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Confessions
of a Personal Fitness Trainer |
by:
Deborah
Caruana RN, MES, CPT |
As your
personal fitness trainer my passion is to
teach, coach, understand, push, prod, cajole,
investigate, research and apply, over and
over. As a 'Fitness Role Model'.well.I feel
vulnerable with weakness, so, in hopes we
can all learn, from my own weakness, here
goes.My Confession.
Last year I had a number of clients who
started stubbornly on the Atkins diet despite
my warnings. Immediately I saw almost profound
results in their weight loss. I reminded
them it was the loss of water weight, and
warned of the strain on the kidneys and
the high cholesterol risk.
During this time I was mastering my yoga
practice as a complete vegan but found that
my immune system had been profoundly compromised
and I was currently on my third cold for
the fall season
Atkins was in the media again because of
new study results indicating lowered cholesterol.
I went to the Atkins book yet again with
a more open mind, and decided to try the
diet. I liked the contrarian view point
to the current AMA position of the low fat
diet, which seemed to be producing a society
of increasing obesity. Atkins view of sugar
as the culprit making you fat, not fat,
made sense and the extra work from all the
protein for the kidneys. it's benign. I
wanted to use his diet as a tool to get
myself entirely off of any sugar.
I started out on the high protein, low carb
aspect of the diet. As I reintroduced the
animal proteins into my diet I could feel
myself get stronger and the colds, finally
stopped. I also saw my muscle bellies start
to open and swell again. The cold of winter
was not as painful as it had been while
on my vegan diet.
I then summoned up the courage to start
bringing fats into my diet, including bacon,
egg yolks, cream cheese, heavy cream, whipped
cream, even bacon rinds. On a daily basis
I would marvel at having eaten these "forbidden
foods" only to awaken the next day thin,
svelte. I couldn't believe this, result!
I was loving eating all these foods so familiar
yet banished since .childhood
I was in full swing eating the high fat,
high protein, low carb diet at the time
when the pictures on my website were taken.
www.vitalsignsfitness.com I felt strong,
but I had no energy!!! My walks on the beach
were lethargic, I had to force myself to
go that extra mile. I was thin but I felt
like a beached whale. My love affair with
Atkins continued a few more months. I followed
his prescriptions religiously.
Eventually I had to add more carbs, I needed
more energy. By carbs I mean vegetables,
salads and whole grains. At this point I
gained back the total of two pounds I had
lost on Atkins. Body fat went from 16% to
18%, my energy was better. After 7 months
I decided it was time to get the blood checked
out and to my horror discovered that my
cholesterol which had always been around
150 had rocketed up to 300!! Luckily my
HDL to LDL ratio was still at a healthy
level. Thanks to my forcing myself to exercise,
I kept my HDLs high.
I immediately started drinking hot lemon
juice with cayenne pepper every morning
to clean my blood. I have now thrown away
all the high fat foods and have once again,
come back full circle to moderation and
balance. A balanced diet. It takes a little
more discipline but my energy is back and
I can now eat the same meals as my husband
so dinner preparation is simpler. My weight
has not changed since I gradually introduced
the carbs. I avoid at all costs the "white
foods" flour, sugar, milk. I drink unsweetened
soy milk I avoid foods in packages, boxes
and bags. I feel a fine layer of fat but
that's okay its winter, I need it, and in
the summer, heat always melts it off. I
am completely off sugar and alcohol to keep
blood sugar low.
Log into www.vitalsignsfitness in the Chat
page where a discussion has already begun
re: Atkins and other diet plans, add your
comments or just read and muse. Or go to
the Nutrition Program page and find out
how many calories (protein, carbs, fats)
you should eat to sustain your current or
ideal weight.
Deborah Caruana RN, AAHRFP, NASM, ACE,
www.vitalsignsfitness.com
email deb@vitalsignsfitness.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEBORAH is a highly respected authority
in personal training for overall health
and fitness, with more than 22 years of
experience and success.
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