August 2018

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about squats. (You laugh, but when you work in fitness these are the things that go through your head.) Because when it comes to exercises, squats are kind of like the holy grail. In fact, if I had to choose one and only exercise to do for the rest of my life, squats would be it.

Let’s start with the obvious benefit. Squatting engages every muscle in your lower body. When you do them you’re using your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. Come to think of it, squatting uses more muscles as a singular move than any other exercise you can do. But, the benefits go so far beyond just giving you toned and lean legs and a firm butt. Squats really can improve your life!

Squats are a compound exercise, meaning they target many muscles. And, they are also a functional exercise meaning they strengthen muscles you need to do things better in every day life. When you’re squatting you’re using your legs, but you’re also firing up your core, your abs and your back as you go through the whole range of motion.

Not to burst your bubble, but dieting does not work and there’s research to prove it. Long term studies that followed dieters and their progress have shown that by and large dieting – the way that most people do it – is ineffective and it may even be counterproductive. Only 5% of dieters are able to maintain their weight loss after 5 years. A 2007 study showed that the majority of people who followed a restrictive diet ended up gaining back more weight than they lost. And, a 2012 study linked dieting to higher incidences of depression, body dissatisfaction and poor self-esteem.

So, despite what the mass media and marketers would have you believe, paleo, vegan, low-calorie, low-carb and all the other fad diets out there will not lead you to lasting weight loss. Then what’s a person to do? Experts say that if you want to lose weight and keep it off, the key is to listen to your gut. They’re calling it intuitive eating (IE). It’s about changing people’s relationship with food and helping them view food as fuel for their bodies. IE encourages people to base their eating on hunger and fullness cues rather than on a restrictive list of good and bad foods.

If you’re trying to change your eating habits as part of a healthy lifestyle, it can be hard to know what exactly to do. Some people will tell you to avoid carbs, others say it’s all about no sugar and still others say a plant based diet is the best. I get a lot of questions from Synergy members about diets and new ways of eating that are getting attention. Should I go keto? Does intermittent fasting work? In an effort to answer some of those, here are the basics on 3 of the more popular trends today.

Doctors actually started using the ketogenic diet in the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy and more recently it has been considered as a potential treatment for diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The Atkins diet was the first to make the ketogenic way of eating popular among dieters looking to lose weight. The ketogenic diet is very low in carbs, relatively low in protein and very high in fat. Eating this way leads to low levels of blood glucose and forces the body into a state called ketosis,