Home » Archives for Nutrition
Posts Tagged ‘Nutrition’
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
If you lose weight for only how-you-look reasons, it won’t last. There has to be a bigger “why” inside of you. True; being unhappy with how we look is likely the biggest catalyst that makes us WANT to improve, but it won’t sustain the fire. Think back to the last big change you made in your life. Was it to go back to school? Did you seek a different job? Maybe you started budgeting your money better? It has been said that almost every action is a response to seeking pleasure or avoiding pain. We have to want something badly enough to be willing to pay a price for it; we have to have some skin in the game. Regarding weight loss, will there be the pleasure of feeling and looking better or successfully avoiding the pain of feeling lousy and avoiding mirrors?
Create just one habit at a time…just a little thinking and a little working. You don’t need a complicated plan to start the snowball rolling down the mountain. Make one rule and make it your own.
• Don’t eat out for a month
• Pick one meal and make it a healthier alternative to what you’re eating now.
• Eat a vegetable or salad with lunch and dinner.
• Only eat whole-food snacks such as fruit.
• Have one protein shake per day as a snack.
• Don’t have seconds at dinner.
• Pick one late-night snack only and stick to it.
Soon you see the old habits fade and you won’t miss them! The new habit is simply standard operating procedure. You’ll see a little success and that will motivate you for more. Success really does beget success and the brain actually responds positively to the change…to the pleasure you feel by being satisfied with your progress.
The first step really is the hardest. If you make that step smaller—remember, I’m asking for one change—you’re more likely to take it. When you realize good things are happening, you may just pick up another new habit. Your brain will cement those patterns in place, making it easier to integrate the new behavior, and you’re on your way!
Move a mountain one pebble at a time…one habit at a time.
Tags: diet, Diet and Weight Loss, healthy habits, Nutrition, weight loss
Posted in diet, weight loss | No Comments »
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
There are lots of good books on endurance sports nutrition. But body weight and body composition are such major factors in endurance performance that they really deserve more attention.
Matt Fitzgerald has written the first book exclusively focused on the issue of weight management for endurance athletes. That book, entitled Racing Weight: How to Get Lean and Fit for Peak Performance, has just been published. If you have ever struggled to reach and maintain your optimal racing weight, you’ll want to check it out.
Racing Weight is divided into three parts. Part I (“Finding Your Racing Weight”) covers the importance of being light and lean if you want to perform better and gives you some unique new tools to determine your own optimal performance weight and to track your progress toward it. In this section you will also find chapters that address seasonal considerations (which cover topics such as managing your weight during the off-season versus the competitive season), as well as sport-specific nutritional challenges, and tips for beginning endurance athletes.
Part II (“Five Steps to Your Racing Weight”) presents a five-step plan to get leaner and lighter in a way that maximizes performance and all-around health. Each step in the plan is based on the latest advances in the science of weight management, especially as they relate to endurance athletes, and on the practices that are proven to work best in the real world.
It common for endurance athletes, no matter how much they train, to be held back by excess body weight. If you are a triathlete, cyclist or runner, looking to continually improve, don’t overlook this issue.
Tags: diet, Eating, half marathon, marathon, marathon training, Nutrition, run, runner, runner training, running, running news
Posted in diet | 2 Comments »
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
According to a recent article in the New York Times, the caffeine you get from your Starbucks fix can help your workout by as much as 5%. People not used to drinking coffee can have some effects such as frequent urination, but the positive effects keep working. However, when ingesting too much caffeine, negative effects, like elevated heart rate, can out-weigh any performance enhancing benefits. But if you’ve got a race coming up that you want to do well at, you might try a cup an hour before. The story also suggests no caffeine a week before for best results. Being a long time caffeine junkie, there is no way that I’m going to cut out coffee for a day, let alone a week.Do you use coffee before a workout now? If so, can you tell the difference?
Tags: caffeine, coffee, exercising, Nutrition, running, weight loss, work outs
Posted in caffeine | 1 Comment »
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
This should come at no surprise, but a new study by American Journal of Health Promotion finds that obese people with type 2 diabetes are less effective at the workplace than their normal-weight co-workers. In a survey of 7,338 working adults with or at risk for diabetes, participants answered questions about missed work time, reduced on-the-job effectiveness and impairment in daily activities. The analysis found that being obese and having diabetes predicted problems with productivity. The study concluded that obese people with type 2 diabetes experienced the most work impairment, losing 11 percent to 15 percent of work time - about 5.9 hours per week - because of health problems that affected productivity on the job. Normal-weight participants at low risk for diabetes reported losing only 9 percent of work time - about 3.6 hours per week - due to health problems. Obese workers with type 2 diabetes also experienced the most problems off the job, reporting impairment during 20 percent to 34 percent of their daily activities, like shopping, exercising and childcare. I think that this provides more evidence supporting workplace wellness programs that include weight loss and weight management.
Tags: blood glucose levels glucometers, blood sugar, diabetes, exercise, gestational diabetes, hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, insulin, Nutrition, pre-diabetes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes
Posted in diabetes | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
OK, it’s a shameless plug for the discussion board on my website. At OxLabs, we want our discussion board to be the best place on the internet for talk about men’s health, fitness, anti-aging, and life strategies. This is a place for us. If you have a question or something to say about fatherhood, fitness trends, fat burning, vitality, diet, sports nutrition, marriage, your hot girlfriend or your psycho boss, say it at http://www.oxlabs.com/forum/.
Tags: abdominal, Abdominal Exercises, Abs, Better Health, Biceps, BMI, Body, Body Mass Index, Bodybuilding, Building Muscle, Bulk, Burning Calories, Calories, diet, Eating Right, Energy, Exercise Programs, Exercise Routines, Fat, Fitness Programs, Flex, Gear Performances, Gear Sports, Good Health, Healthy Eating, Improve Body, Lose Weight, Men's Fitness, Men's Health Magazine, Mens health, Muscle and Fitness, Nutrition, Nutritional Supplements, Pecs, Pectorals, personal trainer, Protein, Sexual Behavior, Sexual Performance, Shape, Six Pack, Sports Adventures, Sports Medicine, Sports Nutrition, Stamina, Strength Training, Supplements, Tone, Toning, Vitamins, weight loss, Weight Training, Weightlifting, Workout Programs, workouts
Posted in men's forum | 1 Comment »
