weight loss:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/
http://www.mypyramid.gov/


Should I Use a Heart-Rate Monitor?*

I see people in the gym using them, but I’m not sure if I should, too.

Q. I just joined a gym and see people on cardio machines using heart-rate monitors. What’s the point of them, and should I use one?
A. Most cardio machines have built-in heart-rate monitors. So as long as you place your hands on the appropriate handles, you can get a reading on how fast your heart is beating. The question is, do you need to use this tool?
Heart rates are used to gauge exercise intensity, or how hard you are working. The most accurate way to determine your exercise intensity is in a lab, where you can be hooked up to equipment that monitors your oxygen and carbon dioxide intake and output.

Talk test and breathing rate

The more you huff and puff, the higher your intensity.
On your own, you can only estimate how hard you are working. There are several ways to do this, including the “talk test” -- if you can sing while exercising you, are working at a “light” intensity; if you have trouble talking, you are working at a “vigorous” intensity. Or you can assess your breathing rate. The more you huff and puff, the higher your intensity.

Rate of perceived exertion (RPE)

You can also rate your level of effort by assessing your perceived exertion. This is a scientifically validated scale developed by a Swedish exercise physiologist that equates the level of effort and the corresponding percentage of maximum heart rate, with a number that reflects how hard you believe you are exercising. The original scale ranged from 6 to 20 (see here). But a more user-friendly revised version was created using a scale of zero to 10. To use the scale, you ask yourself how hard you think you are working and then match the perception to a number or description on the scale. You can then work a little harder or easier to move up or down in your intensity level.

Heart rate

Checking your heart rate, either manually with your fingers or by wearing a heart-rate monitor, is another way to gauge your intensity. Some people assume that checking heart rate is the most accurate approach, since it seems so high-tech. But this is not necessarily the case. Research has shown that for regular exercisers especially, using RPE can be just as accurate as checking heart rate.
Also, your heart rate can vary from other factors, and so it doesn’t always reflect your true exercise intensity in terms of oxygen consumption. If you are dehydrated and you work out on a hot, humid day, your heart rate may be higher. This is not a reflection of your exercise intensity; it simply reveals the fact that your heart is working harder to keep you from overheating.

The latest guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association frame their physical-activity recommendations in terms of effort level (i.e., “moderate” or “vigorous”), rather than heart-rate ranges. You can adjust your workouts to work in your target intensity range either by measuring your heart rate or assessing your perceived exertion.

Some beginning exercisers and people with medical conditions may benefit from monitoring their heart rate. It’s not uncommon for beginners to push too hard and get their heart rate too high. While this isn’t necessarily dangerous, it may make a novice feel bad (dizzy or gasping for air). The biggest downside is that newbie exercisers may then give up on regular workouts, since being too out-of-breath can take the fun out of exercise.

Some medical conditions or medications, such as beta blockers, may affect heart rates and levels of exercise exertion. For example, cardiac patients may be recommended to not work above a certain intensity--often defined by not going above a heart-rate upper limit, so as not to increase the risks of heart arrhythmia—so using a heart-rate monitor to track may be a good move. If you have any medical conditions, you should consult with your physician about heart-rate concerns.
So they answer is, you don’t really need to use a heart-rate monitor, although it can be helpful. But should you?

Using heart rates as a fitness training tool

How hard you work out determines the type of benefit you’ll get. An easy workout can improve your heart strength, but not nearly as much as working out at a higher intensity and challenging the heart to pump faster than normal.

You’ll burn more calories per minute by working out at harder intensities. And if your goal is to improve cardiovascular power, monitoring heart rates to work out at different effort levels in an interval-training mode can make your training more effective. A fit exerciser might work at super-high intensities (such as 85 to 90 percent of their maximum heart rate) for brief intervals. Then they might purposefully spend a predetermined amount of time at a very low intensity (say, 50 percent) to recover before they push to a higher level again. There are different formulas for intervals, but all are based on working out at a high intensity for a period, and following that with a recovery period working at a lower intensity.

25 Healthy Snacks for Kids

When a snack attack strikes, refuel with these nutrition-packed snacks.

Easy, Tasty (and Healthy) Snacks

You may need an adult to help with some of these snacks.
1. Peel a banana and dip it in yogurt. Roll in crushed cereal and freeze.
2. Spread celery sticks with peanut butter or low-fat cream cheese. Top with raisins. Enjoy your “ants on
a log.”
3. Stuff a whole-grain pita pocket with ricotta cheese and Granny Smith apple slices. Add a dash of
cinnamon.
4. Mix together ready-to-eat cereal, dried fruit and nuts in a sandwich bag for an on-the-go snack.
5. Smear a scoop of frozen yogurt on two graham crackers and add sliced banana to make a yummy
sandwich.
6. Top low-fat vanilla yogurt with crunchy granola and sprinkle with blueberries.
7. Microwave a small baked potato. Top with
reduced-fat cheddar cheese and salsa.
8. Make snack kabobs. Put cubes of low-fat cheese
and grapes on pretzel sticks.
9. Toast a whole grain waffle and top with low-fat
yogurt and sliced peaches.
10. Spread peanut butter on apple slices.
11. Blend low-fat milk, frozen strawberries and a
banana for thirty seconds for a delicious smoothie.
12. Make a mini-sandwich with tuna or egg salad on a
dinner roll.
13. Sprinkle grated Monterey Jack cheese over a corn
tortilla; fold in half and microwave for twenty
seconds. Top with salsa.
14. Toss dried cranberries and chopped walnuts in
instant oatmeal.
15. Mix together peanut butter and cornflakes in
a bowl. Shape into balls and roll in crushed
graham crackers.
16. Microwave a cup of tomato or vegetable soup
and enjoy with whole grain crackers.
17. Fill a waffle cone with cut-up fruit and top
with low-fat vanilla yogurt.
18. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on hot
popcorn.
19. Banana Split: Top a banana with low-fat
vanilla and strawberry frozen yogurt. Sprinkle
with your favorite whole-grain cereal.
20. Sandwich Cut-Outs: Make a sandwich on
whole grain bread. Cut out your favorite
shape using a big cookie cutter. Eat the fun
shape and the edges, too!
21. Spread mustard on a flour tortilla. Top with
a slice of turkey or ham, low-fat cheese and
lettuce. Then roll it up.
22. Mini Pizza: Toast an English muffin, drizzle
with pizza sauce and sprinkle with low-fat
mozzarella cheese.
23. Rocky Road: Break a graham cracker into
bite-size pieces. Add to low-fat chocolate
pudding along with a few miniature
marshmallows.
24. Inside-Out Sandwich: Spread mustard on a
slice of deli turkey. Wrap around a sesame
breadstick.
25. Parfait: Layer vanilla yogurt and mandarin
oranges or blueberries in a tall glass. Top with
a sprinkle of granola.

Now that you are refueled, take a trip to
Planet Power. Play the MyPyramid Blast-Off
game at www.mypyramid.gov.

©2009 ADA. Reproduction of this tip sheet is permitted for educational purposes. Reproduction for sales purposes is not authorized.

This tip sheet is provided by:
The American Dietetic Association is the world’s largest
organization of food and nutrition professionals.

ADA is committed to improving the nation’s health and
advancing the profession of dietetics through research,
education and advocacy.
For a referral to a registered dietitian and for
additional food and nutrition information visit
www.eatright.org.
Authored by American Dietetic Association staff registered dietitians.

Dip it! Bonus Snacks

• Dip baby carrots and cherry tomatoes in
low-fat ranch dressing.
• Dip strawberries or apple slices in low-fat
yogurt.
• Dip pretzels in mustard.
• Dip pita chips in hummus.
• Dip graham crackers in applesauce.
• Dip baked tortilla chips in bean dip.
• Dip animal crackers in low-fat pudding.
• Dip bread sticks in salsa.
• Dip a granola bar in low-fat yogurt.
• Dip mini-toaster waffles in cinnamon
applesauce.

Quick Chicken
From My High School Buddy Eleanor (THANKS Pal!!)

4 boneless chicken breast pound to 1/2" thickness
2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar - divided
6 oz portobello mushroom cut into 1" pieces
1 - 10oz bag fresh spinach
1 - 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (can use flavor or plain)
Saute chicken in 1 Tbsp oil till no longer pink in center. Remove from pan and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp vinegar, cover with foil and set aside.

Add mushroom to skillet and saute until soft. Add spinach and saute until wilted. Add tomatoes and 1 Tbsp vinegar. Simmer 3-4 minutes. Add chicken breast and cook on low till warm and chicken is completely done (about 30 minutes).

Serve with angel hair noodles, or we like a wheat/tomato basil noodle I found with it.
* http://health.msn.com/weight-loss/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100258080