Strength for Her

One reason that so many Americans struggle with their weight is that serving sizes have dramatically increased over the years. It’s easy overestimate what makes an individual serving. You may be surprised to see that many times it’s only a fraction of what we typically allow ourselves to eat. It can be easy to overindulge when we don’t look at this information carefully.

For example, some larger soda and juice bottles have 1.5 or 2 serving in a single bottle. Many people would assume that a bottle is a single serving. If you only glance at the calorie content, you’ll only see half or ¾ of what the total calories are for the entire bottle. This is why it’s so important to take this information into consideration. There’s no reason you can’t have two servings, but you should know that you’re then taking in twice the calories as listed in the nutritional info, and plan the rest of your food intake accordingly (check out How to Read Nutritional Information for more info).

It can be harder figure out portion size for cooked foods, especially those that don’t have nutritional information readily available, like fresh meats and produce. This is when a site like fitday.com can be very useful.

Even so, it can be hard to approximate what a cup of pasta or rice looks like when cooked. The chart below can be helpful. Don’t worry – although this information can be overwhelming at first, after practicing it for awhile it will become second nature. You won’t have to look up calorie content forever.

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A recent article on CNN lists some ways that women can lower their risk of miscarriage.

…while most women will go on to have a successful pregnancy, about 5 percent are likely to lose another baby. And the use of assisted reproductive technology such as in vitro fertilization (common among women 35-plus) seems to boost miscarriage risks even more.

The articles mentions considering any health issues, like high blood pressure or diabetes, that can cause problems with pregnancy. It also says that eliminating stress can reduce risk by 60%. In addition to these, there are some medical tests available that can uncover hidden issues and provide some answers. And remember, the majority of women who have had a miscarriage go on to have normal pregnancies.

Read the whole article here.

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 Doctors are considering changing the recommendations for healthy weight gain during pregnancy. The changes come after many doctors feel that too many women are gaining too much weight during their pregnancies. The current guidelines suggest gaining 25-35 pounds, 15 pounds for the most obese women and 40 pounds for women with below normal BMIs. Doctors complain that these guidelines don’t take the nation’s obesity epidemic into consideration.

Carrying too much weight while pregnant increases the risk of complications for mother and baby, including birth defects, labor and delivery problems, fetal death and delivery of large babies, according to the March of Dimes.

A revision is long overdue, said Dr. Raul Artal of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

“The reality is for too long we are telling pregnant women to take it easy during pregnancy, be confined and to eat for two,” he said. “This has been one factor in causing the epidemic of overweight and obesity that we see in our country.” 

What do you think? Are the guidelines too lax? Do women these days let pregnancy eliminate healthy eating habits and exercise? Do the guidelines have a big effect on women’s weight gain, or does the body do what it feels best? How hard is it to control weight gain while pregnant?

Read the whole article here.

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In a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, an author discusses the phenomenon of shrinking women, literally and figuratively. Women are encouraged to be physically smaller than ever before, and along with this comes a disturbing new trend of decreased aspirations.

It’s bad enough that our dress sizes are shrinking to 0, but so too is our common sense and our understanding of health, wellness and lasting beauty. Most distressingly, our ambitions are shrinking as well.

It sometimes seems that we like our women small, literally and figuratively.

Is it possible that society keeps us so focused on staying small that we have little time or energy for anything else? Could the obsession with thinness be a way to keep women under control and limit our power? I’ve wondered about this topic before and the author brings up some interesting points.

Read the whole article here.

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One of the first steps in learning to eat healthy is to understand which foods are good choices and which aren’t. We’ve already learned about Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat in the Nutrition 101 series. Most foods have more than one, or all three components present in some amount. So how do you know exactly what makes up your food?

This is where nutritional information comes in handy. You can find nutritional information on practically every packaged food. For those foods that aren’t packaged, like vegetables and meats, you can use a resource like Fitday.com to look up the nutritional info. Many chain restaurants also have nutritional information available on their websites. It can be a dose of reality to see how many calories what you thought was a healthy sandwich from Panara contains! But denial won’t get us to our healthy eating goals.

When you’re first learning how to eat healthy, it’s a good idea to look at the nutritional information of everything you eat. You may be surprised at the calorie or fat content of some foods! After awhile, you’ll begin to understand which foods are very calorie-dense, high in fat, or loaded with fiber. By knowing what’s in your food, you can make smart choices about food for your healthy eating goals.

Before you can utilize the nutritional information on the chart, you have to understand how to read it. Some charts will be much more extensive than others, but all American foods are required to have at least a minimum of some information included. Take a look at the picture of the nutritional information of a banana for an example.

How to read nutritional information:

Continue reading…

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A recent article at CNN details 5 breast-feeding mistakes new moms make, and how to fix them. The article follows a recent study that finds that although 75% of women begin breast-feeding their infants, by three months only 30% are still nursing exclusively. That number drops to only 11% at six months. This is troublesome to some health experts, since it is recommended that new moms breast-feed for at least six months to get all the benefits of breast milk.

 The article makes some suggestions for new moms struggling to master breast feeding. Some women can be surprised to find that breast feeding is much harder than they had anticipated, and not automatic. Some of the suggestions include getting support from experienced friends, not assuming you don’t have enough milk, and not panicking in the beginning when milk doesn’t rush out.

…many women have a hard time nursing and don’t know where to turn for help. She says one common reason for quitting is that women mistakenly think they don’t have enough milk and decide to give the baby formula. Other women quit nursing when they go back to work, and others stop because family members encourage them to give bottles instead of breast milk.

Read the whole article here.

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 An article at ZenHabits talks about tying together running (or any form of physical exercise) and meditation. Meditation has long been shown to have positive effects on health. Those that meditate daily, even for just a short period of time, are typically less susceptible to the negative effects of daily life stresses better. By combining meditation with running or some other form of exercise, you’re getting twice the health benefits in the same period of time. Meditation can also be a helpful way to take your mind off of the exercise itself, which can make it more seamless.

Be aware of what’s around you, of the sights and sounds, and be aware of your breathing, the aches and pains of your muscles and joints, your muscles as they work during your run, your feet as they hit the ground, the wind as it hits your skin, your hair rustling in that wind, your thoughts as  you run.

Read the whole article here.

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Have you ever wondered how many calories you’ve burned on the elliptical trainer or while mountain biking?

In past articles, we’ve gained a better understanding of our how many calories our body needs and how to figure out how many we’re eating (see Estimating Daily Calorie Needs, How to Count Calories, Calorie Calculator). We’ve also learned to figure out how many calories our body burns at rest just to keep it functioning by calculating our BMR, or Basal Metabolic Rate.

 In addition to our BMR, our body burns calories by all of our physical activity and exercise. The more you move, the more calories you burn. It can be difficult to approximate exactly how many calories we burn during exercise. Furthermore, it varies widely from person to person due to body composition, weight, gender, and metabolism. Because of this, the ‘calories burned’ displays on the cardio machines at the gym may be far from accurate. Although it’s impossible to find an exact number, the chart below will give you a general idea of how many calories certain activities burn. The numbers shown are for 60 minutes of exercise, so adjust according to how much you’ve done. Continue reading…

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 An article on CNN talks about how doulas are becoming more popular for childbirth. Doulas are there to offer support during the labor and delivery process. With their advanced experience, they can create a relaxing environment for the mom-to-be and offer advice and support for the husband as well. Often times doulas will use candles and music to help create a peaceful environment, and they can also help communicate a woman’s wishes with medical staff while the woman may be too uncomfortable to do so effectively. Many times a doula will follow-up after the birth with tips on infant care and breastfeeding.

Doula is a Greek word meaning “woman’s servant.” Part birthing coach, part mother’s assistant, doulas are showing up in more delivery rooms than ever before.

Read the whole article here.

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