fbpx

Category Archives for "health"

September 19, 2016

5 Supplements You Should Consider Taking

Supplements are supplements

The first thing I want you to remember about supplements is that they are just that, supplements.  You should focus on getting your nutrients from real food and only use supplements to fill the gaps.  In this episode, I will link to some products (affiliate).  I take all of these supplements at some time or another throughout the year.

Fish Oil

I covered fish oil in detail in Episode 39, so I will just briefly discuss it here. The only place to get fish oil from real food is to consume fish. Many people struggle eating fish.  I recommend you try multiple species and preparations of fish before you completely give up on them.

The main caution with fish oil is that it can go bad. You should never take bad fish oil.  I recommend only buying good quality fish oil.  You should store fish oil in the refrigerator.  I also recommend checking a gel when you first purchase the oil and once every few weeks, if you keep it that long.

Creatine (EP 79)

I covered creating in episode 79, so here's a brief description and caution on creatine. Creatine has been show in many studies to not only improve muscular performance, but to have protective qualities for the brain.  Creatine causes muscles to hold more water, therefore you could retain as much as 5 – 7 lbs of water.  If you're a scale junkie, this might cause you some distress.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is essential. Fortunately, our bodies make vitamin D through sun exposure. Time indoors and sunscreens have severely cut the amount of sun we are exposed to on a daily basis. If you're not exposed to the sun on a regular basis or you live in places where there are lower exposure (far north), you may want to consider taking a vitamin D supplement. You can get a blood test to determine your status.

Multivitamin

In episode 143, I explained how I am not using ketosis as a way to reduce fat and retain muscle mass.  As a result of my eating less than 50 total grams of carbohydrates, I'm limited in the volume and variety of fruits and vegetables I can eat in any given day.   To make sure I'm getting what I need, I'll add a multivitamin to my regimen.

Magnesium (sleep)

Magnesium has been shown to improve people fall asleep, stay asleep and have lucid dreams.  I find that taking a magnesium before bed helps me wake up more refreshed and I am more productive and creative.


As I noted at the beginning, you should look for ways to get the nutrients you need from real food.  When you can't, supplements can be valuable for maintaining health and maximizing your health.

How to shop for good food

Don’t Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life | David Klemanski and Joshua Curtis

The timing of this book, Don't Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life by David Klemanski and Joshua Curtis, couldn't have been better for me.  I've been struggling with anxiety lately and needed the tools taught in this book.  I'm certain you've dealt with anxiety from time to time.  We all do.

Almost everything in life has the potential to make us feel anxious, but only if you let it!  In other words, it is entirely possible to skillfully manage your anxiety by examining the relationship you have to your fears and worries and embracing them (rather than avoiding them!) ~ From the Introduction of Don't Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life.

Anxiety goes beyond just being a negative mood state.  It is a future-oriented state, where people worry about some future event.  It can be real or perceived.

There are three diagnosable conditions in the anxiety spectrum:

  1. Generalized anxiety disorder – months of worry, feeling keyed up and on edge.  Excessive worry beyond the normal level of worry.
  2. Panic disorder – Physical conditions that are often related as they felt they were having a heart attack.
  3. Social anxiety disorder – Anxiety about social situations.  Fear of being judged.  They often begin avoiding being in social events.

Self-diagnosis is difficult with these disorders.  It may require professional attention.  The anxiety becomes clinical when it interferes with their normal lives.

It is very common for people to avoid going the gym when anxiety over what others are thinking of them kicks in.  Avoidance sets up a negative cycle.  It is important to be exposed to the gym and not use avoidance behaviors such as not making eye contact or to isolate themselves in an empty area of the gym.  Instead, you should do the opposite and engage and face your fear.

Other tips or practices:

  • Pay attention to your anxiety and your reaction to it.  The more you pay attention to it (rather than avoiding of suppressing it) the better you'll be able to chip away at those emotions.
  • When you're working on using these skills you'll need to be forgiving of yourself.  These skills build over time.

Links:

Online companion website at New Harbinger Publishing

 

Start here | Eric Langshur & Nate Klemp

Health and Fitness Foundations

When I first launched 40+ Fitness Podcast, I posted an episode each Monday for the first ten weeks that was a lesson that touched on each of the health and fitness foundations in my Forever Fitness Personal Training Program.  These are the principles I share with my clients to help keep them progressing and meeting their health and fitness goals.

Commitment

I start with commitment because without it, you'll never see success.  Willpower fails, motivation wains and resolutions are dropped.  When you know your “why” and a vision of what health and fitness looks like for you, you can put these together to make a vow.  This vow paired with self-love makes all the difference.  If you really want it, go past making a decision and commit.

Sugar

We get fat because of sugar.  The average American eats 150lbs of sugar per year.  Sugar raises your insulin, which is the core hormone for fat gain.  The only way to successfully lose weight is to reduce your sugar intake.   Aim for 50 grams or less per day and you're going to see great results.

Success Keys (Persistence, Progression, Patience)

Persistence is what keeps you going, Progression is what keeps the results coming.  Patience is where you're going to face this challenge over the long-term.  Applied together, these three keys are what all successful people have.

Sleep

Our body goes through some very important functions while we're asleep.  Our hormone cycle is driven by our sleep.  Memory development and muscle repair also occur during this time.  You'll want to get 7 – 9 hours per night, but focus on quality rather than quantity.

Water

The liver is responsible for dealing with toxins.  It makes its job easier by pushing the toxins into the fat.  Now that we're losing weight (aka burning fat), we're releasing these toxins and the liver is forced to deal with it.  Beyond not adding more toxins, it is important to give the liver plenty of water.

Our brain, joints and skin all use water to perform well.  If you are dehydrated you're going to look and feel worse.  Your

Plateaus

Our bodies were built to find balance.  For this reason, we will often find ourselves hitting plateaus. You can build in strategies to break through plateaus or avoid them all together.  Periodization can be effective particularly in muscular strength, muscle mass, or endurance.  Or you can look for a way to push past it.  Just don't quit.

Lab Rat

You are a unique individual.  As a result, what works for someone else may not work for you.  Don't be afraid to experiment to find the things that will work for you.  Take the time to educate yourself and then apply and tweak your programming and food.

Fitness Modalities

Recognize that there are different fitness modalities and you should consider most of them.  Focusing on one at the detriment of the others will keep you from meeting your goals or accomplishing your vision.  A few fitness modalities to consider follows:

  • Muscular strength
  • Muscular mass
  • Mobility
  • Endurance
  • Balance
  • Agility
  • Speed

Strength

Of all the fitness modalities, the one I almost demand my clients do is strength training.  Strength is the most important factor to being healthy and fit.  Heavy lifting boosts testosterone production (libido) and helps maintain strong bones.

Lifestyle

Once you've seen success, it is important to shift from this being a project to it being a lifestyle.  If you've made good healthy habits, this becomes easy.  Avoid language like diet.  Diets are temporary and when you go back to eating the way you did before, you'll go back to what you were.  Health and fitness is a continuum.  You can always get better.

Health and fitness is a state of being, not a destination.

We are 100! Best of the past.

 

September 7, 2016

Real Food Fake Food | Larry Olmsted

Royal Red Shrimp Lunch

Royal Red Shrimp Lunch

Today we meet Larry Olmsted, an award-winning food author and columnist.  In his book, Real Food Fake Food, Why You Don't Know What You're Eating & What You Can Do About It, Larry discusses how various foods we are served in restaurants or buy at grocery stores may actually be something entirely different.

There's nothing more fundamental than knowing what you're putting in your mouth. ~ Kelsey Timberman

Fake Food

When you don't get what you think you're buying. This is not a judgement on the quality you're getting. This comes in three forms:

  • Something completely different – As in where you order flounder but the actual fish served is tilapia (an entirely different species of fish).
  • Inferior version – A worse quality or it is diluted.  This is common with extra virgin olive oil.
  • Geographic indications – Despite offering you Kobe beef the restaurant may be serving you beef that is not from Kobe, Japan.

Fish

Nearly 1/3 of the time, a different fish is substituted with another fish.  Sometimes this is where you're served farmed fish that was marketed as wild-caught.  Or it may be an entirely lower standard species of fish.  The more expensive the fish, the more likely it is to be subject to fish fraud.  Nearly all of the red snapper served in restaurants is not red snapper.

As a tip for getting what you're paying for, go to the fish markets on the water.  There you can often see the whole fish, which makes it much harder for you to be duped.

Olive Oil

Good extra virgin olive oil is very good for your health.  This is the top most rating for olive oil and is quite rare.  Studies have demonstrated that the majority of olive oil sold in grocery stores do not meet the standard for extra virgin.  You can order olive oil from online club like Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club.  It can be quite expensive.  I personally buy olive oil at a specialty retail store, where I'm able to taste it before I buy.

Olive Oil is a fruit oil and as a result, it goes bad quickly.  You should check the harvest date or pressed date.  Good quality olive oil should be used within a year of harvest.  Upon opening a bottle, you should use it within a month.  Knowing the source, so you can make sure you're buying real olive oil.

Links

RealFoodFakeFood.com

 

Caught in the dorito effect | Mark Schatzker

September 5, 2016

Breath and breathing for better health and fitness

In this episode, we discuss breath and breathing for health.  I'm sure you know that breathing is an automatic function that takes no conscious thought to do, but maybe you should spend more time thinking about your breath and breathing.

The purpose of breathing

When I ask someone why we breathe, they will almost always say, to get oxygen.  This is half of the answer.  We also breathe to expel waste materials, most of which is carbon dioxide.  In fact, scientists now believe that when we burn fat, the byproducts are water and carbon dioxide.  We lose weight through our breath.

Improving your breathing

Even though breathing is an automatic function, most of us aren't doing it very well.  When you're seated and working on a keyboard or using a smart phone, you're collapsing your ribcage and only using a fraction of your lung's capacity.  Over time, this weakens the diaphragm.

When you're lifting weights, managing your breathing is a big part of keeping your core tight and maintaining good form.  You should breathe in as the weight is lowered and breathe out as the weight is moved.  You should never hold your breath during a lift.

Mindful breathing

Mindful breathing can go a long way toward stress reduction.  Chronic stress will keep you from reaching your health and fitness goals.  I use the app Headspace to do a mindful breathing practice.

I will also do box breathing to improve the quality of my breathing.  This breathing exercise involves breathing in, holding, breathing out, holding; all for a count of three.  It is harder than it sounds, but a great exercise to improve breathing efficiency and effectiveness.

Finding mindfulness with Bruce Langford

The Yoga Lifestyle | Doron Hanoch

Doron Hanoch comes to the 40+ Fitness Podcast to discuss his book, the Yoga Lifestyle.  We go beyond the basics of the physical yoga practice and explore ways to take yoga outside the studio.

If you want to develop discipline and get the benefits of yoga, you have to show up.  Don't worry about what you may or may not accomplish that day, but get into the habit of making sure you are there and then get present.  The benefits will come.

Benefits of Yoga:

  • Flexibility
  • Strength
  • Breathing better
  • Mind training

Doron then discussed a 1 – 2 breathing technique for relaxation and falling asleep quickly.

 

Links

Doron Yoga

Yoga Retreats

Facebook

Youtube

Art and Photography website 

 

 

Yoga's Healing Power | Ally Hamilton

August 26, 2016

Cracking the Aging Code | Josh Mitteldorf

In Cracking the Aging Code, Josh Mitteldorf does a deep dive into the science of aging.  His research has led him to some theories that differ quite a bit from what many of us may have believed were true.  Our body is programmed to destroy itself as we age.

As a part of this discussion, Josh explains why he doesn't believe Paleo or natural eating extend our lives.  Nor does he believe that anti-oxidant therapy make us more healthy.  In fact, anti-oxidants may shorten our lives.

The four core reasons we age:

Inflammation

Inflammation is important to help us address outside threats, but when we're older, this inflammation turns on us.  Inflammation attacks us, causing arthritis, atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. It is also associated with many types of cancer.

A high-carb diet is inflammatory.  Having extra bodyfat is inflammatory.  But our bodies are different and we have to experiment to find what works for us.

Immune System

The Thymus gland creates T-cells to fight viruses and bacteria.  As we age, the T-cells begin to turn on us and are linked to arthritis and macular degeneration fo the retina.

Apoptosis

This process of “cell death” is important to help the body get rid of damaged cells.  As we age, the process degrades resulting in two types of errors:  damaged cells may be missed, or healthy cells are destroyed.

Telomere Shortening

Each time a cell is divided to go on the telomeres, which are endcaps for the DNA helix shortened.  When the telomere reaches the end, the cell can no longer divide and effectively dies.

Links:

AgingAdvice.org

2 weeks to a younger brain | Dr. Gary Small

https://40plusfitnesspodcast.com/aging-well-dr-mark-williams/ ‎

1 47 48 49 50 51 60