Small Steps, Big Strides

Getting Fit can be as simple as going back to the basics.

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What are your other basic measures of fitness?

I measure each person’s weight, blood pressure, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, strength, and abdominal strength (see "How Fit Am I?," page 19).

What are the first steps to eating better?

Log everything you’re eating. It’s the best way to start looking at your overall nutrition. You can see the patterns – what you eat at certain times of the day, with certain people, or when you’re doing certain things.

Once you have to write down what you eat, you think twice about it. You’ll try to get more fruits and vegetables, to cover all the food groups.

Your students rave about your nutrition management classes. What are the basics that you teach?

We start by keeping the food logs, and I go over those every week. Then I teach them to read food labels. You wouldn’t believe how many people aren’t aware of what’s in the food they eat. You learn to compare products, understand portion size, look for healthy ingredients. "Whole-wheat" bread, for example, may not necessarily be whole wheat.

We set some goals for weight and body fat. Class members learn how many calories they need to maintain their weight, based on their activity levels and body, and how many to lose weight. I tell women to eat at least 1,200 calories a day, and men 1,600 calories.

What’s your prescription for someone starting exercise from scratch?

You should do ten to fifteen minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day – walk, bicycle, swim. Start small the first few weeks. Also, take ten minutes a day to do fifteen to twenty-five crunches and stretch. Lift weights for twenty minutes, three days a week. One set of ten repetitions at seventy-five to eighty percent of your maximum capacity should be enough.

You want to build up to thirty minutes of cardiovascular work five days a week and three hundred crunches a day.

Three hundred crunches? Really?

Your abs are the core of your body’s muscles. They support your back and everything else. Three hundred crunches might take five to ten minutes of your day.

How much time should an average adult spend exercising over the course of a week?

We need a minimum of thirty minutes a day of cardiovascular work to strengthen our heart muscles and speed up our metabolism.

What about when people are on the road, traveling for work or vacation – away from home without equipment?

You can always do crunches and push-ups. You can always walk or run.

But speaking of equipment, the one thing that’s worth spending money on is your shoes. They are so important for support and to keep you injury free. A rule of thumb can be to choose the medium-priced sneaker — you might not need the most expensive, but don’t settle for the cheapest one.

You do some work with youth. What’s the first advice you would give to parents concerned about their child’s weight?

I always tell families to first consult with a physician, who can let you know whether or not the child is in the normal height and weight range according to his or her age. Then parents can look at their child’s diet and exercise pattern to see where positive changes can be made.

Parents should lead by example. Mom and Dad can make exercise part of the family’s routine, and they can bring healthy food home from the grocery for everyone. Encouraging fruits and vegetables and drinking milk or water instead of soda or high-sugar fruit juices is a good start.

Be a healthy role model for your child.

You have run two to three marathons a year for many years now. That’s a lot of miles. Why do you love running so much?

I like to see what I can put my body through. Unlike any other exercise I do, running puts me in touch with my body. And I love to be outside, no matter what the weather is. I think I used to tend toward seasonal affective disorder, but not since I’ve been running.

You’d be surprised how warm you can get running on a fifteen-degree day.

What’s in your grocery cart?

Anything from Oreos for my husband to soy milk for me and my daughter. Popcorn – I’m a popcorn fanatic. It’s my main snack at night.

Lots of frozen veggies. It’s easier to keep them fresh that way. I usually microwave them for casseroles. Lots of cereal – we go through tons of cereal.

We buy hamburgers and soyburgers. We always have two different meals, one vegetarian and one not.

If my son is home from college, there’ll be a cream stick or two.

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