The Sequoia Advisor

IN THIS ISSUE                                                       June 1^st 2012

• The Truth About Exercise and Your Weight
  
• Food Label Sticker Shock
  
• Posture Perfect! Wednesday at 11 am Class Starting
• Keep Pets Away From Lawn Chemicals
• Osteoporosis Support News
   

Feel Better... Live Better

The Truth About Exercise and Your Weight
By Woody McMahon

Fitness Fables
The latest research on exercise and weight loss is turning up some
interesting trends. For the longest time exercise has been championed as
one of the most important fat burning tools available and frequently
linked to successful weight loss. That has left countless people spending
endless hours trying to burn calories in an effort to lose weight.

It turns out that you do need to reduce excess calories to lose weight but
exercise is not the best tool for that job. It also turns out that in many
cases exercise can actually increase appetite and food intake rather than
decreasing it. So do you really need to exercise to successfully lose
weight or can you just reduce calories to get the job done?

You Can't Burn Enough Calories
Exercise is generally held out as a good way to burn calories to ensure
weight loss. But current research shows that exercise is a poor calorie
burner for most people. While it can take only a few minutes to eat 500 to
1000 calories; it requires 4 to 5 hours of exercise for the average person to
"burn off" those same calories. The average person cannot exercise 4 or 5
hours a day so calorie reduction is the only real way to lose weight. Research
shows that exercise plays an important role in reducing your appetite
(if the exercise is not too strenuous) and lowering stress levels.
Both are important in reaching a healthy weight.Increasing Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR is a measure of the number of calories you need to breathe, sleep,
digest your food, pump blood from your heart and many other vital
functions. It is a measure of how much energy your "body machine" needs
to run. The BMR of a sedentary person is almost always lower than that of
someone who exercises because of the differences in muscles mass. To
successfully lose weight, you want the highest BMR possible. The higher
your BMR, the more fuel (calories) your body needs every hour of the day.
So regular exercise does help to raise your BMR by increasing the amount
of muscle you have on your body (lean body mass).

Helping to Maintain a Healthy Weight
The latest research has also shown that people who keep their weight off
the longest or even permanently spend 3 to 5 hours a week in a regular
exercise program. Non-regular exercisers generally are unable to stabilize
their weight and gain back more than they initially lost. Regular exercise
also has a strong effect on insulin and cortisol; two important weight
loss hormones. By increasing muscle mass, exercise helps keep hormones in
balance, allows your body to utilize calories more efficiently and raises
your BMR which ultimately aids in your long-term weight maintenance.

Fitness as a Health Tool
Research continues to show that a regular exercise program is still your
best health improvement tool yielding an ever increasing list of benefits.
Better balance, improved posture, lower blood pressure, more energy,
elevated mood, improved sex life and better digestion are only a handful
of the benefits that come from a regular exercise. Exercise can do more
to improve your health than any known medication or supplement.
Always remember that successful exercise programs are fun, social and
sustainable over the long-term while providing for measurable physical
and mental changes.

Fitness in Its Proper Place
So it appears that exercise is an important health tool aiding in weight
loss by increasing BMR, balancing hormones and reducing stress. Based on
the latest research, your exercise program should include more time building
muscle with weights, bands and balls and less trying to "burn calories" on
a treadmill or elliptical machine. Additionally, time on the treadmill and
elliptical machines will not improve your balance which is key if you are
over 50. It is still important to build good cardiovascular fitness but
that can easily be integrated into a good functional, full body exercise
program.

Commit to working out the way your body works and you will see faster,
more long term weight loss with much less effort.

Would you like to reduce stress and improve your bone health but
don't know where to start? I provide an easy to follow program called
Be Bone Strong! that helps improve your bone health, posture, balance
and strength while reducing fracture risk. Contact me anytime for a
no cost consultation at 703-628-2880 or email to
woody@sequoiahealth.com.

Food Label Sticker Shock
by Woody McMahon

Read On
By law, all foods must be labeled to show the ingredients and nutritional
content. Food labels, also called Nutritional Information, are found on
the side or back of all foods. They are a valuable source of information
when you are trying to start a healthier eating plan. So whether you want
to lose or gain weight, increase your protein and calcium intake, reduce
excess sugar and salt or monitor fat, learning how to use the food label
will be helpful in making healthier food choices. Let's explore some of
the valuable information available right on the food label itself.

Serving Size
Portions are the clear villain if you are having trouble losing or
gaining weight. Fortunately, the food label has what is called Serving
Size which gives you important information about food portions right on
the package. The Serving Size, generally measured in cups, ounces or piece
count, is the amount of food that is considered to be one serving. So as
an example, a serving size of nuts will be listed as 8 pieces, crackers as
9 crackers and mixed vegetables as ½ a cup. Most people who are overeating
will generally eat two or three times the recommended portion size and not
really know it. Sticking to the serving size helps you easily balance your
eating plan.

Calorie Density
Now you know that choosing healthier foods and controlling their portions
is the best way to reach and maintain a healthy weight. The food label can
also indirectly tell you about Calorie Density; a measure of the number of
calories per portion. This number is not directly listed but you can
calculate it by looking at the portion and comparing it to the calorie
content. So as an example, let's look at the Calorie Density of an apple
and a piece of cake. Given the same serving size, the apple is less
calorie dense than the piece of cake. This means that you can eat a much
larger portion of apple for the same number of calories as the cake. This
is actually true for most fruits and vegetables because of their water and
fiber content. Eating more fruits and vegetables is not only good for your
body; but the higher volume of food makes it easier to feel full at the end
of your meal.

Sodium Content
Sodium content is another good food label value to monitor. Too much
sodium has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, high blood
pressure and stroke as well as promoting overeating and loss of water from
your body. Sodium along with chloride combine to form salt, a food
additive that is considered to be a flavor enhancer. Typically, processed
and pre-prepared foods have higher sodium levels than other foods to make
the food taste better. Of course, if the food tastes too good there is a
good chance you'll eat more than is really needed. It is better to limit the
amount of foods that have higher than 500mg per serving sodium content.

Fat Content
Eating the right kind of fat is important to good health. With the "low
fat" craziness of the 1980's and 90's, fat was seen as a villain. But in
fact, fat is very important for numerous body functions including rate of
metabolism, satiety and healthy skin. The trouble is the fats that have
many helpful functions in your body from maintaining a healthy cell wall,
acting as precursors to most of the hormones, healing and weight loss are
easily destroyed by light and heat. Today the research supports a balanced
approach to fats in your diet. Keeping fats at 30 to 35% of your total
daily intake is easy if you eat lots of fruits and vegetables at every
meal.

Try using food labels as a simple guide to making better food choices and
helping make healthier eating easier.

Try these healthy lifestyle changes for 30 days. Feel what it is like to be
a part of the health solution rather than a health burden. If you need
additional suggestions and advice on living a healthier lifestyle, email or
call me for a no cost consultation, at 703-628-2880 or email to
woody@sequoiahealth.com.

Posture Perfect!^TM Beginner Morning Class

A New Posture Perfect!^TM Morning Class starts on Wednesday June 13th at 11 am
at my office in Herndon, VA. We still have room for one additional class member.
A new Evening Class is starting on Thursday June 7th at 6:30 pm.

Please call Woody McMahon at 703-628-2880 or email to
woody@sequoiahealth.com for more information, class times and reservations.

Posture Perfect!^TM Testimonials...
Posture Perfect's! momentum continues to grow. Here is a glowing testimonial
from one of our class members.

"Posture Perfect!^TM class has not only met my expectations, but exceeded
them! There are several reasons I enjoy the class. The small class size
gives each of us extraordinary personalized training; your knowledge,
expertise, patience, and sense of humor makes me look forward to
coming to a class I thought would be only for 6 weeks; and I have
learned so much more that I expected."

"For example, I now think about my posture every time I sit, and just when
I thought I'd begin to have a hard time rising from sitting on the floor, you
taught me how to make it easier. I try to practice some of the balance
exercises a couple of times a week (I know, I should do it more often!).
I thank you for all I have learned from you so far, and hope to continue
this class for the foreseeable future!"
P.S.

You can read more about Posture Perfect!^TM at:
http://sequoiahealth.com/posture_perfect__classes

Pets and People 

While a green lawn is pretty to look at, you should think twice about how
you go about achieving that lush, green look. The pesticides used in lawns
and gardens are hazardous, and can even be deadly, to pets. Pets absorb
pesticides through their paws or lick them off their bodies. In addition,
pets can be exposed to pesticides when they eat grass.

Some of the chemicals found in herbicides are also brought indoors on
your shoes. An EPA funded study in 2001 found that 2,4-D and dicamba (a
chemical used in herbicides) are easily tracked indoors, contaminating the
air and surfaces inside residences and exposing children and pets at
levels ten times higher than pre-application levels.

This should be enough to make any pet owner think twice about using
chemical fertilizers. There are plenty of natural and organic alternatives
to these chemicals that are not only safer for your pets, but also
friendlier to the environment.

Insecticide and pesticide poisoning is always an emergency situation and
requires immediate veterinary attention. Symptoms of insecticide poisoning
are:

· Excessive salivation · Tearing of the eyes · Excessive urination

· Muscle twitching · Weakness · Difficult breathing · Collapse · Nausea

· Vomiting · Abdominal pain · Weakness · Dizziness · Unsteady gait

Repeated exposure to phenoxy herbicides (such as 2,4-D) may affect the
liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract and skeletal muscles. Some
pesticides contain chlorophenoxy acids and are poisonous to the blood,
leading to anemia, neutropenia (low white blood cell count),
thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), and feline distemper.

Don't put your pets' health at risk - look for natural alternatives to
keep your lawn green and your yard weed-free. GreenerChoices.org
offers resources for better choices.

(c) Ingrid King 2012

Osteoporosis Support News

2012 Osteoporosis Resource Center's (ORC) Classes

Current Class Schedule

Tai Chi for Osteoporosis
When: Mondays and Wednesdays 1:30-2:30 PM
Where: Qi Elements Center, 464 Herndon Parkway
Suite 215, Herndon, VA 20170
Tuition: $105 for one class a week, $190 for both classes
Email qielements@verizon.net or call Roger 703 435-4400 for more
information.

New Classes Starting Yoga for Boomers & Beyond
When: Monday May 21 6:45 to 8 PM
Where: Qi Elements Center, 464 Herndon Parkway
Suite 215, Herndon, VA 20170
Tuition: $154 for one class a week for 7 weeks
Email http://www.openingmovesyoga.com/join.php or call Bonnie at
703-407-2065 for more information.

New Classes Starting Gentle Yoga for Seniors
When: Monday May 21 11:45 to 12:30 PM or
          Tuesday May 29 11:45 to 12:30 PM
Where: Qi Elements Center, 464 Herndon Parkway
Suite 215, Herndon, VA 20170
Tuition: $48 for one class a week for 6 weeks
Email http://www.openingmovesyoga.com/join.php or call Bonnie at
703-407-2065 for more information.

New Classes Starting Posture Perfect!^TM Level 1 Class
When: Wednesday June 13th from 11 AM to 12:00 PM
          Thursday June 7th from 6:30 to 7:30 PM for 8 Weeks
Where: Sequoia Health and Fitness, Inc.
483 Carlisle Drive, Herndon, VA 20170
Tuition: $160 for one class a week for 8 weeks
Email woody@sequoiahealth.com or call Woody at
703-628-2880 for more information.

What is the ORC?
The ORC is unique in the Northern Virginia area offering safe and effective
exercise classes including Personal Training, Yoga, Tai Chi and
Posture Perfect!^TM We also offer classes and consultations for people with
osteoporosis, osteopenia, back, hip and neck pain as well as other
bone and joint health problems.

"What makes the ORC unique is that it offers safe and effective exercise
programs that can help improve posture, balance and strength for bone
and joint health problems" says Woody McMahon one of the center's
co-directors. "For the first time people that come to the center can feel
comfortable that the exercises they are performing will only do good and
not cause any harm. "

Who Benefits From Our Classes
Beginners: Our unique classes are great for someone who wants to begin
a safe and effective exercise program but does not know where to start.

Post Rehabilitation: Our classes offer a safe and effective transition from
physical therapy to more general exercise that help to safely strengthen
important stability muscles.

Advanced: The classes are perfect for tennis players, golfers or runners
who want to enhance their bodies to improve their sport and continue to
play safely and injury free.

Newsletter Sign-Up
Sign-up for our FREE newsletter The Sequoia Advisor to stay informed
about all of our future class offerings, workshops and seminars. It is
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name and email address.

Woody

Woody McMahon
The Sequoia Advisor

Sequoia Health and Fitness, Inc.
483A Carlisle Drive
Herndon, VA
20170

Required Disclaimer: The material provided herein should not be construed
as a health-care diagnosis, treatment regimen or any other prescribed
health-care advice or instruction. The material is provided with the
understanding that the publisher is not engaged in the practice of medicine
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readers consult appropriate health-care professionals in such matters. No
action should be taken based solely on the content of this publication. The
material and opinions provided herein are believed to be accurate and sound
at the time of publication, based on the best judgment available to the
authors. However, readers who rely on material in this publication to
replace the advice of health-care professionals, or who fail to consult
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publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions.

Copyright (c) 2006-2012 by Sequoia Health and Fitness, Inc.

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