The Tomato and You

The tomato is one of the most pervasive fruits in the world. Native to Central America the tomato with hundreds of different varieties has become one of the most versatile types of produce to traverse the globe.

Tomatoes have become a base ingredient of different cuisines, and has been transformed into many items (ketchup, sauces, paste, juice, etc.) for cooking. Tomatoes are often consumed as fresh in salads, sauces, juices, and soups.

So what do you need to know about tomatoes?

Vegetable? Fruit? Berry?

Depending on who you ask, the tomato may be considered a fruit, a berry, or a vegetable. Botanists classify tomatoes as a fruit because it is seed-bearing, and or a berry because it is develops from one fertilized ovary. The US Department of Agriculture classifies the tomato as a vegetable in the National Nutrient Database in part because of the tomato’s savory taste, and in part because vegetables, and therefore tomatoes, are predominately associated with main meals.

Types of Tomatoes

Tomatoes come in a variety of colors, sizes, and flavors. They can be pink, orange, yellow, green, brown, purple, or black. They can be small,like cherry tomatoes, that are great for salads; or large like beef masters, great for burgers. Tomato varieties have multiplied by cultivation as a result of organic production, hybridization, genetic modification, or heirloom varieties shared in a particular region.

Nutrition and Health Benefits

Like any fruit or vegetable, there are several different health benefits to consuming tomatoes.

Vitamins, Minerals, and Antioxidants 
Studies have linked the illustrious tomato to extraordinary amounts of vitamins A, C, K, B6, folate and thiamine. High in dietary fiber, tomatoes also provide a significant source of potassium, phosphorus, manganese, copper, and magnesium.

Further studies reinforce the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the tomato which contribute overall health in battling some specific health conditions. Often these antioxidant properties vary according to the pigment colors of the tomato skin. These benefits occur when the tomatoes are consumed raw, as well as in heat-processed products like ketchup, tomato paste, hot sauce, tomato juice, spaghetti sauce, barbecue sauce, salsa, and other.

Cancer
The antioxidant lycopene has been identified as extremely effective in scavenging certain cancers, particularly those relating to the reproductive system (breast, prostate, and cervical cancers), the oral cavity (mouth, pharynx, and esophageal cancers), and the digestive tract (rectal and stomach cancers).

Heart Health
Lycopene has also identified as a defense against cardiovascular disease by decreasing levels of cholesterol within the heart.

Vision
While we have all heard about eating carrots with their high amounts of beta-carotene, which transforms into vitamin A to keep our eyes healthy, tomatoes also have contain significant amounts of vitamin A. The tomato can help improve vision as well as help prevent macular degeneration and night-blindness.

Digestion and Hydration
The tomato can help remove toxins from the body. As a good source of fiber, the tomato makes sure that foods move easily through your system and prevent discomfort that comes with diarrhea, constipation or jaundice. The high water content will also help eliminate salts, acids, excess water, and some fats, and reduce the incidences of urinary tract infections; as well as contributing to your overall daily hydration needs.

Healthy Skin and Bones
As a source of multiple vitamins and minerals as well as significant juicy fruit/vegetable, the tomato helps your body fight ultraviolet rays and oxidative stress (the stress caused by the body in producing more free radicals that leads to cellular degeneration).

Other Health Conditions 
Other health benefits of tomatoes have been linked to helping high blood pressure (hypertension), managing the oxidative stress associated with type 2 diabetes, and protecting the body from carcinogens produced by cigarette smoke.

The tomato is one of the most versatile produce items in the world. Adaptable and easy to grow, the tomato not only tastes good but also you maintain a healthy body to do all the things you want to do.

Consult the experts at your local Metabolic Medical Center to discuss how tomatoes fit into your daily nutrition.

Top 5 Exercise Tips For Weight Loss

Exercise is not necessary for weight loss, but it is necessary for weight maintenance and optimal physical health. Cardiovascular exercise keeps your heart and lungs strong, helps you fight disease and infection better, improves flexibility and helps prevent injury. Strength training exercises leave your body looking fit and sculptured. It's important to incorporate both types of exercises into your week.

After you've lost the majority of the weight you've wanted to lose with Metabolic Medical Center, we start to talk about exercise and ways to incorporate it into your week.

 

 

 

Follow these 5 simple exercise tips to keep your body it and healthy.

1. Know Your New Numbers:Talk to your Metabolic physician about your exercise plan and learn your new calorie needs. To lose weight you have specific nutritional needs (calories, fat, protein, carbs) and as you add exercise, your needs will change. You will have new numbers follow.
2. Go Bigger: Start training for something bigger than just maintaining your weight. Set a goal to participate in a 5K walk/run, moderate to expert level hike, bicycle race, ski trip, whitewater rafting vacation, etc. When you have multiple goals set ahead of you (especially fun activities or vacations), you have great motivation.
3. Push Your Endurance: The longer you exercise, the more calories you'll burn. Push yourself each week to go a longer. If you walk/run/bicycle/swim etc, push yourself to extend your pace (speed) or length of time (from 20 minutes to 25 minutes, and so on). Once you've met one goal, move on to the next.
4. Push Your Strength: If you've begun a weight lifting program, which is excellent for improving not only strength but also building bone density, increase your weights every week to week and a half (depending on often you lift). Try increasing repetition with lighter weights or try doing fewer repetitions with heavier weights.
5. Stay Fueled Up: You're burning calories that your body needs, you need to replenish with calories that come from protein packed foods. Unless you're running a marathon (26 miles) or plan to exercise for more than 1 hour at a time, you don't need to "carbo-load". Eat a breakfast high in protein and keep Profast Protein Shakes and Bars handy for before and after workout boosts.

Just Another Meatless Monday

Where's the beef? Have you been thinking about losing weight by reducing or eliminating meat from your diet? You're not alone. A growing trend in this country is something called "Meatless Monday". This current culinary movement advocates going without meat just one day out the week. Good idea? It can be as long as you get the proper nutrition. You can also save a little on your grocery bill. Too much meat in your diet raises your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and some types of cancers. Adding more plant based foods to your diet adds more fiber, vitamins, and minerals your body needs to be healthy and productive. You can do this too while on a weight loss program; just keep a few things in mind.

Protein, Protein, Protein. Protein is necessary for building muscle. Metabolic offers protein supplements, each containing 15g of protein, 7 g of carbohydrate, 0 fat and between 70-100 calories; these are a much better protein source than beans or grains. The carbohydrates in beans and grains are too high too lose weight, but the black bean is the best of the beans for its nutritional value. Other good protein sources are eggs, tofu, fish, and non-fat, plain Greek Yogurt.

Pumping Iron. Iron is necessary for healthy blood. Meat has the highest amount of absorbable iron, so when that's taken away the next best sources for iron are leafy greens. The darker the better and eat as much as you can. Kale, spinach, broccoli, okra, watercress- yummy.

B Energized. Vitamin B12 is needed for cell growth and repair and overall general health. It is only found naturally in animal products including dairy products and eggs. Look for healthy foods that have been fortified with vitamin B12. B12 shots are also available from your local Metabolic office.

Milk Will Do Your Body Good. Calcium is essential for healthy bones, nails, and teeth. But, milk is high in carbohydrates and if you're trying to get your calcium, stick with fat-free or reduced fat dairy products. Calcium supplements are available from all Metabolic Medical Centers.

If you feel this "Semi-Vegetarian" diet is something you would like to incorporate into your life, come in and talk with us. Maintaining a healthy, vegetarian diet takes a little planning but can be well worth it. It is possible for you to lose weight and still get all of your nutritional needs from a plant based diet, but the secret is knowing exactly what your nutritional needs are.

Let's find out together if eliminating meat one or two days a week would be right for you.

Metabolic Medical Center
http://mmcdiet.com

Weight Loss Plateau | Metabolic Medical Center

Weight Loss Plateau

You keep your appointment, follow your program, drink water, watch what you eat, so why did the weight loss stop? You have just hit a plateau. It’s normal and happens to virtually everyone at some

point(s) while losing weight.





What is a weight loss plateau?
A weight loss plateau is a period of time (at least 2 weeks)when your weight loss stops despite healthy diet and exercise. When this happens, losing more weight becomes very difficult. Frustrating as it is, if you’re prepared, you can fight it.

Why does this happen?

A rapid drop in weight is normal in the first few weeks, it is very exciting and extremely motivating. This happens because when calories are reduced, your body gets its energy from glycogen (type of carbohydrate stored in the muscles and liver) and glycogen holds water, ther
fore when glycogen is burned for energy, it releases water, resulting in weight loss that is mostly water. Losing water weight is the first step to permanent weight loss. You want your body to use water and eliminate it, not store it. Next, a shift occurs in the body with your metabolism. When you lose weight, you lose both fat and muscle, we work with this shift so that you lose fat and protect muscle.

What can you do about it?

• Keep your next appointment.

Tell your med tech and your physician if you have reached a plateau. They will help you figure out what is going on depending on your program, lifestyle, where you are in your weight loss journey or if there are any medical issues. This is a delicate issue and very personal to each patient.

• Add calories, specifically protein.

Depending on your program and health needs, you may need to add

more protein to your diet. Just 100 calories in either direction can make a difference.

• Subtract calories, specifically carbohydrates.

Vegetables have complex carbohydrates, some have

more than others. Eat less yellow and white vegetables and more green for a few days.

• Start an exercise program.

This may be your body’s way of telling you it’s time to start exercising.

• Vary your current exercise program.

Try increasing the amount of weight you use or reps you do. Increase your cardio time by 3 minute increments.

• Drink more water.

Make sure you are drinking all your water for the day.

Most importantly, don’t get frustrated and beat yourself up. A little adjustment here and there and you will be seeing those scale numbers drop. Remember it is normal and Metabolic can get you through it!

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The Truth about Fad Diets from Metabolic Medical Center

Many Metabolic patients come to us after having tried at least one fad diet. They feel discouraged and wonder what they've done wrong. Most likely they experienced some success but realized very quickly their results weren't realistic, sustainable or healthy.
Spreading the word about a fad diet is easy, identifying a fad diet can be difficult.
A diet to lose weight, feel better and be healthier must have proper balanced nutrition, be sustainable over time, and safe. Learn about Metabolic Medical Center Programs and choose a diet that you won't regret.

Top 10 Ways to Identify a Fad Diet

1) Eating only one kind of food.
This is not only boring, but your body isn’t getting the proper nutrition from just one food.

2) No exercise, ever again.

Exercise is not required to lose weight, however, exercise is necessary for weight maintenance and over all body health.

3)Food timing and food combining.

This is the idea that if you eat the same food in the same combination at the same time everyday you will lose weight. While eating every few hours is important to maintain blood sugar and prevent peaks and valleys but that effects how you feel, not your weight.

4) The magic pill.

There is no magic pill. There are appetite suppressants but you are responsible for the food that goes into your mouth.

5) Any diet that does not modify as you lose weight.

As your body loses weight, it becomes healthy and your needs change.

6) Unsupervised low-calorie diet.

Being left on your own to figure out a low calorie diet is very dangerous.

7) Too low in vegetables, fruits, carbohydrates and/or protein.

Some fad diets will cut out good for you foods and not provide guildlines for adding these back into your diet.

8) All the focus is on the weight loss.

There’s is more to health than just losing weight. You must know how to maintain you weight and overall health of your body.

9) Companies that claim you can only lose weight using their products.

Weight loss aides such as shakes, meal replacements, medicines etc. are just aides to make weight loss easier, they are not required to lose weight.

10) No credible scientific medical research.

Metabolic Medical Center is not a fad diet. We have been helping thousands of people lose weight for more than 15 years.
Fad diets do not last 15 years. Come to the medical specialist and lose the weight.

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The Truth about HCG

HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin)

Popular doesn't mean proven, especially when it comes to weight loss drugs promoted heavily on the internet and television.

HCG, the latest craze in fad dieting, has been around since the 70s. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now. People are claiming miracle weight loss without proven studies to support their claims.
These are not only false, but dangerous.

HCG is only approved by the FDA to treat infertility. It has not been approved for weight loss.

Another claim HCG offers is a boost of energy. The energy actually comes from losing weight and not the hormone itself. HCG is often paired with a very low calorie diet, that is where the weight loss happens, in lowering your caloric intake. Often, these VLC diets are not monitored as they should be and are given to patients that should not be on them.
They also claim the the effects to be permanent. There is no permanent solution, weight is lost and maintained by proper diet and exercise.

The truth about HCG for weight loss
Kathleen M. Zelman, Mph, RD, LD

HCG weight-loss products are fraudulent, FDA says
Nanci Hellmich

Metabolic Medical Center does not use or promote the use of any drug or supplement that is not FDA approved and proven by clinical research and testing to be safe and effective for weight loss.


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http://goingmetabolic.com

Is My Fridge Making Me Fat?

It makes you wonder does the fridge of a skinny person look different than mine? Well, other than the fact that I actually have food in mine. ( a little dig on skinny girls) All joking aside, I wondered what the inside of a Metabolic Medical Center friendly fridge looked like. I asked for a sneak peak and may have found the secret to their success.





1) I noticed a lot of tuna and salmon.
Both tuna and salmon were prepared as healthy dips for vegetables for afternoon snacks. There were also plenty of fish filets marinating for dinner. These are loaded with healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

2) Fresh cut vegetables.
Whatever is on sale at the grocery store that week is cut up and placed in a clear container at the front of the refrigerator so it can be seen and grabbed in a hurry. We eat what we see.

3) Greek yogurt, and plenty of it.
Plain, non-fat Greek yogurt is a staple of a healthy fridge. Using yogurt plain is easily flavored. My friends use it plain as a mayo substitute, "creamy base", and flavored with extracts or sugar-free jello powder as a snack.

4) Fresh herbs were everywhere.
Flavor really makes a difference and having fresh herbs on hand just makes food taste good. Rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, cilantro, sage...and the list goes on. Who needs salt with all that flavor?

So, those were a few things I did see and here are a few things I didn't see.

1) No fruit juice.
It's like liquid sugar. Yes, it is fruit but it is so concentrated.Concentrated sugar and concentrated calories.

2) No peanut butter.
When it's right in front of you, it's so easy to grab a spoon and dip, and dip, and dip, well you get the idea. Yes, it's nuts, but they are very high in calories and fat. Yikes!

3) No bread.
If you're still trying to lose weight, there is no bread in an Metabolic friendly fridge. When you are maintaining your weight and exercising, talk to your MMC doctor about adding breads and other complex carbohydrates for a healthy well balanced diet.

Metabolic Medical Center
Medical Weight Loss Programs