It feels like these days, gluten has become the butt of a never-ending joke. In the past, the only person who knew what gluten was were those with Celiac disease – an autoimmune disorder that results in damage to the intestinal lining if gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barely, is consumed. . These days it’s become one of many healthy food fads – with individuals boasting that they’re gluten-free while they reach for a stack of GF cookies – because it’s thought that “they’re healthy”. As a result, gluten sensitivities seem to be taken less seriously than other common sensitivities like dairy or soy. And while not every individual reacts negatively to gluten, the fact is that it’s still one of the most common – and under-estimated – sensitivities Americans experience today.

WHAT IS GLUTEN?

Gluten is a protein – more specifically, it’s a protein that is found in wheat, rye, and barley (Also, oats are usually cross-contaminated, unless they are certified gluten-free.) When flour is mixed with water, the gluten proteins in the flour form a glue-like consistency – and because of this, it’s often used in other processed foods as a binder. One potential consideration is the amount of gluten we’re ingesting in comparison to a few generations ago: we’re exposed to more gluten than ever, especially in our culture where processed foods are so prevalent. While it might be obvious that breads and baked goods are gluten containing, it sneaks into some you may not expect: soy sauce, Brewer’s yeast, some lunch meats, everything that’s malted or made with malt vinegar, flour-thickened gravy or soup, and even common salad dressings.

WHY SHOULD I CONSIDER TAKING IT OUT OF MY DIET?

You don’t have to have Celiac disease to suffer negative symptoms as a result of consuming gluten, but it may be harder to pinpoint. Those that have a sensitivity to gluten may experience more obvious GI symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, and constipation, and abdominal pain – or their reaction could be made up of non-digestive symptoms like headaches or migraines, swollen or painful joints, brain fog, fatigue, acne and even depression.¹

But going gluten-free can also have some other positive effects – most notably that it typically forces person to rely more on real, whole foods because they’re naturally gluten-free for the most part. And it’s well known that when you consume a balanced diet full of veggies, lean proteins and healthy fats (all naturally gluten-free), you feel better too.

I’M IN. NOW WHAT?

If you’re considering a gluten-eliminating diet, here are my top five tips on how to start.

Focus on real foods:  Food that comes from the land or the sea (as a plant or an animal) should make up the largest foundation of our diet.  Just by doing this, you’ll eliminate a huge source of gluten from your diet (processed foods). Your go-to list should include nuts, seeds and oils, quality protein, true whole grains like rice and quinoa, vegetables and some fruit.

Allow yourself to eat more:  Typically when we eliminate a food from our diet – especially a larger like processed, gluten-filled ones – we often eat less because we’re not sure how else to fill our plates, which makes us feel hungrier.  Make sure that as you eliminate, you’re also increasing the volume of other foods at your meals.  A good rule of thumb is every plate should be half filled with vegetables and have at least a palm-full of healthy protein and a dab of healthy fat. If you’re active, include an unprocessed source of carbohydrate, like a root vegetable or rice. The amount of gluten-filled starches we can down in one sitting can be pretty high, so make sure you bulk up the veggies and other healthy foods to backfill.

Give yourself a timeline:  With an elimination diet, you want to allow yourself enough time to really track your symptoms and understand how a certain food group may be impacting your health. Although this may turn out to be a life-long choice for you, I suggest starting with at least three weeks of living gluten-free.  Three weeks is short enough that it feels “doable”, but long enough to feel the effects of the change and therefore make a more informed choice. If you decide you want to reintroduce gluten-containing foods, I suggest adding it back in for a day and watching out for change to how you feel for the following three days, as it can take a while for reactions to show up.

Get to know your “real whole grains”: There is a huge difference between foods made with whole grains (cereal, bread, etc.) and true whole grains – such as quinoa, brown and wild rice, and oats. If you are in need of a starch at meal time, gravitate towards these options, but watch your quantity if you have a body composition or weight loss goal. Also, if you’re strictly avoiding gluten, be sure any oats or oat-containing products are certified gluten-free and be careful of some newer grains on the market, such as kamut (sometimes kamut berries) and farro, which also contain gluten.

Gluten Free options as necessary: These days, you can find pretty much everything in a gluten-free version. Foods that are normally gluten-filled – like crackers, breads, cereals, and baked goods – can now be found in a gluten-free form at almost every grocery store. I’ve even seen them in gas stations! Be careful with these – just because something is lacking gluten doesn’t make it healthy. Don’t let the food industry fool you. But, if you aren’t quite ready to ditch the toast with your eggs or your pasta dinners, at the very least utilize these products with caution. They won’t improve your waist line (since they’re typically processed and filled with carbohydrates and refined sugar) but they are an option for the times that you need an occasional treat.

If you find that you eliminate gluten, but are still having some digestive troubles or other frustrating symptoms, know that it’s possible that something else might be going on or that there are several foods that may not agree with you. If that’s the case, gluten elimination may help you feel slightly better, but the other foods still in your plan could be wreaking havoc. I recommend connecting with a nutrition coach to see if a food sensitivity test (if available in your state) and broader modified elimination diet could be an option for you.

Written by Kat Larrea, Pn1 – Life Time 60day Program Manager with contributions by Samantha McKinney, RDN, LD.

This article is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations in this and other articles is at the choice and risk of the reader.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24533607

Everyone can benefit from foam rolling.

Although popular with our fitness professionals, this tool might be one of the most underutilized pieces on our fitness floor.

Per Mitchell Keyes, master trainer with a credential in muscle activation therapy, “Foam rolling supports a technique, called self-myofascial release (SMR), that helps apply pressure to the tissues around your muscles.  This tissue can get tight (often called a trigger point or bundle of tissue) – whether from exercise, sitting all day or even wearing heels, etc. – so foam rolling helps to loosen it by breaking up that ‘bundle’.”

The result?  Increased circulation (delivering more oxygen and water to the muscles) and range of motion.  And overall, less soreness and better results from your workouts, too.

The best trainers utilize foam rolling with their clients during their session – or at minimum, recommend them to do it before or after their training session along with on their off days to help support recovery.

But foam rolling isn’t just for before or after your workout.  Keyes suggests getting a roller to have at house so you can use it on your off days – including right after you wake up in the morning, or, for those on their feet all day, right after they get house.  “If you’re wearing heels to work every day or often – you’d benefit from rolling your foot and soleus (calf) with a hypersphere (nice for getting at those harder to reach muscles) to help elevated the tightness caused from your arching your foot all day”, says Keyes.

And you don’t have to work with a trainer to utilize this fitness tool and reap the benefits.  “person should feel empowered to use one their own.  But I always caution that most often, we see individuals misuse the roller by going too fast.  Make sure you slow your roll and move in multiple directions, including up and down, side to side, etc. – and try to make it a daily ritual if you can”, says Keyes.

To get started – perform these five moves (below) that target one larger muscle group at a time.  Slowly roll until you feel a “trigger point” (it’ll feel a little painful) and continue to slowly roll back and forth for a few minutes.

You can find this type of foam roller at the club in the stretching area on the fitness floor.  There are other versions of them, too, that actually vibrate to stimulate even more blood flow.

5 Beginner Foam Rolling Moves

1.  Upper Back

2.  Quad

3.  Hamstring

4.  Calf

5.  Glute

Written By Flourish Staff

This article is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations in this and other articles is at the choice and risk of the reader. 

Summer is over; fall is here. (Unfortunately, sooner than later — especially for person who live in Minnesota).  As the weather starts to cool off, more person will be headed indoors to clubs like Life Time. The indoor atmosphere offers an ideal space to take up resistance training.  But many members shy away from the weights because they don’t have the time, get bored or feel confused about how to maximize resistance-training benefits.

To prevent this from happening, there will be articles each month on how to get the most out of lifting weights.  This first article will discuss what Straight Sets, Pairs (also known as Super Sets) and Circuits are, and the pros/cons of each.

Straight Sets

A straight set is the traditional way most person resistance train.  When doing a straight set, a person does a given amount of reps (this is defined as a “set”), rests for a period of time, and repeats this until the required number of sets is achieved for the exercise (most person do 2 to 4 sets/exercise).

One benefit of straight sets is this technique has stood the test of time.  Many fitness enthusiasts have achieved their aesthetic, health and fitness goals using straight sets over the years; this style of lifting is not going away anytime soon.  A second benefit is not having to worry about someone swooping in to steal what you are using when the club is busy. (However, please share equipment and allow other person to “work in” if they ask).  Finally, it is easy to adjust rest periods when doing straight sets so they are consistent from set to set and match the appropriate fitness goals.

Regarding cons of straight sets, there really aren’t any as long as rest periods remain consistent between sets and meet the goal of the program.  Regarding rest, short rest periods (30 to 45 seconds) are best for muscular endurance, medium rest periods (45 to 75 seconds) are best for muscle tone, and long rest periods (75 to 180 seconds) are for goals of muscular strength and power. 

Regarding rest periods, unfortunately it is easy for person to “camp out” on equipment while talking to other members or using their phones. As mentioned above, straight sets are nice if you keep moving by matching your rest periods to your goals.

Pairs (Super Sets)

A pair (also known as a super set or alternating set) is when two exercises are done back to back in an alternating order.  For example, a person would do a set of a first exercise, take little or no rest (depending on the goal) and then perform a set of a second exercise. Then continue to alternate between the two exercises until the required number of sets is achieved.  Rest periods between exercise can be adjusted based on the goal of the workout.  Similar to straight sets, short or no rest between exercises will increase endurance and caloric burn.  Longer rest periods would be used for strength and/or power.

Regarding pairs, there are MANY different variables to adjust based on the goal. Let’s start with two common examples.

The first example pairs an upper-body exercise with a lower-body exercise.  This pair has the following benefits.  First, pairing an upper-body and lower-body exercise is a nice way to save time.  One muscle group is working, as the other muscle group is resting; this pairing can reduce total workout time by 25% to 50%.  The other benefit is an increased metabolic effect.  When a person goes back and forth between upper-body and lower-body exercises, heart rate is increased and a greater number of calories are burned during the workout.  This is beneficial for person who have minimal time to train and those who struggle to find time for additional cardiovascular exercise.

The second example of pairs is combining a pull exercise (e.g., Dumbbell Biceps Curl.) with a push exercise (e.g., Dumbbell Triceps Extension) for the same body part. As with the first example, benefits are workout length is reduced by 25% to 50% and greater metabolic effect than straight sets. An additional benefit is muscular imbalances can be reduced as muscles on opposite sides of the joint receive equal work, not to mention potential to increase strength faster compared to straight sets.  Finally, these same body region pairs improve muscle tone faster than alternating between upper- and lower-body pairs.

As shown above, there are many benefits to pairing exercises. However, there are a few considerations.  First, if person are new to fitness, pairing exercises may create too much fatigue initially.  It is probably a better idea to start with straight sets when new to exercise, and let fitness levels gradually improve over a few months.  Second, pairing exercises can be challenging at busy health clubs during peak hours.  Sometimes it is hard to find specific equipment when the club is busy, let alone two pieces of equipment.  When using pairs, please consider your fitness level and the time of day of your workout.

Circuits

There are two types of circuits. The first is mini circuits which are 3 to 4 exercises done in a row with little or no rest in between.  The second type is large circuits where 5+ exercises are done in a row with little or no rest in between exercises.  As with pairs, there are MANY ways to set up circuits.  However, to keep this article from getting too long, only the pros and cons will be discussed here.

Regarding the pros of circuits, they are very similar to pairs. Time is reduced by replacing rest periods with exercises.  Also, the more exercises in a circuit, the greater the metabolic effect as heart rate is increased and a greater number of calories is burned. This is nice for person who have minimal time to get a workout in.

The cons of circuits are similar to pairs.  As discussed above, pairs may be challenging for person newer to exercise and circuits have a greater impact on fitness as more exercises are involved.  Also similar to pairs, circuits can be challenging to navigate if training during peak health club hours.  It can be challenging enough when setting up stations for two exercises let alone three or more.  Similar to pairs, person who have built up fitness levels by working out for a few months and who don’t train during peak hours may be able to successfully use circuits.

In conclusion, this article provided detail on how to use straight sets, pairs and circuits in health clubs like Life Time.  As discussed, most person have done straight sets when using resistance-training exercises. Simple tweaks like adjusting the rest periods based on the goal and keeping them consistent are easy ways to maximize this technique.  To make resistance training even more challenging and mentally stimulating, give pairs or circuits a try, as they may provide a much-needed new stimulus to increase variety, reduce boredom and enhance results this fall.

In health, Corey Grenz — Program Specialist and Master Trainer — Life Time, Chanhassen  

This article is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations in this and other articles is at the choice and risk of the reader.