Benefits of yogurt for men

18 Apr

Yogurt is mostly marketed towards women, but what’s in it for men ?

The only reason yogurt is marketed towards women is that they are generally more conscious about their body image and more receptive to healthy eating. If it is good for one it is equally good for the other sex. And interestingly, now we are beginning to see advertisements for Greek yogurt targeting the male population.

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Yogurt, a fermented dairy product made from milk, provides complete, animal protein. It helps retain lean muscle mass and makes you feel fuller. Greek yogurt, particularly high in protein, is excellent for post workout recovery.

Probiotic yogurt and Greek yogurt contain friendly bacteria which can help your digestive system and boost your immune system.

A less known benefit of yogurt is that it improves hydration, as yogurt protein helps increase water absorption.

Yogurt may reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

Yogurt is also an excellent source of calcium, which plays a vital role in maintaining bone mass. Dietary intake of calcium through a yogurt product helps the body use its stored fat sources.

In a study released 10 years ago, the University of Tennessee found that people who added three servings of yogurt a day to a reduced calorie diet lost 81 percent more belly fat over 12 weeks than those who did not eat yogurt. This has also been reported in The Men ‘s Health Diet book by S. Perrine.

I love yogurt and I take between 2 and 3 servings a day. In the past year, this has become one of my favorite snacks. I go for the low fat version. I see yogurt as a treat, with frozen berries, sometimes with a little honey on top.

Sesame Crusted Tuna Steaks

11 Apr

Here is a simple way to add more fish to your weeknights menu. This is the recipe I used to introduce fish to my sons. The sake is optional and you can substitute the tamari sauce by soy sauce. But if you happen to have these ingredients at hand be sure to use them as they each add their own subtle flavor to the mix.

serves 2

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ingredients

  • 2 tbs tamari sauce
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs sake (optional)
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • fresh ginger, 1 inch piece, grated
  • 1 lime, zest and juice
  • 2 yellowtail tuna steaks, 1 inch thick
  • ground pepper
  • 2 tbs grilled sesame seeds

Prepare a seasoning marinade by mixing the first six ingredients together in a small bowl or in a measuring cup. Set aside.

Rinse the tuna steaks under running cold water. Pat dry with absorbing paper towels. Coat one side of each tuna steak with ground pepper. Gently rub into the flesh. Turnover and repeat on other side.

Pour half of the marinade into a container only large enough for the tuna steaks to fit. Place the tuna steaks in the container and pour remaining marinade over the steaks. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Place sesame seeds in a plate. Take the tuna steaks out of the marinade, shaking off excess liquid. Coat the tuna steaks in sesame seeds by dipping each side in the sesame seeds.

Cook the tuna steaks on a grill or in a hot pan, 1 to 3 minutes on each side. Adjust cooking times according to your own tastes and the equipment used. Tuna is at its best when only crispy on the outside and pink or red inside.

During the winter months, I use a panini type grill set to maximum temperature to grill both sides at the same time, for about 3 minutes.

Serve with rice, your favorite vegetables and wasabi paste.

How to select gym equipment – Part 2

9 Apr

Part 2 – What you need

At this point, you made up your mind and you decided you really want to get some gym equipment for your home.

What should you get? You could get one machine for cardio exercises, such as a stationary bike, a treadmill, an elliptical or a rower. My favorite in this group is the elliptical, with the resistance wheel in the back. I shred a large part of my excess pounds on the elliptical. Later, I added a rower with water resistance. I love my rower, but I have a hard time doing any more than 10 minutes on it so I always go back to the elliptical with its various preset training programs.

Then you will need some equipment for strength training. You do not need any elaborate contraption for this. Free weights and kettle bells are perfect. You can start with a few small weights and purchase heavier weights as your performance improves.

One day last summer, while being at a park with my sons I joined them on the monkey bars and realized that for the first time in my life I could hold myself on the bars. That revelation gave a large boost to my motivation and I started looking into door frame supports to train and develop this newly found ability. After some research I opted for a more elaborate setup, a standalone pull-up station. This requires some floor space but I am pleased I got that.

Another item I love and use often is a BOSU ball. The name stands for BOth Sides Up, in reference to the multiple ways the ball can be positioned. This is a half ball, with a flat side. It looks like a stability ball cut in half. The BOSU ball is excellent to strengthen the lower back, especially when used with weights on your chest or behind your head.

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One last word of advice on buying gym equipment: there are great deals in the used marketplace. Instead of buying an entry level version brand new, for the same price and often even less you could find a commercial grade equipment.

How to select gym equipment

6 Apr
Home Basement Gymnasium and Dance Studio modern-home-gym

 

Part 1 – Should I buy gym equipment?

If you are a typical geek like me, you would rather workout at home instead of going to a gym. And chances are that you already own some equipment which is either defective or not accessible, deeply burden under boxes or used as a laundry dryer rack.

I am serious.

Think about it.

I had an elliptical which we were no longer using because the battery compartment trap door was broken. I have a friend who has a treadmill with a defective computer display. Another one has an exercise bike with a non operative resistance. I know so many people in this same situation. Buying the machine was the easiest part. Using it was already more demanding. When it needs repair or some work to be operational again, it surely seems like a chore.

You need to sort this out. Either fix it, get it fixed or get it out. As long as you have this non-operational machine you will not be able to buy any other equipment. Either your subconscious mind or your spouse will remind you that you already own some equipment which you are not using. You need to take action.

If you did not already have something that only needed to be repaired, or if you did but concluded that it is beyond repair, then you might consider buying a new machine. But hold on – do you really need a machine? For cardio, running does not require much more than a good pair of running shoes. And I am sure you can find some stairs close by if not in your house.

For weight training, look into body weight exercises. An excellent book on that topic is You are Your Own Gym, by Mark Lauren. There is also an app to complement the book.

I understand that some people do need to have some equipment anyway to find the motivation to train at home. The motivation can come from the desire to justify the expense or the space it occupies in your living room. Either way, if you do want to purchase some equipment, I have a tip for you. Look into the used marketplace. Craigslist, eBay, kijiji or your local supermarket bulletin board have plenty of deals on lightly used home gym equipment. Once installed in your home, it will not make much difference whether you bought it brand new or used, except for significant savings.

Raising kids with asthma and food allergies

4 Apr

Finding out your kids are severely allergic to peanuts and nuts is a shock. It requires adjustments in the menus at home and keeps you on alert 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This happened to us and we have been living on alert for the past 8 years. But there is some positive in this: you start reading labels and you are much more conscious of what enters the home, what you feed your kids and by extension, what you eat yourself as well.

Looking back, I realize that my interest into healthier living dates back to this day when we found out we were raising kids with asthma and food allergies.

When we had our second child, we had him tested for several allergies and it confirmed he had very similar allergies to his brother. That somehow simplified our lives. Until we found out that our second child was also intolerant to milk products and gluten. Things can get complicated from there, since you cannot look into nuts for protein or almond milk as a substitute for milk. Fortunately that foray into gluten free and milk product substitutes lasted only about a year, until his intolerances went away. Still, there was some positive into this as we got more familiar with all this world of gluten free and lactose free products. We got to try many recipes which allowed us to discover and appreciate some of the best alternatives, often associated with healthier living.

In a previous post, I provided a detailed list of my typical daily food intake. I eat a lot of nuts – but only at the office, never at home. Nuts have been banned from home since the day we found out about our child allergies. To reduce the risk of contamination, I use chopsticks to eat my nuts in the office.

At home, I found some excellent peanut butter substitutes such as Wowbutter, a soy based spread which really tastes like peanut butter. We also found some excellent substitutes based on golden peas, such as NoNuts, produced in Canada.

How it all started

2 Apr

I started losing weight by accident.

It was at the end of the summer of 2011 and kids were going back to school. We used to share walking the kids to school with our neighbors but they had moved away to England. Instead of walking the kids to school one day a week, I was now walking with the kids every weekday. That is not a long walk, only about 10 minutes round trip. The change which made a difference is that before, I would take my time for breakfast, eating more than I needed. With the new weekday routine, I decided I would take a shorter, better breakfast before walking the kids and not get back into the house after. Instead, I would head straight to work.

Looking back, this is really what started this all. But the funny part is that it took me some time to notice this was doing me some good. Keep in mind I was not even trying.

At about the same time, I began ordering custom tailored suits and shirts online. We carefully took measurements, placed the order and when the first order came in, about 4 weeks later, it was not fitting as well as expected. We took the measurements again and noticed some of the measurements were off. After correcting the measurements, another order for custom tailored suits has been made. Once again, when the order came in, 3 or 4 weeks later, the pants and shirts were too large. It is only at that point, after taking measurements yet again, that I realized I had been losing weight and shrinking.

This is when I began to seriously look into getting fit, motivated by the early results I got without even trying.

OneFitGeek Tip Number 1 – Nutrition

30 Mar

The purpose of this blog is to share what I found during my journey from being an average geek to being a fit geek. Some of my findings are obvious, common knowledge. But I also found that although many things are obvious and make sense, they will not do any good if not applied.

It is within this mindset that I will post my tips. Here is a first tip, to be filed under the Nutrition category.

When drinking water, drink ice cold water.

When drinking a protein shake in the morning, make it ice cold.

And when adding fruits to your greek yogurt, add frozen berries.

Ice cold drinks and frozen berries require more energy to be brought to your body temperature, resulting in a greater calorie expense. This is one of the tricks I have been doing and which worked great for me.

Red venison paprika meatballs

28 Mar

Here is a simple, heart warming dinner the whole family enjoys. It is based on red venison meat, one of healthiest alternatives to the common red meat.  I have picky eaters at home and found that if I substitute venison for beef in just about any recipe, they will eat all their plate and even ask for more.

Serves 4

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs

Ingredients

  • 500g ground venison
  • 2 tbs canola oil
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 1 sweet pepper, red, yellow or orange, cut into strips
  • 2 tomatoes, cut in pieces
  • 2 tbs tomato paste concentrate, from tube (optional)
  • 3 tsp paprika powder
  • 2 medium potatoes, cut in cubes
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut in cubes
  • salt
  • pepper
  • hot water

Directions

Divide meat into about 24 small balls. Heat oil in a large pan and sear the meatballs, moving them around until a crust forms, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Using the same pan, grill onions and sweet peppers for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and keep grilling for one more minute. If using tomato paste, add it at this time.

Put the meat balls back into the pan. Add hot water to cover, add paprika and mix with a spoon. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for one hour.

Add potatoes and sweet potatoes. Cook for another 30 minutes. If you do not want the sweet potatoes to get too mushy, you can wait and add them in the last 15 minutes instead.

Meatballs will be tender and moist.

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs - Searing

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs – Searing

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs - Grilling Vegetables

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs – Grilling Vegetables

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs - Simmering

OneFitGeek: Red Venison Paprika Meatballs – Simmering

It is alright to cheat on your diet … and why you must do it

26 Mar

I have read a lot of different views about cheating on your diet. Some people have a cheat day and then they try to compensate the next day by starving . That does not sound like a good plan to me.

I also noticed that the definition of cheating varies widely.

After losing over 40 pounds and keeping it off for one year, I can tell what works for me.

I make it a rule to eat whatever I want once a week, usually on Saturdays when visiting family.
This allows me to avoid comments such as “What happened to you?”, “Are you sick?” or “You are not eating enough!”.

Having a cheat day gives your metabolism a boost. Your body knows it usually has enough and it will process the excess food without storing fat. You see a spike in your weight and then it goes away in one or two days. If your diet is too strict or if you eat too little for too long, your metabolism slows down or worst, it falls into survival mode. This is counterproductive to the benefits of your diet as you will begin to store fat again.

The above is true whether you are currently losing weight or you are into the maintenance phase.

An added benefit I found is that if you crave something during the week and you manage to hold on and resist, once you let loose and eat a lot of it you conclude it is not so good after all.

The most important part is to make planned, conscious choices. Not to lose control, overeat and declare it a cheat day after the fact.

Chunky Guacamole Recipe

24 Mar

My wife lived for a year in Mexico and brought back this chunky guacamole recipe.

Serves up to 6 guests as an appetizer. Also great for a snack for 2 at the end of the day when we know we will not have dinner until later that evening. And from time to time, I will eat the whole recipe by myself with a tall beer and it will be my dinner.

OneFitGeek: Chunky Guacamole

OneFitGeek: Chunky Guacamole

Ingredients

  • 1 large ripe avocado, Hass variety
  • 3 cocktail onions, finely diced or 2 tbs chopped sweet onion
  • 6 cherry tomatoes, mixed colors if available, seeds removed
  • 1 tbs lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • Tabasco sauce, to taste

Notice there is no oil, no salt, no garlic powder and no pepper in this recipe.

Directions

Using a paring knife, cut avocado in half, lengthwise. Twist open and remove pit. Cut through the flesh with the paring knife, both ways across, making squares.

Pull back the skin and push the sliced avocado flesh into a bowl.

Add onions, tomatoes, Tabasco sauce and lemon juice.

Slightly blend with the knife, cutting through the mixture. This method leaves large chunk pieces of avocado.

Serve immediately with tortilla chips or crackers. Enjoy!

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