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Family Fitness Tips

Have fun with your family while keeping fit! Quick workouts, fitness fun, family games, and healthy recipes.
Courtesy of :
Sam Hawley
The Fitness Prescription

I hope you enjoy these tips. Feel free to browse our extensive archive for past posts and tips.
**As with all fitness activities, please consult your physician before participating in any activity or diet.

If you wish to receive day-to-day fitness advice, click the link below to follow them.

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Benefits of Gelatin

7/30/2014

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Many people are adding gelatin into their diets for its benefits to the body. Others do not want to take a dietary substance without knowing why they take it. Gelatin is made from animal meat connective tissue and is very nutritious (its existence in chicken noodle soup naturally is one of the reasons it is so good for you when you are sick).
Why use it?

It has been shown to speed up joint recovery and is used in treatment of osteoporosis.
It can help to tighten loose skin (especially after childbirth). This has been implicated in decreasing cellulite.
It increases the motility of the digestive tract and is great if you have stomach concerns or are recovering from a stomach virus. It can help attract water to the digestive tract and increase the movement and absorption.
It can help decrease food allergies because of the protection and mobilization of the intestines. (it has even been suggested to decreases asthma symptoms and seasonal allergies)
It is a great source of collagen.
It helps with hair and nail growth (as a result of the increased intake of collagen).
Can improve sleep and rest.
It may even help the liver to remove toxins by supplying it with glysine.

How do you use it?

Gelatin can be added to smoothies, oatmeal, coffee (check out Bullet Proof Coffee on google for ideas on how to incorporate gelatin into your coffee).
You can even make your own marshmallows, jello, or cakes with the gelatin.

What kind should you use?

Avoid the kind that is in multivitamins and supplements with all kinds of chemicals and sugars. Those decrease the effectiveness of the gelatin. Look for gelatin with no other ingredients and made of grass-fed beef.

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Jawbone Up Review

7/22/2014

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After using my Jawbone UP2 for a little over a month, I am ready to review it. Most importantly, I love it. I will give you the pros and cons below but, overall, I am very impressed with how well it works and how easy it is to use. Having also used the Nike Pro previously, I know what I have liked and disliked about other bands and can use this knowledge to determine the benefits of the UP. Hope this information is useful to a few of you.

Pros: It is comfortable to wear and comes in a black color that matches everything. There are a few different sizes, so it is not one size fits all. It tracks your steps and then converts your day into burned resting and active calories. It seems pretty accurate and is very easy to use. The app is easy and informative. It can compare different days of activity, gives you an average number of steps, tells you how many hours you were active and your longest active time (great for knowing how long you run). My favorite parts are the reminder and alarm features. You can set a recurrent time reminder and the bracelet will vibrate at that time (great for remembering to feed pets or take pills). You can also set alarms to wake you up in the morning with vibration instead of noise. It is really effective in waking you up. It can even be programmed to wake you up up to 30 minutes before your set time if you are at the right stage in your sleep cycle. It tracks your sleep very well including hours slept, number of times you woke up, and variations in the cycle. It even has a stopwatch feature for tracking how long you did an activity. I have not used it yet, but the programming seems straightforward. One cool extra of the app is that gives you encouraging and useful facts about fitness, health, and sleep each day that relate to your goals and activity level. I really love this fitness band.

Cons: There are two kinds of Jawbone UP available. I decided to buy the non-wireless one because of the price. This means you have to plug it into the AUX port of your phone or iPad to sync. I don't mind this feature, but if you do, there is an option for a completely wireless, bluetooth one. The little cover for the AUX plug is really easy to misplace on the non-wireless version. I set it down when I am uploading information or charging and often forget where I placed it. I even lost it at one point when I was moving houses because a box caught on it. Luckily, it is very easy and fairly cheap to order a new one on amazon. Getting used to a rigid band on your wrist takes about a week, but I don't even notice it any more. It is not completely waterproof, but rather, water resistant (take it off in the shower). If you are swimmer, this would not be the right band for you.

Other information: The band has no screen to communicate with you, all of the communication of activity levels and directions for alarm times is done through the app. There is only one small button and two little lights through which you can talk to your band when not connected to the app. This was neither a pro nor a con in my opinion because when I had a band with a screen, I focused too much on changing the information throughout the day (by moving my arms more than necessary) rather than focusing on my workouts. This is a personal preference, but needed to be noted.

Overall, I love my new fitness band. Jawbone did a great job with the band and the app making it easy to use and giving it really useful apps. I use most of the features on a daily basis and I love being woken up by my band instead of a loud alarm. If you are interested in checking the band out (or lost your plug cover as I had) check the links below. Hope this review gave you some insight before you splurge on a new fitness toy!

Here is the links to the Jawbone up. Both the wireless and non-wireless and replacement parts. As always check and make sure you get the best price. In this case, I found that to be on Amazon right now.

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What is Gluten-free?

7/15/2014

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There are a lot of reasons people have started eating gluten-free. From the increase in incidence of gluten intolerance to the increasing popularity of cutting them out for health reasons, many people are interested in understanding more about going gluten-free. There are many items that people think are gluten-free that may not be, but there are also many that are surprisingly gluten-free. I have made a list below of both types. Hope this helps!

What is Gluten? It is the substance that is in cereal grains and wheat products. Gluten is the binding agent that makes dough elastic.

Gluten intolerances can have varying levels of severity. If you are cutting out gluten to test your level of intolerance, be sure to check this list and others while you learn more about gluten. Food removal is a great way to determine whether you have an intolerance or not. Many people with recurrent digestive issues can benefit greatly from a removal or limitation of gluten intake (or dairy intake depending on your personal intolerance). Talk to your doctor to see if you may benefit from

Foods that are not gluten-free (that you thought were!)
Soy Sauce
Licorice
Some Toothpastes
Beer
Some Lunch Meat
Many Pre-made Seasonings
Some Processed Cheeses

Gluten-Free Foods (you many not have known about)
Quinoa
Home-made popcorn
Hard Ciders (most)
Almond Flour
Xantham Gum

Hope this helps a few people!

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Breading with Almond Flour

7/8/2014

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Personally, I use almond flour any time I want to bread something. It adds so much flavor and causes much less guilt. Almond flour or almond meal is just made of finely ground almonds and should have no additives, if you find the right kind. Almond flour is slightly pricey for flour, but it goes a long way and is very versatile. You can buy the Ben Mills version sold at most grocery stores, but you won't get as much bang for your buck. I recommend shopping in the bulk section of your local supermarket and getting the almond meal there. Personal preference.
Once you get your favorite kind of almond flour, it is easy to make it into a "breading". I like to add garlic powder, parsley, salt, and pepper (sometimes even parmesan cheese). You can add any seasonings that you like. You can use this mix to bread most things. I have used this to coat pork chops, zucchini, chicken, and even atop baked spaghetti squash. Below is a recipe for really delicious healthier zucchini squash.

Fried Zucchini
Slice Zucchini and place into a ziplock bag
Pour a few drops of olive oil or coconut oil into the bag and mix with the zucchini slices
Pour almond flour batter into the bag
Shake the mix until the zucchini is coated in flour
Heat up oil for frying (I prefer coconut oil) and fry the zucchini at a high temperature
*Try dipping in marinara sauce for some extra flavor!

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Benefits and Sources of Omega-3 and Vitamin C

7/1/2014

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There are so many mixed messages about vitamins and supplements as well as varieties of things to take, it is hard to know whether or not you should be taking any! Many people need no supplements and others need complete vitamin supplementation. A lot of people are of the mindset that it is better to take more and be safe than it is to not take any. That is not necessarily the proper path to good health. It is important that you find out what you are deficient in before you choose what else you want to process in your body.

There has been clinical evidence that shows that multivitamins do not actually improve health because the body does not absorb those you are not deficient in. People end up excreting the vitamins they are not deficient in which can actually cause some harm to their liver and kidneys while their bodies process the excess. Remember that vitamins are not a natural product, most are processed in some form. A natural food source that contains the vitamin that you should have in your diet is a much better alternative then a pill form, if possible. One of the best ways to determine whether you are deficient in any vitamins is to ask for blood work to be done at the office of your primary care physician. Once you have determined your vitamin deficiencies, it is necessary to know the benefits of the vitamins you need and the easiest sources of said supplements.

Below is some basic information on omega-3 and vitamin C.
*if you are not vitamin deficient, excess vitamin supplementation has not been shown to have benefit
**Always consult your doctor before use of any dietary supplements or change in diet

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