super food

LetlerFit Black Friday is HERE!

Posted on November 24, 2017November 24, 2017 by LetlerFit

Our favorite holiday shopping day is HERE and we are not disappointing! Have you had your eye on any of our leggings, shorts, capris, or tanks? Today only, 50% off on all apparel! Here’s what that looks like:

Leggings: were $64.99, NOW $32.49
Capris: were $54.99, NOW $27.49
Shorts: were $44.99, NOW $22.49
Tanks: were $24.99, NOW $12.49

Have any questions about sizing? feel free to leave a comment or e-mail LetlerFit@gmail.com! Ends TONIGHT 11/24/17 at 11:59PM EST

Code: BLACKFRIDAY

Shop NOW!

Learn more about the best online fitness program which includes comprehensive programs focused on shifting towards healthier eating habits, staying fit, and building a better booty. You’ll also find a variety of fitness apparel to help get you that extra motivation to take your goals to another level. Contact me today to learn more about the best fitness programs available to get your body in gear.

Eat Pretty: A Book Review

Posted on November 17, 2017November 17, 2017 by LetlerFit

I just got done reading this book by Jolene Hart, entitled Eat Pretty. I definitely give this one an A in the category of educating those who have no formal education in nutrition.

We are always taught that choosing healthy foods leads to weight loss and overall a more “attractive” physique. Some people are lucky enough to get taught that good nutrition helps prevent or control diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Very few people are actually taught how the foods we eat affect our complexion.

This book does an excellent job at classifying the foods that give acne, skin rashes, and more as beauty betrayers, while those those that promote a healthy complexion are deemed beauty foods. The other great job the other did was classifying the foods by season, because as most of us know, not all foods are available year round.

The other also dedicated a section to non-nutritional factors that may affect our weight and complexion like stress, sleep, water, and hormone function. Factors many people tend to look.

My favorite part about this book is how the author goes into how she perceives balance, which to me is the most important. So many books stress restriction and don’t that they miss the overall point of a balanced lifestyle.

If you are interested in learning what foods and how they contribute to our radiant skin, I definitely recommend you Buy the book here, you won’t regret it!

4 Ways to Keep Yourself Motivated To Workout

Posted on November 2, 2017 by LetlerFit

Working out is hard! Feeling sore, sweaty, and smelly is not in the least bit glamorous. At the end of the day a workout is typically 60 minutes or less out of your 24 hour day, so there’s really no reason you can’t set aside 3-5x a week where you make yourself and your goals a priority. Here are 4 ways that I stay motivated, ways that work for ME and hopefully can work for YOU!

I do what I like. For example I HATE running, I HATE low intensity steady state cardio, I am not a major fan of yoga for myself. Keep in mind I am not saying none of those have their benefits, because they do. I just hate doing them for myself so instead I stick to what I love, weight training, interval training, and circuits. You are more inclined to make what you enjoy a priority.
This next method is a little vane, but it works in the short term. I buy an article of clothing that wearing it would require me to stay consistent in order to make the clothes/outfit look better. It’s a great tactic to get me through those short term bouts of feeling lazy. But you do need to hang it somewhere you will be constantly reminded.
I don’t just set weight goals. Sometimes the scale is not an accurate results provider, so instead I’ll make a goal like “I want to get my waist down to 27in” or “I want to gain 2in on my glutes” or less vane goals like “I want to get my squat back up to double body weight” “I want to be able to hit _____ rounds in this circuit” This way we aren’t just fixated on the number
Lastly, I am very much motivated by the fact that I am one of the first in my family to really make health and fitness a consistent part of their lifestyle. I want to continue to do so because many before me let themselves go for a bit and are now scrambling to get it together. I want to physically set the example for what a consistent health and fitness lifestyle during your 20s, 30s, 40s, and so on will do for you as you age.

7 Food Myths That Stop Your Diet From Being Healthy

Posted on October 24, 2017 by LetlerFit

Sometimes I seriously wonder where some of these health coaches get their facts, do they not stay up to date with the latest research? I’ve heard some ridiculously false advice from people that actually keep them from having a healthier diet.

“Egg yolks are bad for you because they raise your cholesterol. So you should only eat the egg white.” Research now shows us that eggs have nothing to do with raising your LDL (bad) cholesterol. Eggs whites are a great source of protein and egg YOLKS are a great source of zinc, iron, vitamin D, and choline. Eat the WHOLE egg, unless you’re allergic, like me, then skip them.
“Everyone should eat gluten free.” Unless your gluten intolerant there is no need because your body is able to digest gluten…it’s just another type of protein that some people just happen to be intolerant to.
“Nuts are bad for you because they are high in fat.” Nuts are a great source of HEALTHY fats packed with nutrients. Like with anything, too many nuts can be bad, however research has shown that eating proper servings of nuts can actually help protect you against heart disease.
“Carbohydrates make you fat.” False. Too much carbphydrates, just like too much protein, and too much fat, make you fat….aka caloric surplus. Carbs give us energy, help our brains think, and feed our muscles.
“The label says low fat, so it has to be good for me.” Eat the whole fat. With whole fat you can simply use the fat grams as part of your daily fat consumption assuming you do not over do it. The problem with low fat is that they need to replace the fat, which is what add the good taste, with something else so that it is not bland. What they end up using as a replacer is sugar! Without knowing, you are consuming extra sugar that you may not have accounted for.
“Organic food is always healthy.” Definitely not! Especially deceiving when the organic label is placed on the packaging. Read the ingredients! Most of the time if it’s on a box you’re better off saving the money on the inorganic version because it’s the same exact thing.
“When eating out, always choose the salad.” False. Sometimes the salad can become the most calorically enriched plate because of the hidden sugars used to preserve the salad or the salad dressings.

6 Habits That Destroy Your Otherwise Healthy Lifestyle

Posted on October 23, 2017 by LetlerFit

Creating a healthy lifestyle is all about habit. Just like good habits, there are also bad habits. Some of them are killing your healthy lifestyle journey, and you may not even realize it.

Lack of Sleep: Sometimes, life requires you to lose sleep, and that’s ok. The problem is not a few nights of lack of sleep, the problem becomes too many nights without adequate sleep. Sleep is so crucial. I know we all know how awful it feels after consistent sleep deprivation. What many people may not know is that lack of sleep triggers an increase of cortisol hormone to be released in our bodies, which may cause us to bloat and have difficulty losing weight. Without Sleep our bodies cannot properly repair the muscles we just worked out.
Restriction: Leading a restrictive diet, leads to binges and constant yo-yoing and that’s not what we want. I’ve said time and time again it’s about establishing a balance of consuming more health foods than junk foods.
No Exercise or No clean foods: Sometimes eating clean is the easiest part of the nutrition and fitness equation. For others exercise is the easy part! But they go hand in hand! Not exercising or not eating clean but doing the other is only half of it and yields not so great results.
Alcohol: Going ham on the drinks during the weekend, EVERY weekend, is KILLER to your healthy lifestyle.
Not reading nutrition labels: Never go by the front of the packaging, read the label and pay attention to the ingredients!
Not Meal Prepping: Buying “healthy” foods from restaurants is no where near as good as prepping and cooking your own foods where YOU control everything. Sometimes the cleaner options are still loaded with hidden salt or sugar.

8 Things That You Should Be Teaching Your Children About Nutrition

Posted on September 26, 2017 by LetlerFit

While I do not currently have kids, I work with a lot of parents and I observe a lot of parents and what they teach their children about nutrition. Before I begin, I get a lot of heat from people whenever I opine about pregnancy, infant nutrition, adolescent health and fitness. The same way your male Dr. does not need to know what it feels like to be pregnant in order to help guide you through a healthy pregnancy, an exercise physiologist with an extensive back ground in academic nutrition (not jo shmo nutrition blogs) can help you establish healthy habits for you and your family. There are 2 critical periods for when children establish the number and size of the adipocyte tissue (aka our fat tissue) in infancy and in adolescence. The goal as a parent should be to do your best to keep the fat cell size to as small as possible and fat cell number to as little as possible. Here are 8 things parents should be doing in order to help set their children up for health success! These are not my opinion, they are all backed by the sciences.

In infancy, stick to infant ONLY foods! No need to sneak an infant soda, friend food, lasagna, or processed sugar before 12 months! While it may seem like they can handle it, inside their body react adversely
In infancy, if you’re a parent who gives your baby anything that is not labeled for infants because you want to or that’s “how you grew up” (only science is now realizing the way you grew up has lead to a ridiculously obese population), please do NOT give your baby anything that has honey or corn syrup in it. I see it all of the time and a little piece of my soul dies because you are potentially exposing your baby to something called botulism. Botulism is a death sentence, if they contract it from honey or any food that has corn syrup because their organism cannot fight it off.
Go as long as you can (goal 12 months) if you are able to breast feed. Make the sacrifice because the immunological, health, cognitive, you name it benefits far surpass the benefits of formula. Understand that formula is a first world commodity. In 3rd world countries it’s either you breast feed or the baby unfortunately passes. Formula is meant to keep your baby nourished enough to where infant death is not an issue in case breast feeding does not happen.
Moving away from infancy and into childhood, one of the biggest mistakes parents make, especially those in the hispanic community (It’s the anthropological studies saying it, not me!) is impose the “clear your plate” mentality. We have something in our brains called the hypothalamus and it lets us know when we are hungry and when we are full. The beautiful thing about children (and babies too) is that they have not fried it the way most adults do. Meaning, their brain still tells them when they should stop eating before they get to a place of over eating. The clear your plate mentality breeds obesity. If your child doesn’t want to eat anymore, don’t force them to eat twice as much as they want. Trust me, they won’t die of starvation.
Don’t make dessert something they can have only if they eat their vegetables. Find a way to make them enjoy their veggies without bribing them. If they eat their veggies every day that would mean they get dessert everyday.
Which, brings me to my next point, junk foods, processed sugars, fried foods, sodas, etc. are not foods we should keep at our children’s reach all of the time. They do not know what nutrient density is, they only know that those foods taste yummier so without realizing it you are allowing them to build poor habits when you aren’t around. In my house we bring ZERO of the aforementioned and I plan to keep it that way when we have kids. We do this so that when we go out, it’s OKAY to have a fried shrimp or lava cake because it’s something that we do not eat every day at our home.
This leads me to point number seven. Teach kids about balance! I’m not by any means saying forever forbid your kids from eating junk food. What I am saying is make junk food 15-20% of their overall diet. Fill the rest with a plethora of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, non-antiobiotic/steroid packed protein sources, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Growing up chips and sodas were something my mom would save for when friends came over, the few times we went out to eat, or for the holidays. I personally, love this approach because what do all of those events have in common? They happen in a minority, meaning the majority of the time you are nourishing your child.
Try to pack your child’s lunch. It’s a great way of controlling what goes in to fuel their bodies and NEVER let them skip breakfast! Myplate.gov has killer tools and articles to help you choose healthy lunches. These plates also from mygov are GREAT to help YOU as a parent portion out each food group while teaching them at the same time what their plate should look like.
Bonus: Try to teach them how to make healthy choices and why it’s important. If you are clueless, find a health professional who CAN! When you understand why something needs to be done it’s easier to do it.

8 Habits of Highly Healthy People

Posted on September 15, 2017 by LetlerFit

At least 80% of their diet comes from whole foods
They read at least 1 hour a day with the goal of improving themselves
They don’t drink their calories–they enjoy concentrated sugar filled juices and alcohol in moderation
They workout at least 3 times a week or total 180 minutes a week of moderate exercise
They choose to eat healthy at least 80% of the time
They do NOT obsess over the number on the scale, but rather how they feel and how their clothes fits
They look at food and think “what nutrients am I being provided?” and not “How many calories is this?”
They Sleep at least 6 hours a night-no sleep, no results.

5 Delicious Foods That Are Shockingly Low In Calories

Posted on August 29, 2017 by LetlerFit

Ultimately weight loss is about calories in vs calories out. Your total daily intake cannot be more than what your body burns from performing your daily activity. Here are 5 foods that are not only low calorie, but also PACKED with nutrients that may help you on your weight loss journey.

Celery: A stalk of celery is roughly 3 calories. It’s calorie coming from .5g of carbohydrates. The great part about celery is that despite being low calorie it is a great source of natural sodium, potassium, calcium, and vitamin C!
Spinach: 1 cup of spinach is only about 7 calories and has more nutrients that lettuce! The calories in 1 cup of spinach come from about 1.1g of carbohydrates, .9g of protein, and .1g of fat. Spinach is another great source of sodium, potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron
Kiwi: 2 Kiwis are about 100 calories coming from 24g of carbohydrates (natural sugars and fibers), 1 g of fat, and 2 gram of protein. Sprinkle some seeds on those slices and you have a refreshing snack! Anyways, kiwis are a great source of protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron
Green Bell Peppers: 1 cup of green bell peppers has 18 calories from about 4.3 grams of carbs, .2g fat, and 1 gram of protein. It is loaded with potassium, vitamin A, more Vitamin C than your average orange, and has some sodium.
Mushrooms: 1 cup of mushrooms has about 44 calories coming from 6.6 grams of carbs, .6 grams of fat, and 6.2 grams of protein! Mushrooms are a great source of Calcium, Iron, potassium, and sodium.

Have you watched any Netflix health docs lately?

Posted on July 17, 2017July 17, 2017 by LetlerFit

What the Health?, Forks Over Knives, Fed Up (personal fave), Food Matters, Vegucated, are just a few of the Netflix documentaries you can find on food. There are plenty more, but those are the ones I’ve seen recently. I must admit I have a love-hate relationship with most of them leaning more towards the hate than the love.

Here’s what I do love:

I love how they are bringing awareness to fruits and vegetables and how we need to increase the amount we are eating. The majority of us don’t even get half our recommended daily dosage.
I love how they shed light on the atrocities of the meat slaughtering industry, because regulations NEED to happen. The real animals are us humans, who choose not to find more humane ways to put down the meat that we do eat. Personally I am a vegetarian, I believe in doing my part, but I also do not believe everyone needs to go vegan. I’m a realist who believes it should be a personal choice as to whether or not someone decides to consume meat, and because I am a realist I know not everyone will remove or decrease the amount of meat in their diet, which is why more humane treatment of animals needs to be put in place.
I love that they shed light on the amount of garbage they are adding to meat, poultry, and farm raised fish.
I love how are they are raising awareness to the amount of added sugar the majority of us eat without realizing it
I love that they bring awareness to how food can help prevent more health issues than the pharmaceutical companies want you to believe. YOU NEED A BALANCE PEOPLE!

Here’s what I don’t like

How EXTREME and one-sided they are. The ones pushing people towards veganism more so than the ones warning people to stay away from wheat and sugar. At least the one’s I have seen about wheat frequently give the disclaimer that the negative effects of wheat more so impact the gluten intolerant. The documentaries about sugar also frequently express the need more consuming added sugar in moderation. However the ones that promote veganism, never once touch base on the idea of grass-fed or organic meat and poultry alternatives that are worth the investment due to significantly less pesticides, etc.
I do not like how they neglect to go over the differences between complete and incomplete proteins and how animal proteins are complete proteins where as plant based protein usually requires 2-3 different sources to reach the complete protein status.
I do not like how they neglect to mention that for athletes looking to get stronger, IGF1 only found in red meat is a legal and natural “steroid” in the sense that is helps our strength gains. I’m not saying you won’t get stronger if you only eat vegetarian or vegan because that is not the case. The gains can come faster though with the help of red meat, but I opt out of that natural boost.
I don’t like how they neglect to talk about the dirty dozen (aka the most contaminated fruits and vegetables) that everyone should prioritize as buying organic because of the amount of pesticides found in them.
- Peaches, Apples, Bell Peppers, Celery, Nectarines, Strawberries, Cherries, Pears, Grapes, Spinach, Lettuce, Potatoes
I don’t like how they do not touch on the subject of how easy it is to also be overweight and have health issues has a vegetarian or vegan. I personally know way too many overweight, anemic, or overall unhealthy vegetarians and vegans

Overall for people who do not have extremist personalities and tendencies I would recommend educating themselves with these documentaries, however also keeping in mind that there are 2 sides to every story. I wish they would make them with less of a bias. I believe they’d have more success reaching larger audiences if they did. I also believe they would make meat-eaters understand the POV of vegans and vice versa. We all know that vegan or meat eater that tries to make the other side feel like terrible people for choosing to eat or not eat meat. We need to educate people on both sides and THEN let people decide and respect their decisions! The lesson continues to be that everything in MODERATION is key!

Leafy Greens: My love hate relationship

Posted on May 22, 2015 by LetlerFit

Leafy greens and I have a love hate relationship. I am probably the only vegetarian in the world that abhors veggies (except broccoli), but I eat them anyways because they are an integral part of a balances diet. Vegetables in general are incredibly nutrient dense with very little calories. Green veggies in general tend to be the most nutrient packed containing Vitamins A, C, K, B, and E along with minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium just to name a few. Green vegetables are also extra high in protein and fiber. Now before I continue I want to warn you guys that this is going to be a long, but info-packed post. Because it is very long and I still have a workout to test, youtube videos to record, and chemistry to study I will not be doing extensive proof reading, only skimming.

Now that I have given that disclaimer I can move on. So, our bodies have a something called t-bet genes. They help with the production of immune cells and feed off the foods we eat, more specifically our consumption of green vegetables. The t-bet gene also allows our body to produce innate lymphoid cells that line our digestive systems and act as a barrier against bad bacterias and allergies. Without proper consumption of green vegetables you are depriving this gene in being able to carry out its daily activities inside our body. Leafy greens are high in antioxidants and disease fighting compounds such as photo-chemicals. Phyto-chemicals help reduce inflammation, regulate cell production and elimination, and they get rid of carcinogens (cancer causing agents often hidden in the processed garbage we eat).

How many servings should we aim for? According to one of my nutrition textbooks the average American eating 3 servings a week! unfortunately, that’s no where NEAR enough. The goal should be 4-6 servings of greens a day! My advice, find a way to make them yummy, but be advised the more you take veggies out of their raw form, the more you strip them of their vitamins in minerals.

Although their are more green vegetables than the ones I am about to list, I chose the following 7 because they are either under-recognized or under-appreciated.

1. Sprouts: (Under-recognized) help our bodies to extract the necessary vitamins, minerals, healthy essential fats, and amino acids from the food we consume.

2. Spinach: (Under-appreciated) Contain vitamins A, C, K, and B-vitamins along with minerals such as calcium, iron, fiber, selenium, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, and copper. They also provide us with folic acid, omega-3s (hint hint to all of my vegetarian/vegan friends, omega 3s are not just found in fish and iron is not only found in red meat, you just need to eat 10x the amount if your source is coming from plant), and lutein for eye health. Spinach aids in overall heart health and is an anti-inflammatory veggie.

3. Kale: (WAYYYYYYY Under-appreciated) is one of the MOST NUTRIENT DENSE foods in the world! It contains Vitamin A, K, C, B vitamins, and minerals such as manganese, calcium, copper, potassium, and magnesium. You can also find antioxidants and phytochemicals (quercitin and kempferl) that help protect the heart, regulate blood pressure, fights cancer causing agents, lowers cholesterol (which lowers risk of CHD), and also contains lutein and zeaxanmin to help keep your eyes healthy. Because kale is low in calorie and high in nutrition it is an excellent veggie to stuff yourself with (especially when losing weight).

4.Swiss Chard: (Under-recognized) contains vitamins A, C, E, K, and minerals copper, manganese, magnesium, and natural sodium. Swiss chard helps maintain an overall healthy skeletal system, lungs, heart, and immune system.

5.Collard greens: (under-recognized) contain vitamins A, C, K, are a great source of fiber, and phytochemicals diindolylenethane and sulforaphane that contain cancer fighting agents.

6. Dandelion Greens: (under-recognized) are like root rooter for your system. Need a fast acting cleanse? Eat tons of dandelion greens! They also are an excellent source of iron, calcium, manganese, potassium, phosphorous, protein and vitamins A, C, and B.

7.Broccoli: (under-appreciated) are high in fiber, antioxidants, photo-nutrients beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, and sea-xanthin. Also have copious amounts of floats, B vitamins, vitamin A and K, and minerals such as calcium, manganese, magnesium, selenium, zinc, and phosphorous. Contribute towards a healthy colon, urinary tract, and pancreas.

Not sure what all of the aforementioned vitamins and minerals do for us? scroll down to my micronutrient post!