The difference between Gluten & Wheat

I have been wheat-free (90%) for the last 2.5months and feel amazing! I have been able to reduce my blood pressure medication, feel more consistent energy throughout the day not a crash at 2pm and don't have the bloating after a meal. My husband has also been on this journey with me and has dropped 10lbs but the biggest change for him is his shape, literally his wheat belly is gone. He is slimmer, more toned, standing up straighter, you can even see it in his face!
Our decision to go wheat free was brought on after i read "The Wheat Belly". It was a very enlightening book and I was disgusted with what is put in our food and still labelled "heart healthy grains"! Anyways, I won't go off on a rant there cause that could take me a long time!
Since I have been on my wheat free diet I have also started seeing a Naturopath and after doing some testing I found out I'm Gluten sensitive. So I'm not allergic to it but my intestines will definitely get inflamed when I eat gluten.
Since I have been told this and have passed this info along to clients and friends, the #1 question I get is "Isn't that the same as wheat?" The answer is NO!

"A gluten free item will always be wheat free, however a wheat free item may not always be gluten free!"

Gluten is a component of wheat.

Wheat is made up ofalbumin, globulin, gliadin, and gluten. The majority of the reactions in a patient that has an allergy to wheat are caused by albumin and globulin.

Gluten on the other hand is an elastic protein that is found in wheat. Gluten is formed when moisture is added to flour. Gluten is commonly found in wheat, rye, barley and some oats. Gluten is what gives yeast based dough its elasticity.

Check out the website below for more info on Gluten-Free vs. Wheat-Free

http://www.the-gluten-free-diet.com/difference-between-gluten-and-wheat.html

Eat majority of your diet from fresh foods and read labels very carefully.

Paula

Quick at home/cottage workout blitz- 10mins max

Hey everyone,
This is my first attempt at a video on my laptop so bear with me. I didn't talk at all through the workout, just a demonstration. So move your computer chair and make some space for a quick 10min blitz with me!
Repeat this circuit twice, take a 30sec-1min break once you are through the 4 exercises then repeat.

Lunge Jumps- 20x
Push-Ups (can be done on knees)- 15x
Squat Jumps- 15x
Moving Plank- 10x/arm

Enjoy!

Challenge Yourself...with me!!

I hear quite frequently from clients, friends, acquaintances..."Oh I could never do that" but i just want to grab their shoulders and say "YES YOUR CAN, Let me show you!".
I have registered for the Angus Glen 1/2 marathon this Nov (5 months away). This race also has a 5km & 10km race where you can run or walk with all distances. I don't expect everyone to run the 1/2 marathon with me but I'm putting the challenge out to clients and friends alike...show yourself what you can do.
The key to reaching longer distances is training. You don't EVER increase your distance of your long run by more than 10% per week and there should only be 1 "long run" per week. So during the week your distances will not be super time consuming and during the week-end take the time to get your longer run in.
If you have any questions about training schedules or just "Where should you start", contact me and I would love to help you.
You do not need to run the whole race or even 10min:1min, you do what your body can handle and allow you to feel challenged but successful at the end. It all about the challenge and the FINISH LINE! There is nothing line the adrenaline and emotion of all your training coming together to get you to that finish line.
If you are in York Region and want to join us on this Challenge, LET'S do it together.
paula.performancefitness@gmail.com

Race website www.angusglenhalfmarathon.com

Do you plank properly?

Many of you have done a plank before, there are many different types of planks and modifications that can be made for any person/any injury. It is THE BEST core exercise bar none. The plank works your internal transverse muscle which is the deep core muscle that supports your spine and holds your tummy in tight & flat. So many people get so frustrated when they do hundreds of crunches, leg raises, cross-overs, ect but still have a tummy that doesn't hold in tight. Those exercises work the superficial (outer layer) of abdominal muscles, you need to hit the deep ones in order to have a strong & tight core.
A front plank is when you are on your forearms and toes or knees depending on your core strength, holding your body off the floor in a straight line. It is just a hold, so some people don't think its as effective because they don't feel "the burn" like you can get from crunches. If a plank is done properly though, you will feel the "shakes", your whole core will start to quiver because you are asking it to hold your body weight in a static contraction for a long period of time.
The #1 key part of the plank is holding the pelvic tilt, if you do not tuck your tailbone under and keep it there your lower back will ache and you will not gain the benefits in your abdominals. I have had SO MANY clients tell me they can't plank because it just their back, so usually I ask them to show me how they do it, one quick change in there hip position and the back pain/ache is GONE! I even have a client that has had back surgery because she popped a disc and when we adjusted her so she was in a proper pelvic tilt, no pain at all!
So make sure you relax your upper back & neck and keep your tailbone tucked under (pelvic tilt) and you will fire those lower ab and deep core muscles like nothing else.

Have a question? e-mail paula.performancefitness@gmail.com

Personal Training through Skype!!

Many of my clients head up to their cottages over the summer and its very hard to be diligent and dedicated to your workouts when its so gorgeous outside and with entertaining friends and family a lot. So most often, these clients will come back to reality in Sept and take 4-6wks to get back to where they were at when they left and even more than that many times to get the weight they put on off!

So when i mentioned to a client that I was going to be investing in a new laptop for work and looking and adding workout videos to you tube for clients she asked if there was any way we could train over the computer! I NEVER would have thought of this idea without that question! So, needless to say, we will be skype training 1-2x per week through the whole summer and she won't miss a beat or lose any results she has gained over the winter and spring. 

Its exactly the same at a personal training session; clients book a time slot with me 30-45mins and then I will "call" them at that time and then we are off and running. I can view technique, change programs to progress, deal with issues that may come up as far a mild aches/pains and modify the program for them, and more!

So this idea could be done for anyone, anywhere really! I have dreamed of reaching more people but just haven't really figured out how yet...NOW IT BEGINS! I am so excited to be able to help so many more people begin their healthy lifestyle journey and many people reach the goals they have been trying to for so long! The Internet is an amazing tool people!

Let me know if you are interested in this service for yourself.

paula.performancefitness@gmail.com

Check out my website for other services we offer 

www.performancefitnesstraining.com

Interesting Appt with my M.D. today

And the saga continues but today thankfully was a little bit better interaction with my M.D. than last time. I was quite nervous about my appointment this afternoon to discuss my results from the hormone testing that my Naturopath did for me because I had gone to my doctor asking for the requisition to have this same testing done and she had denied me. Well apparently my doctor didn't remember that conversation ever happened so that was a good start for me.
She took me back to my water pill for my blood pressure which I had wanted and hopefully work my way off any medication completely through diet changes, no questions at all there so I was pleased. Then i showed her the results from my saliva testing and how elevated my testosterone levels were and she said she has NO IDEA how the saliva testing is measured so she couldn't comment on it at all. So i spun my comment around very calculated to get the answer I wanted and said "well, I know you mentioned blood work is the most accurate testing so could you give me the requisition for my testosterone and then we'll know for sure?" and i got the answer I wanted without a single rebuttal! She did ask me why my Naturopath did the testing in the first place so I told her I asked. The main concern I do have about the blood work for my testosterone levels now is I was never told if I need to go on a certain day of my cycle or a certain time of day. So when she told me 2 months ago that i wasn't allowed to do the testing and when i spoke about she finally shot back "because its not accurate"...but shes totally fine allowing me to do it now. It just seems strange to me. I will now ask my Naturopath when in my cycle I should go to ensure accurate results.
The most interesting thing out of the whole conversation for me was when I asked her what elevated testosterone levels meant, she told me "well some people just have more" and I mentioned that there is some concern about possibility of ovarian cysts and high levels of testosterone can be a sign of that, she looked at me quite confused! Interesting!
I also asked her to go over my results from previous blood work so she read it all for me, I will be asking for a copy of that for my own person files as well.
Keep yourself educated people and go to your doctor prepared and informed about your options. Always know that you can ask questions if you don't feel like things have been explained fully. Understand what and why testing is being done and keep lines of communication fully open between you and your health care practitioner.

How many calories do You burn in a day??

As some of you may have seen on our Performance Fitness facebook page, I wore my heart rate monitor from 9am yesterday to 9:20pm and burned 1920calories. This was based in my age, height, weight and heart rate continuously through that 12+hr period.
Before I did this I used a Basil Metabolic Rate calculator and figured out the calculation for me and it was approx. 2200calories/day, since I was up at 5:45am but didn't start the monitor till 9am, I know I burned 350-400 calories more than that. This is a really helpful tool on a journey for weight loss and just one piece of the puzzle to figure out the calorie requirement you have specifically, not the "average person of you weight". Then we can look at the activity and food intake to then get the weights coming off.
Here is the BMR (basil metabolic rate) calculator I used
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Step #1
You enter in your weight, height and age then it will give you your BMR
For Example:
I am a 5ft 6.5inch tall, 142lb, 32yr old female
My BMR is 1434.85
This means, my body requires 1434 calories to just be alive. If all I did was lay in bed, dead still my body would still burn that many calories.

Step #2
NOW, the next calculation is based on your lifestyle and how active you are to get your Daily Calories Needs;

• If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
• If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
• If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
• If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
• If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

So for me I chose moderately active so it looks like this;
BMR: 1434 x 1.55= 2222.7 is what my body burns in a day

To lose 1lb you need to burn off or eat less to total 3500calories! So if you ate 250calories less/day and did enough activity to burn off 250 more/day, you would lose 1lb in a week. 250 calories less to eat isn't much if you like sugars or processed foods, cut out ice cream at night or the burger and fries at lunch and bring it with you and you'll cut out MUCH more than that! Also in a good 1hr workout, most women can burn 300-450 calories easily and men 550-700 for sure. It really comes down to being aware of your activity and get moving throughout the day and being conscious of what is going in your mouth. If you can keep a food diary you will get off to a GREAT start, who wants to write down the bad stuff we ate, that means we're admitting we ate it!
You can do this people! Calculate your BMR then find out your bodies Daily Caloric Needs and lets shed a few pounds!!
If you ever have any questions contact me at paula.performancefitness@gmail.com