Getting the Right Fuel from Your Food for the ‘Big Push’!

Kevin determined on the ‘Big Push

Tips of the week: Excerpt from Max Form Your Life by Joe Wells and Sean Green in which Kevin Saunders wrote the foreword. Kevin is a world champion paralympian and top motivational coach/inspirational speaker, member of the President’s council on physical fitness and sports under Presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton, served as an expert under President W. Bush and was recently nominated for chairman by Senator Pat Roberts.

http://www.amazon.com/Max-Form-Your-Life-Incredible/dp/B000HD9CMM

There are a few basic rules that everyone should follow when setting up their own diet plan: (post-adolescent)

• Eat smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. This will help speed up your body’s metabolism and keep you from storing fat. It will also help you control your hunger, making it easier not to binge or cheat.
• Keep your protein high. Remember, if you are incorporating a strength-training routine into your program, you need approximately one gram of protein per body weight. Even if you decide not to use weights, keep in mind that dietary protein eaten every 3-4 hours will prevent you from losing lean muscle tissue, even while doing aerobic training.
• Keep dietary fats to a minimum. While fat is important in our diet, too much makes it very hard to get lean.
• Watch your carbohydrate intake. Although carbohydrates are considered protein sparing, too many will prevent us from losing unwanted body fat. If you are burning dietary carbohydrates, it will be virtually impossible for your body to burn stored fat for energy.
• Make sure to eat protein right after you train. This is your “Window of opportunity” to help repair your muscles after they have just been broken down in the gym.
• Plan your meals with carbohydrates and fat earlier in the day. After 5:00pm, you do not want any more calories to come from starchy carbohydrates.
• Be sure to drink plenty of water. Protein has a dehydrating effect on the body and water will help moderate that, as well as help transport the nutrients.

With the humidity high Kevin has to hydrate himself frequently along the route

• Watch your sodium Levels. Too much sodium will cause you to retain water, which will blur muscle definition.

Did you know that the more we learn about fitness the easier it is to become fit! I believe my education from high school through college and beyond is the foundation to all my accomplishments. Without a good education, I would have been working with a real handicap! You may know the expression, “Plan your work and work your plan.” Well with fitness activities and making healthy food choices for meals or snacks so you can have the body and stamina you have wanted, that’s exactly what you need to do. Without a plan we have trouble achieving our goals. We wander down one path or another without any real idea if it will lead to our final destination. That is, another reason I want to motivate our youth to start their daily accountability journals to keep track of their fitness goals (ie: meals, snacks, etc). What are your short and long term goals? Are you working toward or away from your goals? I personally kept a journal as I trained to go to the paralympic games. It kept me focused, accountable and on track for all my fitness and nutritional goals, as well as my professional goals.

I became a better athlete, motivational coach, inspirational speaker, father, husband, boss and friend because I stayed focused, stayed fit with proper fitness and nutritional and told myself, you should “Never Give Up!” That’s true in life and in your quest for proper nutrition and fitness; you should approach your fitness goals with not only the destination in mind but a solid foundation of fitness and nutritional knowledge and education. You can buy books, research the web or hire a personal trainer if you feel you could use a little help or visit my website www.kevinsaunders.com . You need to know how much cardio you should do and how often. The same applies for your strength training routine. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat so don’t ignore those muscles! You want a well balanced approach to fitness.  Proper nutrition is key when mixed with the right balance of vitamins and nutrients. Getting your rest is important as well. Now don’t put off starting your exercise routine because you’re waiting on a book or trainer. Just be sure to include education into your fitness agenda.  Before you know it, you’ll be the fit envy of all your friends and the person they turn to for health and fitness information. Keep coming back to my blog where I’ll be posting more tips and info on health and fitness. While you’re at it, go to my main site at www.kevinsaunders.com. You’ll find more information on my life’s story and can order my books covering motivation, fitness, nutritional and much more. Also stay tuned to our blog and read the updates from our “Fitness 4 All 50 State Tour.”

KEVIN’S PERSONAL JOURNAL

On a hot summer day, there is nothing like a cool drink of water in Waterloo,IL

Media - Kevin Saunders pushes from Canada to Mexico

I pushed approximately 24 miles total from Columbia, IL to just past Waterloo, IL. The sun pounded on me from above and the pavement baked me from below. A police escort from the Columbia, IL police department escorted me to their jurisdiction line where the Waterloo Police took over and escorted me to the Waterloo city hall to meet the city leaders. I met with Mayor Terry Kipping of Waterloo at city hall and gave them a presentation on proper nutrition and fitness from my health and fitness summit. Shawn Kennedy, the city collector, was also at the meeting. The Chief of Police, Joseph “Joe” Brauer was also present. The media present included Danny Kelley reporter from the Republic-Times the Herald and the Shopper from Waterloo, IL. Monroe County Independent Newspaper editor and reporter Ed Wienhoff was also there.

Kevin gets a break from his 20- to 30 mph from city to push on to the next city. Now it’s time for a water H2O break & a visit with the fast police escort officers, Mayor, city staff,  other officers and city leaders about fitness & proper nutrition

It was a hot and humid day of pushing. I was very hot and soaking with sweat when I showed up to city hall in Waterloo. It was in the 90’s and one of the most humid days this year. I’ll be facing incredible heat, pounding rain, dangerous traffic, and all sorts of unforeseen obstacles on this trip. One thing I had to do for sure was to keep hydrated. Of course, it all depends on your physical activity, fitness level, and the weather. A simple calculation for determining your actual water requirements is to multiply your body weight by 0.6 and then divide it by 12. This will give you the number of 8 oz. glasses of wanted you need per day. Formula- Determining you water requirements: body weight x 0.6/12 (8 oz. glasses of water a day).  Even small differences in the terrain, like a five mile uphill haul – makes an enormous difference in effort to a guy in a wheelchair. Whatever happens I’m ready to overcome any adversity I might face. I’ll experience blisters, sunburn, sore muscles and more and it’s all worth it if I can inspire more Americans to get healthy and fit. The fatigue and stress I feel from my effort is comparable in a way to the stresses and fatigue too many Americans get from living unhealthy lifestyles. Many people don’t realize how much more energy and adrenaline they will feel by just exercising 3-4x a week.   

My trip will take a toll on me physically. The unhealthy choices many Americans make take a huge toll on their lives and when combined it takes a toll on American fitness and health as a whole. This is a key reason I felt the need to start the ‘Big Push’ Across America and make Americans of all ages aware of the harmful things they are doing to their body and how proper fitness and nutrition can play a positive role in their lives.  Poor health choices can lead to higher healthcare costs, lower productivity at work and general unhappiness and stress at a personal level. I encourage and hope to inspire all Americans to find healthy alternatives to greasy fast food and learn to enjoy the benefits in life exercise has to offer. The people I meet on this ‘Big Push’ tour give me hope. They are interested in what I am doing and while maybe unsure of how to get started are ready to live healthier lives. I’m going to do all I can to help them every step of the way and with every revolution of my wheels. Remember “Never Give Up! There Is Always A Way!”