RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip: Carbs are sugars. Bread/pasta/rice/oat carbs digest quickly, and if they're not burned immediately they're are stored as fat. Eat these carbs ONCE per day, and that once per day should ONLY be after exercise to restore the energy (glycogen) levels we deplete with exercise. Fruits/veggies are the carbs that are okay to eat all day long, because they are carbs/sugars that digest slowly.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

1lb of body fat = 3500cal. Therefore our goal each week should be to burn 3500cal over the 7 days. That does NOT mean however, trying to burn 1000cal on an elliptical at one time. It needs to be spread out. For example, burning 400cal/day with actual intense exercise = 2800cal, then the rest of the time getting in extra cal burning activity like walking whenever possible instead of driving/elevators/escalators/etc.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Getting enough sleep each night is essential to stay in-shape, but so is properly entering into those stages of REM and non-REM cycles of sleep. When we don't, we don't wake up feeling refreshed & ready for our day. Websites such as (www.sleepyti.me/) help us to calculate what time we should be going to bed based off when we need to wake up, so that we enter into those cycles at the correct times.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Ultraviolet sunlight reacts with the fat in your body. If you tan alot & have a diet consisting of bad fats/junk foods/soda, free radicals will form from the sun rays, damaging your skin cells & could cause cancer. To combat this, wear sunscreen (SPF 15 or higher) & eat healthy nutrient rich high antioxidant foods (fruit, veggies & whole grains).

Diets that are high in animal fats, junk foods, soft drinks, vegetable oils, hydrogenated oils, animal/vegetable shortenings & dairy products are associated with an increased risk of skin cancer. Eating a high fat diet & spending lots of time in the sun is a bad combination.

Again, the UV rays of the sun react with the fats in your body. The end result? Free radicals form. They damage your cells & can lead to cancer. Overexposure & underprotection to sunlight may play a role but the real culprit is a diet high in fat & low in antioxidants and nutrients.

If you eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you will be getting lots of nutrients & antioxidants, that will help prevent the formation of free radicals. This has a protective effect. Fresh, plant foods are very important in helping your body be able to handle exposure to sunlight. Antioxidants protect your skin from burning too quickly. They also prevent premature aging.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Check your bank/credit card statements, have you paid your monthly or yearly Fat Taxes yet? The "Fat Tax" is what gym sales people call it when we keep paying a gym membership on a monthly/yearly basis, but never go. If getting into shape & being healthier is not motivation enough, think about how much $ you're wasting by not going.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Look at the label/ingredients on the bottle of something you drank today. If you see "zero calorie" or "zero sugar" or "diet" and you think it's healthy, think again. In the ingredients you'll see the artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame-K, stevia, etc.). Artificial sweeteners are NOT properly metabolized by the body, and anything that's not burned by the body is stored as body fat. You're better off having natural sugar, or better yet, WATER (zero cal/fat/carbs/sugar/sodium). Read this article for more info: http://www.fitsugar.com/Side--Side-Comparisons-Artificial-Sweeteners-1133886

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

One of our clients recently walked in to a Vitamin Shoppe looking for the all-natural protein (www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/naturalcas.html) we recommended for their husband to begin taking daily as another option for a healthy snack. The 20yr old sales person said, "the only all-natural protein we have is (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/cs/complete-casein.html)." All you have to do is turn the bottle he recommended around to see the nutrition facts & ingredients that nothing (artificial flavorings & sweeteners) in that bottle is natural/healthy. Don't easily trust people who work in these stores or gyms who do not have your best interests in mind, only meeting their sales quotas. Do your research, and actually inspect the bottle (nutrition facts, ingredients, etc.) before purchasing anything.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip: 


Everyone knows that unprotected sun & tanning bed exposure can lead to short & long term health risks. Now, many health experts are proving the hidden dangers of unprotected exposure to spray tans. Get some education from this brief ABC News video.


Does Spray Tan Pose a Health Risk? | Video - ABC News

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Have you ever wondered what those numbers on the stickers on the fruit & veggies mean at the store? Here's a short YouTube vid that explains it. You may be surprised to know that what you're buying may not be as healthy for you.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Do you know what your body fat % is and where it should be? If not, you should, because the higher the body fat % the more at risk you are for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Most people exercise to look & feel good, but most important is one's health. Especially being in the correct range of body fat % for your age & gender. For

WOMEN: 18-35yrs old body fat % should be 18-20%, 35-50yrs old should be 20-22%, 50yrs old + should be 22-26%

For MEN: 18-35yrs old body fat % should be 12-14%, 35-50yrs old should be 14-16%, 50yrs old + should be 16-20%

Have a qualified health & fitness professional calculate your body fat % TODAY, so you can begin tracking REAL (getting healthier) progress!

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Summer 2012 is here! With that comes swimsuits, Summer dresses, and more revealing clothing that if you're feeling/looking bloated, can make you feel really self conscious. Here's FIVE ways to avoid the bloat & keep you confident while having fun in the sun!

1) Sodium retains water in the body, making you look & feel bloated. To combat that limit your sodium intake to 1200mg/day. Start reading the nutrition facts on what you eat/drink; because you'll be surprised how quickly 1200 adds up. Also, start eating high potassium foods (dried apricots, spinach, beans, prunes, carrots) which help lower sodium levels in the body. For a list of more high potassium foods:

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/potassium-foods.htm

2) Avoid soda/diet soda. The carbon dioxide that supplies soda's fizz will continue to burble and expand in your stomach, priming you for serious bloat. That's the short-term effect. The long-term is even worse: The artificial sweeteners in diet sodas are not properly metabolized by the body, which means they're stored as fat.

3) Broccoli, like cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage, are very good for you, just not before the beach. Cruciferous vegetables like these contain a sugar called raffinose—the same sugar that gives beans their heavy-winded reputation. In your gut, raffinose is fermented by gas-producing bacteria, which can make you feel bloated and gassy.

4) Beware of "healthy" Summer drinks. For example, some smoothies pack as much sugar as 91 Nilla Wafers and more fat than a McDonald's Big Mac. If you drink something like this with any regularity, you might unknowingly be sabotaging your beach body all Summer long.

5) Skip the gum. All that chewing brings more air & gas into your stomach, making it expand and giving you balloon belly.