Nutrition class with Bruce

On July 6th we had a nutrition class with a guy named Bruce. Bruce has worked with camp for about 10 years and was their nutritionist. Now he works with the teen boys I think and is the Surf instructor for the kids camp.

Here are some tips he gave in Nutrition class.

-There is not a set plan that works for everyone, so be careful when a plan comes out that says it will work for everyone. We may have similarities as to why we are overweight, but no on person is the same and therefore no one "diet" will work for everyone.

-The main key is portion control and exercise. Find what works for you and do it. Watch your portions, eat 3 meals a day or 4 small meals day and exercise daily and you will lose weight. He said try not to become a slave to calorie counting. As long as your portions are small and your exercising you will do it. Include in each meal, carbohydrates, protein and veggies or fruit.

Eat as natural as you can. Avoid foods with mystery ingredients. Have you ever looked at the ingredients of the chips you are putting in your mouth? Bruce's history is all in nutrition and he does his research on these matters and he still doesn't know what some of the ingredients are that people are putting in their mouths. His mantra is, "Eat as Natural as you can."

Avoid Splenda and Nutrasweet if you can. 1 tbs. of sugar is only about 45 calories. IT's not that much and it's natural. WIth these artificial sweeteners we are training our brains that the food we are eating is sweet with no calories. Soon our brain starts to think SWEET=NO Calories. This is not good.

As far as the natural thing goes he said that it is better to make cookies with all natural ingredients then to go and buy cookies off the shelf. A lot of the cookies today have the mystery ingredients in them.

Avoid fat-free foods except in dairy. Fat-free that is ok is milk and yogurt. He says to stick with low fat or regular of everything else. We need healthy fats in our diet. Also, Non-fat does not equal Non-Calories. Let me repeat that Non-Fat does not equal Non-Calories. A lot of times the Non-fat items will have more calories then if you just had the regular item, so be careful!!

Overview:
Avoid these items.
Soda-cut it out completely if you can.
Fastfood-if you have to go, there are healthier things you can order
Artificial sweeteners
Some Non-fat items

But with that said, enjoy food. Find foods you like. Also, let yourself have those treats from time to time. If you deprive yourself you'll want it more and be more likely to binge on it.

And that my friends is Nutrition class with Bruce.
Hope it helped.
Bye!!