One of the biggest nutritional mistakes people make outside the gym is focusing on getting lots of protein for muscle recovery and starches for energy but then not getting enough fruits and vegetables.

I’m sure when you were a child your mother always told you to eat your fruits and vegetables! Why was this so important? This was so important because she new and was taught that fruits and vegetables were so important for you to grow up healthy and strong.

Now that you are older and full grown many of you have abandoned the fact that you still NEED your fruits and vegetables every day!

Why are fruits and vegetables so important? Lets take a look at some of the health benefits of fruits and vegetables:

-Fruits and vegetables are LOADED with fiber, vitamins and minerals that are crucial for tissue growth, repair and many other important body functions. The fiber, vitamins and minerals in fruit and vegetables are also shown to help treat, and prevent many chronic diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and stroke!

- Fruits and vegetables are full of many phytochemicals that are important for optimal mental function. Do you suffer from depression, or attention disorders? Eat your fruits and veggies!

-Fruits and vegetables provide an alkaline load to the blood. Since proteins and grains present acids loads to the blood. Eating fruits and vegetables every meal will help prevent an acid/alkaline imbalance. Too much acid and not enough alkaline means loss of bone strength, and muscle mass, which means more body fat!

- Fruits and vegetables will help fill you up and control your appetite and blood sugar which in turn will help with maintaining energy and fat burning.

Make sure to get a healthy variety, think color. Eating fruits and vegetables of different colors gives your body a wide range of valuable nutrients, like fiber, folate, potassium, and vitamins A and C. Some examples include green spinach, orange sweet potatoes, black beans, yellow corn, purple plums, red watermelon, and white onions. For more variety, try new fruits and vegetables regularly.

You can not go wrong with eating fruits and veggies every meal! I recommend 2-3 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits and vegetables at each and every meal. This would be around 10-15 servings if you eat frequent supportive meals.

“Yeah right!?” “How the heck can I get 10 servings of fruits and veggies every day?”

Fresh and frozen fruits and veggies are ALWAYS recommended. But the next best option is VGF 25 +. This not a multivitamin this is a whole food super pill with 25 fruits and vegetables, antioxidants, essential good fats, and amino acids.

This is usually everything your body is lacking if you’re not eating healthy frequent meals, if you’re lacking fruits and vegetables, or even if you think you’re eating healthy. VGF 25 + will fill in all those nutrition gaps most people suffer from. That’s why I personally take it myself 3 times a day and have and put my name on the line recommending it to my clients.

This supplement was designed to fill in nutritional gaps that most suffer from. it was designed by registered dieticians, and nutritionists.

Just a reminder if you take a Centrum or Meijer vitamin you are getting synthetic vitamins made in a lab with lots of chemicals! YIKES!

You can not go wrong with VGF 25+ all natural whole food vitamin.

You can read more about VGF 25 + and its benefits below.

for women click HERE

for men click HERE

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

Especially, when you can be outside enjoying yourself and your workout in the green grass and warm sunshine!

Most are surprised when I tell them how very little equipment you actually need to get a full body workout outside.

You can get a great workout outside in your own backyard and the park with just a few basic moves and with equipment you can find at almost any park. You can even workout outside with your kids and family and have fun!

I recently appeared on Grand Rapids own WZZM Channel 13′s “Take Five and Company” to discuss this very thing.

You can watch the video below:

Or email subscribers you can view it by clicking here: PARK WORKOUT

Do You Want To Get An Outdoor workout designed specially for you?

Do you want to get a GREAT workout in the park?

Contact me today for more information!

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman
david@davidmodderman

10 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight-Part-1

10 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight-Part-2

10 Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight-Part 3

Reason 5) Eating Too Much

Eating excessive calories is probably the number one reason people are not losing weight. With the rise of fast foods and unhealthy foods everywhere we turn its no wonder that obesity has effected our population so much. It is said that Americans today eat 30% more than they did 20 year ago. Food is sold in bigger containers, and portions in restaurants have increased as well. When you eat more than your body burns these calories will most likely be stored as fat. The most effective way to treat overeating is to focus on eating less food but not starving your self. Focus on eating smaller portions, but also eating fewer calories. An easy way to do this is to eat smaller more frequent meals, and control the size of the portions you are getting. Not to mention getting less fat in your meals (which is higher in calories than protein and carbohydrates), and concentrate on getting leaner proteins, and more fruits and veggies. These natural foods will fill you up and be used efficiently for energy.

6) Not Eating Breakfast

If you want to really lose weight and keep it off you must eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for many reasons. Studies show that people who skip breakfast are 4.5 times more likely to be overweight.

The average 8 hour of sleep burns 450 calories. You must try to eat within 60-90 minutes after waking. Adding breakfast is what starts your metabolism up and prepares it to burn the rest of the day. If you skip breakfast your metabolism slows down and your blood sugar drops. You will increase hunger, have less energy and most likely store fat. You will crave high sugar, high fat foods, and tend to crave calories late at night. A recent study from the Weight Control Registry out of those who lost at least 30 pounds and maintained it for at least one year ate breakfast every single morning.

Look For Part 4 Tomorrow!

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman
david@davidmodderman.com

Weight Watchers is a quite popular diet program based on low fat eating, exercise, and group counseling. Every food item from ice cream to pizza has a point value based on its nutritional content. You can eat as much as you want as long as you stay within your points. To assist the dieter in their lifestyle changes all members are encouraged to attend group discussion and counseling sessions, mostly in person, at local Weight Watchers centers. As of late they have come with out a new creation called Flex points, this is just the same program in a better marketing package. In the Flex plan they have added a weight watchers point calculator and use more weight watcher recipes. Most dieters are given a reserve 35 points (flex points) to use for unplanned activities or cravings. I see no difference from before.

I have many clients that say they had success on the Weight Watchers plan in the past. Yet I always question if it worked so well why are they seeking out a NEW solution? It obviously didn’t work for them in the long term. If it worked so well why didn’t they stick to it?

Weight Watchers in my opinion used to be a pretty sound program, far as trying to help people, but as of late it seems to be using a lot of slick marketing and advertising to bring people in. Far as being successful that’s a different story. They usually advertise telling people enjoy the foods you love and lose weight while you do! The points plan controls the amount of food you consume but not always what those foods are. So you could be potentially eating less food but not exactly better choices for healthy weight loss and long-term success. So the dieter thinks he or she is making some healthy changes in their diet by eating fewer calories and staying within their points but could be consuming higher sugar and fat meals, meals that are not balanced enough, or high enough in calories to support your metabolism. See the problem here? The points system does not differentiate between foods high in sugar or high in carbohydrates protein or fat. This diet is assuming all calories are calories and they all affect your body the same way. I’m here to tell you they do no!

Some foods are more easily stored as fat, some foods effect your blood sugar levels more than others, some foods are actually more thermic, meaning your metabolism actually increases trying to break these foods down! Some foods combinations can make you fatter, while some can make you leaner.  If your goal is long-term fat loss (not just weight) then the specific foods you are consuming are more important than the calories from food in general. When will people realize calories are not BAD! Calories are fuel for the human machine. Without the right amount of calories you will slow down are metabolism, and store more fat in the long run. You need calories and the right ones.

Now Weight Watchers is actually selling their own processed frozen meals. They are nice for convenience yes…but are they good for you? No, not really they are balanced yet they are loaded with sodium, preservatives and have a have a paragraph for the ingredient list. You can make the same meal yourself for the same the price and with fewer preservatives. Any diet that cost money to join and then try to sell you their own food has other interests in mind.

Exercise is not a #1 priority for this Weight Watchers program and if your goal is long- term success it should be! The problem with long term diet counseling and group support which most Weight Watchers program includes is you develop no self- reliance and self- discipline to do it on your own, which is crucial to succeed long term. This diet is added to my list that use low calorie deprivation to lose weight on a scale. Weight loss on the scale is not accurate indicator of fat loss. I know many people who lose lots of WEIGHT on a low calorie diet and then long term they gain the majority of it back. Their are 3 things you can lose on the scale:

1)Water
2) Fat
3) Muscle

There are better and more successful options people..trust me.

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

 

~David Modderman

 

 

You can’t really miss it on the Internet these days. Seems like everywhere you look there’s another company promoting the nutritious Acai Berry as a weight loss miracle.

And that’s why I thought it was critical to write you today. I want to make sure you know my opinion on the subject.

First, you know better than to believe you’re going to pop some pills – ANY pills – and have the pounds and inches melt off like magic. If you’ve been listening to me for any length of time you know true fat loss comes from a variety of factors, including exercise and proper nutrition.

I received and e-mail today that said: “Busy mom loses 30 pounds in 30 days without diet OR exercise”

Sound to good to be true? Well it is! Anyone losing 30 pounds in 30 days is losing lots of water and probably some muscle.

Second, any fitness expert worth their fees will tell you that any diet that promotes you eat any one food all day long and then eat a sensible dinner, well, don’t bother. Yes, you will lose some weight short-term, but as soon as you go back to your old eating habits – and you know you will – you know exactly what happens.

Third, the Acai Berry contains VERY powerful antioxidants and it is getting a lot of good press for that very reason. Yes, antioxidants as in the extraordinary nutrients that help fight the free radicals associated with aging, cancer risk and other degenerative diseases.

And while on the subject, I wanted to fill you in on something that has recently come to light. Did you know that coffee berries (the berry that covers the coffee bean) is one of the most powerful antioxidants on the planet? It’s something researchers have discovered in recent years.

What’s really cool is my friends at Prograde Nutrition have just created an amazing Whole Foods based Anti-Aging formula called Prograde Longevity that includes both Acai Berry and Coffee Berry. Oh, and it also utilizes Green Tea, Pomegranate, Wolf Berry and Biovin Grape (Red Wine extract.)

Just to give you an idea of how powerful this formula is, well, you’d have to eat an entire POUND of raspberries to get the same ORAC value. And in case you’re not familiar with the term, ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.

I have been taking “Longevity” for the last month to prevent the holiday flu and cold bugs…..and to cleanse my body.

So far so good!

You can read more about “Longevity” by

Clicking HERE

 
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

Come New Year most go on a low calorie diet and do cardio/aerobic exercise like crazy in hopes to see that number on the scale go down…..

Unfortunately, this is the wrong approach…….

Weight Loss on the almighty scale can consist of 3 things:

1) Water

2) Muscle

3) Fat

If you are not exercising and eating correctly most of your weight loss will consist of water and muscle…..

Water is temporary and meaningless yet shows up on the scale! But losing muscle will prevent your body from burning fat efficiently! If you are doing anything that’s causing you to lose muscle you are setting yourself up for long term failure…..and you will gain the weight back.

Diets and cardio are NOT the answer…….

The Right exercise and the Right Nutrition are!!

It’s about fat loss people not about weight loss….

Anyone can lose weight…but can YOU lose fat?

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

Are you waiting like everyone else?

Waiting till January to starting eating better and exercising?

One of the top News Years resolutions every year is to lose weight, get in shape, and get healthy. Yet most fail to follow through with this in January maybe they do for a few weeks and then eventually they get busy and quit all together.

Do you want to fail like everyone else?

Then maybe it’s time to STOP waiting and START doing!

Today is just as a good day as any to start that workout and that eating better.

Just think if you start now you will already have made it a habit by January and you will already have 1 month of results before anyone else.

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

I used to be in so many parts of my life. As a perfectionist this can happen far too often with too many people.

I remember thinking to myself over and over “well if i can’t do it this way then I might as well not do it at all!”

Is this a good attitude? Looking back I say no it wasn’t.

Do you use the all or nothing approach when trying to exercise and eat healthy?

Many do….

I remember running into a former client at the gym. We had worked together for like 6 months and we had got him in tip top shape. When I saw him for the first time in like 3 months I could tell he had let himself go a little bit. I said “hey haven’t seen you in here in sometime”. He went on to tell me he was working out six days a week and then got real busy at work and got out of the routine and just stopped coming completely. Wow! 6 days a week down to nothing! What was he thinking? Don’t you think he could have managed 2-3 days a week just to maintain his routine? After I mentioned this exact thing to him he looked at me funny and said “wow…I should have done that….3 days a week would have been something.”

That is the all or nothing bug if I have ever saw it….

People on diets do it everyday..”well I just ate a large piece of cheesecake, I guess I am off my diet”

 Do you really have to be? No!

 How about making the next meal better or the next day better. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing..it should always be at least something…making the effort consistently but not trying to be perfect everyday.

Don’t let the all or nothing bug get you!

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

That brings us to peanut butter. Most people love peanut butter and you grew up with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a kid and still love them today as an adult. But the questions I always ask my clients and others during my supermarket tours is what kind of peanut butter do you buy?

An the answer that comes back 90% of the time is JIF!

JIF peanut butter, looking back that’s what I had as a kid. I don’t think my mom new better. But I do now.

Here is the JIF peanut butter ingredients:

MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR. CONTAINS 2 PERCENT OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN), FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES AND SALT.

 What it is partially and fully hydrogenated vegetable oils? It’s a long ingredient name for trans fat! The #1 cause for heart disease in America. It is in JIF and thousands of foods in America.

But David……”JIF it tastes so good” yeah with sugar and transfat mixed in together something tastes so good…is making your health so bad!

Do you know reduced fat JIF is worse than regular JIF? How? JIF peanut butter and most peanut butters have some healthy fats (peanut oil) mixed in with the bad fats (trans fat). Reduced fat JIF Peanut butter actually removes the good fats from the peanut butter to reduce the fat but then leaves the trans fat in. Shocking? I say so.

So what would be a better choice “Natural Peanut butter.” Here is the ingrediants of most natural peanut butters.

INGREDIANTS: Peanuts

Wow! Do you see the difference?

 Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman