Sweet Potato Salad Recipe

The year is flying by and we are already in fall. Although the past few days in San Diego have been some of the warmest all year. If you are looking for a great fall recipe, here is one I came across in the September issue of the IDEA Fitness Journal.

Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
4 tbs olive oil
3 tbs lime juice
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped (or substitute parsley or another herb if you like)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 medium-sized red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch chunks
1 bunch of scallions, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Place sweet potatoes in large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil and cook until just tender (7–10 minutes). Drain and transfer to large bowl. While potatoes are cooking, make dressing: in small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and cilantro. Add red bell pepper and scallions to drained potatoes, and toss with dressing. Add salt and pepper. Serve warm, or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving. Makes six servings.

Per Serving: 260 calories; 10 grams (g) total fat; 2 g saturated fat; 4 g fiber; 420 milligrams (mg) sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 41 g carbs; 3 g protein.

Studio Remodel Pictures

I had a few people who wanted to see what the studio looks like after we expanded. I took a few quick ones you can check out below. Let me know what you think. It is still a work in progress until I am completely satisfied with the layout.






Thanks,

Mike

Does Less Sleep Make You Fat?

Hey. I hope you are having a great week. I'm hanging in there, but I have to admit that I have been dragging this week. With all of the traveling I have been doing, it is catching up with me. I am ready to get some solid sleep and recovery.

One common issue I hear from clients is their lack of sleep. Most people will just ignore this by having extra coffee or some other energy drink. These methods will most likely cause more harm than good. If you are tired there is really only one cure. You need to get rest. Caffeine and energy drinks will just hide this and make you even more tired when they wear off.

In fact, there is evidence that lack of sleep with lead to weight gain. We need sleep for a variety of reasons including recharging energy, our muscles recover and rebuild during sleep, and it allows the brain time to store experiences as memories. There are three major reasons why lack of sleep will lead to weight gain.

First, our hormones can be effected by our sleep patterns. Specifically, when we get less sleep there may be an increase in Cortisol levels, which has been shown to increase food intake and increase abdominal fat storage. Sleep deprivation is also associated with a decrease in Leptin from fat cells. As Leptin decreases the hypothalamus interprets this as the fat cells need more food for energy, which makes you feel hungry. When Leptin levels decrease there will be an increase in Ghrelin, which stimulates hunger. So in summary you feel more hungry even though you don't need to food and the extra calories will be stored in your abdominal area.

Secondly, there can be a disruption in glucose metabolism. Researchers are finding a high link between sleep deprivation and diabetes. It is hypothesized that less sleep will lower levels of insulin secretion and impair glucose utilization.

The final reason may be very simple, but it is very true. Less hours spent sleeping means there are more hours awake for snacking or being sedentary. When people don't sleep well they are going to feel very tired during the day. This means they will most likely not want to workout and more likely to choose higher calorie and caffeinated snacks and beverages.

There are a number of reasons why people may be sleep deprived. Some can be simple fixes while others will be more complex and take time. Here are 10 tips to help get a better nights sleep taken from the University of California's Wellness Newsletter:

1. Cut down on caffeine consumption in the late afternoon and evenings.
2. Do not smoke or use any other products with nicotine before bed. (More importantly just quit smoking)
3. Create a noise free sleeping environment.
4. Create a sleep-friendly bedroom by using comfortable linens and pillows, put up darker shades, replace worn out mattresses, and keep the bed cool during sleep hours.
5. Drink fewer fluids after dinner.
6. Attempt to deal with stressful issues during the day and put them away at night. (seek professional consultation if necessary)
7. Set a regular time to go to bed and a consistent time to wake up. Stick to this every day.
8. Avoid bringing work projects and personal paperwork to bed.
9. Avoid bringing food to bed.
10. Limit naps to a maximum of 30 minutes and try to take the naps earlier in the day.

To summarize, I remember something my old boss said in grad school about sleep. "The only thing you should be doing in bed is sleeping." I strongly recommend not watching tv, reading, or eating in your bed. When you lay down to go to sleep it should be a signal to your brain to shut off and go to sleep. We tend to be very habitual. Once you start a pattern it will be much easier to stick to.

You stay healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Personal Trainer
My Workout Creator

5 Unhealthy Health Foods

I always find it amazing that even though grocery stores are getting more and more packed with "health" foods, we are becoming increasingly unhealthy each year. With obesity becoming an epidemic in adults and children and more people dying from preventable illness it is amazing we aren't doing anything about it.

The hard part is the education. You hear conflicting information and it is hard to know what to follow. The food industry is making matters worse. By coming up with terms low fat, diet, low sugar.... it sounds like everything we eat now is healthy. Obviously if this was the case I wouldn't be able to find much work. Luckily for me though most people do eat so called healthy food, and it is making them feel worse.

I found a great article in the latest PFP magazine that talked about the 5 unhealthiest health foods that people eat. Below are those 5:

1. Agave Syrup:

Check the labels. Despite health claims agave syrups can be very high in fructose content then commercial sweeteners. Some also may even be watered down with corn syrup. High fructose levels has been linked with insulin resistance and elevated triglycerides. Don't worry you can still have your fruit. Fructose levels won't be nearly high enough to cause problems.

2. Gluten:

While whole grains are an essential to your nutrition plan, some people have a problem with gluten. Gluten is a protein found in grains including wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten may impair proper digestion and trigger other food intolerances. There are some grains that do not contain gluten including rice, millet, quinoa, corn, and buckwheat.

3. Soy:

Many of the soy products found in the US have been genetically altered and processed with chemicals. Soy may also be harmful for proper hormone function. Soy may be responsible for lowering testosterone levels and lower thyroid function. These are two major problems, especially if you are concerned about losing weight.

4. Fruit Smoothies:

Watch out for so called healthy fruit smoothies. Many of these will contain sweetened yogurt, juice, and corn syrup. With all of that sugar it might as well be called a milkshake. Most of the smoothies found on the Jamba Juice menu contain over 50 grams of sugar per serving. If you are going to use a shake for a meal replacement or snack make sure it contains healthy ingredients. Read my previous post How To Make A Smoothie to learn more.

5. Flavored Water:

All these drinks are is sugar added to water. If you are drinking your sugar or eating it your body will crave more sugar. Vitamin water may sounds healthy but unfortunately it is not. In fact Vitamin water is being sued over claims that it is a health food product. Their defense is that a reasonable person would not consider Vitamin Water to be a health food product. Sounds funny but it is true. Vitamin Water have 33 grams of sugar per serving. Stick to water. If you need extra vitamins take a multivitamin.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Personal Trainer
My Workout Creator

Should you stretch before you run?

Hi there. I hope you are having a great day. Well we have actually had a few days of sun in San Diego and it has been perfect weather for running. With the Oceanside Turkey Trot coming up I thought it would be appropriate to give you some tips on what you should and should not do before a run.

Stretching surprisingly is a major controversy in the fitness world. Some people will tell you to stretch before you go on a run while others say you never should. Who is right?

Technically, both are correct, but it is very important to know how to incorporate your stretching routine into your program.

First lets look at why you SHOULD NOT stretch before you workout. Very simply, think about why you stretch in the first place. Most people will say to prevent injury, but this isn't really the case. Essentially, when you stretch you are relaxing your muscle. As the muscle is stretched out, it will send an impulse to the brain and tell it become inhibited and relax so you can pull it into a further range of motion. Once you hold a static stretch for around 20-30 seconds this neurological impulse occurs. You have probably felt this before. Try holding a static stretch for 30 seconds. After that time you will notice your muscle will relax and you will be able to reach further into the stretch. For roughly an hour after a stretch you have deadened this muscle. This is not the ideal situtation for exercise and performance. Research is showing that static stretching before exercise, like running, does not decrease the risk of injury and may actually increase the risk.

There is also much evidence that by stretching before a run you will decrease power and running economy. If you look at elite runners, it looks like they bounce from stride to stride. They are actually using the elastic property of muscles and tendons to save energy. This will allow them to run faster without using as much energy. If we stretch you loose this bounce from the muscles and tendons.

If you are going to perform static stretching before a run you only need to stretch overactive muscles that you do not want to become even tighter during the run. I think one easy example to see with running are the upper trapezius. This is the muscle that will allow you to shrug. As people get tired during a run you will often see their shoulders start to creep up towards their ears. This is not good running form and is a waste of energy. If we static stretch the traps before the run, however, we may be able to prevent this. Below is an example of a trap stretch.



So if you shouldn't static stretch before a run, what should you do? We obviously do not want to just hit the run without warming up at all. So instead we perform a series of dynamic stretches. These are move movements that will prepare the joints and muscles for the exercise. This has been shown to be a much more beneficial warm up that static stretches. Below are a few sample dynamic flexibility exercises you can incorporate before a run.

Hip Flexor/Hamstring Stretch













Thoracic Spine Rotation




















Lateral Leg Swings



















Leg Swings
















Active Hip Flexor Stretch





















Balance To Reach

















The World's Greatest Stretch




It is however always a good idea to static stretch after a run or a workout. We want to make sure we return our muscles to a lengthened position after a workout that might have tightened them. It is not necessary to stretch every muscle. Focus on the ones that cause the greatest problem. If you have a guitar that is out of tune do you need to adjust every string? Most likely you only have a few strings that need to be adjusted. Our bodies are the same way. If you don't have a tightness problem you don't need to work on flexibility as much there.

While this is a very quick summary of flexibility and stretching I think it at least will give you an idea of a few concepts and what you should and should not be doing. Flexibility is actually a very complicated concept and we are still learning more and more about the best ways to utilize it. With time we will gain a better understanding of everything.

You Stay Healthy San Diego!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator