Why Your Weight is a Matter of the Heart

weight and heart health

 

The heart wants what the heart wants – and despite the mixed signals you might be getting, that’s not actually another piece of cake. The research is in – losing that excess weight is one of the best ways to be good to your heart. Think about it; for every extra pound, your heart has to work a little bit harder to keep nutrient-rich blood flowing. Add to that the other possible benefits of better nutrition and getting in shape: balanced blood sugar, healthy cholesterol levels , and higher antioxidant intake to help fight free radicals. It all stacks up in favour of a healthier heart.

Eat Plants

From fibre to antioxidants, plants are full of all sorts of nutrients that promote both healthy weight loss and heart health. They also lack the things that can weight heavy on waistlines and hearts alike: saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar. More space on your plate for fruits, veggies, and legumes means less space for high fat, high sugar processed foods.

Calories In

It’s impossible to reduce good nutrition to a simple numbers game, but when the numbers are on your side, it’ll show on the scale. Watching your calories is an important factor in healthy weight loss. Now, that doesn’t mean deprivation – just balancing what you eat with what you burn, which brings us to our next point.

Exercise

Not only is exercise one of the top factors in shedding weight, it’s one of the best things you can do for your heart. If you’re in good shape, your heart will be, too. Even a light walk every day will do your heart a world of good. Studies show that walking supports cardiovascular health and the benefits grow with the amount and intensity of the exercise.

Catch Some Z’s

Lack of sleep makes us more susceptible to stress. Stress can be a direct line to food cravings that will sabotage your weight loss goals. When it comes to optimal health – be it heart, weight, or anything else – hitting the pillow is as important as hitting the gym.

Be good to your heart, and your heart will be good to you. Like us on Facebook and Twitter for more tips and recipes to help you lose weight and be your healthiest self. We’d love to hear from you – how has losing weight benefitted your health?

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Heart Health Month

February-is-Heart-Health-Month

February is Heart Health Month, which means we’ll be looking at some simple changes you can make and healthy habits you can adopt to keep your ticker in good working order.

One of the best things you can do for your heart is to exercise regularly. After all, the heart is a muscle, so giving it a good workout help keep it stronger. Staying active can help you maintain optimal health, but it’s essential to talk to your health care practitioner before engaging in any new types of exercise.

Great ways to stay active include:

  • Going for a 30 minute walk after dinner
  • Cycling to work and back a couple of days a week (or more!)
  • Taking the kids swimming, and sneaking in some full lengths while they’re on the water slide
  • Getting a rebounder trampoline and jogging at home (this is also great for bone density!)
  • Using a stationary bike (catch up on your audiobooks and podcasts!)
  • Taking the dog for a lengthy weekend hike
  • Joining a local tennis club
  • Going on a treasure hunt with friends around your neighbourhood

How Much Exercise Is Enough?

Ideally, you’re aiming for around 90 minutes of exercise each week that gets your heart rate up a little and leaves you slightly breathless. You can do this in three 30 minute sessions, or a number of shorter sessions – whatever fits your schedule. The important thing is to get up and get moving as even a little extra exercise can help cardiovascular health. All is not lost if you skip the gym one day, just make up a little time by going for a short walk after dinner and getting off transit a stop earlier the next day.

Stay Safe and Start off Slow

For anyone returning to exercise after being ill or inactive for a while, it is a good idea to start off slowly and gradually increase your level of exertion. Not only does this reduce the shock to your system, it will also help you keep motivated as you’ll see an increase in fitness.

It’s unrealistic and unhelpful to expect to go from the couch to champion swimmer overnight. Setting reasonable goals can help you avoid frustration, as can partnering up with a friend so you can help motivate each other.

Shaping Up for Heart Health

Another great way to look after heart health is to maintain a healthy body weight. This looks different for all of us, but the benefit of carrying around less adipose (fat) tissue includes help for maintaining healthy inflammatory responses and optimal heart health.

Nutrition for Heart Health

Like any muscle, the heart needs a good intake of protein, essential fats, complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and other antioxidants. Making sure you eat a predominantly plant-based diet that contains plenty of phytonutrients and fibre, with little refined sugar or unhealthy fats can help keep your appetite satisfied and your nutrient intake high while keeping calories low.

To help maintain energy while exercising, try fuelling up with a PGX protein shake before you begin!

Like us on Twitter and Facebook for more heart healthy tips!

 

Drink additional water (8 fl. oz.) after ingesting PGX®. If you are taking medications, take one hour prior to or two hours after taking PGX®.

 

 

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PGX FitBit Flex Giveaway!

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There’s no falling away from your 2015 health and fitness goals when you have a FitBit® Flex tracking your progress throughout the day and night. Activity level, distance travelled, calories burned, sleep patterns, and goals are all monitored and synced to your smartphone or tablet where your stats are easy to see and hard to ignore.

Why track your goals?

Studies show that setting a fitness goal and then receiving feedback on how close you are to that goal makes you more likely to achieve it.[1]

Why track sleep patterns?

Lack of sleep is linked to weight gain. A recent study found that people who sleep fewer than 7 hours per night have a significantly higher body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference than people who sleep 7-9 hours per night.[2]

To make your 2015 health and fitness goals easier to meet (or exceed), we’re giving away over 100 FitBit Flex wristbands – one every day. You can enter daily to boost your odds of winning. Fill out your name and email address on the contest entry form for a chance to win.

Good luck!

 

References:

[1] Wack, S. R., Kimberly A. Crosland and Raymond G. Miltenberger. “Using Goal Setting and Feedback to Increase Weekly Running Distance.” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 47.1 (2014): 181-185. Web. 21 December 2014.
[2] Ford, E.S. et al. “Sleep Duration and Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference among US Adults.” Journal of Obesity 22.2 (2014): 598-607. Print.

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The PGX Program: Explore Diet

Get started on The PGX Program and discover if the Explore Diet is for you.

Explore Diet Plan

The Explore Diet is a flexible and customizable diet plan that lets you decide which foods and delicious dishes you want to prepare for your meals and snacks. When you sign up for this diet plan, you will be provided with healthy meal and snack checklists and guidelines to help you along the way.

The Explore Diet is similar to the Roadmap Diet in that both are portion controlled meal plans, however, the PGX Explore Diet has been designed for more culinary flexibility. Learn more about the program and discover if it’s right for you below.

The PGX Explore Diet Plan is Perfect For:

  • People who like to have more flexibility with their meal plans.
  • People who like to cook.
  • People who prefer more diverse and a wider variety of foods.
  • People who like ethnic foods.
  • People who have food restrictions, food allergies or food intolerances.
  • Anyone who would like to take PGX in addition to another meal plan, weight management program or other sensible diet.

If you feel like you may need more structure or guidance in your weight loss venture, check out the Roadmap Diet instead.

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Wear Red Day

Support Heart Month and women’s heart health by wearing red today.

Today is National Wear Red Day in the United States and we want to help spread the word on how you can support the movement! By wearing red today, you’ll be helping raise awareness of heart disease, which is the number one killer of women.

Learn more about heart disease and how you can help create survivors by watching the video below and visiting the Go Red for Women website.

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Recipe: Heart Healthy Berry Smoothie

It’s Heart Month and we’re celebrating with heart healthy recipes!

In honour of Heart Month, we’ve decided to dedicate every Tasty Tuesday this month to heart healthy recipe. This week, we’re kicking it off with a heart healthy breakfast smoothie, adapted from the Heart and Stroke  Foundation, that is the perfect option for those of you who are too busy in the morning to sit down and eat. Grab it on the go, fuel up for the day and feel good about what you’re feeding your body and your heart!

Find the full recipe below.

Ingredients:

  • 500 mL 1% milk
  • 250 mL frozen mixed berries
  • 1 pear
  • 25 mL flax seeds
  • 15 mL honey
  • 2.5 – 5 grams PGX Granules per person

Directions:

  1. Cut the pear up into small pieces.
  2. Blend all ingredients together, except for PGX granules.
  3. Pour into glasses, stir PGX into individual glasses and serve.

 

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The PGX Program: Roadmap Diet

Sign up for The PGX Program and discover if the Roadmap Diet is for you.

PGX Roadmap Diet

If you are someone who needs a roadmap to better health, the Roadmap Diet Plan is a safe, highly effective, and clinically proven way to lose weight. It’s easy to follow because it’s a structured meal plan. Discover how to get started below!

What is the PGX Roadmap Diet?

In its simplest form, the PGX Roadmap Diet consists of the following:

  1. Two PGX Meal Replacement Shakes per Day: Take a full serving of the PGX Meal Replacement Shake twice per day, in place of two meals such as breakfast and dinner, or breakfast and lunch. Alternatively, you can take PGX Granules, Capsules or SatisFast shakes with a meal in place of the PGX Meal Replacement Shakes, but be sure to slowly increase your PGX intake from 2.5 up to 5 grams per meal.
  2. Two or Three 100-150 Calorie Snacks: Have two small snacks with a source of protein and fibre between meals. To make it easier and to stave off hunger, mix up a PGX SatisFast shake as a snack. Only have an after dinner snack if absolutely necessary.
  3. A Healthy, Balanced Meal with 2.5 – 5 grams of PGX: A portion-controlled, healthy and balanced meal for lunch or dinner with 2.5 to 5 grams of PGX. The easiest way to get this additional PGX is with the PGX Granules or Capsules.

Try to include as many whole foods in their most natural state and really limit processed or manufactured industry foods. If you don’t know how to cook, your cooking skills are poor, or just don’t have time to cook, refer to The PGX Program Booklet 10 Lazy Person’s Guide to Food Planning and Preparation, which you can download when you sign up for The PGX Program!

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Recipe: #Healthy Homemade Oatmeal

A quick and tasty recipe for a healthy breakfast in the morning.

When you’re trying to eat right, breakfast can be one of the most difficult meals of the day to do so. More often than not, we’re in a rush in the morning and, although we know we should, we rarely make eating a healthy breakfast a priority.

But what many of us don’t realize, is that a healthy breakfast doesn’t have to take hours to prepare, nor does it have to be anything overly elaborate. What’s important is that that it is packed with nutrients and healthy ingredients to help fuel your body for the day ahead; which, with the right ingredients, can be fairly simple! Below is a quick, easy, and above all else, healthy oatmeal and fruit recipe for all of you busy PGX’ers out there.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup of pecans
  • 1/2 cup of raisins
  • 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
  • 2 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt
  • honey, to taste
  • seasonal berries
  • 1 packet of PGX Daily granules

Directions:

  1. Mix rolled oats, pecans, raisins, sunflower seeds and cinnamon in a large bowl.
  2. Dish out mixture into an individual serving bowl (you will have leftovers for a second bowl or for breakfast tomorrow – yay!).
  3. Add water to your individual bowl and microwave for a minute and a half.
  4. Add Greek yogurt, PGX granules and berries.
  5. Drizzle honey over top and enjoy!

 

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