May 23

3:39 pm

FOOD FOCUS: To Soy or not to Soy?!

Over the past few years I have heard an increasing amount of questions in regards to the benefits of soy protein as well as the potential link to cancer, especially breast cancer. Researchers started exploring the impact soy has on one’s health as it had become clear the incidence of overall cancer and breast cancer was lower among those living in Asia compared to those in North America. This sparked numerous studies to be launched to explore soy foods because Asian diets are saturated in soy-based foods (e.g., tofu and edamame).

Soy and Cancer Risk:

Phytoestrogen, a soy isoflavone, had been thought to potentially bind to estrogen– which would then decrease the development of cancer. This thought is due to excessive or high levels of estrogen has been linked to cancer promotion. Some earlier studies (with rats/mice as the subject) using soy showed soy had been linked to breast cancer promotion due to an increasing growth of an estrogen receptor. However, as of 2011 the American Institute of Cancer Research determined that mice or rats (used for a lot of earlier soy research) metabolize the isoflavones differently than humans. This is a huge factor when it really boils down—not only do we metabolize soy differently, but the amount of soy in our diet comes into question.

In general, Americans consume, at most, 1-2 mg/day (half of one serving) of soy protein according to the American Cancer Society. This amount is much less compared to the Asian diet as they consume up to 2-3 servings of soy protein per day. The largest study to date looked over 10,000 breast cancer survivors and actually showed improved outcomes—those consuming 10 mg/day of isoflavones had 25% decrease in recurrence of breast cancer. This helps clear the air. The next question would then be “what foods can I eat to get more soy into my day??”

Soy and Other Health Benefits:

Adding soy protein in its least processed form is most ideal. This does not mean loading up the cart with soy protein nuggets and burgers from the freezer isle. This means incorporating edamame, tofu, tempeh, soynuts and soy beverages. The minimally processed soy protein sources have been linked to heart health and is packed with protein, fiber, potassium, magnesium, calcium (in some sources), copper, manganese, and phytochemicals such as phytic acid, phenolic acid and more. Here are some ideas for your weekly meal plan:

Meatless Monday: Tofu lasagna for dinner
Tuesday: ¼ cup edamame for one metabomeal
Wednesday: Silken tofu, ground flaxseed, frozen berry, and ice smoothie for breakfast
Thursday: Tempeh chili incorporated at dinner
Friday: 2 T. roasted soynuts on your lunchtime salad
Saturday: Sushi night with edamame as your first course
Sunday: Buckwheat tofu and banana pancakes (made with silken tofu)

by Adam Martin

May 22

2:42 pm

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Hilton Head Health Earns 2013 Certificate of Excellence

Hilton Head Health has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award! The accolade, which honors hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveler reviews on TripAdvisor, and is extended to qualifying businesses worldwide. Only the top-performing 10 percent of businesses listed on TripAdvisor receive this prestigious award.

To qualify for a Certificate of Excellence, businesses must maintain an overall rating of four or higher, out of a possible five, as reviewed by travelers on TripAdvisor, and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months. Additional criteria include the volume of reviews received within the last 12 months.

“Hilton Head Health is pleased to receive a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence,” John Schmitz, Owner. “We strive to offer our customers a memorable experience, and this accolade is evidence that our hard work is translating into positive reviews on TripAdvisor.”

by Jessica Lynn

May 21

12:37 pm

2 Comments

Coaching Corner: The “Black and White” Truth of Activity Tracking Devices

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been a part of a test group for activity trackers like the Nike Fuel Band and Fitbit. As a coach, I understand the benefits tracking activity and calories – it’s a way to provide accountability, if only unto yourself. But now, companies like Nike and Fitbit have taken it to a whole new level. With colored lights that measure your fuel or even a flower that grows the more you move, it’s no longer written in “black and white”. With dynamic apps, blue tooth capabilities, personal communities, and more, these little devices act as your journal, your training partner, your cheerleader… and even your disciplinarian. By tracking steps, calories, weight loss, food and water intake, and even sleep, these trackers learn more about your lifestyle than even your doctor might know. You can see your charted progress at any moment, plotted by day, week, or month. You can set personal targets and even challenge your friends, have a competition with someone from miles away. But…. it can’t workout for you. It can’t make the right food choices for you. We still have to find it within ourselves to make the right choices for the healthy active life we pursue. So while the Fitbit or Nike Fuel Band may not be the magic diet pill we all may secretly wish it would be… they certainly can help! Moving a little more to make your last light show up on your band, or a friendly competition within a private group leader board is certainly more support than we had even 5 years ago… not to mention the convenience of having access to it all right on your smart phone. I can honestly say, it doesn’t always make me smile when I get messages like “Pick it up, Jess”… but it does increase my awareness, it does push me to go even a little bit further, and it does make me smile when it rewards me for hard work.

Do you use an activity tracking device? If so, share with us and other readers – what about yours motivates you??

by Karla Williams

May 20

12:47 pm

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Healthy Recipes: Blueberry Cobbler

With blueberry season quickly approaching, this is the perfect way to utilize your blueberries! I promise you will not be let down by this tasty treat!

INGREDIENTS:

1 ¼ cup Flour

½ cups Brown Sugar

2 teaspoon Baking Soda

½ teaspoon Cinnamon

Pinch Nutmeg

¼ teaspoon Salt

¼ cup Butter, Unsalted, softened

½ cup Non-Fat buttermilk

Filling:

¾ cup Granulated Sugar

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1 cup Water

6 cups Blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F
In a small bowl mix brown sugar, flour, butter, buttermilk, spices, baking soda and salt.
Mix until butter is evenly distributed.
In a medium sauce pot, mix sugar and cornstarch.
Add water, and cook until you have made sugar syrup.
About 5 minutes.
In a medium size Pyrex dish, place peaches in dish, then pour sugar syrup over blackberries.
Then place cobbler mixture over the top.
Bake in oven for about 30-45 minutes.
Serve warm with your favorite low calorie ice cream.

NUTRITION:

Number of servings: 20

Serving Size: 1/20^th of the pan

Calories: 135

Fat: 4.5 grams

May 17

3:48 pm

No Comments

FRIDAY FITNESS: BARRE WORKOUT

No Tutus Required!

Barre workout is like the dancer training without the dance.

It Is a no-impact workout that allows you to lengthen and strengthen your body as well as improve flexibility and balance.

Utilizing a Ballet Barre, a countertop, or even the back of a chair, todays workout will focus on your lower body with 3 simple exercises where you will perform small isometric movements working each muscle to fatigue.

This simple 3 exercise routine will focus on your lower body:

1. Wide Plie : works on quads, inner thighs and calves

How to do it: Stand with legs straight and feet wide apart, toes turned out. Do 10 to 20 deep plies, bending the knees deeply until they’re directly over your toes.

2. Parallel Plie Pulse: works on glutes, quads and abs

How to Do It: To start, stand with your feet parallel, knees together. Rise onto balls of the feet, bend your knees into a deep plié and lift half way up 10 to 20 repetitions.

3. Heel lift: works on hips and glutes

How to Do It: Facing the back of a chair, hinge at hips with a flat back. Bend right leg and lift to hip height, pushing heel toward the ceiling. Keeping hips square, pump leg up and down 10 to 20 times. Repeat on other leg.

by Jen Welper

May 17

10:41 am

No Comments

Tis’ the season: It’s grilling time!

So it’s getting to be that time of year again and we start pulling out the grills and think about barbequing. Here are some helpful tips on good grilling and the recipes you can find on H3daily.com.

First and foremost we want to make sure that when we are grilling we are using the leanest meats there are. Chicken breast, turkey breast, pork tenderloin, beef tenderloin, lamb chops, and of course fillets of fish. Now that you know what is the leanest you still have to remember to keep your ounces into consideration. Seafood can range from 5-6 ounces and meats can range from 4-5 ounces each. So those monster chicken breasts that are provided by your grocer need to be fileted in half for two servings instead of one.

Next tip is not drying out our meats, so the use of the thermometer is key. Sure you can poke at the meat to see if it’s done, but you will know for sure when you use a thermometer. What you might not know is that there is a slight indent on your thermometer about 1 ½ inches up, and that is actually how you temp your items. Using the tip of the thermometer is not what is reading the temperature. Now you may ask so what temperature do I look for? Check out the chart below.

Internal Temperatures for Doneness

Beef/Lamb

Rare 120 – 125°F

Medium Rare 130 – 140°F

Medium 145 – 150°F

Well done 155 – 165°F

Pork

Tenderloin 145°F

Fresh Shoulder, Hams 170°F

Poultry

All poultry 165°F

Seafood

All seafood 145°F

(Cooking fish- ten minutes per inch of thickness)

Ground Meats

All ground meats 155°F

By not overcooking your meat, you will then be able to use less sauce, and everyone will be happy because it’s juicy and tender.

Seasoning Tips

Marinate or season meats ahead of time for at least 20 minutes.
- Using acidic items such as lemon, lime, white wine, and balsamic are great tenderizers, that also add flavor to meats. – but if used alone marinating should be no more than 20 minutes especially on small cuts of meat.
Make sure to season all items before grilling.
If using a basting method, such as barbeque sauce make sure to do that towards the end. – It prevents the sugars from burning.
Use herbs and spices for all types of grilled items, or make your own low salt rubs.

Grilling Tips

Make sure not to touch the grilled meats too much unless you truly feel that they are burning.
The more you pick up and turn the meats, the longer they will take to cook and their juices might all juice out.
Make sure to have all your tools out and ready for your use- such things as a long pair of tongs, grill brush, carving fork, hot pads, and a clean pan for items that are ready to be used.

Depending on the type of grill you have here are some tips on how to get set up using the specific types of grills.

Charcoal Grilling:

Pick a charcoal such as Kingsford
Make sure to purchase lighter fluid
Depending on the amount being grilled, always make sure you have enough charcoal to create a nice bed of heat.
Give yourself enough time, for the charcoal to heat up before trying to grill.
Ideal for all types of grilled items, fish, meats, vegetables, tofu and fruit.
Can be messy after charcoal is burned down.
Temperature can’t be adjusted on charcoal grills.

Gas Grilling:

Preheating the grill is still ideal, but perhaps only 20 minutes time is needed for preheating.
Once grill is hot, you can start grilling.
Gas grilling is cleaner than charcoal grilling, but you don’t get as much of a grilled flavor.
Ideal for all types of grilling items.
Temperature can be adjusted on gas grills.

Electric Grill:

Needs plenty of time to heat up, perhaps 30 minutes depending on age of electric grill.
Grids need to be cleaned after each use, as the debris left from the food won’t clean off as easily as either of the above.
Any types of grilling items can be done on such equipment, but depending on the grill, it may take longer than other types of grilling.

Good luck grilling and look for our Sante Fe Chicken recipe on H3daily.com, this marinade works great with pork tenderloin, and fresh tuna.

by Lisette Cifaldi

May 15

2:48 pm

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Wellness Wednesday: The Mindful Eating Challenge

When was the last time you tasted your food? I mean really tasted your food?

Yesterday I ate an orange that was so deliciously sweet and thirst-quenching I compared the experience to a spiritual encounter. A bit dramatic you might think — but you’ve been there. You’ve eaten something before that has given you such pleasure you didn’t want the experience to end. Perhaps your eyes even rolled into the back of your head with each bite. That’s what really tasting your food feels like…indulgent, eye-rolling, spiritual encounters. So, when is the last time you did it?

Making the conscious decision to deliberately taste your food is the practice of mindful eating. Extreme pleasure is a wonderful benefit of mindful eating but an even better gain is satiety. When we mindfully eat something we enjoy, our brain receives the message that we are truly satisfied. Often, we will reach a state of satiety before we reach fullness. Thus, mindful eating is associated with weight loss.

This week I challenge you to mindfully eat one thing each day. Not necessarily your entire meal, just one component of your meal, or a snack. I want you to imagine that you are a child tasting your food for the first time. Float in the experience. Take your time. Let your eyes roll into the back of your head.

Kids’ Hilarious First Reactions to Food Caught on Camera ABC News Blogs – Yahoo!

by David Chesworth

May 14

12:14 pm

No Comments

Coaching Corner: Dip and Spear

As many may know, an easy way to consume more calories than planned without thinking about it is by putting too much salad dressing on your salads. A popular method to counteract that which we encourage here at H3 is the “Dip and Spear” technique. There are just a few simple steps to the dip and spear technique;

1.) Salad dressing must be on the side

2.) Dip your fork into the salad dressing

3.) Spear that fork through your salad

4.) Enjoy the deliciousness of your salad + dressing with a reduced risk of over-consuming calories!

Below is a video about the dip and spear technique. Enjoy! =D

by Jen Welper

May 13

1:04 pm

No Comments

Healthy Recipes: Coleslaw

INGREDIENTS:

15 cups Red Cabbage, shredded

15 cups Green Cabbage, shredded

6 cups Carrots, shredded

1 cup Scallions, sliced on bias

2 cup Mayonnaise, lowfat

1 cup Nonfat plain yogurt

1/2 cup Apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup Orange juice concentrate

1/4 cup Sugar, granulated

1 teaspoon Celery Seed

1 tablespoon Dry Tarragon

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Black pepper, table grind

1 teaspoon Paprika

PREPERATION:

In a large bowl combine the cabbage and carrots
In another bowl whisk together remaining ingredients
Pour the dressing over the slaw mix and let marinate overnight

NUTRITION:

Yield: 48 servings

Calories:35

Fat grams:1

by Jeff Ford

May 10

4:48 pm

1 Comment

Fitness Friday: Muscle Mobility

“All human beings should be able to perform basic human maintenance on themselves.” – Kelly Starrett

Steadily flexibility training has changed over time. We’ve gone from ballistic type stretching (the bouncing type which isn’t safe) to static stretching where you hold a stretch for 30-60 seconds hoping to restore range of motion to the area. What you may or may not have heard about is this new idea of self-massage using balls or rollers. This is formally known as Self-Myofascial release and may also sometimes be referred to as the poor man’s massage.

What’s the deal with SMR? Think of your body as an interconnected chain between your muscles. Between those muscles lies this connective tissue called fascia. When fascia gets tight it restricts movement. When movement is restricted pain may occur, which can the lead to injury. It’s that one chink in the chain that can throw everything off. Check out the Injury Cycle by TP Therapy. Does this seem like something you’ve gone through? Not too much is out on the CDC as to studies behind this stuff, but many physical therapists continually implement these techniques with their clients.

One of the biggest names out there is a CrossFit Coach by the name of Kelly Starrett. He’s written a solid book called The Supple Leopard. Coach Kelly Starrett received his Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2007 from Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, California. Before starting his own physical therapy practice he practiced performance-based physical therapy at the world-renowned Stone Clinic. Kelly has with the help of others gotten these techniques much more mainstream through his blog www.mobilitywod.com. If you’re ready for a little knowledge check it out!

We’ve recognized the benefits of these SMR techniques so about 3months ago we added a new fitness class called “Muscle Mobility.” Within this class, we teach the most common techniques using lacrosse balls so with a $2 investment our guests can unglue their muscles at home. Please comment on this post if you would like to receive a handout with plenty of pictures! Remember that SMR should only be performed on soft tissue never bone or spine. Muscles feeling like beef jerky today? Get on that SMR.

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