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Fibre: Superfood’s Least Sexy Cousin – Part 4

December 9, 2016

Here is the final part of a four part series on fibre! I present to you seven more practical tips on how to increase the fibre content of your diet. Try them one at a time and slowly build new high-fibre habits in what you eat! And don’t forget to drink lots of water as you do. 1. Replace half of the white flour with whole wheat flour in baking recipes 2. Try legumes for snacks a. Examples include roast chickpeas or steamed edamame beans, which are both very easy to make at home! 3. Add barley, beans, peas or lentils to your recipes for dinners and lunches a. An example could be spaghetti sauce with black beans b. Meat doesn’t have fibre, but these plant-based proteins have plenty! 4. Rethink your drink – say goodbye to juice a. Although juice appears to be a health food it is really a processed food with all that good fibre completely removed. The fruit sugar in juice raises your blood sugar very quickly because there is no fiber (another way of saying it has a high glycemic index). Juice should be used as the occasional treat in a healthy diet, but is not a food to have every day. Have a real piece of fruit and drink water instead. 5. Eat nuts and seeds for snacks and sprinkle them on meals. For example: a. Yogurt with pumpkin seeds b. Salads with almonds c. Pasta with sunflower seeds 6. Make your own granola bars with high fibre ingredients a. Oatmeal b. Nuts c. Seeds 7. Finally, if you are still struggling to get enough fibre in your diet, you can trial adding fibre supplements: a. Bran b. Ground flax seed c. High Fibre cereal eg. All Bran d. Metamucil Warning! Increase fibre slowly and drink plenty of water as you do! You need the water to soften the fibre and allow it to travel smoothly through your GI tract. I hope that you learned plenty in this fibre series and found the tips very practical. Best of luck implementing these suggestions and get in touch if you want to have a more detailed assessment of your diet! References: Can Colorectal Cancer be Prevented? American Cancer Society. January, 20th, 2016. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/colonandrectumcancer/detailedguide/colorectal-cancer-prevention Healthy Eating Guidelines for Increasing Your Fibre Intake. Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition. September 21st, 2012. Food Sources of Soluble Fibre. Dietitians of Canada. 2013. Fibre. Canadian Diabetes Association. 2010. http://www.diabetes.ca/diabetes-and-you/healthy-living-resources/diet-nutrition/fibre#sthash.alzuk24X.dpuf. Prebiotics. EatRightOntario. http://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/Articles/Probiotics/prebiotics/Prebiotics.aspx#.V5bBslcl39o Preventing Colorectal Cancer. Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada. http://www.colorectal-cancer.ca/en/nutrition/nutritional/ Whole Grains. Harvard School of Public Health. 2016. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/whole-grains/

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Fibre: Superfood’s Least Sexy Cousin – Part 3

November 16, 2016

By Karalee Boschung RD(t) Let’s begin by asking ourselves – Am I getting enough fibre? The recommended intake of fibre is 25 – 38g per day. It is estimated that most Canadians do not get enough. Some estimate that fewer than 50% of Canadians meet the recommended fibre intake! How can you know you’re getting enough? Ask yourselves the following questions: How many times a day do I eat fruits or vegetables? A diet including enough fiber, will have at least seven servings of vegetables and fruit per day. A serving is half a cup of vegetables, a whole fruit, or one cup of leafy greens. What type of carbohydrates do I eat on a daily basis? Most of the carbohydrates you eat should consist of whole, intact grains. Examples include barley, brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, farro, amaranth, buckwheat etc. Other high fibre carbohydrates can be found in starchy vegetables, such as sweet potatoes or purple potatoes. Aim for at least half of your grains per day to be whole grains. How many times a week do I eat plant-based proteins (ex. beans, tofu, lentils)? Aims to get your protein from plant-based sources as much as possible, to increase fibre in your diet. If you are eating plant-based protein at 3-4 out of 7 dinners per week, you are on the right track. How much of my diet is made up of processed foods (ex. white bread, fast food, processed breakfast cereal, cookies, chips)? Processed foods should make up 20% or less of your diet. They should be used as treats but not make up the majority of your daily intake. To get enough fibre you should reduce your intake of processed foods as much as possible. After answering those questions, how are you doing with fibre intake? Are your habits fibre-rich? Or do you need to work on a few things? Here are 6 ways to easily increase your fibre intake: Cut the fluff and switch to whole grains! Bread – the first ingredient listed should be whole wheat, whole rye whole oats etcetera. Look out for “brown bread” that is just white bread colored brown with molasses! Cereal – ditch highly processed breakfast cereals and get whole, intact grains instead. Experiment with steel cut oats, quinoa, buckwheat, barley and more whole grains for breakfast! Start switching out white rice or pasta with whole-grains at lunch and dinner. There are many delicious, nutty-tasting grains out there! Make it your goal to try a new one each month to get familiar with all the options, and see how easy (and inexpensive!) it is to add whole grains into your diet. Get rid of processed foods in your snacks and have…

Nutrition, Training

Fibre: Superfood’s Least Sexy Cousin – Part 2

September 24, 2016

By Karalee Boschung RD(t) Picture 1: ““healthy-heart” by Mark Topper, via flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0 After reading Part 1 of this series, you know that fibre can give immediate benefits such as a healthy intestinal tract, a stable weight, and well-fed probiotics in your gut! But what are the long term benefits of fibre intake? Today we are looking at five ways long-term fibre intake can prevent chronic diseases. 1. Leads to a Healthier Overall Diet High fibre foods are more often than not very healthy foods already. Low fibre foods tend to be highly processed and less healthy choices. Food processing generally reduces the fibre in foods, making them smoother, creamier and whiter. Some examples of highly processed foods are donuts, white bread, corn flakes, and French fries. These foods are more processed, lower in fibre, and unhealthier choices. They would be foods to choose less often, as treats perhaps, but they should not make up the bulk of your diet. Foods that have only been processed a little, or not at all, are healthier options that are also higher in fibre. Examples of these whole foods are: nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains (barley, quinoa etc.), fruits and vegetables. You should choose these foods daily to make up the majority of your diet. It is well established that a long-term healthy diet based on whole foods is an important factor in preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. 2. Lowers Blood Cholesterol Soluble fibre can lower blood cholesterol by trapping the cholesterol excreted into the intestinal tract as bile. Soluble fibre, mentioned in part 1, is the type of fibre that combines with water in the gut to form a gel-like matrix. It traps cholesterol in this matrix and carries it out of the body. This can contribute to a healthier level of fats and cholesterol in your blood, which significantly decreases your risk of heart disease! 3. Prevents colon cancer The American Cancer Society, reports that fibre in the diet, especially from whole grains, may prevent colon cancer. The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada explains that the reason whole grains may provide more cancer prevention than other high fibre foods, is that whole grains are higher in insoluble fibre. As mentioned in part 1 of this series, insoluble fibre is tough plant material that passes through the gut almost entirely unchanged. It provides a sweeping function in the gut and removes potential carcinogens before they have time to be exposed to the gut for any length of time. Interestingly, fibre supplements have not been shown to decrease risk for colon cancer, only fibre from real food (also noted by the American Cancer Society). Research is…

Nutritionfibre, nutrition

Fibre: Superfood’s Least Sexy Cousin – Part 1

September 2, 2016

By Karalee Boschung RD(t) Picture 1: “Fruit and fibre” by Richard Cocks, via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 What is so great about fibre? We know that we all need it for some vague “intestinal health” reasons, and we are surrounded by fibre supplements in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. But what does fibre actually do in the body? Is it really that essential? It has been debated whether fibre should be named one of the major food groups because of its large role in health. The interesting thing about fibre is that it is not “nourishing” to us in the purest meaning of the word. We do not obtain calories, protein or vitamins from fibre. Actually, the definition of fibre is the tough plant material that human bodies cannot break down or digest. The benefits that fibre gives are of a mechanical nature rather than a nutritive nature. There are two major types of fibre available from plant foods: insoluble and soluble. Insoluble fibre is often referred to as “roughage”. Examples include many types of vegetables, the skins of some fruits, and wheat bran. This fibre is the tough stuff that will pass through the body completely unchanged. Soluble fibre has its name because it is soluble in water. In the gut, it combines with water to form a gel-like substance. Soluble fibre is found in oat bran, fruits, legumes (like beans, peas, and lentils) and some root vegetables (like carrots). Most high fibre foods contain both types of fibre, but may have a higher proportion of one compared to the other. With that brief introduction, let’s look at three of the main ways that fibre can improve your health: 1. Weight control Because fibre is so bulky, it pushes against the walls of our stomach and intestines and sends messages to the brain that we are full. Eating plenty of fibre at each meal will help us feel full sooner and eat less calories per meal. Fibre will also help us feel full longer and prevent us from reaching for an unhealthy snack an hour later. Because of these traits, eating fibre at each meal can be a great way to control your weight. And you won’t feel hungry or deprived while losing weight because fibre will fill you up! 2. Healthy Bowel Movements Having regular bowel movements is what fibre is arguably most famous for. Insoluble fibre, which is chewed and mashed but not absorbed, adds bulk to the stool in the digestive tract. This bulk stimulates the walls of the digestive tract to contract and move things along, so we have regular bowel movements. Soluble fibre holds water in the stool and keeps it soft…

Nutritionfibre, nutrition, superfood

The Unique Art of Yoga

September 2, 2016

By Leonel Franco In honor of the magnitude of benefits the practice of Yoga has provided the masses, I will keep this blog simple and sharp. A comfortable read so that you may take something with you to contemplate. Stretching alone, two times a week for 20-60 minutes per session yields great benefits. Anything extra is a sweet cherry on top. Heck, even less than 20-60 minutes 2x/week is better than nothing, but let’s aim higher. Whether you have the time or not is a silly question. We all have the same amount of time in a day. How we use that time is what we have to question. Stretching alone however, isn’t yoga. It’s just not. This isn’t a Leo fact, it just is what it is. Does this mean that all the postures you’ve been rocking all these years were for nothing? Of course not. Don’t be silly. Increasing your range of motion is a good thing. That feeling after a stretch session, that light and relaxing feeling is a good thing. Is it yoga? No. It’s stretching. It’s a release of tension and stress. This is good. Stretching is good. Remember that. What then is yoga you may be asking yourself? Yoga is a daily practice involving self-reflection, introspective observation of ourselves and our responses to forms of stress, and a practice of postures to improve physical fitness. Yoga is a long practiced method of learning and knowing yourself through physical activity and self-reflection. If you’re not already practicing yoga, why is it that you have yet to try Yoga? Define your intentions so you may find the right product. After that, commit to your purchase and dedicate yourself to the work so you may reap the rewards. The rewards are many! I am confident you will find your own Yoga practice within time. While there are guidelines and methods which make Yoga unique, you are free to express your practice as you please Explore it. Live it. Breathe it. Keep it.

YogaYoga

The Benefits of Foam Rolling

May 29, 2016

Posture is a necessary component in the success of any movement-based activity in daily living. Whether simply bending over to pick up a box from the floor or running a marathon, movement efficiency depends on postural quality (1, 2, and 3). According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) poor posture during repetitive movements can generate dysfunction and inefficiencies within the muscles of the body (3). Musculoskeletal dysfunction is defined as any trauma to the tissues leads to inflammation (2, 3). Following inflammation, a series of internal events subsequently occurs beginning first with increased tension in the muscles often leading to muscle spasm. This is a protective mechanism against pain and further trauma. Spasms within the muscle can lead to the generation of knot-like structures within the soft tissue of the muscles in the area of dysfunction and trauma. These knots are also referred to as “trigger points” or “adhesions” (1, 2, and 3). Knots can decrease muscular elasticity, IE the stretchiness of the muscle, therein increasing tightness and ultimately making the muscle less efficient in daily motion. Additionally, the continuation of trauma-inducing motions can lead to altered movement patterns. During motion the musculoskeletal system will move along the path of least resistance, which is termed relative flexibility (3). However, with the presence of knots the body will produce motion in such a way that effectively avoids pain and discomfort. This can decrease the efficiency of movement within daily activity and physiologically decrease the ability of the muscles to contract optimally therein. According to NASM, self-myofascial release (SMR) also known as foam rolling, may be a useful tool in the prevention and treatment of movement-based soft tissue dysfunction. SMR can be used to release micro spasms within the muscle and break up the adhesive knots which follow them (1, 3). SMR can be used to alleviate the side effects of active or latent adhesive knots through applying external pressure onto the location where muscle tension is felt (3). This can gradually lead to the breakdown of adhesions by forcefully stimulating the receptors within the affected muscle. Breaking down adhesive knots within the muscle can help to correct dysfunction within the human movement system. Here is an example of three SMR exercises that can be done with a standard cylindrical foam roller (3): 1) The Calves: While seated, place one leg directly onto the foam roller at the top of the heel. Place the off-leg on top of the on-leg with the hands placed behind the body for support. Gradually begin pushing forward and backward so that the roller begins at the heel and moves upward to the base of the knee. Roll in a Y-Shape such that the stem…

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