Nutrition

From time to time I love to hunt out some surprisingly super foods that can aid a workout. Beetroot is one such treasure.
Forget the tales about weird coloured urine, go & get some beetroot juice. Drinking it may boost your stamina & allow you to exercise for up to 16% longer. This is according to a study from the University of Exeter over here in the UK. it is thought the nitrate content in the juice leads to a reduction of oxygen uptake - making exercise less tiring.
This is fantastic news if you are looking for a tasty beverage to drink during your cardio workout!

With all of these questions and descriptive terms and everyone’s’ fascination with the magic pill for losing weight, it can definitely be intimidating and challenging to determine what to believe and what not to believe. Although this topic could literally take a book by itself to cover, I am going to break it down into easy nut and bolts basics.

A few days ago, someone asked me if it was OK to eat eggs as they had a family history of high cholesterol levels. However, their own cholesterol level was normal.

A recent survey before running the Chicago Half Marathon on September 13, 2009 revealed the majority of runners who participated prefer to eat a banana after a race. Does that mean you should throw out your protein bars and feed your post race trail mix to the squirrels? Of course not! When training for a race, competing in a race, or after you cross the finish line, it is important to remember the fact that one must find what source of energy works best for them.

DIET DESTRUCTION

Tips to Survive the Year-End Calorie Crash

The ghosts and witches are gobbling up their Halloween treats. C’mon people, who among us can resist those outrageous peanut butter cups? Even I can admit to giving in!

Read Vitamin Supplements - Part 1 right here.

Vitamin A

Dietary deficiency of vitamin A is uncommon in healthy people, except in older age groups. A is needed to absorb calcium, effects intestinal flora, and synthesizes body proteins. Although vitamin A is important for the function of the immune system, concerns about birth defects and bone loss, people should not take over 10,000 IU of supplemental vitamin A in the form of retinol without consulting a doctor.

Beta-carotene

Beta-carotene is a precursor to vitamin A, and may have a separate role in human health. Controlled research has shown that beta-carotene supplements can increase the numbers of some white blood cells and enhance cancer-fighting immune functions in healthy people who take 25,000–100,000 IU per day.

If yours is an “on the go” lifestyle, perhaps you’ve skipped the occasional meal or felt that you didn’t have time to eat. If your goal is to change your physique, increase your energy level, and maintain health, missing meals is not a good idea. To keep your metabolism running in high gear, eating 4-6 times per day is a must.

In this article, you will find some helpful tips on staying well nourished, metabolically efficient, and energized throughout the day. Begin incorporating the idea of cooking in bulk, preparing your food ahead of time, and having healthy snacks handy when you are “on the go”.

Cooking in Bulk

Cooking large quantities of food once or twice a week saves time and makes meal preparation easy.

1. Cook large amounts of lean animal protein to refrigerate or freeze. Use zip-lock freezer bags for storage.

2. Hard boil your eggs ahead of time and refrigerate them. This is a quick way to get your protein in.

3. Cut your veggies up, rinse and store in a crisper. When you’re ready for a salad, it is right there, ready to eat.

4. Use canned legumes (kidney beans, black beans, corn). Rinse and re-heat in the microwave vs. preparing them from scratch.

5. When using a cookbook like the "Lean for Life Cookbook", make enough for two, four, or even six meals. Many of these meals can be frozen and used later.

6. When preparing your food, begin cooking the items that take the most amount of time first and finish with the easiest items, last. (i.e.: I bake a large salmon filet in the oven for 40 minutes, set the rice cooker at 20 minutes next, and finish off with cutting up my veggies for either a salad or to be nuked).

We’ve all heard positive and negative things about coffee. Well I am here to tell you that coffee is a great catalyst to improve your performance while exercising. Just a few cups of coffee after a tough workout can help improve your muscles recover more quickly. A recent Australian study showed that for both recreational and advanced runners, those that took an eight ounce cup of coffee improved their 5K by an average of 10 to 12 seconds. The caffeine in the coffee causes an increase spike in blood glucose which results in an incredible spike in insulin that the drives the post-workout nutrients such as carbs, protein, and fats into those muscle cells.

Many of us believe that, if you want to follow a clean and healthy meal plan, going out to eat is not an option. Actually, this is not entirely true. You can go out to restaurants, eat at fast food establishments (on occasion), enjoy food with your partner, family or friends, and even go to parties or other social events!

Healthy meals are served almost anywhere. However, it is important to keep a few general guidelines in mind when you eat away from home.

1. Eat foods that you can see in nature. Potatoes grow in the ground and apples grow on trees but there is no such thing as a bagel bush or a pasta plant! Commercially prepared foods should be eaten in moderation.
2. Ask for your foods to be prepared without gravies, sauces, oils or butter. Ask the server to put dressings and sauces on the side.
3. Use the “2/3 plate rule” whenever possible. 1/3 of the plate should be covered with protein (chicken breast, fish, lean red meat), and the other 2/3 of the plate should be carbohydrates (1/3 starch/grain and the other 1/3 fruit/vegetable).
4. Eat slowly until you are comfortably satiated, not stuffed.
5. If the restaurant does not serve a “perfectly healthy plate”, eat a small amount to tide you over until you can get back on track with healthier choices. Avoid going longer than 4 hours without food. It is a set up for over-eating and making poor food choices.
6. Most of the restaurants that I’ve eaten at will accommodate most of these “healthy meal guidelines”. Fast food chains are even beginning to serve more healthy food options.

While I am standing in the check out line at the super market, I take a moment to glance through various health & fitness magazines. “Lose 30 lbs. in 30 days!” “Use BRAND X, the most powerful fat burner in the world!” Recently, I actually saw an ad that said, “Have your cheesecake and build muscle, too!” The sad part is, many consumers believe this stuff!

Some of my new clients have been exposed to so much myth-information that they don’t even trust common sense, anymore. Their belief system is so firmly in place, they can’t even move towards their personal health and fitness goals until these beliefs are addressed and then thrown out, for good!

The common problems I see are listed below.

1. The media makes carbohydrates out to be the enemy. Low-carb diets are everywhere. Minimizing the processed and refined carbohydrates (cakes, bread, crackers) makes good nutrition sense but to make all carbohydrates “bad” does us all a great disservice. Starches, grains, fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates that come from the earth. These foods give us energy. We need them.
2. The idea that dietary fat makes you fat is still an idea that is alive and well. Of course dietary fat is more calorically dense than carbohydrates and proteins, but no macronutrient makes you fat. Gaining weight is caused by too much energy in (calories) and not enough energy out (exercise).