whole foods Archives - Synergy PFT

Are Your Food Choices Killing You?

In case you needed another reason to maintain a diet of healthy and nutritious foods, a study released recently shows that bad diet choices lead to more deaths worldwide than any other risk factor, including smoking and obesity. To me, this means that as a population we are literally killing ourselves with the food choices we make! That’s scary!

According to the Global Burden of Disease study, the problem is not only that people around the globe are eating too many unhealthy foods; it’s also that people aren’t eating enough nutritious options. In 2017, there were 11 million deaths in 195 countries from health issues attributable to dietary factors (those issues include heart attack and cancer). And, if you’re thinking the numbers are skewed based on third world countries where food options are low, in terms of lowest diet-related death rates, the United States ranked 43rd, below countries like Rwanda and Nigeria.

“This study shows that poor diet is the leading risk factor for deaths in the majority of the countries of the world,” says study author Ashkan Afshin of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

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Our Best Nutrition and Diet Advice

The Weekly Burn /

We get asked a lot about diet trends, the latest “health foods” and quick fix plans to help you lose weight. Here’s our best nutrition and diet advice.

Don’t do crash diets! Don’t get sucked into whatever weight loss diet is popular for the moment. Just eat a little of everything. Don’t cut out anything unless you have an allergy/digestive issue with it.
Carbs are not evil. Our bodies need them for energy and many other daily functions. Just focus on eating the cleaner carbs (whole grains, beans, fruit, etc).
If your stomach handles dairy well, have some of it, just not large portions.
If you overdo it with something, just reset and go back to eating healthy and balanced. Don’t punish yourself by not eating or mentally tear yourself apart. Just move on and get back on track.
Enjoy food (and drink) and keep your portion sizes in check. Don’t eat until you’re stuffed – eat slowly so that it registers when you’re comfortably full. This will train your body and will eventually become habitual.
Limit white sugar, white flour, fried foods,

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Good Carbs vs. Bad Carbs

The Weekly Burn /

If you had to describe a holiday based on its menu, the word for Thanksgiving would be carbs. Mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, rolls with a little turkey thrown in for good measure, of course. It occured to me as I enjoyed my holiday meal that carbs have gotten a bad rap lately. With so many people adopting a low carb lifestyle and diets like keto being all the rage, carbs have really been vilified. But if you ask me, carbs have an important place in our diet – they are the body’s primary energy source – and should be embraced instead of avoided.

I feel like a lot of the negativity around carbs stems from misunderstanding. There are good carbs and bad carbs; carbs that you should incorporate into your meals and those you should avoid. Here’s my best attempt at breaking it down so you can easily figure out what is what.

There are two categories of carbohydrates – simple and complex. Foods fall into either category based on what they’re made of and how your body breaks them down. Some people think simple carbs are bad and complex carbs are good.

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October 13th Fall Nutrition Workshop

The Weekly Burn, Workshops /

Join Linnea Laverty and special guest Jackie Landry on October 13th at 1:30 pm for a Fall Nutrition Workshop

Topics Will Include:

Pre- and post-workout fueling
- The best foods to help you power through your workout
- What to eat to promote the best recovery
- Foods to avoid!
Our emotional connection to food
- Why do we use food as a reward?
- How to change your mindset

We’ll feature an extended Q&A which is YOUR time to address what’s important to you and share your goals.

Linnea Lavery is a certified nutritionist and trainer with a degree in nutritional science. She develops personalized nutrition programs that help people hit their weight loss and fitness goals without feeling deprived.

Jackie Landry is a health and wellness consultant who helps clients in the Boston area find and stay on their paths to a healthy and whole lifestyle.

Sign up through MindBody.

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A Food Diary Makeover

The Weekly Burn /

This week’s newsletter was inspired by a Synergy member experience. In an effort to lose weight, this member was on a diet of 1,500 calories per day. After an initial weight loss of about 20 pounds, she found herself at a plateau. Although she was keeping up with her small group training sessions at Synergy and kept a meticulous food diary to ensure she did not exceed 1,500 calories per day, her weight loss seemed to have stopped.

To try to understand why she had plateaued, we sat down and reviewed her food diary together. It was detailed and tracked each meal and snack she was having over the course of the day. And while it was clear she was not “cheating” or taking in more calories, I noticed that the majority of the food she was eating was processed or packaged. Her diet was seriously lacking in whole, natural food.

So, to help her make a transition to a healthier whole food diet, we decided she would start by just changing her breakfast. From then on she had eggs and fruit instead of her usual processed breakfast of a bagel or cereal.

A Food Diary Makeover Read More »

whole foods

Are Your Food Choices Killing You?

Our Best Nutrition and Diet Advice

Good Carbs vs. Bad Carbs

October 13th Fall Nutrition Workshop

A Food Diary Makeover

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