In the Media
2006-03-20, The Edmonton Journal
New Year, New You: Week 9
Chris Zdeb; journal staff writer, Edmonton
Eighty per cent of losing weight is about increasing your activity level or exercise, 20 per cent is about what you eat. So last week Bobbi Robbins began tracking her diet for trainer Alexandra Senkow, who is also a certified nutritionist, to analyze. The good: Robbins is meeting or beating the new Canada Food Guide requirements for daily servings of meat and alternatives: guide says 2-3 servings / Robbins is getting 2.1; grains: guide 5-12 / Robbins 5.5; drinking water: guide 8-9 servings / Robbins 8-9. The bad: guide 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables / Robbins 2.2; dairy and alternatives: guide 2-4 / Robbins 1.6. Other foods: guide 1-3 / Robbins 3.
The verdict: Robbins’s diet needs some tweaking. Senkow says she wants her to make a few changes over five weeks. To start: limiting her sodium intake. The effect of salt on the body is a combination of dehydration and water retention that feels like excess body fat. It’s why some people say they feel like they’ve gained 10 pounds after eating a bag of potato chips, Senkow tells her.
Salt lurks in packaged sauces, restaurant meals, fast food, Asian foods, crackers and processed foods. On average, people consume four to five times as much daily sodium as they need, she says.
Robbins says she’s a regular nutrition-label reader but usually doesn’t get beyond looking at fat and glucose content. She will now.
Week 2, Senkow wants Robbins to add a greater variety of grains to challenge her digestive system. About 95 per cent of her choices now include wheat, but because of 60 and 100 per cent, whole-wheat breads are still processed, Senkow recommends Robbins eat more sprouted wheat bread which is closer to wheat’s natural state. At $4 a loaf, that may seem a little hard to swallow, but people have no problem spending money on their car or a TV or sound system, she points out, isn’t your body worth the same investment? Try limiting glutinous foods for a week and see what happens, Senkow advises.
“Women in particular can develop sensitivities to wheat gluten which causes bloating, water retention and feelings of fatigue,” she says.
Week 3: Senkow wants Robbins to focus on eating more foods linked to weight loss such as low-fat dairy products. Eating more high-fiber foods help remove bad cholesterol from the body, while improving healthy cholesterol levels which are also linked to weight loss.
High-fiber foods more filling
High fiber foods also fill you up so you’re not left feeling hungry, Senkow says. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, not the inside aisles where a lot of processed foods line the shelves.
Week 4, Senkow wants Robbins to really focus on reading food labels when she shops.
“Words like light, natural, whole wheat, make us feel as though we are making healthier choices, but often, they’re not. Cream cheese, even if its light is high in sodium and lower in nutrients than almost every other type of dairy, she says. Crackers are so over processed they’re not much better than eating potato chips.”
Week 5, aim for a balanced diet which is 60 to 65 per cent rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads, pastas and rice, Senkow tells Robbins.
“Of this amount, 55 per cent should be in the form of complex carbohydrates – whole grain products, and no more than 10 per cent from simple carbohydrates such as cakes and pastries,” she says.
With her busy schedule, much of what Robbins eats, she says is chosen on the fly. Taking the time to sit down and plan a week or even a few days of meals using Canada Food Guide makes you really think about what you’re eating so you’re more likely to make healthier choices.
Instead of starting to plan a meal around what meat you’re going to serve, use vegetables as your focus and eat more vegetarian meals, Senkow tells her. One suggestion is to plan a salad for one meal and add some salmon or vegetables to it.
Robbins currently consumes about 1800 calories from food a day. Making these changes to her diet will keep her around the same caloric intake, but healthier foods, with her workouts, will help her body work more efficiently and lose weight faster, Senkow says. People who take in more calories would likely have to cut back to see a change.
And watch those serving sizes. “Don’t suffer from portion distortion,” she warns.
Starting weight: 199 pounds. Week 9: 190 pounds.
Bobbi Robbins won 12 weeks of personal training with Alexandra Senkow, fitness director of Defining Eve personal fitness studio, in The Journal’s New Year, New You contest.
