Lets learn some things..

I know how much will power it takes for us all to go and exercise. The term “workout” alone can be frightening! We associate the word “work” with something that is difficult and we do not want to do. It is funny to look back at all the times I came up with an excuse not to go to a gym, or simply go for a walk. Is there really a good excuse not to? You have asthma? Well, when you start out it will be difficult, take your inhaler and take it slow. You don’t have time? Start out on the Eliptical for 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes in the evening and eventually you will love doing it so much and love the feeling it gives you that you will do it more and more. We do not have a good excuse for letting our bodies go down hill. Which brings me to our daily caloric intake.

                We as Americans do not practice self-control, nor the habit of looking at what we are putting into our bodies. We do not count calories, we don’t look at the amount of fat, or carbohydrate we are ingesting. Im not saying that any diet is right or wrong here. I am simply saying, if you are obese or overweight, you should be looking at what you are intaking into your body. If you do not exercise and diet you will not succeed, you might lose some weight but you will eventually gain it back because you are not changing your lifestyle. A lifestyle change has to be your choice, not the choice of those around or even me. I want to see more people WANTING to change their lives for the better. I love my fellow Americans and hope that we can all see the damage we are doing to our bodies.

                Speaking of damage, another disease that we commonly look over but more often than not is caused by obesity. Diabetes, some forms are known to develop because of a persons weight. I watched my Grandma on my Mom’s side suffer my whole life with numerous ailments, including obesity and diabetes. I remember as a kid always thinking, “that couldn’t happen to me, I could never get that big to where I would develop diabetes or any other disease.” Oh how incorrect I was, I could easily develop a number of diseases related to my weight. I cannot stress enough to those of you who are struggling with your weight, how much better it feels to do some form of exercise, raise that heartrate and sweat it out!

                I bought the most amazing tool for doing crunches!! AB ROLLER! Twenty bucks from Walmart, it comes disassembled, but is incredibly easy to assemble. I tell you what, I love the burning sensation I get from doing  100 crunches! I love knowing that in the long run my body will thank me for the effort I am putting towards the “New Me!” http://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-s-Gym-Ab-Roller-With-Pro-Assist/11099790 

Okay so I have some people asking me.. "how do I count my carbs and such?!" Well lets take a look at a normal everyday product, my favorite food happens to be spinach, lets take a look at that!

Food Item: Spinach, boiled
Food Quantity: 1 cup
Carbs: 6.8g
Dietary Fiber: 4.3g
Net Carbs: 2.5g

        You are probably wondering what a net carb is! A net carb is the remaining balance of carbohydrates after removing the dietary fiber. Dietary fiber does not affect the blood glucose level because it is not broken down in the small intestine so it doesnt break down into glucose and head into the blood stream. So if you have a 6.8g total carbohydrate in our previously mentioned spinach, below the carbohydrate total will say 4.3g of dietary fiber, subtract the dietary fiber from the total Carbohydrate amount. So what if there is other types of carbohydrate in a food product? What are they and what do they do to my body? 

So here we have a package of sugar free Werthers candies! Everyone loves the feeling of unwrapping and popping one of their delicious candies, well here it is in sugar free! I love having a little package in my purse and sucking on one when feeling a need for a little sweetness. So enough on how delicious they are, lets look at their carbohydrates. 

As you can see the total carbohydrates for 5 pieces is 14g, but below the total carbohydrate amount it has whats called a "Sugar Alcohol" amount, which is 14g. What are sugar alcohols? 

Sugar Alcohols are neither sugar or alcohol, so no.. they WILL NOT get you drunk! Sugar alcohols are extracted from plant. The sugar alcohol that is used in our Werthers candies is one called Isomalt. Since sugar alcohols are derived from our Oxygen producing buddies. What kind of plants do they come from and how close are they to the REAL THING. 

Ingredient	Sweetness	GI	Cal/g
Sucrose(sugar)	100%	60	4
Maltitol Syrup	75%	52	3
Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate	33%	39	2.8
Maltitol	75%	36	2.7
Xylitol	100%	13	2.5
Isomalt	55%	9	2.1
Sorbitol	60%	9	2.5
Lactitol	35%	6	2
Mannitol	60%	0	1.5
Erythritol	70%	0	0.2

 I found this little counter online!! I thought it would make everything alot easier to explain. So as you can see Isomalt levels out as 55% of the sweetness of REAL sugar, has 2.1 calories per gram. As you can see there is also another column; GI, Which stands for Glycemic Index. 

Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. Glycemic index (also known at GI) is created to help distinguish the differences in carbohydrates by ranking them by each one's effect on our blood glucose level. Choosing a food with a lower GI ranking-the carbs that have a lower effect on our glucose level and insulin levels- is key to a sustainable weight loss. To search for a food in the Glycemic index, visit this website: http://www.glycemicindex.com/  You can search for any food, and it will tell you what you need to know!!

Well, I think My brain is on overload from all this information!! I hope I helped someone figure something out! If you have any questions.. just ask!

Olive Juice,

Mada